1 86 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



were splendid. Then they entered Boconnoc Down, 

 near Lostwithiel. The estate of Boconnoc belonged to 

 Mr. Pitt, afterwards Lord Camelford, elder brother of 

 the Earl of Chatham, who was born here. Here we 

 must quote from the notes of Mr. Wedgwood : 



" We now come to Mr. Pitt's seat, which is extremely 

 rural and retired. We found him at home, and he 

 took us a walk before dinner, down a sweet valley, 

 with hanging woods on either side, and a clear purling 

 stream below. . . . When we came to a fine old beech 

 tree in the bottom, by the side of the brook, the roots 

 of which were visible in various folds above the surface, 

 Mr. Pitt laid himself down and repeated those fine lines 

 from Gray's Elegy written in a country churchyard : 



" There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, 



That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high, 

 His listless length at noon-tide would he stretch, 

 And pore upon the brook that babbles by. 



" The dinner bell awoke us from our agreeable reverie, 

 and raised in us sensations of another kind, which we 

 made haste to satisfy. After being entertained at Mr. 

 Pitt's hospitable mansion for a few hours, with great 

 hilarity and classic elegance, we parted in high good 

 humour, and proceeded on our journey." 



Wedgwood proceeds to describe the neighbourhood of 

 Lostwithiel as " a charming country, full of fine hills and 

 fruitful valleys, an arm of the sea running up between 

 a chain of hills, which altogether conspire to compose one 



