To the westward of the town rises the majestic headland named after our immortal [pg 240]bard. Shakespeare’s cliff rears its lofty head at the present time to an altitude of 350 feet, but in the great dramatist’s day its summit was much higher, as indicated by the enormous boulders and heaps of débris at its base, the result of frequent landslips and falls. Shakespeare well describes this grand precipice:—
“Come on, sir; here’s the place: stand still. How fearful
And dizzy ’tis, to cast one’s eyes so low!
The crows and choughs that wing the midway air
Show scarce so gross as beetles: half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire—dreadful trade!
Methinks he seems no bigger than his head:
The fishermen that walk upon the beach
Appear like mice; and yon tall anchoring bark,
Diminished to her cock; her cock, a buoy,