His owne discharge, and a good precedent for you.
Be silent then of him who’s gone,
Touch not I mean, an imperfection,
For he a pardon has from the Almighty throne.
Look to your ways, each to his trust,
That when you thus are laid in dust,
Your actions may appear as righteous and as just.
About two miles north from Stratton, is the small port of Bude, which is much resorted to in the summer season for sea-bathing. The trade of this place will be greatly increased when the Canal, now making, is completed: the chief exports are timber, bark, and oats; the imports, coal and lime-stone from Wales, and groceries, &c., from Bristol. The harbour, on account of its sands, is best adapted to vessels not exceeding 60 tons burden: but occasionally, vessels of from 80 to 90 tons enter it; and one of more than 90 tons was built at Bude in 1813 for the trade of this port. Great quantities of sea sand are carried from hence for manure, not only into the neighbouring parishes, but into the north of Devonshire, to the distance of 20 miles and upwards.
Kilkhampton, about four miles north of East Stratton, is remarkable for the singular beauty of its Church. It is a large edifice, said to have been erected by a Baron of the Grenville line, who came into England with William the Conqueror, and whose arms are sculptured in many parts of the building.
The whole fabric is a light and rich piece of workmanship, particularly the southern entrance, a semicircular arch, round which is a very curious zig-zag Anglo-Norman moulding, in fine preservation. The interior contains three aisles, divided by slender pillars, supporting obtuse Gothic arches, and has an elegant appearance. It is embellished with several handsome memorials, but the most remarkable one is, the monument of Sir Beville Grenville,[[36]] who was slain in the civil wars; and as Hervey says, “swords and spears, murdering engines and instruments of slaughter, adorn the stone with formidable magnificence.” It bears the following inscription: