. Launceston, past and present; a historical and descriptive sketch. eavens are all aglow with sun-shine. As the traveller looks, the crests of thehills emerge from the clouds that cover them,the valleys commence to indicate their variedoutlines, and the first rays of the rising sunbathe them all in gold till the wasted moor seems one vast corn-field, ready for bounteous harvest. Gradually the prospect growsless confused and all objects become clearer: but with increasingclearness is diminished beauty ; the hills are now seen to be barrenand the valleys to be bare, the golden hues vanish and t
. Launceston, past and present; a historical and descriptive sketch. eavens are all aglow with sun-shine. As the traveller looks, the crests of thehills emerge from the clouds that cover them,the valleys commence to indicate their variedoutlines, and the first rays of the rising sunbathe them all in gold till the wasted moor seems one vast corn-field, ready for bounteous harvest. Gradually the prospect growsless confused and all objects become clearer: but with increasingclearness is diminished beauty ; the hills are now seen to be barrenand the valleys to be bare, the golden hues vanish and the sombretones of dull reality assume their rightful sway. And the travellerdeparts with the saddened feeling of dispelled illusion, the com-monest companion of a thoughtful walk through life. Thus it is with the history of Launceston. The mists of antiquityhave closed around its origin, and we grop<- as in the darkness of thenight for trace of its founder. Glimpses of it are seen as the sun ofcivilisation in these islands begins to rise; what may be called the. 2 LAUNCESTON, hill-top of the town in the shape of its fortifications is the first objectclearly to be distinguished. Gradually the valleys—its ancientpriory, its early representatives, its venerable church—are moreplainly to be noticed ; the sunshine of romance lights up the prospectas, in the stirring days of the Great Eebellion, the castle for the lasttime is the centre of contention and the scene of sanguinary strife ;and then comes the fulness of day, the romance disappears, thereality remains, and Launceston past gives place to Launcestonpresent—a little town in the West of England that has drifted out ofthe rushing stream of progress, that has been swept aside from themain arteries of commerce, and the pride of whose in-dwellers mustfeed rather upon the greatness of the past than upon any glories tobe anticipated from the time that is to come. There seems little reason to doubt that, as long as Britainha
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookyear1888, initial, initialt
