the churchyard wall, and there he sobbed away the brief remnant of his days."
The story goes that on one long and tremendous chase, Dogget running by his master's horse—
"How far do you make it?" said Simon the son.
"The day that's declining will shortly be done."
"We'll follow till Doomsday," quoth Arscott,—before
They hear the Atlantic with menacing roar.
On this occasion the chase continued to Penkenner.
Through Whitstone, and Poundstock, St. Genny's they run,
Like a fire-ball, red, in the sea set the sun.
Then out on Penkenner—a leap, and they go,
Full five hundred feet to the ocean below.
In this memorable run, the fox went over the cliffs and the hounds after him; but Arscott and the rest of the hunters drew up, and though he lost his hounds, he did not lose his life. Penkenner is a magnificent and sheer cliff, west of St. Genny's Church. A deep cleft is on one side, and Crackington Cove on the other. There was no possible escape for the fox. As to the "sons of the Blue" who were in this memorable run with Arscott, of Tetcott, opinions differ.
The versions of the ballad vary greatly. I have had a copy, written in 1820, with explanatory notes. The date of the song is sometimes set down as 1752, sometimes as 1772. The "sons of the Blue" are taken to have been Sir John Molesworth, of Pencarrow, Bart., William Morshead, of Blisland, and Braddon Clode, of Skisdon. But neither Sir John Molesworth nor Mr. Morshead was, as it happens, a naval man. If the date were either 1652 or 1672, it would fit an earlier John Arscott, of Tetcott, who died in 1708; and Sir John Molesworth of the period was Vice-Admiral of Cornwall; and the sons of the blue were his sons, Hender, Sparke, and John. The second John Molesworth
