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300 THE CORNWALL COAST change ; so much so that Noye was actually the originator of the ship-money tax which played so large a share in embroiling the nation. Hals goes so far as to say that Noye "was blow-coal, incendiary, and stirrer-up of the Civil War " ; and it was he who prosecuted the arrested members of the House of Commons. He had the reputation of a miser, so that, w^hen he died, it was stated that his heart had shrivelled into the shape of a leather purse. It is rather a pitiful memory to attach to so delightful a district.
