mere antiquarian, however, and quotes Chaucer and Robert of
Gloucester as well as Theocritus and Horace; he is seriously perturbed
at the decline of agriculture in Devonshire; in spite of the fertility
of the soil, he says, it yields insufficience of bread, beer, and
victual, to feed itself, for which the country has to have recourse to
Wales or Ireland, so much so that in 1610 there was 60,000 pounds of
corn brought into one harbour alone. The reason for this is the
increase in trades, so that . . . "the meanest sort of people will now
rather place their children to some of these mechanical trades than to
husbandry"; in spite, also, of the almost sacred character of
husbandry, which was clearly recognized in "elder times," so that even
the rudest and most savage peoples respected ploughmen and tillers of
the soil in time of war. He then quotes some melancholy verses of
Virgil, and gives the whole chapter a twist of humour by ending up
with--"But not a word of this in any case, especially that I told you
so; and we will proceed to the next and speak of mines."

I will also "proceed to the next," and speak of Bishop Jewel, a
fellow-countryman of Westcote's, and one about whom he speaks in the
highest praise: "a perfect rich gem and true jewel indeed . . . so that
if anywhere the observation of Chrysostom be true, that there lies a
great hidden treasure in names, surely it may rightly be said to be
here: grace in John, and eminent perfection in jewel."

John Jewel was born at Berrynarbor, near Ilfracombe, in 1522; he went
to Merton College, Oxford, where he had for tutor John Parkhurst, under
whom he early acquired a bent towards Protestantism. After the
accession of Mary he allowed himself, in a moment of weakness, to sign
an adherence to the Romish faith, but his recantation weighed upon his
conscience, he fled to the Continent, and there publicly withdrew it.
In the reign of Elizabeth he returned to England, and was one of the
Protestant doctors chosen to dispute before her at Westminster with a
like number of Catholic divines. He became Bishop of Salisbury in
1560, and held that office till his death in 1571. His chief work was
an "Apology for the Anglican Church"; and his chief opponent was Thomas
Harding, who was born at Comb Martin, the next parish, and who, like
Jewel, went to the grammar-school at Barnstaple in his early boyhood,
so that they were near neighbours and dear enemies. "As I cannot well
take a