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DEVON
ITS MOORLANDS, STREAMS, & COASTS
by
LADY ROSALIND NORTHCOTE
With Illustrations in Colour after Frederick J. Widgery
London Exeter
Chatto & Windus James G. Commin
M CM VIII
Deep-wooded combes, clear-mounded hills of morn,
Red sunset tides against a red sea-wall,
High lonely barrows where the curlews call,
Far moors that echo to the ringing horn,--
Devon! thou spirit of all these beauties born,
All these are thine, but thou art more than all:
Speech can but tell thy name, praise can but fall
Beneath the cold white sea-mist of thy scorn.
Yet, yet, O noble land, forbid us not
Even now to join our faint memorial chime
To the fierce chant wherewith their hearts were hot
Who took the tide in thy Imperial prime;
Whose glory's thine till Glory sleeps forgot
With her ancestral phantoms, Pride and Time.
HENRY NEWBOLT
Preface
The first and one of the greatest difficulties to confront a writer who
attempts any sort of description of a place or people is almost sure to
be the answer to the question, How much must be left out? In the present
case the problem has reappeared in every chapter, for Devon is 'a fair
province,' as Prince says in his 'Worthies of Devon,' and 'the happy
parent of ... a noble offspring.'
My position is that of a person who has been bidden to take from a great
heap of precious stones as many as are needed to make one chain; for
however grasping that person may be, and however long the chain may be
made, when all the stones have been chosen, the heap will look almost as
great and delightful as before: only a few of the largest and brightest
jewels will be gone.
The fact that I have been able to take only a small handful from the
vast hoard that constitutes the history of Devon will explain, I hope,
the many omissions that must strike every reader who has any knowledge
of the county--omissions of which no one can be more conscious than
myself. A separate volume might very well be written about the bit of
country touched on in each chapter.
This book does not pretend to include every district. I have merely
passed through a great part of the county, stopping here at an old
church with interesting monuments, there at a small town whose share in
local history--in some instances, in the country's history--is apt to be
forgotten, or at a manor-house which should be remembered for its
association with one of the many 'worthies' who, as Prince says--with
the true impartiality of a West-countryman in regard to his own
county--form 'an illustrious troop of heroes, as no other county in the
kingdom, no other kingdom (in so small a tract) in Europe, in all
respects, is able to match, much less excel.'
From the 'Tale of Two Swannes,' a view of the banks of the River Lea,
published in 1590, I have ventured to borrow the verses that close an
address 'To the Reader':
'To tell a Tale, and tell the Trueth withall,
To write of waters, and with them of land,
To tell of Rivers, where they rise and fall,
To tell where Cities, Townes, and Castles stand,
To tell their names, both old and newe,
With other things that be most true,
'Argues a Tale that tendeth to some good,
Argues a Tale that hath in it some reason,
Argues a Tale, if it be understood,
As looke the like, and you shall find it geason.
If, when you reade, you find it so,
Commend the worke and let it goe.'
Contents
Sonnet by Henry Newbolt _page_ v
Preface vii
_Chap._ I. Exeter 1
II. The Exe 13
III. The Otter and the Axe 47
IV. Dartmoor 71
V. The Teign 89
VI. Torbay 106
VII. The Dart 119
VIII. Kingsbridge, Salcombe, and the South Hams 141
IX. The Three Towns 155
X. The Tamar and the Tavy 179
XI. The Taw and the Torridge 201
XII. Lundy, Lynmouth, and the Borders of Exmoor 244
XIII. Castles and Country-Houses 272
List of authorities consulted 315
Index 317
Illustrations
The Guildhall, Exeter _Frontispiece_
Exeter from Exwick _To face page_ 2
Exeter Cathedral 5
The Exe: Tiverton 13
Topsham 41
Exmouth from Cockwood 45
Ottery St. Mary 47
Sidmouth 51
Branscombe 61
Beer Beach 65
Seaton Headland 67
The Windypost, or Beckamoor Cross 71
Yes Tor: Dartmoor 73
Lustleigh Cleave 75
Wistman's Wood 77
Widdecombe-in-the-Moor 81
Sheepstor 83
Lydford Bridge 84
Hey Tor 89
Fingle Bridge 91
Chudleigh Glen 101
Teignmouth and Shaldon 103
Torquay from the Bay 106
Berry Head 113
Brixham Trawlers 115
Postbridge 119
Dartmeet Bridge 121
Holne Bridge 123
Fore Street, Totnes 129
Sharpham Woods: River Dart 133
Dartmouth Castle 139
Salcombe 141
Bolt Head 146
Slapton Lea 151
The Tamar, near Saltash 155
Drake's Island, Plymouth Sound 171
Brent Tor. From Lvdford Moors 179
Tavy Cleave 185
Brent Tor 198
Bideford 201
Appledore 211
Clovelly 215
Morthoe 221
Bull Point: Morthoe 223
Barnstaple Bridge 227
Torrington 230
Lantern Rock: Ilfracombe 244
Countisbury Foreland 255
Lynmouth 259
Malmsmead 263
Lorna's Bower 265
Waterslide: Doone Valley 267
Doone Valley 269
Powderham Castle 272
Berry Pomeroy Castle 285
Compton Castle 295
Okehampton Castle 297
Sydenham House 299
Bradfield 306
Pynes, near Exeter 308
Devon
CHAPTER I
Exeter
'Richmond! When last I was at Exeter,
The mayor in courtesy show'd me the castle,
And call'd it Rougemont: at which name I started,
Because a bard of Ireland told me once,
I should not live long after I saw Richmond.'
_King Richard III._, Act IV, Sc. ii.
There are not many towns which stir the imagination as much as Exeter.
To all West-Countrymen she is a Mother City ... and there is not one
among them, however long absent from the West, who does not feel, when
he sets foot in Exeter, that he is at home again, in touch with people
of his own blood and kindred.... In Exeter all the history of the West
is bound up--its love of liberty, its independence, its passionate
resistance to foreign conquerors, its devotion to lost causes, its
loyalty to the throne, its pride, its trade, its maritime adventure--all
these many strands are twined together in that bond which links
West-Countrymen to Exeter.' Mr Norway is a West-Countryman, and he sums
up very justly the sentiment, more or less consciously realized, of the
people for whom he speaks, and especially the feeling of the citizens.
Not only the Cathedral, the Castle, and Guildhall, bear legends for
those who know how to read them, but here and again through all the
streets an ancient house, a name, or a tower, will bring back the memory
of one of the stirring events that have happened. One royal pageant
after another has clattered and glittered through the streets, and the
old carved gabled houses in the side-lanes must many a time have shaken
to the heavy tramp of armed men, gathered to defend the city or to march
out against the enemy.
'Exeter,' says Professor Freeman, 'stands distinguished as the one great
English city which has, in a more marked way than any other, kept its
unbroken being and its unbroken position throughout all ages. It is the
one city in which we can feel sure that human habitation and city life
have never ceased from the days of the early Caesars to our own.... The
city on the Exe, Caerwisc, or Isca Damnoniorum, has had a history which
comes nearer than that of any other city of Britain to the history of
the ancient local capitals of the kindred land of Gaul.... To this day,
both in feeling and in truth, Exeter is something more than an ordinary
county town.'
The city is very picturesquely placed, and before ruthless
'improvements' swept away the old gates and many ancient buildings, the
general effect must have been particularly delightful. 'This City is
pleasantly seated upon a Hill among Hills, saving towards the sea, where
'tis pendant in such sort as that the streets (be they never so foul)
yet with one shower of rain are again cleansed ...,' wrote Izacke, in
his _Antiquities of Exeter_. 'Very beautiful is the same in building;'
and he ends with some vagueness, 'for considerable Matters matchable to
most Cities in _England_.' The earliest history can only be guessed at
from what is known of the history of other places, and from the
inferences to be drawn from a few scanty relics; but there is evidence
that Exeter existed as a British settlement before the Romans found
their way so far West. It is not known when they took the city, nor when
they abandoned it, nor is there any date to mark the West Saxon
occupation. Professor Freeman, however, points out a very interesting
characteristic proving that the conquest cannot have taken place until
after the Saxons had ceased to be heathens. 'It is the one great city of
the Roman and the Briton which did not pass into English hands till the
strife of races had ceased to be a strife of creeds, till English
conquest had come to mean simply conquest, and no longer meant havoc and
extermination. It is the one city of the present England in which we can
see within recorded times the Briton and Englishman living side by
side.' In the days of Athelstan, 'Exeter was not purely English; it was
a city of two nations and two tongues.... This shows that ... its
British inhabitants obtained very favourable terms from the conquerors,
and that, again, is much the same as saying that it was not taken till
after the West Saxons had become Christians.'
The earliest reliable records of the city begin about 876, when the
Danes overwhelmed the city and were put to flight by King Alfred. A few
years later they again besieged Exeter, but this time it held out
against them until the King, for the second time, came to the rescue,
and the enemy retreated. Alfred, careful of the city and its means of
defence, built a stronghold--very possibly in the interval between these
two invasions--upon the high ground that the Briton had chosen for his
fastness, and on which the Castle rose in after-days. Rather more than a
hundred years later Athelstan strengthened the city by repairing the
Roman walls. But it is with an event of greater importance that
Athelstan's name is usually associated, for it was he who made the city
a purely English one by driving out all the Britons into the country
beyond the Tamar. It is probable that there was already a monastery in
Exeter in the seventh century, and that it was broken up during the
storms that raged later. In any case, Athelstan founded or refounded a
monastery, and in 968 Edgar, who had married the beautiful daughter of
Ordgar, Earl of Devon, settled a colony of monks in Exeter. About thirty
years afterwards the Danes, under Pallig, sailed up the Exe and laid
siege to the town, but were repulsed with great courage by the citizens.
Beaten off the city, they fell upon the country round, and a frightful
battle was fought at Pinhoe. A curious memorial of it survives to this
day. During the furious struggle the Saxons' ammunition began to run
low, and the priest of Pinhoe rode back to Exeter for a fresh supply of
arrows. In recognition of his service, the perpetual pension of a mark
(13s. 4d.) was granted him, and this sum the Vicar of the parish still
receives. Two years later the Danes made a successful assault upon the
city, and seized much plunder, but made no stay.
Edward the Confessor visited Exeter, and assisted at the installation of
Leofric as first Bishop of Exeter, when the see was transferred from
Crediton. The Queen also played a prominent part in the ceremony, for
Exeter and the royal revenues within it made part of her 'morning gift.'
Leofric instituted several reforms, added to the wealth of his
cathedral, and left it a legacy of lands and books. The most interesting
of the manuscripts is the celebrated _Exeter Book_, a large collection
of Anglo-Saxon poems on very different subjects. To give some idea of
their variety, it may be mentioned that, amongst other poems of an
entirely distinct character, there are religious pieces, many riddles,
the legends of two saints, the Scald's or Ancient Minstrel's tale of his
travels, and a poem on the 'Various Fortunes of Men.'
Seventeen years after King Edward's visit, William the Conqueror's
messengers came before the chief men of Exeter demanding their
submission. But the citizens sent back the lofty answer that 'they would
acknowledge William as Emperor of Britain; they would not receive him as
their immediate King. They would pay him the tribute which they had been
used to pay to Kings of the English, but that should be all. They would
swear no oaths to him; they would not receive him within their walls.'
William naturally would not listen to conditions, and arrived to direct
the siege in person. For eighteen days the repeated attacks of the
Normans were sturdily resisted; then the enemy dug a mine, which caused
the walls to crumble, and surrender was inevitable. 'The Red Mount of
Exeter had been the stronghold of Briton, Roman, and Englishman;' under
the hands of the Norman here rose the Castle of Rougemont, of which a
tower, a gateway, and part of the walls, stand to this day. In
proportion to the size and strength of that castle, however, the remains
are inconsiderable, but it fell into decay very long ago, and as early
as 1681 Izacke writes of 'the Fragments of the ancient Buildings
ruinated, whereon time ... hath too much Tyrannized.'
