CORNWALL form quite a large and tolerably lively com- munity. Porthleven (2^ m. S.W. of Helston) em- bodies the name of St. Levan ; it is distinctly a rising place, increasingly resorted to by visitors. The harbour is very commodious, but difficult to enter in rough weather. There is a restored church, an institute and reading-room, and a Wesleyan chapel which gave rise to the follow- ing epigram : — "They built the church, upon my word, As fine as any abbey ; And then they thought to cheat the Lord, And built the back part shabby ". Purthscatho (2 m. N.E. of St. Mawes) is a delightftil fishing-village with some repute as a watering-place. Artists and lovers of the pic- turesque have found it out. The botanist also may well love it, for even in the dead of winter flowers and ferns may be gathered in its lanes. Port Isaac (3^ m. N.W. of Port Isaac Road Station) might be expected to be in a decaying condition, for its pilchard-fishery has gone, and its value as a port has been taken away by the railway. None the less the little place is hold- ing up its head bravely, and may well do so. It is a spot of rare beauty, and in wild weather of rare sublimity. There are other attractive little ports hard by — ^Porthqueen, for instance, and Porth Gaverne, which perhaps preserves the name of St. Keverne. In the future we may expect them all to be flourishing resorts, robbed of their seclusion, but making for the 220
