and I was soon rewarded by
finding in the registry at Exeter a list of ninety-two churches existing
in Cornwall alone in the time of Edward the Confessor, of which
Lam-piran was one. With the help of another antiquary, I discovered nine
in one week, in the west part of the county, with foundation walls and
altar tombs, of which I published an account in the "Archaeological
Journal." This paper set other persons to work, who discovered similar
remains in various parts of the country; and thus it was proved to
demonstration that we had more ecclesiastical antiquities, and of
earlier date, than we were aware of.

Next, my attention was directed to Cornish crosses; about which I also
sent a paper, with illustrations, as a good secretary and correspondent
to the same Journal. My researches on this subject took me back to a
very remote time. I found crosses among Roman remains, with
inscriptions, something like those in the Catacombs near Rome--these
were evidently Christian; but I found crosses also among Druidic
antiquities. I could not help inquiring, "Where did the Druids get this
sign?" From the Phoenicians. "Where did they get it?" From the
Egyptians. "Where did they get it?" Then I discovered that the cross had
come to Egypt with traditions about a garden, a woman, a child, and a
serpent, and that the cross was always represented in the hand of the
second person of their trinity of gods. This personage had a human
mother, and slew the serpent which had persecuted her.*

_______________________

* These traditions came to the Egyptians from an ancestor who had come
over the flood with seven others.
_______________________

Here was a wonderful discovery! The mythology of Egypt was based on
original tradition, handed down from Antediluvian times! From further
investigation, it was evident that the substance of Hindoo mythology
came from the same source; as also that of the Greeks, Chinese,
Mexicans, and Scandinavians. This is how the Druids got the cross also:
it was in the hand of their demi-god Thor, the second person of their
triad, who slew the great serpent with his famous hammer, which he
bequeathed to his followers.

I was beside myself with excitement, and walked bout the room in a most
agitated state. I then made a table or harmony of these various
mythologies, and when placed side by side, it was quite clear that they
were just one and the same story, though dressed up in a variety of
mythological forms