Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/42

Mr. Hobson Matthews in his History of St. Ives, Lelant, Towednack, and Zennor, has an interesting chapter on Cornish. He gives reasons for supposing that the language survived in St. Ives, Zennor, and Towednack even longer than in Mounts Bay, and states that the families of Stevens and Trewhella were among the last to keep it up in Towednack. He also mentions one John Davy, who was living in 1890 at Boswednack in Zennor (a hamlet between the Gurnard's Head and Zennor Churchtown), who had some traditional knowledge of Cornish, knew the meanings of the place-names in the neighbourhood, and "could converse on a few simple topics in the ancient language." Unless Mr. Matthews, whose judgment one would trust in such a matter, actually heard him do so, the last statement is not easy to believe.