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Master Camden letteth vs vnderstand, that this towne is sometimes
termed Gaffelford: wherethrough we may marke it for the lists of a
great fight betweene the Bretons & Deuonshire men [812.], which
Houeden assigneth to haue bene darrayned at Gauelford, and perhaps
the same, which the said Master Camden voucheth out of Marianus Scotus
[820.], and describeth by these verses of an elder Poet:

          ------------ Naturam Cambala fontis,
    Mutatam stupet esse sui, transcendit inundans
    Sanguineus torrens ripas, & ducit in aequor
    Corpora caesorum, plures natare videres,
    Et petere auxilium, quos vndis vita reliquit.

    The riuer Camel wonders, that
      His fountaines nature showes
    So strange a change, the bloody streame
      Vpswelling ouerflowes
    His both side banks, and to the sea
      The slaughtered bodies beares:
    Full many swimme, and sue for ayde,
      While waue their life outweares.

In our forefathers daies, when deuotion as much exceeded knowledge,
as knowledge now commeth short of devotion, there were many
bowssening places, for curing of mad men, and amongst the rest,
one at Alternunne in this Hundred, called S. Nunnes poole, which
Saints Altar (it may be) by pars pro toto, gaue name to the Church:
and because the maner of this bowssening is not so vnpleasing
to heare, as it was vneasie to feele, I wil (if you please) deliuer
you the practise, as I receyued it from the beholders.

The water running from S. Nunnes well, fell into a square and close
walled plot, which might bee filled at what depth they listed.
Vpon this wall was the franticke person set to stand, his backe
towards the poole, and from thence with a sudden blow in the brest,
tumbled headlong into the pond: where a strong fellowe, provided for
the nonce, tooke him, and tossed him vp and downe, alongst and
athwart the water, vntill the patient, by forgoing his strength,
had somewhat forgot his fury.  Then was hee conueyed to the Church,
and certaine Masses sung ouer him; vpon which handling, if his right
wits returned, S. Nunne had the thanks: but if there appeared small
amendment, he  was bowssened againe, and againe, while there remayned
in him any hope of life, for recouery.

It may be, this deuice tooke original from that master of Bedlem,
who (the fable saith) vsed to cure his patients of that impatience,
by keeping them bound in pooles, vp to the middle, and so more or
lesse, after the fit of their fury.

[124]

                  Trigge Hundred.

THe name of Trig, in Cornish, signifieth an Inhabitant; howbeit,
this Hundred cannot vaunt any ouer-large scope, or extraordinary
plenty of dwellings:  his chiefe towne is Bodmyn; in Cornish,
Bos venna, commonly termed Bodman, which (by illusion, if not
Etimology) a man might, not vnaptly, turne  into Badham: for of
all the townes in Cornwall, I holde none more healthfully seated,
then Saltash, or more contagiously, then this.  It consisteth wholly
(in a maner) of one street, leading East and West, welneere the space
of an Easterne mile, whose South side is hidden from the Sunne, by an
high hill, so neerely coasting it in most places, as neither can light
haue entrance to their staires, nor open ayre to their other roomes.
Their back houses, of more necessary, then cleanly seruice, as
kitchins, stables, &c. are clymed vp vnto by steps, and their
filth by euery great showre, washed downe thorow their houses into
the streetes.

The other side is also ouerlooked by a great hill, though somewhat
farther distant: and for a Corollarium, their Conduit water runneth
thorow the Churchyard, the ordinary place of buriall, for towne and
parish.  It breedeth therefore little cause of maruaile, that euery
generall infection is here first admitted, & last excluded: yet the
many decayed houses, proue the towne to haue bene once very populous;
and, in that respect, it may stil retaine the precedence, as supported
by a weekly market, the greatest of Cornwall, the quarter Sessions for
the East diuision, and halfe yeerely faires.  The iurisdiction
thereof is administred by a Maior and his brethren, and vpon warrant
of their Charter, they claime authoritie, to take acknowledgment of
statute bonds.

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