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and as we shall see in places we have yet to visit. But nowhere else within the limits of our present journey do they assume so fantastic an appearance as between Dawlish and Teignmouth. When the waves surround them at high tide and beat against the cliffs, these rocks and the coast generally are remarkably picturesque and striking.

It would be improper to quit Dawlish without mentioning the many beautiful walks that it possesses. Some extend up the valley, affording delicious shady strolls in the summer, and sheltered sunny ones in the winter. Those along the higher grounds are varied and agreeable, and command often wide and diversified prospects. The sea-views are numerous, and very good. Indeed, both the active and the feeble may find delightful walks of various kinds, and well adapted to their respective powers. Altogether Dawlish will be enjoyed by those who seek a quiet, retired, but not unsocial or dull watering-place.

TEIGNMOUTH.

Along the coast from Dawlish to Teignmouth there is a continual alternation of tall cliffs and deep depressions. The rocks are bold and striking, and the sail between the towns is a right pleasant one. To walk the distance, you must follow the road to Country House, a little inn, somewhat more than a mile from Dawlish, when you may turn down a rough, green, rocky lane, known as Smuggler's Lane, which leads to the beach by the Parson and Clerk. The cliffs here are rugged and wild. Two of the most noticeable of the many detached fragments bear the trivial names of the Parson and Clerk, from some supposed resemblance to those functionaries. The Parson is, of course, of most

| capacious rotundity; the Clerk is sparer: he might have been more appropriately named the Curate. The railway here emerges from a tunnel: it is protected, as before, by a sea-wall, which forms a wide and level road almost to Teignmouth. From the Parson Rock the view of Teignmouth, and the bay in which it lies, with the distant headland, is very fine. The seaward prospect from the sea-wall is excellent. There is a footpath along the brow of the lofty cliff under which the railway runs, from which there is a very commanding view over the ocean.

Teignmouth lies near the centre of the wide bay formed by the high land of Orcomb on the north, and Hope's Ness on the south. Its name marks its position by the mouth of the river Teign. The town is divided, for parochial and other purposes, into East and West Teignmouth, but there is no actual separation between them. East Teignmouth is the part that is built near the sea at the eastern end of the Den: West Teignmouth lies along the east bank of the river. (Cut, No. 5.)

Camden, Leland, and other of our older antiquaries, have asserted that Teignmouth is the place where the Danes first landed in England: but there can be no doubt whatever that they are mistaken, and that the Tinmouth of the Saxon Chroniclers is Tynemouth, in Northumberland. Teignmouth seems to have been at an early period a place of some trade. There was then no sand-bar at the mouth of the river, and the haven was safe and convenient. Teignmouth contributed, at least occasionally, its proportion of armed ships to the national fleet. Before the reign of Henry VIII. the river showed signs of silting-up, and sand had begun to accumulate in the harbour. An Act of Parliament was passed in that reign to amend the harbour; in the

preamble of which it is stated that formerly vessels of 800 tons burden could enter the port at low water.

If we may believe Bishop Burnet, Teignmouth had sunk into a very wretched state towards the end of the seventeenth century. After the defeat of the combined English and Dutch squadron, under the Earl of Torrington, off Beachy Head, in 1690, the French fleet sailed direct to Torbay, where it lay for some days. "But before they sailed," says the bishop, (Hist. of his own Times, v. ii. p. 54,) "they made a descent on a miserable village called Tinmouth, that happened to belong to a papist: they burnt it, and a few fisherboats that belonged to it; but the inhabitants got away; and as a body of militia was marching thither, the French made great haste back to their ships: the French published this in their Gazettes with much pomp, as if it had been a great trading town, that had many ships, with some men-of-war in port: this both rendered them ridiculous, and served to raise the nation against them; for every town on the coast saw what they must expect, if the French should prevail."

