230 THE WILD-FLOWERS OF SELBORNE 



" rooms " which are several times referred to in Per- 

 suasion may still be seen; but the Cups — the "inn" 

 at which Mr. Musgrove's party stayed — was burnt in 

 the disastrous fire of 1844, which also destroyed the 

 old Custom-house and the " George Hotel," celebrated 

 as the resting-place of the Duke of Monmouth when 

 he landed at Lyme in 1685. The Cobb, as the semi- 

 circular stone pier or breakwater is called — the scene 

 of the celebrated accident in Persuasion — was partly 

 rebuilt after a tremendous hurricane in 1824; but the 

 " steep flight " of stone steps which connect the Upper 

 and Lower Cobb, and down which Louisa Musgrove 

 fell, remain as when the famous passage was written. 

 Lord Tennyson, we know, placed the writings of Jane 

 Austen next to those of Shakespeare, and so the fol- 

 lowing story is not without some semblance of pro- 

 bability. It is said that when the great poet visited 

 Lyme, his friends were anxious to point out to him 

 the reputed landing-place of the Duke of Monmouth. 

 Tennyson waxed indignant. " Don't talk to me," he 

 cried, "of the Duke of Monmouth. Show me the 

 exact spot where Louisa Musgrove fell ! " 



From the end of the Cobb a splendid view may be 

 obtained of " the very beautiful line of cliffs, stretch- 

 ing out to the east of the town," past Charmouth and 

 Bridport and the swannery of Abbotsbury, and which 

 on a clear day may be traced as far as the white rocky 

 peninsula of the isle of Portland. The cliffs between 

 Lyme and Charmouth have become celebrated since 

 Jane Austen's eulogy by the discovery in certain strata 

 of the Lias formation of the gigantic remains of extinct 

 Saurian reptiles. The story of the discovery of these 

 giant fossils is worth telling, if for no other reason 

 than that it introduces us to one of the celebrities of 



