would almost seem that this view was a relic of barbarism that had to be grown out of.

We are now approaching the period of the American War, and subsequently those with France and Spain under Louis XVI., the Revolution, and Napoleon, and this meant war taxes, and smuggling developed thereby. It would be interesting to know to what extent this was practised on these shores. There might still be collected many a story of these smuggling days by visiting the cottages, and getting the old people to repeat the yarns they have heard their fathers and grandfathers relate.

During the wars just alluded to fleet after fleet assembled in Torbay, and in fact the growth of modern Torquay may be assigned to this cause. A ship having been sent to Torbay to wait for further orders, it would be natural that, the officers should invite their wives and families to come down into Devonshire and stay somewhere near the ship. Torquay must have been very small in those days, for in 1801 the population was only 838, living in 143 houses; and many of these houses would be at Tor, near the parish church, and others scattered about among the various farms. Some idea of the relative importance of Tormohun in respect of the neighbouring parishes can be formed from the following: In 1798 there was an assessment for a county rate, toward which Woolborough contributed £1 19s. Od.; Kingskerswell, £2 3s. 10d.; Marychurch, £1 19s. Od.; Abbotskerswell, £1 9s. 3d.; Tormohun, £1 9s. 3d.; Cockington, £1 9s. 3d.; and Paignton, £3 3s. 4d. This influx of naval visitors created a demand for houses, and to meet which slowly a few houses grew up here and there. It was during this period of our history that invalids, especially those suffering from chest ailments, discovered the climatic advantages of the spot; and just as the Engadine and the Riviera in more recent years have sprung into favour as health resorts, so in those stay-at-home days Torquay obtained a reputation, and which has lasted ever since.

During the French wars nearly every English admiral of note visited Torbay, including Jervis, Howe, Bridport, St. Vincent, Cornwallis, and Nelson; and then in 1815 came the Bellerophon with Napoleon on board, destined for St. Helena. When he looked on Torquay the population was about 1500, living perhaps in 260 or 270 houses. Yet one scene more in this historical drama. In 1871 Napoleon III, the man of Sedan, came here for rest and quiet, a dethroned monarch in his turn, and with him that

ill-fated boy Prince Louis. It would almost seem as if Torbay was destined to be associated with the ill-luck of the Buonaparte family; for it will be remembered that while under the orders, and in the charge of an officer whose home was on the shores of Torbay, the Prince met his fate in Zululand.

What a panorama has been unfolding before our eyes! Just consider for one moment the varieties of craft which have sailed on Torbay; what a history of nautical adventure and naval development! Beginning with the canoe, perhaps, then the bireme of the Phoenicians, the ancient British vessel described by Cæsar, the Roman galleys, and then the Saxon, Danish, and Norman long-boats. Then the tub-like craft of Plantagenet days, with an occasional visit from a Spanish or Genoese carrack, and these succeeded by the better built but still ungainly vessels of the 15th century, and those by the caravels which fought the unwieldy galleons of the last Armada. Those in their turn gave way in Stuart days, and then began gradually that progressive development which terminated in the three-decker of Copenhagen and Trafalgar. The modifications dependent on the introduction of steam cause fresh changes of design, and lastly the modern ironclad. One is tempted to exclaim, " And what next?"

With the changes in the variety of ship have also changed the men, from the sailor described by Chaucer down to the Blue-jacket of to-day-a little more civilized, but none the less just as brave, as full of adventure, and as fond of the

ocean as ever.

Again, what a succession of scenes from the pages of English history have here been enacted! If we take only the three principal, viz., the Armada, the landing of the Prince of Orange, and Napoleon on board the Bellerophon, what thrilling interest they awake! what memories they recall!

The history of Torbay is practically the history of the English people-the story of the development of England's maritime power, and a record of progress towards that phase of civilization which we enjoy to-day. It is a history worthy of the best treatment, and which, let us hope, will some day be bestowed on it; for the subject is a grand one, the material inexhaustible, and the result should be worthy of so imperial a theme.

SIDE-LIGHTS ON THE EARLY HISTORY OF

TORQUAY.

BY R. N. WORTH, F.G.S.

(Read at Torquay, July, 1893.)

TORQUAY has a history-junior borough though it be-that does not yield in antiquity to that of any other town in the kingdom. Unfortunately, beyond this fact, we know very little else about it. No spot in England-indeed, I may fairly say in the world-has given such evidence of the continuous occupancy of man as Kents Cavern; an occupancy which, measured by the social scale, dates back to palæolithic times, and by the chronological compels a geologic standard. Mr. Pengelly once summed up this phase of the record of Kents Cavern in the pregnant words -it was << never discovered," it "has always been known"; and though it may be too much to assume that Kents Hole has been inhabited by man with absolute continuity, say from the inter-glacial period, it is plain fact that it has been the dwelling of man in all stages of social progress from the earliest on physical record-that in short it is about the oldest human habitation extant. We can imagine what a history that would be, could we only record it, in which Norman conquest and Saxon settlement and Roman invasion and British occupation are all but things of yesterday, mere "black mould" incidents, behind which lie cave earth and stalagmites and breccia, with their relics of a vanished animal world, and their traces of contemporary man. But all this we can only imagine, unless, indeed, we take the method of a spiritualistic adept, into whose hands I placed some teeth from another Devon cave, and who had "borne in upon him" a visionary glimpse of its history, reported thus:

