of the deceased found himself so unexpectedly reduced. As soon as he was sufficiently recollected to give notice of the event, he hoisted a signal, and received assistance from St. Just.

Although a sweep of ocean, twenty-seven miles in breadth, separate at present the Land's End from the Scilly Islands, there can yet be little doubt of their having been heretofore united to each other by the main land. The records of history, indeed, do not rise so high as the æra when this disjunction was first effected; but we have documents yet remaining which prove to us that this strait must have been considerably widened, and the number of the Scilly Islands greatly increased, within the last sixteen or seventeen centuries, by the waters of the Atlantic (receding probably from the coast of America) pressing towards this coast of Britain, accumulating upon Bolerium, and overwhelming part of the western shores of Cornwall.

Strabo expressly tells us that the Cassiterides, (so called from the Greek name of tin, there produced) were in his time only ten in number, whereas now they are divided into a hundred and forty rocky islets. Solinus also makes mention of a large and

* Αι δε κασσιτερίδες δεκα μεν εισι, κείντα δ' εγγυς αλλήλων. iii. 265.

M

respectable island, called Silura, evidently the Scilly of present times, lying on the Damnonian or Cornish coast, and separated from the main land by a strait turbulent and dangerous, a character which sufficiently marks the compression of its waters.* And William of Worcester, an author of our own country, thirteen centuries after Solinus, states with a degree of positive exactness, stamping authenticity upon his recital, that between Mount's Bay and the Scilly Islands there had been woods, and meadows, and arable lands, and 140 parish churches, which before

*He gives this account of the island and its inhabitants : "Siluram quoque insulam ab ora quam gens Britanna Dum"nonii tenent, turbidum fretum distinguit, cujus homines

etiamnum custodiunt morem vetustum; nummum refu"tant; dant res et accipiunt; mutationibus necessaria potius "quàm pretiis parant: deos percolunt; scientiam futuro"rum pariter viri ac fæminæ ostendunt."-Sol. Poly. Hist. cap. xxii. c. It may be urged that Solinus only speaks of one island, whereas Strabo mentions ten. But this may be considered as a xar xn expression; putting the most considerable for the whole; an opinion which is strengthened by a marginal reading in an ancient manuscript, mentioned by Salmasius, that has Sillinas quoque insulas, for Siluram quoque insulam.-Vide Salmas. Plinian. Excercitat. tom. i. p. 245.

his time were submerged by the ocean.* Uninterrupted tradition since this period, which subsists to the present day, vigorous and particular, authenticates his account, and leaves no doubt upon the mind, that a vast tract of land which stretched anciently from the eastern shore of Mount's Bay to the north-western rock of Scilly, (with the exception of the narrow strait flowing between the Long-ships and Land's End,) has, since the age of Strabo and Solinus, and previous to that of William of Worcester, been overwhelmed and usurped by the waves of the sea. Robbed of their population and riches by this dreadful inundation, which seems to have happened in the tenth century, exposed afterwards to the depredations of mariners of all countries, who, when navigation became more universal, plundered these defenceless isles at their will, they dwindled

* "Fuerunt tam boscus quam prata, et terra arabilis inter "dictum Montem et Insulas Syllæ, et fuerunt 140 ecclesiæ parochiales inter istum Montem et Sylly submersæ." Worcester, 102.

†The depth of the water at the Land's End is about 11 fathoms; at the Long-ships 8; to the north of them 20; to the south 30; and 25, 20, and 15 fathoms between them and the north-west of Scilly. The shallowest water occurs in the mid space between Cornwall and the isles.

into such insignificance, that in the reign of Elizabeth a grant was made of the whole of them, to a Cornish gentleman, for a quit-rent of 10l. per annum. With him, however, their consideration again revived. He carried a colony of English to his islands, and secured them from molestation by building two forts, one on Trescaw, and another on St. Mary's. Since this time they have been gradually increasing in opulence and population. They have some trade; three resident clergymen amongst them; and maintain a communication with the main land constantly, except when interrupted by very bad weather, by means of a packet-boat, supported by the General Post-Office, which carries thither letters and passengers every week from Penzance.

But to return from our insular researches to nearer objects, and modern adventures. I have already observed, that the promontory of the Land's End thrusts itself into the waves in a wedge-like form, gradually tapering towards a point, till it meets the waves. About two hundred yards before it terminates, a sudden depression takes place in its surface, which continues falling with a pretty rapid descent for some distance. The southern side of this portion of the promontory is absolutely perpendicular; its base covered with masses of rock, which at high tides and in stormy weather are mingled with the

the surf. Its greatest width does not exceed 50 yards; and its elevation above the water cannot be less than 250 feet. Common prudence would seem to interdict an approach to the point over such a dangerous passage as this, by any other mode than that of walking. There are heroes, however, who soar above all the suggestions of this sage adviser in their pursuit of fame, and scorn the road of glory trodden by the vulgar foot. Empedocles plunged into the centre of Mount Etna, that he might acquire the reputation of being immortal;

"Deus immortalis haberi

"Dum putat Empedocles, ardentem frigidus Ætnam, "Insiluit :"

and Herostratus fired the Temple of Ephesus, to obtain a name that should last for ever. The same rash ambition seems to have influenced a traveller who visited the Land's End during the course of the last year; and though no fatal effects were the consequences of his imprudence, yet its result was such as I hope will caution every future visiter of the place against any similar display of false courage. He was mounted on a valuable spirited horse, and had proceeded to the declivity just mentioned, though the animal before he reached it had evinced every mark of astonishment at the novelty of the scene