HHHIHBli mmSm mm m HI HHfi HnHHrlflnnffl IMnll ml ni ffinf In ffiSDfro ii niH| IsHflHsBfinaaAl mBSmm mWSm mm immim ' BRBBH BSBHSH THE PLYMOUTH AND DEVONPORT GUIDE; gftetc!)e«s of tfje sutrountrtng ^ceneri>, By H. E. CARRINGTON. These forms of beauty have not been (o me As is a landscape to a blind man's eye ; But oft in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din Of towns and cities, I have owed to them, In hours of weariness, sensations sweet, Felt in the blood and felt along the heart. Wordsworth* FOURTH EDITION, Enlarged and corrected to the present time ; WITH LOCAL VIEWS AND A MAP OF^THE TOWNS. DEVONPORT : W. BYERS, BOOKSELLER TO HIS MAJESTY. LONGMAN AND CO. LONDON. 1837. ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON A 1*7 C- 3 W. Byers, Printer, Fore-street, Deronport. HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH, THIS WORK WAS, BY ROYAL PERMISSION, (WHEN HIS MAJESTY WAS LORD HIGH ADMIRAL,) RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS DUTIFUL SUBJECT THE PUBLISHER. INDEX. DSVONPOSiT. Page. Places of Worship , 2 Charities and Workhouse , 3 Mechanics' Institute , 5 Police , 6 Town Hall ib. Column 7 Literary Institutions 8 Inns, &c 10 Steam Carriage Company 11 Steamers 12 Steam Packet Company 13 Market 14 Theatre 15 Ragatta 16 Commercial Rooms 18 Newspapers 19 Baths ib. Banks , ib. Stoke . 20 Morice-tovvn ib. Torpoint , 23 Dock Yard -. 24 Gunwharf and Magazine 34 Barracks . ^. 37 Military Hospital .75 ib. Harbour * 38 Sound 40 STOREHOUSES. Manufactories, Inns, and Market 42 Places of Worship 43 Charities ib. Royal Naval Hospital 45 Marine Barracks 4/ Long Room ditto ib. Royal William Victualling Yard 48 PLYMOUTH. Page. Places of Worship 65 Royal Union Baths 66 Market 67 Inns, &c 9 ib. Charities 68 Literary Institutions 70 Theatre and Hotel 73 Commerce , 74 Exchange 76 Guildhall ib. Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway 77 Horticultural Society . ..,,. ib. Regatta 78 Hoe 79 Races 82 Citadel 83 Custom House 84 Old Victualling Office ib. SCENEP.Y. Antony 197 Beggar's Island 198 Bickleigh Vale 248 Bickleigh 259 Bovisand 290 Breakwater < H5 Buckland Abbey 168 Buckland Monachorum 169 Brent-tor 221 Cawsand 120 Calstock 141 Cad, Valley of the 258 ChildeofPlymsiock 299 Cothele 133 Coffleet 277 Crockern-tor 246 Dartmoor 293 -Prison 241 Dewerstone 264 Eddystone Lighthouse 91 Endsleigh Cottage 233 Pnge. Erth 206 Erme 280 Erraington 283 Fleet 285 Harewood , 141 Holbeton 286 Hoo Meavy , 17S Ince 205 Ivy Bridge 281 Kitley 2?S Landulph and Botusfleming * 128 Lara , 249 Bridge 267 Lophill 162 Lynher „ 196 Lydford 229 Castle 230 Bridge 227 Cascade .. 226 Lynam , 278 Maker 120 Maristow 162 Meavy , 178 Oak ib. Mewstone 279 Millbrook 186 Morwelbam 143 Modbury 284 Morwell Rocks 145 Motheeombe 286 Mountwise ....... . 101 Mount Edgcumbe , 110 MountBatten 291 Newton Ferrers 278 Oreston 288 Pentillie 130 Plym Bridge 231 Plympton , , 270 Plymstock 289 PortEliot 211 Prince Town 241 RameHead 193 Rame 194 ▼ill. INDEX. Page. Saltrara 268 Saltash 126 Sheepstor 183 Village of ib. Waterfall ib. Sharrow Grot 187 Shillingham 204 Sheviock 206 Shaugh 261 Bridge 260 Storm on Dartmoor 302 St. Germans 208 St. Budeaux 157 Tamar River, 123 Tamerton , 159 Tavy, River .*. . 163 Tavistock 216 Torpoiut 23 Trematon 199 Two Bridges . . . : , 243 Warleigh 168 Weston Mill 155 Whitsand Bay 188 Whistman's Wood 244 Weir Head 147 Yealm, River 275 Yealmpton , . . . 276 APPENDIX. Government Establishments 307 Municipal Officers, Plymouth 308 Churches, Chapels, Newspapers, and Banks 309 Foreign Consuls . « 310 Waggons j % ib. Hackney Coach Fares 311 Stonehouse Churches and Chapels 312 Municipal Officers, Devouport 313 Churches and Chapels, do ib. Banks, Literary Institutions, Newspapers . = ib. Stage Coaches and Ferries 314 DEVONPORT. Devon port, formerly Plymouth- Dock, is pleasantly situated on the eastern bank of Hamoaze, about two miles west of Plymouth, and, together with its suburbs of Stoke, Morice- Town, &c, contains about 40,000 Inhabitants. It owes its origin to the Establishment of the Dock- Yard, in the reign of William III., and its (increase in importance since that period has been very rapid. In form it is oblong, measuring nearly 3000 feet from north to south, and 1500 feet from east to west. The streets are wide and well-built, intersecting each other, with some few exceptions, at right angles. The foot-ways are paved with variegated marble, raised from quarries in the neighbourhood, and presenting, when washed by a shower, a most beautiful ap- pearance. The town is situated in the parish and manor of Stoke-Damejel, the whole of which — with the exception of the Glebe, the tenements B 2 DEVONPORT. of Ford and Swilley, and that portion of land which has been purchased by Government, is the property of Sir John St, Aubyn, Bart., who inherits it from his great uncle, Sir William Morice, Bart,,* a descendant of Sir William Morice, Secretary of State to Charles II. The lord of this manor holds an annual Court Leet and Court Baron, at which his son, Edward St. Aubyn, Esq., presides, as Steward of the Manor. Devonport has 'been fortified ever since the reign of George II. and a few years since con- siderable progress was made in the construction of lines on a more extended scale, but the works have been abandoned, and continue in an un- finished state. The entrances to the town from the land are three — one from Stoke, one from Stonehouse, and the other from Morice-Town. The parish church of Stoke being incompetent in point of size to accommodate the inhabitants of this densely-populated district, numerous places of worship have been from time to time erected within the town of Devonport. St. Aubyn's Chapel in Chapel-Street, and St. John's in Duke- Street, the former built in 1771 and the latter in 1799, conform to the principles of the Established * Th is gentleman purchased the manor of Sir Edward Wise, the former proprietor, for £11,600. DEVONPORT. 6 Church. The chief dissenting meeting-houses are the Calvinist Chapels in Princess-Street, Mount-Street, and Ker-Street ; the Baptist Chapels in Morice-Square, and Pembroke-Street ; the Methodist Chapels in Morice and Monument Streets ; the Moravian in James-Street ; and the Unitarian in Granby-Street — in connection with all or most of these are Sunday Schools, where thousands of children of both sexes receive the benefit of religious instruction. The Dock- Yard Chapel is also open to the inhabitants. The Workhouse is situated in Duke-Street, and is superintended by a governor and a matron, who reside within the walls, It contains an excellent Infirmary, with separate wards for males and females : and also an Asylum for lunatic paupers, the management of which has been such as to give great and general satisfaction. All the other arrangements of this extensive Establish- ment are conducted with becoming regularity The two overseers of the poor are elected annually . There is besides a permanent assistant-overseer, who receives a yearly salary. The Devonport and Stonehouse Public Dis- pensary stands in Chapel-Street, and is supported by voluntary contributions. An annual subscriber of one guinea is entitled to recommend four pa~ 4 DEVONPORT. tients every year. The affairs of the Dispensary are directed by a president, vice-president, trea- surer, and secretary : and there are separate committees for Devonport and Stonehouse. The other Charitable Institutions are the Public Schools forTpoor boys and girls ; the School for the children of seamen and soldiers ; the Central Sunday School, at which, during the week, gra- tuitous instruction is given to a large number of children of both sexes, as well as to adults of the very poorest class"; the Baptist Charity School for clothing and educating a number of poor girls ; the Lying-in Charity ; the Female Benevolent Society ; the Dorcas Society, &c. Devonport possesses the advantage of a Union Savings' Bank, established in 1818; the benefits of which are not confined to these immediate towns, but are open to the whole neighbourhood, — local receivers of deposits being established in the several country towns and parishes. A handsome building, suited for the purposes of the Institution, has been erected in Chapel-street, and the affairs are under the direction of a patron, president, a body of trustees, not fewer in number than thirteen, nor exceeding thirty, and a committee of twenty-one managers. The officers consist of a treasurer, a secretary, and an DEVONPORT. ( actuary. The latter situation is at present filled by Mr. James Dawe. A meeting of the com- mittee of management is held quarterly, and a statement of the accounts is published annually by a general meeting. No individual is allowed to pay into this Bank more than £30 a-year, but the deposits of Friendly Societies are subject to no rule of limitation. The Devonport and Stonehouse Mechanics' Institute was formed in March, 1825. This excellent establishment contains a well-arranged and continually increasing library, the benefits of which are accessible on the payment of a small weekly subscription,* Scientific Lectures are periodically delivered by professional gentlemen engaged for the purpose ; ancL many intelligent members of the Society from time to time read discourses on different instructive subjects. Devonport, since the passing of the Reform Bill, has been represented in Parliament by Vice- Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, and Sir George Grey, Bart., his Majesty's Under Secretary of State for the Colonies. Its local government is principally vested in a Board of Commissioners, chiefly selected from among the inhabitants ; * The subscription is 3d. per week. Subscribers under twenty years of age pay but 2d. E 2 t) DEVONPORT. and who, by virtue of an act passed in June. 1814, are authorised to superintend the affairs of the Workhouse, the management of the poor, and the lighting, paving, watching, and cleaning of the town. They are also empowered to grant licenses to porters, to register watermen, &c. A bench of county magistrates* sits at the Town- Hall on Wednesdays, to hear and determine minor complaints arising within the town and parish, and to dispose of other business requiring magisterial interference. In addition to the county and court-leet constables, there are beadles and a night and day police ; the nocturnal safety of the town is further provided for by a number of watchmen, and the streets during the winter are brilliantly lighted with gas. The new public buildings and private dwelling houses which have been lately erected in Devon- port are characterised by taste and elegance. The Town-Hall, in Ker-Street, possesses a noble and classical exterior. The front is a Doric Portico with four massive fluted columns, pro- ducing, when viewed at a distance, a very fine * The Bench of County Magistrates consists of the Rev. T. H, Ley; Captain Sir James Gordon Bremer, Knt., R.N. ; Captain Foote, K.N.; Thomas Husband, William Hodge, W, P. Day kin Nathaniel Downe, William Hanock, John Ingle, and Thomas Gardner, Esquires. DEVON PORT. / effect. On the entablature, over the entrance, has been placed a fine statue of Britannia ; which, with several others, was presented to the town by its late public-spirited inhabitant. R. Burnet. Esq., now of London. A flight of stone steps leads to the Hall, a spacious room measuring 75 feet by 40, and 31 feet in height. It is well fitted up with convenient moveable benches. The interior is well decorated by seven paintings. The largest, splendidly framed, is a portrait of his present Majesty William IV. and does credit to a native artist, Mr. Drake. The others have all, it is believed, been state paintings. The pair at the head of the Hall represents George III. and his consort ; that at the foot. George I. and his consort ; and the other two are likenesses of Queen Anne and George II. Beneath the Hall are the overseers' offices, the town prisons, and watch- house. Contiguous to the Town-Hall is the Devonport Column,* erected by public subscription to com- memorate the alteration in the name of the town. • These four buildings, which are so appropiately situated iti the central and most elevated part of the town, were all erected between the years 1821 and 1827, and are monuments of the taste and skill of J. Foulston, Ksq. to whom this neighbourhood is indebted for so many other of its architectural ornaments. The Hall was designed after the Parthenon at Athens, and built by subscription, at an expense of £2932. The Column cost £2750. The Chapel and the Library are allowed to be very successful imitations of their different styles :" the latter more especially from the smallness of its scale. o DEVONPORT. It is a noble fluted pillar of the Grecian Doric order, and its height above the level of the street is 124 feet. A spiral stair case within the shaft conducts to the summit, from which the spectator enjoys a grand and extensive prospect. The hills, vales, fields, woods, and waters, from Hengeston Down in the north to the ocean in the south — from the wilds of Dartmoor in the east to the billowy eminences of Cornwall in the west — lie before the gaze in a beautifully varied panorama ; while the eye looks down on Devon - port and its immediate vicinity as on a map. The Column is built of Cornish granite, and near it is Mount ZionChapel, a Calvinist meeting-house, built in the fantastic Hindoo style. The front, ornamented with pinnacles and fancifully em- bellished, possesses a very pleasing appearance. Adjoining the chapel is the building of the Devo?iport Civil and Military Library and News- Room, which being in imitation of the Egyptian architecture, forms a good contrast to the neigh- bouring edifices, the most conspicuous of which is the Royal Naval Annuitant Society, established in 1823. Messrs. Britton and Bray ley, in their descrip- tion of Plymouth-Dock as it was about thirty years ago, denominated it a town of no litera- DEYONPORT. ture. The stigma which was affixed to the name of Plymouth-Dock cannot with justice be applied to Devonport, a spirit of intelligent enquiry having sprung up among the inhabitants. We have already alluded to the Mechanics' Institute, which though but feebly supported, has not failed to manifest its powerful tendencies to enlighten an ingenious and indispensable class of our popu- lation. The Public Library and News- Room established on a liberal scale, has been well sup- ported ,• and were much enriched by a junction with the Military Library, formerly in the Citadel at Plymouth. A valuable miner alogical collection, allowed to be the finest in the West of England, has been recently presented to this Institution bv Sir John St. Aubyn, Bart., Lord of the Manor of Stoke Damerel, and which has been most scienti- fically arranged by George Prideaux, Esq. of Plymouth, who delivered an able and explanatory lecture on the cabinet being opened for public inspection. Among the educational establishments of the town are two Subscription Schools, both of which are highly creditable to those who origi- nated and support them, as affording to the classes with which they are respectively connected, faci- lities for giving their children, at a moderate 10 DEVONPORT. expense, every necessary accomplishment. Clas- sical Literature, the Mathematics, and other branches of a liberal education, are taught at the establishment near Prince's Street, with great success, on a system that has served as a model for many similar institutions in other parts of the kingdom. The other is a School of less pre- tensions, though not perhaps of less utility; it being chiefly in the hands of the Mechanics of the Dock- yard, several hundred of whose children of both sexes are there educated. It is conducted ill an excellent building near the Column. The chief inns in Devonport are Elliott's Royal Hotel, Weakley's Hotel, Townshend's London Inn, and the Prince George Inn, kept by Mr. Franklyn. In addition to these there are other excellent houses of public entertainment in the town. The Devonport Mail, Defiance, Standard, and Subscription stage-coaches start for London every day, from eight in the morning to twelve at noon. The Bath and Bristol Mail starts at five each afternoon. The Nimrod starts every other day, at nine in the morning, for Tavistock, Laun- ceston, Okehampton, to Barnstaple, and, on the alternate days, the Telegraph starts for Tavistock, Okehampton, to Barnstaple, both passing through Plymouth. The Cornish Mail leaves Elliott's DEVONPORT. 11 Hotel at seven in the morning, passes over in the steam-bridge to Torpoint, and proceeds through Liskeard, Lostwithiel, St. Austle, Truro, to Fal- mouth. Kellow's Omnibus also takes the same route to Truro daily. There are also omnibusses and light conveyances from Devonport to Lcoe, Liskeard, Bodmin, Launceston, and other towns in Cornwall. In addition to the usual number of hackney coaches, two neat and convenient Omnibusses run between Devonport and Ply- mouth every half-hour, from nine in the morning until nine at night, (Sundays excepted), licensed to carry twelve persons at sixpence each — which has proved an incalculable convenience to the in- habitants and visitors, both as respects the interests of trade, and the general comfort of passengers to and from these populous towns. A company has recently been formed, called the " Plymouth and Devonport Steam Carriage Company" for the purpose of putting to the test the invention of Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney, and to establish the practicability of travelling with carriages on common roads, propelled by steam. The shares were rapidly taken up— directors and other offi- cers appointed — in a very short period, therefore, the Company will commence their operations by running an omnibus between Plymouth and De- 12 DEVONPORT. vonport,, having ascertained that the transit of passengers is nearly 80,000 annually, and that the ground is highly calculated to prove the value of the invention. The town is much indebted to Mr. Gurney for giving an exclusive license to use the patent free of charge, and also to the secretary, Mr. Thomas Woollcombe, for his in- defatigable exertions in forming the Company. The coach-stand is in Fore -Street; the Post- office in St. Aubyn-Street. A regular communication is kept up, from the early part of April to the end of October, be- tween this port, Torquay, Cowes, and Ports- mouth, twice a week, by the Brunswick, steam- vessel. She is a superior steamer, of considerable power for her size, and is most conveniently fitted up for the comfort and accommodation of Pas- sengers. She leaves Plymouth on Mondays and Thursdays, about noon, so as to reach Portsmouth the following morning in time for her passengers to proceed, on arrival, to London, Brighton, &c. by the early coaches. She takes her departure from Portsmouth at six o'clock in the evening, after the day coaches have arrived from the Metropolis. She calls at Torquay and Cowes both on her voyage to Portsmouth, and on re- turning from thence. DEVONPORT. 13 The public comfort and convenience, as well as the commercial advantage of Devonport, in relation to the more northerly ports of the county, and in particular the mining districts, has been consulted by the Devonport Steam Packet Com- pany, in building and fitting the Sir John St Aubyn, This steamer has good accommodations, and besides running regularly to and from Cal- stock, makes occasional excursions to sea. A communication between these towns, Fal- mouth, Guernsey, Jersey, and France, is regularly kept up by a very excellent and comfortable steam-packet, the Sir Francis Drake. During the summer months she leaves her moorings, between the Royal Clarence Baths and the Royal William Victualling Yard, for the following places, first calling at Plymouth for passengers : — For Falmouth every Wednesday and Saturday, at ten, a.m„ and returns from thence every Monday and Thursday ; for Guernsey and Jersey every Thursday, at six, p.m. — leaves these Islands every Friday evening, and arrives here every Saturday morning, after which she proceeds to Falmouth, where she remains on the Sunday. This vessel has recently been lengthened, by which her speed has been considerably increased, and she is now deemed equal to any boat in the c 14 DEVONPORT. channel. Her accommodations are very com- plete, the charges for refreshment extremely moderate, and every attention is paid to passen- gers. During the summer months she takes a trip (wind and weather permitting) every Tues- day, up our beautiful River Tamar, to Cotehele, Calstock, &c, on which occasion the company are enlivened by a military band. No stranger should leave the neighbourhood without making this excursion. For the accommodation of persons frequenting the Market with produce, a small steamer, called the Sir Joseph Yorke, plies on the market days (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday) on the river Tamar, delivering and taking in goods and pas- sengers from off North-Corner, at the bottom of Cornwall-Street ; she belongs to John Johnson, Esq. of Plymouth, and was formerly connected with the Breakwater, that gentleman being at the time the contractor for this stupendous work. The Devonport Market is abundantly supplied with the necessaries and luxuries of life, the produce of the country for many miles round. It is generally accounted the cheapest mart for provisions in the kingdom. Fish of the most excellent kind is exposed for sale in surprising plenty, and retailed at exceedingly low prices. DEVONPORT. 15 By a recent act of Parliament passed for the regulation of the market, a mart for corn has been established. Devonport employs a number of vessels in the coasting trade, and its merchants send vessels to the Mediterranean, America, and other foreign countries. The principal quays for mercantile shipping are at North-Corner and Mutton-Cove. Boats for the accommodation of foot passengers as well as of vehicles, have long plied between the latter place and the opposite shore of Mount- Edgcumbe ; but some years since the attention of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood was drawn by J. E. Elworthy, Esq. Solicitor, of this town, to the fact that the ferry was originally established between Cremill-Point and East- Stonehouse ; and great numbers of persons refuse, in consequence, to pay the ferry dues, which are still demanded on crossing from Mut- ton-Cove to the former place. The sources of amusement which the town affords are by no means few. A very elegant Theatre, situated in Cumberland-street, in the thoroughfare to Plymouth, is opened during the winter season under the management of Mr. J. Dawson, a highly respectable and talented come- dian, who has spared neither exertion nor expense 16 DEVONPORT. in beautifying the place, and rendering it every way worthy the support of the lovers of the Drama. — In addition to a respectable Corps Dramatique, the Manager is continually engaging a succession of " Stars" from the metropolitan theatres. There is also a constant succession of balls and concerts. In summer the stranger will find ample gratification in exploring the enchanting scenery of the neighbourhood, which presents the lover of nature with a delightful and inexhaustible study. The singularly beautiful and attractive channel at the entrance of Hamoaze, becomes once in the year a scene of striking and peculiar interest, by the celebration of the Devonport and Slonehouse Regatta. The whole surface of the stream on this occasion, as well as the neighbouring shores and surrounding heights, is then instinct with life and gaiety ; and it cannot but affect with delight the breast of sympathy to behold a spot of earth so nobly adorned by nature, improved as it is by the grandest objects and associations of art, and occupied and enjoyed by thousands of happy mortals, free, bodily and mentally, for a few short hours at least, from toil and care, — some crowding the pretty beach of Cremill, others on the opposite walks, and Mountwise, or the DEVONPORT. 17 Point, while others are careering gracefully in pleasure yachts of every size and variety, upon the bosom of the waters, over which the sound of martial music spreads delightfully : every person and every thing, even to the ships lying motion- less at anchor, and bedecked from stem to stern in gay streamers of every hue, appearing to par- ticipate in the general delight, and to be com- pletely enwrapt in holiday mood, as in holiday attire. The sport itself cannot rival in imposing grandeur the annual yacht sailing in Plymouth Sound ; but it is, perhaps, even more interesting to the general spectator Nothing in the present state of society more forcibly reminds one of the simple and more natural games of antiquity. It is worthy of remark, too, that these aquatic sports have become, perhaps justly, the most populous of all public spectacles and amusements, and seems, at least in localities like this, to have arisen in good time to supply the place of some of the manv old English holiday games and festivities, now fallen, or fast falling, into desuetude. This popularity is not confined to Devonport, Stone- house, or Plymouth, for when those towns have set the example the spirit spreads, and almost every village and hamlet, bordering the harbour and creeks of the vicinity, have its day of festive relaxation, and its mimic regatta. 18 DEVONPORT. The stream which supplies Devonport with water is brought from Dartmoor, and winds a circuitous course of thirty miles. It is conducted into a reservoir, situated near the entrance of Stoke, from which it is circulated in iron pipes through the streets of the town and suburbs. This desirable addition to the comforts of the inhabitants was effected by an association of individuals, now denominated the Devonport Water Company, to whom belong the profits re- sulting from the payments made by the proprietor or occupier of each house that is supplied with water from the Company's reservoir. The Devonport Commercial Rooms are situated in Tavistock-Street, in the thoroughfare leading from Fore-Street to Morice-Town; and, with the Rooms at Plymouth and Stonehouse, owes its origin to the indefatigable exertions of John Johnson, E q , of Plymouth. The Reading Room is very capacious, well lighted with gas, has good fires, and every convenience. The prin- cipal London and Provincial Papers, Prices Current, Shipping Lists, Parliamentary Papers, &c. are constantly to be found on the tables ; the Subscriprion is £1. Is. per annum. Over the Reading Room is a spacious apartment, which is often let for Public Meetings, Societies, and DEVONPORT. 19 respectable Exhibitions. The building is the property of Thomas Husband, Esq, banker, and senior resident magistrate. Two Newspapers are printed and published in the town every Saturday morning — the "Devon- port Telegraph" by Messrs. Soper and Richards, St. Aubyn-street ; and the " Devonport Indepen- dent" by Mr. Byers, Fore-street. There are three Banks in the town— the De- vonport Bank, of Messrs. Hodge and Norman ; the General Bank, of Messrs. Husband ; and a branch of the Devon and Cornwall Banking Company. At a short distance from the town, and close to Mountwise, are the Royal Clarence Baths, which are allowed to be equal to any sea-baths in the kingdom. This establishment is the property of Mr. R. O. Back well, Ironmonger, of Devonport, and contains hot, cold, shower, vapour, and swimming baths, with improved bathing machines, on a beautiful beach imme- diately in front of the delightful peninsula of Mount Edgcumbe. Adjoining are seven lodging houses, which afford admirable retreats for invalids. The Hot Baths are always kept ready without notice, and there is a good carriage road to them, which has recently been lighted with gas. 20 STOKE AND MORICE-TOWN. STOKE AZfD IVtORICE-TOWar. Since the close of the last war, the pleasant and healthfully situated suburb of Stoke has grown rapidly in extent, population, and import- ance. It contains some handsomely built rows of houses, chiefly occupied by naval and military officers, and retired tradesmen; besides noble terraces commanding extensive views, and elegant villas scattered throughout and around. The mansion of J. Norman, Esq. is conspicuous — and the residences of G. Leach, and Jonathan Ram- sey, Esqrs. on the Rowdens, of Major Gammell and Wm. Hancock, Esq. may be also mentioned, as well as Tamar and St. Michael's Terraces, Albemarle Villas, and Somerset Cottages. The old fort called the Block-House, on the summit of the hill, commanding Devonport and most of the vicinity, affords a place of refreshing and delightful promenade, from which is surveyed landward, seaward, and on every side, the most extensive and varied prospects; indeed the tourist will not find a more charming panoramic view in the United Kingdom. Stoke has a free-school and two meeting-houses of the Wes- leyan Methodist and Independent connexion. STOKE AND MORICE-TOWN. 21 The parish-church is a plain structure, but com- modious. From the extent and dense population of the parish, the burial ground is very extensive. Morice-Town, which : as well as Stoke, may be accounted a suburb of Devonport, lies about a quarter of a mile north of the town. Besides the principal streets, many rows of neat and con- venient dwellings are seen in different directions. It has three dissenting chapels, of the Calvinist and Methodist denomination. Between Morice- Town and Torpoint a ferry was established in the year 1791. The hours for crossing are from six in the morning till nine at night, between Lady-day and Michaelmas, and from seven in the morning till eight at night during the re- mainder of the year. At a great expense, and after many difficulties had been met and over- come, a steam ferry has been successfully esta- blished at this place. The peculiarity in this mode of ferrying consists in the employment of two chains, stretching across the water and attached at each place of landing to heavy sunken weights, regulating them to the state of the tide, which pass into the vessel and over two wheels. These being set in motion by the machinery, the vessel leads or steers itself from side to side with the greatest regularity. The chains sink to a great 22 STOKE AND MORICE-TOWN. depth in the water ; and at a very few yards from the platform at the stem or stern of the vessel, heavily laden ships may pass over them. This is beyond all doubt the best plan that has yet been devised for ferries over wide or rapid streams, and as a certain, safe, and expeditious means of transit at such places as the present must be invaluable, especially to the equestrian traveller. Even during the darkest nights and at all weathers, a coach may drive to the ferry and cross Hamoaze, with as much ease and safety as if it were travelling the turnpike road. The first ferry of this kind was across the Dart : after which one was established at Saltash ; and lastly this of Torpointand Morice-Town. The engineer of all these works was J. M. Rendell, Esq., of Plymouth. In common with most of the neigh- bourhood, Morice-Town has been for many years past gradually increasing in importance. It pos- sesses excellent quays and cambers, extensive stores, and two breweries, one on a large scale. Two very fine lines of road are now in progress, which will form junctions with the similar line from Plymouth, one passing direct from the landing place through Stoke to that town, the other branching off along the banks of Hamoaze towards Saltash. TOR POINT. 23 TOBJPOINT. Torpoint lies on the western bank of the Tamar, immediately opposite Morice-Town. It consists of nearly two hundred and fifty houses, and contains a commodious chapel of ease, (of which the Rev, R. Dunning is the incumbent) the parish church of Antony being nearly three miles distant. There are also two dissenting places of worship, one Calvinistic and the other Wes- leyan. In the town is a Classical and Mathema- tical Establishment called " North House," a National Subscription School, two good Inns, and many modern-built Houses, occupied by very respectable families. The Cornwall Mail starts from hence every morning at half-past seven, and proceeds through Liskeard, Lostwithiel, St. Austle, Truro, and Pemyn, to Falmouth, where it arrives at six in the afternoon. A cattle mar- ket is held monthly, and a small fair annually. Near to Torpoint is the sequestered village of Willcove, famed for its choice fruit- gardens, &c. There are many delightful walks in this neigh- bourhood, one through the grounds of the late Right Hon. R P. Carew, extending from the turn- pike-road leading out of Torpoint to Antony- passage. 24 DOCK-YARD. GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS. This grand national establishment was com- menced in the reign of William III. since which time it has been in a state of progressive im- provement, and it may now be considered one of the finest arsenals in the world. It is situated on the eastern bank of Hamoaze, and is bounded on the town side by a lofty wall, which encloses altogether an area of above seventy acres. The entrance from the land is at the bottom of Fore- street. Immediately inside the gates is the Dwelling House of the Director of the Police, which office is held by a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, close to which stands the Dock Yard Chapel, a well-built edifice of limestone, constructed on the scite of a smaller chapel taken down some years since. At the west end is a handsome tower containing a good peal of bells. The interior of the chapel is particularly chaste and elegant — it has a brilliant- toned organ, a good choir of singers, and a talented organist. The gallery is set apart for the military, who march to and from their different barracks pre- ceded by a band of music. In the area are very DOCK-YARD. 25 handsome and commodious pews for the Port- Admiral, the Capt.-Superintendent, Naval officers in commission, and the officers, clerks, and artifi- cers, belonging to the yard. The chapel is attended on Sunday by a numerous and respect- able congregation. Every accommodation is af- forded to strangers, who cannot fail to be impressed with the solemnity with which divine service is performed, and pleased with the diversified appearance of costume displayed by the navy, army, and civilians present. The service com- mences precisely at eleven, at which hour the gates are closed, and no person is allowed to enter on any pretence whatever. In front of the chapel is the Military Guard House, over which is the Navy Pay Office. West of the director's house is the reservoir, which supplies the different; departments of the arsenal with water. At a short distance from the Dock- Yard Gates is the Surgery, to which the artisans who may be wounded while attending to their duty are in- stantly conveyed, for the purpose of receiving medical assistance. A paved road leads to the Officers' Dwelling- Houses, thirteen in number, and built of brick. In front is a double row of lime trees, beneath which is a delightful promenade. The houses are D 26 DOCK- YARD. inhabited by the Captain-Superintendent and his first Clerk, Master Shipwright and his two As- sistants, two Masters Attendant, Storekeeper, Store Receiver, Surgeon and his Assistant, Cashier, and the Boatswain of the Yard. Near this row of houses is a flight of stone steps, leading to the lower part of the Yard, which has been excavated from the solid slate rock. On arriving at the bottom of the steps the stranger will observe on the right the new North Dock, constructed in 1789, and supposed to be the largest in the kingdom. It is two hundred and forty feet long, eighty-five feet broad, and twenty- nine feet deep. Ships being occasionally taken into this dock with their masts and rigging standing, it has no roof like those that cover the other docks which we shall have occasion to men- tion. Close to this spot is a Smithery, and the workshops of the Plumbers, Stonemasons, and Bricklayers. Here also have been recently erected the Millwrights' and Screwcutters' shops, and the Engine-house : the last is a neat building, containing the works for pumping the water by means of steam out of the docks. The visitor having proceeded to the extremity of the yard at North Corner, and crossed the bridge thrown over the entrance of the new North Dock, arrives DOCK-YARD. 27 at the North Dock* which is considerably inferior to the former in dimensions. The next object demanding attention is the Jetty, at which is the Capt.-Superintendent's landing place, free only for the officers of the navy and army. A little further on is the Double Dock, the inner one reaching nearly up to the Storehouses. The stranger's notice is next pointed to the Bason and Dock constructed in the reign of William III. The Bason is a large excavation, communicating with the harbour by means of an opening about seventy feet wide. It is oblong in shape, and contains the boats and launches belonging to the yard. It is bounded by jetty heads, which are platforms projecting over the water, and supported by wooden pillars driven full of nails, to preserve them from the ravages of worms. Within the bason is the Dock, which is generally used for repairing frigates. While examining the jetties the stranger should not omit to notice the Pump- houses, containing machinery employed to exhaust • Their late Majesties George I1T. and Queen charlotte were pre. tent at the opening of this Dock and named it the Royal Dock. The docks were formerly kept tlry by means of chain pumos worked by horses. They now communicate with a deep well beneath the pump, which is worked with an eight feet stroke. Thee is here also another steam-engine, of 20 horsepower, with a variety of machinery for con lucting, reclaims, and appl)ing its 20 horse power to the different processes of the establishment, turning &«J boring, trenail making, the large turning la'.hes, &c. 28 DOCK-YARD. the water from the Docks ; the Saw- pits ; and the Kilns, in which is steamed such plank as is required to assume a curved form. Two large oblong edifices, separated by a flight of steps, stand in front of the four southern docks. These buildings are divided into offices and arti- ficers' workshops. Parallel to the Dock and Bason, towards the south, are two ranges of build- ing, the eastern of which contains the Rigging- house, and the other a depot for rigging and the Sail Loft, Having inspected the nev) Sea Wall, the visitor is conducted to the Graving Slip, used for the purpose of cleaning the copper sheathing of small vessels. South of the Graving Slip is the Camber, a canal sixty feet wide, stretching far up into the interior of the yard. Vessels bringing stores to the yard are here unloaded by means of cranes, some of which are of a new con- struction and very powerful. A long range of Storehouses front the Camber. A swinging bridge across the Camber leads to the Blacksmiths' Shop, which merits a minute attention. It con- tains forty-eight forges, which are employed in the construction of anchors and other massive iron stores for ships. " The greatest regularity is observed by the workmen in directing the blows of their sledge hammers on the anchor which DOCK- YARD. 29 they may be forging : and during the process they frequently make use of a ponderous iron instrument called a Hercules, weighing about eight cwt. which is dragged to a considerable height by means of pullies, and then allowed to fall with immense power on the red hot metal. Those who are unaccustomed to places of this kind, feel strong sensations of horror on first entering. The clanking of the chains used to blow the bellows, the dingy countenances of the workmen, the immense fires, and above all, the yellow glare thrown on every thing by the flames, shining through the dismal columns of smoke that continually fill the building, form altogether a very terrific picture. The Anchor Wharf fronts the Blacksmiths' Shop. Anchors of all sizes are aranged here, painted to prevent them from rusting. ; ' Near this wharf are three building Slips, covered with immense roofs, which protect the ships from the effects of the weather while on the stocks. These roofs are quite a modern expe- dient, the vessels having been formerly built in the open air. Northward of the Slips is the Mast-House, and adjoining it the Mast Pond. This is a large piece of water, in which masts and spars are deposited, to prevent their being d2 30 DOCK-YARD. injured by exposure to the sun. It is enclosed from the harbour by a very strong wall, at least ten feet thick, paved at the top with large slip* of granite. The water flows in through two openings, over which are light wooden bridges/' The attention of the stranger is next directed to the Rope houses, two buildings each 1 200 feet long. Ships' cables are made here, some of them 100 fathoms in length, and 25 inches in circum- ference. One of the Rope-houses is fire-proof — it is worthy the visitor's minute attention, parti- cularly the fine perspective view from either end, being excelled only in this respect by the Louvre in Paris. In the second-floor will be found some beautiful machinery used for spinning yarn, and other purposes connected with the manufacture of rope. Behind the Rope-houses is the dwelling- of the Master Ropemaker. The visitor should not omit inspecting the Mould Loft, in which the plans of ships intended to be built are prepared. Near the south end of the Mast-house is an eminence called the King's Hill. It is very plea- santly embellished with a picturesque seat, and tastefully laid out with flowers and shrubs. It commands a delightful prospect of the harbour, Shipping, the Sound, Mount Edgecumbe, the Cornish bank of the Tamar as far as Saltash, and DOCK-YARD 31 many other interesting objects. King's Hill owes all its garden beauties to the taste of Robert Ellery, Esq., late Commissioner's Secretary of this yard. Having now described the piincipai features of this grand warlike establishment, we have little more to say than that it is entirely under the control of the Captain-Superintendent,* from whom all orders are received, and who has it in his power to discharge any workman for neglect of duty. The number of artisans belonging to the Establishment is about 2,200. The following vivid description of the Dock Yard, as it strikes the eye of a stranger, is worthy perusal : — M A person unacquainted with the economy of our Dock- Yards, and particularly with that of Plymouth; is apt to associate the ideas of bustle — of deafening clamour— of confused masses of wood, iron, &c. — of workmen eternally jostling and thwarting each other — of walls and build- ings blackened with sulphurous vapours— of pitch, tar, varnish, paint, chips, shavings, dirt t every where offending the eye, and almost debar- * The present Captain Superintendent is Charles Ross, esq. C.B. a Post-Captain in the Royal Navy, to whom strangers wishing to obtain admission should address a note for that purpose. One of the Police is seat as a guide, and minutely describes each; object worthy uotic«. 32 DOCK-YARD. ring access to the vessels in the docks. He is on entering Plymouth Dock- Yard pleasantly unde- ceived. At first he does not see even the ships in dock, nor the Storehouses, and, unless some extraordinary operation, such as that of raising a vessel, is going on, he does not even hear, or scarcely hears, the sound of a hammer. The broad avenue from the Dock- Yard Gates has not a chip on its surface — it is as clean as the inde- fatigable broom can make it. There, with an aspect of simple grandeur, rises the Dock- Yard Chapel — the Guard House is near it with the sentinel slowly pacing in front ; a few passengers, perhaps officers of the navy or of the establish- ment, or haply a party permitted to view the Yard, are passing near it. An air of serenity, of order, of cleanliness, pervades the whole spot. It is not till the stranger or visitor has passed " the Row," (the houses in which the principal officers reside) and has descended one or two flights of steps that lead to the area where the Docks are excavated, and where the Sheds, Store- houses, &c. are erected, that he is sensible of the presence of business. He sees at once the whole structures whose names are familiar "as house- hold words" in every part of the British empire, and are associated with some of the most daring DOCK-YARD. 33 actions ever achieved in the great theatre of the world. There in the depth of the spacious docks, or suspended on stages, or working on the decks of those vast edifices, the bulwarks of Britain, are the artisans whose industry, skill, and intre- pidity, are surpassed by none. A thousand acts are going on— the most remarkable operations are performing: — the eye of skill — the arm of in- dustry— all that consummate ingenuity and un- daunted labour can produce, are there; the mighty machine before us is the scene of the most complicated duties — yet there is no confu- sion — every one is at his post and the spectator is compelled to admire the arrangements which have produced such important results. In the course of his j rogress through the other parts of the Yard, the stranger will find abundant reason to applaud the judicious disposition of things which every where present themselves. In the storehouses all is arrangement and dispatch. Nothing is left to chance: — attention, calcula- tion, simplicity, characterise those immense depositories. " 34 GUNWHARF, MAGAZINE, &C. GTTfT WHARF, MAGAZINE, &.C The Gunwharf lies north of the Dock-Yard, from which it is only separated by the commer- cial quays of North-Corner. It was begun in the year 17 18 and completed about 1725. The buildings are in general good, but constructed in the heavy Dutch style, after the designs of Sir John Vanbrugh. The quantity of ground within the area of the walls is four acres and three quarters. The land entrance is from Ord nance - Street. A path winds under an avenue of trees to the officers' dwellings, pleasantly situated in view of the harbour, in front of which is the reservoir which supplies the Establishment with water. The principal buildings in the Gunwharf are two spacious storehouses, three stories high, in one of which, known as the grand Armoury, are deposited immense numbers of muskets, pistols, cutlasses and other weapons of offensive warfare, ranged along the walls with a pleasing regularity. The Establishment also contains storehouses of powder, shot, gun carriages, &c. The space between the buildings is oc- cupied by piles of cannon and pyramids of cannon shot. The resident Storekeeper is Wm. GUNWHARF, MAGAZINE, &C. 35 Ady, Esq., who politely grants permission to strangers applying to view every department. The Key ham Powder Magazine, near Morice- Town, is the grand depot for the gunpowder required by the different warlike departments of the port. The Magazine consists of several de- tached edifices, surrounded by a high wall, and provided with every precautionary measure to guard against an explosion, which, from the vast quantity of gunpowder usually kept here, would produce the most fatal consequences to the neigh- bouring towns. The whole of the depot covers about five acres of ground. Resident Storekeeper, P. Glinn, Esq. " These magazines are considered far inade- quate to the wants of the service in time of war, as they barely contain 20,000 barrels of powder. As a temporary expedient five line of battle ships were about the year 1815 fitted up as Floating Magazines, supposed to contain twice "as many barrels as the Keyham Magazines, besides several millions of ball cartridges for small arms, and ammunition for the supply of a Field and Bat- tering Train Depot, The general object of this establishment is that of issuing powder, &c. to his Majesty's fleets or ships, and to such cruizers as rendezvous or touch at the Port — as well as of 36 GUNWHARF, MAGAZINE, &C. supplying all regiments and volunteer corps from Somerset to the Land's-end. It is connected in its duties with nearly all the public departments at this port. " These magazines, being situated so far down channel, and there being no similar depots of equal magnitude in the west, are considered of great importance, as powder might be shipped with great dispatch for any foreign port in cases of emergency, and the transports clear the land, thereby obtaining their passage, while those from the Thames or Portsmouth, by a sudden change of wind, might be detained in a roadstead for weeks ere they would be able to proceed to weather the Land's End, which delay might be attended with serious national consequences."* * On the 26th June, 1810, at two o'clock a M., twelve French pri- soners escaped from Le Genereux, prison ship, in Hamoaze, and making themselves masters of the Union, powder hoy, which was lying about 80 yards from the Magazine Pier head, got under way for France. She was laden with about 800 barrels of p owder belonging to H.M. ship" Defiance. I he Frenchmen overpowered the watchman, named Gill and conveyed him to France, where he was detained a prisoner till the peace. Although some of the sentinels and watchmen saw the Union proceed down the harbour they had not the least suspicion, until 5 o'clock, of her being navigated by ary but her own crew. A report of the circumstance was communicated to the officers at Keyham Point, who suspected the real state of the transaction, aud immediately reported the affair to Admiral Young (then port admiral} who dispatched cruizers in pursuit without sued ss, as they stretched off mid channel, while the sloop shaped her course close along shore till night, when she bore away and safely reached Moilaix. It is a singular circumstance that Mr. Williams, of the Gun w barf, part owner of the hoy, went out on a fishing excursion for whiting, and observed the vessel going down the harbour, though he had not the least idea but that his own men bad charge of her, or he might easily have taken steps to regain his property. LABORATORY, &C. 37 The Laboratory at Mount-Wise consisted of workshops for smiths, harness- makers, and other artificers, whose services were necessary in the fitting out of a military expedition. Ball car- tridges for troops and for field pieces were pre- pared here. The Laboratory is altogether com- posed of twenty-one detached buildings, sur- rounded by a lofty wall, The dwelling houses on the north side of the entrance were the residences of the officers who superintended the establishment. The whole is now converted into barracks, the former Laboratory establish- ment being transferred to the Kinterbury Powder Mills. The Barracks of Devonport are known by the names of George, Cumberland, Ligonier, and Frederick Squares, which, with the Horse Ar- tillery Barracks, are capable of accommodating about 2000 troops. There are three Guard-houses — one at each of the Barrier Gates. The Military Hospital is situated close to Stoke Church, and consists of four buildings, in front of which is a piazza of forty-one arches, affording an excellent promenade for the convalescent patients of the Institution. No regular medical establishment is now kept up here, it being only occupied by the sick of the different regiments in 38 HAMOAZE. garrison, who are attended by their respective surgeons. The Hospital is enclosed by a lofty wall. There is a commodious landing place on the bank of Stonehouse Creek, at which patients from transports and the distant parts of the garrison are disembarked. THE HARBOUR, &.C. That part of the river Tamar stretching from Saltash to Mount Edgcumbe, a distance of more than four miles, is called Hamoaze, and forms one of the noblest harbours in the world. Its greatest depth at high water is between eighteen and twenty fathoms, and at low water about fifteen fathoms. In this spacious bason the ships of war, not required for active service, are laid up in ordinary, moored to strong chains which stretch across the harbour. These magnificent floating castles, stripped of their yards, topmasts, and rigging, afford a striking spectacle on account of their immense bulk. They are almost all painted yellow and covered with wooden roofs to protect them from the effects of the weather. The Ordinary is under the superinten- dence of the Captain-Superintendent (formerly HAMOAZE. 39 styled the Commissioner) of the Dock Yard, through whom all orders from the Admiralty are transmitted to the Captain of the Ordinary, and through him to the other vessels. The Naval Commander-in-Chief* of this Port hoists his flag on board a first rate (the Royal Adelaide, of 120 guns) but he resides on shore in a commodious house at Mountwise, built for him by Govern- ment, The flag ship, proudly floating on the bosom of Hamoaze, presents a noble and im- pressive appearance. Strangers may always gain permission to inspect her by applying on board. Naval Courts Martial are generally held on board the admiral's ship. In taking leave of the present subject we have only to repeat, that Hamoaze is superior to any port in the kingdom, not excepting that of Portsmouth. It is completely land-locked and possesses a most convenient depth of water. " Milford has an excellent harbour, but it is very difficult of access — it has a dangerous en- trance and a most forbidding coast. It has been observed that if a vessel overshoot Milford she has no port to which she can fly for refuge — but if a ship overshoot Plymouth, the harbour of * The present Port Admiral is the Rt. Hon, Lord Amelias Beauclerk. 40 HAMOAZE. Portsmouth affords an asylum. Sheltered from danger — in the deep and ' capacious bason' of Hamoaze, the seaman, for a while, bids adieu to the gales of the Atlantic, and though the storm* tremendously roaring, pours all its aggregated horrors on the cliffs without, he finds calmness and security within. 5 ' The Sound is a capacious anchorage lying be- tween the Breakwater and the mouths of Cat- water and Hamoaze. A large number of ships may ride here in perfect safety, being effectually sheltered by the vast artificial mole which bounds it towards the open sea. A prominent feature in the Sound is St. Nicholas' or Drake's Island, situated about a mile from the main land. It comprises an area of about three acres, and is strongly fortified. It is generally garrisoned by a detachment of troops from Plymouth citadel. m J': h W 41 STONEHOUSE This is a handsome and increasing town, about half a mile east of Devonport.* Several of its streets are built regularly and very elegantly planned, and even the less important ones display the superior neatness and economy of modern erections. The principal, in point of extent* (Union-Street,) reaches nearly to Plymouth. In the twenty-seventh year of Henry III. this manor belonged to Joel de Stonehouse, but by various marriages it has since passed into the family of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe. The population of Stonehouse amounts to 10,000. The police is under the direction of the County Magistrates,* and all complaints and parochial business used till recently to be brought before the bench, at the Town Hall, Devonport. A Bench now generally sits every Tuesday at Stonehouse. The town is brilliantly lighted with gas during the winter, * Under the Reform Act Stonehouse was united with Devonport? aud the two places under the Dame of the Borough of Devonport and Township of Fast Stonehouse exercise the right of sending members to Parliament. It was sometimes called East Stonehouse to distinguish it from an old village of the same name, alCremill, on the opposite side of the water, which was burnt by the French ; and to the remains or scite of which another designation has long been appro- priated. Still more anciently East Stonehouse was designated Hipeston, under which name it was known as the residence of Joel de Stonehouse, in the reign of Henry III. ♦The resident Magistrates are Captain Foote, R.N., John Ingle and T. Gardner, Esqrs. E 2 42 STONEHOUSE. and is supplied with water from the Devonport Water Company. Stonehouse carries on a small commerce chiefly in the coal and timber trades. The principal quays are at the western extremity of Edgcumbe- Street. The mercantile stores of Mr. Bickford, near the Bridge, are very capacious, and vessels of heavy tonnage can lay close alongside them. The Market is in Edgcumbe-Street, but the greater part of the inhabitants resort to the Devonport market for such provisions as they may require. There are several Inns in the town, the principal one being Hale's Brunswick Hotel, from which passengers embark on board the Steamers in Stonehouse-pool. The house affords very good accommodation for families and strangers. The manufactories of Stonehouse are that of Mr. Bayly, for supplying the Government with varnish, &c, Moir and Son's Iron- Foundry, and the Gas Works at Mill-bay. This last establish- ment which supplies the whole three towns and suburbs, with all its apparatus for decomposing the coal, separating and purifying the products, the furnaces, ovens, retorts, pipes for carrying off the tar and ammonia, the cleansing lime-vessels, huge gas-holders, &c. is open for public inspection, and is superintended by Mr. Jesse Adams. STOREHOUSE. 43 The established place of worship for the Parish is St. George's Chapel, in Chapel-Street; the Roman Catholic Chapel, in Pearl-Street; the Calvinist Chapel, in Barrack-Street ; the Metho- dist Chapel, in Edgcumbe-Street ; the Ebenezer Baptist Chapel, in Union-Street ; Corpus Christi, Independent Chapel, in Union-Lane ; and the two elegant chapels recently erected in Durn- ford-Street, and at No Place ; the former, St. Paul's, a chapel of ease, the latter, Eldad Chapel, built by his friends and admirers for the Rev. John Hawker, formerly curate of Stoke Damerel : they are in different styles of the Gothic order, arid constructed chiefly of the lime- stone of the neighbourhood, The Workhouse stands in Fore-Street, and is superintended by a governor, a visitor, and the overseers. The Parochial affairs are under the management of a Select Vestry. The Public School, in Quarry-Street, is conducted on Dr. Bell's system of education ; and there is also in Market-Street an Infant School, established by contribution, to which children are admitted on the payment of a small weekly subscription. In con- nection with the places of worship are many Sunday Schools, one of which, the Wesleyan, contains near 300 children. A Benevolent Society 44 STONEHOUSE. for the relief of the sick and lying-in poor flourishes in Stonehouse, under the patronage of the Countess of Brownlow, daughter of the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, Lord of the Manor. Stonehouse Bridge, over which is the principal thoroughfare between Plymouth and Devonport, is a neat stone building of one arch. Before its construction passengers were ferried across the creek in a boat, which was drawn from side to side by a cable. This was found to be a most inconvenient mode of conveyance, and no one could cross after nine o'clock in the evening in summer, and eight in the winter. The tolls of Stonehouse Bridge are very valuable, producing above £2000 annual rental, and belong to the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and Sir John St. Aubyn. Foot passengers pay a toll of one half-penny, which sum entitles them to repass. Several Reading Societies have been established in Stonehouse. The principal institution of this kind is that in Emma-Place. The circulating libraries are those of Mrs. Huss, in Chapel- Street, and Mr. Cole, in Edgcumbe-Street, in whose house are also the Stonehouse Commercial Rooms. 45 ROYAL NAVAL HOSPITAL This noble Institution was first opened for the reception of sick and hurt seamen and marines in the year 1762. The superintendent is a post captain in the navy,* who also discharges the duty of Captain-Superintendent of the Royal William Victualling Yard, at Cremill Point. The hospital stands on a pleasant ascent, rising from the margin of Stonehouse Creek, which forms its northern boundary. The area of the whole is about twenty-four acres, thirteen of which are surrounded by a verdant lawn which surrounds the buildings and forms a delightful place of exercise for the convalescent patients. The entrance from the town of Stonehouse is in Fore-Street. An avenue leads to the houses of the principal officers, which have good garden, attached. The hospital consists of ten buildings, surrounding an extensive quadrangle, each con- taining six wards, every one of which is calculated to receive sixteen patients ; but in cases of emer- gency that number can be extended to twenty. From this statement it will be seen that no fewer than twelve hundred sick can be accommodated • Thipps Hornby, Esq M C.B. is the present Captain.Superiateadent. 16 ROYAL Naval hospital. in the hospital at the same time. In the court tion of the buildings care has been taken to prevent the spreading of contagious disorders, for they are detached from each other, and have no other communication than what is afforded by a piazza which surrounds three sides of the quadrangle, and is an excellent substitute for the lawn as a place of exercise in unfavourable weather. Between the principal edifices are four smaller buildings denominated pavilions ; one of those on the north side is used as a store room ; in the other is the operating room and the small-pox ward separated from it by a stone partition. The two pavilions on the south side are occupied as the cooking and victualling rooms. The centre building on the east contains the dispensary and the dispenser's apartments ; over these is the chapel on the first floor, which is fitted up with becoming neatness. Divine service is performed here every Sunday by the chaplain of the hospital. Near the landing place in Stonehouse creek, hot, cold, and shower baths are kept in constant readiness. At a short distance are the wash-house and drying ground. The whole establishment is supplied with water from a capacious reservoir constructed within the walls. The vast national importance of this Institution ROYAL MARINE BARRACKS. 47 may be gathered from the following authentic statement — Between the 1st of January, 1800, and the 31st of December. 1815, no fewer than 48.452 seamen and marines were received at the hospital, a very great proportion of whom were returned to the service as effective men. Howard, the well known philanthropist, once visited this hospital, and expressed, in the warmest terms, his approbation of the different arrangements. The Royal Marine Barracks are situated at the back of Durnford-Street. and are handsome erections. The buildings form a rectangle, in the middle of which is a spacious parade. On the south side are the two entrance gates and a newly-constructed guard-house. These barracks are calculated to contain nearly one thousand men. The mess apartments are commodious and well fitted up. The music of a fine band attracts a great number of the inhabitants to the Marine Parade on summer evenings. There were formerly extensive barracks on Long Room Hill, now disused. The most inte- resting public establishment in Stonehouse. and almost in the neighbourhood, and one which the stranger will not fail to visit, is the Victualling Yard at the Point. 48 XtOlTAXi WX&XiXiMME VICTUALLING YA.RD. The business of the victualling department of the naval service was formerly carried on at the Lambhay, near Plymouth Garrison, at South Down, at Cremil Point, and other places : which was found very inconvenient, and occa- sioned the selection of this spot so commodiously situate at the entrance of the harbour for an establishment in which all the stores, offices, and operations required for victualling and supplying our fleets might be connected under one head, and regulated on the same system. The erection was contracted for by Hugh Mc'Intosh, Esq., of Peckham, and was accomplished with a vigour and rapidity truly surprising, especially to those who witnessed its progress, and observed the massive strength of the works required for the foundation and elevation of the wharfs and dif- ferent edifices. The principal building material was furnished by the limestone which had to be cleared away to form the scite ; the other marble quarries of the neighbourhood, however, were also laid under contribution. A considerable, and indeed all the more ornamental portion of the masonry is of granite brought from Penryn. The mm H VICTUALLING YARD. 49 undertaking is now nearly complete in its parts ; which together form an establishment unrivalled, perhaps, by any thing of the kind yet in existence, and deserving inspection, not only frcm the grand scale of efficiency and economy on which it is planned, but as being in every respect worthy the richest nation and the noblest navy in the world, for which it was constructed. Here there is an opportunity of contemplating objects probably new to many — the beauty and even grandeur, that may be introduced into the dullest and most every day labours- of life, when they are conducted on an extensive scale, with proper attention to order and arrangement. The Victualling Yard may be considered as having three principal fronts and entrances, two from the water, and the other from Stonehouse. The Clarence Stairs are immediately contiguous to the rocks at the point, and conduct to the wharf in front of the Clarence Stores, facing Mount Edgcumbe, and the entrance of Hamoaze- But the most commanding view of the whole Yard is from Stonehouse Pool, whence are seen the greater part of the wharf, along which are distributed fourteen cranes ; the Basin or Camber in the centre, with its Iron Drawbridge, over which and the adjoining pier heads generally peer F 50 ROYAL WILLIAM from withinside the masts of many vessels of various sizes ; the Melville Stores immediately beyond, having over the arch-way in the centre a neat little square tower of granite with its four- dialled clock, and over that a dark cupola, sur- mounted by its glittering vane, to indicate as well the direction of the wind as the lapse of time to every part of the establishment ; and the other two principal ranges of buildings flanking the camber, which are very similar, and have each its huge columnar chimney. The land entrance is not far from Durnford- Street, and near it a landing place from the Pool has been constructed. This entrance cannot fail to command attention and admiration. It displays to the first glance that elegance combined with simplicity and neatness, which is so suited to the object and nature of the Institution, and which will be found to prevail in every part of it. The arches over the gate-ways are of a considerable height, and constructed of well- wrought Cornish granite, having, in addition to the tasteful ar- rangements of the stones, no other ornament than two large ox-heads of the same material, and on the top a fine statue of his present Majesty holding in his hand a truncheon. The figure, by Rennie, is of Portland stone, and is 13ft. 9in. in height : the pedestal is 6 feet. VICTUALLING YARD. 51 The aspect of the place immediately on passing within the gates is scarcely inferior. The arch presents nearly the same appearance as on the out- side, and on either hand is a row of six plain pillars of solid granite, terminated by a neatly-ornamented structure of the same material. Those on the left, front the Porter's Lodge, the dwelling house of the Inspector, Mr. Allan, R.N., and the regular police station. The interior of the latter is, as might be expected, most skilfully fitted up with every attention to comfort and convenience- The police force, which is of the same description as that of the Dock Yard, consists, (exclusive of the Inspector) of fifteen ; three Sergeants, and twelve Constables. Behind the opposite row are the Slaughter-house and appurtenances. The yard into which the cattle are first driven opens immediately into the Slaughter-House, where there are the means on an emergency of stringing up and despatching at once 70 or 80 head of cattle, — and where may be often seen many a huge « monarch of the vale' after having been knocked on the head, panting upon the ground its last faint breath, and glaring its last dim gaze of life, beneath the rough handling of the destroyer. Contiguous are the Weighing-house, the Beef-House, and a small 52 ROYAL WILLIAM Salting-House (for tongues only ;) and with these is also connected a store for vegetables, &c. The first large range of buildings is occupied by the Corn Mill and Biscuit-baking department, the most interesting feature of which is the ingenious apparatus by which the same steam power is applied to the many various and com- plicated processes of the establishment. The engines are three ; two of 40 horse-power each, which serve the whole business both of the grind- ing and baking departments ; and a smaller one, of 14 horse-power, for the baking machines only, w T hen the Mills are not at work. The engines are from Bolton and Watt's, the rest of the ma- chinery from the manufactory of Sir John Rennie : the arrangement of the whole is most judicious, and the order in which it is kept is, it is almost unnecessary to state, as excellent, it being regularly worked once in a month for this purpose. There are five distinct stories through- out this range, each of which is divided into several compartments, and over all are general Store Lofts. The whole to be properly appre- ciated demands a minute survey, and will well repay the trouble. On the ground floor are the spaces for the boilers, and others for the engines themselves ; the Bake-House consisting VICTUALLING YARD. 53 of two similar divisions communicating with each other, and having each a kneading trough with two sets of rolling-mills, cutting plates, &c, and six ovens ; and also two rooms in each of which are seen two main shafts of the grinding apparatus. In the rooms immediately over, are the Smut-Mills, and two dozen pair of the grind- ing stones. Over the Bake-House also are the Drying Lofts for the biscuits, communicating with each other. Over these again are the Bolting Mills, &c. : and on the fourth story is a range of capacious Store-Rooms, forming an immense granary. The fifth contains the general receiving Lofts for wheat and meal, when brought up by the hoisting tackle to be dressed. The observer's attention will be principally occupied in detecting the connection of the different parts of the machinery, and tracing the divers motions and operations from stage to stage, back to the original impulse on the Piston-Rod from the expansive force of the fluid when it has lost its liquidity by the sudden agency of heat. The wheat is raised to the fifth story, whence it is made to run down into the Smut-Mills, — cylindrical sieves, through the whole length of which the grain has to make its way,— after which it falls into the hopper of the Grinding f2 54 ROYAL WILLIAM Mills, — (Second Story) — half-a-dozen pair of stones having their smaller wheels or pinions driven by the spur wheel of each of the main shafts. Around these shafts and wheels which are boarded up, are placed receiving troughs for each Grinding Mill. What falls into them is taken up by the hoisting tackle in the form of .meal to the uppermost story. It then begins its second revolution by being passed down to the Dressing Mills (3rd Story : ) these are large cylindrical sieves of wire, with revolving brushes on the inside, to propel the flour through the meshes of the wire, which are larger or smaller according to the degree of fineness of the required biscuit. Thus sifted and sorted it passes to the Loft, immediately over the Bakehouse, where it is weighed and passed, a sack at a time, into a long funnel of wood, which pours it into the Kneading Trough. This Trough (in the Bake- house) when it has received the sack, or 280 lbs. of biscuit-meal flower, and 13J gallons of water from a cistern near it, is closed, and a series of singular instruments called knives are set revolv- ing amidst the mixture. In the course of a minute or two, the ingredients being mixed, the dough is taken out and thrown under heavy iron cylinders, moved horizontally, and called Breaking VICTUALLING YARD. 55 Rollers : and by these it is formed into elongated masses, which are variously turned and cut, and frequently subjected to the pressure till no trace of the dry flower can be detected. The dough is then cut into small portions and transported under the Sheet Roller, by which its kneading is effectually completed, and it is rendered of the required thickness. It now only requires to be divided into biscuits of a convenient size, and this is effected by means of the Cutting Plate, an assemblage of 32 six-sided frames, each of which has its interior space occupied by another flat moveable frame, having attached to it a ball of only a few ounces weight. As the whole of this constantly rises and falls the blanket of dough is slipped beneath, and the plate descending the cutting frames by their hexagonal shape mark out but (do not separate) the whole without any waste into biscuits. The pressure of the dough is sufficient to cause the moveable frames to rise, but when the great plate is elevated the balls are seen to fall, by their gravity to pushing off the whole mass and preventing its sticking to the plate. The biscuits are baked in a quarter of an hour, and after that are placed for three days in a drying room, heated to a high temperature. A considerable portion of the ground floor of 56 ROYAL WILLIAM the central or Melville range is occupied by offices which are most neatly and elegantly fitted with Mahogany Writing Desks, Book Cases, &c, &c, also conveniences of every other description. Leading from these offices to the stores above is an admirable spiral staircase of granite, remark- able for the manner in which the stones are fitted to each other and to the wall. The different spa- cious Store Rooms of this part are occupied by salt provisions, cloth, both made up into various garments and in the piece, mattresses, with a machine for combing and cleaning the hair, ironware utensils, &c, &c. In walking through one of these Ware-Rooms, where provision so ample is made for the temporal wants of our gallant seamen, the serious spectator will not fail to observe with pleasure a variety of very neat little packages marked " Bibles" u Prayer Books," " Religious Tracts," &c. The manner in which the roof is here supported by iron crossings may be deserving remark and ob- servation. The Stores communicate with each other, and form altogether a quadrangular build- ing, with a large enclosed Yard, the entrance to which is through the arch- way beneath the Tower. Leaving the Melville Stores, you reach the VICTUALLING YARD. 57 range denominated the Cooperage Department. Here the four rows of Store Rooms, which are between 300 and 400 feet in length, form an extensive enclosed space, in the middle of which is the Coopers' Shop, divided into four com- partments, with a series of Store Lofts above. Near it is a small reservoir. The Clarence Stores consist of several exten- sive series ; the lowest of which contain salt pro- visions and spirits : the middle, dry stores, such as tea, chocolate, peas, &c. : and the uppermost, which are very broad, and covered by a double iron-supported roof, large supplies of biscuit. The remaining range of buildings, still in an unfinished state, was destined for the Brewing Department. The wing opposite the pool is the Malting House, which is kept closed. The other wing is chiefly occupied by Water Tanks, and has a powerful crane running up in the middle. Here there is a Steam-Engine, intended for the service of this department, of 20 horse-power. The Iron Bridge, over the entrance of the Camber, is separable into two portions, each of which may be drawn aside by one man. The Basin itself is very capacious : it has been arti- ficially deepened, and will receive vessels of two or three hundred tons burthen. 58 ROYAL WILLIAM Passing from the Cooperage towards the South you come to the Wall, about 40 feet from the ground to the field above ; which shows the depth to which the solid limestone has been ex- cavated to form the scite of at least this part of the Establishment. Directly above in the ground supported by this massive wall, is the general Reservoir for the Establishment, a large square Basin capable of containing seven thousand tons of water, supplied in pipes of 9 in. bore from the Plymouth I.eet. In case of failure there is also a smaller reservoir on Long Room hill, supplied from a different source. Proceeding along the boundary wall you reach the Clarence Stairs, overhung by the shaggy and weather-beaten remnant of the original promon- tory, and its little Watch-House perched on the summit. This landing-place is a neat structure, and its decorations appropriate. The granite steps instead of forming the usual horizontal layers are for greater security placed obliquely against one the other. The iron- palings and gates are painted green, and headed by trident prongs, each of the latter being also ornamented in the centre with a pair of foul anchors. Here on the wharf in front of the Clarence Stores, the stranger will perhaps cease awhile to survey only the works of art VICTUALLING YARD. 59 immediately around him, in admiration of the objects more remote, presented by the beautiful and varied prospect which on every side meets and rewards his gaze, and in which art seems to have only vied with nature, but without outvying her, in decorating with the choicest and most attractive scenery. Walking from the stairs towards the north, there lie immediately before him Stonehouse Pool, the general anchorage of the packets and trading vessels of the Port, the dwellings of Richmond Walk, and beyond, the blue Marble Quarries with their two ruined Lime Kilns ; a little to the west, Backwell's Royal Clarence Baths, with their neat gravelled beach, bathing tents, and pretty healthful-looking Lodging Houses : and a little further the landing place to Mount Wise, on the high ground of which are the Port Admiral's and the General's residences, the several batteries, and crowning the whole the Fort used as a Telegraphic station for Naval signals. At the western point of the land, portions of the Royal Dock- Yard are seen, among which are conspicuous the many- sashed Building Sheds, beneath which are raised those noble and mighty fabrics " the bulwarks of England— her stout Men-of-war." Beyond are the creeks of St. John's and Millbrook ; and over 60 ROYAL WILLIAM these, mellowed by the distance, rises in hollowy ridges the land of Cornwall. Towards the South, gracefully yet proudly eminent over the pretty shingle beach of Cremill, the grove en- circled and pine-crowned heights of Mount-Edg- cumbe present a striking and splendid contrast to the denuded hills of the West. This almost Paradisal Mount gradually sloping in this direc- tion to the water, and terminating by its pic- turesque battery of 21 cannons, at scarcely a quarter of a mile's distance, the estuary of Hamoaze seen from this low station has the ap- pearance of a magnificent lake, bounded by beach scenery the most diversified, and bearing on its surface an assemblage of objects ever varying, ever new, that can be rarely if ever sur- passed. Here, if the wind be light, may be con- trasted the sluggish-looking river barge, with her heavy sunken hull, and two coarse sails of the same hue as the tilled fields through which she sometimes winds her way, and the nimble sylph-like pleasure yacht, fleeing as in sport with its outstretched wings of purest white from the pursuing zephyrs, and at the same time glid- ing as smoothly and gracefully as the Nautilus itself over the bosom of the waters ; the dull heavy-laden merchant brig, with motion scarcely TOWNSHIP OF STOREHOUSE. 61 perceptible, and that symbol of modern activity and energy, the gay Steamer, pushing on its hasty way with bustling clamour, and leaving behind only smoke and disorder : in short, here may be seen every variety of vessel, from the tiny shore- boat, simply framed and furnished, directed by a single hand and tossed by the gentlest ripple, to that proud triumph of human skill and indus- try, "the first-rate," requiring the united labours of thousands throughout many years for its con- struction, and of hundreds constantly for its guidance ; now steadily seated, as it were, a huge fortified Island in the midst of the waters, but capable, like Delos, of being transported by the winds from one part of the world to another, not indeed for the honor and abode of Gods, m but to decide the supremacy and fate of nations among men. The Township of East-Stonehouse has increased in importance within the last seven years, many new streets having been formed, and several elegant mansions erected at the lower end of Durnford- Street. The back window's of these houses command a most delightful view of the Harbour, Mount Edgcumbe, Mount Wise, flag- ship, steamers, &c. It is worthy the stranger's 62 TOWNSHIP OF STONEHOUSE. time to walk through Durnford- Street, passing the new Chapel of St. Paul's to the walk facing the sea — a more charming prospect can scarcely be found in the neighbourhood than from this spot, and the more elevated ground of Cremill point, where is situated the great reservoir of the Victualling Yard, which, lying underneath, presents itself to the spectator's eye as on a map, on which may be traced the minutice of this incomparable pile of buildings. The houses of Stonehouse have the advantage of being held under perpetual leases at an easy fine for renewal of lives. The great thoroughfare from the Bridge to the entrance of Plymouth presents a good Market, Hotel, several respectable Inns, Libraries, Schools, and elegantly fitted Shops, well stocked with every necessary commodity of luxury or utility. PXiYMOtTTH. Plymouth is a town of considerable antiquity, but it was principally inhabited by fishermen till the reign of Henry II. In the time of the Saxons it was called Tameorwerth ; after the Conquest it acquired the name of South- town or Sutton. In the reign of Edward I. it was denominated Sutton-Prior and Sutton- Valle tort, the north part of the town being situated on the lands of the Prior of Plympton, and the south on the estate of the Valle torts ; but in the time of Henry VI. these names were relinquished for the more ap- propriate name of Plymouth.* Plymouth is distant 218 miles from London, and stands in the parishes of Charles and St, Andrew. It has been a borough town, sending two membersf to Parliament, ever since the reign of Henry IV., when, on the petition of the " men of Plymouth," they were incorporated under the name of the u Mayor and Com- * The more ancient towns of Plympton and Plymstock have alio received their designations from the same liver. + The present Members are Thomas Bewes, Esq. and John Collier, Esq. both residents in the borough, and Reformers. G 2 64 PLYMOUTH. monalty." Its population amounts to nearly 40,000. Many of the old streets are narrow and irregular, but numerous elegant edifices, both public and private, have sprung up in every di- rection ; and still greater improvements are in progress, marking in the most decisive manner the continued and increasing prosperity of the place, and not less the talent it commands and the growing taste and liberality of its inhabi- tants. The whole of the south-west portion of the town, in the vicinity of the Theatre, is a noble proof of this progression in mind and wealth ; and the north presents scarcely less satisfactory, though certainly less imposing, evi- dence, in its domestic architecture, for the most part of a more modest, but neat and respectable character. The Corporation, before it was re- modeled according to the provisions of the Mu- nicipal Reform Bill, consisted of a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty- four common-councilmen ; the mayor, the mayor for the preceding year de- nominated the justice, the recorder, and the two senior aldermen, being magistrates for the town. At the first election under the new Act, Thomas Gill, Esq. was chosen mayor, and C. C. Whiteford, Esq. town-clerk. The magistrates are, besides the mayor and the members for the PLYMOUTH. 65 borough, W. Prance, G. Coryndon, G. W. Soltau, and J. King, Esqrs. W. C. Rowe, Esq. Barrister at Law, has been appointed Recorder. A Bench sits on Mondays and Thursdays at the Guildhall, for the purpose of determining causes of inferior importance ; but the Courts of Quarter Sessions are competent to try all offences not involving capital punishment, and to decide all civil causes arising within the limits of the borough. The town contains two parish churches,* St. Andrew's and Charles,' the former of which is of venerable antiquity, said to have been built at the expense of a Plymouth merchant of the name of Yogge, in 1440. It has been lately repaired and embellished at a great expense. It contains a fine organ, and some very curious monuments. — Charles' Church was built in the reign of Charles II. The interior is spacious but not handsome. The spire is of Dartmoor granite, and being light and airy, forms a pleasing finish to the building. Besides these places of worship, we have to notice the Chapels of Ease to St. An- drew's and Charles', and the various dissenting meeting-houses of the town, among which are ♦The Rev. John Hatcbard is the piesent vicar of St. Andrew's, atid the Rev. S. Courtenay, of Charles. 66 PLYMOUTH* the Presbyterian Chapel, in Batter-Street ; the New Tabernacle, (Calvinist) in Nor ley-lane ; the Ebenezer Methodist Chapel at the head of Old-town-Street ; the Unitarian Chapel, Bilbury Street ; the Old Tabernacle, Britonside : the Friends' Meeting-house, in Bilbury-Street ; the Baptist Chapels, in Norley-lane and Broad-street, &c. The Jews' Synagogue is in Catherine- Street, A great addition to the means of health and comfort of the inhabitants was the construction, in 1828, by a Joint Stock Company, of the Royal Union Baths, in Union-Street, containing every convenience that a public establishment of the kind can possess. A supply of sea water is brought every day from the Sound, through a line of pipe of between 4000 and 5000 feet; there being a tunnel to convey the water after use into Mill Bay. There are two swimming salt water baths, 60 feet long and between 20 and 30 broad ; eight warm baths, fresh or salt ; two sulphur, or hot air baths ; Harrogate ditto ; two vapour baths ; two druche ditto ; three cold plunge baths ; and shower baths ; the command of all which luxuries is afforded the public at re- markably moderate charges. The baths are heated by steam. Near the baths is the recently PLYMOUTH. 