Last speaker of the Cornish language number of miners might have come was St Day and Carharrack, but they may have come from the area around Breage. If this "uncouth jargon" was Cornish it would mean that there were still a lot of people using it at the end of the 18th century. The Reverend John Bannister stated in 1871 that "The close of the 18th century witnessed the final extinction, as spoken language, of the old Celtic vernacular of Cornwall". However, there is some evidence that Cornish continued, albeit in limited usage by a handful of speakers, through the late 19th century. Matthias Wallis of
The Last Day in the Old Home The Last Day in the Old Home The Last Day in the Old Home is an oil-on-canvas painting made in 1862 by English painter Robert Braithwaite Martineau. It depicts a moralising scene at the home of a spendthrift country squire. The old furniture and paintings indicate that the fictional Pulleyne family has occupied Hardham Court for centuries, but the equine print in the lower left corner indicates the reason for the family's reduced circumstances: the father has gambled away the family fortune. The paintings and other contents are labelled ready for an auction sale on 22 October 1850, with a