The publication of the present work has been attended by circumstances of pathetic interest. It is to be feared that it will be the last literary testament of its author, who, before the whole was completed, was stricken by a severe stroke of paralysis, which has incapacitated him from holding a pen in his hand. He must, therefore, claim the indulgence of the critics and the public in this third series of Cornish tales.

The whole subject of folk-lore, however, is at this moment of such general interest, that still it is hoped that this little addition to the stores now being gathered from every nation under heaven, may be acceptable to the literary world. The publication of Melusine, a periodical solely devoted to folk-lore subjects, at Paris, was followed in England by the formation of the Folk-lore Society in 1878, which promises to take an important position among the learned societies of the English nation, and whose publications have already reached the third volume. The valuable collections of this society have doubtless done much to systematize the work already done, and to encourage the labours of collectors of folk-lore throughout the world.

The poet truly says,—

and so the folk-lore student, in collecting the myths, the proverbs, the traditions, the customs of the peasants of many lands, is doing an important work in accumulating facts bearing on the history of mankind; not the mere records of the wars and doings of kings and generals, but of the beliefs, aspirations, thoughts and feelings of the working classes of various nations.

In this work the author has done some valuable service, and it is to be hoped that this addition to his former labours may be found of value, seeing that it deals not with the traditions of the peasantry of distant and foreign lands, but with the legends and traditions of the country folk of one of the most romantic and interesting counties of “Merrie England.” [iv]