Richard Carew died (6/11/1620)

[Ross Clark]

Cornish translator and antiquary, born 1555 at East Antony.
Best known for his _Survey of Cornwall_ (1602). But our linguistic
interest is in "An Epistle concerning the Excellencies of the English
Tongue" (1605). He praises English as being, not just as good as Latin,
but better. Crystal quotes a passage in which he extols the copiousness
of the English vocabulary, by listing 30 different ways to say "Go away!"
There was a lot of this about in those years -- Nebrija's grammar and
dictionary of Spanish (1490s, the first of any modern European
language); du Bellay's _Défense et illustration de la langue française_
(1549) -- just to name a couple I've heard of -- all asserting the worth
of modern languages as objects of study, as vehicles for literature and
statesmanship -- against the exclusivity of Latin.

The Epistle is here:
https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/elizabethan-critical-essays/the-excellency-of-the-english-tongue-15956/

also online as an appendix to the _Survey of Cornwall_, which is how it
was first published.

I didn't find anything about whether Carew himself actually spoke
Cornish, or wrote anything in it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carew_(antiquary)

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Post by Ross Clark
Cornish translator and antiquary, born 1555 at East Antony.
[ … ]
I didn't find anything about whether Carew himself actually spoke
Cornish, or wrote anything in it.

Neither can I find anything much. However, I think it's very unlikely
that he spoke Cornish. My great^14 grandfather Alexander Carew died in
Antony in 1492, and was probably a relative of Richard Carew. However,
he was born in Haccombe, Devon, and his ancestors were also from Devon,
as far as the weak evidence goes. Notice, moreover, that Antony is on
the Rame Peninsula, the most English part of Cornwall, and indeed part
of Devon until the boundary reforms of 1889.

Post by Ross Clark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carew_(antiquary)

[Ross Clark]

Post by Athel Cornish-Bowden

Post by Ross Clark
Cornish translator and antiquary, born 1555 at East Antony.
[ … ]
I didn't find anything about whether Carew himself actually spoke
Cornish, or wrote anything in it.

Neither can I find anything much. However, I think it's very unlikely
that he spoke Cornish. My great^14 grandfather Alexander Carew died in
Antony in 1492, and was probably a relative of Richard Carew. However,
he was born in Haccombe, Devon, and his ancestors were also from Devon,
as far as the weak evidence goes. Notice, moreover, that Antony is on
the Rame Peninsula, the most English part of Cornwall, and indeed part
of Devon until the boundary reforms of 1889.

Post by Ross Clark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carew_(antiquary)

Interesting family connection! That R.Carew didn't speak it seems
likely. The language was already in retreat. (Wikipedia puts the peak of
speaker numbers in the 13th century.) I did find one comment on it from
Caqrew's _Survey_:

[M]ost of the inhabitants can speak no word of Cornish, but very few are
ignorant of the English; and yet some so affect their own, as to a
stranger they will not speak it; for if meeting them by chance, you
inquire the way, or any such matter, your answer shall be, "Meea navidna
caw zasawzneck," "I [will] speak no Saxonage."[66]