suddenly sunk under his feet, and in one moment swallowed him up before the eyes of his astonished and terrified companions. I am, dear Sir, Your's sincerely, R. W. T is not surprizing, that an object so remarkable IT in form, so conspicuous in situation, and so venerable for the superstitions which had attached to it for ages, as ST. MICHAEL'S MOUNT, should have attracted the attention of the poet, and afforded some materials for the combinations of fancy. We N Truro accordingly find both Spenser and Milton noticing this singular rock. The former, indeed, confines his use of St. Michael's Mount to little more than a slight mention of its consecration to a saint. "In evill howre thou hentst in hond "Thus holy hils to blame : "And of them have their name. "St. Michael's Mount who does not know, Milton, however, has converted it to a more noble purpose, and by a beautiful allusion to its legendary history, made it the basis of one of the finest passages in his Lycidas. Or, whether to our moist vows denied "Where the great vision of the guarded mount * I cannot resist inserting the late Mr. Warton's admirable explication of the above passage, which may be justly considered as one of the finest specimens of illustrative criticism extant. "The whole of this passage," says he, "has "never yet been explained or understood. That part of the "coast of Cornwall called the Land's End, with its neigh As we approached St. Michael's Mount along the sands, we could not but acknowledge an influence upon our imagination that made us pardon the "bourhood, is here intended, in which is the promontory "of Bellerium, so named from Bellerus a Cornish giant. "And we are told by Camden, that this is the only part of "our island that looks directly towards Spain. So also "Drayton, Polyolb. S. xxiii. vol. iii. p. 1107. . "Then Cornwall creepeth out into the westerne maine, "And Orosius, The second angle or point of Spain forms a cape, where Brigantia, a city of Galicia, rears a most "lofty watch-tower, of admirable construction, in full view * of Britain.' Hist. L. i. c. ii. fol. 5. a. edit. Paris. 1524. "fol. Carew says of this situation, Saint Michael's Mount "looketh so aloft, that it brooketh no concurrent.' p. 154. "ut infor. But what is the meaning of the Great Vision of the Guarded Mount?' And of the line immediately ❝ following, Look homeward, angel, now, and melt with "ruth?' I flatter myself I have discovered Milton's original " and leading idea.-Not far from the Land's End in Corn"wall, is a most romantic projection of rock, called Saint "Michael's Mount, into a harbour called Mount's Bay. It gradually rises from a broad basis into a very steep and nar"row, but craggy, elevation. Towards the sea, the declivity is almost perpendicular. At low-water it is accessible by "land: and not many years ago it was entirely joined with "the present shore, between which and the Mount there is a errors of ignorance in peopling it with wizard forms, and involving its early history in witchery and wonder. Peculiar as it is in figure and situation, it must "rock called Chapel-Rock. Tradition, or rather superstition, "reports, that it was anciently connected by a large tract of land, full of churches, with the isles of Scilly. On the "summit of St. Michael's Mount a monastery was founded "before the time of Edward the Confessor, now a seat of Sir 6: John Saint Aubyn. The church, refectory, and many of "the apartments still remain. With this monastery was "incorporated a strong fortress, regularly garrisoned: and in "a patent of Henry IV. dated 1403, the monastery itself, "which was ordered to be repaired, is styled Fortalitium. « Rym. Fœd. viii. 102, 340 341. A stone lantern, in one of "the angles of the tower of the church, is called St. Michael's "Chair. But this is not the original St. Michael's Chair. "We are told by Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, ́ A little "without the castle [this fortress] there is a bad [dangerous] "seat in a craggy place, called St. Michael's Chaire, some"what daungerous for accesse, and therefore holy for the "adventure.' Edit. 1602. p. 154. We learn from Caxton's "Golden Legende, under the history of the Angel Michael, "that" Th'apparacyon of this angell is`manyfold. The fyrst is when he appeared in mount of Gargan, &c.' Edit. 1493 -"fol. cclxxxii. a. William of Worcestre, who wrote his "travels over England about 1490, says, in describing St. “Michael's Mount, there was an Apparicio Sancti Michaelis "in monte Tumba antea vocato Le Hore Rok in the wodd. "Itinerar. edit. Cantab. 1778. p. 102. The Hoar Rock in |