best; (I love to frequent the first hotels, when travelling;) and having secured a bed, ordered tea. I then engaged a guide, to conduct me over mount St Michael, the following morning; and as the causey to the Mount would not be passable till eleven, by which time I had to be at Wheal Vor, I directed him to provide a boat and suitable attendants. Having taken what refreshment I needed, I retired to my nocturnal repose; when, as I lay on my bed, I enjoyed, by the light of the moon, a grand view of this venerable Mount St. Michael; but this was an evanescent gratification; Morpheus' leaden wings heavily spreading over my weary limbs, my eyes closed, and my spirit, unconscious of earthly cares or earthly pleasures, swiftly descended into the valley of dreams.

CHAPTER IX.

"On earth, in air, amidst the seas and skies,
Mountainous heaps of wonder rise ;"'-

PRIOR.

ABOUT Six, the following morning, John Penglase, (my guide,) and his mate launched their boat; though there fell a dizzling

rain, a stiff breeze was blowing, and there was a heavy swell. Being high water, we had the greater distance to row; and the wind being on our bow, I was drenched with spray. We entered the harbour, which is at the northern side of the mount, and is formed by two piers; and landed at

MOUNT ST. MICHAEL,

There is a burial ground on the eastern

side of the harbour, close to which, and fronting the quay gap, is a pretty house where Mr. John Baker, the steward and governor, resides. The quay gap, is the point of entrance by the causey, at low water. I observed a public house, and several other houses and buildings; in some of which fishermen reside. By the causey, carts come at low water, laden with copper-ore, from the mines; and take back coals and timber. Other carts bring, from the eastern coast, towards Lizard Point, a white. clay or mineral, used for china, in Swansea, Liverpool, and the Staffordshire potteries; also ships from Swansea, bring coal, and return with copper ore, to be smelted; and vessels from that place and Liverpool, carry thither the china clay. On the east side of the island, at the back of the governor's house, are a bowling green, and cricket ground.

A

I observed, on a small mound, some young tamarisks, with crofts only half a yard high, to keep off the rabbits.

H.

Parturit mons,-nascitur cuniculus.

Looking up the mount, from the southeastern base, I had a fine view of the chapel, and of the tower in the centre. The drawing room and some other apartments are a new addition to the castle, made by the late Sir John St. Aubyn; they form the eastern wing, which is of Gothic architecture, and is adorned with four pinnacles. There is a terrace round the three outer sides of this wing, with a light balustrade; which greatly adorns the whole. John Penglase informed me that it was built in imitation of Mont St. Michel, in Normandy.

There are several batteries on the rise of the mount; at the lowest of which, on the south side of the island, they mounted a twenty-four pounder, to keep off French privateers, in the late war.

The whole of this miniature mountain is granite; in height about 200 feet; and the top, adorned with the castle, is a grand object, and forms a beautiful scene.

On the south shore, are rocks, lying in vast fragments, tumbled over one another. Seams of quartz are visible in the main rock, running from east to west; there is also an ancient mine of tin; to see which, we scrambled over the rocks: but the passage was impervious; being choked up with granitic fragments. From this side of the mount, you view the ruins of the old -monastery, which form a part of the castle at the summit. It is an unpicturesque wall, with small windows, and niches; which are about thirty feet above the foundation of the building. "The ancient name," said my guide, "of this mount, was Carrar Cug an Lug, Cornish words, signifying the Hoary Rock in the Wood. The sea, one time, was six miles from the southern side of this mount; and the interstitial space was covered with wood; the stumps of whose trees, 2 feet in diameter, I often see, when fishing." "Mark," said Penglase," yonder mass of rock, about twenty feet long and fourteen feet wide and high; and that clear