92 



LIFE OF SIR HUGH MYDPKLTOX. 



PART I L 



Tor and Plymouth, as the crow flies, is only seven miles ; 

 but the length of the Leet so circuitous are its wind- 

 ings is nearly twenty-four miles. After its completion 

 Drake presented the Leet to the inhabitants of Plymouth 

 " as a free gift for ever," and it has since remained vested 

 in the corporation, who might, however, bestow more 

 care than they do on its preservation against impurity. 

 Two years after the completion of the Leet, the burgesses, 

 probably as a mark of their gratitude, elected Drake 

 their representative in parliament. The water proved 

 of immense public convenience, and Plymouth, instead 

 of being one of the worst supplied, was rendered one of 

 the best watered towns in the kingdom. Until a com- 

 paratively recent date the water flowed from various 

 public conduits, and it ran freely on either side of the 

 streets as is still observed at Salisbury and other south- 

 ern towns that all classes of the people might enjoy the 

 benefit of a full and permanent supply throughout the 

 year. 1 One of the original conduits still remains at the 

 head of Old Town-street, bearing the inscription, " Sir 

 Francis Drake first brought this water into Plymouth, 

 1591." 



The example of Plymouth may possibly have had an 



1 Westcote, who was contemporary 

 with Drake, thus alludes to his un- 

 dertaking :" The streets [of Ply- 

 mouth] are fairly paved and kept 

 clean and sweet, much refreshed by 

 the fresh stream running through it 

 plenteously, to their great ease, plea- 

 sure, and profit; which was brought 

 into the town by the skill and indus- 

 trious labours of the ever to be remem- 

 bered with due respect and honour- 

 able regard, Sir Francis Drake, 

 Knight; who, when it was a dry 

 town, fetching their water and drying 

 their clothes some miles thence, by a 

 composition made with the magistracy 

 lie brought in this fair stream of fresh 

 water. The course thereof from the 

 head is seven miles, but by indenting 

 and circling through hills, dales, and 



waste bogs, but with greatest labour 

 and cost through a mighty rock gene- 

 rally supposed impossible to be pierced, 

 at least thirty. But in this his un- 

 daunted spirit and bounty (like an- 

 other Hannibal making way through 

 the impassable Alps) had soon tin- 

 victory, and finished it to the great, 

 and continual commodity of the town, 

 and his own commendation." Wcst- 

 cote's 'Devonshire in 1630.' lt<. 

 Exeter, 1845, p. 378. For the site 

 of the " mighty rock, generally sup- 

 posed," &c., see the Ordnance map of 

 Devon, a little to the north of Ply- 

 mouth, where the word " Tunnel " is 

 found marked on the course of the old 

 Dartmoor granite tramway, parallel 

 with which, in that locality, the Leet 



