arkable when we remember that the county contained, in the
picturesque Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway, the third line opened for
passenger traffic in the kingdom. A quarter of a century later Plymouth
was connected with the outer world, but for long after the historic
ports and towns of the southern seaboard had been gradually linked up,
the splendid isolation of the northern coast remained until
comparatively recent years. It is but a short time ago that the only way
of reaching Newquay was by means of a single mineral line that ran from
Par Junction. Contrast this with the present day, when there is a choice
of no less than five trains by which passengers can travel from
Paddington to Newquay, to say nothing of the morning coach which meets
the South Western train from Waterloo at Wadebridge. The famous Cornish
Riviera expresses, that do the journey from Paddington to Penzance in a
few hours, have become a familiar feature to those who live in the
western counties, and few seaside resorts, situated three hundred miles
from London, are so favoured by railway enterprise as the beauty spots
of Cornwall.

This is essentially a county that is best toured by railway. The places
and towns most worth visiting lie far apart, and are divided by a good
deal of pleasant but not very interesting country, and one can obtain a
more than sufficient amount of walking along the vast stretch of
seaboard.

The line from Plymouth to Truro crosses the fine estuary of the Tamar
upon the Albert Bridge, one of Brunel's triumphs, and runs along the
northern bank of the river Lynher. Almost at the head of the river is
St. Germans, where, for those who can spare the time, a stay of a few
hours may be profitably made. According to tradition it derives its name
from St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, who visited Britain in 429, and
again in 447. From 850 to 1049 the town was the seat of the bishopric of
Cornwall, which was afterwards incorporated in the see of Devon. The
church is a good one with an ancient porch highly enriched with carvings
and traceries. The greater part of the present building dates from 1261,
and it occupies the site of the ancient Cornish cathedral.

[Illustration: TRURO CATHEDRAL FROM THE RIVER]

The fine ancestral home of Port Eliot, the residence of Lord St.
Germans, was formerly called Porth Prior, from an Anglo-Saxon religious
house granted to Richard Eliot in 1565, but of this original building no
trace whatever remai