THE FOUNDERS OF CHARLES CHURCH. 
95 
served. Naturally enough the Trelawnys brought the trade from 
Virginia to their own port, in the neighbourhood of which lived 
Sir Eerdinando Gorges, their coadjutor in the enterprise; this 
family had lived at Warleigh, but then resided at Butshead, 
close to the seat of the -Trelawnys at Ham. In the pathway of 
commerce was quickly pointed out the dangers of the way, and 
so early as 1664, upwards of thirty years before the eccentric 
Henry Winstanley came to the front as the pioneer of sea light- 
houses, Sir John Coryton, Baronet (honour to his name), petitioned 
the Trinity House for leave to erect lighthouses on Earn Head and 
the Eddy stone. 2 Doubtless long before that time the need of such 
friendly and warning beacons had been established, and the dwellers 
in this our western town had ever and anon been startled by the 
harrowing loss of gallant ship and cargo, not to mention those 
vessels and crews which unknown, though not unlamented, met an 
untimely fate on those dangerous rocks. Piracy therefore was not 
the only danger lying in wait in those days for the mariner. 
The navy has always been popular in England, and this may 
perhaps be accounted for, not so much by the fact that we re- 
member our Scandinavian ancestors and the sea Vikings of old, as 
that in early times the deeds of the army were, after the French 
wars of invasion, remembered principally during the wars of the 
Eoses, as commemorating scenes of fights and battles on our own 
land, with their dread heritage of ruin and death; but the naval 
fights were against foreigners, and often meant security from foreign 
invasion, or rescue from some imminent disaster or disgrace. The 
navy was never higher in popular esteem than at the time I am 
speaking of, and the Queen's ships were always regarded as the 
protectors of the commerce from the pirates and Turkish and 
Sallee corsairs, as well as against the lawful enemies of king and 
country. 
Looking again at the agricultural condition of the land, there 
was generally quietness and contentment. The feudal system, with 
its harshness and servitude, had received its death-blow in the wars 
of the Eoses, during which so many an ancient name had dis- 
appeared ; the severity of the old land laws had been abated or 
actually overridden by the judges. All the copyhold manors 
throughout the country, covering, it is stated, two-thirds of the 
land, instead of being absolutely hold en at the will of the lord 
1 8 His. MSS. Rep. pt. i. 252b. 
