The Battle of Lansdowne Hill
But by then Sir Beville was dead. After the—surely the name is ironical—battle of Stamford Hill, he and his victorious troops had marched to the King's aid. At the battle of Lansdowne, on the heights above Bath, Sir Beville, sorely wounded, was struck out of his saddle by a pole-axe. The pikemen he was leading fell into confusion, and in an instant the Parliamentarians were among them, hewing them down. Then did Anthony Payne, Sir Beville's giant retainer, come to the rescue. Catching his master's riderless horse, he set on it young John, a stripling of sixteen, Sir Beville's eldest son; and led him to the head of the wavering pikemen. The appeal was irresistible. The Cornish followed their beloved leader's son like men possessed; and so, while Sir Beville lay dying on the hillside, his regiment, led by his faithful servant and his young son, swept all before them.
One is glad to remember that at the Restoration when the family's confiscated estates were restored to them, young John, in memory of his own deeds and those of his greater father, was created Earl of Bath.
Tennyson at Bude
Bude with its wide sands and unsafe harbour is without historical associations, but it can be used, having hotels, as a centre from which to visit the more interesting towns (so-called, but they are no bigger than an ordinary village) and hamlets of the neighbourhood. Tennyson, when he had it in mind to write his Arthurian Idylls, came here—no doubt for local colour, though being a Victorian what he said was, "That he must go to Bude and be alone with God!" During his visit he rode out to Morwenstow to call on Mr. Hawker, and the less-known bard has left an interesting account of their interview.
"I found my guest ... a tall, swarthy, Spanish-looking man with an eye like a sword. He sate down, and we conversed. I at once found myself with no common mind.... Before he left the room, he said: 'Do you know my name?'
"I said: 'No, I have not even a guess.'
"'Do you wish to know it?'
"'I don't much care—that which we call a rose, &c.'
"'Well, then,' said he, 'my name is Tennyson.'