67 discovered Spa Well. These waters, whose medical effects have been highly spoken of, are at a temparature of 62, of 1013,3 spec. grav. and contain a considerable portion of carbonic acid, with different salts in the order in which they follow, chloride of sodium, the muriates of lime and magnesia, the sulphates of soda and lime, and the the carbonates of lime and iron. They are procured from a rock at the depth of more than 360 feet. In the front part of the Baths there is a Pump Room for their supply. But a separate building of more spacious dimensions is in pro- gress, which will inclose the Well. The Market is very convenient and spacious, occupying nearly three acres of land. It is well supplied with commodities of all kinds which are sold at a cheap rate. The principal entrances are in Cornwall-street, East-street, and Drake- street. The Plymouth Fairs are held in the Market-place. The tolls are the property of the corporation. The chief inns are Whiddon's Royal Hotel, George-street ; the Commercial Inn, Old Town- street ; the King's Arms, Britonside ; and the Globe Inn, Bedford-street. Several stage coaches leave the town for London every day. The hackney coach stand is principally in Old Town- 68 PLYMOUTH. street, but "dillies," as they are provincially termed, are stationed in various other parts of the town. These vehicles are generally employed in conveying passengers from one town to the other, but they are frequently hired for excur- sions into the country. There are besides two omnibuses regularly running between Plymouth and Devonport — fare sixpence. Plymouth is abundantly supplied with excellent water, by a fine leat, which was first brought into the town in the reign of Elizabeth, by the re- nowned and patriotic circumnavigator of the world, Sir Francis Drake. This stream is diverted ' from the river Mew, just above Sheepstor bridge, on the skirts of Dartmoor, and winds a circuitous route of twenty-four miles. The water is dis- tributed from a reservoir at the head of the town through the principal streets and into the houses of such of the inhabitants as are willing to pay for this accommodation. The revenue resulting from the leat goes to the Corporation ; although its claim of property in the water has been warmly contested. The Public Charities of Plymouth are very numerous. The principal are the Public Dis- pensary (to which more than 40,000 of the afflicted have been indebted for the means of PLYMOUTH. 69 relief or alleviation), the Eye Infirmary, the Lying-in C harity (to which 7000 patients have had recourse), the Misericordia, the Merchants' Hospital, the Female Benevolent Society, the Blanket Society, the Corpus Christi Society, the Provident Society, Charles' Alms Houses, Jory's Alms Houses, and the New Alms Houses behind Sussex Place, erected in 1834, under the will of the late Francis Fox, Esq. The Schools for poor children are Hele's Charity, Lanyon's Charity, Orphan's Aid, Grey School, Lady Rogers' School, Household of Faith, School of Industry, the Pub- lic Subscription School in Old Town-street, &c. The South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital will probably soon occupy the most distinguished place among the charitable institutions, not of Plymouth only, but of the two counties. It will include the objects of the present Plymouth Public Dispensary, by the Directors of which, a piece of ground near Sussex Place was purchased, where a suitable building is now in course of erection, Many liberal donations have been made towards this great and noble object, and its beneficient influence will, it is hoped, be soon at work, blessing and blessed by thousands from far and near. The religious societies are the Auxiliary Bible Society, the Ladies' Bible Asso- 70 PLYMOUTH. ciation, the Auxiliary Society for promoting Christian Knowledge among the Jews, the Religious Tract Society, the Peace Society, So- ciety for promoting Christian Knowledge, the Bethel Union, and the Auxiliary Missionary Societies connected with many of the dissenting chapels. The principal literary institution is the Athenceum,* which owes its origin to the efforts of Henry Woollcombe, Esq., and some other gentlemen who were disposed to co-operate in the measure. The building of the Society stands near the Theatre at the end of George-street. " The front is a Doric portico of four columns, the centre intercolumniation being wider than the others, similar to the portico at the Temple of Theseus at Athens, but more massive in its pro- portions. The sides of the building are plain beyond the returns of the portico, except that the entablature, with the triglyphs and metopes, are continued the whole length of the side. The portico is nearly thirty-six feet in breadth, and the whole depth of the building is seventy-eight feet. The entrance from the portico is into the vestibule, which is ornamented with an entab- * The Society was formed in 1812, but the building in George- street was not erected till the year 1818. PLYMOUTH. 71 lature, supported by Doric columns." Within the building is a fine hall or lecture-room, sur- rounded by numerous noble casts of Grecian sculpture.* The committee-room contains the library and a quantity of excellent scientific appa- ratus. The Institution consists of ordinary, honorary, and corresponding members, associates and junior subscribers. Its affairs are under the direction of a president, secretary, treasurer, and four curators, elected every year from among the ordinary members. The Session commences annually on the first Thursday in October, and a lecture is delivered every week till the last Thursday in March. The chair is taken at seven o'clock in the evening, and an essay is read by one of the ordinary members, after which a dis- cussion takes place, which, by the laws of the society, cannot last after ten. The Rev. R. Lampen, in his discourse on the opening of the Athenaeum, eloquently remarks on its tendency to confer "much invaluable enjoyment, glad- dening the privacy of domestic life — much ele- vation of character bestowed on social intercourse — many innocent resources to relieve the frequent anxieties, and to ennoble the daily pleasures of * These casts are principally from originals in the Elain collection, and were presented by his Jatc Majesty George IV. 72 PLYMOUTH. existence." A Museum has been gradually col- lected, rich in every variety of philosophic curiosities, and particularly in mineralogical, entimological, and ornithological specimens illus- trative of the natural history of the neighbour- hood. An octavo volume of the transactions of the Society has been published, containing va- luable papers on subjects of local interest, and the public, it is to be hoped, are yet to be favored with others. An interesting feature of the Athenaeum is its annual exhibition of paintings, the works of amateurs and professional artists of the town and neighbourhood. The Public Library, connected with which is a News Room, stands in Cornwall-street. The front of the building is simply and classically elegant, without windows, as the different apart- ments of the interior are lighted by glass cupolas in the roof. The entrance from the street is through a vestibule, on either side of which are the committee and news-rooms. At the end of the vestibule is the library, containing a large and valuable collection of well selected books. Each of the four sides of the room is surmounted by a beautiful segment arch, richly ornamented, and supporting the roof which terminates in a light and elegant dome, resting on fluted pillars. PLYMOUTH. 73 The Plymouth Mechanics' Institute was formed in the early part of 1826. This Society origin- ated among the mechanics of this town, and its views were much forwarded by a generous donation of £100 from C. Greaves, Esq. Other subscriptions with gifts and loans of books from many liberal-minded gentlemen, contributed to- wards placing this Institution on a permanent basis. Weekly lectures are delivered from November to- A pril inclusive ; and there are classes for the study of chemistry, French, Drawing, &c. The Society has a good library, and numbers about 130 members. In connection with the Institute, a Mechanics' News Room has been established with the most encouraging suc- cess. — Besides the above institutions, there are to be mentioned, the Commercial Reading and News Rooms at Freemasons' Hall, the Law Library, the Medical Society with library, &c. The Theatre and Hotel. — This massive and noble pile of buildings stands at the western end of George-street. It was erected in 1811 by the Corporation of Plymouth, whose property it still is. The expense of the erection, £60,000, was defrayed partly from the corporation funds, and partly by means of a tontine. The north front is 275 feet in length. In the centre is a magni- H 74 PLYMOUTH. ficent portico, seventy feet wide, consisting of eight Ionic columns, designed after the purest Greek models. On the eastern side of the building is a smaller portico about 59 feet wide. It is not in the middle, as it was designed that another similar tetrastyle portico should cor- respond with it near the other end of this front. The columns in each portico measure three feet six inches in diameter. The east wing of the building is occupied by the Royal Hotel, which is handsomely fitted up, containing the assembly rooms, a fine ball room, and many other spacious apartments. The western wing contains the Theatre. This place of amusement is open during the winter season. Its interior embellish- ments and scenery are very beautiful ; indeed no expense has been spared to render it one of the most elegant theatres out of London. The per- formers who appear on this stage are generally of very respectable abilities. The management was formerly in the hands of Mr. R. Brunton, but is now held by the widow of the late respected and lamented Mr. Sandford. The Commerce of Plymouth is not so con- siderable as its population and extent would seem to argue. It carries on, however, a good coasting trade, and its maritime intercourse with foreign PLYMOUTH. 75 nations is by no means trifling. To the whole Port of Plymouth belong about 350 merchant vessels (30,000 tons). The coasters trade prin- cipally with London, Bristol, Newcastle, New- port, &c. ; and the larger vessels (many of upwards of 500 tons) mostly to America, some to the West Indies and Mauritius, others to the Baltic, Mediterranean, &c. &c. The produce of the mines of the vicinity, and the granite, slate, and limestone or marble quarries also occasion considerable exports. Plymouth was constituted a Stannary town in 1 834. The harbour of Cat- water affords good anchorage for shipping. It is well sheltered from the southern gales hy the peninsula of Mount Batten. The principal com- mercial wharfs of Plymouth are in Sutton Pool, a commodious bason situated almost within the town. At its entrance from Catwater are two piers of solid masonry (1791 and 1797) between which is a passage about ninety feet wide for the admission of ships. Sutton Pool is the rendezvous of the trawlers cr Plymouth fishing vessels, which supply the town and neighbourhood with an abundance of excellent fish. In addition to about 50 of these large decked vessels, there are innu- merable smaller boats, belonging to all parts of the neighbourhood, employed in fishing, princi- 76 PLYMOUTH. pally for pilchards and hake. Much of the pro- ceeds is exported to London, Bath, and other places. The Exchange, a place of general resort for the merchants and traders of Plymouth and its neighbourhood, stands in Woolster- Street, and was built by means of shares in 1813. It is con- veniently situated near the Custom House, the quays, and the principal mercantile warehouses. A spacious piazza surrounds an open area, from which a massive staircase of granite leads to apartments appropriated to the various objects of the institution. The great room for sales, meetings, and other business is well adapted for such purposes: an adjoining corridor affords access to the Reading-room, Chamber of Com- merce, (established in 1813 to promote the com- mercial interests of the place, and greatly assisted by the Earl of Morley, its frequent chairman,) Marine Insurance Office (1813,) that of the Ply- mouth, Devonport, Portsmouth, and Falmouth Steam Packet Company, (1822) &c. The Guildhall is a building of no pretensions to architectural beauty, situated in Whimple- street. Though (strange to say !) erected so re- cently as 1 800, it is believed that this barbarous fabric, not more styleless than inconvenient, will PLYMOUTH. 77 not continue long to cumber the earth. The principal hall contains some old portraits, and at the east end is a fine picture of his late majesty George IV., painted while he was Prince Regent, by Hopner. At the Guildhall, in addition to affairs immediately connected with the borough, almost all business of a public nature is transacted. The Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway was commenced in 1819, under the sanction of an act of parliament procured for that purpose. It leads from Sutton Pool to Kingstor, near Walk- hampton, a distance, including the windings of the road, of about twenty-four miles. The pro- perty of the Railway is vested in a company of shareholders, and is at present used for the trans- port of granite from the moor. The carts used for this purpose carry out lime and other manure, coals, &c. This important public benefit is prin- cipally the result of the spirited exertions of the late Sir T. Tyrwhitt. The Royal Devon and Cornwall Botanical and Horticultural Society, which has its Spring and Autumn exhibitions in Plymouth, and its Summer exhibition in Devonport, is one of the most popu- lar as well as important of institutions, uniting, as it does, in its favor the obligations of benevolence, with the claims of the most fascinating of sci- h 2 78 PLYMOUTH. ences, and possessing direct attractions of singular force. The capabilities of the rich and varied country in the vicinage, are taken full advantage of, and every part is laid under contribution, in such a way as to render the several annual shows so many proud displays of the riches, beauties, and marvels of nature, and of the no less admira- ble results of human experience, matured by the industry and intelligence of ages, into the practi- cal skill of accomplished art, or the larger com- prehension of profound science The change such institutions may be the means of effecting in the manners and condition of the rural and labouring classes of the population, cannot be considered without becoming the source of deep emotion, and giving rise to warm gratulation. Plymouth has an annual Regatta, at which boats and yachts of different sizes contend for valuable prizes. This grand national amusement takes place in the Sound, which on such occa- sions wears a very beautiful and enlivening aspect. Thousands of spectators crowd the Hoe and the neighbouring shores, while an immense number of pleasure boats, filled with gaily dressed gazers, make the waters of the Sound " instinct with life and motion." The races are sometimes decided in one day ; on other occasions PLYMOUTH. 79 the arrangements extend and the festival con- tinues through two or three days. —The Royal Western Yacht Club (English Division) is under the command of a Commodore, vice-ditto, twelve Presidents, twenty vice-ditto, and a committee of twenty-six. The members subscribe one guinea yearly. No persons within ten miles of Ply- mouth are eligible as honorary members, except military and naval officers in actual service. Members of this club have peculiar dress and undress uniforms, and when keeping yachts take out a regular commission, w r hich, among other privileges, entitles them to enter certain foreign ports free of port charges. Various meetings take place during the year, and a general club dinner follows a day after the regatta. The Hoe, which may be called " the lungs" of Plymouth, lies on the south of the town. It occupies the whole line of the Sound, facing the south, and is an open eminence, devoid of trees or shrubs, but overlaid with a velvet green sward, in the centre of which is a wide gravelled path, used as a promenade by the inhabitants of Ply- mouth, who have free access to all parts of this delightful spot. Its height being equal to that of any ground in the immediate neighbourhood, it commands an extensive view, and overlooks a 80 PLYMOUTH. vast range of populous communities, including Plymouth, Devonport, Stonehouse, and Stoke, which alone are reported to contain ninety- thousand souls. In the cool evening of a sultry day the inhabitants of all ranks and conditions may be seen crowding to the Hoe to inhale the refreshing sea breezes, and there, on a plain sur- face half a mile long, they may escape the lassi- tude generated by cares and a contracted atmos- phere, or, descending by a gentle declivity to the shore, receive that quiet and solitary satis- faction which is always found in the neighbour- hood of the great deep when its waters are still. From the Hoe the eye commands a vast variety of prospect. The very chef-d' oewvres of art and of nature are here associated together. Stupen- dous proofs of human ingenuity are laid side by side with the magnificent objects of nature. Temples, churches, towers, steeples, colonnades, porticos, terraces, are here set off and contrasted with gardens, groves, orchards, meadows, and green fields, through which the Tamar flows and the Plym rolls turbulently on. The frowning fortresses, the Breakwater, that huge leviathan of art, the volcanic arsenal, and those magnificent floating castles which have swept the seas of all our enemies, are here discovered in junta position PLYMOUTH. 81 with wild rocks, the swelling ocean, abrupt pre- cipices, and the houseless solitudes of Dartmoor. There is a carriage road on the top and along the foot of the hill, which, with the various walks, are kept in good repair by the Corporation. The whole of the side of the hill where it slopes to the South, has been divided by a number of gravelled paths, crossing each other obliquely, and fitted with numerous flights of steps and crescent shaped benches ; by which the aspect of the Hoe as seen from the sea, and the convenience of those who resort to it in search of health or plea- sure, are materially improved. The site of that large portion of the west of the Hoe, at which the work of excavation and demolition has been going on for some years with great activity, is the object of an extensive building-scheme. The neat and uniform row of cottages on the brow of the hill was erected by the proprietor, T. Gill, Esq. (mayor) for the workmen employed in the adjoining quarries. The building at the east end of the row serves the double purpose ot a chapel for the resident families, and a school house for their children, having been licensed for the former use by the Bishop in 1835. Among the traditions connected with the Hoe is one relating to a combat said to have taken 82 PLYMOUTH. place here between Corinaeus, a kinsman of Brutus, and a huge giant, whom Corinaeus slew by throwing him over a cliff. According to Carew the memory of this encounter was pre- served by there being " cut out in the ground the portraiture of two men, the one bigger and the other less, whom they term Gog and Magog." The Plymouth, Devonport, and Cornwall Races are held on Chelson meadow, situate beyond the Lara, at less than a mile and a half's distance from Plymouth. They originated in the village sports formerly held at Crabtree, and were esta- blished on their present scale in 1828, principally we believe by the liberality and exertions of the Earl of Morley. The present course is perfectly flat, and a mile and a half in circumference. The Grand Stand is also extremely commodious. Very high prizes are contested, and it is said, more public money is run for than at any other meeting in the kingdom. Two stewards, one from Devonshire, the other from Cornwall, offi- ciate annually, and great encouragement and sup- port are derived from the Race Association, formed in 1830, under Royal and other most distiuguished patronage, — There are also Plymouth and Devon- port Spring Races, established in 1833. 83 GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS. The Citadel was built in the reign of Charles II., and stands at the eastern end of the Hoe. It consists of three regular and two irregular bas- tions, and the curtains of the regular bastions are further strengthened by two ravelins and horn works ; on the east, north, and west sides are a deep ditch, counterscarp, and covered way, pali- sadoed. The parapets are mounted with pieces of cannon. The entrance is through two gate- ways with drawbridges. In the interior is a spa- cious esplanade, around which are the officers' houses, chapel, magazine, hospital, and barracks. The centre is embellished with a bronze statue of Geo. II., in the costume of a Roman warrior. The pedestal bears an English and a Latin in- scription. The ramparts of the Citadel, which are nearly three quarters of a mile in circuit, afford ' a very delightful prospect, and form a charming promenade.* * The Garrison was visited by a calamitous fire during 1836 Several houses were destroyed, and dreadful to relate, the venerable Fort Major Watson with his two daughters fell victims to the devouring element. Their bodies were dug from the smouldering ruins literally burnt to a cinder. A truly noble subscription was raised by the in- habitants in a short period of time, in aid of the surviving childreu of the gallant officer. 84 GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS, &C. The Custom House is a new erection and stands on the Parade or coal quay. The front is built of granite, with a colonnade of five arches, sup- ported by rusticated piers of the same material. On the ground floor are the offices of the prin- cipal surveyor, tide surveyor, landing waiter, searcher, &c. A granite staircase leads to the Long-room, a spacious apartment for the dispatch of public business, adjoining to which are the comptroller's and collector's offices. The whole building wears a substantial and handsome ap- pearance. The Excise Office is in Notte-street. The extensive range of buildings situated below the eastern rampart of the Citadel, and extending from the pier at Sutton Pool to the mouth of Catwater harbour, was the Naval Vict- ualling Office, before the establishment at Cremill Point was formed. The premises are now occu- pied as Store Lofts and Packet Wharfs. Contiguous to those buildings is the great Landing Place called the Barbican, where pas- sengers from Plymouth, Dublin, Cork, Belfast, and for London, Portsmouth, Falmouth, Guernsey, Jersey, and other places, take water to proceed to the various steam-packets lying in Catwater. — ^ 4 85 THE BREAKWATER, the billows sleep Within the shelter of a wond'rons pi!e Of man's vast workmanship — that new-made isle, That marble isle — brought piece-meal from the shore, To break the weltering waves and check their savage roar. GANDY. This grand national undertaking was origin- ally projected for the purpose of counteracting the heavy and destructive swell which rolled into Plymouth Sound during the prevalence of south- erly winds, making it so inconvenient and unsafe an anchorage that the fleet employed during the late war in blockading Brest, was frequently obliged, when driven from its station, to bear up for Torbay, though little better in point of secu- rity, and worse in every other respect, than Plymouth Sound.* The Breakwater was begun in August, 1812 ; and the inexhaustible limestone quarries in the neighbourhood of Plymouth presented an abun- dant supply of materials. A rock of grey marble, situated at Oreston, on the eastern shore of Cat- water, consisting of a surface of twenty-five acres, was purchased of the Duke of Bedford for * Messrs. Rennie and Whidby began to make the surveys in 1806 ; and on their report was issued his Majesty's order in council for com. mencingthe woik, dated 22nd June, 1811. 86 THE BREAKWATER. the sum of £10,000; quays for embarking the stones were erected in front of it : railways leading from the quarry to the water's edge were laid down; and the different proceedings were carried on with so much activity, that on the 31st of March. 1813, the Breakwater made its first appearance above the surface of the Sound, at low tide, when the depth of water is about five fathoms. Blocks of limestone, of about two tons weight each, were thought sufficiently large to resist the shock of the waves. The stones were thrown overboard from vessels constructed expressly for the purpose, and were allowed to find their own positions ; but arrangements were made by which if necessary, the heaviest masses might have been deposited with the greatest nicety. The Breakwater, when complete, will stretch across the Sound 1700 yards, nearly in a direc- tion of east and west. The middle is continued in a straight line for one thousand yards. Each of the extremities will form an angle of 120 degrees with the middle, and be 350 yards long. The base of the Breakwater varies in breadth according to the inequalities of the bottom, from 300 to 400 feet. The slope on the southern or sea side is three horizontal to one perpendicu- THK BREAKWATER. 87 lar. and on the land side one and a half horizontal to one perpendicular. The width at the top is thirty-six feet, and on this it is proposed to erect a pier with breast walls and a light-house at each extremity. At present to prevent vessels running aground, a light vessel is moored off the western end. The finished part of the work, 18 feet above low water mark, is about 1200 yards in length ; and the quantity of stone already de posited is more than two millions of tons. The probable expense of the Breakwater may be gathered from the following estimate : 2,000,000 tons of limestone in blocks from 1£ to 2 tons each, at 7s. 6d. per ton £ 750,000 330,000 tons in the pier, proposed to be built from Andurn point at 7s 126,000 Contingencies on the whole at 20 pr. ct. 175,200 1,051,200 Expense of the Pier and Light houses to be constructed on the Breakivater. 420 cubic yards of masonry on the two walls of the pier £ 44,700 62,000 cubic yards of rubb le-filling between the outer and inner walls . . 18,60 8,500 yards of paving at the top of the pier 22,950 Two lighthouses with reflectors and Argand Lamps 5,000 Contingencies 20 per cent 28,650 119,900 Total .... £1,171,100 88 THE BREAKWATER, The Breakwater has answered the expecta- tions of its warmest advocates. Its good effects were indeed very sensibly felt at the end of the second year, when about 800 yards of the central part were visible above the surface of the tide, at low water. The swell was then so much de- stroyed at the head of the Sound, that the fisher- men were no longer able to judge of the state of weather in the channel. Since that period instan- ces have occurred of nearly 200 sail of vessels having at one time taken shelter within the Breakwater. The work continued uninjured by the fury of the sea until 1817, when, in consequence of a tremendous gale of wind, accompanied by an unusually high tide, a great number of the top stones were torn from their situations and deposited on the northern slope. The other parts of the structure were thought to have ac- quired additional strength from the stones having been shaken more closely together. On this occasion a deeply-laden collier rode out the gale, under cover of the Breakwater, but two ships of war — the Jasper sloop and Telegraph schooner — not having anchored within the influence of its shelter, were driven on shore and both unfortu- nately lost. The middle part of this gigantic mole suffered THE BREAKWATER. 89 considerably by the tremendous storm of Novem- ber, 1824, on which occasion if it had not been of wonderful stability it must inevitably have been swept away by the fury of the waves. During this tempest the master and part of the crew of the ketch Coromandel, bound from Faro to London, with cork, were miraculously preserved on the west end of the Breakwater. The follow, ing particulars of this hair-breadth escape are too interesting to be omitted. " At half-past two on the morning of the gale the crew of the Coro- mandel saw the Eddystone light-house bearing W. by N. distant about seven miles, the vessel then being under a single reefed mainsail, close reefed topsail, and stay foresail, on the starboard tack, laying up S.E. by E. At three o'clock they took in the mainsail, and lay up W. by N. on the larboard tack. At four the master and two of the men went below, and the mate and another of the crew took their watch upon deck, the hatches being closed and the companion hat- ches over. About ten minutes after four a sea struck the vessel, without doing her any apparent injury, and soon afterwards another sea took her under the bilge, whilst she was rolling, and in- stantly upset her, washing the man at the helm off the deck. The master, two of the crew, and i 2 90 THE BREAKWATER. a passenger, who were in the cabin, were suddenly thrown down and left in total darkness, under the weight of chests and other cabin furniture which pressed upon them, and almost crushed them to death. Having, however, managed to recover their legs, they found about six inches of water upon the cabin deck, which gradually in- creased to four feet. In moving about, the master got hold of the scuttle hatch, now above his head, and, calling to the others, they all crept into the coal-hole and remained there nearly an hour before the water came near them. In this horrible situation, not knowing whither their unfortunate vessel was driving, they continued six hours ; and just as the water had reached their chins, they felt the vessel strike heavily, and the water receded, leaving them alive to hope. Shortly afterwards the vessel struck a second time, and the crew perceived daylight under the gunwhale of the ship, which had hap- pily drifted on the western end of the Break- water. The hatches being knocked off by the concussion, the rough and massive stones of this stupendous fabric penetrated through the deck of the Coromandel, and held her firm. The crew then crept out from under the vessel ; and having found one of their own flags on the rocks, held KDDYhTONK LIGHT-HOUSE. 91 it up as a signal cf distress, which was fortunately observed by Mr. Eddy, pilot of Cawsand, who was out in his boat. At the imminent risk of his life this gallant man approached the Break- water, and, having rescued the unfortunate suf- ferers, landed them safely in Plymouth. The vessel shortly afterwards went to pieces. THE ED3YSTONS LXCJKT-HOUSE. Seaward -far off— now mocking the strain'd sight,— Now for a moment lost beneath the waves, Whose foaming fiuy it for ever braves, Lifts up its head, that star-tower of the night, Whose knitted structure's well compacted might, In graceful s-iength, displays a lasiing claim, To be i he monument of Smeaton's name. Him the toss'd seaman blesses for tl at light Which go ides him through the dark ana perilous deep. * * * * Gandy. The Eddystone Rocks are situated in the English Channel, about fourteen miles south of Plymouth. This dangerous reef not only stretches away in a north and south direction, for the length of 100 fathoms, but also forms a slope towards the south-west, on which the waves of the Atlantic frequently break with almost incredible fury. The numerous shipwrecks which from time to time happened on this ledge, first suggested the necessity of a lighthouse, and in 1696, Mr. Henry 92 EDDYSTONE LIGHT-HOUSE. Winstanley,* of Littlebury in Essex, after much danger and difficulty, succeeded in erecting a building of this kind on the Eddystone Rocks. This fabric however was so fantastically con- structed that it bore no unapt resemblance to a Chinese Pagoda, and it was a common saying that " in hard weather it was very possible for a six-oared boat to be lifted on a billow and driven through the open gallery of the light-house." The general opinion was that the structure would be one day overset by the weight of the seas, but Mr. Winstanley himself was so firmly convinced of its stability that he was frequently heard to observe " he was so well assured of the strength of his building, that he only wished to be there in the greatest storm that ever blew under the face of the heavens, that he might have an opportunity of witnessing what effect it would have upon the light-house." This desire * This gentleman was the Merlin of his day and had distinguished himself in a certain branch of mechanics, the tendency of which is to excite wonder and surprise. He had at his house at Littlebury a set of contrivances such as the following: being taken into one particular room, and there observing an old slipper, carelessly lying in the middle of the room, if, as was natural, you gave it a kick with your foot, up started a ghost before yon ; if you sat down in a certain arm chair, a couple of arms would immediately clasp yon in so as to render it im- possible for you to disentangle yourself till your attendant set you at liberty ; and if you sat down in a certain arbour by the side of a canal in his garden, you were forthwith sent out afloat into the middle from which it was impossible for you to escape till the manager re- turned you to your former place.- Smeaton. EDDYSTON T fi LIGHT-HOUSE. 93 was fatally gratified. In November, 1703, Mr. Winstanley went out to the rocks, to superintend some repairs of the building, and that very night a fearful tempest arose, which so increased the next day, that the light-house, with its inmates was swept into the bosom of the foaming deep, It had not been long destroyed before the Win- chilsea, a Virginia-man laden with tobacco for Plymouth, went to pieces on the Eddystone Rocks, and all on board were lost. The next Light- house was erected by Mr. John Rudyerd, a silk mercer of Ludgate-hill, London, and was constructed of stone and timber. The principle aim of Mr. Rudyerd appears to have been use and simplicity, and in furtherance of this design, all useless ornaments were laid aside. The building formed the frustum of a cone, entirely free from any projection which might endanger its security. It was commenced in 1706, and completed in 1709. It stood till 1755, a period of forty-six years, when it was totally destroyed by fire. On this occasion a singular circumstance happened. As one of the light keepers, named Henry Hall, a man aged 94 years, was looking upwards to observe the progress of the flames, a shower of melted lead fell from the roof and a quantity of liquid metal passed 94 EDDYSTONE L1GHT-HOUS K. down his throat. The man having disclosed this fact, was not believed, but on his death, which took place about twelve days after the accident, his body was opened, and a solid piece of lead, weighing seven ounces and five drachms, was found in his stomach. The present Light-house was erected by Mr. Smeaton. The first stone was laid on the first of June, 1757- "Mr. Smeaton conceived the idea of his edifice from the waist or bole of a large spreading oak. Considering the figure of the tree as connected with its roots, which lie hid below ground, Mr. S. observed that it rose from the surface with a large swelling base, which, at the height of one diameter, is generally reduced by an elegant concave curve to a diameter less by at least one-third, and sometimes to half its original base. Hence he deduced what the shape of a column of the greatest stability ought to be to resist the action of external violence, when the quantity of matter of which it is to be composed is given." To expedite the erection of the building, the stones were hewn and fitted to each other on shore, and after every precaution to ensure security bad been taken, the work was completed in October, 1759. Smeaton relates the following occurrence as having taken place EDDYSTONE LIGHT-HOUSE. 95 during its construction. " Louis XIV. being at war with England while this work was proceed- ing with, a French privateer took the men at work on the Eddy stone Rocks, together with their tools, and carried them to France, the captain expecting a reward for the achievement. While the captives lay in prison the transaction came to the knowledge of the French monarch, who immediately ordered the prisoners to be released, and the captors to be confined in their stead, declaring that, though he was at war with England, he was not so with mankind. He therefore directed the men to be sent back to their work with presents." The Lantern of the Light-house is an octagon, the frame work being composed of cast iron and copper. On the night of the 16th of October, 1759, when the light was first exhibited, a furious storm happened, and the keepers felt a very sensible motion in the building, but, from their conviction of its strength, they were not alarmed. The outside and basement of the edifice are formed of granite, that kind of stone being more competent than any other to resist the action of the sea. Round the upper store-room upon the 96 LDDYSTONE LIGHT-HOUSE, course of granite under the ceiling is the follow- ing inscription : EXCEPT THE LORD BUILD THE HOUSE THEY LABOClt IN VAIN THAT BUILD IT. Psalm cxxvii. Over the east side of the lantern are the words, 24th August, 1759, LA US DEO. The Light-house was at first attended by two men only, but the number was increased to three in consequence of one of the keepers having been once placed in a distressing situation by the death of his companion. On that occasion a long con- tinuance of bad weather had prevented the Eddystone vessel from visiting the rocks, and the surviving man was obliged to remain shut up with the mouldering corpse of his deceased part ner for more than a month, being apprehensive that if he threw it into the sea he should be ac- cused of murder. The Light-house is victualled with salt provisions, like a ship bound on a long voyage. " In high winds so briny an atmosphere surrounds this gloomy solitude, from the dashing of the waves, that a person exposed to it could hardly draw his breath. At these dreadful in- tervals the forlorn inhabitants keep close quarters and are obliged to live in darkness listening to the howling storm, excluded in every emergency EDDYSTONE LIGHT-HOUSE, 97 from the hope of human assistance, and without any earthly comfort, but that which results from their confidence in the strength of the building in which they are immured. In fine weather they just scramble about the edge of the rock, when the tide ebbs, and amuse themselves with fishing ; and this is the only employment they have, except that of trimming their nightly fires."* Smeaton relates an anecdote of a man who pro- cured a good livelihood by making leathern pipes for engines, but growing tired of sitting con- stantly at his work, he solicited a light-house man's place, and, as competitors for this post are not numerous, he obtained it. As the Eddystone boat was carrying him to take possession of his new habitation, one of the crew asked him what could tempt him to give up a profitable business to be shut up for months together in a pillar — " Why" replied the man, " because I did not like confinement" The proper time for sailing to the Eddystone from Plymouth is at high water, and the most favourable wind is at north west, which not only answers for the passage both ways, but, being what seamen term a smooth water wind, it must blow very hard before it can raise any sea at the ♦Gilpin. 98 EDDYSTONE LIGHT-HOUSE. Eddystone rocks. The landing place is on the east side of the House-Rock ; that reef stretch- ing north and south becomes a pier to break off the sea from half ebb to low water, and from low water till half flow, an interval of time which, in fine weather, is the best for visiting the Light-house. The most unfavourable wind, either for going or returning, is from the south west, it being generally accompanied by a heavy sea. During the summer months a steam packet makes a weekly trip from the towns of Devonport and Plymouth round the Eddystone ; and the facility and moderate expense of such a mode of eonveyance induce a great number of the inhabi- tants of the vicinity to make this agreeable aquatic tour. The voyage is easily accomplished in an afternoon, and the vessel is always ac- companied by a good band, which, filling the solitudes of ocean with pleasing harmony, effect- ually relieves the monotony of a long sea excursion. gjcenftg. MOUNT WISE. the azure Sound, The reservoir of rivers. Silv'ry bays Are seen where commerce lifts the peaceful sail Or where the war barks rise; the indented cotst Frowns with wave-breasting rocks, nor does the eye Forget the proud display of bustling towns And busy arsenals, and cliffs high crowned With pealing batteries, and flags that wave In the fresh ocean-gale. Banks of Tamar. Mountwise, the Champ de Mars of Plymouth and Devonport, commands a fine variety of natural objects. The parade itself is a level expanse of gravel, pleasingly skirted by patches of refreshing green sward, on several of the borders of which double rows of poplar, oak, elm, and other trees have been planted, so as to form avenues. On the side towards Devonport is the residence of the Port Admiral, and nearly opposite is Govern- ment House, the residence of the Commander-in- Chief of the Forces in the Western District. Near the eastern ramparts, enclosed by a cheveaux de frize, is one of the large brass can- nons brought from the Dardanelles by Admiral Sir J. T. Duckworth, in 1807. It is mounted on an elegant iron carriage, cast for the purpose, with appropriate ornaments and inscriptions. Mount- it? 102 MOUNT WISE, wise presents a joyous scene on the day of a grand review, when the troops in garrison are mustered to celebrate some national holiday. The town, and villages then, for many miles round, send forth their streams of human existence to swell the great sea of population which collects on the parade. The fields on the banks of the Tamar, Plym, and Tavy, are deserted, and even the lonely glens of Dartmoor hear the voice of re- joicing. And it is in truth a spirit stirring sight to gaze on the military spectacle with all its con- comitant " pomp and circumstance" — and to be- hold so many thousands of smiling happy faces^ though the mind is apt to recur to the Persian who, in contemplating his vast army from the heights " which looks o'er sea-born Salamis," wept at the thought " that ere a century should elapse not one of that immense multitude would be living. The scenery around Mountwise is most beau- tifully diversified, and the several parts which, if taken separately, would perhaps be harsh and inharmonious, are blended together so as to form a mellowed whole. Towards the east the eye glancing over the noble limestone cliffs which, from the northern boundary of the Sound, rests on the heathy hills of Dartmoor, reposing apart "MOUNT EDGCUMRE. 103 from the precincts of cultivation in solitary gran- deur ; and, on a clear day, a wild tor may be just distinguished lifting its shattered crest above the outline of the most prominent slope. From the batteries of Mountwise we overlook that fine bay the Sound, and its attendant attractions, such as the Island with its weather-beaten reefs and banner proudly floating above the curling waters ; the mighty Breakwater, the heights of Staddon, the ships of war lying at their anchors, and the majestic Mewstone, uplifting its tempest scathed brow in craggy magnificence. Sweet it is to gaze into the azure Sound when the breeze is coming wildly and freshly in from the vast At- lantic — when the sea bird is soaring joyously around the shivered precipices and bold head- lands — when the " white horses," as the children poetically term the waves, are coursing along the dark line of the Breakwater, and the ships are stealing, like half seen visions, across the distant offing. On the west is Milbrook Creek, with its pic- turesquely wooded promontories. The scene in this direction is bounded by lofty hills, glowing with all the hue of luxuriant cultivation. At their base rise the modest white-washed build- ings of the South Down Brewery, only wanting 104 MOUNT EDGCUMBE the aid of a few avenues oi stately trees to make them assume the air of a genuine Dutch village. The most prominent feature, however, of the landscape, is Mount Edgcumbe. To convey a correct idea of this region of enchantment is a task adapted rather to the pencil than to the pen, and the mind almost shrinks from the attempt to embody in mere words even a faint image of so much beauty. Washed by the ocean on the south, and by the gentle Tamar on the north, it is not only supremely lovely, individually con- sidered, but it is connected with so many inte- resting associations of rock, isle, cliff, towns, sea, and gliding sails, that the eye is never weary of gazing on the perpetually shifting picture, Well might Sir Robert Ker Porter exclaim "Mount Edgcumbe is the paradise of England." With the wave at its foot and the cloud very frequently on its summit, it is invested with an inexpressi- ble feeling of luxuriance and grandeur. Trees of the most varied shapes and foliage clothe its grassy slopes ; the gnarled oak, the noble elm, the beech, and the dark fir, display their several graces: — " Its silver stem The birch sends up like glossy serpent creeping Out thro' the lofty foliage ; many a gem As dropped fiom heedless Flora's diadem Lies round the crooked roots." MOUNT EDGCUMBE. 105 In some places long avenues display their imposing regularity, and on others are beheld magnificent masses of billowy foliage, disposing the lights and shadows into a thousand picturesque direc- tions, while in certain situations may be perceived so thick an interweaving of branch and bow that the eye can scarcely penetrate into its dark recesses. The mansion, with its octagonal towers and old pinnacles peering above a sea of leafage, has a fine effect. The summit of the peninsula is crowned by some romantic pines, happily grouped and rising above the rest of the woods in alpine wildness. A thousand tempests from the bosom of the maddened Atlantic have swept over them but still they keep their lonely watch over the deep and " Stand l:ke Caractacus in act to rally His host, with broad arras 'gaiost the thunderstroke," In spring or summer — autumn or winter, these pines bave a peculiarly interesting appearance, and the attention of the spectator is instantly arrested by their -wild and unsheltered aspect. The tower of Maker Church looks down with an air of serenity on the scene below, and the woody promontaries of Mill brook Creek, are beheld re- tiring behind each other in pleasing succession, the blue tide gently rippling around their rock- edged extremities. 106 MOUNT EDGGUMBE. Mount Edgcumbe is seen to the greatest ad- vantage by sailing round its shores in the rich decline of a summer evening. The outlines of the trees which emboss the slopes are then gilded with mellowed brightness, rendered more beau- tiful by being contrasted with the depth of the surrounding shadows ; and the rays of the setting sun, glancing between the trunks of the more scattered trees, form pathways of light on the green sward almost too bright to be profaned by mortal footsteps. And what a delicious spot is Barnpool in the sunset hour ! Its piled-up woods are hushed in the deepest tranquility, and, indeed the whole scene reposes in as intense a stillness as the lonely isles which have ere now been dis- covered in far-off seas by those " who go down to the great deep in ships" — isles where the flowers have withered unplucked on their stems, and the fruits have decayed untouched on the bough through countless ages. The dark re- cesses of the woods — the little temple dedicated to Milton — the irregular lawns dotted with little oases of tangled shrubs in which the hare loves to nestle, and " Quiet steeps Where thwarted oaks o'er their own old ;>ge brood And where the gentler trees in summer weather Spring up all greenly in their youth together,; And the grass is dwelling in a sileut mood, And the fir like fern its under forest keens Iu a strange stillness." MOUNT KDGCUMBE. 107 all conspire to fill the mind with a feeling of un- alloyed delight, Old Ocean here reposes in glossy shadowiness, reflecting with striking fidelity all the surround- ing objects ; and, as he draws his breath, his utmost verge melts into foam on the pebbly beach, but so gently as not to wash the shining sea shell from its hold in the sand. The rugged rocks too which rise from the strand in shivered array, are they not beautiful ? Did ever the tender violet, emulous of the azure of the sky r or crimson sea pink spring into life beneath a richer canopy of leafage than that which shades those turf-crowned crags ? or were ever cliffs festooned with a sweeter variety of those clam- bering plants which nature has taught to prefer the desolate rock to the fertile plain ? Sometimes a ship of war rests on the tranquil bosom of this lovely bay, and then the long regular lines formed by her rigging, together with her white masts and undulating banners, afford a fine relief to the dark green back ground of umbrageous woods, Pleasant it is to gaze on the towers of Edgcumbe house peering above the woods, and to listen to the wave playing musically with the tangled sea weed. The spectator is, in fact, so ravished with the aspect of the scenery that he 108 MOUNT EDGCUMBE. almost imagines he hears the lonely mermaid pouring her magic song over the trembling waters. And sometimes a breeze, hastily sweep- ing from the delightful gardens on shore, comes laden with odours stolen from flowers "' Some blue as the vein O'er Hero's eyelid stealing -and some as white In the clustering gra>s, as fair Europa's hand Nested amid the cur^son Jopi er's forehead, What time he snatched her through the startled waves ; Some purple too, such a? in Enna's meadows Forsook their own green homes and parent stalks To kiss the fiuge.s of Proserpina, ' Mount Edgcumbe and the surrounding scenery are extremely interesting when beheld from Mountwise, under the softening influence of moon- light. Lord Byron in none of his numerous descriptions of Cynthia's noontide has pictured the orb of night in conjunction with a more lovely combination of natural objects. The " tali piles and sea-girt palaces" of the isle built Venice are beautiful in the Lunar ray, but Leoni* after having turned from " The music and the banquet, and the wine, 1 he garlands, the rose odours, and the flowers, The sparkling eyes, and flashing ornaments," gazed not, from his lonely casement in the mid- night hour, on a fairer scene than Mountwise commands at that pensive season. Mount Edg- cumbe is then imbued with a feeling of the * Byron's " Doge of Venice." MOUNT EDGCUMBE. 109 deepest repose, and its outline is generally finely imprinted against a snowy back ground of light fleecy clouds ; while the picturesque groupes of pines start wildly up, tossing their dark hair on the breeze of night. Frequently a single moon- beam breaks athwart the pinnacles of the mansion , and, by touching them with a delicate gleam of light, renders them perfectly distinct from the surrounding masses of foliage. The ruin in Barn- pool adds a romantic feature to the scene, and the little temple sacred to Milton seems " touched by an enchanter's wand." The water in front of Mount Edgcumbe is one quivering, glittering sheet of magnificence — the gentle wavelets rising and falling in sparkling succession. The preci- pitous extremity of the peninsula, with its over- hanging crest of pines', is beheld with interest; while the lofty heights of Staddon and the towers of Plymouth, are imbued with a peculiar attrac- tion. Sometimes a solitary boat glides over the harbour, leaving a long luminous track behind her, while the oars as they are raised from the wave stream with liquid stars as bright as those of the firmament. These with a thousand other attendant attractions unite to render the view one of supreme loveliness, and to fill the soul with a deep sense of beauty which may be felt — not uttered. l 110 VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUIMBE, &c — " thou hast charms Enchanting; mount which not the Local Love Too highly valuts, or the genial West Alone enamour'd views, for thou artown'd Supreme in loveliness in this our isle Profusely teeming with unrivall'd scenes." Mount Edgcumbe House was built by Sir Richard Edgcumbe about the year 1 550. It stands on a small artificial platform of earth, apparently thrown up for the purpose, at the head of a beau- tiful lawn which slopes gently down to the water's edge. It is constructed in the Gothic style, of an oblong shape, with octagonal towers at the four corners. A modern wing, containing a library and other rooms, has been lately added to the building, but as this part is hidden by a row of stately trees, it does not injure the architectural effect of the mansion. The interior possesses some spacious apartments, the principal of which are in the octagonal towers. The hall is in the Grecian style and decorated with Doric columns. The chimney pieces, tables, and several stands, supporting busts in the hall, are of Cornish granite, beautifully polished. At each end of this large room is a gallery, one of them containing a good organ. The VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. Ill house boasts some excellent portraits of the Edg- cumbe family by Sir Peter Lely, Sir Joshua Rey- nolds, &c ; and among them is a curious one of Margaret Edgcumbe, maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth, and afterwards wife to Sir Edward Denny. She is represented in the habit of a widow, and according to the inscription beneath, the picture was painted when she was in the forty eighth year of her widowhood and the sixty eighth of her age. There are besides several fine heads of Charles I. and full lengths of Charles II. James II. Prince Rupert, and William III. At the bottom of the lawn, close to the water's edge are the Flower Gardens, cultivated in the English, French, and Italian styles. After leaving the lawn, the stranger enters the Italian Garden which is planted with evergreens of the most rare description, divided into sections by gravel walks, all radiating from a superb marble fountain in the centre from which a jet cTeau rises to a consider- able height, presenting a remarkably pleasing effect. The bason from which the jet ascends is of marble, and is supported on the heads of four tastefully carved cariatides standing on a pedestal. This garden is chiefly characterized by long avenues of odoriferous orange trees, which, in winter, are removed for protection to a noble 112 VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. Doric building, 100 feet long and proportionably high and wide. This spot also contains several statues of modern workmanship and among them is a bust of Ariosto, the pedestal of which bears the following inscription from that great poet's works. " Vicino al lido, donde a poco a poco Sa va salendo in verso il colle ameno, Cedri, e narauci,e lauri, e mirti, il loco, E nulle altri soavi arbori nan pieno. Lerpillo, e persa, e rose, egigii,e croco, Spargon dall' odorifero terreuo Tanta soavita, che in mar sentire La fa' ogni vento, che de terra spire." TRANSLATION. " Near to the shore, from whence with soft ascent Rises the pleasant hill, there is a place, \\ ith many an orange, cedar, myrtle, bay, And every shrub of giateful scent adorn'a. The rose, tbe lily, crocus, serpolet, Such sweets diffuse the odoriferous ground, That from the land each gently breathing gale Wafts forth the balmy fragrance to the sea." The French Garden is laid out in a tasteful and ingenious manner, A hedge of oak, bay, and myrtle includes a square area, arranged as a par- terre, ornamented in the centre by a, jet d'eau, and surrounded by trellis work, forming arches fes- tooned with numerous species of fragrant plants. One side of the garden is occupied by an elegant octagonal room, prettily furnished, and opening into conservatories. On the removal of a pic- ture at the back of the apartment, a beautiful antique statue of Meleager is discovered, backed VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. 113 by a mirror, which reflects every part of the gar- den, creating the pleasing illusion of a camera- obscura. The garden also contains a statue of Mercury, which has a very attractive appearance when beheld through the openings of the leafy arches. Here is also a remarkably fine magnolia, opposite to which is a votive urn, erected in memory of the late Countesss of Mount Edgcumbe, who died in 1806. It bears the name Sophia and the pedestal is inscribed as follows : — TO THE MEMORY OF HER WHOSE TASTE EMBELLISHED WHOSE PRESENCE ADDED CHARMS TO THESE RETREATS HERSELF THE BRIGHTEST ORNAMENT THIS URN IS ERECTED IN THE SPOT SHE LOVED. Near the French Garden, on a point of land which commands a diversified view of Devonport, Stonehouse, the Dock-yard and Harbour, is a small alcove, denominated " Thomson's Seat," in honour of the poet of the " Seasons." Within are the following lines from that writer. 41 On either hand, Like a long wintry forest, groves of masis Shot up their spires; the bellying sheet between Possess'd the breezy void ; the sooty hulk Sieer'd sluggish on : the splendid barge along; Rowd, reguW-.r, to haimony -. around The boat, light skimming, stretched its oary wings, W bile deep the various voice of fervent toil From bank to bank increased ; whence ribbed with oak« To bear the British thunder, black and bold, The roaring vessel rushed Into the main." L 114 VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE, The English Garden is more simply arranged than either of the others. It is of considerable extent and is laid out in beds of shrubs and flowers, traversed with gravel walks, which are so managed as to conceal the real limits of the enclosure. It contains many beautiful and majestic trees, among which are several fine magnolias, cedars of Lebanus and Virginia, and a few large cork-trees. This delightful retreat is decorated with a square Doric pavilion, containing a sitting and dressing- room, and a bath, supplied Avith hot and cold water from the mouths of two bronze dolphins. A bench in the garden is inscribed with the fol- lowing lines from Cowper. " Prospects, however lovely, may be seen, Till half their beauties fade; the wearied eye, (Too well acquainted with their charms) slides off Fastidious, seeking less familiar scenes. Then snug enclosures in some sheher'd spot Where frequent hedges intercept the eye, Delight us, happy to renounce awhile. " (Not senseless of iis charms,) what still we love, That such short absence may endear it more." The path which leads from the English Garden to the blockhouse descends into a deep excavation, overshadowed by trees, and containing a number of antique funeral urns and sarcophagi : among the heap of architectural fragments is a fine capital of the Corinthian order, brought from the ruins of Alexandria. At a short distance from this spot, and close to the beach of Barnpool, is VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. 1 15 the Blockhouse which, with the little fort on the opposite promontory of Devil's point, was built in the reign of Queen Elizabeth for the defence of the harbour. It is now become a ruin and is picturesquely overgrown with ivy. In front is a battery of twenty-one small guns, the successors of some larger pieces of ordnance which, according to an inscription from Carew on the wall of the Blockhouse, " at coming and parting, with their base voices greeted such guests as visited the house." The view from this spot is very exten- sive, including the whole of Barnpool, the Island* the populous neighbourhood of Plymouth, Mount Batten, Drake's Island, Staddon Heights, the Breakwater, Mewstone, &c. By following the path which leads towards the private landing place in Barnpool we soon arrive in the Amphitheatre, a noble assemblage of trees, piled rank above rank to a great height, display- ing a most enchanting variety of form and foliage. Here wc shall observe some beautiful tulip trees, a majestic cedar of Lebanus, a Carolina poplar of extraordinary tallness, and several large planes, presenting a striking immensity of bough and branch. On the skirt of the wood, and near the beach, is a little dome, supported by four Ionic columns, containing a bust of Milton and dedi- 116 VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. cated to that immortal poet. On the inner wall are inscribed the annexed lines from Paradise lost. '• Overhead npgrevv Insuperable height of loftiest shade Cedar, and fir, and pine, and branching palm, A sylvan scene; and as she ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woody theatre Of stateliest view." We shall now conduct the stranger to a few of the more striking objects in the grounds, and by the path which is usually traced by visitors to this charming domain. Having left Milton's temple, our attention will be drawn to a gothic Ruin, standing on the slope of a hill in a bold situation. This modern imitation of the many relics of remote antiquity which are scattered over our land is well designed, and adds much to the effect of the surrounding landscape. A flight of stone steps leads to a shattered window, near the top of the building, which enables the spec- tator to glance over the numerous attractions of the romantic neighbourhood. We soon arrive at the Cottage, situated in rather a wild valley, amid a pleasing solitude of venerable trees. In front of this rustic dwelling is a little garden tastefully laid out with flowers and shrubs. Having returned to the main road, we speed- ily arrive at the entrance of the Great Terrace ; we then proceed on a perfect level through * VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. 117 plantations of fir and other trees, the sea lying at a great depth below ; till at length we enter Pic- kle-combe. This little valley is so regularly scooped out by nature as almost to seem the work of art. Its sides above the road are planted with various trees, and the lower part is thickly over- run with heath and other wild plants. At the upper end stands a picturesque building — a modern imitation of a ruined chapel. It consists of moor- stone arches, niches, and pinnacles, all of which are pleasantly curtained with ivy. From the seat within, the eye glances down through the sloping glen into the bosom of the ocean. Leaving this solitary and interesting spot we pursue the Terrace to the other side of the valley, and speedily find ourselves in the midst of a plan- tation of beautiful flowering shrubs ; the arbutus, the laurustinus, the Portugal laurel and other evergreens cover the cliffs with their rich luxuri- ance. Not a deciduous plant appears, and this singular spot, protected from the cold blasts of the north and fully open to the genial south, retains its charms throughout the year, The road continues winding amid these delightful haunts till we arrive at the Arch where a stone seat placed at the edge of an almost perpendicular precipice, commands a noble view of the Sound 118 VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. and neighbouring objects. At this place are the principal ascent and descent to the Zig-zag Walks which are cut in the side of the hill, both above and below the Terrace, extending upwards to Redding Point where they enter the Park, and downward as low as the cliff is practicable. By the lower Zig-zags we may return to the bottom of Pickle-combe from which they are again con- tinued as far as Hoe Lake. This is a wild and finely-shaped valley, at the bottom of which, beneath a tuft of trees, stands a lodge, in the cot- tage style, with a rustic porch and a bench on that side which fronts the sea. Within is a large room fitted up with deers' skins, horns and orna- ments, appropriate to a park lodge. The New or Upper Zigs-zags are, if possible, more beautiful than the lower : the cliffs being more abrupt, the shrubs more luxuriant, and the distant views much more varied and interesting. At the very summit a bench, placed on a prominent point of rock, overlooks the whole side of the almost per- pendicular precipice, clothed with rich plants of arbutus and other evergreens, which seem to dip their branches into the sea beneath. Notwith- standing the steepness of the cliff, the whole of the Zig-zag walks are so managed as to be per- fectly safe and easy of access." VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. 119 Having regained the Terrace, we pass under the Arch, which appears like a perforated rock> passing through which we enter a thick wood, which totally excludes all remote objects from the gaze. Emerging from this sylvan darkness we pass the Ruin, and. after having followed the road for some distance through charming scenes, once more arrive at the house. The deer park occupies the summit of the peninsula and commands an extensive prospect over Cawsand Bay and the English Channel. At its western extremity, outside the park enclosure, btands Maker Church, the lofty tower* of which was used during the last war as a government signal station, it being eligibly situated for com- municating intelligence from ships in the open sea to the fort on Mountwise. The church which is a neat fabric, contains some monuments * Abnut the year 1763 a dreadful murder was committed in this tower on the body of John Couch, a poor old man who had long been occupied in hoisting the signals. Towards the close of the day, being about to leave his station, he was met at the door by Nicholas Maun- der, a labourer belonging to the dock-yard, who requested leave to go up and look round from the top of the tower, which was granted, and Couch accompanied him. While there, a silver watch and pair of buckles which the old man wore, attracted the notice of Maunder, to possess which he resolved on his destruction, and, in following him down stairs, he with several blows deprived his unfortunate victim of life, and afterwards robbed him of his little valuables, leaving the corpse almost naked. He then absconded, but suspicion of the murder having fallen on him. he was apprehended, committed to the county gaol, and, at the next assizes, found guilty and executed,— Gilbert's History. 120 VISIT TO MOUNT EDGCUMBE. to the memory of the Edgcumbe family. The view from this spot, looking northward, is most magnificent. The harbour, with its noble shipping — the populous town of Devonport — the busy Dock-Yard— Torpoint— Saltash and the distant peak of Kite hill, lie before the eye in a bright and varied panorama. In another direc- tion are seen the rock-indented shores of the Sound— the towers of Plymouth — Stonehouse — the woods of Saltram — all backed by the high- swelling hills of Darmoor. The author refrains from entering into a minute description of this enchanting scene, since it would be impossible to convey in words an adequate idea of so rare a landscape, Maker heights were fortified during the Ame- rican war with five redoubts, which still remain, though some of the works have been suffered to fall into ruin. These heights were also occupied in 1596 by 170 pikemen, 300 musqueteers, and 30 cavalty, under the command and maintained at the sole expense of Mr. Carew, author of the " Survey of Cornwall." Not far from Maker Church is the village of Cawsand, situated at the head of the bay of the same name, It consists of about 300 houses built chiefly of brick. The principal support of the CAWSAND. 121 town is its fisheries, which have, however, of late years, much decayed. In time of war the inha- bitants derive great emoluments from the king's ships that frequently anchor in the bay. On a rocky knot at the west end of the town is a ruined fortification denominated the Bulwarks, which, previous to the destruction of the batteries on Maker Heights, was mounted with heavy ord- nance. Cawsand being situated close to the water's edge suffered extremely by the tremendous storms of January, 1817, and November, 1824, when the destruction of all kinds of property was very extensive. A tradition prevails that the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. landed at Cawsand at the time he asserted his claim to the English throne, but while refreshing himself after the voyage, being informed that strict watch was kept for him at Plymouth, " he sud- denly got on board his ship," says Carew, "and escaped to a better fortune." A visit to the little fishing town of Cawsand would well repay the tourist. He should cross the ferry to Cremill — and proceeding up the hill he would enjoy as de- lightful a prospect as England presents. After crossing the plain near Maker Church, he will observe Cawsand beneath — with her little fleet of fishing boats— the " open sea" — the Breakwater M 122 CAWSAND. — and in the distance the Eddystone Light- House. If the tourist be disposed to extend his walk, he should take the new line of road called " Lord Valletort's drive," from Cawsand, and proceed along its circuitous course until he reaches Penlee Point, where a very neat rustic seat has been recently erected by his Lordship for the accommodation of visitors. From this point may be enjoyed a most extensive and delightful view of the English Channel. Not far distant is the village and church of Rame, the latter of which is deserving the stranger's notice. On returning a change of scene would present itself, by de- scending from Maker Heights to the village of Millbrook, from thence taking the lower road on the margin of the lake— passing Anderton, Im- pacombe, Mount Edgcumbe Garden and Farm, until he arrives again at the beach of Cremttl, where, should he require rest and refreshment, he will find every comfort at the Inn kept by Mr. Graves. A rustic seat will be observed on the rock behind the bouse, from which the stranger will be delighted on a fine day to overlook the harbour, and the variety of objects associated with it 123 sxcuxisioar to the wsza hsad asjd MORWBIL ROCKS, Tamar loves To lead the voyager by breezy hills And soft retiiing dales, by smiling lawns, Bold headlands da« k with umbrage of the groves, By towns, and villages, and mansions fair, Arid rocks magnificent. BANKS OF TAMAR. The principal characteristics of the Tamar are its eccentric windings, and the loveliness of its wooded shores and rock-edged promontories. In scarcely any part below the Weir are both banks bold ; — if one side of the river displays a steep slope the other is almost invariably flat, which, perhaps, has the effect of rendering the hilly fea- tures more beautiful by the force of contrast. Gilpin, in his "Observations on the Western Counties," remarks that the reaches of the Tamar are too long. This assertion however can only apply to that part of the river which flows between Pentillie and the harbour, for above that fine domain the contortions of the channel present the tourist with a charming variety of views. These are indeed, frequently confined, and, in 124 EXCURSION TO THE general, there is an absence of distance which is so essential to the formation of a complete picture ; but this deficiency is amply compensated by the sweet little home scenes — worlds of quiet and ex- quisite loveliness which now and then delight the eye. The Cornish bank is the most attractive and in many places, particularly at Pentillie and Cotehele, displays a noble massiness of leafage. The details of the landscapes on the Tamar are very pleasing. Who in sailing up this sylvan stream has not beheld with interest the edgings of rocks spotted with many lichens — the twisting boughs of the " druid oak," here and there pro- tecting some little bay from the obtrusive sun- light — the tangled roots of the aged trees, form- ing a tough net work over the face of the jagged cliffs — and the lonely cottage which rises with white washed chimney and thatched roof from amid the embowering greenness of graceful foliage. We shall now consider the reader embarked with us at Morice Town for a voyage to the Weir Head and Morwell Rocks — a most interesting summer day's excursion. Having quitted the landing place, we glide leisurely among the nu- merous noble vessels of war that rests peacefully on the bosom of Hamoaze, and in passing under WEIR HEAD, &C. 125 their magnificently carved sterns, we shall recog- nise the name of many a gallant vessel renowned in days of yore for her prowess in the dread sea- fight. Voyages up the Tamar are generally com- menced at day-break, at which time the harbour is beheld under one of its most attractive aspects. When the sun rises the golden light from the East touches the masts and sides of the ships with mellow light, beautifully contrasted by the depth of shadow which the surrounding objects throw into the water ; while the fields, and hills, and buildings on shore become gradually more dis- tinct as the blue mists of morning roll slowly away on the wings of the rising breeze. Nearly opposite Mori ce Town is Thanckes, the seat of Lord Graves, grandson of the late Admiral Lord Graves. The house which is unassuming in its exterior is pleasantly situated at the head of a small bay, near some fine groves of ancient trees. On the right bank of the river are the extensive Government Powder Magazines connected with the wariike establishments of the port. Higher up the harbour are seen the nobly-swelling woods of Antony, the seat of W. P. Carew, Esq. Above Antony the picturespue Lynher or St. Germans river is beheld receding behind its romantic pro montaries. Opposite the mouth of the Lynher, m 2 126 SALTASH, are the Kinterbury Powder Mills, the explosion of which a few years ago was attended w T ith the loss of two lives. The Tamar suddenly contracts in breadth at Saltash. This ancient borough town is built on the slope of a very steep hill, and forms a pretty object from the water. Its juris- diction is very extensive, the mayor holding the silver oar, an authority required in cases of arrest of persons on board vessels lying in the Harbour, Sound, &c. An annual fair is held in the town, and in 1836 a Regafta was es- tablished and liberally supported. The Saltash men and women are celebrated for their rowing, and carry off prizes wherever they are engaged. Many of the poorer inhabitants gain a livelihood by the gathering and sale of shellfish, which they carry to the town of Devonport. The ferry-house on the opposite shore, and the neat dwellings scattered along the beach, overhung with dark green foliage have a very pleasing effect. Con- tiguous to the beach is the approach to the de- lightful new line of road recently opened between Saltash, Devonport, Plymouth, and Stonehouse. A steam bridge on the same principle as before described in this work as plying between Morice Town and Torpoint, is also established between Saltash and the opposite side. The tourist will SALTASH. 127 find it a pleasing walk or ride to pursue the new line of road from Morice Town, along the banks of the Tamar, keeping in view the ships in har- bour, the town of Torpoint, the woods of Thanckes and of Antony, the neat village of Willcove, the castle of Trematon, the St. Ger- mans' River—passing over the Bridge of Keyham, and Weston Mill Lakes — and from thence to the Steam Bridge, which, in six minutes, conveys horses and passengers without the trouble of dismounting, to the town of Saltash, in Cornwall — the reiver Tamar forming the line of separation between that county and Devon. Above Saltash the river again widens, and assumes the appear- ance of a broad inland lake. The bustle of the harbour is no more perceived, but the monotony of this broad sheet of water is here and there re- lieved by the red sail of a solitary barge, or by a flock of sea-gulls flapping their white Avings over the ripping wavelets. The surrounding scene is composed of richly-cultivated fields — umbrageous woods — fruit-hung orchards — nestling villages and embattled church towers rising above the silent dells — shelvy weed-grown shores and straggling copses. The eastern horizon is bounded by the houseless solitudes of Dartmoor, while, in the north, Hengest Down rises in one vast conical mass. 128 LANDULPH CHURCH. A skilful pilot is needed to traverse with safety this part of the river. Immense tracts of mud stretch out from either side which, when slightly covered with water, are so extremely delusive that they can scarcely be distinguished from the deeper portions of the channel. Parties have frequently been detained all night on these flats, for if a boat once grounds on the ooze, she is almost always obliged to await the coming of the next flood tide before she can be floated off. We must not omit noticing the Church of St. Budeaux, loftily seated on the eastern bank of the river, exposed to the fury of every wind that blows. Tamerton Creek is seen winding inland to the little village of the same name ; and beyond it, on the same line of coast, is the finely- wooded estate of Warleigh, with its ancient mansion almost hidden by venerable trees. Nearly oppo- site Warleigh is Moditonham creek, at the head of which is the modern-built mansion of the late C. Carpenter, Esq. Not far off are the villages of Landulph and Botusfleming. The church of the latter place is a venerable structure supposed to have been built by Stephen de Fleming, in the reign of Richard I. The tower is of granite and ornamented with pinnacles and crosses. In the north aisle is the recumbent figure of a crusader with a sword and target. The church of Landulph LANDULPH CHURCH. 129 stands on the very edge of the water, and its antique embattled tower adds an interesting feature to the landscape. Within its walls is a monument of brass bearing the following inscrip- tion : — Here lyeth the body of Theodore Paleo'oj.us, oV Pesaro in Italy, descended frum ye imperial line of ye late Christian Emperors of Greece, bc-ino; ye sonue of Camiiio, ye sonue of Prosper, ye soiuie of Theodoro, ye sonneof "John, ye sonne of Thomas, second V. other of Constantine Paleologus, ye 8th of yt name, and ye last of yt line yt reigned in Constantinople, Until subdued by ye Turks ; who married wt Mary, ye daughter of Wiiliam Bails, of Hafllye, in Suffolk, gent, and had issue 5 children ; Theodoro, John, Ferdinando, Maria, and Dorothy, and departed this life at Chftun, ye 21st of Jan. l&SG. w; The vault below the monument having been opened about twenty years ago, a single oak coffin was discovered, which, on lifting the lid, was found to contain the body of Paleologus in so perfect a state that the features were clearly distinguishable. He appeared to be above the common height, the countenance of an oval form, with an aquiline nose, and he had a white beard of considerable length. The parish register of Landulph being imperfect from the year 1 628 to 1649, has unfortunately left a degree of uncer- tainty with respect to Paleologus and his family. The Rev. R. Polwhele conjectures that he died at Clifton, while visiting Sir Nicholas Lower ; be 130 PENTILLIE CASTLE. this as it may it does not appear that he ever pos- sessed the manor of Clifton, or any other estates in this parish."* Not far from Landulph is the estuary of the Tavy. After having passed the village of Hall's Hole, the hamlet of Cargreen, and the deserted mines of Beeralston, we speedily arrive in the more solitary reaches of the Tamar. The channel becomes considerably narrowed, and the eye ever and anon catches glimpses of Pentillie Castle, rising magnificently above the winding river. On approaching more closely to that lordly domain we cannot help being charmed by the varied aspect of the dark woods — the majestic air of the many-pinnacled building — the peaceful serenity of the green-swarded glen at its foot — and the picturesque dwellings scattered along the margin of the stream, "There is a sweet and holy transport fills The mind, alive to Nature's matchless charm*, When thus, abruptly, she unfolds to view, Her fine associations. Beautiful Art thou, Peniillie, rising o'er the flood That round thy foot, involved as the folds Of the sleek serpent, leads a mazy course, As though it were a pity soon to steal The voyager from scenes so passing fair." The castle was built on the site of the old family mansion by John Tillie Coryton, Esq. * Gilbert's "History ofCornwa 1 !." PENTILLIE CASTLE. 131 from designs of the architect Wilkins, author of Ex Magna Grseca. It is in the Gothic style , with a lofty pinnacled portico. The interior is furnished in a manner suitable to the magnificence of its exterior appearance. On the summit of a conical mount near the house stands a small stone tower, embosomed in a grove of fir trees. Beneath this building are deposited the remains of Sir James Tillie, a former owner of this domain, whose interment in this romantic spot has given rise to the follow- ing strange story, extracted from "Gilpin's Observations on the Scenery of the West of Eng- land." 4i Mr. Tillie, once the owner of Pentillie House, was a celebrated atheist of the last age. He was a man of wit, and had by rote all the ribaldry and commonplace jests against religion and scripture, which are well suited to display pert- ness and folly, and to unsettle a giddy mind, but are offensive to men of sense, whatever their opinions may be, and are neither intended, nor adapted to investigate truth. The brilliancy of Mr. Tillie's wit, however, carried him a degree further than we often meet with in the annals of profaneness. In general the witty atheist is satisfied with amusing his contemporaries, but 132 PENTILLIE CASTLE. Mr. Tillie wished to have his sprightliness known to posterity. With this view, in ridicule of the resurrection, he obliged his executors to place his dead body, in his usual garb, and in an elbow chair, upon the top of a hill, and to arrange on a table before him bottles, glasses, pipes and to- bacco. In this situation he ordered himself to be immured in a tower of such dimensions as he prescribed, where he purposed, he said, patiently to wait for the event. All this was done, and the tower, still enclosing its tenant, remains as a monument of his impiety and profaneness. The country people shudder as they go near it. — Religio pavidos terrebat agrestes Diraloci :— sylvamsaxumque tremebant. ,, On this tale are the following remarks in Gilbert's ' History of Cornwall.' " The inter- ment of Sir James Tillie in this romantic spot certainly gave rise to many ridiculous stories, to which an air of probability has been given by the narrative of Gilpin. But nothing can be more false than his account of the body having been placed in a chair, with a table, laid cut before it with bottles, glasses, &c. On the contrary, the body was placed in a coffin and deposited in a vault ; and the choice of situation will not appear strange when it is considered that in the room COTEHELE HOUSE. 133 above Sir James Tillie had, perhaps, enjoyed the happiest hours of his life. His last will and tes- tament has late]y been examined by his heirs at Doctors' Commons, and in this document it is observable that, so far from his principles being atheistical, they breathe throughout a disposition fraught with the utmost submission to the will of Divine Providence, and a perfect confidence in the wisdom and mercies of the Creator." It will not indeed be difficult for those who have experienced how strongly the heart is attached in after life to scenes beloved in youth to account for the wish of Sir James Tillie to be buried on this ' fir-clad mount.' Perhaps he was wont to sit there in the rosy flush of morning, gazing with rapture on the sun-gilded woods and the winding river glittering at his feet ; — evening may have found him gliding in his pinnace along the indentations of the leaf-hung shores, and often may the pale moon have shed her poetical light on his lone delighted wanderings among the green and solitary glades of Pentillie. We shall find nothing worthy of particular no- tice till we arrive at Cotehele. The woods are here truly noble, and clothe the bank nearly down to the water's edge. Having disembarked, we wind through a dark bough-canopied lane to N 134 COTEHELE HOUSE. Cotehele House. This mansion is too interesting a relic of the days that are gone to be passed by with slight observation, and we trust that our readers will bear with us while we indulge in our love of venerable antiquity, by entering into a somewhat detailed description of this interesting baronial residence. It was erected about the reign of Henry VII. It is seated loftily, and is sur- rounded by trees of the most majestic stature and shadowy massiness of foliage. Among these are some fine specimens of the Spanish chesnut. " The tree," says Gilpin, '* on which Salvator Rosa has hung Edipus, is exactly one of them."* From the date 1627 being carved over the door- way, it is conjectured that the building under- went some repairs in that year. This renovation however must have been very trifling, since the air of the mansion conveys the idea of great and undeniable antiquity. It is quaintly described by Carew as " anciente, large, stronge, and fayre, and appurtenanced with the necessaries of woode, water, fishing, parkes, and milles, withe the devo- tion (in times past) of a riche furnished chapelle, and charitie of almes houses for certaine poore people whiche the owners used to relieve." The general appearance of Cotehele is something be- ■ * " Observations on the Western Counties." COTEHELE HOUSE. 135 tween the old manor-house and feudal castle. The features which chiefly strike the eye are several square embattled towers, grey with the rust of many ages, and which contain some of the principal apartments. The walls are most pic- turesquely lichened, and here and there a shoot of dark green ivy, or a tuft of moss more than usually bright, affords a relief to the sombre tint of years which, perhaps, would otherwise offend by monotony the eye of taste. It would be im- possible to describe the feeling of silence and of solitude that broods over this interesting spot Though situated close to the busy scenes of a navigable river, it is as completely hidden from public observation as if it were buried in the depths of an untrodden wilderness. Nothing dis- turbs the stillness but now and then the cooing of a domestic pigeon, or the wilder gush of melody poured forth by some untamed minstrel of the leafy forest ; — and in short every thing that meets the eye — every sound that falls upon the ear, con- spires to delight the imagination with a dream of departed days. The entrance to the house is through a Gothic moorstone arch- way, leading into a quadrangular court from which the spectator is enabled to take a more minute survey of the various parts of the 136 COTEHELE HOUSE. edifice, A large pinnacled and embattled tower is the principal feature. The windows are lat- ticed and rather heavy in appearance. Access is obtained to the different rooms through a Gothic hall, in which are preserved a number of very- interesting curiosities. The light is admitted through windows dimmed by painted armorial bearings much injured by time. The walls are covered w T ith suits of ancient armour, eleven of which are complete ; — with arquebusses, pikes, halberts, swords, bows and arrows, and other offensive and defensive instruments of warfare. Besides these are numerous trophies of woods- craft, consisting of pairs of branching stags' horns, &c. At the south end of the hall, at some distance from the ground, is the figure of an ancient warrior "in complete steel" and nearly as large as life. The interior of the mansion is shewn to strangers by the housekeeper. An hour or two cannot be more delightfully spent than in exploring the chambers of Cotehele. The original furniture being carefully preserved in its pristine state, almost every thing that strikes the atten- tion awakens recollections of the long flown age of romance. The rooms are hung with tapestry, the work of fair fingers now mouldered into dust. COTEHELE HOUSE. 13/ Some of the subjects represented are the loves of Hero and Leander, passages in the lives of Ro- mulus and Remus, St. George of England, and Eurydice bitten by a serpent. One of the doors opening into the hall conducts to a massive stone stair-case, ornamented with grim, decaying por- traits of some long-forgotten personages of the olden time. A sleeping apartment in the northern tower is said to have been occupied several nights by Charles II. If his majesty possessed a taste for the picturesque, he must have been much gratified by the lovely prospect which the win- dow of this room commands. The house contains a great quantity of antique furniture and other curiosities of the most inter- esting description. Among these are some rich old bed hangings, a variety of ancient china, a Saxon sword about two feet long, a music book dated 1556, a painting of the Adoration executed in 1569, rudely carved ebony chairs, curiously ornamented brass fire-dogs more than four feet high, earthenware drinking vessels of great age 5 an ancient cabinet, with many other rare articles, the enumeration of which would be tedious. There are no grates in the apartments, the fires having been always kindled on the hearths. Connected with the house is a small chapel* n 2 138 COTEHELt HOUSE. over which is a pinnacled and battlemented turret, containing a place for hells, formerly used to summon the neighbouring vassals to join in the devotions of the Coteils. In the Gothic win- dow over the altar are the armorial bearings of Edgcumbe, Rame, Durnford, Pole, Carew, Prideaux, and other families emblazoned in stained glass now in a state of extreme mutila- tion. The altar displays a neat crucifix, and its velvet furniture is very rich. One of the cloths is embroidered with the figures of the twelve apostles. This little place of prayer contains two portraits, representing, it has been supposed, Sir Thomas de Cotehele, the last male heir of the family, and Helena his sister, who became the wife of William de Edgcumbe. Not far from the house is another chapel, with which is identified a true and romantic legend. It is situated on a bold turf-clad rock that juts out into the Tamar, and is almost hidden from observation by the untamed luxuriance of over- hanging foliage. It was built in the reign of Henry VII. Its origin is explained by the fol- lowing extract from Carew's Survey of Cornwall, inscribed on the northern wall of the interior. " Sir Richard Edgcumbe was driven to hide him- self in these his thicke woodes whiche overlook COTEHELE HOUSE. 139 the river ; at whiche tyme, being suspected of favouring the Earl of Richmond's party against Richard III., he was hotly pursued and narrowly searched for; whiche extremity taught him a sudden policy, to put a stone into his cap, and tumble the same into the water, while these rangers were fast at his heeles, who, looking down after the noyse, and seeing his cap swim- ming thereon, supposed that he had desperately drowned himselfe, and gave over their further hunting, and left him at liberty to shift away and ship into Bretagne ; for a grateful remembrance of whiche delivery he afterwards builded in the place of his lurking a chappel." This fabric, as is the case with most votive erections, is very small. It contains several old paintings and some antique carved work. The east window is en- riched by stained glass, and on the south wall is a painted tablet representing the monument of the founder* of the chapel, who died at Morlaix in Bretagne, on his return from a public em- bassy to France, and was buried in the convent church of that town. Near Cotehele house is a narrow glen called Danescombe, which derives its name from the * Sir Richard Edgcumbe was comptroller of the household to Henry VII., by whom he was knighted at ihe battle of Boswonhfield. 140 COTEHELE HOtJSE. Danes having passed through it in the year 834, on their way to Hengest Down, about two miles off, where, having been joined by the Cornish Britons, the united forces fought a desperate battle with the Saxons under King Egbert, when the latter proved victorious. Several sepulchral barrows on Hengest Down still point out the scene of this affray.* On an elevated part of Cotehele grounds is a lofty tower, affording a most extensive and finely varied view. After this long digression, which, however, it is hoped, has not proved altogether uninteresting* we will return to our boat. Not far from the quay at which we re-embark we catch a glimpse of Sir Richard Edgcumbe's chapel, just described. The aspect of the scenery at this part of the river is exceedingly impressive. The woods swell up in magnificent masses, displaying every hue and disposition of foliage. The rocks that edge the bank are picturesquely lichened, and, when the river presents an unruffled surface, are mirrored in the flood with pleasing fidelity. The effect of evening music in this spot is enchanting. The tones echo pensively through the hollow sounding woods, and the harmonious cadences die beauti- * One or two of these tombs were opened a few years since. In oue of thera were found a skull and some other human bones. CALSTOCK, &C. 141 fully away among the winding reaches of the stream. On turning a reedy point of land we behold the village of Calstock. The church is seated on the summit of a steep slope and commands a noble view of the sinuous Tamar and its charming banks. It may be mentioned, as an instance of the extraordinary manner in which the stream winds, that after the voyager has sailed five miles above Calstock he again arrives immediately be- neath the church of that village, the long ridge- like peninsula on which it stands being washed on both sides by the waters of the Tamar. The attention is soon attracted to Harewood House, the mansion of Sir W. S. Trelawny, bart, pleasantly seated on a fertile tongue of land, which, according to tradition, is the scene of the well-known story of Ethehvald and Elfrida. This historical fact is thus quaintly related by Risdon, w r ho, however, describes it to have taken place at Tavistock, about four miles distant from Hare- wood. Tavystoke is the chief place upon Ta- vye's banks where, in the dayes of Edgar, the first unresisted monarch of this lande, Orgarius, Earl of Devon, kept his court ; the echo of whose faire daughter Elfleda's beauty sounded so loude in the king's ears, that it caused him to employ Ethel- 142 HAREWOOD. wald his minion to woo her in his behalfe, to be dignified with the title of a queene ; but, as some- tyme it falleth out, there is falsehoode in fellow- shipp, this earle sued unto her for himselfe, and that with good liking of her father, so as the king would consent, unto whom he returned this answer, that, '* the lady came farr short of such perfection as fame gave out, and in noe wise for feature fitt for a king :" whereupon Edgar, mis- trusting noe double dealing, soone consented, and Orgarius gave his daughter to Ethel wald in mar- riage ; after which her beauty was more liberally spoken of than before ; whereof King Edgar, taking notice, came into Devonshire under colour of hunting to visit Duke Orgarius ; which being apprehended by Ethelwald, he discovered the truth to his lady, and earnestly besought her to save his life from the king's danger; but she, shewing herself a true woman, desired nothing more than the thing forbidden, dressing herself with costlie ornaments to attend the coming of the king, whom, with an amiable grace, she entertained ; which so inflamed his desires that, palliating his affection for the present, he went forth an hunting, where, at a place called Wil- verly, since War le wood, the earle was found slaine with an arrow (as some will) others with MORWELHAM. 143 a javelin, and shortly after king Edgar took the fay re Elfleda for his queene." The view of that part of the river which sweeps round the peninsula of Harewood, as seen from the southern extremity of Morwell Down, is strikingly interesting. The delighted eye wan- ders over an expanse of green woods —cultured fields — cottages, scattered in all directions, half embosomed in trees, or standing forth boldly dis- tinct on the undulating slopes — streamlets glit- tering through the meadows — the broad river winding at the foot of precipitous banks — hand- some mansions and modest farm-houses— all com- bining in the composition of a picture of no ordinary beauty. The weather beaten tow T er of Calstock church is a prominent and picturesque object, and the village of Morwelham looks well standing on Tamar's marge. The only unplea- sant features in the scene are the unsightly heaps of rubbish, thrown up from the mines on the Cornish bank. By no means, gentle tourist, think of proceeding farther by water than Morwelham. Before you reach that spot you will have had enough of gliding in your pleasure boat by rock-edged pro- montory, leaf- hung slope, and smooth verdurous meadow, so disembark and indulge in a stroll 144 MORWELHAM. through a combination of natural objects much of whose grandeur is lost when beheld from the stream. Having inspected 'the inclined plane and other machinery connected with the termin- ation of the Tavistock canal, you follow a path which leads along the margin of the Tamar to- wards Newbridge. You speedily enter the bosomy depths of a wood, and having wandered for a short distance along a track almost over- grown with tangly bushes, you emerge at the base of a bare mass of perpendicular rock which rises from the edge of the footway to an immense height. There is nothing however remarkably attractive in this cliff, for its form, though im- pressive, is not sufficiently hung with the tressery of climbing plants to endear it to the eye either of the poet or the painter. In autumn it is beau- tiful to remark the young trees and shrubs which skirt the margin of the river. The beneficent Spirit of nature has showered some of his choicest gifts on this spot, and though there are those who could pass them with the apathy of Wordsworth's Peter Bell, to whom " a primrose was a a primrose and nothing more," do not you, gentle tourist, suffer yourself to lie under such an imputation. Rather gaze with prolonged delight on the light branches and delicate leaves of the THE MORWELL ROCKS, 145 ^8 moutain-ash, hanging out its graceful clusters of berries whose hue wavers between that of the bright red coral and the tint of the inmost rose leaf; behold the luxuriant bindweed, twisting up into the boughs of the spreading sycamore, so hiding its intrusive stem amid the foliage, that the flowers of the parasite plant seem to bloom on the supporting tree and not on their fragile pa- rent stalk. Here and there is a berry-bearing alder, filled with the blossoms of the climbing woobbine— while, perhaps, a tender shoot, that has fixed its firm tendrils around a topmost branch, flings on the passing breeze the weight of one lone fragrant coronet. We must not for- get to observe the willow that droops so sweetly pensive over the steep bank — nor the dark glos- siness of the Devonshire myrtle — nor the tall and speckled elegance of the crimson fox- glove : and, as you proceed, you may now and then, by pulling aside the boughs, peep into a deeply shaded minature bay, formed by the waters of the Tamar — a nook so silent and so solitary, that a Naiad might not disdain to bless it with the presence of her virgin beauty. After you have followed the road a few steps farther, look up, and, through the interstices of the foliage, you will behold the Morwell Rocks 146 THE MORWELL ROCKS. towering in all their wild sublimity many hun- dreds of feet above your head. You are bathed in the partial gloom of aged trees, but the Mor- well Rocks — those magnificent minarets of Na- ture's temple — are bathing their scathed brows in the quiet and unobstructed splendour of the sunny heavens. Their bases are planted in an expanse of foliage that heaves in swells like the mighty ocean; and the trees surge up the sides of the cliffs as if they would drown the weather stained peaks in a beautiful profusion of leaves and boughs. The impending precipices are not devoid of those softer attractions which nature sprinkles over the most desolate regions. In the rifted crevices, which seem to have been torn asunder by an earthquake, the hardy oak and the moun- tain-ash have fixed their firm roots ; — the ivy twists its tough tendrils round many a knobbed projection, hallowing it with greenness ;— spotted are the cliffs with lichens of a thousand different hues ; nor absent is the loveliness of the heath- bell — the brilliantly glowing furze — or the ten- derer blossoms of the pale woodbine. Mocking the works of man, rises the Chimney Rock, bearing, in conjunction with its base, a rude resemblance to a human dwelling ; but nature, in her wild mimickry, has displayed such vast pro- THE MOKWELL ROCKS. 147 portions, and wrought with materials so imper- vious to the batterings of the elements, as to throw an air of insignificance over the puny pro- ductions of mortal architects. The savage hawk sometimes springs from his impregnable eyrie and sails slowly over the mountain woods which he claims as his own peculiar heritage, uttering now and then a scream of savage joy, which scares Silence from her majestic abode. His voice is not, however, the only sound that haunts this ro- mantic wilderness. Loiter on the skirts of the wood and you will hear the jay shrieking from his shadowy palace in the old oak tree, the grass- hopper fills the ferny under forest with " the poetry of earth ;" and, if you listen attentively, you will perhaps distinguish the " quiet tune" of a hidden rivulet which, having gushed up at the foot of a moss-skirted rock, works its way through bright weeds and beautiful flowers till it empties its feeble urn into the bosom of the broad Tamar. You presently arrive at the Weir Head, where the fresh waters of the Tamar fall over an artifi- cial ledge of rocks which stretches from bank to bank. At this spot will be perceived the junction of two paths — take that which leads towards Newbridge and you will descend into an Alpine valley, deep, narrow, and woody, and eloquent 148 THE WEIR HEAD, &C. with the voice of a foaming torrent which brawls from rock to rock adown the precipitous slopes. Immediately in front of you is a ruined building" which, being deserted by man, has been claimed by Nature as her own, for she has thrown around its mouldering walls her mantle of ivy, and gilded the decaying masonry with her thousand fanciful mosses and lichens. Seek not, poetical tourist, to divine the original purpose of this old fabric, lest you scare away a whole host of romantic as- sociations. Though it may have been only a miner's hut, what is -that to thee, if, in the rich- ness of thy imagination, thou canst transform it into a crumbling hermitage, in which some lone recluse wore away a long life of penance and prayer ; — or the only remaining tower of a feudal castle whose halls once resounded with the clash of arms and the antique music of the minstrel ; — or a sainted cloister, in which some fair pious nun pined away her beautiful existence, like a heath-bell that springs up, blooms, and decays in the crevice of an inaccessible rock. Linger awhile in this picturesque retreat — nay struggle onward to the very head of the valley. The trees bear noble canopies of leafage, and under their shade you might sit, even in the burning fervour of noon, and Apollo would not be able to dart a VALLEY ABOVE THE WEIR HEAD. 149 single ray upon your cheek. Here is the gnarled oak, with its immensity of bough and darkness of foliage ; — the elm, whose very trunk is bursting into leaf; — the rough barked elder ; — the hazel, rich in brown cluster of milky nuts ; — and the holly, whose glossy greenness cheers the winter with an image of the departed season of flowers and songs. What can be more beautiful than the wortleberry bush, with its globules of purple juice — the briar, " wi its mantle o' green" — or what more refreshing to the eye than the foam bells that gather on the bosom of the turbulent water ? Hark ! the bee is abroad on his sunny errand ; — and the butterfly flits splendidly through the bowery shade, A sudden whirr of wings an- nounces that you have frighted a pair of wood pigeons from their home among the beech trees ; the roar of the cataract did not prevent their watchful ears from catching the sound of your approach, and they are flown to some lonelier wood afar — afar; — but in the dim hour of eve they will assuredly return to this their most be- loved haunt, and coo a plaintive song to the pale vesper star, when its tender radiance trembles meekly through the gathering twilight. Throw a parting glance on the old ruin, — the echoing torrent,— the shadowy trees, — the tall o 2 150 VALLEY ABOVE THE WEIR HEAD. rock, garlanded with ivy and honeysuckles, — and return to the junction of the two paths already alluded to.* Follow that which leads up the hill till you arrive at a streamletf that crosses the road, in its way to turn the machinery of a mine, at a short distance from the spot. Its channel is the work of art, and it is carried along the whole range of the Morwell Rocks, round the brink of tremendous precipices, and sometimes through tunnels perforating the solid cliff. Fear not, however, to trace its course, for the track by its side is firm and unerrring, and will lead you through a variety of scenery whose sublimity will fully recompense your labour. This path is un- trodden save by those who seek to behold Nature in her primitive, though attractive wildness, there- fore you will find the gossamer thread stretching unbroken from bush to bush ; — the bramble weaves its prickly barrier as a snare for unwary feet ; — nay, start not though the harmless snake* not dreaming of intruders, should bask in the sunshine that beams across your path, for when he hears the sound of your footstep he will as- * If the tourist can spare time he will do well to visit Newbridge, which is not quite half a mile above the Weir. The road which leads to it possesses much sylvan beauty. + Since the above was written, this stream has been diverted from its couiee, and the channel is becoming overgrown with luxuriant vegetation. THE M0RWELL ROCKS. 151 suredly rustle affrightedly away to his home in the weedy bank. It is not long before you arrive at the back of the Chimney Rock, which you mount over by the assistance of a flight of rude steps. For a while you lose sight of the stream which here flows through its first tunnel; having de- cended on the other side, you find it emerging from its temporary concealment. At a short dis- tance from this spot the rivulet plunges into another cavern, and the path once more abrubtly ascends in zig-zag flights of steps. You speedily attain the summit of a very elevated crag, from which you are presented with a noble view of the landscape beneath. The repose of the scene is most interesting — undisturbed, except by the whisperings of the breeze — the scream of a lonely hawk— or the faint note of some woodland cho- rister. At an immense distance below the rude platform on which you stand is an extensive ex* panse of wood — a perfect forest, stretching from the top of its slope to its base, and thence across the whole extent of level land on the eastern bank of the Tamar. Looking southward you be- hold the river* winding away amid flat meadows, backed by the lofty ridge on which stands the exposed church of Calstock. On the left bank is a continuation of the Morwell woods$ divided 152 TtlE MORWELL ROCKS. from the river by one solitary strip of rich mea- dow. The many sequestered cottages which are scattered around strike the eye by their peculiar neatness and air of deep seclusion. The base of a part of the wooded precipice on the Morwell side is washed by the Tamar, which here makes a sudden bend round a forest-like peninsula. One cliff rises perpendicularly from the water— a fear- fully impending mass it is when gazed at from below, though when viewed from the rugged elevations above, it dwindles into comparative insignificance ; but if a boat or barge happen to float along at its foot, you gain an idea of its true magnitude. The mind is not, however, long employed in contemplating the distant objects of vision; — it recurs again and again to the wind-worn crags that frown close to the eye. Nature in her ter- rible playfulness has given to some of the rocks the semblances of ruined buildings ; but, while she has mimicked the works of art, she has placed her rude imitations in situations so savage and inaccessible as to stamp them the work of her own hand, Bough-shaded caverns —wildly nod- ding trees — rocks ready to topple down into the valley — the stream winding round the edges of fearful precipices and through rifted chasms— the THE MORWELL ROCKS. 153 hawk — the kite— the blue sky and sun-tinged clouds fill the soul with deep and inexpressible emotion. The highest ridge in sight is crested with a row of loftier trees than those around ; — and when you attempt to look into the darkness of that wood your eye is completely bewildered by the maziness of the thickly planted trunks.* Here and there, hanging by its tough and en- during roots from the fissure of an exposed rock may be seen the twisted bole of a dead oak which, having perished through old age, whitens and moulders away in the destroying tempests of succeeding winters. It was in scenes like these — in the savage haunts of the Abruzzi mountains — that Salvator Rosa, " ilfamoso pittore delle cose morale" im- bibed those images of grandeur which, embodied in his divine pictures, still continue to delight the world. Noble Salvator ! who in wandering through a landscape so congenial to thy fine ge- nius can help recalling to memory the incidents of thy eventful life, and the enchantments of thy bold pencil ? — thy lonely towers, and mountains * Behind ihls wood, at the distance of -\ bout a furlong, isMorwelham House, once a hunting sea', of the Abbots of Tavistock It is now in- habited by a farmer, but its massive stone archesand crumbling carved work bespeak its antiquity and former importance It is an imerestin^ relic of the olden time, and we:l worthy (he inspection of the tourist. 154 THE M0RWLLL ROCKS. dark with the greenness of the rustling pine — thy bursting torrents — thy wave-lashed sea shores — thy skies full of turbulent majesty — thy fierce bandits, reclining in jealous watchfulness among the fastnesses of their solitary home ! Having again taken the miner's rivulet for your guide, and wandered for a short distance through a scene which changes its aspect at almost every step, you arrive at a little foot bridge. Follow a path which turns off to the right, and it will lead yoa through the woods to Morwelham. Think not of returning home, how- ever, before the landscape is bathed in the thou- sand hues of sunset — or even till the misty twilight has faded into night ; for as you glide in your bark adown the smooth stream, the placid sky above — the light beaming from the cottage win- dow — the plash of the oar — and the shrill lone cry of the curlew among the water rushes, shall fill your bosom with calm and pensive delight, the memory of which will often be as refreshing in the hurry of after life as " the shadow of a tall rock in a weary land." 155 EXCURSION FROM DEVONPORT TO BUCELAND MONACHORUM (Through the Vale of the Tavy.) — the shores Of Tavy lack not aught that may enchant The eye of him who, in the summer hour, Delights to steer his bark where Nature spreads Her fairest pastures. — He may wind his way When darts the beam of noon upon his head, And find a refuge in the friendly gloom Of hisih umbrageous cliffs. The clamorous voice Of commerce will not reach him there ! no sounds Break on the deep tranquillity but those Which from the woodland melodists arise The thrilling lays of liberty aud love. BANKS OF TAMA It. Leaving Devonport by the oldSaltash road, we speedily arrive at Weston Mill, a little hamlet deeply seated in a thickly foliaged vale, at the head of a creek in the Tamar. Its turnpike- house, overshadowed by trees — its lichened bridge — its leafy lanes, stealing away into haunts of sylvan loveliness — and the lofty hills which rise around form an interesting picture of peaceful seclusion, seldom found in the immediate neigh- bourhood of a populous town. The creek presents an extremely gratifying scene when the tide is up, and is gently rippling round the rock- edged 156 EMINENCE ABOVE WESTON MILL. promontories. It then possesses all the charms of a sequestered lake, and is seldom without a rude boat, or perhaps a rustic barge, to add to the genera] effect. Bidding adieu to Weston Mill, we toil up the steep road leading to King's Tamerton. About half way up the ascent we enter some path fields on the right, by the aid of a flight of steps, and, on gaining the highest point of the eminence, we overlook a noble and extensive landscape. The principal features are the harbour and its nume- rous ships of war ; — the towns of Plymouth and Devonport, reposing in a smoky haze ; — the Dock Yard and its many huge roofs ; — the Sound with its rocky isle and mighty Breakwater ; — the lofty heights of Staddon;— the Mewstone " dark in the bright sunshine ;" and the woody peninsula of Mount Edgcumbe. Towards the east are the rock-strewed hills of Dartmoor; and close be- neath the gaze is the sweetly tranquil hamlet of Weston Mill, the clustering trees half enclosing the rural dwellings in a leafy embrace. On the west are beheld the beautiful promontories of the winding Lynher. Passing the pleasant village of King's Tamer- ton, we speedily attain St. Budeaux or St, Bude, consisting of a few not very picturesque dwellings, ST. BUDE. 157 scattered on the brow of an exposed hill.* The church is a plain looking edifice of heavy architec- ture. From the church-yard we command a fine reach of the Tamar, and a wide extent of culti- vated country. The river spreads into a broad sheet, generally enlivened by the sails of boats or barges. At its northern extremity are the mines of Beeralston, behind which, in the distance, Hen- gest Down swells boldly up. The Cornish bank displays a rich expanse of fields, glowing with almost every shade of colour that characterizes the English landscape. Part of the eastern shore is clothed by the umbrageous wood of Warleigh. St. Budeaux formerly possessed a highly ec- centric character in the person of Mr. Thomas Alcock, who was rector of the parish for more than sixty years. " The principal shade in. his character was a rigid penuriousness which de- prived him of many of the comforts of existence. The homeliness of his dwelling no description can exceed : every article of modern convenience was excluded. His drawing room was a miserable * The name of this place was formerly Bndock, from Budockshed, (Budock's hide), now abbreviated into Bndshed, and anglicized into Budeaux. The elevated common opposite ihe church has been pre- served from inciosure as parish property^ under tiie names of Plaistor or Piaiston, and Agaton Green, 1 he former designation indicating the purpose of its appropriaiion. An extant deed ot the 8th of Elizabeth, by Roger Budockshed, grants this green *' wheron the church now' stand eth," as well as the sice of the "residence house," as sporting ground for the parish for the term of 2000 years. 158 ST. BUDE. bed chamber, with walls that once were white- washed, and where nothing appeared in oppo- sition to their simplicity. Here he boiled his coffee, toasted his cakes, and entertained his guests at the same time, who forgot in the charms of his conversation, the wretched apartment they were in, and the yellow time-worn bed on which some of them, perhaps, were obliged to sit instead of a sofa. His sermons abounded with Latin and Greek quotations, and passages from the English poets : even the treasures of private epistolary correspondence contributed to the instruction of his congregation. Among the other singularities which occurred in his preaching, it should not be omitted that he delivered his own wife's funeral sermon. The few works which he published evince much genius, and his memoirs of Dr. Nathan Alcock, his brother, are an admirable piece of biography." In pursuing our excursion across the fields to- wards Tamer ton, at a short distance from St. Budeaux, we enter Budshed Wood ; and it is not long before the path conducts us to the head of an inlet branching off from the Tamerton creek. This is a beautifully seduded little glen, breathing an air of the deepest repose and afford- ing a delightful scene of leafy headland and I TAMERTON. 159 shelvy beach, A shallow stream murmurs down into this retired dell, crossed by a rustic bridge, V A simple plank and by its side a rail. On either hand, to ^uide the footsteps frail Of hist or second childhood.'' Near this spot, and standing on the margin of the creek, is the simply elegant rural dwelling of Robert Ellery, Esq. late Commissioner's Secretary of H, M. Dock- Yard at Devonport, Tamerton — a considerable village, deeply seated in a fertile valley — next attracts the attention. Connected with an aged oak near the eastern end of the church-yard wall, is the following legend, copied verbatim from Prince's " Worthies of Devon : " " Esquire Coplestone of Warley (I can't recover his Christian name altho' I suppose it was John) in the days of Queen Elizabeth had a young man to his godson that had been abroad for his education ; who, at his return home, hearing of the extravagancies of his god- father's conversation, expressed in some company his sorrowful resentment of it, which was not done so privately but the report thereof was soon brought (as therebe tale-bearers and whisperers which separate very friends enough every where) to his godfather's ears. This exceedingly en- kindled the indignation of the old gentleman against his godson, and (as 'twas supposed) his 160 TAMER TON. natural son also ; making him break out saying " Must boys observe and descant on the actions of men and of their betters ? From henceforth he re- solved and sought al] opportunities to be revenged of him. At length they being both at Tamerton, their parish church, on a Lord's day, the young man observing by his countenance what he was partly informed of before, that his godfather was highly displeased at him, prudently withdrew be- times from the church, and resolved to keep him- self out of his reach until his indignation should be overpassed, The old gentleman, seeing his revenge likely to be disappointed, sent the young man word that his anger towards him was now over, and he might return to his church again : accordingly the young man came at the usual time, but cautiously eyeing his godfather, he found the expression of the poet too true Manet a'te raente lepostura, that his displeasure was not laid aside but laid up in a deep revengeful mind ; whereupon, as soon as the duties of religion were over, he again hastened out of the church, as soon as he could : upon this his godfather followed him, but not being able to overtake him, he threw his dagger after him (the wearing whereof was the mode of those times) and struck him through the reins of the back, so that WARLEIGH. 161 he fell and died on the spot." The ( "oplestone oak under which this sanguinary deed is said to have been committed, is still a flourishing tree and likely to stand many years longer. The legend, with some slight fictitious variation, has been woven into a beautiful metrical tale by the Rev. Mr. Johns, of Crediton, and published in the New Monthly Magazine for September, 1825. The tradition is yet current in the vicinity. " Still to the oak of Copiestone The neighbouring peasant points his boy, Tells him the deed that there was done, And warns fiom passions that destroy »" Having left Tamerton, we proceed northward towards Maristow, the road to which being rather intricate will render it necessary for the stranger to make frequent enquiries as he proceeds. Not far from Tamerton is Warleigh House, described by Risdon as '* a seat both pleasant and profitable, situated by the Tamar side, having a fair demesne and a park adjoining, wanting no necessaries that land or sea afford. " It stands in a beautiful spot near the junction of the Tavy and Tamar. This estate, in the reign of king Stephen, was the principal residence of the ancient family of Foliat, from whom it passed to the Coplestons. It is now the property of the Rev. R. Radcliffe. Continuing our tour towards Maristow, we p 2 162 MARISTOW, soon arrive at the little pavillion* in Warleigh Wood. It is an unassuming erection, open to the north west, and contains seats for the accommo- dation of travellers. This spot commands a plea- sant view. On the opposite shore is the modest hamlet of Beer Ferris with its antique church, standing close to the water side. In the dis- tance is beheld the mansion of Maristow, seated in the midst of foliaged hills, while in the extreme horizon rushes up a picturesque moor- land peak. Maristow house, which is speedily attained, stands in a sheltered lawn, and is the seat of Sir R. F. Lopes, bart. Immediately in front of the mansion is an embankment by which a consider- able portion of land was gained from the bed of the river a few years since. On the opposite steep and thickly wooded shore is a mine, which, if it continue to be worked, will deform the beauty of the domain by unsightly heaps of rubbish. Close to Maristow, at the bottom of a leafy dingle, is the small village of Lophill. The mill is seated in a sweetly secluded nook, and when the water is foaming over the wheel in snowy * This pavillion lias been nearly demolished of Lite years by some mischievous visitors-. TALE OF THE TAVY. 163 volumes, presents a very interesting appearance. Not far from the mill is an antique sun-dial at the top of a granite pillar, now almost undermined; the ground near it having been considerably lowered, This dial, with many others still standing in the neighbouring fields, was erected by Sir Francis Drake, the renowned circumnavi- gator of the world, during his residence at his adjoining estate of Buckland Abbey. Above this spot the Tavy begins to assume an inland character. The western bank is skirted by soft luxuriant meadows which slope down to the beach, backed by dark and shadowy woods. Here and there rise fine picturesque masses of rock, hung with ivy and beautifully lichened, add- ing an additional attraction to the landscape by the perfect reflection which they throw into the clear sheet of water below. % It is interesting to remark the gradations with which the river re- signs the features it owes to its proximity to the sea. The edging of slate between the base of the woods and the shelvy beach becomes less wave-worn and more ornamented with delicate plants and mosses— the tall salt reed disappear — the bed of the water is no longer composed of muddy ooze, but of blue and yellow pebbles— the tangles of ocean weed are less frequently observed 164 VALE OF THE TAVY. — till at length all that remains to remind us of the u salt sea wave" is the red sail of a barge in the distance, or perhaps a wild gull hastily flit- ting across the far off estuary. A few steps, more and we are completely in the Vale of the Tavy. Enchanting Vale of Tavy ! sweet it is to linger amid thy leafy haunts ! — whether the bright beam of morning glitters on the bosom of thy mur- muring river, or evening sheds her rich radiance over thy fine trees and fresh green sward : — whether spring awakes in the groves his most exquisite poetry, or autumn scatters around his thousand hues of glorious decay ! Loved Tavy ! — by turns thou possessest all the wildness of a mountain stream and the quiet gentleness of a placid flood. Now thou brawlest over a rocky channel with true moorland majesty— anon thy harsher notes subside into a tone " most musical, most melancholy," scarce loud enough to drown the songs of the feathered choristers that flutter on thy banks. The landscape through which thou meanderest is associated with the memory of the days that are gone, for though now thou bearest on thy waters scarce any sound but the rustling of the wind through the forest foliage, or the hum of the bee among the wild flowers, VALE OF THE TAVY. 165 time was when the hymn of the monk of Buck- land Abbey thrilled adown the valley, filling the soul of the listener with calm and religious de- light. Whoever lingered on thy banks without thinking of the interesting pictures of sylvan life. embodied in some of the old English ballads — without involuntarily recurring in imagination to the archer men of yore who had None other house but leves andboughes, whose " goode vitayle" was procured by '• shefe of peacock's arrowes, brighte and keene," and whose drink was 4 * water clere of the ryvere ?" Who ever wandered in these green retreats with- out, in imagination, beholding a * ; stag of ten" bursting forth from his lair in the tangled thicket followed by a cavalcade of gallant hunters intent upon laying ;i the dappled burgher" stark and cold on the turf of his native valley. The Vale of the Tavy differs materially in cha- racter from that of Bickleigh, which naturally provokes a comparison. The principal features of the latter are decidedly moorland, softened down by luxuriances of wood, which do not, how- ever, always hide the real cragginess of the scene. The views on the Tavy are generally distin- guished by a richness of cultivation, a deeper repose, and a greater loftiness of banks, which are J66 VALE OF THE TAVY. also less broken and rude. We have in the Vale of the Tavy another advantage which we do not enjoy in Bickleigh Vale — that is we are now and then gratified by glimpses of the distant prospect — the river winding through level meadows, dotted with groups of cattle, and enlivened by other rural figures. In the latter valley we are almost constantly enveloped in solemn shade, and entirely shut out from a sight of the remote land- scape by the high screens of rock and wood which fold so magnificently behind each other. The path that leads to Buckland Abbey passes at intervals through fine woods, composed of trees of the most gigantic stature, and infinite variety of foliage, How lovely are those woods in the purple flush of evening when the mellow sunlight is streaming with unspeakable glory through the cool arcades ; — when all is hushed save the sounds which are Nature's own — the piercing cry of the grasshopper — the cooings of the gentle wood-pigeon — and the sighing rustle of the expiring breeze which departs as if it were the breath of the dying day. The vale is fre- quently formed into noble crescents, the banks being covered from base to brow with the thick- est umbrage. The stream sometimes reflects a red cliff, owing its origin to the crumbling away VALE OF THE TAVY. 167 of the earth on the side of the slope, and display- ing a pleasing contrast to the neighbouring green- ness. Here and there an ancient oak, gnarled with extreme age and loaded with ivy, has so re- laxed its hold in the soil that it droops over the waters and allows its lower branches to be washed by the passing current. If we descend to the minutice of the scene we shall find ample gratifi cation. Here in the jocund spring-time, we may behold the meek pale virgin lily, shrinking into her narrow world of emerald leaves — the wild rose with her delicate leafits, destroyed by a breath — the azure perriwinkle, running riot in untamed beauty — the daisy and golden-cup, loved in the days of our childhood ; and on the extreme margin of the stream the sky-tinged blue-bell droops, like the young Narcissus, over its own sweet image in the liquid mirror. Swelling in noble cadences through the wind- ings of the Vale comes the roar which the Tavy sends forth in leaping over the Weir. — How re- freshing that sound to the ear, and how identified with the romantic scenes of Devon! Though the wild hills and dark valleys of this picturesque county are in themselves powerfully attractive, yet what could atone for the absence of the fresh tor- rent, frothing over rocks and pebbles adown 168 BUCKLAND ABBEY. tho narrow glen till it throws itself into the bosom of some broader flood that journeys more deeply — more placidly on towards the mighty sea ? Who in gazing over an expanse of Devon's garden fields would not regret an absent charm if his eye did not catch the sunny glancing of a bright stream, winding in silvery folds amid the distant underwood, blessing with luxuriance " every green thing " that grows upon its margin ? Not far from the Weir, and at some distance from the river is Buckland Abbey. Let not the lover of grey antiquity indulge in the idea of be- holding a crumbling ruin, vast, desolate, and de- serted, such as his imagination, in its wayward moments, has been apt to shadow forth ! He must not expect to find the tottering pomp of gothic arches, light airy pillars entwisted by the wanton woodbine and hallowed by the wild rose blossoms — long silent aisles, full of the beauty of the graceful ash — ivy bound walls, spotted with the lichen of desolation— portals low browed, and rich in the sculpture of the days that are gone — choirs visited only by the psalmists of trees and bush ;— -he who anticipates this will be cruelly deceived, for Buckland Abbey has been sadly modernised, and is still inhabited. Nothing in- deed remains to awaken recollections of the BUCKLAND MONACHORUM. 169 original building except that in the court yard One lonely turret, shattered and outworn, Stands \eneiably proud— too proud to mourn Its long lost giaudeur ; and even this solitary relic of monastic architec- ture (tell it not in Gath) has been roofed and converted into a pigeon house. Buckland Abbey was founded by Amicia, the wife of Baldwin de Rivers, Earl of Devon, and in 1278 it was inhabited by a fraternity of Cistercian monks brought over from the Isle of Wight. It was purchased in the reign of Elizabeth by the celebrated Sir Francis Drake, to whose descend- ants it still belongs. Several remembrances of that great commander are preserved here, among which are his sword, drum, black letter bible, &c, which accompanied him in his voyage round the world. About a mile north-east of the Abbey is Buck- land Monachorum — or of the monks, " which ad- junct" says Risdon " it hath for that Amicia wife of Baldwin de Rivers Earl of Devon, daughter ot Gilbert de Clare, gave this manor with other lands advowsons to the foundation of the neighbouring monastery." The church is a fine building bat- tlemented and ornamented with pinnacles, and it has a remarkably handsome tower. The interior contains several monuments of the Heathfield fa- 170 BUCKLAND MONACHORUM. mily, particularly an elaborately finished tomb by Bacon, erected in memory of George Augustus Eliot Baron Heathfield, the heroic defender of Gibraltar. On the south side of the church is a grove of majestic elms which completely overtop the tower. At the entrance of the church-yard is a gate house, and on the opposite side of the road is a circular flight of shattered granite steps •which, most probably, once formed the basement of a cross, though no vestige of a shaft exists to warrant this supposition. Close to these ruined steps, and placed in the wall of a blacksmith's shop is an upright stone, about seven feet high, inscribed with some unknown characters in a good state of preservation. This antiquarian cu- riosity is mentioned in Polwhele's History of De - von, and in Lysons " Magna Britannia," but the meaning of the inscription is not explained in either of these works, 171 EXCURSION FR.03X SHAUGH BRIDGE TO SHBSPSTOa. The Moor resigns Not suddenly its sternness; not at once The soft- the beautiful ot Nature meets The rapturM eye ; but here is union sweet Of tree and torrent, verdure, waterfall, And leaf-hung streamlet ihat may well detain Awhile the wanderer. DARTMOOR. Whoever has been accustomed to wander among the lonely hills and torrent- haunted glens of Dartmoor, must have "been forcibly struck with the strange peculiarity of scenery which charac- terizes many parts of the borders of that wild waste. The Moor, where it sweeps down to unite with the cultivated landscape, is often broken into deep and shadowy ravines, apparently owing their origin to some violent convulsion of nature, the mountainous elevations rushing up with sin- gular grandeur and frowning over the tumultuous waters at their feet, which — all wildness and power — hasten on to mingle with the distant ocean. The struggle between barrenness and fertility in these scenes forms a very interesting study for the lover of the picturesque. The heath 17*2 EXCURSION FROM flower is blended with the honey-suckle — the fern with the fox-glove — and the hardy boughs and stunted foliage of the dwarf oak droop over the purple violet or the meek blossoms of the wild strawberry. The trees are disposed in the most fantastic and irregular groupings, as if when yel- low Autumn was flinging his treasures of ripened seeds on the air, Nature, with her frolic breath, had delighted to blow them into the mo>t difficult and inaccessible situations. The billowness of the ground causes the existence of delicious vari- eties of light and shade. A sun-beam breaking athwart the slope of one of these valleys will, perhaps, on the summit illumine the face of a lichened rock — half way down form a pathway of light across a dark sea of leafage, and at the bottom glance full and sparklingly into the bosom of a brawling torrent. In short there is an inex- pressible charm of freshness and untamed beauty connected with this species of landscape which it would be in vain to seek among the gentler haunts of cultivation. Let us now trace the course of the Plym from Shaugh Bridge to Sheepstor — an excursion which cannot fail to leave lasting images of pleasure on the mind. Perhaps the author in his observations has attended rather too much to detail, but, if he SHAUGH BRIDGE TO SHEEPSTOR. 1J3 have done so, it must be attributed to an anxiety to do justice to his subject. They, however, who confine themselves to the mere outline of a land- scape, without remarking the minutely exquisite touches with which Nature finishes her boldest conceptions, deprive themselves of an inex- haustible source of gratification* Having lingered awhile on Shaugh Bridge to watch the long blue columns of smoke curling slowly up from the cottages which nestle at the foot of the moutain heights, and to listen to the loud voice of the Cad and Plym, flowing in a newly united stream towards the vale of Bick- leigh, we proceed in our ramble by the rude path which runs for a short distance along the left bank of the river. The attention is soon struck by the ruin of an ancient mill, situated near the margin of the stream. This fabric is worth in- spection on account of its peculiar construction. Time has clad the desolate walls with glossy ivy. and dashed them with his favorite hue of lichened grey, but the most striking proof of the antiquity of the building, is a spreading oak, which has sprung up to maturity within the area of the mouldering masonry. We pass a peasant's cottage, and then find our- selves in the midst of as wild a combination of Q 2 174 EXCURSION FROM natural objects as was ever pictured by the most romantic imagination. The surrounding hills are of a great height, and withal so irregular in their formation that they almost resemble the billows of the ocean suddenly paralysed in one of their most stormy swellings. The right bank, however, is the most grand and impressive. Jts slope is one continued scene of cliff and hanging woods. Huge crumbling rocks are piled on each other in fearful array, and some seem half suspended in air. At short intervals tower several craggy knolls, composed of disjointed masses of granite hurled together in magnificent confusion, as if the Genius of earthquake had strode in wrath along the hills and these were the traces of his mighty footsteps. The crags are, however, every where rendered beautiful by the magic hand of Nature, which has variegated them with lichens of a thousand hues, and hung their shivered scalps with wreaths of the flaunting woodbine. Here and there the vagrant fancy may picture ruined donjon keeps whose only banner is now the pur- ple heath-bell or the gorgeous fox-glove— watch- towers whose only warder is the summer bee revelling in the cup of a drooping wild flower — and cathedral choirs whose only anthem is the chaunt of a hermit bird. SHAUGH BRIDGE TO SHEEFSTOR. 1/5 Every object in this scene is imbued with a feeling of freshness and untamed power. The trees which grow among the rifted rocks soften down the more savage features, and, by the beauty of their foliage contribute much to heighten the general effect. A volume might be filled with portraits of the insulated attractions which are unsparingly lavished on the eye. In one spot, perhaps, a rock which has borne the brunt of a thousand tempests, and still remains proudly un- moved, uplifts its huge front ; while, in another situation, a graceful mountain ash, apparently arrogant of its own sweet weight of clustering corai berries, springs lightly up on the very edge of a bushy precipice. The author was forcibly struck on his first visit to this romantic vale by the aspect of an old oak which grows, or rather decays, on the west bank of the river in the midst of a wood of flourishing young trees. It rises, scathed and verdureless, above its more youthful brethren of the forest, having been shorn by axe or tempest of all its honors of branch and bough. This aged tree, standing in the midst of so much green beauty, forcibly conveys the idea of a being who has outlived the allotted time of man's pil- grimage on earth, and has grown old amid a generation with which he has no connecting link of kindred or friendship. 176 EXCURSION FROM Nothing can be more delightful than to wander among the grey rocks and lush woods of this romantic glen. The observing mind needs no better haunt in which to watch over "Nature's gentle doings." Sometimes the traveller, in making his way between the trees, will suddenly burst into a solitary bird's little world of green leaf and pleasant shade ; and then it is amusing to watch the motions of the fearful warbler at being thus disturbed — first inclining his head to the right and then to the left to catch the sounds of danger, and then, after having for a moment eyed the intruder with piercing attention, hop- ping away from twig to twig till his tiny form is lost amid the thick leafage ; while anon the ear is saluted by the full-hearted gush of melody which he pours forth when he has reached a more secure retreat. Frequently is caught the glis- tening of the timid hare's eyes as she lies watch- fully couching on her ferny form— the bee is seen struggling up the stem of a bending wild flower : often too a superb dragon fly sweeps along the cool margin of the stream — a living emerald — a winged star — shooting onwards till he buries himself deep in the rich herbage. These, with a thousand other sights and sounds, are reserved for him who delights to wander " with freedom at his side " among the eloquent solitudes of na- SHAUGH BRIDGE TO SHEEPSTOR. 177 ture ; and such a being can never want true gratification, for every tree — every hoary rock — every blue stream— and every delicate blossom of the wilderness furnishes his mind with images to be recurred to with fondness when the anxieties of a turbulent world cast their deep shadows over his wearied spirit. Our further wayfaring through the vale is still guided by the course of the Plym, and we are presented at almost every step with some new combination of scenery. The stream roars over a channel strewed with shivered blocks of granite, but these are neither so large nor disposed in groupings so irregular as those in the valley of the Cad. Young hazels clad in very wantonness of leaf are seen bending over the " ever flashing " waters, as if anxious to bathe themselves in the refreshing spray ; and the eye is never tired of gazing on the glossy weeds which wave to and fro in the restless current. We soon emerge into some open fields through which the stream flows with sweet placidity. It is pleasing to look back on the scene we have just quitted, especially if it be near the sunset hour, for then the shadow of a bold knoll, which rises directly in front of us, falls with fine effect on the opposite slope, filling the glen beneath with the mystery of twilight. 178 HOO HEAVY. Passing along the skirts of Roborough Down, we quickly attain Hoo Meavy Bridge. The Plym here issues from a vista of thickly woven boughs and presents a smooth surface, disturbed only by the dip of a fly or the plunge of a sportive trout. Hoo Meavy House, stands on a gentle slope just above the bridge, "and, though modernized, re- tains sometraces of its ancient aspect in its gothic door ways and stone window frames. The estate possesses the peculiar privilege of keeping a brace of greyhounds with unbailed feet, in the forest of Dartmoor, notwithstanding the directions of the general forest laws that the feet of the dogs should be balled to prevent their hunting." We shall find nothing further to detain our attention till we arrive at the secluded hamlet of Meavy, situated in a broad valley on the very edge of the great Devonshire moor. It consists of a few neat cottages and an antique church, surrounded by the last home of many a moorland peasant.* Im- mediately in front of the church-yard wall is the gigantic Meavy Oak. This venerable tree, though it has suffered from the touch of " decay's * Near (he church are two layers of wrought granite blocks, ar ranged horizontally one on the other, the omer edge of the upper layer being about a foot whhin that of the lower. These stones are doubtless fragments of an ancient eros?, as similar remains are not uncommon in the neighbourhood. The largest and most perfect is at Bi.ckland Mouachorum. THE HEAVY OAK. 179 effacing fingers," still continues proudly magni- ficent. It is of an extraordinary circumference, and is completely hollowed out by the slow but never-failng operations of time. The cavity, as is affirmed by mine hostess of the " Royal Oak," a little inn standing hard by, once accommodated nine persons at a dinner party : it is now used as a turf house. The lower branches still obey the voice of spring and spread their living canopy over a large area of ground. The topmost boughs, however, are bare, having long ceased to be hung with the massive foliage which they bore in the days of their young lustihood. Over them the all-conquering hand of time has indeed achieved a perfect victory. They impress their rifted out- line black and cheerlessly against the deep blue of the heavens, and in some places, where the bark has dropped away r the core of the wood dis- plays itself in ghastly whiteness. When the withered top is beheld against the bright back ground of a serene evening sky, it wears an unusually melancholy aspect, which is ren- dered the more striking from being contrasted with the vegetation yet lingering on the lower branches. The only * ; hostel" in the village is " The Royal Oak," which, though of humble exterior, affords 180 INN AT MEAVY. comfortable accommodation to the way-worn tra- veller. In summer this is a sort of " trysting place" for fishermen who stroll from the neighbour- ing towns to try their piscatorial skill in the waters of the Plym. He who is fond of studying character in the kitchen of a country inn cannot do better than spend a winter's evening by the blazing peat fire of " The Royal Oak," for it will afford him a fine opportunity of remarking the peculiarities of the untutored children of the moor ; and perchance he may be treated with a tale of the pixies* which are said to haunt the rugged brow of Sheepstor. Having cast a farewell look at the old oak and antique church, we pursue our journey, and soon arrive at the bridge above Meavy which we cross. About a gunshot south of the stream, and close to a farm house, is an aged granite crossf — * The pixy is the Devonshire fairy, and in the more secluded parts of the county these fabulous little beings are still strongly believe i in, and many storhs are related of their mischievous exploits They are said to lead people astray in the dark, particularly persons who a ,r e re- turning from wakes and fairs. Under such circumstances as these, however, ihe casual strayings of a benighted rustic may be satis- factorily attributed to a very simple cause, for who can answer for the topogiaphical correctness of the swain when under the influence of Sir John Barleycorn? Tt is imagined by the country people that Sheepstor is a favotiie haunt of pixies. The poet Coleridge has men- tioned them in some very interesting verses -r These crosses are very numerous in Devon and Cornwall. They are generally found at the junction of roads, and they were no doubt intended as'visible symbols of the Catholic faith, for the accommoda- SHAUGH BRIDGE TO SHEEPSTOR. 181 a remnant of the days " while yet the church was Rome's." This interesting relic is quite per- fect, and will bear the bufFettings of many suc- ceeding winters if it should escape the hand of wanton destruction. We now trace the mean derings of the Plym through a range of meadows and orchards, catching occasional glimpses of the wild tors of the moor, till our notice is attracted by a picturseque farm house, bearing on its portal the date 1610 rudely sculptured in granite, and wearing altogether a quaint and interesting ap- pearance. A fine pear tree spreads itself over the front of this sequestered dwelling, and the stone-shafted latticed windows look well in sum- mer, when partially concealed by blossoms and fresh young leaves. Having left this quiet little retreat, we pass up a bough-shaded lane till we perceive a gate on the left hand from which a path turns off across a field, under a row of wild cherry tress, leading at last into a thick copse. By following this track we speedily arrive at the brow of a hill from which we command a charm- ing view of Meavy, and the wood-chequered fields through which winds the Plym. We continue our walk eastward, between a few scattered trees, tion of errant devotees. They are very frequent on the skirls of the moor. The cross mentioned above is a remarkably fine and perfect specimen of the kind. 182 EXCURSION, &c. till we arrive at the brink of a deep wooded dell, from which proceeds the roar of waters, arising from the cascade of a fresh moorland brook that has plunged into the craggy glen in its way to join the Plym. We should now make our way through the tangled underwood till we at- tain the bottom of the slope, when we behold the stream tumbling from rock to rock down an in- clined steep for full two hundred feet, wearying the surrounding echoes with hollow dashings. The leafage is here so remarkably luxuriant that the waters are sometimes entirely hidden from the view, but they repeatedly burst forth into the light, rendered more interesting from their tem- porary concealment. When the stream reaches the foot of the declivity it steals away to join the Plym, and becomes invisible, save that it now and then betrays itself in white mantlings through the dark copse- wood. The grouping of the trees in this spot is very fine. Here a light ash springs up with its slender stem and bunches of delicate leaves, while there a leafless and almost branchless oak displays its huge bole and naked roots, still clinging fondly to the spot of earth which gave it being, and where it has continued for ages, in proud security, while so many of the more fragile tenants of the wood have sprung into maturity SHEEPSTOR CHURCH. 183 and withered away. In some spots a shady syca- more droops over the cascade, the tips of the lower branches touching the frothing waters and dancing to and fro with a tremulous motion ; and in those situations not occupied by the larger de- scription of trees are beheld numerous tufts of light green hazels. The scenery higher up the Plym is very wild. One bank presents fine combinations of woods, and rocks, " bald with dry antiquity," while the other is bare of foliage and strewed with confused fragments of granite. One huge shattered group which is seen half way up the latter slope is worthy of particular attention. It rises rifted and desolate " the joy of the wild hawk" which here builds its nest, secure from intrusion. Sheepstor Bridge, seated deep amid the shade of venerable trees, is soon attained ; and by follow- ing the road eastward the traveller soon arrives at the little moorland hamlet from which it takes its name. Sheepstor church is one of those quaint specimens of ancient ecclesiastical architecture which are sometimes met with in secluded situa- tions, unmarred by the hand of modern improve- ment. It is of very remote date and stands near the foot of the wild tor* which bears the same * For a description of this tor see the article entitled "A Rough Sketch of Dartmoor," 184 SHEEPSTOR CHURCH. name as the village. Its pinnacled tower tacitly tells the tale of many a moorland tempest, and the other parts of the building bear the marks of the gradual inroads of time. The walls are encrusted with grey and yellow lichens, and young ivies insinuate their tough tendrils into the mouldering cavities. He who is fond of wandering in the cemetries of country churches will find a rich source of pleasure by lingering in this lonely burial-place, when the setting sun of a calm autumnal evening is touching the massy buttresses and crumbling carved work with mel- low light. A feeling of religious placidity then pervades every thing round the old building ; — " It stands so quietly within the bound Of its low wall of grey and mossy stone, And, like a shepherd's ptaceful flock around lis guardian gathered,— graves or tomb stones strown Make their last narrow resting places knovtn Who living loved it as a holy spot And dying made their deep attachment shown. By wishing here to sleep when life was not, That so their Uirf or stone might keep them un forgot." When the sun is about to quit the landscape, the antique granite tomb-stones chequer the greenly-swelling graves with long dark shadows, pleasingly contrasted by the brighter parts of the sward, and the spot is imbued with such a charm that the stranger, while listening to the sobbing SHEEPSTOR CHURCH. 185 of the breeze among the ivy, and gazing on the peaceful solitudes around, almost feels a wish that at the end of life's weary pilgrimage he might " sleep the sleep of death" in this last resting place of the moorland peasant. ft 2 186 WXXXTSAND BAT. There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society were none intrudes, By the deep sea and music in its roar. Those who are fond of gazing on the magnifi- cence of ocean scenery cannot do better than spend an afternoon in a visit to Sharrow Grot. which is situated in one of the most interesting parts of Whitsand Bay. The tourist first pro- ceeds to Millbrook, which lies at the head of a winding creek by no means devoid of picturesque beauty at full tide. Millbrook was anciently a place of some im- portance. " It originally belonged to the Earls of Cornwall under whose protection it enjoyed many privileges. It still retains the power of choosing an annual port-reeve, two constables. a mace bearer, an ale-taster, &c, and it has a common seal. Richard Champernowne, Esq.. lord of the manor in 1319, procured for Millbrook the grant of a market, which was held here on Tuesdays, but it has been lorg discontinued. SHARROW GROT. 187 After the extinction of the Champernowne fa- mily the town fell into decay. In the reign of Henry VI., it gave the title of baron to Sir John Cornwall, who was created Lord Millbrook. which title became extinct at his death in 1433." In Carew's time Millbrook possessed a consider- able fishing trade, and had nearly forty ships and barks. Carew also mentions that this place used to supply the navy with excellent seamen. The distance across the hills from Millbrook to Sharrow Grot is very short, and as the road is not intricate it may be easily found by strangers if they take the precaution of asking a few ques- tions concerning the route before leaving the above village. Sharrow Grot is a small cavern, hewn some years ago in the solid rock by a gentleman named Lugger, who is said to have cured himself of the gout by the labour of the undertaking. Over the entrance is a Latin quotation, not how- ever exactly appropriate, and the walls of the interior are covered with metrical inscriptions, none of them possessing any peculiar merit. From this spot the appearance of the bay is extremely interesting. In front is the majectic ocean, dotted with ships gliding to and fro ; and the wild gull is seen sailing on the wing, exulting 188 WHITSAND BAY. in his unlimited liberty. Towards the east the land sweeps away like a crescent as far as the chapel-crowned Rame Head, which rushes into the waves with impressive boldness. On the west the view is bounded by a number of low headlands, retiring behind each other in dim per- spective, the most remote looking like a faint blue cloud in the horizon. At low tide beautiful sand-beaches, divided from each other by reefs of rocks, occupy the space between the foot of the cliff and the sea, procuring for the bay the name of " Whitsand." On the fine beach below Shar- row Grot summer parties frequently amuse them- selves by dancing. It is pleasing to behold a band of light-hearted beings sporting amid some of the wildest forms of nature — under the rude cliffs which seem piled for eternity ; and as they bound along the margin of the scarcely rippling ocean, the custom of the inhabitants of the sun- bright isles of the Egean sea forcibly occurs to the mind — that of dancing the antique dance of Ariadne on the yellow strand, beneath the cool canopy formed by the shadowy plane tree and the twisting branches of the luxuriant vine. The Turkish crescent — that harbinger of blood and rapine — has for a time marred that picturesque observance, but the day, we trust, is not far off WHITSAND BAY. 189 when the sun that rises over Greece will shine on a free and tranquil people. Nothing can be more delightful in fine weather than to throw one's self on the patch of green turf above S harrow Grot and gaze on the sur- rounding scenery. The ocean, monotonous as it is generally deemed, will afford ample funds of amusement to the reflective mind— the uncouth gambols of a passing shoal of porpoises — the waves rolling slowly on the beach, not seeming to be impelled by the breeze, but by a jealousy to eclipse by their snowiness the whiteness of the sands — while the ships stealing by in the offing, like half formed visions, create numberless blanks to be filled up by idle conjecture — whence come they? — -whither are they bound ? and a thousand other questions, equally unanswerable, suggest themselves to the imagination. Perhaps a single bark may approach nigh enough to the shore to allow the mariner to be distinguished, leaning listlessly over the side of the vessel, probably thinking of his wife — his children — his friends, and the comforts of his home — if men whose chief sojourn is on the deep may be said to have any home besides " the world of waters." Manifold and interesting indeed are the feel- ings with which we gaze on the ever-tremulous 190 WHITSAND BAY. ocean. We are aware that we stand in the pre- sence of a power that spurns all human controul. Man is at best but an intruder into the wilderness of waves, and of this he in many ways manifests a consciousness, for his ships are not sent forth on the sea as though entrusted to the bosom of a friend, but are equipped with contrivances the best calculated to baffle the endeavours of an implacable enemy. And after all how vain are man's most cunningly devised schemes of safety ; — let but a storm hover in the air and the sails of the gallant ship are rent to atoms — her cordage is snapped — her masts " go by the board " and the hapless mariners speedily lie " full fathom five" in the salt caves of ocean. Who would suppose that the beautiful waters which on a calm day melt in music at the spectator's feet had crushed whole navies in their deadly embrace, strewing the shores of earth with wreck and desolation ! There is a sort of fearful interest in gazing from Sharrow Grot on the sublimity of an Atlan- tic tempest. The sea howls with incredible vio- lence on the craggy shore, and the spray, driven by the fury of the wind, frequently flies over the summits of the highest cliffs. At such a season the wild gull and the bark of the undaunted WHITSAND BAY. 191 Cornish fisherman hold undisputed empire over the frothing billows. A braver class of men than the Cornish mariners is not in existence. In the heaviest gales they traverse the face of the raging waters in their frail vessels with a degree of courage that is truly astonishing. And here it may be remarked that the appellation of " West Barbary," bestowed on this county, is, as far as regards the maritime part of the popu* lation, totally unmerited. They have been ac- cused of plundering the wrecks of those vessels which have been cast by storms on their iron- bound coasts, but it may be asserted, without fear of contradiction, that the pillagers of wrecks mostly consisted — for happily such circumstances are now seldom heard of — of half savage pea- sants, living at a distance from the sea. Those gallant fellows — the fishermen — are taught by perils they themselves experience, to pity, not plunder, a brother sailor in the hour of distress. On the beach below Sharrow Grot are the remains of Sharrow Palace (as it was called) a house of refuge for fishermen, which once stood there. One of the corners of this building may be still seen on a detached mass of rock, and around it are numerous traces of walls becoming gradually less distinct as they are washed by the 192 WHITSAND BAY. ocean- tempests of succeeding winters In the perpendicular rock above these ruins is a line of grooves dug at regular distances, and which, most probably, were occupied by the ends of the beams that originally supported the roof of the building, The rocks and cliffs around this spot are ex- tremely romantic : lashed by the storms of ages into the most singular shapes, they can scarcely be contemplated without the mind feeling itself involuntarily raised to that Being with whom are all knowledge and power. And though they are beheld with a feeling of admiration, bordering on awe, the truly philosophic observer will not be oppressed w T ith a sense of his own insignificance in the scale of creation, but he will rather exult that when all this vast and durable grandeur shall have passed away, and mountains, rocks, and floods have crumbled into chaos, that his spirit, no longer fettered down to earth, shall survive in a glorious immortality. From this spot, in clear weather, the eye is enabled to catch an uncertain glimpse of that wondeful proof of human perseverance and inge- nuity — the Edd} r stone lighthouse. Before that structure was firmly seated on its rocky base, how often has the desponding shriek of the drown- WHIT SAND BAY. 193 ing mariner pealed round that lonely reef — un- pitied and unheard save by the wild sea fowl which delighteth in the paths of the stormy deep!" One of the snug little coves to be found in cer- tain parts of Whitsand Bay would form a charm- ing retreat for him who is attached to sea scenes. How sweet on a summer's eve to wander on the strand and watch the sun going down in glory* touching each gently rising ripple with burnished gold! — to list the music of the waves dying in pensive cadence along the shores ! — to mark the shades of twilight gathering in the bosom of the mimic bays ; or, when the winds had lashed the ocean into wrath, and the base of the bold Ram- Head was white with feathery foam, how sweet to retire to a blazing hearth with a few books, or perhaps a friend, to enable us to smile at the howlings of the tempest and exult in our own security ; though a sigh might be breathed for the wearied mariner whose bark was then the sport of the rude Atlantic surge. While the tourist is in the neighbourhood of Sharrow Grot he may as well visit the Ram- Head and the village of Rame. The Ram-Head is a promontory of rather a singular form and bears on its very crest a " ruined chapel built of 194 THE RAM-HEAD, the same stone which forms the cliffs. It has an entrance on the northern side, a large window at the east end, and one of smaller dimensions in its northern and southern fronts. The door and window frames are all taken away, and nothing remains but the walls and roof. The walls are about three feet thick, and the interior measures twenty-two feet in length and nine in breadth. It appears from the beam holes to have formerly had a gallery at the west end, with a staircase leading to a bell which was hung in the arched opening above. The ceiling is very curiously vaulted with moorstone, united by a strong ce- ment, and the outside is nearly overgrown with coarse grass. The purposes for which it was erected, or by whom it was founded, are involved in obscurity ; but it is not improbable that it was the work of some mariner who dedicated it to his patron saint in gratitude for his escape from the perils of the ocean." The village of Rame stands at a short distance from the Ram-Head. It consists of a few scat- tered houses. The exterior of the church is totally devoid of neatness, and the interior is small and gloomy. It contains several monu- ments, among which is one to the memory of Roger Ashton, D. D, 195 sxcxra.sxoH' to st. azmmikwSe Either shore Presents its combinations to the view Of all that interests, delights, enchants; — Corn-waving fields, and pastures green, and slope .And swell alternate, summits crown'd with leaf, And grove-encircled mansions, verdant capes, And tinkling rivulets, and waters wide. BANKS OF TAMAR, Our description of the Lynher, or St. Ger- man's Creek, commences at its junction with the Tamar below Saltash. The views on this river are composed of some of the most attractive fea- tures of English landscape. When the voyager is satiated with gazing on the gently sloping pro- montories, the winding rock- edged shores, the weed-strewn beaches, and the undulating surface of the sun-reflecting waters, he may turn to scenes of peaceful inland beauty — may allow his fancy to luxuriate over the mingled traits of chastened wildness and rich cultivation scattered at a dis- tance from the river. The fields crossed by in- numerable hedges, presenting with their varied shades of colouring a vast natural carpet ; the billowy hills : the dark woods that skirt the wave- 196 ANTONY. worn strands ; the village paths winding through the fertile enclosures ; and the far off tower of many an antique parish church, awakening recol- lections of the silent dead — are all beheld with feelings of no common gratification. The Lynher, from its estuary to the Barton of Erth — a distance of several miles — assumes the appearance of a broad lake. On entering this sheet of water from the Tamar the attention is first struck by the fine woods of Antony on the left bank, casting their green reflections into the wave beneath. The aspect of these woods is interesting from the tasteful contrasts afforded by the due intermixture of trees of different shapes and tints of foliage ; — the taper fir — the Corin- thian elm — the swelling beech — and the graceful ash combine to form a whole of surpassing love- liness ; while they who sail close to those sylvan banks may frequently gaze into little leafy re- treats as quiet and as lonely as the dwelling places of the Hamadryades of old. This estate belongs to W. P. Carew, Esq. The mansion stands at some distance from the shore. It is a square massive looking edifice built in the year 1721. The interior is commodious and elegant, and contains some fine paintings, among which are family portraits by Sir Joshua VILLAGE OF ANTONY. 197 Reynolds, Holbein, Bird, Hudson, Vandyke, Sir Godfrey Kneller, &c. In front of the house is a court yard enclosed on two sides by rows of offices supported by piazzas, and on the third by a brick wall. The grounds are exceedingly well laid out, commanding extensive views of the Lynher and surrounding country. Richard Carew, Esq., au- thor of the " Survey of Cornwall" was an ancestor of the present proprietor of this pic- turesque domain. The village of Antony is situated on a rising ground at some distance from Antony House, and in conjunction with its singularly seated church, forms a very interesting picture. In this district, as early as the year 1189, there was, according to Leland, a cell of black monks of Angier, which most probably belonged to the priory of Tyward- reath. The church is said to have been formerly appropriated to the abbot and convent of Tavi- stock, by whom the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the district was held at the time of the Norman Conquest, and under which it continued until the dissolution of religious houses in the reign of Henry VIII. In 1540 the manor and church of Antony were granted to lord John Russell, in conjunction with other possessions which were then taken from the Abbey. This property con- s 2 198 beggar's island. tinued in the Russell family until the year 1761, when it was purchased by the Carews, in whose possession it still remains." The church consists of a. nave, chancel, and two side aisles, and con- tains several ancient monuments. Near the altar is an effigy in brass of Margaret Arundell, wife of Sir Thomas Arundell, of Talaverne. This lady is said to have been the first person who was interred in this church. In different parts of the edifice there are monuments to the memory of individuals of the Carew family, &c. But to return to the Lynher: — Midway between the groves of Antony and the opposite shore is Beggar's Island, a small spot of land nearly covered by the tide at high water. Attempts have been made to plant it with wood, but they have all failed ,on account of its unshel- tered situation. From this spot — looking west ward — we have a sweet view of the higher parts of the river. Wood-fringed headlands sweep gently down to the water, and retire behind each other in pleasing perspective, while cottages, copses, and farm houses diversify the hills. The peninsula of Ince is a prominent and romantic object, and the expanse of water itself — exclu- sively considered — is by no means monotonous, for if the surface should not be relieved by the TREMATON CASTLE. 199 red sail of a passing barge, or the dippings of a flock of white- winged gulls from the cliffs of Whitsand Bay, it is sure to be varied by the ever- changing lights and shadows created by the cloudy fitfulness — the ;4 glory and the gloom" of our wild western skies. The venerable and imposing donjon keep of Trematox Castle, one of the most perfect spe- cimens of baronial antiquity in the kingdom, rises proudly above the rural dwellings of Antony Passage. This noble relic of feudal power still looks down with a commanding air on the scenes which its former lords held in the galling chains of vassalage. Manifold, however, and interesting are the associations awakened by a sight of those crumbling walls. Deeds of knightly emprize and tales of " ladye love " — minstrels with neck- chains of gold, and harps of witching melody — warders pacing the round of the grey turrets- banners streaming in the wind — the hoof-clang of war-caparisoned steed, champing his golden bit — lordly banquets — armed vassals marching forth to battle — all occupy the imagination with agreeable delusion. They are, however, but the visions of a moment. Peaceful and solitary are the walls of Trematon, though the red-cross of England occasionally floats in the breeze that sweeps over its lofty battlements. 200 TREMATON CASTLE. The present remains of the castle consist of the keep; of an embattled circular wall six feet thick, enclosing about an acre of ground; and the gateway composed of three massive arches supporting a square tower. Between the arches are grooves for port-cullises. This is by far the best preserved part of the building. The keep rises nobly on the summit of an arti- ficial mound. It is embrasured and rather ellip- tical in shape. The walls are more than ten feet thick, and profusely overrun with ivy. The en- trance is through a Ioav browed door on the west side. The space included within the walls measures twenty-four yards by seventeen, hi this part of the fortress there is not the least vestige of a window, and it is therefore supposed that the interior was lighted by means of an aper- ture at the top. On the eastern exterior of the keep is a rustic seat over which are incribed the following appropriate lines from a poet who truly loved nature- Cowper. " Caught by the varied prospects that appear Tiie uan;ou eye just glauces o'er the whole: No single beauty charms :— the fancy here Roves like a libertine without controul." The view from this commanding spot is indeed lovely in the extreme. Immediately beneath is the placid Lynher, dotted with the sails of slowly moving barges ; and the shores archcre and there TREMATON CASTLE. 201 skirted by the picturesque greenness of massive woods. The eye ranges over the harbour — the shipping — the towns of Plymouth, Devonport, and Stonehouse — Mount Edgcumbe — the bluely- swelling hills of Dartmoor — the Sound — the Mewstone — the vast ocean, and a thousand other objects which cannot fail to enchant the gazer. The Gate-house contains an apartment now converted into a museum of natural curiosities, among which are some admired specimens of tapestry, antique weapons of warfare, a drinking vessel dug up at Marathon, and numerous other rarities. On the outside of the gateway is hung up the bell of the Salvador del Mundo, one of the ships taken in Admiral Jervis's action with the Spaniards, February 14th, 17&7- A Survey of the Duchy of Cornwall, bearing date 1337, de- scribes a hall, kitchen, and lodging chamber in Trematon Castle, stated to have been built by Edmund Earl of Cornwall ; and also gives an ac- count of an ancient chapel within the gates. In Carews time, however, all the inner buildings were sunk into decay. Within the area of the ruins is the modern built mansion of B. Tucker, Esq., to whom the castle and surrounding domain have belonged since 1807- The house stands on the site of the 202 TREMATON CASTLE. ancient barracks, and contains many valuable pictures. In front is a bust of the Earl of St. Vincent, placed on a slab of marble of the same kind as that used in the construction of the Ply- mouth Breakwater. Different periods have been assigned as the probable sera of the erection of Trematon Castle, but all accounts agree in describing its origin to a very remote age. An ancient manuscript in the British Museum states it to have been built by the Romans, which assertion is corroborated 64 by the lime cement used in the formation of this and other decayed Cornish castles, which material was first brought into use by the above ingenious and warlike people.* Another opinion exists that Trematon was built by Robert Earl of Morton and Cornwall, about the time of the Con- queror. The most ancient authentic record ex- tant concerning this old fabric is found in vol. I. p. 122, of Domesday Boke, wherein it is stated, that in the year 1000 Reginald de Valletort held Trematon of Earl Morton, and that Brismar pos- sessed it in the reign of Edward I. It was one of the seats of the ancient Earls and Dukes of Cornwall, and many large estates were held by knight's service rendered to the lords of the castle • Gilbert's History of Cornwall. TREMATON CASTLE. 