During the Cornish commotion in the reign of Edward the Sixth, many of the superior families fled to the Mount for security, and were besieged by the rebels, who took the plain at the bottom of the rock by assault, at the time of low water, and afterwards the summit, by carrying great trusses of hay before them to obstruct the defendants sight, and deaden their shot. This situation, together with the fears of the women, and the want of food, obliged the besieged to surrender. During the civil contentions in the reign of Charles the First, the fortifications of the Mount were so much increased, that the works were styled "_impregnable and almost inaccessible_." The Parliament forces, however, under the command of Colonel Hammond, reduced the place, and liberated the Duke of Hamilton, who was there confined; a service which the historians of that period represent as full of danger and difficulty, and this was the last military transaction that occurred upon this romantic spot. Several batteries were erected by government during the late war, to command the western part of the bay, the eastern being too shallow to allow the entrance of large vessels. We cannot conclude this account of the Mount without observing, that several antiquarians have considered it as the _Ictis_ of Diodorus, whither the Greek merchants traded for Cornish Tin; the limits of this work will not allow us to enter upon the discussion, but we beg to refer the curious reader to an ingenious work, published by _Sir Christopher Hawkins_,[34] and to _Dr. Maton's_ "Observations on the Western Counties." It is curious, and satisfactory, that these gentlemen should have arrived at the same conclusion upon the subject, and by nearly the same train of reasoning, without any previous communication with each other. [Illustration: _Sancreet._] FOOTNOTES: [24] This Pier has lately been considerably enlarged at the expense of Sir John St. Aubyn. The work was completed only in the last Summer (1823), and will now admit vessels of five hundred tons burthen. [25] Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, Vol. i. p. 41. [26] Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, Vol. ii. p. 73. [27] Transactions of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall, Vol. ii. p. 369. [28] See MR. PHILLIPS'S "ELEMENTARY INTRODUCTION TO MINERALOGY." We shall on all occasions refer to this work without reserve, as being a book which is, or ought to be, in the hands of every scientific traveller. Its copious catalogue of English _habitats_ renders it extremely valuable. [29] The mineralogist is apt to overlook these Topazes, or to regard them as common _quartz crystals_, to which they bear a great resemblance, until we inspect their prisms, which will rarely be found to be six-sided; there is also another simple mark of distinction--in the _quartz_ crystal the striated appearance on its surface is horizontal, whereas on the _Topaz_ it is longitudinal.