JOHN PRINCE. 347 
castelle waul and the stronge dungeon be maintained, but the 
logginges of the castelle be cleane in ruine;’’ and in Prince’s 
sketch of Sir R. Edgecombe, Knight, he refers to the castle of 
Totnes as having been the property of the Edgecombe family, and 
says: ‘‘ This was given at first by William the Conqueror unto 
Judhel, a noble Norman surnamed from this place ‘de Totnes,’ 
where he seated himself in the castle of his own constructing, now 
long since demolished, there being little more of it than the walls 
‘left’ standing.”’ 
Crossing the Dart, then ‘‘ nigh choaked with tinny sands,” and 
connecting Totnes and the adjoining parish of Berry Pomeroy (of 
which Prince was the vicar for forty-two years) was the old pictur- 
esque bridge, dating from King John’s reign, with its eight arches, 
and at that time in some parts only four and a half feet wide; and 
connected with the old bridge is an incident on which Prince 
founded two sermons, to which I shall have occasion to refer by- 
and-by. As to the Dart, why it was famous then as now for the 
beauty of its scenery, the rapidity of its stream, and the regularity, 
as tradition says, with which it claimed its yearly victim. The 
local rhyme still runs thus: 
‘¢ River of Dart, oh river of Dart, 
Every year thou claimest a heart 
1? 
A couplet on which Mr. Mortimer Collins, a Plymouth-born poet, 
founded his short poem ‘‘ River of Dart.” 
I can almost fancy Prince in the old guildhall and council 
chamber (still existing and very little altered), with their linen- 
pattern panelling and curious cornices (almost the only remains of 
the priory founded by Judhael), arranging with the old burghers, 
the members of the Corporation, the terms on which he should 
serve the parish church, when they came to the verbal agreement 
before referred to; and I am sure, lover of the antique as he was, 
he could look with veneration on the old Roman foss-way; 
the last remnants of which have, I regret to say, in my time 
almost passed away, but which then extended right into the town. 
In the account of John Row, serjeant-at-law, we get from Prince’s 
own pen a sketch of the old town: ‘ Row, John, serjeant-at-law, 
was born in Totnes; a sweet and pleasant town situate on the 
ascent of a hill lying east and west a mile in length upon the 
west side of the river Dart, which proceedeth from Dartmoor, and 