203 Its jurisdiction extends over the waters of Ha- moaze and the Lynher ; of Stonehouse and Sutton Pools ; of Catwater, Plymouth Sound, and Caw- sand Bay. Within these limits, according to the seizin, '• any one who may be lord of the castle hath, and always hath been accustomed to have all and singular the profits whatever arising out of the royalty, that is to say wreck of the sea, pleas of mariners, prisage of wine in the said pool (Sutton), the chattels of felons, forfeitures, and and all other belonging to the royalty of the said castle and honour." To recover some portions of these rights, which have been alienated at dif- ferent periods, proceedings at law have been instituted. The following incident connected with Tie- maton, told by Carew in his quaint and amusing style, is worth relating. " At the last Cornish commotion, Sir Richard Greynuile did, with his Ladie and followers, put themselves into this cas- tle, and there for awhile indured the rebels' seige, incamped in three places against it ; who wanting great ordnance, could have wrought the besieged small scathe, had his friends or enemies kept faith or promise : but some of those within, slip- ping by night ouer the wals, with their bodies 204 SHILLINGHAM. after their hearts, and those without, mingling humble entreaties with rude menaces, he was hereby wonne to issue forth at a posterne gate for parley. The while, a part of these rakehels, not knowing what honestie, and farre less, how much the worde of a souldier imported, — stepped between him and home, laid hold of his ancient vnweyldie bodie, and threatened to leaue it lifeless if the inclosed did not leave their resistance. So prosecuting their firste treacherie against the prince, withe suetable actions towards his subjects, they seized on the Castle, and exercised the vtter- most of their barbarous cruelties, (death excepted) on the surprised prisoners. The silly gentle* women, without regard of sexe or shame, were stripped of their apparell, and some of their fingers broken, to plucke away their rings, and Sir Richard himself made an exchange from Trematon Castle, to that of Launceston, with the Gayle to boot." A little to the west of Trematon are the um- brageous groves of Shillingham, the seat of James Buller, Esq., This finely wooded and highly cultivated estate forms an attractive scene when beheld from the river. The present mansion is built on the site of a more ancient family resi- IXCE CASTLE. 205 dence, taken down a few years since. Near it is a venerable old gothic chapel now in ruins and most profusely overrun with ivy. Higher up the creek is the beautiful peninsula of Ince. This domain was formerly held in moieties by John de Ince and Thomas de Stone- house. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was pos- sessed by Sir Robert de Willoughby, Lord Broke. It was garrisoned in 1646 in favour of Charles II. at which time it was summoned to surrender to the Parliament by the Governor of Plymouth, who, on being refused, placed some artillery on the opposite high grounds and forced the besieged to give up their house, their arms, and their am- munition. The mansion though dignified with the name of " castle," is not of very prepossessing exterior. In form it is square, with embattled towers at the corners, and it is built of brick. The view of the lower reaches of the Lynher from this spot is extremely interesting. The mansion of Antony is beheld peering above the ring woods, opposite to which the stern old keep of Trematon rises in feudal grandeur. Two or three of the ships in ordinary — considerably diminished by distance — enliven with their yel- low sides the entrance of the river. The horizon is bounded by a flowing line of the Dartmoor T 206 ERTH HOUSE. — SHEVIOCK. hills, among which, if the atmosphere be devoid of mists, that singular heap of shattered rocks — Sheepstor, is distinctly visible. In fine summer weather, the wide sheet of water before the voy- ager's eye is an expanse of dazzling, rippling splendour, and the long grass of the neighbouring fields waves in the breeze with a silent beauty of motion beyond the power of language to describe. Above Ince the promontory of Erth rushes picturesquesly into the waves. Carew, who wrote two hundred years ago, describes Erth House as " a very anciente building." The chapel con- nected with the dwelling is still in a good state of preservation. Not far from Erth is the mouth of the narrow creek which winds nearly up to the hamlet of Sheviock. If the voyager be able to spare time he cannot do better than land at one of the paths leading to this village, for the purpose of inspecting its antique church — one of the most venerable ecclesiastical edifices in the county. It is of simple exterior, almost embo- somed in trees, and, in conjunction with the rural repose of the surrounding objects, breathes an air of seclusion and piety. It was erected by the Dawnay family in the fourteenth century. Con- cerning this event Carew relates the following tradition. " There runneth also a tale among SHEVIOCK CHURCH. 207 the parishioners how one of the Daw nay family's ancestors undertook to build the churche, and his wife the barne adjoining ; and that casting up their accountes upon the finishing of their workes the barne was found to cost three halfpence more than the churche ; and so it might well fall out, for it is a great barne and a very little churche." Part of the barn above alluded to is still standing. One of the aisles of Sheviock Church is supposed to have been formerly the private chapel of the Dawnay's ; it is called the Dawnay aisle. It con- tains a very ancient monument, on which, beneath a carved canopy, are two recumbent figures, re- presenting Sir Edward Courtenay and Emmeline Dawnay his lady. This tomb is elaborately or- namented with coats of arms, and is altogether a very interesting relic of distant days. There are several other monuments in the church, and among them is the full length effigy of a knight, in armour, whom Carew imagines to be a brother of Lady Emmeline Dawnay, " slayne in our warres with France." A beautiful solemnity pervades the interior of this little house of prayer, and not undelightful is it, in the quiet stillness of a summer afternoon, to pace the echoing aisles when the rich sunlight is streaming through the traceried lattices, gilding the projections of the 208 ST. GERMANS. crumbling carved work and illuming the sculp- tured semblances of the knight and his lady lying mutely on their dusty tomb. While the spectator is contemplating the surrounding objects a pen- sive awe steals into his being, and his thoughts insensibly sink into a calm contemplation of human mortality. Close to the promontory of Erth is the mouth of the Creek which conveys the fresh waters of the Lynher into the main inlet leading to St. Ger- man's. At high water boats may proceed up this creek as far as Notter Bridge which, in com- bination with the surrounding hills, woods, and crags, presents a romantic scene. We now soon arrive at St. Germans. The town is situated about a quarter of a mile from the landing place, and the walk to it is through a lane overshadowed with noble trees. St. Germans is a borough, and sent two members to parliament, but was disfranchised by the Reform Act. It was formerly the diocese of Cornwall. It derives its name from its patron, St. Germaine, bishop of Auxerre in France, who came into Britain with Lupus, bishop of Troy about the year 426. The town contains about sixty houses scattered in a pleasant dell interspersed with groves of fine trees. The greatest attraction of this place is its ST, GERMANS CHURCH, 209 venerable church, once the cathedral of the Cor- nish diocese. It is said to have been built by the Saxon King Athelstane, by whom it was dedi- cated to St. Germaine. The most interesting part of the building is the exterior of the west end, where there are two towers, one square and the other octagonal.* A portion of these antique walls is profusely overrun with ivy, and in the crevices of the crumbling stones are ferns, mosses, and other plants which love to fix themselves on aged fabrics. The entrance is described as fol- lows by Messrs. Britton and Bray ley, " Between the towers is the ancient entrance doorway, a very fine circular receding arch, the whole width of which is twenty feet. Of this space six feet are allotted to the door, and the remainder to the pillars and sides of the arch. The pillars are four on each side, having plain square bases and capi- tals, contained in semicircular niches. The arch contains seven mouldings ; the two innermost are plain and. round, the third and fourth have a zig-zag ornament, the next is round, and the sixth and seventh are zig-zag : a sculptured orna- ment of leafage surrounds the whole, and is ter- minated at each end with some rude ornament, resting on the capital of the outer pillars. Be- * Both were originally octagonal, T 2 210 ST. GERMANS CHURCH. tween the pillars is a zig-zag ornament in alternate succession. The height of the pillars is seven feet six inches : that of the door ten feet : the whole height of the arch is about sixteen feet. Over the arch is a pediment with a cress at top re- sembling an heraldic cross, pattee, within a circle. On each side is a small pointed light, and above these are three small narrow round headed win- dows." The north side of the church wears a picturesque appearance from the roses, jessamines, and other flowering plants which have been trained up the wall. The interior has been so much altered to suit ideas of modern comfort, that very little remains to claim the attention of the antiquary. It contains however some objects worthy of notice. In the walls are several orna- mented recesses — one of them denominated the bishop's throne. On the front of the gallery are inscribed the names of the holy fathers who suc- ceeded each other as bishops of St. Germans, till the see was removed to Exeter, thirty years after the time of the Conqueror. These names stand in the following order : — St. Patrick— -Burwoldus — Athelstan — Athelstan — Coranus — Wolfi — Rui- docus — Woronus — Udridus — Wolocus — Bretivi- nus — Stidio — Aldredus. InLeland's description of this church occurs the PORT ELIOT HOUSE. 21 I following passage : — " Beside the hie altar on the ^ right hand ys a tumbe yn the the walle, with the image of a bishop, and over the tumbe are XI bishops painted, with their names and verses as token of so many bishops buried ther ; or that ther had been so many bishops of Cornwall that had taken theyr seete ther." Not the least ves- tige of these paintings, &c. remains at present. There are several handsome monuments in the church, particularly that to the memory of Ed- ward Eliot, Esq., who died in 1722. The arches which support the church roof are stately. They rest on low columns with square capitals, orna- mented after the manner of the Saxons. On the north side of the church is Port Eliot House, the seat of the Rt. Hon. the Earl of St. Germans, formerly a priory. Its present appear- ance is far from antique. It is a very commo- dious mansion and contains some good portraits. The dining room was the monks' refectory. The burial ground which used to be in front of the house, was in 1785 levelled and converted into a lawn, by the authority of a patent obtained from the bishop of the diocese, and a new cemetry was formed at a little distance to the south-west of the church. The revenue of the St. Germans priory at the dissolution of monasteries was valued 212 PORT ELIOT. at £243. 8s. The last prior was Robert Seymour, who surrendered his trust in 1583. The manor then fell into the hands of the Champernowne\ The means by which this family became posse?- sed of it is thus related by Carew. " John Cham- pernowne, sonne and heir apparent to Sir Phillip of Devon, in Henry the Eighth's time, followed the court, and through his pleasant conceits, of which muche mighte be spoken, won some good grace with the king. Now when the golden shoure of the dissolved Abbey lands rained wel neare into every gaper's mouth, some two or three gentlemen, the king's servants and Master Champernowne's acquaintance, waited at a doore where the King was to pass forth with purpose to beg such a matter at his hands : our gentleman became inquisitive to know their suit : they made strange to impart it. This while out comes the king : they kneel down, so doth Master Champer- nowne ; they prefer their petition ; the king grants it : they render humble thanks, so doth Master Champernowne. After he requireth his share ; they deny it ; he appeals to the king : the king avoweth his equal meaning in the largesse ; whereon the overtaken companions were fain to allot him this priory for his partag'e." The Champernowne family retained the priory estate PORT ELIOT. 213 until the year 1565, when they conveyed it to Richard Eliot, Esq., (ancestor of the present Earl of St. Germans) in exchange for Coteland in Devonshire. The grounds of Port Eliot are well laid out, and afford some sweetly secluded retreats for him who loves to seek out the more retired features of nature. Trees of the most majestic growth shadow with their twisting branches and impervious foliage the gently undu- lating lawns ; and in the woods the fearful deer may be seen grazing amid the twilight gloom thrown on the sward by the canopy of leafy boughs. From some parts of the park the spec- tator catches an interesting glimpse of the old cathedral church with its towers rising above the surrounding trees in all the hallowed grayness of remote antiquity, and associating the mind with the days of the Saxon Athelstan. On the summit of a hill near the town is Cud- denbeke House once the episcopal palace of St. Germans. It is now converted into a farm house. The view from the spot is very extensive and highly attractive. The spectator takes in at a glance the windings of the Lynher — a wide ex- panse of fields glowing with all the hue of luxu- riant cultivation — waving woods embossing the numerous slopes — the populous neighbourhood of 214 ST. GERMANS. Plymouth and Devonport — the blue ocean — the pine-crested peninsula of Mount Edgcumbe and the swelling ridges of Dartmoor. Immediately beneath the gaze is the sweet valley of St. Ger- mans with its scattered clumps of trees and placid river ; and indeed the whole scene is of so im- pressive a character that it is with regret the stranger leaves it for the purpose of seeking his homeward bound bark. 215 X.YDFORD CASCADE AND BRENT-TOR, Oft the traveller lists The roar of that wild torrent, headlong dash 'd O'er the rude precipice ; * * » * # * * The bright and broken flood Impetuous descends in graceful curves To mingle with the foaming world below : — While, sparkling in the mid-day beam, a show'r Of spray, for ever hovering, bathes the plants Thar love the mountain ami the stream. DARTMOOR. Lydford Waterfall and the romantic dell in which it is situated, to be seen to advantage, should be visited in the spring-time of the year — in Nature's hour of bud and blossoming; — when the ivies that curtain the perpendicular rocks wear a flush of brighter green, and the freshness of the leafage has not verged into the sober lusty hood of summer; when the mosses and lichens have put on their most varied tints ; — when the streams are rejoicing in the strength left them by the lately departed winter ; —when " the voice of the turtle is heard in the land" — and the cuckoo repeats his uniform note through the live- long day. Who in wandering through that romantic 216 TAVISTOCK. glen would not regret the absence of the pearly- rooted blue-bell and the violet that bows its head in silent loveliness ? — who would not wish to be- hold the primrose's gentle form in the clustering grass, and the thorn with its white showers of delicate "May," — giving to every breeze that wanders by a portion of its soul of fragrance ? How could we dispense with the presence of the wild strawberry blossoms, peeping out between wreaths of dark leaves — or the young butterfly, just awakened to a world of beauty — or the wall flowers which hang in golden knots from the crevices of the shattered cliffs ? In our way to Lydford from Plymouth or De- vonport we pass through Tavistock. This is a very ancient borough, and sent members to par- liament as early as the twenty- third of Edward III. It is pleasantly situated in a valley on the banks of the moorland river Tavy, over which there are two bridges. It contains about five hundred houses and nearly five thousand inhabitants. It is one of the stannary towns. In the church, which is handsome and dedicated to St. Eustatius, are several elaborate monuments ; among them is one to judge Glanville, who was a native of the place. Tavistock, before the year 961. was the residence of Orgar, Duke of Devonshire, whose TAVISTOCK. 217 daughter, Elfrida,* was espoused by King Edgar. In 961, Ordulph, the son of Orgar, being admo- nished by a vision, founded a most extensive monastery at Tavistock, which he dedicated to St. Mary and St. Burien. According to several an- cient writers this abbey was a most magnificent structure. Leland describes its church to have been 126 yards in length, exclusive of a chapel at the end, dedicated to the virgin. It had a grand Chapter House containing 36 arched stalls. At one time it possessed 15 knights' fees, or 10,200 acres of land. Within its walls, Risdon says, " once you might have seen the sepulture of Orgarius (Orgar), and the huge proportion of his son Ordulph's tomb ; for he was of large sta- ture and giant-like strength." The abbots of Tavistock were so rich and proud that they aspired to the dignity of a mitre, and Richard Barham, the thirty-fifth abbot, obtained from Henry VIII. the privilege of sitting in the House of Peers. The revenue of the monastery at the dissolution was £902. 5s. 7d., and John Peryn, the last abbot, had £100 per annum settled on him for life. In 1539 the abbey, with the bo- rough, town, burgage, rectory, and vicarage of * Tradition fixes the scene of the loves of Etholwolf and Elfrida, and the events which led to the subseqnent marriage of that lady with Edgar, at Harewood on the Tamar. U 218 TAVISTOCK. Tavistock became by patent the property of Lord John Russell, afterwards Duke of Bedford, in which noble family these possessions still continue. The greater part of the abbey was taken down in 1670, but several mutilated relics of this once majestic building still exist to interest the anti- quary. The more perfect portions are converted into barns and warehouses, still, however, wearing a venerable and ecclesiastical appearance. Near the Bedford Arms — the principal inn — is a large arched gateway, apparently built about the time of Henry VI. Many years ago a stone coffin was found among the ruins containing some immense human bones— still preserved in the church — supposed to have been those of Ordulph, who is represented by William of Malmesbury to have been of so great a stature that he was able to stride over brooks ten feet wide. Near the coffin was discovered the fragment of a tomb with the inscription Subjacetintus Condi (or. At the head of the sarcophagus stood an upright stone with the words Nepos Ranii filii condevi. carved on it. This stone has been removed to TAVISTOCK. 219 the vicar's garden. In 1718 the effigy of Ordulph was to be seen in a dilapidated cloister, now demolished. The Saxon literature was much encouraged at Tavistock, and lectures were read here in that language down to the time of the Reformation. A printing press was established in the abbey shortly after the introduction of that art into England, and among the books that issued from it were ;< Walton's Translation of Boetius de Consolatione," 1525, 4to ; " emprinted in the exempte Monastery of Tavestoke, in Denshyre, by me Dan Thomas Rycharde, monk of the said monastery ;"—" The Confirmation of the Tyn- ner's Charter," twenty-sixth of Henry VIII., six- teen leaves 4to ; and also a Saxon Grammar, called " The Long Grammar." Pursuing our route to Lydford we soon arrive on a wide heath, from which it is interesting to gaze on the expanse of landscape that spreads around. The Cornish mountains present a mag- nificently broken ridge in the west, Between those picturesque eminences and the spot on which we stand are hundreds of richly cultivated fields of all possible tints of green. Woods are here and there scattered in the vallies ; and not wanting is the tower of more than one village 220 LYDFORD CASCADE AND BRENT-TOR. church peering above the trees of some sweetly secluded dell Streams wind through the strag- gling copses, while nestling cottages and lordly- seats impart an additional charm to the picture. Towards the east we look into the solitudes of Dartmoor. The tors are frequently hidden by clouds, and in winter light wreaths of mist are generally seen floating along the rock-strewed slopes. At such seasons it is pleasing to watch the different lights and shadows which pass in rapid succession over the waste. Sometimes a burst of sunshine makes visible every isolated rock and every lonely torrent— again the hills and glens are wrapt in the mystery of a ray less gloom. The spectator in contemplating the mighty moor- land peaks cannot help mentally reverting to the changes which have influenced the world since their rude forms first frowned sublimely over the desert — without dwelling in sad retrospection on the earthly splendour which has been wrecked — the ambition that has been blighted — the hopes which have been quenched in sorrow — the " envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness " which have stirred up man against his brother man ; — and how much of human passsion — of human suffering — of human affection — has passed away into the depths of oblivion. BRENT-TOR CHURCH. 221 As we proceed, our attention is forcibly struck with the romantic appearance of Brent-tor and the little antique church on its summit. On ap- proaching more closely to that singular rock, we find it difficult to account for the erection of a place of worship on so wild and exposed a site* Its origin is explained by the following legend : — A rich merchant, who had toiled away the early part of his life in a " farre countrie," was re- turning home to enjoy in peace the fruits of his industry. Before, however, the shores of Eng- land met his view, a fearful tempest overtook the ship, and in a moment of danger he vowed that if his life were spared he would build a church on the first land he saw. The storm at length ceased. Shortly afterwards Brent-tor was seen peering up in the horizon, and the merchant faithfully performed his vow. The church is very small, being only 37 feet long by 14 wide, It is dedicated to St. Michael. The tower stands on the edge of a perpendicular cliff, and the rocks around it are picturesquely interspersed with patches of green sward. The edifice is very rude ; it appears to be little else than a solid mass of masonry, and solid it ought to be to withstand the fury of the storms which occa- sionally howl around so unsheltered a region, 222 BRENT-TOR CHURCH. The windows — three in number — are mere slits, just sufficient to admit a " dim religious light" into the building. A scanty burial-ground sur- rounds the church, but from the undisturbed appearance of the ground, the office of sexton in this parish is evidently a sinecure. The head- stones are either broken or deeply bedded in the earth ; not one of them bears a legible inscrip- tion to tell the name and virtues of the mute inhabitant below. On the exterior of the north wall of the church, however, is a slate tomb- stone, most gorgeously bedight " with cunnynge carved work," in the execution of which the whole skill of some village Phidias seems to have been put forth. It is nourished all over with fan- tastic emblems and subtle hieroglyphics — and with representations of angels, with faces having three little dots, knowingly meant for eyes, nose, and mouth ; but numerous spots of envious lichen have played sad havoc with these heavenly effigies. The inscription which it bears is literally as follows : — Me montari mors. Heare vnder This stone l.yeth the body of wa'ter baiten of brimsabach who was bvried April the 6th 1677. Allso Alice his wiFe who was bvried the thirde ofdeceraber 1681. The interior of the building is worth inspection. It consists of but one small aisle, and the arrange- BRENT-TOR CHURCH. 223 ments for the accommodation of the congregation are very simple. Above the south door is a wooden tablet, bearing the following appropriate texts from scripture : — "Surely the Lor 1 is in this place." " How dreadful is this place !— this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven.' ' Gen. xviii. v. 16, 17. " And upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The ceiling is of oak, and the worm-eaten pews, are manifestly of great antiquity. The stone font seems intended to last till the consummation of all things, so massive is its construction. On the north wall is a tombstone with this epitaph. Life and a flower Vanish in an hour. Here vnder this stone lieth the body of John Cole, Jun. of Lifton, who departed this life the 24th of Nov. 1694, aetas 22. also Joan his sister, who was bvried the 1st of Feb. 1694, aetas II. If thou be serious (frend) peruse this stone, If thou be not soe pray let it alone, Against dethe's poison veitue's the best art, When good men seme to die they but departe. The tower contains three tolerably sized bells, one of them encircled with an incription in some strange character. 224 BRENT-TOR. Brent-tor is asserted by a writer in the Gentle- man's Magazine, vol. X. to be an extinct volcano, which opinion is founded on its conical shape and the porosity of the rock of which it is composed. The view from its summit is very extensive. To- wards the south is a varied champaign of woods, heaths, and fields, bounded by the sea, which is, however, so remote that it can scarcely be distin- guished from the sky. Mount Edgcumbe is plainly visible. In the east are the wilds of Dartmoor: and towards the west and north stretches away a vast tract of cultivated landscape. " The wild appearance," says Warner, " of the country around this spot prevented it in former times from being visited by strangers ; and so trifling was the intercourse which it had with the populous and more cultivated parts of England, 200 years ago, that Fuller, in his Worthies, de- scribes the inhabitants of a village near this church as a lawless tribe, wild as the ancient Scythians." Having left Brent-tor, we pursue the road for about two miles when we arrive at a farm house situated in a valley and surrounded by trees. By making inquires here we shall be shewn the path which leads to the Lydford Cascade, and in our way to the fall we soon attain the brow of the west slope of the valley in which it is situated. From L YD FORD WATERFALL. 225 this elevated spot we look over a scene of singular grandeur. Far — far beneath is seen the Lyd winding amid huge promontories which fold magnificently behind each other, covered with luxuriant woods. At the head of the vale are the church and shattered castle of Lydford. At a little distance below the spot on which we stand is the brook which forms the cascade, but it does not long continue in sight, being swallowed up in the jaws of a rocky abyss, darkened by the foliage of overhanging trees. The view is alto- gether most impressive, and even the fastidious Gilpin observes that " no part of this magnificent scenery would be a disgrace to the wildest and most picturesque country." Having paused awhile to gaze on the beauties of this delightful prospect, we descend the steep by a narrow zig-zag path. As we approach the bottom of the hill our ear is salutetl by a lulling silvery sound that issues from a dark sylvan nook on the left bank of the river — it is the voice of the Lydford Waterfall, and on turning the angle of an abrupt rock we perceive a small stream sliding in a broad line of white foam from the top of an almost perpendicular precipice, about one hundred and forty feet high. It presents a pleasing but not a very grand sight, except in winter when the brook is swollen by 226 LYDFORD WATERFALL, &C. rain collected from the neighbouring moors. The fall is unbroken save about the middle of the descent, where a slight projection is marked by the continual hovering of a little shower of spray. Near the foot of the cliff the stream spreads out into frothy wavelets, which chase each other over the rock in rapid succession, and the waters then glide peacefully away on either side of a mimic isle to augment the Lyd. The crags which frown around and above are overgrown with ivy and fine underwood. The wild glen which lies beyond the cascade in the direction of Lyd ford, is well worth inspec- tion, It is an almost untrodden haunt and so rugged that it is extremely difficult of access— in- deed it cannot be traced far, as it soon becomes a mere cleft in the earth. The traveller will find scarcely the vestige of a footpath, so he must make the best of his way " over bank, bush, and scaur," as chance may direct. Both banks rush up to a dizzy height, and the summits approach each other so nearly, that very scanty is the patch of sky be- held between them. In some places rises a per- pendicular mass of rocks, glistening with ivy. whose dark ^berries rustle audibly in the breeze, In these cliffs the hawk builds his nest, and he may frequently be observed wheeling on arrowy LYDFORD BRIDGE. 227 wing around his impregnable eyrie. The Lyd works its way over rugged crags sending up an agonized roar in its struggles for a free passage. In many spots it has worn itself an almost subter- rannean channel through the solid rock, and it then forms itself into black and horrible whirl- pools, which the spectator almost shudders to look into. The hidden retreats of this ravine are su- premely lovely in the bloominess of the spring. The wanderer is then surrounded by thousands of beautiful flowers and plants just awakened from the sleep of winter. Here are the strawberry blossom — the daisy — the burnished golden-cup — and the azure perriwinkie, over which Rousseau wept in his old age because it recalled the me- mory of former and happier days. We now retrace our steps to the road, and in our way to Lydford we pass over Lyd ford Bridge, — a single arch thrown across a frightful chasm, nearly ninety feet deep, at the bottom of which the Lyd battles with the rocks that harass its course. The gulf is overgrown with ivy, and shadowed by the foliage of trees that in the summer prevent the river from being distinctly seen, though its roar always ascends in noble swells. Risdon, in de- scribing the bridge, observes " the river is here 228 LYDFORD BRIDGE. gathered into such a streight, by the fretting of the earth between the rocks, that it seemeth to cavern itself as loth to see the desolation of the place. It maketh such an hideous noise, that being only heard and not seen, it causeth a kind of fear to the passengers, seeming to them that look down to it a deep abyss, and may be num- bered among the wonders of this kingdom." This spot has been the scene of more than one suicide. Perhaps the most distressing instance is that of a poor man of the neighbouring village who, being visited with temporary fits of insanity brought on by brain fever, was confined and closely watched. One stormy night, however, he contrived to elude the vigilance of his attendants, leaped naked out of his chamber window, and ran yelling down the road leading to the bridge. He was immediately followed, but his pursuers could only gain on him so much as to perceive him leap over the parapet of the bridge into the roaring abyss beneath. Another story exists of a gentle- man, named Captain Williams, who, being in- volved in pecuniary embarrassments, resolved on self-destruction, and fixed on Lydford Bridge for the completion of his horrible purpose. He ac- cordingly left Exeter, the place of his abode, and rode to this spot on a bleak tempestuous winter's LYDFORD. 229 day, his road lying through a savage and deserted tract of moorland. On his arrival at the bridge he endeavoured to make his horse leap over the parapet (as was supposed from the disturbed state of the upper stones), but not being able to effect this, he dismounted, threw his saddle into the yawning gulph, and then himself. An anecdote is also related of a London traveller who, in pass- ing the village during a very dark and inclement night, was much surprised by an unaccountable bound which his horse made in the middle of his career. A few hours after his arrival at Tavi- stock he was informed that Lydford Bridge had given way the night preceding, and then he recollected with a shudder that the strange leap which his horse had taken must have been across the bridgeless chasm. Lydford, though it now consists of but a few miserable cottages, was formerly a place of very considerable importance, and Julius Caesar is said to have honored it with a visit on his second in- vasion of Britain. In the year 997 it was nearly demolished by the Danes after they had destroyed Tavistock Abbey, but shortly afterwards it again became a nourishing town, and in the reign of the Conqueror it had 1-iO burgesses. Ethelred II. had a mint at Lvaford, the coins of which are 230 LYDFORD CASTLE. distinguishable by the letters LVD. LVD A. LVD AN. These coins are very rare, but the late Dr. Hunter had two or three of them in his cabinet. It appears from Domesday book that at one period London and Lydford were taxed pretty nearly on an equality. This place in the reign of Edward III. sent members to parliament, but it was subsequently excused propter pauper- tatem, It is still one of the stannary towns. The greater part of Dartmoor lies within this parish. Considerable traces of ancient buildings were to be seen at Lydford when Risdon wrote his ; ' Survey of Devon," (about the year 1630.) This author says " they can shew you where the gates stood, and also the foundation of the walls that encircled it (the town) compacted of moorstone and lime, which they lighted on as they digged their fields." The only relic which now remains to remind us of the ancient importance of the place is a large square keep of a castle, standing on a mound of earth. The walls are 40 feet high, and each side of the building measures 50 feet. It is now converted into a repository for rural implements. Iron bars are still beheld in the narrow slits which served for windows, and in the centre of the thick walls are stone staircases, LYDFORD CASTLE. 231 leading to rooms whose floors are gone. Here are also some deep dungeons, almost filled with rubbish. In this castle used to be held Stannary Courts, which had the power of trying and punishing persons who offended against the laws of the Stannaries. The dungeons of the castle were so bad as to give rise to the adage " Lydford law punishes first and tries after." An old writer (Browne) alludes to this as follows : — I've often heard of Lydford law, Where in the morn they haug and draw And sit in judgment after ; At first I wondered at it much, But since I've found the matter such That it deserves no laughter. They have a castle on a hill ; 1 took it for an old windmill The vanes blown off by weather, To lie therein one night, 'tis guessM, 'Twere better to be stoned and prest, Or hang'd— now choose you whether. Criminals were detained here a month, year, or longer, a gaol delivery taking place only once in ten years ; which circumstance was complained of by petition in the reign of Edward III. who is- sued a commission to redress this grievance. In 1512 Richard Strode, Esq., member of parliament for the borough of Plympton Earle, having exerted himself to procure an act to prevent the blocking up of harbours by the operation of stream works, was prosecuted by the tinners at their 232 LYDFORD CASTLE, &C. court held at Crockern-tor, and sentenced to pay a severe fine. On his refusal to comply with the penalty, he was confined in the loathsome dun- geons of Lydford Castle for more than three weeks, heavily ironed and fed on bread and water. Close to the castle is the church, an antique edifice of granite. The moors around Lydford are singularly wild and unfrequented. Many years ago a peasant, wandering across the waste in search of some stray sheep, discovered in a lonely spot the body of a sailor in a state of decay, bearing the appear- ance of having been lifeless for several weeks. His head was reclined on a bundle of clothes, and at his feet were the remains of a small dog. It was conjectured that the unfortunate man must have perished in one of the fearful storms which sometimes visit this unsheltered district, and, as no one recognised the corpse, it was removed and interred in Lydford church-yard. In returning to Tavistock the excursionist should vary his route by a visit to the little moor- land village of Peter-tavy, whose interesting church and picturesque mill are alone well entitled to half an hour's attention. 233 ENDSXiEXGH COTTAGE. "It is a scene Worthy the magic of the painter's skill,— Worthy his powerful and living touch Whose pencil Genius has made all divine." About seven miles from Tavistock is Endsleigh Cottage, the delightful Devonshire retreat of his Grace the Duke of Bedford. The building, which was designed by Jeffry Wyatt, stands on a plea- sant slope, at whose foot roll the waters of the Tamar, and its construction possesses so little of architectural regularity, that it reminds the spec- tator of some of those ancient country residences now and then met with, which have received ad- ditions at different periods to make room for an increasing family. Notwithstanding, however, the apparent want of harmony in the various parts of Endsleigh Cottage it wears a very picturesque appearance, and is a great ornament to the sur- rounding landscape. Its walls are here and there clothed with graceful and luxuriant flowering shrubs, which have been planted with much taste- ful discrimination. The little garden in front is, in the season of flowers, a sight to be contemplated x 2 234 ENDSLEIGH COTTAGE. with feelings of no common delight. The in- terior of the cottage is most splendidly fitted up — and not the least attractive feature in the furni- ture are the large and valuable mirrors which adorn the rooms. The library contains a great number of well selected books. The apartments are generally spacious, but the visitor cannot help being charmed by the many little carpeted nooks which he is ever and anon peeping into — quiet haunts fit for the exercise of severe contemplation or of poetic thought. At the bottom of the lawn, near the farm buildings, is the Dairy, " an elegant rustic erection with an open porch and gallery." The coolness of the interior is very refreshing in summer. The milk vessels are made of polished marble ; and in the centre of the building is a fountain of clear water. The windows are all tinted. Near the Cottage is a pleasant little Summer- house, in which sparkles a fountain of ever-run- ning water. This spot commands the woods and meadows on the banks of the river, and the floating bridge which, by means of a rope and windlass, is contrived to transport vehicles from sided to side." In a distant part of the grounds is " the Swiss Cottage, a picturesque building in the midst of an Alpine garden. A labourer in- ENDSLEIGH COTTAGE. 235 habits the lower apartments ; the upper rooms, which are attained by a staircase and gallery con- structed outside the Cottage a la Suisse, are fitted up with appropriate furniture for the occasional visits of the noble family. The view from the gallery is remarkably interesting." The grounds are rich in sylvan attractions, and wherever the hand of art has been able to furnish a grace, with- out interfereing with the harmonies of nature, it has been done. The paths along the banks of the river wind through some rich tracts of home landscape, and, indeed, the country for several miles around Endsleigh abounds with scenes of impressive loveliness. No tourist ought to leave the West without having first inspected this neighbourhood :*— such spots are not frequently met with even in Devonshire — the romantic — the beautiful. * By a receDt regulation it is necessary to obtain a :icket ofadmis- 9ioD to rhe grounds of Eudsleigh, which is readiiv granted on appii. cation to the steward of the Du.e of Bedford, who resides at Tavistoek 236 SXCOSUSZOS? TO WHISTMAIJ'S -WOOD THROUGH PRINCE-TOWM". I looked upon the scene both far and near, More doleful place did never eye survey ; It seemed as if the spring-time came not here, Or Natute here were willing to decay. WORDSWORTH. " In Nature there is nothing melancholy," says one of our modern poetical writers, but this asser- tion, though generally true, is not universally so. The landscape is indeed attractive whether its features be mountains, cliffs, rocks, torrents, and magnificently frowning skies, or peaceful vales, gently rising hills, smiling hamlets, and cultivated meadows through which roll smooth streams re- flecting in their bosoms the azure of the summer heavens. There are, nevertheless, some blots on the face of nature. Scenes may be found where the magic influence of spring fails to call forth a single beauty, and which winter renders not more unlovely ; — which morning finds desolate, and evening leaves dreary and forbidding. Of this character is Whistman's Wood, for if ever Nature " were willing to decay" it is here. The EXCURSION TO WHISTMAN's WOOD. 237 breeze seeks this lonely place but to murmur among leafless moss-grown branches ; and if a bird in his flight across the moor, stoop to rest his weary pinions in this spot, struck by the de- solation which surrounds him, he pipes but a hasty song and wings his way to more congenial haunts. Whistman's Wood is an assemblage of stunted oak trees, supposed to be the remains of the an- cient plantations of Dartmoor. It is situated about a mile north of Two Bridges, on the eastern slope of a wild valley through which a branch of the river Dart pursues its solitary course. It is described by Risdon as fc< some acres of woode the trees of which are a fathom about, and yet no taller than a man may touch the top with his hand." Our excursion to this singular feature of the moor and the neighbouring objects of interest commences at Roborough Rock, which stands on the down of the same name, near the junction of the Tavistock and Moreton roads. By following the latter we speedily arrive at the foot of that billowy line of hills which forms the western ex- tremity of Dartmoor, sweeping away in rugged perspective as far as the eye can reach. The rocks on these high tors wear the appear- 238 EXCURSION to whistman's wood. ance of ruined fortifications : while the slopes and the intersecting valleys are covered with alternate patches of luxuriant heath and scanty herbage. Our road leads us over this ridge ; and when we have nearly gained the summit of the hill above Walkhampton we are presented with a noble prospect. The whole of the cultivated country lying between the western border of Dartmoor and the Tamar is spread out before the eye. We look over the sister towns of Plymouth and De- vonport — the peninsula of Mount Edgcumbe — Hamoaze and the ships of War tranquilly resting on its ample bosom — the Vale of the Tavy and Brent-tor up-rushing in the far horizon. It is sweet to linger on the spot which commands these objects when the sun is placidly sinking into his ocean- bed ; — sweet it is to gaze over the wide champaign, crossed and re-crossed by innumerable hedges ; to behold the long dark heath of Robo- rough — the sparkling streams in the valleys— the white-washed cottages — the roads branching off in every direction, now and then lost to the view and again appearing where one least expects to find them— the tower of many a village church, keeping watch over the resting place of the dead — the cattle standing in drowsy groups about the green meadows, and the bold Cornish hills excursion to whistman's WOOD. 239 retiring behind each other in misty succession. And while the spectator is contemplating the landscape his ear is saluted by that pleasing con- fusion of sounds which always precedes the hush of twilight, such as the lowing of the herds — the dying cadence of the village bells — the creaking of homeward journeying carts — the voices of the drivers inspiriting their jaded horses — and the deep-mouthed bayings of the watchful house dog. Towards the moor all is impressive solitude and deep — deep stillness, though now and then the rushing murmur of a distant torrent comes faintly swelling on the ear. The hills throw their long blue shadows over the slopes and the beams of the setting sun invest the highest of the tors with a kind of melancholy smile. At the top of the eminence, south of the road, is an ancient beacon. It is a circular mound about fiVe feet high, composed of small stones, enclosing a space of several feet in diameter for the reception of the fire. It is completely over- grown with heath and lichens, but its shape is quite perfect. About half a mile south-east of this beacon is a singularly romantic tor, with the name of which the writer is unacquainted. It forms a huge broken ridge running down the slope of a broad deep valley. Its sides are 240 PRINCE-TOWN. shelvy precipices, and the stones near it are hurled together in such loose combinations that they seem to have been suddenly arrested in the act of rolling down into the glen beneath. Other masses are piled on each other like frag- ments of ruined buildings, and they are either encrusted with rich mosses or overgrown by luxu- riant ivies. The slopes near this tor are clothed in winter with a species of white lichen, remark- ably soft to the tread and pleasing to the sight, when viewed closely, but wearing a ghastly and desolate appearance when beheld from afar. We will now return to the road and continue our tour. The chief objects that seize our at- tention are the wild tors frowning around, assuming at almost every step we take a new and striking aspect. Many isolated heaps of rocks are scattered about on the swells, some of them so regularly piled on each other that the spectator can scarcely persuade himself that he is not gazing on the architectural remains of other years. The road is frequently crossed by a lonely streamlet, bounding along with all the characteristic fresh- ness of a mountain brook ; and it is pleasing to observe the shadows of the clouds journeying slowly over the moorland plains, chequering the ground with dark heavy spots, resembling tracts DARTMOOR PRISON. 