What streams these are that flow through the South Hams! What pools under deep banks, in which the trout lurk! To him who can obtain permission to fish the Erme, the Avon, can be assured days to be never forgotten, of excellent sport in lovely scenery.
[CHAPTER XX.]
PLYMOUTH
Plymouth Sound—The river Plym—Its real name—Sutton—Plympton—A cradle of naval adventure—The Hawkins family—Sir John Hawkins—Sir Francis Drake—"Singeing the King of Spain's beard"—The invincible Armada—Song of—Statue of Drake—The Eddystone—Its lighthouses—The neighbourhood of Plymouth—Hamoaze—The Lynher—S. Germans—Cawsand Bay—Smuggling—Lady's Rock—Millbrook—Landrake—S. Indract—Sir Joshua Reynolds—Dewerstone—Peacock Bridge—Childe the Hunter.
When a sailor heard the song sung, to which this is the refrain:—
"O dear Plymouth town! and O blue Plymouth Sound,
O where is your equal on earth to be found?"
he said, "Them's my opinions, to the turn of a hair."
About Plymouth town I am not so confident, but as to the Sound it is not easily surpassed. The Bay of Naples has Vesuvius, and above an Italian sky, but lacks the wealth of verdure of Mount Edgcumbe, and has none of those wondrous inlets that make of Plymouth Sound a figure of a watery hand displayed, and of the Three Towns a problem in topography which it requires long experience to solve.