cel
down the church. On the furze and bracken-clad slope above the cliffs,
not far distant, is the hut that Hawker himself constructed, building
it of wreckage; this was the sanctuary to which he loved to retreat
for contemplation and literary work. It was here that he wrote his
Sangraal poem, and the strong picture of its close might apply to this
scene as forcibly as it does to its original.

In this parish is Tonacombe, a finely preserved specimen of the
mediaeval manor-house, its hall containing the old minstrels' gallery.
This deeply interesting house has many memories of Charles Kingsley as
well as of Hawker. Kingsley was a visitor here while writing his
_Westward Ho!_ and Tonacombe figures in that book as "Chapel." Hawker
met Kingsley at this time, and introduced him to the Grenville
localities. It is not likely that the two men got on well together;
they were complete contrasts in nature and gifts. Hawker did not care
greatly for _Westward Ho!_ when it appeared, and thought its local
colour defective. He rarely mentioned Kingsley in later life without a
note of depreciation. He was far more in sympathy, intellectually and
spiritually, with Kingsley's great antagonist, John Henry Newman. At
Tonacombe are preserved a curious old lantern and walking-stick that
formerly belonged to Hawker. The lantern "was made for Thomas Waddon
of Tonacombe, who died in 1755. His brother Edward Waddon lived at
Stanbury, and their sister Honor was the wife of the Rev. Oliver
Rouse, Vicar of Morwenstow. The three families used to meet regularly
at each other's houses for dice and cards. In the excess of their
merriment the cronies would dash their glasses on the table, and the
broken pieces were preserved as a record of the jest. In course of
time there was a goodly collection of these fragments, and in order
that their memorial should not perish the lantern was made of solid
oak, square, with a pointed roof and little windows formed of the
round bases of the broken glasses and other pieces cut in the shape of
dice, hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades. Thereafter, when the
festive party broke up, those whose turn it was to walk homewards
through the dark lanes had their way lighted before them by this
emblem of their wit and humour." Stanbury, an old manor south of
Tonacombe, claims some notice as the birthplace of John Stanbury (or
Stanberry), confessor of Henry VI., who was appointed by that king to
be first Provost of Eton. From