From London to Land's End

biggest towns in that county sent no members to Parliament, and

  that the smallest did--that is to say that Sherborne, Blandford,

  Wimborneminster, Stourminster, and several other towns choose no

  members; whereas Weymouth, Melcombe, and Bridport were all burgess

  towns. But now we come to Devonshire we find almost all the great

  towns, and some smaller, choosing members also. It is true there

  are some large populous towns that do not choose, but then there

  are so many that do, that the county seems to have no injustice,

  for they send up six-and-twenty members.

  However, as I say above, there are several great towns which do not

  choose Parliament men, of which Bideford is one, Crediton or Kirton

  another, Ilfracombe a third; but, those excepted, the principal

  towns in the county do all choose members of Parliament.

  Honiton is one of those, and may pass not only for a pleasant good

  town, as before, but stands in the best and pleasantest part of the

  whole county, and I cannot but recommend it to any gentlemen that

  travel this road, that if they please to observe the prospect for

  half a mile till their coming down the hill and to the entrance

  into Honiton, the view of the country is the most beautiful

  landscape in the world--a mere picture--and I do not remember the

  like in any one place in England. It is observable that the market

  of this town was kept originally on the Sunday, till it was changed

  by the direction of King John.

  From Honiton the country is exceeding pleasant still, and on the

  road they have a beautiful prospect almost all the way to Exeter

  (which is twelve miles). On the left-hand of this road lies that

  part of the county which they call the South Hams, and which is

  famous for the best cider in that part of England; also the town of

  St.-Mary-Ottery, commonly called St. Mary Autree. They tell us the

  name is derived from the River Ottery, and that from the multitude

  of otters found always in that river, which however, to me, seems

  fabulous. Nor does there appear to be any such great number of

  otters in that water, or in the county about, more than is usual in

  other counties or in other parts of the county about them. They

  tell us they send twenty thousand hogsheads of cider hence every

  year to London, and (which is still worse) that it is most of it

  bought there by the merchants to mix with their wines--which, if

  true, is not much to the reputation of the London vintners. But

  that by-the-bye.

  From hence we came to Exeter, a city famous for two things which we

  seldom find unite in the same town--viz., that it is full of gentry

  and good company, and yet full of trade and manufactures also. The

  serge market held here every week is very well worth a stranger's

  seeing, and next to the Brigg Market at Leeds, in Yorkshire, is the

  greatest in England. The people assured me that at this market is

  generally sold from sixty to seventy to eighty, and sometimes a

  hundred, thousand pounds value in serges in a week. I think it is

  kept on Mondays.

  They have the River Esk here, a very considerable river, and

  principal in the whole county; and within three miles, or

  thereabouts, it receives ships of any ordinary burthen, the port

  there being called Topsham. But now by the application, and at the

  expense, of the citizens the channel of the river is so widened,

  deepened, and cleansed from the shoal, which would otherwise

  interrupt the navigation, that the ships come now quite up to the

  city, and there with ease both deliver and take in their lading.

  This city drives a very great correspondence with Holland, as also

  directly to Portugal, Spain, and Italy--shipping off vast

  quantities of their woollen manufactures especially to Holland, the

  Dutch giving very large commissions here for the buying of serges

  perpetuans, and such goods; which are made not only in and about

  Exeter, but at Crediton, Honiton, Culliton, St.-Mary-Ottery, Newton

  Bushel, Ashburton, and especially at Tiverton, Cullompton, Bampton,

  and all the north-east part of the county--which part of the county

  is, as it may be said, fully employed, the people made rich, and

  the poor that are properly so called well subsisted and employed by

  it.

  Exeter is a large, rich, beautiful, populous, and was once a very

  strong city; but as to the last, as the castle, the walls, and all

  the old works are demolished, so, were they standing, the way of

  managing sieges and attacks of towns is such now, and so altered

  from what it was in those days, that Exeter in the utmost strength

  it could ever boast would not now hold out five days open trenches-

  -nay, would hardly put an army to the trouble of opening trenches

  against it at all. This city was famous in the late civil

  unnatural war for its loyalty to the king, and for being a

  sanctuary to the queen, where her Majesty resided for some time,

  and here she was delivered of a daughter, being the Princess

  Henrietta Maria, of whom our histories give a particular account,

  so I need say no more of it here.

  The cathedral church of this city is an ancient beauty, or, as it

  may be said, it is beautiful for its antiquity; but it has been so

  fully and often described that it would look like a mere copying

  from others to mention it. There is a good library kept in it, in

  which are some manuscripts, and particularly an old missal or mass-

  book, the leaves of vellum, and famous for its most exquisite

  writing.

  This county, and this part of it in particular, has been famous for

  the birth of several eminent men as well for learning as for arts

  and for war, as particularly:-

  1. Sir William Petre, who the learned Dr. Wake (now Archbishop of

  Canterbury, and author of the Additions to Mr. Camden) says was

  Secretary of State and Privy Councillor to King Henry VIII., Edward

  VI., Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, and seven times sent

  ambassador into foreign countries.

  2. Sir Thomas Bodley, famous and of grateful memory to all learned

  men and lovers of letters for his collecting and establishing the

  best library in Britain, which is now at Oxford, and is called,

  after his name, the Bodleian Library to this day.

  3. Also Sir Francis Drake, born at Plymouth.

  4. Sir Walter Raleigh. Of both those I need say nothing; fame

  publishes their merit upon every mention of their names.

  5. That great patron of learning, Richard Hooker, author of the

  "Ecclesiastical Polity," and of several other valuable pieces.

  6. Of Dr. Arthur Duck, a famed civilian, and well known by his

  works among the learned advocates of Doctors' Commons.

  7. Dr. John Moreman, of Southold, famous for being the first

  clergyman in England who ventured to teach his parishioners the

  Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments in the English tongue,

  and reading them so publicly in the parish church of Mayenhennet in

  this county, of which he was vicar.

  8. Dr. John de Brampton, a man of great learning who flourished in

 
the reign of Henry VI., was famous for being the first that read

  Aristotle publicly in the University of Cambridge, and for several

  learned books of his writing, which are now lost.

  9. Peter Blundel, a clothier, who built the free school at

  Tiverton, and endowed it very handsomely; of which in its place.

  10. Sir John Glanvill, a noted lawyer, and one of the Judges of

  the Common Pleas.

  11. Sergeant Glanvill, his son; as great a lawyer as his father.

  12. Sir John Maynard, an eminent lawyer of later years; one of the

  Commissioners of the Great Seal under King William III. All these

  three were born at Tavistock.

  13. Sir Peter King, the present Lord Chief Justice of the Common

  Pleas. And many others.

  I shall take the north part of this county in my return from

  Cornwall; so I must now lean to the south--that is to say, to the

  South Coast--for in going on indeed we go south-west.

  About twenty-two miles from Exeter we go to Totnes, on the River

  Dart. This is a very good town, of some trade; but has more

  gentlemen in it than tradesmen of note. They have a very fine

  stone bridge here over the river, which, being within seven or

  eight miles of the sea, is very large; and the tide flows ten or

  twelve feet at the bridge. Here we had the diversion of seeing

  them catch fish with the assistance of a dog. The case is this:-

  On the south side of the river, and on a slip, or narrow cut or

  channel made on purpose for a mill, there stands a corn-mill; the

  mill-tail, or floor for the water below the wheels, is wharfed up

  on either side with stone above high-water mark, and for above

  twenty or thirty feet in length below it on that part of the river

  towards the sea; at the end of this wharfing is a grating of wood,

  the cross-bars of which stand bearing inward, sharp at the end, and

  pointing inward towards one another, as the wires of a mouse-trap.

  When the tide flows up, the fish can with ease go in between the

  points of these cross-bars, but the mill being shut down they can

  go no farther upwards; and when the water ebbs again, they are left

  behind, not being able to pass the points of the grating, as above,

  outwards; which, like a mouse-trap, keeps them in, so that they are

  left at the bottom with about a foot or a foot and a half of water.

  We were carried hither at low water, where we saw about fifty or

  sixty small salmon, about seventeen to twenty inches long, which

  the country people call salmon-peal; and to catch these the person

  who went with us, who was our landlord at a great inn next the

  bridge, put in a net on a hoop at the end of a pole, the pole going

  cross the hoop (which we call in this country a shove-net). The

  net being fixed at one end of the place, they put in a dog (who was

  taught his trade beforehand) at the other end of the place, and he

  drives all the fish into the net; so that, only holding the net

  still in its place, the man took up two or three and thirty salmon-

  peal at the first time.

  Of these we took six for our dinner, for which they asked a

  shilling (viz., twopence a-piece); and for such fish, not at all

  bigger, and not so fresh, I have seen six-and-sixpence each given

  at a London fish-market, whither they are sometimes brought from

  Chichester by land carriage.

  This excessive plenty of so good fish (and other provisions being

  likewise very cheap in proportion) makes the town of Totnes a very

  good place to live in; especially for such as have large families

  and but small estates. And many such are said to come into those

  parts on purpose for saving money, and to live in proportion to

  their income.

  From hence we went still south about seven miles (all in view of

  this river) to Dartmouth, a town of note, seated at the mouth of

  the River Dart, and where it enters into the sea at a very narrow

  but safe entrance. The opening into Dartmouth Harbour is not

  broad, but the channel deep enough for the biggest ship in the

  Royal Navy. The sides of the entrance are high-mounded with rocks,

  without which, just at the first narrowing of the passage, stands a

  good strong fort without a platform of guns, which commands the

  port.

  The narrow entrance is not much above half a mile, when it opens

  and makes a basin or harbour able to receive 500 sail of ships of

  any size, and where they may ride with the greatest safety, even as

  in a mill-pond or wet dock. I had the curiosity here, with the

  assistance of a merchant of the town, to go out to the mouth of the

  haven in a boat to see the entrance, and castle or fort that

  commands it; and coming back with the tide of flood, I observed

  some small fish to skip and play upon the surface of the water,

  upon which I asked my friend what fish they were. Immediately one

  of the rowers or seamen starts up in the boat, and, throwing his

  arms abroad as if he had been bewitched, cries out as loud as he

  could bawl, "A school! a school!" The word was taken to the shore

  as hastily as it would have been on land if he had cried "Fire!"

