e must have been plenty as bad
as he, though they might lack his gift of leadership and initiative.
He is said to have chopped off a gauger's hand on the gunwale of a
boat--rumour reported even worse things than this; and he once soundly
horsewhipped the parson of Kilkhampton, who had offended him. There is
also a story of his carrying a terrified tailor to "mend the devil's
breeches." He departed as mysteriously as he came, after many years of
vile outrage; he "who came with the water went with the wind." It is
clear that a great deal of old-time folk-lore has gathered round this
name, and probably no single man must be held answerable for all the
wild doings related of Cruel Coppinger. In all such traditions Hawker
is a most unsafe guide; he did not consciously "falsify the books,"
but he had misled many who came after, particularly the popular
guide-books, by his looseness and his play of fancy. But he came to
this district at a period when smuggling, if not actual wrecking and
piracy, was at its height--not only in Cornwall, be it remembered, but
in many other parts of the coast, such as Sussex and Kent. It was a
time when the Cornish used to thank God for wrecks; and if they did
not actually lure vessels to destruction on their cruel coasts, which
it may be feared they did sometimes, they at least did nothing to
avert the disasters which, to their mind, were sent by a merciful
providence. There was even a proverb that it was unlucky to rescue a
drowning man--widespread, for Scott mentions it in the "Pirate"; the
bad luck which these coast-folk had in view being the fact that a
rescued personage could claim his property that the sea had cast up.

[Illustration: MORWENSTOW.

_Photo by Gibson & Sons._]

Hawker was born in Norley Street, Plymouth, December 29, 1803; his
grandfather and uncle were both clergy in Plymouth at the time. Thus,
though he has won a world-wide fame as the Cornish poet, Hawker was
really Devonian; in this borderland of the two counties there is
practically no difference. In the same manner the Grenvilles were of
Devonshire, yet Cornwall treasures their memories with justifiable
pride. In after years Hawker used to say that, could his mother have
foreseen how sorrowful his life would be, she would have given a
gentle pressure to his throat in his first hour, and so have averted
all his earthly trials. He grew to be a mischievous and daring lad.
One of his pranks was to swim out to the crags a