A
GUIDE
TO THE
MOUNT's BAY
AND THE
LAND's END;

TO THE READER.

This little volume has been republished, at the earnest solicitation of numerous friends and applicants, and with such additions and improvements as the present extended state of information appeared to render necessary. In obeying this call, the author trusts that he may, in some degree, remove the prejudice to which the carelessness of his provincial compositor must, on the former occasion, have exposed the work.

Since the publication of the first Edition, Penzance, and the District of the Mount's Bay, have become objects of greatly increased interest; the successful establishment of the Geological Society,—the erection of commodious Sea Baths,—the growing confidence of the Public, and of the medical profession, in the superior mildness of the climate,—and the general amelioration of every thing connected with the wants and comforts of a winter residence, have powerfully operated in augmenting the influx of strangers and invalids, into this formerly obscure, and comparatively neglected district. Such considerations, it will be acknowledged, were quite sufficient to sanction the propriety and expediency of the present undertaking, but the author must in candour allow, that they would scarcely have prevailed, had not another powerful motive been in silent but effectual co-operation—the "Antiquæ vestigia Flammæ,"—a secret lingering after the pursuits of Geology have, for once at least, seduced him from a resolution he had formed on quitting Cornwall,—that of abandoning a science which can never be pursued except with enthusiasm; but which, from its direction and tendency, is wholly incompatible with the duties of an anxious and laborious profession.

As the work is calculated for the guidance of those who may seek the shores of the Mount's Bay, for its genial atmosphere, the introduction of some general observations upon the subject of Climate, appeared essentially necessary. For this purpose, the form of a Dialogue has been preferred to that of a Didactic essay; by which much circumlocution is avoided, while the only interesting parts of the question are thus made to appear in a more prominent and popular point of view.

The Cornish Dialogue, introduced in the Appendix, for the sake of illustrating the provincial Dialect, has been composed after the model of the well known "Tim Bobbin," which was written for the accomplishment of the same object, with reference to Lancashire. From the direction in which it came into the hands of the author, he is inclined to consider it as an hitherto unpublished production of the celebrated Dr. Walcott.——Valete.

CONTENTS.

The Mount's Bay—Its Topography and Scenery, 1.—Northern Shores, their aspect cheerless but interesting, 3.—Minerals and Antiquities, 4.—The Climate of Mount's Bay, 5.—Meteorological Records, 5.—Vegetation, 6.—Tender Exotics flourish in the open air, 7.—Proofs of superior mildness from the animal kingdom, 9.—Coolness of the Summer, 10.—Rain; Storms, 11.—Hurricane of 1817, 14.—Encroachments of the Sea, 16.—The Bay formerly a woodland, 17.—Causes of the Sea's inundation, 18.—Rapid decomposition of the Cornish hills, 19.—Penzance—an eligible residence,