ANTIQUITIES OF OKEHAMPTON. 141 



with the Duke of Hamilton : — their quarrel arose out of disputes 

 respecting an estate left to the former by the Earl of Macclesfield, 

 whose niece Lord Mohun had married. With him finally closed 

 the honours of this barony. The father of the Greek song com- 

 pares the generations of men to the annual growth and decay of 

 leaves on a branch, and our undying Shakspeare has it, that 



" Glory is like a circle in the water 



Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself 



'Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought." 



But to return to the localities of this town. 



When the castle was demolished — this occurred 19th Henry 

 VIII. — the noble and extensive close adjoining it, known as Oke- 

 hampton park was disforrested, and the game, at least greater 

 part of it, destroyed . The king seems to have taken this step at sug- 

 gestion of Sir Richard Pollard of Huish, the lord chief justice ; 

 not however without giving much umbrage to the neighbouring 

 gentry. A passion for field sports has ever been characteristic of 

 this country; a passion which the fair sex also have delighted to 

 honor. Dame Juliana Berners, prioress of the nunnery of Sop- 

 well, wrote a metrical treatise on hunting, so long since as the 

 14th century ; she mentions the wild boar, which indeed was 

 reckoned among the ordinary " beasts of venery," at a still later 

 period. No wonder then that a clamour rose against this outrage 

 among such as valued no earthly possession beyond. 



" The mere for their net, and the land for their game, 

 The chase for the wild, and the park for the tame." 



I must not forego noticing in this place the only instance of 

 legendary superstition connected with Okehampton that has 

 reached me; though it has been so lately alluded to in this hall. 

 I mean the nightly visit to this park paid by Lady Howard and 

 her skeleton blood-hound. 



Almost over the precipice, on the eastern verge of the Park, is 

 a mound of earth whence several other embankments winding 

 round it in a circular form may be distinctly traced : this has been 

 held to indicate that a Roman camp once existed on the spot. 

 The marks of a raised road skirted in many parts with layers of 

 granite placed on their edges appear to strengthen the conjecture. 

 We meet this road on ascending from the park gate under Hal- 

 stock, and again over the scattered clumps of lioUy, growing on 

 its northern declination opposite the castle. 



Nearly on the ridge of the Park a small spring, having a cross 

 of rude sculpture lying in its ooze, has obtained the name of Fyce^s 



