1 88 Life and Times of " The Diiiid." 



gave himself up for lost. It took some 

 minutes before ' The Druid ' could convince 

 the poor runaway that no harm would befall 

 him ; but the gift of a shilling had a wonder- 

 fully soothing effect, and when the stile was 

 reached they parted on the most friendly 

 terms, the roadman exclaiming heartily, ' I 

 'opes I may soon meet yer honour agin.' ' 



The second anecdote treats of an incident 

 which produced an amazing effect at 

 Penzance at the time of its occurrence, and 

 was narrated to me shortly after, when I 

 paid my first visit to Cornwall in 1868, not 

 long after the close of the American War. 

 It runs as follows : — 



"In the winter of 1867, Henry Hall 

 Dixon went to pass a few days with a friend 

 at Penzance. There being a splendid read- 

 ing room there, he at once asked to be 

 introduced to it. Next day his friend took 

 him into the room at an hour when it was 

 generally much frequented, and found most 

 of the chairs on either side of the long table 

 that ran down the centre of the room oc- 

 cupied, and all the newspapers engaged. 

 There was, however, one seat vacant towards 



