A real poet he was, but desultory, rarely able to remain fixed at work and carry out a project to the end. He was an excellent ballad-writer, but he could do better than write ballads. He began a great poem on the “Quest of the Sangreal,” but it remains a fragment. Here is one short specimen of a ballad, the lament of a Cornish mother over her dead child:-- “They say ’tis a sin to sorrow-- That what God doth is best, But ’tis only a month to-morrow I buried it from my breast. “I know it should be a pleasure Your child to God to send; But mine was a precious treasure, To me and my poor friend. “I thought it would call me mother, The very first words it said; Oh! I never can love another Like the blessed babe that’s dead. “Well, God is its own dear Father, It was carried to church and bless’d; And our Saviour’s arms will gather Such children to their rest. “I will check this foolish sorrow, For what God doth is best; But oh! ’tis a month to-morrow I buried it from my breast.” NOTE.--For further information see my _Vicar of Morwenstow_. New and revised edition. Methuen. 1899. [Illustration: MACES AND SEAL OF SALTASH] CHAPTER X. SALTASH Old Town Hall demolished--Nicholas Tyack--Borough of Esh--Charters--Albert Bridge--Harbour dues--Contested elections--Continued contests--Situation of Saltash--Old houses--The Porter family--The Bonds of Earth--The boatwomen--Ann Glanville--In the Civil War--Sentences of the court--Chapel of the Guildhall--Silver cup--Trematon Castle--Riot at Saltash--Modern Guildhall--Maces--Old shop. “Just three weeks too late.” That was the answer I received on reaching Saltash and inquiring after the old Town Hall. It had been pulled down and carted away, and now a hole in a range of buildings, like that in the jaw produced by the extraction of a tooth, shows where the old Town Hall had been. It is a pity it is gone. Beside it stood an ancient house that had been occupied during the Commonwealth and the reign of Charles II. by Nicholas Tyack, the mayor. Nicholas Tyack was a turncoat, but somehow, whichever way he turned his coat he always turned it to his advantage.