Page:The ancient language, and the dialect of Cornwall.djvu/352

332 Marazion on April 1, 1814. Hitchins was, therefore, a near ' neighbour to Dolly Pentreath's place, viz., Mousehole. The collection of the materials for a Cornish History must have taken a long time, so that Kitchens, being so near Mousehole, and writing not so very many years after the time of Dolly's death, could hardly be other than well in- formed of the facts. It being hard to reconcile the above differences of dates, and the subject requiring further investigation, the writer went to Mousehole in the summer of 1881, and made inquiries. He convinced himself that, (notwithstanding the statement of so correct a writer as Drew, that Dolly died in " 1788," or the inscription on her present monument erected by Prince L. L. Bonaparte that she "died in 1778,") the actual day of her death was Deer. 26th, a.d. 1777. She was probably buried, in the very beginning of the year 1778, a few days after her death. This appears to be positively determined by the follow- ing valuable and interesting letters from Mr. Bernard Victor, of Wellington Place, Mousehole. He not only fixes the date of Dolly Pentreath's death, but also gives details of the true position of her grave, over which the monument, erected by Prince L. L. Bonaparte in 1860, should haye been placed, instead of where it is at present, (1882.) The writer of this was informed by Mr. Trewavas, of Mousehole, who in 1881 was in his 88th year, and pleasantly bright, clear, and intelligent, that " he does not remember anything on her (Dolly Pentreath's) tombstone or what was on it, himself, but he has heard that the first