The inside of the castle, or priory, has been much decorated within a few years, and florid gothic ornaments have been added to the exterior; but opinions are much divided as to the accordance of these new parts with buildings to which Sir Walter Scott’s line may be applied,
In Saxon strength the Abbey frown’d.
At the foot of the Mount a small pier existed from a time probably anterior to the Monastery itself, but in the early part of the last century a lease on lives was granted to Mr. George Blewett, the early associate and in some degree rival of the great Mr. Lemon. This gentleman rebuilt the pier on a very enlarged scale, and concentrated here almost the whole commerce of Penwith hundred, which has since his time gone to Penzance and Hayle.
St. Michael’s Mount is said to be selected as the scene of many strange adventures, in Italian romances; while Cornwall is supposed to abound with enchanters, goblins, and other supernatural beings.
An English romance, once popular with the old and with the young, but now banished even from our nurseries, begins thus:
“In the days of King Arthur the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a monstrous giant.” ma
Tasca Argo i Mini, e tascia Artu qui’ suoi
Erronti, che di sogni empion le carte.
Marazion has certainly to boast of very great antiquity.
It may have existed in the earliest times, if the Mount really afforded protection to the Eastern merchants, who sought the shores of Cornwall for its tin.