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CHAPTER XIV.

"Rari quippe boni, numero vix sunt totidem quot,
Thebarum portæ, vel divitis ostia Nili."

Juv.

"Good men are scarce, the just are thinly sown;
They thrive but ill, nor can they last when grown.
And should we count them, and our store compile;
Yet Thebes more gates could shew, more mouths the Nile."
CREECH.

To save time, I engaged two sailors, to go to the south-eastern extremity of the rocks of Pendennis Castle, and be ready to transport me across Falmouth Harbour to the Borough of St. Mawes; and, bidding adieu to the first town, in my lady's native county, on which I had set foot, I ascended the steep and romantic road which led to

PENDENNIS CASTLE.

I passed over the draw-bridge, which

crosses the deep and wide foss, on the west-. ern side, and entered the fortress; whose area comprises several acres. On the south side of the entrance stand the officer's barracks, with other military buildings on the north side. Near the north side of the fortress, are capacious barracks. The castle, which stands about forty-feet above the battery, is at the south side; and, in a large intermediate space, the soldiers exercise. The garrison, consisting of a captain and thirty men, were drilling when I was there.

I circumambulated the fortress, and observed the batteries; whose guns were, I think, long 32-pounders. There is a strong battery on the descent, south of the fortress, without the walls; and one to the south-east, nearer the harbour.

I felt a difficulty in asking permission to see the castle, it being tenanted by a private family; but, on stating that the father of an old acquaintance and respected friend had resided there as governor, I was shewn

every part of it, with polite promptitude. This remarkable castle was built by Henry VIII., and strengthened by Elizabeth, when the Armada was expected': and, in the civil war, was long defended against the parliamentary forces, to which it eventually surrendered, on certain conditions. The peninsular, mountainous rock, on which it stands, rises 100 yards above the sea. The views from its tower are extensive and grand; to the south-east, the boundless expanse of the English channel,-to the north, Falmouth, and its busy harbour, adorned by terraces, and wood-clad hills, and distant inland scenery, to the east, across the harbour, the castle and ancient borough of St. Mawes,-and to the west the rugged region between Falmouth and the Lizard; the eye tracing the fearful but picturesque coast, south by west, from the castle, to a small headland near the Manacles; a chain of rocks too well known, and much feared by the tempest-driven mariner. That very morning, a schooner

running on them, had her bows stove in, and sank; but the captain and crew were saved and I saw her top-masts above water, in Falmouth harbour, as she was being towed in by three cutters, which had brought her, thus far submerged, from the Manacles thither, a distance of some miles. This distressing, but remarkable scene, I witnessed; as I paced the castle of Pendennis.

The rooms in the castle are capacious; but those in the tower are ill-shaped, being segments of a circle; and they are gloomy, by reason of the windows being small, and the walls thick. I was shewn a room called King Charles' room, and the door of a closet, within which he concealed himself; also a murky dungeon, in which, when discovered, that hapless monarch was confined.

I felt a lively interest and venerable awe as I paced this building, which was once the domicil of that godly captain, Governor Melvill having read, in my boyhood, the

memoirs of that illustrious and honoured man, a work which does credit to the writer. I enquired in which room that veteran soldier used to expound the scriptures, and join in worship with his family, and comrades in arms; but I was left in a state of incertitude; no one whom I saw at the castle, remembering more than the name of Melvill, and many not knowing of whom I spoke. Oh time! thou everflowing, rapid stream,-how does thy current, swoln by the tributes of mortality, waft from the scene of human labour, and the circle of human intelligence, the presence of the living, the memory of the dead! Soon shall the writer of these pages, and all who condescend to their perusal, swell thy dreary flood, and be borne away to the darksome region of oblivion! Had I been traversing the region of Cæsarea, and visited that spot, where dwelt the almsgiving and prayerful centurion of the Italian band, to whom the great apostolic missionary went from Joppa,-I doubt if I

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