The classical reader will at once recognise in this inscription a paraphrase of the well known lines of Ovid:
"Quid magis est saxo durum,—Quid mollius unda?
Dura tamen molli Saxa cavantur Aqua."
There exists a tradition that this place belonged in the reign of Henry VIII. to one Milliton, who having slain a man privately, purchased the castle in the name of his son, and immured himself in a secret chamber in the tower.
On a bold pile of Granite rocks which projects from the shore near Pengerswick, Dr. Maton observed clusters of Trochus crassus, besides some species of Actinia and Asterias, not common on other parts of the coast. Pursuing our route we pass through a country principally composed of Slate, the great Granite chain running to the left of the road, and constituting Tregoning, Godolphin, and Breage hills. The Signal house at the top of Tregoning hill, which is 584 feet above the sea, constitutes the most elevated point in the country, and from which both channels are visible. The granite of this hill bears in some parts all the appearance of a stratified rock.
Upon arriving at the village of Breage, three miles west of Helston, the traveller should turn off from the high road, in order to visit the Tin Mine called Huel Vor, and which lies about a mile and a half to the north-east, and is by far the largest as well as the richest Tin Mine ever worked in Cornwall. Here there are five large Steam Engines for drawing the water out of the mine, besides several others for raising the ore. There are also four large Stamping Mills, worked by Steam, which constitute by far the most interesting part of the machinery. It is not many years since steam was first applied as the moving power of these mills, but without its aid it would have been impossible to stamp the whole of Huel Vor Tin with sufficient expedition. In this mine all the operations are carried on which have been already described in our excursion to Redruth, and the Mining Districts. The ore is also roasted and smelted on the spot. Here then the stranger may witness the whole process, from the period when the ore is broken in the vein, to that when the pure Tin runs out of the furnace, and is laded into moulds which contain about 370 pounds. The principal Tin lode in this mine is, in one part, of the enormous width of 30 feet, and is so rich withal, that the adventurers lately gained a clear profit of upwards of £10,000, in the space of three months. The workings extend for more than a mile and a quarter under ground, and about thirteen hundred persons are engaged in conducting its operations.
On the Coast, about three miles west of Helston, is Portleven harbour; notwithstanding the enormous sum of money which has been expended in completing this work, we believe that it is never likely to answer the object for which it was projected; the fact is simply this, that at those times when the severity of the weather renders such a refuge desirable to the navigators of the Mount's Bay, the sea sets in with such tremendous force upon this part of the coast that it is absolutely unsafe for any vessels to approach it, and still more so to attempt a passage into the basin, through its narrow entrance.
Helston is a large and populous town, containing nearly 3000 inhabitants, situated on the side of a hill which slopes gradually to the little river Cober. The houses are chiefly disposed in four streets in the form of a cross, and, at the point of intersection, stand the market house and town hall. The church, which was erected A.D. 1762, at the sole expense of the then Earl of Godolphin, stands on an eminence to the north, and forms a very pleasing object from the valley below, while to the tempest tossed mariner it serves as a useful landmark.
Helston has returned members to Parliament ever since Edward I., being one of the five ancient boroughs of Cornwall. There was formerly a castle, on the site of the present bowling green, but of which no vestige remains. The town is now lighted by means of gas.
In this town we shall be gratified to find the traces of an ancient custom, which the Antiquary has been anxious to trace to so high a source as the Roman Floralia, a festival observed by that people, in honour of the Goddess Flora, on the fourth of the Calends of May. It is called the Furry, and it is said that its present name alone would discover its origin, were it not satisfactorily pointed out by the time of its celebration. We confess ourselves to have been amongst the happy number[125] who regarded the annual festival of Helston as a faint trace of the Roman Floralia which the abrasion of fourteen centuries had not wholly obliterated. But the evil genius of Reality has at length appeared to dispel the illusion, and to extort from us the unwilling belief that it can be no other than the anniversary of a victory, obtained by the natives over an invading enemy.