  And by that time we reached the quays the town was all in a kind of

  an uproar.

  The matter was that a great shoal--or, as they call it, a "school"-

  -of pilchards came swimming with the tide of flood, directly out of

  the sea into the harbour. My friend whose boat we were in told me

  this was a surprise which he would have been very glad of if he

  could but have had a day or two's warning, for he might have taken

  200 tons of them. And the like was the case of other merchants in

  town; for, in short, nobody was ready for them, except a small

  fishing-boat or two--one of which went out into the middle of the

  harbour, and at two or three hauls took about forty thousand of

  them. We sent our servant to the quay to buy some, who for a

  halfpenny brought us seventeen, and, if he would have taken them,

  might have had as many more for the same money. With these we went

  to dinner; the cook at the inn broiled them for us, which is their

  way of dressing them, with pepper and salt, which cost us about a

  farthing; so that two of us and a servant dined--and at a tavern,

  too--for three farthings, dressing and all. And this is the reason

  of telling the tale. What drink--wine or beer--we had I do not

  remember; but, whatever it was, that we paid for by itself. But

  for our food we really dined for three farthings, and very well,

  too. Our friend treated us the next day with a dish of large

  lobsters, and I being curious to know the value of such things, and

  having freedom enough with him to inquire, I found that for 6d. or

  8d. they bought as good lobsters there as would have cost in London

  3s. to 3s. 6d. each.

  In observing the coming in of those pilchards, as above, we found

  that out at sea, in the offing, beyond the mouth of the harbour,

  there was a whole army of porpoises, which, as they told us,

  pursued the pilchards, and, it is probable, drove them into the

  harbour, as above. The school, it seems, drove up the river
a

  great way, even as high as Totnes Bridge, as we heard afterwards;

  so that the country people who had boats and nets catched as many

  as they knew what to do with, and perhaps lived upon pilchards for

  several days. But as to the merchants and trade, their coming was

  so sudden that it was no advantage to them.

  Round the west side of this basin or harbour, in a kind of a

  semicircle, lies the town of Dartmouth, a very large and populous

  town, though but meanly built, and standing on the side of a steep

  hill; yet the quay is large, and the street before it spacious.

  Here are some very flourishing merchants, who trade very

  prosperously, and to the most considerable trading ports of Spain,

  Portugal, Italy, and the Plantations; but especially they are great

  traders to Newfoundland, and from thence to Spain and Italy, with

  fish; and they drive a good trade also in their own fishery of

  pilchards, which is hereabouts carried on with the greatest number

  of vessels of any port in the west, except Falmouth.

  A little to the southward of this town, and to the east of the

  port, is Tor Bay, of which I know nothing proper to my observation,

  more than that it is a very good road for ships, though sometimes

  (especially with a southerly or south-east wind) ships have been

  obliged to quit the bay and put out to sea, or run into Dartmouth

  for shelter.

  I suppose I need not mention that they had from the hilly part of

  this town, and especially from the hills opposite to it, the noble

  prospect, and at that time particularly delightful, of the Prince

  of Orange's fleet when he came to that coast, and as they entered

  into Tor Bay to land--the Prince and his army being in a fleet of

  about 600 sail of transport ships, besides 50 sail of men-of-war of

  the line, all which, with a fair wind and fine weather, came to an

  anchor there at once.

  This town, as most of the towns of Devonshire are, is full of

  Dissenters, and a very large meeting-house they have here. How

  they act here with respect to the great dispute about the doctrine

  of the Trinity, which has caused such a breach among those people

  at Exeter and other parts of the county, I cannot give any account

  of. This town sends two members to Parliament.

  From hence we went to Plympton, a poor and thinly-inhabited town,

  though blessed with the like privilege of sending members to the

  Parliament, of which I have little more to say but that from thence

  the road lies to Plymouth, distance about six miles.

  Plymouth is indeed a town of consideration, and of great importance

  to the public. The situation of it between two very large inlets

  of the sea, and in the bottom of a large bay, which is very

  remarkable for the advantage of navigation. The Sound or Bay is

  compassed on every side with hills, and the shore generally steep

  and rocky, though the anchorage is good, and it is pretty safe

  riding. In the entrance to this bay lies a large and most

  dangerous rock, which at high-water is covered, but at low-tide

  lies bare, where many a good ship has been lost, even in the view

  of safety, and many a ship's crew drowned in the night, before help

  could be had for them.

  Upon this rock (which was called the Eddystone, from its situation)

  the famous Mr. Winstanley undertook to build a lighthouse for the

  direction of sailors, and with great art and expedition finished

  it; which work--considering its height, the magnitude of its

  building, and the little hold there was by which it was possible to

  fasten it to the rock--stood to admiration, and bore out many a

  bitter storm.

  Mr. Winstanley often visited, and frequently strengthened, the

  building by new works, and was so confident of its firmness and

  stability that he usually said he only desired to be in it when a

  storm should happen; for many people had told him it would

  certainly fall if it came to blow a little harder than ordinary.