To describe the strange scene presented by the grotto itself, the farm-buildings on the face of the cliff, the huge table-rock and flagstaff, the many quaint blocks, pillars and wild escarpments, and the numerous domestic animals, such as mastiffs, pigs, ravens, and goats, all congregated together in a small bay, and literally separated from the world by the barren waste land above, and the huge cliffs and restless sea below, would be beyond the scope of "N. & Q.," though it is worth a note in passing, that for the tourist a visit to Marsden would be highly remunerative. Peter Allan endured many hardships in his cave at Marsden. He was accused of smuggling, and annoyed by the excise. He and his family were once shut in for six weeks by the snow, during the whole of which time it was impossible for any human being to approach them. Yet in spite of many hardships, Peter reared in the grotto a family of eight children, three daughters and five sons, all of whom are living and prospering in the world. The grotto is still kept by his widow, his {648} eldest son William, and one daughter, assisting Mrs. Allan in the management The son William is an experienced blaster, and occupies himself in excavations and improvements; the daughter, a brunette, is a first-rate shot, and a girl of extraordinary spirit and gaiety. She is the Grace Darling of the neighbourhood, and both her and her mother have saved many lives by their dexterity in boating and extraordinary courage. Peter himself was a bold, determined, and honest man, fond of a joke, and passionately devoted to bees, birds, pigs, and dogs, many of whom (pigs especially) used to follow him to Shields and Sunderland, when he went thither. After twenty-two years' possession of the caverns, the proprietor of the adjoining land served him with a process of ejectment; Peter refused to leave the habitation which he had formed by twenty years' unremitting toil, and which he had actually won from the sea, without encroachment on an inch of the mainland. After a tedious law-suit, judgment was given in his favour, but he had to pay costs. The anxieties of this lawsuit broke his heart, and he never recovered either health or spirits. He died on the 31st of August, 1849, in the 51st year of his age, leaving his wife and eight children to lament him. He was buried in Whitburn churchyard, and over his grave was placed a stone with the inscription: "The Lord is my rock and my salvation." Numerous memorials of Peter exist at the grotto, and in the neighbourhood of Marsden. Particulars of these and other matters touching this romantic history, may be obtained in No. 2. of _Summer Excursions to the North_, published by Ward, of Newcastle; and in a paper entitled _A Visit to Marsden Rocks_, contributed by myself to the _Peoples Illustrated Journal_, No. XIV. SHIRLEY HIBBERD. * * * * * "COULD WE WITH INK," ETC. (Vol. viii., pp. 127. 180. 422.)