Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/245

ST. IVES 239 were levied to pay for the repair of the " peere or Kay of St. Ives " ; in which dues there were special charges for English vessels and somewhat higher for " Alients." The writer is of divided mind as to the spelling of pier, for he passes from " peere " to " peor." It is interesting to note that " All alients for roulinge on the sande te paye pr tonn lid. " ; which does not refer to any merry sport of rolling on the sands, as sometimes practised by exhilarated visitors, but to rolling of fish. It was doubtless a useful provision that " noe garbadge of ffishe or stinkinge ffishe should be cast above full sea marke att neape tide on the sande." What with the queer wordings and the defective punctuation, it is sometimes difficult to fathom the exact purport of entries. Thus, about the year 1629, we have mention of two shillings given " to a poore dis- tressed scholler that came to our towne from Germanie the 27th of ffebruarie to seeke passadge home from Ireland." Query, where was the poor " scholler" going ? In 1610 the famous silver wish- ing-cup was presented to the town by Sir Francis Basset, being about a foot in height ; it was really drunk from in old corporation festivities, but the wine was latterly dipped from it in a ladle. It is inscribed as follows : — ' ' If any discord 'twixt my friends arise Within the Borough of beloved Saint les, It is desyred that this my cup of love To every one a peacemaker may prove ; Then am I blest, to have given a legacie So like my heart imto posteritie." A little later we read of sixpence paid "to one that did whipp the mayde that would drowne herself " ; from which it is clear that the town