S. Patrick in Ireland did not require his bishops to be unmarried; all he demanded of them was that they should follow the apostolic rule, and that each should be the husband of one wife. The same regulation continued in force in Wales till the Norman invasion in the twelfth century.
S. Patrick was no doubt mainly guided in making his rule by what was ordered in Scripture, but he was also doubtless satisfied that on practical grounds it was the best course, for he had a difficult team of missionaries to drive. This comes out clearly enough in the “Lives” extant.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE LIZARD
Meneage—The meaning of Lizard—The character of the district—Helston—The Furry Day—Pixy pots—Loe Pool—Tennyson—Serpentine—The Cornish heath—The Strapwort—Other plants—Woad—S. Piran and the woad—Windmill—Peter Odger—Mullion—Tregonning Hill—S. Ruan—S. Winwaloe—One and All—Gunwalloe Church—Cury—The colonisation of Brittany—Wrecks.
“The learned Scotus”, says Addison in the 174th number of the Tatler, “to distinguish the race of mankind, gives to every individual of that species what he calls a seity, something peculiar to himself, which makes him different from all other persons in the world.”
What the learned Scotus said of individuals may as truly be said of localities; and indisputably the seity of the Lizard is most pronounced.
In itself the district is not beautiful. It consists of a tableland elevated a few hundred feet above the sea, very bald and treeless, and without hills to break its uniformity.
