3. Also Sir Francis Drake, born at Plymouth.
4. Sir Walter Raleigh. Of both those I need say nothing; fame
publishes their merit upon every mention of their names.
5. That great patron of learning, Richard Hooker, author of the
"Ecclesiastical Polity," and of several other valuable pieces.
6. Of Dr. Arthur Duck, a famed civilian, and well known by his
works among the learned advocates of Doctors' Commons.
7. Dr. John Moreman, of Southold, famous for being the first
clergyman in England who ventured to teach his parishioners the
Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments in the English tongue,
and reading them so publicly in the parish church of Mayenhennet in
this county, of which he was vicar.
8. Dr. John de Brampton, a man of great learning who flourished in
the reign of Henry VI., was famous for being the first that read
Aristotle publicly in the University of Cambridge, and for several
learned books of his writing, which are now lost.
9. Peter Blundel, a clothier, who built the free school at
Tiverton, and endowed it very handsomely; of which in its place.
10. Sir John Glanvill, a noted lawyer, and one of the Judges of
the Common Pleas.
11. Sergeant Glanvill, his son; as great a lawyer as his father.
12. Sir John Maynard, an eminent lawyer of later years; one of the
Commissioners of the Great Seal under King William III. All these
three were born at Tavistock.
13. Sir Peter King, the present Lord Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas. And many others.
I shall take the north part of this county in my return from
Cornwall; so I must now lean to the south--that is to say, to the
South Coast--for in going on indeed we go south-west.
About twenty-two miles from Exeter we go to Totnes, on the River
Dart. This is a very good town, of some trade; but has more
gentlemen in it than tradesmen of note. They have a very fine
stone bridge here over the river, which, being within seven or
eight miles of the sea, is very large; and the tide flows ten or
twelve feet at the bridge. Here we had the diversion of seeing
them catch fish with the assistance of a dog. The case is this:-
On the south side of the river, and on a slip, or narrow cut or
channel made on purpose for a mill, there stands a corn-mill; the
mill-tail, or floor for the water below the wheels, is wharfed up
on either side with stone above high-water mark, and for above
twenty or thirty feet in length below it on that part of the river
towards the sea; at the end of this wharfing is a grating of wood,
the cross-bars of which stand bearing inward, sharp at the end, and
pointing inward towards one another, as the wires of a mouse-trap.
When the tide flows up, the fish can with ease go in between the
points of these cross-bars, but the mill being shut down they can
go no farther upwards; and when the water ebbs again, they are left
behind, not being able to pass the points of the grating, as above,
outwards; which, like a mouse-trap, keeps them in, so that they are
left at the bottom with about a foot or a foot and a half of water.
We were carried hither at low water, where we saw about fifty or
sixty small salmon, about seventeen to twenty inches long, which
the country people call salmon-peal; and to catch these the person
who went with us, who was our landlord at a great inn next the
bridge, put in a net on a hoop at the end of a pole, the pole going
cross the hoop (which we call in this country a shove-net). The
net being fixed at one end of the place, they put in a dog (who was
taught his trade beforehand) at the other end of the place, and he
drives all the fish into the net; so that, only holding the net
still in its place, the man took up two or three and thirty salmon-
peal at the first time.
Of these we took six for our dinner, for which they asked a
shilling (viz., twopence a-piece); and for such fish, not at all
bigger, and not so fresh, I have seen six-and-sixpence each given
at a London fish-market, whither they are sometimes brought from
Chichester by land carriage.
This excessive plenty of so good fish (and other provisions being
likewise very cheap in proportion) makes the town of Totnes a very
good place to live in; especially for such as have large families
and but small estates. And many such are said to come into those
parts on purpose for saving money, and to live in proportion to
their income.
From hence we went still south about seven miles (all in view of
this river) to Dartmouth, a town of note, seated at the mouth of
the River Dart, and where it enters into the sea at a very narrow
but safe entrance. The opening into Dartmouth Harbour is not
broad, but the channel deep enough for the biggest ship in the
Royal Navy. The sides of the entrance are high-mounded with rocks,
without which, just at the first narrowing of the passage, stands a
good strong fort without a platform of guns, which commands the
port.
