406 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
Lynton at this time, mostly stag hunting, a pursuit which had no 
inducement for Cook, I need not say, though two of us (Talfourd 
and myself), when the horses and hounds passed us on the road, 
could not resist the temptation to see the only wild stag hunting 
left in England, and hastily packed up our sketching traps, secreted 
them in some foliage, and followed the hunting party as best we 
could on foot. 
I must not forget to mention the kindness and hospitality shown 
to our party by Colonel Crawley and his wife, Lady Cremorne, who, 
being residents, invited us all to their charming cottage orné, where 
Cook, as usual, was made the lion of the party. 
Perhaps the next event to be mentioned in connection with 
Cook was his visit to North Wales in 1855. This was originated 
very much by myself; having by chance heard of a cottage 
called Garth Isa, near Dolgelly, which had been occupied on a 
previous occasion by Sir Robert Collier’s family. I accordingly 
wrote to the owner, and secured it for ourselves, our party being 
Cook, Mitchell, Bell, Talfourd, and myself. On our way we 
stopped a night at Church Stretton Station, and spent the follow- 
ing day most agreeably at the hospitable home of Mr. Moore, of 
Lindley Hall, who had given us a previous invitation there. After 
dinner the Times was brought in, and it contained the news of the 
taking of Sebastopol, at which there was great rejoicings. This 
fixes the date of our visit. On arriving the following day at the 
cottage of Garth Isa, which none of us had seen, we were agree- 
ably surprised to find it most charmingly situated on the Barmouth 
Estuary, and nearly at the foot of Cader Idris, the second highest 
mountain in Wales. The cottage itself was a gem—our sitting- 
room panelled with oak from floor to ceiling, and altogether a 
perfect home for artists. 
Cook sketched in all directions most perseveringly, old dilapi- 
dated cottages, the Barmouth Estuary, Cader Idris from the 
opposite side, and other subjects which he soon found out, in- 
cluding one halfway up the mountain, from whence we were driven 
by a storm of rain. Before we had been here many days, however, 
we had a sudden and unexpected visit from Sir Robert Collier, who 
had come from Bettws-y-Coed, a considerable distance, on purpose 
to induce us to join him there. We had no room to put him up 
for the night, and either he or some one else (I think it was Bell) 
had to sleep for a night or two on the landing; but it did not 
