third time), and to put into that beautiful Dartmouth, and we accordingly did so, in pouring rain, the deck swimming with water, and all of us with umbrellas; the children being most anxious to see everything. Notwithstanding the rain, this place is lovely, with its wooded rocks, and church and castle at the entrance. It puts me much in mind of the beautiful Rhine, and its fine ruined castles, and the Lurlei. I am now below writing, and crowds of boats are surrounding us on all sides." (pp. 195-196.) The Queen left Dartmouth at "half past six" the next morning, "Friday, August 21," and reached Plymouth "at half past nine." In the afternoon the royal party steamed up the Lynher river as far as Trematon Castle. The Journal goes on to say, "We stopped here and afterwards turned back and went up the Tamar, which at first seemed flat; but as we proceeded the scenery became quite beautiful-richly wooded hills, the trees growing down into the water, and the river winding so much as to have the effect of a lake. In this it reminded me so much of going up the Rhine,—though I don't think the river resembles the Rhine. Albert thought it like the Danube." (pp. 196-197.) The Torquay Directory remarks, and no doubt correctly, that "Mr. Blaikie is evidently not aware of the fact that the title of the English Rhine was conferred upon the Dart by her gracious Majesty ;" and it is not improbable that most other persons, the Queen included, are equally unaware of the so-called "fact." The Royal party reached Dartmouth through stress of weather, "in pouring rain, the deck swimming with water;" and the Queen was soon "below writing" her Journal, no doubt. She had seen the "church and castle at the entrance," and the "wooded rocks," but apparently nothing more, and, of this, remarked, "It puts me in mind of the beautiful Rhine." Her Majesty seems to have retained a vivid impression of the Rhine, for on the next day she wrote of the Tamar, the "richly wooded hills, the trees growing down into the water, and the river winding so much as to have the effect of a lake. In this it reminded me so much of going up the Rhine." Here, however, and as if to prevent an unauthorized inference, her Majesty added, "though I don't think the river resembles the Rhine;" and in this the Prince Consort apparently agreed, as the Queen went on to say, "Albert thought it like the Danube." There seems more reason-but even here not reason enough -for stating "that the title of The English Danube' was conferred upon the river Tamar by the late Prince Consort." Why are the thousands dwelling on the banks of this western stream so very apathetic as not to use this name for their famous river? Were a parody of a passage in Shakspere (Julius Cæsar, i. 2) permissible, one could almost fancy some Devonian Cassius addressing Tamar thus: "Tamar and Danube: What should be in that Danube? It may perhaps be doubted, after all, whether Mr. Blaikie was really not aware of the passage about the Dart in her Majesty's Journal. His last sentence on the subject was, "Only in the castled entrance to Dartmouth harbour may a fond fancy detect anything Rhine-like;" and, taken in connection with the fact that this was the very part of which the Queen was writing, it apparently suggests that the passage was at least in his mind's eye. Mr. Blaikie, however, was not the first writer to object to the new name for the Dart. Thus, and to go no further, the following passage occurs in The Guide to South Devon and South Cornwall, by Mr. Ward and Mr. Baddeley (1884):— "The Dart estuary between Totnes and Dartmouth is one of the finest navigable river-pieces in the kingdom, only surpassed, perhaps, by that of the Wye, though it must be acknowledged that the Fal and the Tamar are dangerous competitors. This part of the river has been paid the somewhat doubtful compliment of being called the 'English Rhine,' and there is no doubt that travellers who have not been led to expect too much will thoroughly enjoy exploring its beauties." (pp. 61-62.) Though there cannot be a doubt that it was a very decided Slip to say, on the evidence produced, "that the title of The English Rhine' was conferred upon the river Dart by her gracious Majesty," it must be admitted to be possible, if evidence to the contrary be not forthcoming, that the publication of the entry in the Queen's Journal may have been the reason why some one, unknown to Fame or to History, first called the Dart "The English Rhine." Indeed, a Dart mouth correspondent, in reply to my question, "How long has the Dart been called the English Rhine'?" said, "Only since the publication of the Queen's Book, in which she draws a contrast with the Rhine on occasion of her visit." Her Majesty's Journal was published in 1868, when the entry became first known to the public; but, unless my memory is playing me tricks, the name in question was applied to the Dart some years before that date. Many years ago, years before 1868 I feel confident, during a trip from Totnes to Dartmouth by steamer, the following conversation passed between me and one of the crew: "This river is sometimes called the English Rhine,' I believe." Iss, very often." "From what one reads and hears, the two rivers are not very much alike." "I don knaw bout that. I've eerd zay that ef zo be the rocks and the ould castles wuz a layved out, the Dart's jest as good's the Rhine." I yielded the point at once. Since writing the above, I have met with the following conclusive proof that the name in question is older than the publication of her Majesty's Journal:- Miss S. P. Fox's Kingsbridge Estuary; with Rambles in the Neighbourhood, contains