. The time-serving water
made the best of this, forsook its ancient bed (as classic nymphs and
fountains used to do), and left poor Bruntsea with a dry bank, and
no haven for a cockle-shell. A new port, such as it is, incrusted the
fickle jaw of the river; piles were driven and earth-works formed, lest
the water should return to its old love; and Bruntsea, as concerned
her traffic, became but a mark of memory. Her noble corporation never
demanded their old channel, but regarded the whole as the will of
the Lord, and had the good sense to insist upon nothing except their
time-honored ceremonies.

In spite of all these and their importance, land became of no value
there. The owner of the Eastern Manor and of many ancient rights, having
no means of getting at them, sold them for an "old song," which they
were; and the buyer was one of the Hockin race, a shipwrecked mariner
from Cornwall, who had been kindly treated there, and took a fancy
accordingly. He sold his share in some mine to pay for it, settled here,
and died here; and his son, getting on in the world, built a house, and
took to serious smuggling. In the chalk cliff's eastward he found holes
of honest value to him, capable of cheap enlargement (which the Cornish
holes were not), and much more accessible from France. Becoming a
magistrate and deputy-lieutenant, he had the duty and privilege of
inquiring into his own deeds, which enabled him to check those few who
otherwise might have competed with him. He flourished, and bought more
secure estates; and his son, for activity against smugglers, was made a
gentle baronet.

These things now had passed away, and the first fee-simple of the Hockin
family became a mere load and incumbrance. Sir George and Sir Robert and
Sir Rufus, one after another, did not like the hints about contraband
dealings which met them whenever they deigned to come down there, till
at last the estate (being left to an agent) cost a great deal more than
he ever paid in. And thus--as should have been more briefly told--the
owner was our Major Hockin.

No wonder that this gentleman, with so many cares to attend to, had no
time at first to send for me. And no wonder that when he came down to
see me, he was obliged to have good dinners. For the work done by him in
those three months surprised every body except himself, and made in old
Bruntsea a stir unknown since the time of the Spanish Armada. For
he owned the house under the eastern cliff, and