In the year after King Stephen began to reign, Baldwin de Redvers, Earl
of Devon and keeper of the Castle, declared for the Empress Maud, and
held the Castle for three months against the citizens, headed by two
hundred knights who had been sent by the King. At the end of this time
the wells ran dry, so that the besieged were driven to use wine for
their cookery, and even to throw over their 'engines,' set on fire by
the enemy.
Henry II granted to the citizens of Exeter the first of their many
charters of privileges, and in the reigns of King John and Henry III the
municipal system was very much developed, and the city first had a
Mayor. Under Edward I a beginning was made towards the almost entire
reconstruction of the Cathedral. Bishop Warelwast, the nephew of William
I, had raised the transeptal towers--a feature that no other English
cathedral possesses--and since his time the Lady Chapel had been added,
but the design of the Cathedral as a whole was evolved by Bishop Quivil.
He planned what was practically a new church, and his intentions were
faithfully carried out. Before his day the towers were merely 'external
castles,' but Bishop Quivil broke down their inner walls, and filled the
space with lofty arches, and the towers became transepts. Bishop
Stapledon spent huge sums in collecting materials, but before much
progress with the work had been made he was murdered by a London mob, in
the troubled reign of Edward II; and the actual existence of much of the
building is due to Bishop Grandisson, who, sparing himself in no matter,
lavished treasure and devotion on his Cathedral. Writing to Pope John
XXII, the Bishop said 'that if the church should be worthily completed,
it would be admired for its beauty above every other of its kind within
the realms of England or France.'
One of the most beautiful features of the Cathedral is the unbroken
length of roof at the same height through nave and choir, the effect
intensified by the exquisite richness and grace of the vaulting. And the
spreading fans gain an added grace, springing as they do from that
'distinctive group of shafts' which, says Canon Edmonds, 'makes the
Exeter pillar the very type of the union of beauty and strength.' In the
central bay of the nave, on the north side, is the Minstrels' Gallery,
one of the few to be found in England. It is delicately and elaborately
sculptured, and each of the twelve angels in the niches holds a musical
instrument--a flageolet, a trumpet and two wind instruments, a tambour,
a violin, an organ, a harp, bagpipes, the cymbals, and guitars.
The choir is unusually long, and from the north and south aisles open
chapels and chantries, in some of which the carving is very rich and
fine. The Bishop's throne is elaborately carved, and more than sixty
feet high, and yet there is not one nail in it. During the Commonwealth
a brick wall was built across the west end of the choir, completely
dividing the Cathedral. This was done to satisfy the Presbyterians and
Independents, each of whom wished to hold their services here, and the
two churches formed by this division were called Peter the East and
Peter the West. The screen in the west front was added after the
Cathedral was finished; it is covered with statues in niches, figures of
'kings, warriors, saints, and apostles, guardians as it were of the
entrance to the sanctuary.' High above them, in the gable niche, is the
statue of St Peter, to whom the Cathedral is dedicated.
King Edward and Queen Eleanor kept Christmas at Exeter in 1285, and here
the King held the Parliament which passed the Statute of Coroners that
is still law. During this visit the King gave leave to the Bishop and
Chapter to surround the close with a wall and gates, for at this time it
was used to heap rubbish upon, and 'the rendezvous of all the bad
characters of the place.' Edward III granted his eldest son the Duchy of
Cornwall--a grant that carried with it the Castle of Exeter, and to the
King's eldest son it has always since belonged.
Henry VI in 1482 visited the city in peace and splendour. Margaret, his
Queen, came about eighteen years later, while Warwick's plans were
ripening, and the event is marked in the Receiver's accounts by the
entry: 'Two bottles of wine given to John Fortescue, before the coming
of Margaret, formerly Queen.' Not long afterwards Warwick and the Duke
of Clarence fled to Exeter, which had to stand a siege on their behalf;
but the effort to take the city was half-hearted, and in twelve days the
attempt was abandoned. Edward IV arrived in pursuit, but too late, for
'the byrdes were flown and gone away,' and a quaint farce was solemnly
played out. The city had just shown openly that its real sympathies were
Lancastrian, but neither King nor citizens could afford to quarrel.
