From Gretna Green to Land's End: A Literary Journey in England.Bates, Katharine Lee
General
From Gretna Green to Land's End: A Literary Journey in England.
Bates, Katharine Lee
England -- Description and travel
It is mainly in West Cornwall that such fantastic figurings in the
rocks are referred to the Devil or the giants. On the eastern moors
they are more commonly attributed to King Arthur, whose Beds and
Chairs and Cups and Saucers and the Footprints of whose horse are
numerous enough to put the skeptic out of countenance. But not only
our first encounter, as we entered Cornwall by the east, was with King
Arthur, but almost our last, as we left the Duchy by the west,--for
this shire is proud to be known as the Royal Duchy, claiming that the
eldest son of the Crown is born Duke of Cornwall and only subsequently
created Prince of Wales. Within what seemed but a short time after
crossing the broad boundary stream, dotted with sleepy craft, we found
ourselves at Liskeard, a sleepy old market-town blest with a noble
church on whose outer wall is a sundial with the grave motto: "So soon
passeth it away." It was already late in the afternoon, but a dark,
thin, bright-eyed Cornishwoman in the railway carriage had given us
most cheering information. Could we drive to Dozmare Pool before
sunset? Easily; it was only a round of three or four miles and would
take us by the Devil's Cheesewring and The Hurlers and St. Keyne's
Well. The waters of this well, she went on to tell us, have the magic
property of giving the upper hand to that one of a wedded pair first
drinking of them after the ceremony; and she recited with charming
vivacity snatches of Southey's ballad, while a burly, red-faced,
blue-eyed, beaming tourist from over the Tamar, the only man in the
compartment, blurted out a gallantry to the effect that ladies ought
to have their way anyhow, wells or no wells, and his silent little
wife smiled a knowing little smile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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