It

neighbouring soil with unproductive rubbish. proceeds to poison the brooks around with its mineral impregnations; spreads far and wide the sulphureous smoke of its smelting-houses; blasting vegetation with their deleterious vapours, and obscuring the atmosphere with the infernal fumes of arsenic and sulphur.

Such were our reflections when we touched upon the mining country in our way to PENRHYN. It appeared to us like a district filled with extinguished volcanoes, which, having exhausted their fury, could now only be traced in the universal desolation they had occasioned. As our inspection of this remarkable feature of Cornwall was to be reserved till we had the advantage of being conducted through the mines by an intelligent friend at Penrhyn, we did not permit ourselves to be led astray by such tempting objects, but continued our course through this bald but valuable country till within half a mile of our intended stage.

Here our attention was directed to an old barn to the left hand, remarkable for having been the scene of an event that furnished the plot of one of the most tragical and affecting of our English plays. I allude to The Fatal Curiosity," written by Lillo; a drama that had its origin in a tale of family distress that literally happened at a dwelling-house

which formerly stood on the spot we were now upon. The story is as follows:

During the seventeenth century, a family (whose name I have forgotten) that had long lived at Penrhyn in credit, was, by some unforeseen reverse of fortune, suddenly reduced from affluence to bankruptcy: It consisted of a father, mother, and son; a youth idolized by his parents, beloved by his friends, and who had been nourished up at home with all the tenderness which usually centers in an only child. Unwilling to be a burthen upon his father and mother, when the poor wreck of their substance was scarcely sufficient to support themselves, and anxious by his own. exertions to repay the debt of gratitude which he owed them, and repair the havock that misfortune had made in their affairs; the generous youth determined to seek employment abroad, and having acquired a competence, to return and share it with his parents. The hour at length arrived, when this little family group were, for the first time, to be separated; and they, who, like yourself, have experienced the blessings of domestic harmony, will readily conceive the sorrows of the parting. But the hapless youth had other ties to England, besides his father's roof. A secret attachment had long subsisted between a young lady of Penrhyn, and himself, which, though the misfortunes of his family could

not extinguish, they still rendered it necessary to conceal. The claims of duty were, however, paramount to those of love; he pressed his treasure to his bosom, and hastened on board the ship that was to tear him from all he valued upon earth. The parents retired from Penrhyn, and with their small remains of fortune, entered on a farm in the hamlet of Tremough. Here a few years rolled tediously and mournfully on, enlivened indeed occasionally by accounts of their son's success, but past by them, for the most part, in sorrow and suffering; in struggling with il success, and in anticipating all the horrors of ultimate want. The young man, in the mean time, having acquired what to his moderate wishes seemed enough, determined to return to England; and without notifying his intention to his parents, embarked on board a ship bound for his native land. He landed at Falmouth, and flew like lightning to Penrhyn, where constancy and love awaited him, and soon obliterated from his memory all the pains of absence. To enhance the joy of his parents at his unexpected return, it was agreed that he should disguise himself, go to their dwelling in the evening, pass the night there as a stranger, and acknowledge himself in the morning for their long-lost son. The night was dark and dismal,

"Sky lour'd, and muttering thunder, some sad drops
"Wept,"

at the approaching scene of woe; but the youth, unsuspicious of the portent, and exulting in his heart at the near termination of his parents' difficulties, went gaily on, carrying under his arm a casket of his treasure, which he intended in the morning to be the offering of his filial affection. He knocked at the door, and craved a lodging, promising to remunerate his hosts for the trouble he should give. The chance of a trifling gain was an object to the wretched pair, and they granted his request. In his momentary absence from the room, the mother with a fatal curiosity uncovered the cafket, and saw that its contents were gold. Her heart was now at war with feeling. The frightful form of approaching poverty had long floated before her fancy, and filled her soul with dark and desperate ideas. The treasure promised the means of saving her from the shame and sufferings of want, and she determined to possess it. The youth now retired to bed; when the mother disclosed to her husband the discovery she had made; and urged him to secure it for themselves by murdering the stranger! The horror of the deed for a moment suspended its execution, but ah! my friend, what a foe is poverty to virtue! the scruples of the husband were quickly overcome, and he determined to commit the horrid act. The ruthless pair accordingly proceeded to the

stranger's chamber, and whilst the mother held the light, the father thrust his knife into the heart of his To avoid detection, it was necessary to guest. bury the body of the murdered youth immediately; but what stretch of imagination can conceive the agony of the wretched parents, when, from some private marks, known only to themselves, they discovered their victim to be their only child! Happily the story ceases here; nor, were tradition more compleat, would I attempt to delineate those feelings of unutterable remorse which such a catastrophe must have produced in the survivors of this dreadful drama.

To them who have been accustomed only to the towns on the great roads of the kingdom, or those near its metropolis, even the second-rate towns of Cornwall would not be considered as deficient both in elegance and convenience. They are narrow and irregular, and what is still worse, generally paved with pebbles from the shore, the points of which being turned upwards form a footing neither safe nor pleasant. Penrhyn is remedying this inconvenience, being at this moment under an improvement which will conduce much to the comfort of the inhabitants, by having its foot-way flagged with moor-stone. It is this article which at present forms the chief export of the town; as the durability