'Both sides put the best face on matters; the city was loyal; the King
was gracious ... the citizens gave him a full purse, and he gave them a
sword, and all parted friends.'
Richard III's visit was more eventful. The allegiance yielded him by the
West was of the flimsiest character, and in the autumn of 1483 a
conspiracy was formed, and Henry, Earl of Richmond, was proclaimed King
in Exeter. Here Richard hastened at the head of a strong force, to find
that nearly all the leaders had fled, and there remained only his
brother-in-law, Sir John St Leger, and Sir John's Esquire, Thomas Rame.
So the King 'provided for himself a characteristic entertainment,' and
both knight and squire were beheaded opposite the Guildhall. Before he
left, Richard went to look at the Castle, and asked its name. The Mayor
answered, 'Rougemont'--a word misunderstood by the King, who became
'suddenly fallen into a great dump, and as it were a man amazed.'
Shakespeare's lines give the explanation of his discomfiture. 'It
seems,' comments Fuller, 'Sathan either spoke this oracle low or
lisping.'
The next siege of Exeter was when the followers of Perkin Warbeck surged
in thousands round the city. Their assault was vigorous and determined;
they tried to undermine the walls, burned the north gate, and, repulsed
at this point, broke through the defences at the east gate. After a
sharp struggle in the streets, the rebels were thrust back, and were
forced to march northwards, leaving Exeter triumphant. Three weeks later
Henry VII entered Exeter with Warbeck, as his prisoner. The King was
very gracious to the city that had just given such eminent proofs of its
loyalty, and bestowed on the citizens a second sword of honour and a cap
of maintenance, and ordered that a sword-bearer should be appointed to
carry the sword before the Mayor in civic procession.
Henry VIII gave Exeter 'the highest privilege,' says Professor Freeman,
'that can be given to an English city or borough.' He made it a county,
'with all the rights of a county under its own Sheriff.' An Act of
Parliament was also passed to undo the harm done by Isabel de Fortibus,
representative of the Earls of Devon, when she made a weir about the
year 1280--still called Countess Weir--that blocked the free waterway to
the sea. As the tide naturally comes up the river a little way beyond
Exeter, before the weir was made ships had been able to sail up to the
watergate of the city. The first attempts to improve matters after this
Act was passed failed, but a canal was constructed with tolerable
success in the reign of Elizabeth.
In 1549 came the siege of Exeter that followed the burning of Crediton
barns. The Devonshire rebels had been reinforced by a large number of
Cornishmen, who resented the new Prayer-Book, and the law obliging them
to hear the services in English instead of Latin, more bitterly and with
greater reason than the people of Sampford Courtenay. For to them it was
more than unwelcome change in the Liturgy; it meant also that their
services were read in an alien tongue. 'We,' the Cornish, 'whereof
certain of us _understand no English_, utterly refuse the new English,'
was their protest. It is curious to think that more than half a century
later English was a foreign language in Cornwall. In James I's reign,
'John Norden ... constructing his _Speculum_, his topographical
description of this kingdom,' writes: 'Of late the Cornishmen have muche
conformed themselves to the use of the English tongue;' and adds that
all but 'some obscure people' are able to 'convers with a straunger' in
English. The bitterness aroused by the religious question was
intensified by a report which was 'blazed abroad,' as Hooker says, 'a
Gnat making an Elephant, that the gentlemen were altogether bent to
over-run, spoil, or destroy the people.' No one could have acted with
greater loyalty and courage than the Mayor, John Blackaller, and his
powers were put to a hard trial before the end of the siege. Not only
was there an active and vigorous enemy without, but within the walls the
majority secretly, and some persons openly, sided with the enemy. The
most unceasing vigilance and unfaltering resolution were needed to
frustrate all plots and plans. One great danger was averted by a certain
John Newcomb, an ex-miner, who, suspicious of a possible peril, watched
diligently for its slightest sign. One day an anxious crowd looked at
him 'crawling about on the ground with a pan of water in his hand. Every
now and again he would listen attentively, with his ear in the dust,
and, rising, place the pan on the spot. At last he has it. Like the
beating of a pulse, the still water in the pan vibrates in harmony with
the stroke of the pickaxe far underneath, and the old miner rises
exultant.' A counter-mine was hurriedly made, and through a tiny opening
it was seen that barrels of gunpowder and pitch and piles of faggots
were heaped beneath the west gate. Fortunately, this gate stood below
the steep slope on which the city lies, and on discovering the enemy's
alarming preparations, every householder was ordered, at a given signal,
to empty a great tub of water into the kennel, and every tap in the city
was turned on. 'At which time also, by the Goodness of God, there fell a
great Shower, as the like, for the Time, had not been seen many years
before.' A tremendous torrent rushed down the streets, and, being
concentrated upon the mine, completely flooded it.