241 of thick underwood. It is not long before we arrive at Prince-town, a collection of about half a dozen miserable hovels and two good inns, chiefly supported by travellers traversing the moor from Moreton to Plymouth, Devonport, &c. At Prince-town is the great government prison of war known by the name of " Dartmoor Pri- son," which was built in the year 1806. u The establishment comprises a circular admeasurement of thirty acres, enclosed on its eastern, northern and southern directions by a lofty wall, and on, the west by two handsome residences, appropri- ated to the agent and surgeon, having between them a cyclopean gateway, surmounted by the motto " Par cere subjectis" The prison consists of seven buildings, each 300 feet long and 50 wide, capable of holding together 9,600 men, or even more, at one time, and containing two floors for double tiers of hammocks, suspended on cast iron pillars, and a third floor in the roof for exercise in bad weather. Without perplexity it is hardly possible to describe every separate erection, but among the other buildings are a barrack for 18 officers and 484 non-commis- sioned officers and soldiers, a chacot or solitary place of confinement for refractory offenders, a hospital, hot and cold baths, a house for washing • y 242 DARTMOOR PRISON. and drying clothes, and other superior arrange- ments, all plentifully supplied with excellent water from an inexhaustible reservoir outside the front entrance, filled by a diverted part of the river Walkham. Sentry boxes are stationed on the walls at short distances from each other, and in foggy weather alarm bells used to be hung in all directions. At a certain period of the war 10,000 prisoners were confined within these walls ; and ingenious and many were the me- thods by which the captives endeavoured to kill time." •—a desperate race. Men of all climes,— attached to none,— were here, Rude mingled with the hero who had fought, By freedom fired, for his beloved France. And these, as volatile as bold, defied Intrusive thought, and flung it to the gale That whistled round them. Madd'ning dance and song— The jest obscene, the eager bet, the dice Eventful;— these, and thousand more, devised To kill the hours, filled up the varied day : — And when the moorland evening o'er them closed, On easy pillow slept the careless throng To run to morrow the eternal round Of reckless mirth and on invention call For ceaseless novelty. And others woo'd The muses, and with soothing song beguiled The leaden moments. Harp on harp was heard, Of sweetest melody, and some pursued Severest lore ; and followed with firm step, Thee Science— thee Philosophy— and gave The hours to wisdom. DARTMOOU, FICE'S WELL, — TWO BRIDGES, &C. 243 More than one project has been at different times entertained of refitting these prisons for the re- ception of convicted felons, to be employed in improving the waste. Connected with the prison is a neat chapel, capable of accommodating 500 persons. Service is still performed here on Sun- days, the church of Lydford, in which parish, as we have elsewhere observed, lies the greater part of Dartmoor, being ten or eleven miles distant. Burials and christenings must, however, still take place at Lydford. About a mile north of the prison is Fice's Well. a spring of clear water, enclosed by a granite wall. Over its mouth are the initials J. F. and the date 1 168. A tradition prevails in the moors that this well was built by one John or James Fice, who, in travelling across the waste, had ex perienced some great relief from the spring. The masonry bears evident marks of remote antiquity. Half a mile south of the prison is Tor Royal, the seat of Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, Bart. Not far from Prince- town is Two Bridges, a secluded hamlet on the banks of the West Dart Here is a good bridge consisting of two arches, some flourishing plantations, scattered around, fully demonstrate that Dartmoor is not so inca- 244 whistman's wood. pable of improvement as is generally imagined, From the neighbouring heights the river is seen winding through an extensive swamp towards the sea. About a mile north of Two Bridges, as the reader has been already informed, is Whistman's Wood. On approaching it closely, nothing can be more forbidding than the aspect of this perish- ing vestige of the proud forests that once clothed the mountainous regions of Dartmoor. The trees are all of pigmy stature, none of them ex- ceeding seven feet in height, but they are from five to seven feet in girth. Their branches are twisted and gnarled into the most fantastic shapes ; but what chiefly attracts the notice of the be- holder is the profusion of moss with which they are overgrown. This moss indeed exists in such astonishing abundance, that some of the boughs, though not in reality more than three or four inches in diameter, are made to appear five or sixtimes that thickness. The slope on which the wood stands is plentifully strewed with masses of granite, be- tween and over which the roots of the trees scram- ble in every direction, searching for nourishment. In summer the eye is cheered by a little green, but even that is formed by the foliage of bram- whist man's wood, &c. 245 fern, ivy, and other parasitical plants which have fixed themselves on the trunks and branches of the decaying trees. The wood is not, how- ever, altogether devoid of minute attractions. The tourist, on a narrow inspection, will observe among the lichened blocks of stone many a lovely plant and solitary floweret shedding its fragrance on the moorland air. Among these the heath bell — that sweetest blossom of the wilderness — is most frequent. The general appearance of the spot is, notwithstanding, cheerless in the extreme. The trees are little other than lifeless heaps of yellow moss. Scarcely a leaf trembles in the breeze, and not a sound is heard but the melan- choly sighing of the wind, or the sullen roar of the impetuous torrent that rolls in the valley be- neath. Every object seems plunged in the sleep of death. In contemplating the sombre face of nature in the winter season we are gladdened by the consciousness that spring will return to bless the landscape with new life and beauty — that summer will again display her rich leafage — that the pencil of autumn will once more impart to the trees, hues as bright and as varied as the visions of fancy. But no such thoughts arise in the mind of him who visits the decaying foresters of Whist- man's Wood, for he is saddened by the reflection y 2 246 CROCKERN TOR. that he is gazing on a scene chosen by Desolation as her own peculiar dwelling place.* In returning from Whistman's Wood the tourist ought not to omit visiting Crockern-tor, on whose stormy summit the ancient Stannary Parliaments were held. It is easily discovered from its being marked by a solitary cottage, the property of the Rev. R. Mason, which stands at its foot. Until within these few years the stone table and chairs, used on the above-mentioned occasions, were pointed out to the traveller, but time, and the ravages of the elements, have at last totally de- stroyed these interesting remains. The tor is stated to have once had " a cave for keeping wine, a wise precaution at such an open and inclement spot; but modern stannators, less hardy than their forefathers, have for sometime past preferred for their meetings a comfortable inn at Tavistock. The stannary courts both for Devon and Corn- wall were formerly held on Hengeston Down near Calstock on the Tamar, but they were re- moved by a charter of Edward I. to Crockern- „tor."f The view from this craggy eminence is extremely wild. On the one hand is a vast and • Whistman's Wood is believed to have owed its origin, or its pre- servation, to the celebrated Isabella de Foitilus, who founded Ford Abbey. + Note to Carrington's Dartmoor. CROCKERN-TGR. 247 desolate morass bounded by a chain of broken hills whose heads are fluently lost in the clouds. On the north and east frowns a chaos of shattered tors, proudly lifting their savage crests as if to dare the utmost fury of every passing tempest. Closer to the eye is the valley of the West Dart. and the waters as they struggle with the masses of granite which strew the channel, send forth a melancholy cadence. Seldom is it that a living creature is in sight, and the village of Two Bridges, which would otherwise cheer the mind with thoughts of civilization, is hidden from the sight by a monotonous heathy swell 248 BXC&XiEXGH VAXiS. How oft In darkness, and amid the many shapes Of joyous daylight ; — when the fretful stir, Unprofitable, and the fever of the world Have hung upon the beatings of my heart, How oft in spirit have I turned to thee! O sylvan Plyrn !* thou wanderer through the wood ! How often has my spirit turned to thee '. WORDSWORTH. Bickleigh Vale, about five miles east of Ply- mouth, is one of the most interesting specimens of confined woodland scenery in Devonshire. It can scarcely, however, be called a valley, for in some places it is only a huge cleft in the earth, the slopes not being more than two hundred feet asunder. These are covered with a profusion of young and old trees ; and one of the chief beauties of the vale is that it is intersected at short dis- tances by pleasant leafy dells, each with a fresh streamlet running through it, " To the sleeping woods al! night Singing a quiet tune." Grey rocks frequently hang on the sides of the * Wye in the original BICKLEIGH VALE. 249 hills, tending, by the thoughts they excite of hoar antiquity to cast an additional charm over the scene, In the midst of these objects flows the lucid Plym, sometimes stealing along, placid as a vestal's dream, and seemingly as still as the vault of azure that sweeps above it, and at others foam- ing over a rocky channel, filling the woodland with turbulent echoes. Now gliding along in full day, glistening like a burnished sun beam, and then plunging into the bosom of umbrageous woods where the massy foliage forms a green firmament over head, with the light piercing through it like so many twinkling stars, which are as brightly reflected on the surface of the partially darkened waters. In short Bickieigh Vale is a region of romance, and poetry lurks in every corner of it. The imagination summons up little "tricksy" spirits to people its many secluded nooks, and Oberon, summoned by the spell of Fancy, treads the sunny glades with his elfin troop. To behold this sylvan retreat to advantage, the tourist should follow the course of the Plym through all its eccentric windings from the Lara up to Bickieigh Bridge. The Lara is a fine arm of the sea forming a kind of lake at the head of Catwater. It is bounded on the south bv the 250 THE LARA. noble limestone cliffs of Oreston, opposing their ocreous hue to the greenness of the woods of Radford, and on the east by the cultivated fields from which issues the vagrant Plym, beyond which the hills of Dartmoor are beheld swelling up in barren grandeur. There is something sin- gularly interesting in the aspect of those wild moors, particularly in the first bright flush of a sunny morning, when they tower up into the clear air imbued with the softened tone of colour- ing — calmly and solitary magnificent. The north side of the Lara is occupied by the Plymouth Embankment road, and on the opposite bank the domain of Saltram presents a very pleasing scene. Those shores, as far as the eye can reach, are clothed with noble masses of foliage down to the water's edge. In one place a mimic promontory runs into the wave, much enhanced in beauty by a picturesque group of firs by which it is crowned. In the centre of the line of woods and fronting the village of Crabtree is a gently- sloping grassy arena, quite devoid of trees, on the back ground of which stands a kind of ruined building which has a very good effect. We must not quit the embankment road withont remarking the pleasant cottages of Lara Green, built on land gained from the sea. In fine weather numerous swans may PLYM BRIDGE. 251 be seen gliding over the smooth Lara— each apparently betraying a consciousness of superior grace — —superbly frowning, And with proud breast his own white shadow crowning ; He slants his neck beneath the waters bright So silently, it seems a beam of light Come from the galaxy :— anon he sports, — With out spread wings the Naiad Zephyr courts, Or ruffles all the surface of the lake In striving from its chrystal face to take Some diamond wafer drops, and them to treasure In lonely nest, to sip them off at leisure. KEATS. Not far from the higher extremity of the Lara is Longbridge, where the Plym, at high tide, mingles with the ocean wave ; and here is also the estuary of a smaller stream which flows from the direc- tion of Plympton. Looking westward we behold the close dark woods of Saltram skirted by a sil- ver gleam of water, while above the village of Crabtree rises a conical foliaged mount of noble aspect, surmounted by a ruinous fortification. Leaving Longbridge, we enter a white gate that stands opposite the Lodge of Saltram and follow a road which runs along the left bank of the river, sometimes beneath the shade of fine plantations and at others through quiet bosoms of meadow land. We soon arrive at Plym Bridge which is situated in a kind of grand natural amphitheatre formed by wooded hills, rising on every side but 252 PLYM BRIDGE, &C. one to a great height. At this spot Bickieigh Vale may be properly said to commence. The river above the bridge spreads into a mimic lake and fine old trees stand on the margin. "' With their green faces fixed upon the flood." The stream is so still that the dip of the smallest insect creates little ringlets on the surface. The water is here and there darkened by the over- hanging limb of some gigantic forester ; and fre- quently may a speckled trout be seen jealously darting along the weedy margin. Below the bridge it is pleasing to remark the stream, which was so tranquil above, bursting into foam as it de- scends the inclined floors of the arches, saluting the ear with all the delightful associations attend- ant on falling waters. There is a very beautiful cottage close to Plym Bridge, thatched and over- grown with roses and honeysuckles, and sur- rounded by a garden, containing some of the love- liest flowers in the wreath of Flora. It is just such a retreat as a romance writer would imagine for his heroine. Our onward path winds along the left bank of the river, and after making us acquainted with the beauties of many a sweet retirement, conducts us to Cann Quarry. Noble masses of slate rock BICKLEIGH VALE. 253 are here laid open to the view, finely contrasted by the delicious softness of the neighbouring woods. A little above Cann Quarry is the salmon weir of the Plym, stretching from one bank to another in the form of a half moon ; and the waters, as they fall over it, form a picturesque crescent of foam. Close to the weir the slopes rise high on either side, clothed with a rich profusion of young trees, relieved here and there by the sombre colouring of a frowning rock. The river extends itself into a broad sheet. Nothing disturbs its tranquil bosom save when the swallow cools his wing in its clear waters, or when the breeze of the moor, hastily sweeping down from craggy heights and lonely glens, ruffles for a moment the bright serene. The banks do not here ascend immedi- ately from the margin of the stream, but space is left for a level grassy arena, darkened by the thick foliage of full grown trees which impart a kind of mysterious feeling to the spot. And many a flow' ret blossoms there to bless The gentle loveliness whose charms imbue Its border ; Btraw berry of the wilderness, The pearl-like daisy, violet brightly blue, Pale primrose, in whose cup the pearly dew Glistens till noontide's languid, listless hour; And last of all, and sweetest to the view, The lily of the vale, whose virgin flower Tremblesat every breath within her leafy bower, BARTON. 254 BICKLEIGH VALE. In the watery mirror lies before the eye a sweetly reversed scene of tree, and rock, and bower, while in the centre is beheld a portion of the azure heavens. From the weir diverges a beautiful trout stream, which flows through the hidden recesses of the vale like the brook de- scribed by Byron, which " Pursued its course now gleaming and now hiding Its windings through the woods, now clear, now blue, According as the skies their shadows threw." This rivulet is full of delicious weeds which delight the eye by their graceful wavings to and fro in the restless current, while now and then a vagrant trout darts from some dark retreat, defying all efforts of the sight to follow his lightning course. The slopes of the valley speedily grow more contracted, and we are sometimes compelled to climb almost perpendicular banks, from which we can scarcely discern the windings of the Plym through the overhanging leafage, though we are enabled to guess the situation of its course by the loud murmurs of the waters rushing over their pebbly bed. We cross the extremities of several dark and rocky dells which would not be unworthy features in the scenery of a more romantic county than Devon. BICKLEIGH VALE. 255 About a gunshot below Bickleigh Bridge— just where the path winds round a mass of slate rock — the lover of nature may peep into a sweetly secluded little nook. Both banks are composed of slate and rise perpendicularly to the height of several feet. The stream is here very deep, and so still that the eye can scarcely perceive any motion in the dead leaf which has fallen into its bosom from the lap of Autumn. The moss- encrusted rocks are reflected in the lucid mirror with striking fidelity, insomuch that it is difficult to fix the distinguishing line between the shadow and the substance ; and the simple wild flower that trembles to the breeze in the crevice of the cliff trembles as perfectly in the chrystal flood. A fine old oak, having yielded to the power of some wintry tempest, droops over the waters. The trees on both banks unite their topmost branches, and form a most refreshing canopy, in which the birds sit and sing their madrigals in the sleepy noon, while the boughs are not so closely woven together as to prevent a single sunbeam from sometimes stealing into this sacred recess, converting every transparent leaf which lies in its track into a vegetable emerald. Were not th e days of the mythology passed we should almost hesitate to gaze into this secluded santuary lest 256 BICKLEIGH VALE. we should disturb a group of bathing nymphs and incur, by our rashness, the fate of that unhappy hunter, Actaeon. Bickleigh Bridge, a picturesque structure of one arch, next invites the attention, and here ter- minates our pilgrimage. In bidding adieu to the retreats of this charming vale, it may be observed, that they want not the magic of local attachment to render them more attractive. They may be explored when under the influence of every variety of circumstances which the seasons or different hours of the day present — in summer or in winter — at " morn or dewy eve," and still be found beautiful ; but when the pencil of autumn has invested the trees with its richest colourings — umber, and gold, and purple — earth cannot boast a more exquisite scene ; — and if, reader, you should ever stroll, at this pensive season, through Bickleigh Vale with one whose spirit rejoices not at the loveliness that surrounds him, be sure he possesses the heartless nature which Shakspeare ascribes to those who have " no music in their souls," — and therefore take the same bard's advice and " let no such man be trusted." 257 THE VAMSIT OF THB GAD. — it is a spot Almost unknown— nntiod; — the traveller Must turn him from the broad and beaten track Of men to find it. DARTMOOR. Is there a being who loves to hold converse with Nature in her most magnificent forms ? — who is fond of wandering by the solitary stream, and of listening to the roar of the mountain ca- taracts ? — who delights in that rugged and unso- phisticated beauty which is seldom found near the haunts of man?— let him seek the Valley of the Cad, for there he will behold Nature in her most untamed wildness, and, on the banks of the turbulent torrent, and in the shade of the giant hills which rise around, he may freely indulge his passion for the sublime, and luxuriate in thoughts which softer scenes would fail to inspire. The Cad rises on Dartmoor, and, after winding for some distance through a dreary tract of moor- land, flows into what is generally termed t; The z 2 258 THE VALLEY OF THE CAD. Valley of the Cad" just below Cadaford Bridge, not far from the village of Shaugh. Soon after the stream enters that secluded glen it assumes the most impetuous and romantic character ima- ginable, dashing with headlong rapidity over the rocks so profusely strewed in its channel. Indeed the stream, from its first entrance into the vale till it mingles its waters with those of the Mew* at Shaugh Bridge, presents one continuous scene of tumult, and is ever struggling with the masses of granite which seem to have been hurled into its bed by some gigantic power from the cliffs above. These rocks are generally of an enor- mous size, and are thrown together in the wildest and most grotesque groups. Frequently may a huge fragment be seen spanning the torrent, and forming a kind of rude bridge ; while at another spot the stream is obliged to leap over a perpen- dicular barrier of rock which seems resolved to dispute the further passage of the waters. In some places the stream falls over an assemblage of disjointed blocks, and leaps from crag to crag in picturesque sheets of feathery foam. In other parts little islets are formed in the middle of the channel, with willows and other trees growing on * The united waters of the Mew and Cad at Shaugh Bridge form the Plym. The Mew is sometimes improperly temied the Plym. BICKLEIGH CHURCH. 259 them. These, steadily bending over the ever- flashing waters, give an air of wild serenity to the spot; while their dark foliage forms a beau- tiful contrast to the snowy whiteness of the foam beneath. To visit this romantic valley, it is recommended that the tourist should diverge from the Tavistock turnpike near Jump, by the road which leads to Bickleigh, that he should proceed over Shangh Bridge to the hamlet of the same name, and thence to Cadaford Bridge. He ought then to pursue his excursion down the left bank of the Cad, by which he will be enabled to behold this interesting scene to the greatest advantage. It is needless perhaps to say that so rugged a glen must be explored on foot, as it contains no path but the narrow track worn along the margin of the stream by fishermen. Having left Jump and entered on the down, we are delighted by a near view of the desolate moor, with its tors rising in impressive grandeur, not unfrequently capped by lowering clouds. The village of Bickleigh soon invites our notice. It is seated on a high ridge between two deep vales. We shall find nothing here demanding peculiar attention excepting the church, which, has a lofty tower handsomely pro- portioned and ornamented at the corners with 260 BICKLEIGH CHURCH. — SHAUGH BRIDGE. pinnacles. In the interior are preserved the hel- met, gauntlet, and pennon of the royalist warrior, Sir Nicholas Slanning, which are hung up in a conspicuous part of the church. The father of Sir Nicholas was slain in a duel by Sir John Fitz, of Tavistock, who afterwards committed suicide. This circumstance is alluded to in the following Latin inscription on the monument of the Slan- ning family, at the east end of the church : — " Idem caedis erat nostras simul author et ultor, Trux Homicida mei, mox Homicida sui, duemqiie in me primum, mox in se condidit ensem ; O! nostrum summi judicisarbiirium !" The tomb itself is an elaborate piece of work- manship. It consists of the effigies of a gentle- man and lady in antique costume, lying side by side beneath a wooden carved canopy. Any of the inhabitants of the village will point out the path leading across the village to Shaugh Bridge, a modern erection of hewn granite, standing at the junction of the Mew and Cad. The intelligent tourist will long regret that it was found necessary, a few years since, to demo- lish the old bridge, which was a most interesting feature of the scene and harmonized well with the surrounding objects: Many years must elapse before the new bridge can assume any thing like SHAUGH BRIDGE. 261 the beautiful and time-worn appearance, which characterized the gothic arches and pointed but- tresses of the old structure, near which the lover of antiquity so delighted to linger.* The scenery in the immediate neighbourhood of this spot is singularly romantic. Above the bridge an almost perpendicular hill rises to a great height terminating in a rude peak. Its sides present fine alternations of overhanging rocks, clustering trees, and luxuriant climbing plants. At its base is a sea of underwood, in the midst of which are several aged oaks almost borne to the earth by the foliage of thick ivies and other parasitical plants. At a little distance below the bridge the newly united streams lose much of their turbulent character, and long before they plunge into Bick- leigh Vale their loud roar sinks into a subdued ripple, and they — murmur along 1 like a wayward child That sings iiself to rest, When its mother's eyes have looked and smil'd, And its mothers lips have pressed. AVe now ascend a steep hill to the village of Shaugh. This place, according to Risdon, " once * A friend of the author (Mr. James Morris, of Devonport,) lias in the true spirit of poetic feeling, lately planted several slips of ivy against Shaugh bridge:— may they spring to maturity and over- shadow the arches with their picturesque greenness ! 262 SHAUGH CHURCH, &C. belonged to the Prior of Plympton, who held this tything of the lady Joan Pole, who was the daughter of William de Pole, a valiant soldier who went with Richard the I. unto the Holy Land, and she was sometime the wife of Guy de Brian, knight." Shaugh Church is spacious and has a handsome pinnacled tower of hewn granite. This building was severely shattered by lightning a few years since. Placed in a hedge, near the east end of the church-yard, is a shattered moor- stone cross of a very aged appearance. By following a road which runs in a north easterly direction across the moor, we soon arrive at Cadaford Bridge. The aspect of the waste from this spot would be dreary and uninteresting if it were not for the feelings which arise on viewing so vast and solitary a tract, almost en- tirely unappropriated to the wants of man. We now begin to trace the left bank of the stream and speedily enter the Valley of the Cad. The first appearance of this valley has an almost inde- scribable effect on him who has not been accus- tomed to the wilder features of nature. He beholds rocks piled on rocks, as if the work of magic ; — hills lifting their craggy summits to the clouds; cliffs, cataracts, and woods, altogether producing sensations which, when combined with VALLEY OF THE CAD. 263 the roaring of the torrent, tend to throw the mind into a state of temporary abstraction. The right bank rises to a dizzy height, covered with a beau- tiful profusion of young trees. It is opposed, however, by a slope of a very different aspect. All there is magnificent barrenness, without a bough to shade it, and, at first sight, without a vegetable beauty to recommend it. Huge frag- ments of granite lie scattered about in the wildest confusion. Some masses appear as if they had been torn by some unearthly power out of the bowels of the moor — others are on tiptoe to quit their precarious situations and roll down into the flashing torrent. Even this spot will be found, however, to possess its gentler attractions. It is blessed with many a lovely floweret, which blooms there as if only to redeem the savage cha- racter of the scene ; — the sweet-smelling erica with its delicate purple bells — the furze with its guarded golden baskets " treasuries of the fays and fairies " — and even that tenderest daughter of the Spring — the pensive violet — "sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes Or Cytherea's breath" — hallows by its presence many a craggy nook. Beds of velvet turf may be here and there seen studded with daisies, looking like silver stars set 264 VALLEY OF THE CAD. in a firmament of green. The rude rocks them- selves are objects of interest ; they are clad with many a delicious specimen of lichen and with mosses whose hues are as bright as the visions of fancy. Young ivies creep up the sides of many fragments ; and near the river's marge not unfre- quently does the graceful woodbine uplift its blushing coronals into the sunny air. In continuing to descend the vale, the traveller will observe that the right bank possesses its ruggedaess. Often does a vast shapeless crag protrude itself through the leafage, as if to tell us that all which lies below the covert of the trees is not so free from rocky confusion as might be imagined. In one place rises a rude granite pillar surmounted by a kind of grotesque capital, but this singular instance of the wild playfulness of nature loses much of its effect when beheld from the west. Tremendously impending cliffs — gloomy, bare, and rifted — are speedily seen frowning above the stream, threatening to burst asunder and strew the glen beneath with their immense ruins. From the very margin of the torrent rises the Dewerstone, in one vast perpendicular mass, which, though not so impressive as the cliffs around and above it, forcibly strikes the attention THE DEWERSTONE. 265 of the beholder. Its whole surface is so seamed in the manner peculiar to granite, that one would almost imagine he was gazing on the remains of a gigantic architectural work of former years. It is profusely overgrown with ivy and other creeping plants, which spread their pleasant foliage over its shattered front as if anxious to hind up the wounds which time and tempest have inflicted. To add to its effect numerous hawks, ravens, and kites, may be frequently seen floating around its rugged crest, filling the air with their hoarse screamings. He who has sufficient nerve to gaze from the summit of Dewerstone into the depth beneath will be amply remunerated for his trouble in ascending. The rocks immediately beneath the view seem as if they had been struck at once by a thousand thunderbolts and appear only held to- gether by chains of ivy. A few wild flowers are scattered about in the crevices of the cliff, and these, with here and there a mountain ash clinging half way down the precipice, impart a wild ani- mation to the spot. The eye looks round on a dreary tract of moorland, and with the exception of a passing bird, or a few sheep feeding on the less craggy parts of the slope, very seldom is it that a living being is in sight.* « On one of the flat blocks of granite on the ground above the 2 A 266 ! VALLEY OF THE CAt). By tracing the river for about half a mile below the Dewerstone, we again arrive at Shaugh Bridge. The Valley of the Cad is scarcely ever visited, save now and then by a solitary fisherman, gene- rally more intent on winning the harmless tenants of the stream from their cool retreats, than on admiring the romantic objects around him. Not- withstanding this, however, the tourist may journey a long time " owre nruir and moss Owre hills and mony a glen " before he will meet with a more attractive scene. It is interesting in summer, when the hot sun has exercised its tyranny over the waters of the moor ; and in winter, when the Cad thunders over its rocky bed with redoubled fury — at least the writer of this hasty sketch has always found it so — and often when " in city pent" does his spirit turn in memory to the pleasant hours which he has passed amid the haunts of that lonely moor- land glen. Dewerstone— at the front, as it were, of the vestibule of Nature's great temple of the wild and wonderful, where he so oft worshipped— is engraved the name of " CARRINGTON," with the date of his death, &c. This appropriate tribute to the memory of the bard of Dartmoor was undertaken as a labour of affection and respect by a warm friend and admirer— the gentleman mentioned in a preceding note. ■~-\, ? \ i vm m *$jBr \ m 267 SAXTSIAIVZ A3TD PIYMPTO^ Fair Saltram's beauteous groves whose verdant bowers Bead o'er the wanderer, lone musing, where The path, deep-shaded, winds the rocky shore. And pleasant 'lis, amid the glowing noon, To saunter there— unmarked— and note below, Curving his proud white neck, the graceful swan, Majestic sailing,— or the distant barge Slow moving,— or the sea-bird winging wild His startled flight. DARTMOOR. Saltram and Plympton lie within the com- pass of a pleasant afternoon's walk from Devon- port and Plymouth. The most advisable route is by the new line of road over the Lara Bridge. This fine structure, which was erected at the sole expence of the Right Hon. Earl of Morley, was commenced on the 23rd of August, 1824, and' opened to the public in July 1827. The arches are of cast iron constructed on stone piers. The span of the centre arch measures 200 feet, and the total length of the bridge is 500 feet. The roadway is 25 feet in width. * For excluding the wa'er of Chelson Bay, and enclosing, by the embankment, 70 acres of land, the Earl of Morley obtained the gold saeial of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. 268 SALTRAM HOUSE. At a short distance from the bridge is Saltram, the seat of the right Hon. Earl of Morley, a very charming domain, consisting of picturesque alter- nations of wood and lawn. The most prominent hill clothed with flourishing fir trees, has a very bold effect when beheld from afar. The house is a massive structure and has been much improved of late years. It was built at the commencement of the last century by Lady Catherine Parker. The apartments, which are spacious, are en- riched with a number of excellent pictures by the most famous ancient and modern artists. " The entrance to the mansion is through a hall adorned with busts ; on the chimney piece, which is supported by Cariatides, is sculptured the story of Androcles and the lion, and on the ceiling is a beautiful figure of Mercury. The library displays an extensive selection of superior works of literature, superb books of prints, &c. The pictures in this room are exclusively the pro- ductions of Sir Joshua Reynolds, if we except the portrait of that great man by A. Kauffman. The ceiling is supported by beautiful verd antique Ionic pillars, and near the window are placed two fine casts of Psyche and a fawn. The blue-room hung with blue sprinkled with gold stars, is occu- pied almost entirely by the pictures of the old SALTRAM HOUSE. 269 masters, and the same may be ^observed of the billiard room. The great staircase contains some of the best specimens of A. KaufFman, consisting of historical subjects; these were painted ex- pressly for the Saltram collection and have all been engraved. In the centre of the wall is the magnificent Assumption of the Virgin, by Sabba- tini, taken from the church of La Morte, at Bo- logna, and brought to Saltram in 1819. Here are several fine busts and full length casts— among the latter is a beautiful Canova Hebe. The dining room is adorned with one picture by Zu- charelli, and completed with a unique assemblage of the works of Zucchi. Over the chimney piece is the Bacchanalian scene by Titian, a large pic- ture valued at three thousand guineas. Here are also some portraits by Jansen, Vandyck, and Reynolds, and pictures by Rubens, Paul Veronese, Mengs, and Canaletti. A bust of the Earl of Morley, by Nollekins, stands on a superb Buhl table originally presented to Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, by Louis XIV. It was given by her daughter the Duchess of Montague to the the grandmother of the Earl of Morley. The drawing room, hung with crimson velvet, is de- corated with pictures chiefly from the pencil of the Countess of Morley. Her ladyship Jhas 2 a 2 270 PLYMPTON. imitated with much felicity the style of the old masteis whom she has copied. The ceiling is supported by fluted pillars with richly gilt bases and capitals. Over the chimney-piece of the red drawing-room is a fine portrait of the Earl of Morley by Phillips ; here are also fine pictures by Michael Angelo, Domenichino, Salvator Rosa, Teniers, Guido, Caravagio, Pouissin, and Ca- racci." The above are the only apartments which are commonly shewn to strangers, but many of the other rooms contain some good portraits.* The pleasant — the sylvan — the ancient bo- rough of Plympton is situated not far from Sal- tram. It lies in a beautiful valley near the old London road. It is very interesting to look down upon it from the surrounding hills, for the neat looking dwellings — the grey church- tower— and the tottering ruins of the old baronial castle, in- terspersed with the foliage of flourishing trees, form a very attractive combination of picturesque objects. Plympton, as above remarked, was a borough town, formerly sending two members to parlia- * Boriugdon House, the ancient seat of the Morley family, is situ- ated in the neighbourhood of Plym Bridge. It is now iccupied as a farm house, but extensive remains of park walls, gateways, &c, attest ihe former importance of the mansion. FLYMPTON. 271 ment. It was the residence of the ancient Earls of Devon, the decaying remnants of whose once magnificent castle still remain to attune the con- templative mind to reflections on the mutability of earthly grandeur. The principal fragment of the old fortress is the keep, which crowns, with its mutilated and ivied walls, the summit of a huge artificial mount. The fosse has sustained but comparatively little injury from the lapse of years. The castle is said to have been built by Richard de Redvers, afterwards Earl of Devon, to whom the manor was granted by Henry L Risdon notices this venerable relic in the fol- lowing flourish : — " This place hath been soe be- sieged by tyme that it must needs yield, not being able longer to holde up, whose mines may re- member us of our mortality, and to repair our mines by redeeming tyme, for •' If castles made of lyme and stone decaye What sure lie is in bodies made of clay ?" Plympton once had a college of secular canons founded by Edgar or some other West Saxon king, but Win. Warewist or Warlewast, bishop of Exeter, being offended at some irregularities, changed it into a priory of canons regular of St. Augustine, and dedicated it to St. Peter and St 272 PLYMPTON, &C. Paul.* It was the richest priory in the county, and at the dissolution its annual revenue was valued at £912, 1 2s. 8d. The prior was allowed the unusually large stipend of £120 per annum. The first orchards in England are said, by tra- dition, to have been planted round Plympton Priory. Some few relics of the old monastic buildings may be traced near the church of Plympton St. Mary, close to which are a mill and a dwelling hoe called Priory* The town itself consists principally of four streets, but a great number of respectable dwell- ings are scattered about in the adjoining fields. It still retains its privileges as a stannary town : the Vice-w T arden of the Stannaries occasionally holds his court here. The Mayor of this borough is elected annually. The chief public buildings are the Guildhall and the Grammar School. Near the school is a large and handsome uninhabited brick mansion, the property of Mr. Treby, of Goodamoor. Plympton has a weekly market and four annual cattle fairs. It has the honour of being the birth place of the celebrated Sir Joshua Reynolds. f * Risdon says (o the Virgin Mary. The circnmstance occurred about the year 1100. + Among the pictures of the ancestors of the Treby family in a PLYMPTON, &C. 273 Plympton St. Mary Church is an edifice of venerable aspect, standing close to the London road. It was anciently the church of the priory. It is battlemented, and the walls are most pic- turesquely lichened. The tower is handsome, having pinnacles at the four corners, and contains a good set of bells. In the interior are several interesting monuments.* A stone, forming part of the floor, bears the following inscription : — " Alas here under foot doth lye A student fit for Pulpit high, His body Rotts, but godly minde The true celestial Joy do.he nude," The Church of Plympton Maurice is situated close under the shattered keep of Plympton Castle. It is a small neat fabric but possesses no features worthy of particular notice. There are other objects of interest in this vicinity, such as Elford- leigh, the mansion of W. Langmead, Esq.; Newnham Park, the residence of the Strodes ; the Manor House of Old Newnham ; Hemerdon, the seat of G. Woodley, Esq. ; the neighbouring eminence of Hemerdon Ball, with its noble pros- room of the Efa!l, is one of Sir Joshua Reynolds, by himself. Sir Joshua's father was keeper of the gr