century; she was an Irish lady, said to have been the sister of St.
Uni, of Euny Lelant and other churches. The church is large and
shapely, but its ancient character has hardly been preserved by the
redecoration that took place in 1890, though happily that restoration
revealed some fine frescoes that had been covered with whitewash. One
of the figures is the popular one of St. Christopher, like that of
Poughill in north Cornwall; other figures are St. Michael, St. Giles,
and St. Cury. The altar-slabs are old, and may once have been taken
from altar-tombs. There is a good tower-arch, a five-shafted font, and
excellent wagon-shaped roofs; chancel-screen and reredos are modern.
Of the two bells, one, the tenor, is the largest in Cornwall, with a
diameter of 54 inches; it is said that there was formerly a peal, but
that the bells were recast into this single form. It is natural to
find traces of the Godolphins here, their seat being so near. The
national history has much to say of one Godolphin only, Sidney, the
Lord Treasurer, whom Macaulay treated not too tenderly; but Cornwall
knows of many, and is especially loving to the memory of Margaret, the
wife of Sidney, whose tomb is in the church of Breage. She has had the
benefit of a memoir by John Evelyn, her faithful friend, and his
account of her is a beautiful picture of womanhood. Being appointed
Maid of Honour to the Duchess of York in her twelfth year, the girl
retained her purity in a Court that was notoriously impure, and it was
thus that she met her two friends, the young Godolphin who married her
nine years later, and the older man Evelyn, who gave her devotion and
tender counsel. It was in 1678 that Margaret Godolphin died, after the
birth of her only child. A few days before her illness she had written
to her absent husband: "If I might, I would beg that my body might lye
where I have had such a minde to goe myselfe, att Godolphyn, among
your friends. I believe, if I were carried by sea, the expense would
not be very great; but I don't insist on that place, if you think it
not reasonable; lay me where you please." To Cornwall her sorrowing
husband brought her, laying her in this church of Breage, where her
remembrance is of a very sweet savour; and when we recollect how
fondly her lord had loved her, and how he never sought to fill the
vacant place, we must needs think with greater gentleness of one who,
for his age, was a patriotic and high-minded statesman. An e