Transcriber’s Note: ################### This e-text is based on the 1908 edition of the book. Minor punctuation errors have been tacitly corrected. Inconsistencies in hyphenation and spelling, such as ‘ale-house’/‘alehouse’ and ‘Mary Wilcocks’/‘Mary Willcocks,’ have been retained. The asterism symbols in the book catalogue at the end of this text have been inverted for presentation on electronic media. The following passage has been corrected: # p. 126: ‘1852’ → ‘1825’ # p. 685: ‘fro mthe’ → ‘from the’ Italic text has been symbolised by underscores (_italic_); forward slashes represent small caps (/small caps/). Caret symbols (^) signify superscript characters; multiple characters have been grouped inside curly braces: ^{superscript}. DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERS AND STRANGE EVENTS BY THE SAME AUTHOR YORKSHIRE ODDITIES TRAGEDY OF THE CÆSARS CURIOUS MYTHS LIVES OF THE SAINTS ETC. ETC. [Illustration: _G. Clint, A.R.A., pinxt._ _Thos. Lupton. sculpt._ MARIA FOOTE, AFTERWARDS COUNTESS OF HARRINGTON, AS MARIA DARLINGTON IN THE FARCE OF “A ROWLAND FOR AN OLIVER” (1824)] DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERS AND STRANGE EVENTS BY S. BARING-GOULD, /M.A./ WITH 55 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS REPRODUCED FROM OLD PRINTS, ETC. O Jupiter! Hanccine vitam? hoscine mores? hanc dementiam? /Terence/, _Adelphi_ (Act IV). LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVIII PLYMOUTH: WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LIMITED, PRINTERS PREFACE In treating of Devonshire Characters, I have had to put aside the chief Worthies and those Devonians famous in history, as George Duke of Albemarle, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Coleridges, Sir Stafford Northcote, first Earl of Iddesleigh, and many another; and to content myself with those who lie on a lower plane. So also I have had to set aside several remarkable characters, whose lives I have given elsewhere, as the Herrings of Langstone (whom I have called Grym or Grymstone) and Madame Drake, George Spurle the Post-boy, etc. Also I have had to pretermit several great rascals, as Thomas Gray and Nicholas Horner. But even so, I find an _embarras de richesses_, and have had to content myself with such as have had careers of some general interest. Moreover, it has not been possible to say all that might have been said relative to these, so as to economize space, and afford room for others.