Sanctus Neotus.—Valet in exit’ xmar’ pdial’ psonal’ cum al’ casual’ ibm cõib; annis £14. ulta 13s. 4d. in feod’ Johs Calwey, ball’ ibm, p annu’ clare £13. 6s. 8d.

Mr. Lysons gives a very detailed account of the different manors in this parish, and of the descents and alienations of each, but wholly uninteresting to any others than the proprietors.

The principal manor and advowson of the church, which had been both divided, are most fortunately again united in the Rev. Richard Gerveys Grylls, since we are indebted to the taste and to the liberality of this gentleman, for more

than restoring the beautiful decorations of the church to their original splendour.

The church is situated in a pleasing and retired vale, watered by a branch of the Fowey river, and abounding with trees; while the country surrounding it, on almost every side, is even now little cultivated, and must in former times have been a desert. No situation could be more adapted for the retreat of an anchorite; and monkish legends inform us that St. Guevor, or Guervier, or Guerer, fixed his abode at this place; and in after times, the sound of his name being found to somewhat resemble the French verb Guerir, to heal, tales were invented of his performing miraculous cures; and in particular of his having enabled King Alfred to sit on a horse at the precise moment when his presence in the field became indispensably necessary to oppose the pagan Danes.

If St. Guerir ever resided here at all, he must have very opportunely made way for St. Neot, since it is well ascertained that he also occupied this retreat in the reign of his brother or relation the Great Alfred.

St. Neot, having withdrawn from the Abbey of Glastonbury, founded by St. Joseph of Arimathea, retired into this solitude; where he adopted the singular penance of plunging himself daily into a well of cold water, and there remaining immersed to his neck till he had repeated the whole Book of Psalms. The miraculous powers however bestowed on him by the Almighty, in recompense for conduct so conducive to the happiness and well-being of his creatures, forbad St. Neot to remain secreted. Multitudes flocked to him from all parts; he founded a monastery, and repaired to Rome for a confirmation and for blessing at the hands of the Pope: these were readily obtained. He returned to his monastery, where frequent visits were made to him by King Alfred, on which occasions he admonished, instructed, and informed the great founder of English liberty; and finally quitted this mortal life on the 31st of July, about the year 883, in the odour

of sanctity so unequivocal, that travellers all over Cornwall were solaced by its fragrance. Nor did the exertions of our Saint terminate with his existence on earth; he frequently appeared to King Alfred, and sometimes led his armies in the field. But if the tales of these times are deserving of any confidence, the nation is really and truly indebted to St. Neot for one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed on it. To his advice, and even to his personal assistance as a teacher, we owe the foundation by Alfred of the University at Oxford.

The relics of St. Neot remained at his monastery in Cornwall till about the year 974, when Earl Alric, and his wife Ethelfleda, having founded a religious house at Eynesbury, in Huntingdonshire, and being at a loss for some patron saint, adopted the expedient of stealing the body of St. Neot; which was accordingly done, and the town retains his name, thus feloniously obtained, up to the present time. The monastery in Cornwall continued feebly to exist after this disaster through the Saxon times; but having lost its palladium, it felt the roiner’s hand; and almost immediately after the Norman Conquest, it was finally suppressed; yet the memory of the local saint is still cherished by the inhabitants of the parish and of the neighbourhood, endeared perhaps by the tradition of his diminutive stature, reduced in their imaginations to fifteen inches of height; and to these feelings we in all probability owe the preservation of the painted glass, the great decoration of this church, and one of the principal works of art to be seen in Cornwall.

The church itself is of the best description, having a nave and two aisles of equal length, with a square tower at the western end, and with the rare addition of an embattled parapet towards the south, but probably not older than the fifteenth century, with the exception of some parts of the walls near the chancel, which seem to have been a part of the former church. Soon after the new building had been completed, individuals in some cases, and associations