The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction, No. 574, by Various

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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 574
Vol. XX, No. 574. Saturday, November 3, 1832

Author: Various

Release Date: November 10, 2004 [EBook #14010]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOLUME XX, NO. 574.] SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1832. [PRICE 2d.

* * * * *

[Illustration: LYDFORD BRIDGE.]

LYDFORD BRIDGE.

This is an interesting scene from the wild and wonderful in Nature.
Its romantic luxuriance must win the attention of the artist, and the
admiration of the less wistful beholder; while the philosophic mind,
unaccustomed to vulgar wonder, may seek in its formation the cause of
some of the most important changes of the earth's surface. Our esteemed
friend and correspondent _Vyvyan_, is probably familiar with the
locality of Lydford: his fancy might people it with pixies, and group
its scenery into a kind of topographical romance; probably not unaided
by its proximity to Dartmoor.[1]

Lydford is situated about seven miles north of Tavistock. It is, in the
words of its topographers,[2] a poor decayed village, consisting of rude
cottages. It was formerly a place of importance: for in Domesday Book,
it is rated in the same manner and at the same time with London. Some
remains of its ancient importance may still be seen in a square tower,
or keep of a castle, which was formerly used as a court and a prison,
where those criminals were tried and confined, who offended against the
Stannary Laws. This building is alluded to by William Browne[3]--

They have a castle on a hill;
I took it for an old windmill,
The vane's blown off by weather;
To lie therein one night, its guest,
'Twere better to be ston'd and prest,
Or hang'd--now choose you whether.

The scenery round the village is singularly picturesque: o