Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/368

362 THE CORNWALL COAST somewhere within the noble church of Stratton ; there is no monument to say where. The church is of excellent restored Perpendicular, with fine pinnacled tower. Within are a Norman font, a Jacobean pulpit, and the black marble tomb of Sir John Arundel (1561), whose former manor-house at Efford is now Bude Vicarage ; there are brasses of the knight, his wives and their children. The fourteenth- century ef&gy of a knight in the north aisle is supposed to be that of Sir Ranulf de Blanch- minster, who is commemorated in one of Hawker's ballads. It is fitting to think of the poet-parson in this spot ; not only are we now approaching very near his own parish, but his father was Vicar of Stratton and lies buried in the church's chancel. Hawker was often asked to preach here, but he long declined, fearing that the associations would be too overwhelming for him. This proved to be the case when at last, in his old age, he preached at the church. Suddenly breaking in his sermon, he explained with faltering voice, " I stand amid the dust of those near and dear to me." It is little wonder that his listeners shared his emotion ; and some touch of it may still come over those to whom the records of Hawker are very dear. The number of such lovers should have been much increased by the adequate biography that is now at the service of the public, prepared by the son-in-law of the poet ; and Hawker is pre-eminently one of those whom we learn to love even more through his memoirs than by his writings. For his life was a life of noble deeds, not only of beautiful words.