asies of triumph followed one
another till the final defeat of Napoleon. For several days the
_Bellerophon_ actually lay in Plymouth Harbour, to the intense
excitement of the townspeople, who circled round the ship as closely as
might be in the hope of catching a glimpse of the captive Emperor.

To the north-east of Plymouth lies Saltram, the great house and wide,
beautiful grounds that belong to Lord Morley. Saltram is in the parish
of Plympton St Mary, once celebrated for the large and important Priory
which for some time governed the affairs of Plymouth. Plympton St Mary
is neighbour to the parish of Plympton St Maurice and the little town
of Plympton Erle. On the north of the town are the ruins of the Norman
castle built chiefly by Richard de Redvers, and razed to the ground in
the reign of Stephen. It was rebuilt not long afterwards. A fragment of
a small keep is all that remains of the stonework, but the Normans'
castle was raised upon a fort that was standing when they arrived, and
'the earthworks of the conquered are more enduring than the stone
defences of the conqueror.' The mound on which the keep stands, and the
banks that enclose a base-court about seven hundred and ten feet long
and three hundred and eighty feet wide, have been little harmed or
altered and are still in a very perfect condition; but the moat that
once surrounded them has been partly filled in.

The father of Sir Joshua Reynolds was master of the Grammar School of
Plympton Erle, and here the great painter was born. In the crowded days
of his middle life he gave a proof of his interest in his native town by
being its Mayor, and on his election presented the town with his own
portrait painted by himself. The picture was hung in the Guildhall, and
Sir Joshua asked the Recorder of the borough to see that it was hung in
a good position. In his reply the Recorder paid a compliment whose full
meaning he did not grasp. He explained that 'he had seen to this, and
the portrait hung between old pictures of Ourry and Edgecumbe which
serve as foils, and set it off to great advantage. This letter greatly
amused Sir Joshua, who knew that these old pictures were early works of
his own.'

CHAPTER X

The Tamar and the Tavy

'Tavy creeps upon
The western vales of fertile Albion;
Here dashes roughly on an aged rock,
That his intended passage doth up-lock;...
Here digs a cave at some high mountain's foot,