VOL. XX., NO. 574.] | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1832. | [PRICE 2d. |
This is an interesting scene from the wild and wonderful in Nature.Its romantic luxuriance must win the attention of the artist, and theadmiration of the less wistful beholder; while the philosophic mind,unaccustomed to vulgar wonder, may seek in its formation the cause ofsome of the most important changes of the earth's surface. Our esteemedfriend and correspondent Vyvyan, is probably familiar with thelocality of Lydford: his fancy might people it with pixies, and groupits scenery into a kind of topographical romance; probably not unaidedby its proximity to Dartmoor.1
Lydford is situated about seven miles north of Tavistock. It is, in thewords of its topographers,2 a poor decayed village, consisting of rudecottages. It was formerly a place of importance: for in Domesday Book,it is rated in the same manner and at the same time with London. Someremains of its ancient importance may still be seen in a square tower,or keep of a castle, which was formerly used as a court and a prison,where those criminals were tried and confined, who offended against theStannary Laws. This building is alluded to by William Browne3—
They have a castle on a hill;
I took it for an old windmill,
The vane's blown off by weather;
To lie therein one night, its guest,
'Twere better to be ston'd and prest,
Or hang'd—now choose you whether.
The scenery round the village is singularly picturesque: one of its mostprominent objects, The Bridge is represented in the Engraving.It bears great analogy, in situation and character, to the celebratedDevil's Bridge in Wales. It consists of one rude arch, thrown across anarrow, rocky chasm, which sinks nearly eighty feet from the level ofthe road. At the bottom of this channel the small river Lyd is heardrattling through its contracted course. The singularity of this sceneis not perceived in merely passing over the bridge: to appreciateits character, and comprehend its awfully impressive effects, it isnecessary to see the bridge, the chasm, and the roaring water, fromdifferent projecting crags which impend over the river. At a littledistance below the bridge, "the fissure gradually spreads its rockyjaws; the bottom opens; and, instead of the dark precipices which havehitherto overhung and obscured the struggling river, it now emerges intoday, and rolls its murmuring current through a winding valley, confinedwithin magnificent banks, darkened with woods, which swell into boldpromontories, or fall back into sweeping recesses, till they are lost tothe eye in distance. Thickly shaded by trees