the following passage-"It" [Dartmouth] “is situated at the mouth of the Dart, a river, which tourists are wont to designate, 'the English Rhine.'" (p. 172.) This work was published in 1864, her Majesty's Journal not until 1868, as already stated. III. TEIGN-BRIDGE TAKEN DOWN IN 1815, Mr. Taylor (1818) and Mr. Davidson* (1884) on. In 1818 Mr. P. T. Taylor read to the Society of Antiquaries a Paper entitled An Account of Some Discoveries made in taking down the old Bridge over the river Teign, and in excavating the ground to the depth of fifteen feet five inches below the surface of the water (Archeologia xix. 308-313, 1821. Also Trans. Devon. Assoc. xv. 378-379, 1883). The Old Bridge in question, taken down in 1815, was, Mr. Taylor says, "built of grey limestone in a very rough manner." Since these Notes were in type, I have been grieved to hear of the decease of Mr. Davidson, an event which has deprived many of the Members of the Association of a dear friend, and the Association itself of one of its most distinguished and valued Members While he admits that "Nothing is to be found at all satisfactory concerning the antiquity of Teign-bridge," and confesses that he " is no antiquary," he "supposes" the work of building this bridge "to have been done in the sixteenth century." ... In 1884, Mr. J. B. Davidson, M.A., F.S.A., directed attention to Mr. Taylor's Paper, remarking "With regard to the date of the . greystone bridge, indeed, nothing has been found. It may, as he" [Mr. Taylor] "says, have been a work of the sixteenth century, or more probably, as after considerations may show, in the seventeenth." (Trans. Devon. Assoc. xvi. 449, 1884.) As one and the same event cannot occur in two distinct centuries, in the same system of chronology, there must in this case be a Slip somewhere; and I have no doubt of being able to prove that Mr. Taylor was not only correct, but that the bridge was really built either in the year 1580 or 1581. The facts are as follow: A few years ago I availed myself gladly of permission to make a complete transcript of a manuscript book entrusted to me. It may be not inappropriately called The Accounts of the Churchwardens of Stoke Gabriel; but it may perhaps be better to quote the following portions of the paragraph with which it begins, and thus allow it to introduce itself, as it did nearly three and a half centuries ago : "Be hyt knoweng to al me yt thys booke namyd the lijer ptaynyth vnto the cherche of stoke gabryell made by the honnds of thomas coote vycar of the same pyshe and wt the codysent of the hole pyshe yn xxxvth yere of the rayne of or soueryn lorde kynge henry the viiith . . . & the order ys yt the wolde wardyns shall delyu' vnto the new all the emplemēts of the cherche as ys expryssed vppo thys present lijer yf any thyng be lost if by neclygens of the sayd wardyns thyn thay shall make goode for the same where hyt be of grete a v(...) or small, & whan the comuio days ys the sayd wardyns to bryng forth every emplemēt be fore the p'sens of the pyshe also all costs & chargys bestow (..) abowte the church to be sett vppo thys boke to knowy (...) what yere yt was don." * The book consists of 166 pages of paper, larger and coarser than ordinary foolscap, and extends from somewhere between 22 April 1543 and 21 April 1544 (=35th year of Henry 8) to "1607 & the vii of aprell" (=5th year of James I.) * Points within a parenthesis denote undecipherable letters. VOL. XVII. X It contains four entries relative to Teign-bridge, or, as we shall see, more than one Teign-bridge. The first of these entries was made "In the yere of o2 lord god mccccclxxiiij & the Sonday next aft the ffeast of all sayncts, "that is to say during the year beginning on 7th November 1574. The second and third are consecutive entries in the book, occurring on the same page, and one following the other immediately. They were made "In the yere of or lord god mccccc & lxxx & the sonday next aft the ffeast of alsaynts." In other words, during the year beginning on 6th November 1580. The fourth or last entry was made "in the yeare of of lord God 1600 & the Sondaye next after the ffeast of all saints;" that is, during the year beginning on 5th November, 1600. The entries are as follow: (1) 1574-5. "It. to wards ye repayryng of teng-brydge vjs viijd." (2) 1580-1. "payd by John Downynge to wards the makyng of tenge brydge xls." (3) 1580-1. "more payd by wyllyã Ellot to wards ye same brydge vs." (4) 1600-1. "Ite paid to the head connstable to wards the mendynge of Tengbrydge xxvs.” The following facts may be noted in the entries just quoted: (A.) The first is an entry for repairing a bridge, the fourth for mending one. Repairing and mending being synonymous, at least in the case before us, refer of course to an old bridge, or old bridges, not to the erection of a new one. (B.) The second and third entries record two paymentsperhaps more correctly two instalments of one demand-not for repairing or mending, but for making a bridge. It seems clear, therefore, that the bridge repaired in 1574 or '75 must have been taken down in 1580 or '81, and a new bridge erected that year. This new bridge, it cannot be doubted, was the "grey limestone bridge," was built in the 16th century and taken down, after the lapse of 235 years, in 1815. (C.) The entries were payments, not gifts. Teign-bridge, a county work, was paid for no doubt by an assessment on the county collectively. The fact that at no more than twenty years after the bridge of 1580 or 1581 was built it was in such a condition that the cost of mending was, according to the Lijer of Stoke Gabriel, as much as 55.5 per cent. of the |