Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/52

 46 THE CORNWALL COAST streets are so narrow; but that is an exaggera- tion. Small as the place is, it afforded abundant material to Mr. Jonathan Couch, the country doctor who lived and died here (1788-1870), for his History of Polperro, which is a very charming book ; and he further added to the reputation of the town by discovering certain ichthyolitic remains known as the "Polperro fossils." Happily he was a naturalist w^ho recognised that the study of man is an important branch of all natural history; and geologic curiosities, interesting as they are, can hardly compete with the tales of old Polperro privateers and smugglers. Polperro built its own boats as it bred its own seamen, and both were excellent. That they were arrant smugglers was a characteristic of the times and of the locality ; it is not for us to judge them. That they were men of piety is proved by the epitaph of that smuggler who prays for the pardon of the Preventive man who had shot him down : — "I by a shot which rapid flew Was instantly struck dead. Lord, pardon the offender who My precious blood did shed." They were able to show a clean pair of heels not only to the excisemen but also to the King's enemies ; as was proved by the Polperro captain who escaped from right under the nose of two French frigates during our last war with " that sweet enemy, France." Lansallos, one of the mother-parishes of Pol- perro, has a finely placed church, useful as a sea-mark. It seems to have been in this parish