LETTERS TO THE LAUREATE, CONTENTS.-Allusion to the original plan of the work being suggested EVER since you so kindly suggested that, ac- cording to a plan you yourself pointed out, I should attempt giving an account of this place and neigh- bourhood, I have felt exceedingly desirous to begin the task, that, previous to your honouring Tavistock with the promised visit, you may know what objects, tion; and though to do justice to such a work as you have suggested to me would require your own powers fully to execute it, and conscious as I am how inadequate I must be to the undertaking, yet I will attempt, as far as I am able, to meet your wishes-well knowing, by my own experience, that you are one of those who receive, with kindness and indulgence, any information that may be gleaned even from the humblest source. Nor shall I forget that it is your wish I should give not only all the history and biography of this place, and gather up whatever of "tradition and manners can be saved from oblivion," but also (again to quote your own words) state "every thing about a parish that can be made interesting"-"not omitting some of those short and simple annals' of domestic life which ought not to be forgotten." Whilst I attempt, therefore, to give to subjects of historical import the serious attention they demand, I shall likewise endeavour to vary and lighten those more grave parts of my letters, by stating, sometimes, even trifling things, in the hope they may not be altogether void of interest or amusement; for a traveller, though he sets out on a serious pursuit, may be pardoned if he now and then stoops to pick up a wild flower to amuse his mind for a moment, as he journeys on his way. In the accounts which I purpose transmitting to Keswick, I shall not only give you such information as I have myself been able to collect, but I shall also, when I come to speak of Tavistock Abbey, derive some assistance by occasional references to a series of papers written by my brother,* respecting * Alfred John Kempe, F.S.A. that monastic foundation, which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine about two years ago. I have, I believe, before mentioned to you, that at a very early period of life, Mr. Bray entertained some thoughts of writing a history of his native town, including descriptive excursions in its vicinity-the latter more particularly embracing the western limits of Dartmoor. Though, from living retired, and not meeting with that encouragement which is so useful and so cheering to young authors, he never threw into a regular form his purposed work; yet he made for it a considerable body of notes, principally derived from his personal observations on the scenes and antiquities that excited his interest and attention. Some of these papers have now become exceedingly valuable, because, unfortunately, many of the memorials of past times, which they most minutely describe, have of late years been seriously injured, or entirely destroyed. In my letters, therefore, I propose, from time to time, to transmit to you very copious extracts from these papers, as it would be both needless and presumptuous in me to attempt giving my own account of those vestiges of antiquity and picturesque scenes, which have already been so carefully investigated and faithfully delineated by my husband. Before I enter, therefore, upon any historical notices of Tavistock, I shall say something respecting the climate, situation, and natural advantages of our neighbourhood: since I am much disposed to think that the monks, who knew so well how to choose their ground, whenever an abbey was in question, were induced to fix on this spot on account of its many and most desirable localities for the erection of that noble pile, whose existence gave celebrity to the place, and was as a refuge of honour and security to the learning, science, and piety of those times-which now, with more flippancy than truth, it is so much the fashion to rank under the name of the " dark ages," though our own boasted light was caught from that flame which they had saved from extinction. I have invariably found, with persons who rather choose to see the faults and deficiencies than to trace the advantages either of the natural or the moral world, that whenever I speak in praise of Devonshire, or of Tavistock in particular, they oppose to such commendation-the climate; and ask me how I can be partial to a place so constantly exposed to rain? The objection has received even the sanction of royalty, since it is traditionally averred that whilst Charles II. was in Tavistock (in his father's lifetime, during the civil wars) he was so annoyed by wet weather, that if any body remarked it was a fine day, he was wont to declare ever after, “ that, however fine it might be elsewhere, he felt quite sure it must be raining at Tavistock." That we have a more than due proportion of wet I will not deny; but it is, I believe, a fault common to mountainous countries; and if we have some discomforts arising from this circumstance, I am convinced that we owe to it many of our advantages also. I have never seen your majestic mountains and lakes; but, judging from a beautiful collection of drawings,* in my own possession, of Cumberland and Westmoreland, I am induced to believe that a very great resemblance may be traced between the |