There is no place here to speak of the straits to which the citizens
were put before a sufficient number of troops reached Lord Russell to
enable him to march to the relief of the besieged. Nor is there room for
an account of the splendid resistance made by the rebels to the great
force pitted against them, which included a regiment of seasoned German
_Lanzknechts_ and three hundred Italian musketeers, besides English
cavalry. 'Valiantly and stoutly they stood to their Tackle, and would
not give over as long as Life and Limb lasted ... and few or none were
left alive.... Such was the Valour and stoutness of these men that the
Lord Greie reported himself, that he never, in all the Wars that he had
been in, did know the like.'
In recognition of the loyalty shown by the citizens under this great
trial, Queen Elizabeth 'complimented the city with an augmentation of
arms,' and 'of her own free will added the well-known motto, _Semper
Fidelis_.' Encouraged by the Queen's protection, commerce increased and
prospered. Guilds had long flourished in Exeter, and it is recorded that
as early as 1477 there was a quarrel between the Mayor and citizens and
the Company of Taylors. A Guildhall existed even before there was a
Mayor of Exeter, but the present building dates from 1464. It has a fine
common hall, with a lofty, vaulted roof and much panelling, and the
panels are set with little shields, the arms of the Mayors, of various
companies, and certain benefactors to the city. Later was added the
cinque-cento front that projects over the footway, and has become so
essential a characteristic in the eyes of those who care for Exeter.
This front was built in 1593, and 'in its confusion of styles--English
windows between Italian columns--it has all the impress of that
transitional age.'
Many of the trades that throve in Exeter formed guilds, and in looking
casually at the names of a few of them, one finds that the bakers had
already a Master and Company in 1428-29, and that some years later the
charter of the Glovers and Skinners was renewed. In 1452 there was a
dispute as to whether the Cordwainers or Tuckers should take precedence
in the Mayor's procession, and later again the Guild of Weavers,
Sheremen, and Tuckers came still more prominently before the public.
'Trafiquing' in wool and woollen goods was the most important trade, and
though its zenith was passed in the seventeenth century, it continued to
do well till the later half of the eighteenth. Defoe speaks of the
'serge manufacture of Devonshire' as 'a trade too great to be described
in miniature,' and says he is told that at the weekly market 'sixty to
seventy to eighty, and sometimes a hundred, thousand pounds' value in
serges is sometimes sold.' Probably the account given him was a little
exaggerated, but Lysons quotes the statement that in the most prosperous
days L50,000 or L60,000 worth of woollen goods had been sold in a week.
Many were the petitions sent up to Parliament in the reign of William
and Mary, begging protection for the local wool-trade, and that
competition from unhappy Ireland might be discouraged. The great hall of
the New Inn was used as an exchange, and here were held yearly three
great cloth-fairs, where merchants from London and from all parts
gathered, and stalls and shops in the inn were let to 'foreigners.' The
Tuckers' Hall, built of ruddy stone, still stands in Fore Street, and
the hall has a fine cradle roof with plaster panels.
