23 
to the left the ruins of castles bn the heights: there are also here 
numerous terrace-shaped strawberry beds, the fruit of which is 
exceedingly good. Close to the entrance of the park we crossed 
the Catwater upon an old, very narrow, stone bridge of five 
arches. Through the park, a beautiful road leads from the valley 
to the loftily situated castle. It rained excessively, and as we 
could see nothing from the park, we restricted ourselves to the 
castle, which was built probably about sixty years ago, and has a 
very large apartment in the basement. A very spacious vesti¬ 
bule leads to the library, in which are a number of splendid fa¬ 
mily portraits and pictures of some once celebrated actresses. The 
best picture is a portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, painted by 
himself. Four plaster columns resembling verd-antique are ex¬ 
cellent imitations. From the library a small apartment opens 
into the picture gallery. In both rooms are several paintings by 
Carlo Dolce, Andrea Del Sarto, Teniers, Wouvermans, Ostade, 
Kuyp, Vandermeulen, &c. I cannot assert that all these are 
original paintings. In the parlour, ball-room, and dining-hall, 
there are also numerous pictures. Some of these are attributed 
to Angelica Kauffman, others to Reubens, Van Dyke, Sassofer- 
rato, Guido Rheni, Titian, Ruysdael, Parmegiano, &c. However, 
I have seen the originals of many of them at Antwerp and Ghent, 
and of one of the Parmegianos in Windsor Castle. Among the 
statues and busts, I especially remarked a copy of the Florentine 
Venus, by Canova, and a copy of Hebe by the same master. The 
staircase of the castle is fine, and adorned with pictures by An¬ 
gelica Kauffman. The mantel-pieces, all of Italian marble, orna¬ 
mented with bas-reliefs , are also very remarkable. The bad 
weather accompanied us throughout our return to Plymouth. On 
this occasion I remarked that the pavement was taken up in se¬ 
veral streets, and Macadamized, which is much better for the 
horses and houses. 
[Several succeeding days were spent in excursions to different 
places in the vicinity, in company with the Admiral and Sir John 
Phillimore; and one day on a water party accompanied by ladies.] 
On the 19th of May, in a small boat belonging to the Fortitudo, 
Imade,withgreatpleasure,an excursion to Trematon Castle, which 
I had formerly understood was once the residence of the ancient 
Princes of Cornwall. Sir John Phillimore had been so polite as to 
inform the proprietor, Mr. Tucker, chief director of the neighbour¬ 
ing mines, whose son is an officer on board the Thetis, of our com¬ 
ing. On landing, we found a carriage sent by Mr. Tucker to meet 
and convey us to the castle. I observed here a water-mill, behind 
which was a large walled basin that is filled by the flood tide, 
and closed by a gate. During the ebb tide the gate is opened and 
