“Datum in domo nostra convocationis die decimo-tertio mensis Martii, anno Domini millessimo septingentessimo sexagessimo sexto.”
Not having been born sufficiently early even to see this highly distinguished person, I am induced to copy the following short notices from a well-known Biographical Dictionary, with a few trifling alterations:
The Rev. William Borlase, LL.D. a very ingenious and learned writer, was of an ancient family in Cornwall, and born at Pendeen in the parish of St. Just, February 2d, 1695-6. His father had represented St. Ives in Parliament.
Mr. Borlase received the early part of his education at Penzance, but in 1709 removed to Plymouth. In March 1712-13 he became a member of Exeter College; and in June 1719, took his degree of Master of Arts. In 1720 he was ordained priest, and in 1722 he received institution to the rectory of Ludgvan in Cornwall. In 1732 the Lord Chancellor King presented him to the vicarage of St. Just, his native parish, the only preferments he ever obtained.
In the parishes of Ludgvan and St. Just were at that time rich mines of copper and of tin, abounding with a great variety of curious minerals. These he collected, and
from that pursuit was led to study at large the natural history of this most interesting county.
The numerous monuments of remote antiquity scattered over the hills and promontories of Cornwall, made also deep impressions on his mind, and he availed himself of every resource placed within his reach, by previous learning and erudition, to acquire a knowledge of the Druidical learning, and of the manners and customs of the ancient Britons previously to their becoming Christians. In 1750 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1753 published in a folio volume, at Oxford, “The Antiquities of Cornwall.” A second edition in the same form came out at London in the year 1769, with considerable additions, under the following title: “Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall, consisting of several Essays on the ancient Inhabitants, Druid Superstition, Customs, and Remains of the most remote Antiquity in Britain and the British Isles; exemplified and proved by Monuments now extant in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands: with a Vocabulary of the Cornu-British language. Revised, with several additions, by the Author.”
His next publication had for its title, “Observations on the ancient and present state of the Islands of Scilly, and their importance to the Trade of Great Britain,” Oxford, 1756, 4to. This work was an extension of a paper, read before the Royal Society in 1753.
In 1758 came out his “Natural History of Cornwall, with Engravings of all the specimens, both animate and mineral, deemed to be of curiosity or of importance,” printed also at Oxford, in one volume folio, the original specimens and many antiquities being deposited in the Ashmolean Museum.
All these works, executed with great ability, patient diligence, and skill, raised the reputation of the author so high throughout the learned world, that in March 1766, the University of Oxford conferred on him their highest honour, the degree of Doctor by diploma, which he lived to