. Highways and byways in Devon and Cornwall. dfamous bridge, the first and last thoughts in their minds will beof him who fought the deadliest and most hopeless sea-fight inour history, giving his life freely to show that they who seekprestige must not shrink from fighting when success is by lost fights a nation gains as much as by its victories, ifthey be but well lost; and those Spaniards who lay in theirgreat galleons round the little Revenge^ fearing at last to attackher any more, must have felt and known that in any equality ofnumber, the countrymen of Grenville would sweep t
. Highways and byways in Devon and Cornwall. dfamous bridge, the first and last thoughts in their minds will beof him who fought the deadliest and most hopeless sea-fight inour history, giving his life freely to show that they who seekprestige must not shrink from fighting when success is by lost fights a nation gains as much as by its victories, ifthey be but well lost; and those Spaniards who lay in theirgreat galleons round the little Revenge^ fearing at last to attackher any more, must have felt and known that in any equality ofnumber, the countrymen of Grenville would sweep them fromthe sea. It is tolerably well-known, nowadays, that Kingsley set thenaval greatness of the town he loved too high. Bideford, inthe days of the Armada, was not the busy and important placewhich he describes. Barnstaple far outstripped its rival on theTorridge; and there is reason to think that all the ships whichsailed out of the Golden Bay to join Drakes fleet at Plymouthwhen England was watching for the Armada were really built and. ? H m ^ h 372 BIDEFORD WITCHES chap. manned upon the Taw, though doubtless there were Bideford menon board them. It was not until the following century was wellin, that Bideford became of much consequence. But all this is oflittle importance to the world. The spirit of Westivard Ho!makes the book immortal, not its facts ; and it is a peddling occu-pation to dwell on the errors of a writer whose proved love forEngland can be matched by only one other, who has alsoleft us. I suppose it will not do to go away from Bideford withoutmentioning the witches, Temperance Floyd, IntemperateTemperance as the old pamphlet calls her, and her almostequally wicked companions, all of whom were very justlyhanged at Exeter, in the year 1682. For my part, said SirThomas Browne, I- have ever believed, and do now know,that there are witches. That settles the matter. I am bothtoo humble and too deeply imbued with West Countryprejudices to feel any disposition to
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