In coming in contact with the teeth I see an animal like a fox; I think it is one. I also see the cave, and think some interesting

discovery will be made at the far end from the entrance. I have undergone a most singular experience when handling these teeth. I seemed to freeze. The cold seemed to penetrate every fibre of my body; in fact, I felt frozen. Then again a numb sleepy feeling took possession of me. I felt as if consciousness had left me. After this passed away I was conscious of a fearful noise; there seemed to be a grinding, crushing, splitting noise, and the fearful cold returned with greater intensity. I am now in an oblong cave. It is not very wide; this cave was formed by submarine action, an upheaval and split in the solid rock. The widening of the cave has been the work of ages. I see an abrading action caused by the decomposition of the lime in the rock through water entering from above. I am not learned in geology, and therefore cannot explain the intense cold, nor the grinding, rending, tearing, and crushing rounds. All this has a scientific meaning, and no doubt if I had time I might be able to clear up all I have seen in a way, at least satisfactory to myself. It would be to me an interesting study, but I should not again like to undergo the freezing process. I see flint implements, arrowheads, spearheads, and hatchets, such as I saw in Indian tumuli in Alabama, U.S.A. I also see bones of bears and animals that look like lions, and even very huge animals. I see the animals and their bones deep down below the present surface.

I presume that, save to an enthusiast, such a narrative will be deemed too uncertain a foundation whereon to erect anything more substantial than the "airy fabric of a vision"; so for our side-lights we must seek elsewhere.

It is generally assumed that, save for the pretty bit of historical romance which depicts Vespasian landing in Torbay and marching thence upon Exeter, the earliest suggested authority for which is some eight hundred years after the event,-the first written allusions to the locality are to be found in the eleventh century, and chiefly in Domesday. But this is not so. As I pointed out at Seaton, in my "Notes on the Ancient Recorded Topography of Devon," there is every reason to believe that one of the "British cities and strengths," (civitates et castra) in the seventh-century list of the anonymous Chorographer of Ravenna, not only stood upon the shores of Torbay, but occupied part of the site of what is now Torquay. This is Apaunaris, which follows Milidunum, the Ravennat's name for the great earthworks on Milber Down. There the identity of names is clear enough, but for Apaunaris some of us may need a little help. Yet the clue is very simple. This old 1 Trans. Dev. Assoc. xvii. 325 et seq.

Italian topographer, as examination of his list clearly shows, knew Saxon, but did not know Keltic. The Keltic names, or parts of names, in his list he put in a Latinized dress as he found them. The Saxon or Norse names or parts of names he translated. Here "naris" stands for "ness" or "nose"; in Apa we at once recognise the more familiar Hope; and in Apaunaris therefore read Hopes Nose.

I may add that the Ravennat does precisely the same thing elsewhere, as at Launceston. The Saxon name of that place was Dunheafod; Heafod or head he translates by coronavis, and then makes the whole name Durocoronavis.

But to return to Hopes Nose. I may be told that Hope is one syllable and Apau two. The loss of a syllable in the course of a dozen centuries would be nothing remarkable, but, as it happens, we have in this instance the same prefix remaining intact in Happaway Hill; and still more prominently in Babbacombe. Nor have physical traces been wanting teste the earthworks once existing on Warberry, which in all probability formed the cincture of this ancient town; and the remains of the still earlier cliff castle, formed by the rude wall cutting off the headland at Babbacombe.

I am aware that it has been the fashion to dub the former, at any rate, Roman, and to link them with the ramparts of the presumed Roman camp on Berry Head. But beyond a few scattered coins and a little pottery there is no evidence whatever of the presence of the Romans in the district. The earthworks on Warberry were never examined by any competent antiquary, and there is nothing Roman traceable in the descriptions. The rampart on Berry Head was enquired into by a competent antiquary, the late Mr. Henry Woollcombe, and he was quite certain that there was nothing Roman about it. The manufacture of Roman antiquities in this kingdom some century since seems only paralleled by the Druidical. When an antiquity of uncertain date was then thought equally doubtful in character-if it was not Druidical, it was Roman; if not Roman, it was Druidical-a short and easy way with antiquarian dissenters.

To return to our Apa" or "Babba." It seems to me that this is by far the most valuable hint we have for the unwritten history of Torquay. Let it be borne in mind that on this part of the coast of Devon we have distinct nomenclatural evidence of Norse presence and settlementwitness the Ness at Teignmouth; add to this the significant fact that Papa is a frequent prefix to the names of the further islands in our northern seas, and we reach a most