, Padstow._]

Padstow is situated on the western side of the Camel estuary, below
the sandbank known as the Doom Bar (probably _dune-bar_). The gates of
the river-mouth are the Stepper Point, with its white day-mark, and
Pentire Point; the Doom Bar lies well within these, almost blocking
the passage, which, with vessels of any draught, must be made on the
Stepper side. The name Doom Bar is, of course, provocative of legend,
and an appropriate one has been found. It is said that Padstow had
once a safe and commodious harbour, whose mouth was haunted by a
beautiful mermaid. The harbour was under her special protection, and
she was consequently revered by the inhabitants. But one day a youth
foolishly fired on her from the cliffs. With a cry of rage she plunged
into the water, but reappeared for a moment to vow that henceforth the
harbour should be ruined. An old Cornishman who told the story in the
days when such traditions still passed current, used to add: "We
have had commissions and I know not what about converting this place
into a harbour of refuge. A harbour of refuge would be a great
blessing, but not all the Government commissions in the world could
keep the sand out, or make the harbour deep enough to swim a frigate,
unless the parsons can find out the way to take up the merry-maid's
curse." But there is another tradition attaching to the Bar. This is
the country of Tregeagle--he lies buried at St. Breock, close to
Wadebridge: "John Tregeagle, of Trevorder, Esqr., 1679." His story
forms a curious mixture of the recent and the prehistoric. We see that
a man named Tregeagle truly lived and died something more than two
centuries ago; but the Tregeagle or Tergagle of legend belongs to
folk-lore rather than to modern social life. Very old ideas and
superstitions have in some manner become attached to a recent name;
tradition has a knack of bringing forward its dates; stories of
immemorial antiquity are related as though they were the experience of
the narrator's father or grandfather, and are modernised to suit that
supposition. Legend never sticks at absurdity or anachronism. From
some versions of the story it would appear that Tregeagle could not
have lived earlier than the seventeenth century, in actual accordance
with the date on his tombstone; but in others certain of the early
Cornish saints are introduced, carrying the history twelve centuries
back or further still. It would seem that Tregeagle was a landowner