The manor of Helston in Trigg is of very considerable extent. Mr. Lysons says, that the ancient site or barton
of the manor is supposed to have been at Michaelstow Beacon, called St. Syth’s, where vestiges remain of a camp. Besides the town of Camelford, this parish abounds in villages: Fenterwarson, Fooda, Helston, Trefrew, Treegoodwell, Tremagenna, Trevia, and Trewalder.
At Fentonwoon in this parish was born Capt. Wallis, celebrated for his voyage round the world and the discovery of Otaheite.
The right of voting for members of Parliament having been declared by a Committee of the House of Commons, reported on the 10th of November 1796, “to be in the freemen, being inhabitants and paying scot and lot; and that the capital burgessess as such, have not the right;” it became important to acquire as much as possible of the property within the borough to secure political influence; and after various sales and transfers, Lord Darlington at last succeeded in acquiring the whole.
The civil corporation hold the manor, mentioned by Mr. Tonkin to have been given by Charles the First, in the capacity of lord of the manor; but the freemen are persons presented by the homage in the Lord’s Court. It is almost needless to add that, when the whole property came into a single hand, and that residence with the payment of scot and lot were requisite to complete the power of voting in one presented by the homage, the Borough became what is well understood by the term “quite close,” and that it continued so till its extinction in 1832, since which the property has been sold in parcels.
When Mr. Thomas Pitt, of Boconnock, received in 1784 the grant of an hereditary seat in Parliament, and it became necessary, according to the established custom, to create an imaginary office for the purpose of bestowing on him a new appellation, Camelford was feigned to be a barony.
Mr. Macpherson, the author, editor, or paraphraser of Ossian, represented this borough in several Parliaments. This gentleman made a considerable figure in his day, and excited universal attention, chiefly from his publishing
what are called the Poems of Ossian. He is now perhaps best remembered by his correspondence with Doctor Johnson, who argued with the force always exerted by his mighty genius, against the authenticity of this work; and Mr. Macpherson, probably unable to meet the reasoning, attempted to establish his case by recurring to a practice almost as obsolete as the achievements of his supposed heroes, which was by reviving the ordeal or wager of battle, as the best mode of ascertaining truth; and with this view, according to the modern phrase, he wrote a challenge to Doctor Johnson, and obtained the following answer:
“Mr. James Macpherson,
“I have received your foolish and impudent letter. Any violence offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I cannot do for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I never shall be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian. What would you have me retract? I thought your book an imposture, and I think so still. For this opinion I have given my reasons to the public, which I here dare you to refute. Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, are not so formidable; and what I hear of your morals, inclines me to pay regard, not to what you shall say, but to what you shall prove.