The most powerful of all the companies was incorporated later than many
of the guilds, for the Merchant Adventurers received their charter from
Queen Elizabeth. Their power and wealth was very considerable; they
cast their lines in all directions, and they secured a monopoly of
trading with France. This company supplied with money, and had a stake
in, some of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's and Captain Davis's enterprises, and
Sir Francis Drake himself invited the 'gentilmen merchauntes' and others
of the city to 'adventure with him in a voiage supportinge some speciall
service ... for the defence of 'religion, Quene and countrye.'' About
Charles I's reign the importance of the company gradually declined, and
the society was eventually dissolved.
During the Civil War, Exeter was twice besieged, but on neither occasion
so rigorously as in 1549. When the war broke out, the Earl of Bedford
appointed the Mayor, the Sheriff, and five Aldermen, Commissioners for
the Parliament. The defences were put in order and arms collected, and
amongst other expenses is recorded 'L300 for 17 packs of wool taken from
Mr Robin's Cellars for the Barricadoes.' Nevertheless, zeal for the
Parliament must have been but lukewarm, for when Prince Maurice's troops
surrounded the city, it was surrendered at the end of fourteen days, and
after the besieged had suffered no further inconvenience than 'the being
kept from taking the air without their own walls.' The next year Queen
Henrietta Maria came to a city which was considered a safer refuge than
Oxford, and here Princess Henrietta was born, and was baptized in the
Cathedral with great pomp, 'a new font having been erected for the
purpose, surmounted by a rich canopy of state.' Charles II always showed
the warmest affection for his sister, famed, as Duchess of Orleans, for
her beauty and charm, and a portrait of the Princess given by the King
to the city hangs in the Guildhall. It is a full-length portrait, and
she is represented standing, one hand lightly gathering together the
folds of her white satin dress.
During the autumn and winter of 1645-46 Exeter was gradually hemmed in
by bodies of Parliamentary troops stationed at posts in the
neighbourhood, and with the new year the siege became a closer one. It
would seem, however, that there was no very acute distress from lack of
food; but Fuller, who was in the city at the time, mentions with
satisfaction the appearance of 'an incredible number of Larks ... for
multitude like Quails in the Wildernesse, and as fat as plentifull ...
which provided a feast for many poor people, who otherwise had been
pinched for provision.' As the spring advanced, the King's cause lapsed
into a condition too hopeless to be bettered by further resistance, and
on April 9 Sir John Berkeley, for over two years the faithful guardian
of the city, signed the articles of its surrender, on honourable terms,
to Sir Thomas Fairfax.
There is no space to speak of later dramatic incidents in Exeter--the
trial and execution of Mr Penruddocke and Mr Grove, leaders of a
Royalist rising of Wiltshire gentlemen, whose speeches on the scaffold
are given at length by Izacke; nor of the joy that greeted the
Restoration, when 'Tar-barrels and Bonefires capered aloft'; nor of
Charles II's visit, nor the entrance of the Duke of Monmouth in 1680
with five thousand horsemen, and nine hundred young men in white
uniforms marching before him. One may not even pause before the gorgeous
spectacle of William III's arrival, heralded by a procession in which
appeared two hundred negroes in white-plumed, embroidered turbans, and a
squadron of Swedish horsemen 'in bearskins taken from the beasts they
had slain, with black armour and broad flaming swords.'
It has been only possible to name the most outstanding points in the
history of a city--once more to quote Professor Freeman--'by the side of
which most of the capitals of Europe are things of yesterday.... The
city alike of Briton, Roman, and Englishman, the one great prize of the
Christian Saxon, the city where Jupiter gave way to Christ, but where
Christ never gave way to Woden--British Caerwisc, Roman Isca, West Saxon
Exeter, may well stand first on our roll-call of English cities. Others
can boast of a fuller share of modern greatness; none other can trace up
a life so unbroken to so remote a past.'