The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-08


An attractive title Is Tho Romance
Of the Men OF Deron, by FRANCIS CRIB
BLE little. Brown 4 Coz. Although 1t
is dedicated particularly at natives
or residents Of Devonshire. anybody
can turn over It's pages with pleasure.
assured Of good stories told with grace
as we'll as spirit. The author begins
with a tag Of old verse which he says
/ Is familiar to all Devonians but Is per
haps not 50 to others:
Twas ever the way with the sood Queen
| Who ruled well as a mortal can.
| When she was stogged and the country IN a
I To send for Devonshlre man.
! In fact tho spacious times" were
filled with the exploits Of the Devon
ians. They had more to do. perhaps,
with the establishment Of British sea
power than the men Of any other shire.
Indeed. hardly any other has so long
q coast line indcnted with so many
available harbors. Also in old times
these indentations and estuaries fur
nshed hospitable refugees for pirates
and later for smuggiers. whose exploits
have become from traditional mythical
OF the nautical Elizabethans doubtless
Francis Drake Is the most famous,
Singing the King OF SPANS beard
was the greatest achievement to which
an English seaman OF that time might
| aspire. and Drake accomplished II, ac-
cording to modern slang, more ito the
queens taste than any Of his contem-
poraries. We can all syinpath.Ze with
an admiral or Il prizeiighter," remarks
Stevenson. The two characters have,
much In common. and Drake had the
elements OF both. His home port Of
Plymouth was more important haven
In his time than II has been since.
though in the next generation Il was
TO be the point uf departure for the
Puritan migration. and 50 to give its
name TO the Rock" on this side of
the Atlantic. Drake has been much
besung in the present generation. 10y
klp,ng as everybody knows. and by
Alfred Noyes in the less familiar verses
OF his Drake: an English Epic" from
which Mr.. Gribbe freely quotes is
pecially striking and Elizibethan IL the
scene in which Drake. having found 4,
absolutely necessary for the pressrva-
ton OF discipline to order one OF his
best friends. Doughty. TO be hanged
for mutiny. assuaged his last moments
with a banquet in which the con-
demned man WAS the guest " honor
According to his biographer. Mr.. Cor
bett, who is an authoritative critic o!
naval history. the battle NJ Graveiines
was brakes greatest exploit. and
though by some strange freak of des-
tiny 4 Il hardly known to the bulk
Of readers. it was a. least as moment
Gus as Waterloo or Trafalgar" It's
fame reached tho Spanish street boys
who used to call out, under the window,
of Medina Sidon.a, Drake is coming
This was singing the Spanish Kings
beard to some purpose. Another great
singer was Grenville whose fighting
, of the Revenge. the one and the Atty
; three" has been celebrated IN verse
which Is likely TO outast the metri
cal eulogies Of Drake. II was. you re-
member. on account Of his Seventy
sick ashore" men Of B.deford II
Devon" tina; Grenville felt bound L
, stay and fgh; II out with the Who'll,
!. Spanish fleet instead Of making goot
his escape The breed does no, seen
TO be extinct in Devonshirs Of the ELI
abethan sea dogs. full OF character an,
Of "humor" in the Elizabethan as wei
as In the modern sense. For Captain
: afterward Admiral! Chichester. about
whom legends have already gathered
was also a Devonshire man. and III,
sayings attributed to him In Mamie
I. BAY might have come from Drake o.
Grenville You see, sir. the Germans
have no sea manners" and again, wher
he was asked what part his ship
would take should there unfortunatcl!
be another sea flght in the harbor
Nobody knows that but God and T.
and Dewey"
In fact. one gathers from thes,
pages that Devonshirs has been ever
richer IN "characters' than in intel
!. lects, and the reader will take mor'
! interest in the anecdotes about De
vonian characters of whom he ma,
! never have heard before than In tn
accounts OF more famous but less in
dividual men. The intellects have no
. been lacking. II Ia no small distinc
ton To shire to have produced /,
Richard Hooker tho earliest Of grea
: English prose writer's. and in Joshui
y Reynolds the most famous OF Englisl
:, painters. But the 1udicious Hooker ex
= lists only in his writing and in Walton
s old gossip. in which he appears victim
Of the worst shrew since Ssntippe. a
I for Sir Joshua Johnson's praise OF hin
as the most unassailable" man h
knew seems TO ccnrote rather lacl
q Of character than character. The Tight
| Ing and foxhunting parsons OF tn
I county are more interesting to rea'
: about than the saints and scholars, TIL
u most outrageous of these was tina
Parson Jack Froude whom Blackmore
: another Deyoniar, has handed down 4
r pos.e-lty in THE Maid OF Sker." adopt
q ing the popular legend that he suffered
= the classical and Act@onlike fate O
y being devoured by his own dogs. tn
$ dogs In his case having been intention
: ally made savage for the destruction
a OF their masters enemies. This Froud
!. must have been OF some kindred to tn
: more recent and more reputable Jane
r Anthony and his brother Hurrell, 70
Il the name Is local and frequent. o
r James Anthony the author shows him
- self loyal partisan as against tina
g rufiianly Somersetshire opponent an
exposer Edward A. Freeman. Their
n was another Devonian parson Of char
!. acter. the Rev. Jack Russell mainl
q remembered by his skill and daring a
+" q foxhunter and by the success wit
l. which he withstood the efforts Of hi
u bishop to discipline him for what tn
D, bishop regarded as an unclerical prac
of Evataru he