LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
PLACES OF BEAUTY: TINTAGEL AND ALFRISTON. [To THZ EDITOR OP THE "epic-nem"] Sin,—It is now some two years since an article in the Spectator pointed out that it might be as important for a nation to secure sites of rare natural beauty as it was to buy fine pictures. The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, was founded in consequence of a correspondence suggested by that article. The Trust has been constituted under good auspices, has done some valuable work, and been the recipient of one great gift. The Council of the Trust is now in a position to secure for the public, at a comparatively small cost, one place of extreme beauty, and one of great architectural value. Herres Head, a wild heathy promontory, fourteen acres in extent, which forms the northern headland enclosing King Arthur's Cove at Tintagel, can be pre- served for the public for £505, of which a part is already pro- mised. It forms the vantage-ground from which Tintagel can be best seen. To save it from future enclosure or from alteration of its natural features would seem to be an object well worth some sacrifice on the part of those who have cared for the Arthurian legends and the poetry that has gathered about them. My memory of Tintagel is as a dream of beauty, round which old-world memories hung and lent an added charm to the mystic loveliness of that Cornish bay and Cornish ruin.
Again, a lovely little bit of old English work, a Pre- Reformation clergy-house in a Sussex village, has been given to the Trust, timber and gable and old ball set in quaint and interesting fashion, an inheritance to us all from the Middle Ages. But wind and rain have already done harm to the building, and if we are to hand it on in its old-world beauty we must at once expend £350 on its preservation. The Society for the Pre- servation of Ancient Monuments will supervise this work. But we need the money, our subscriptions hardly sufficing to carry on our ordinary work. To all who would like to deny themselves in order to leave England richer in scenes that waken noble memories, to all who wish to hand on what is beautiful for the times to come, we would appeal to send, and that quickly, what is needed to preserve Barran Head and Alfriston Clergy House.—I am, Sir, &c.,
190 Marylebone Road, June 24th. OCEANIA HILL.
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