Legends of Parishes, etc. 1 1 1 her widowed mother, with whom she dwelt at Morwenstow. It chanced one day that they, with all the neighbouring gentry, had been bidden to a grand banquet at Stow ; and, as she had set her love on the great and noble Sir Seville Grenville, its owner, Alice, to win his affections, dressed herself in her richest robe — "a woven velvet, glossy and soft" — and put on her fairest jewellery. Her mother, when she saw her thus attired, struck by her exceed- ing grace and beauty, said, " Often shall I pray to-night that the Grenville heart may yield. Aye, thy victory shall be- my prayer." The haughty maiden replied, "With the eyes I now see in that glass, and with this vesture, meet for a queen, I lack no trusting prayer." At this a sudden cry was heard, and the damsel dis- appeared from their sight for ever. Shortly after, the Coombe gardener discovered in the garden a small, unknown hillock, and on top of it shone a ring, which was recognized as the one the lady wore on the day she vanished. A close examination showed that an old Cornish couplet was now traced on it, which the parish priest interpreted to mean — "The earth must hide Both eyes with pride." As he uttered these words a low cry was heard at his feet, and there " They beheld, O wondrous and strange ! a small dark creature, clothed in a soft velvet skin, in texture and in hue like the robe of Lady Alice, and they saw as it groped into the earth that it moved along without eyes in everlasting night." " She, herself had become THE FIRST MOLE OF THE HILLOCKS OF CORNWALL." Before finishing this section of my work I must say a few words about the Islands of Scilly and their legends. The Rev. H. J. Whitfield, M.A., in 1852, published a book on this subject, but his legends are for the most part purely fictitious, and its title, Scilly and its Legends, a little misleading. The Scilly Isles, just off the Land's End, are very numerous, but only five are inhabited ; some are mere rocks in the sea, and,
