Introduction

Sometime between 1660 and 1670, Nicholas Boson, gentleman merchant of Newlyn, wrote a short story, partly in the Cornish language but mainly in English, for the amusement of his children. Entitled The Duchesse of Cornwall's Progress to see the Land's end and visit the mount, the tale has a sea-monster and mermaid and a wicked hermit who can conjure up storms, a delightfully heady mix calculated to excite the attention of young minds. But behind the folklore, according to Matthew Spriggs in this collection, was a yet deeper significance, for the story may have echoed 'a confused folk memory of rebellion nearly two centuries before', a dim remembrance of the Cornish risings of 1497. ¹