It was getting unpleasantly near “closing time” when we reached Liskeard, but we were just in time to be well entertained and housed for the night.

(Distance walked thirty-six miles.)

Thursday, November 16th.

Liskeard was visited in 1757 by John Wesley, who described it as “one of the largest and pleasantest towns in Cornwall,” a description with which we agreed, but we were inclined to add the words, “and of no occupation,” for there was no outward or visible sign of any staple industry.  As in other similar places we had visited, the first question that suggested itself to us was, “How do the people live?” Their appearance, however, caused us no anxiety, as every one we saw looked both well and happy.  They had made a clean sweep of their old castle, which was said to have been built in the thirteenth century by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and King of the Romans, the brother of Henry III; the site they had formed into a public park, in which stood the old grammar school where Dr. Wolcot was educated, who wrote a number of satirical odes, letters, and ballads, under the name of “Peter Pindar,” in the time of George III, many of his satires being levelled at the king himself.  Eventually he sold his works for an annuity of L250.

Liskeard was remarkable for the spring of water round which the town had been built, and which was described by Leland in his Itinerary as “a good conduit in the middle of the Town very plentiful of water to serve the Town.”  Four pipes originally conveyed the water to different points, and the street where the well existed was known as Pipewell Street.

The wells of Cornwall were famous, being named after the different saints who had settled beside them in ancient times, appreciating the value of the pure water they contained.  We had often tested the water of the wells and springs we had come to in the course of our long walk, and the conviction had grown upon us that we owed much of our continued good health to drinking water.  We naturally perspired a good deal, especially when we walked quickly, which of course created thirst; and the different strata of the various rock-formations we had crossed must have influenced the water and ourselves to some extent.  We had come to the conclusion that people who went on holidays and attributed the benefit derived solely to “the change of air” might have equally benefited by the change of water!

In one part of Cheshire, formerly in possession of the Romans, there was a rather remarkable spring of water known as the “Roman Well,” over which appeared the following Latin inscription, difficult to translate, but which had been interpreted thus: