CORNWALL
CHAPTER I.
THE CORNISH SAINTS
A saint or squab pie — The saints belong to five classes — I. The members of the royal Dumnonian family — II. Irish - Welsh colonists — The invasion of Brecknock — Brychan — The invasion of Cornwall and Devon — Murtogh Mac Earca— III. Irish in West Cornwall — IV. Welsh-Breton saints — V. Pure Breton importations — Ecclesiastical colonies — Llans and cells — Tribal organisation — Ecclesiastical also tribal — The sanctuary — How a tribe was recruited — ^Jurisdiction — What a Celtic monastery was — Rights exercised by the saints — That of ill-wishing — Missionary methods of the Celtic saints — Illand and S. Bridget — The
power of the keys as the saints understood it — Reciprocal rights — The saint expected to curse the enemies of the secular tribe — Asceticism — A legal process carried into religion — Story of the three clerks — A higher idea of asceticism gained ground — S. Columba and the nettles — The saints and animals — And children — How they used their powers — What they did for womankind — The biographies, how far trustworthy — The interest in knowing something of the founders of the Churches.
THE story goes that the devil one day came to the Tamar from the Devon side and stood rubbing his chin and considering.
"No," said he, "I won't risk it. Yonder every person is made into a saint, and everything into squab pie. I do not feel qualified for either position."
