Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/29

 THE PLYMOUTH DISTRICT 23 sightseers, or at night when the moon glitters brilliantly on the broad estuary, or when the dark, moonless expanse is pierced with lights from pier and masthead and distant Eddystone — these ghosts are not such as we dread ; they are the gracious figures of old-time guests, grizzled seamen of Elizabethan glory when men dreamed of new worlds and found them : kings, nobles, poets, painters, they are all here to greet us on our approach to the enchanted regions of the Delectable Duchy. It is said that a parish clerk, more than a century since, wrote a poem about Mount Edgcumbe in which he stated that — " Mount Edgcumbe is a pleasant place, It looketh on Hamoaze, And on it are some batteries To guard us from our foes." The batteries are certainly there, more numerous than ever, and we may hope that they will fulfil the purpose ascribed to them. Picklecombe Fort, on the cliff below the grounds, is particularly powerful, and in conjunction with the similar forts on the opposite heights of Staddon might be able to render a good account of itself if Plymouth Sound were ever attempted. The massive break- water might also become an effective obstacle to unfriendly navigation. This defence, built to protect the harbour from south-west and south- easterly winds, is a very fine piece of engineering. It was begun in 1812, and its construction took twenty-eight years. About four and a half million tons of limestone were brought from the Oreston quarries, and two and a half million cubic feet