Jahn Tregeagle the Steward - part 3

'..."And they went yore to the minister, and axed he for to lay un. "And the minister zaid, thicky [Thicky, correctly written thilke -- i.e., the ilka, a true word frequent in Chaucer. ] was their look-out; they'd a brought'n up, and they was to gett 'n down again the best way they could. And I 've a heerd the ould men tell ut, sir. The minister he got dree hunderd pound for a layin' of un again.

"And first, a was bound to the old epping-stock [Perhaps Uppingstock, an erection of stone steps for the farmers' wives to get on their horses by.] up to Churchtown; [Not Chũrchtown, but Churchtówn.] and after that a was bound to the ould oven in T'evurder; James Wyatt down to Wadebridge, he was there when they did open ut.

"And after that a was bound to Dozmary Pool; and they do say that there he ez now emptying of it out with a lampet.shell, with a hole in the bottom of ut."

This is a very ancient idea, and was one of the torments of the classical Tartarus.The treacherous daughters of Danaus being condemned therein to empty Leth with a bottomless vessel:--

"Et Danai proles Veneris quae numma laesit,
In cava Lethaeas solia portat aquas."

Dosmare Pool is a small lake or tarn on the Bodmin Moors, a fit representative of Lethe, with its black water and desolate environs.--J. C. H.'

Hunt 1903