But the townsmen's own account of the affair is not exactly like this. They addressed a memorial to the King; and a Brief was issued on their behalf, which enabled them to raise money for the restoration of the town. From the statement set forth in the Brief, it is plain that Burnet underrated the importance of the place, which was anything but a miserable village.' The statement is interesting, as an authentic representation of such an occurrence made immediately afterwards and it is worth quoting farther, as an evidence of the way in which the zealous bishop colours his notices of matters of which he was not an actual witThe Brief of the townsmen must of course have been well known to the bishop.

ness.

This address" Sheweth,-That on the 13th day of July last (1690), about four of the clock in the morning, the French fleet, then riding in Torbay, where all the forces of our county of Devon were drawn up to oppose their landing; several of their galleys drew off from their fleet, and made towards a weak unfortified place, called Teignmouth, about seven miles to the eastward of Torbay, and coming very near, and having played the cannon of their galleys upon the town, and shot near 200 great shot therein, to drive away the poor inhabitants, they landed about 700 of their men, and began to fire and plunder the towns of East and West Teignmouth, which consist of about 300 houses; and in the space of three hours ransacked and plundered the said towns, and a village called Shaldon, lying on the other side of the river, and burnt and destroyed 116 houses, together with eleven ships and barks that were in the harbour. And to add sacrilege to their robbery and violence, they in a barbarous manner entered the two churches of the said towns, and in the most unchristian manner tore the Bibles and Common Prayer-books in pieces, scattering the leaves thereof about the streets, broke down the pulpits, overthrew the Communion-tables, together with many other marks of a barbarous and enraged cruelty. And such

goods and merchandises as they could not, or durst not, stay to carry away, for fear of our forces, which were marching to oppose them, they spoilt and destroyed, killing very many cattle and hogs, which they left dead in the streets. And the said towns of East and West Teignmouth and Shaldon, being in great part maintained by fishing, and their boats, nets, and other fishing - craft being plundered and consumed in the common flames, the poor inhabitants are not only deprived of their subsistence and maintenance, but put out of a condition to retrieve their losses by their future industry; the whole loss and damage of the said poor inhabitants, sustained by such an unusual accident, amounting to about £11,000, as appeared to our justices, not only by the oaths of many poor sufferers, but also of many skilful and experienced workmen who viewed the same, and have taken an estimate thereof; which loss hath reduced many poor inhabitants, therefore, to a very sad and deplorable condition.”—(Lyson's Mag. Brit., vi., 491.)

The money required was raised, and the town was restored.

Teignmouth is now a busy and thriving town, containing upwards of five thousand inhabitants. Fishing is largely carried on, and there is a considerable import and export trade. It is the port for shipping the Haytor granite, which is brought down the Teign from the quarries, and the fine clay which is brought from Kingsteignton. The inhabitants are also largely engaged in the Newfoundland fishery. There is besides a good coasting trade, so that the haven is commonly a bustling scene. The entrance to the river is impeded by a sand bar. The main sand-bank is elevated far above high-water mark; but the narrow channel by which the river escapes into the sea has a depth of water of about fifteen feet at high tide, permitting, therefore, the passage of vessels of considerable burden; and the harbour, though there are several large shoals, is tolerably commodious. The continuation of the sand-bank, called the Den, between the sea and the town, was once a part of the town. Leland the west side of the town is a piece of sandy ground, called the Dene, whereon hath been not many years since divers houses and wine-cellars." The Den is now laid out as a public promenade; near the western end of it a small lighthouse has been erected.

says,

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Teignmouth is not wholly dependent on its shipping. It is one of the largest and most frequented wateringplaces on the coast, yielding only to Torquay, and, perhaps, to Exmouth. According to Lysons, "Teignmouth appears to have become fashionable, and to have increased in buildings about the middle of last century." Unlike the other leading watering-places on the Devon coast, Teignmouth is not a winter resort. It has only what in watering-place phraseology is termed 'a summer season,' which of course includes the autumn.

The streets of Teignmouth have more the appearance of belonging to a trading town than a town of pleasure. They are mostly narrow and irregular, and the houses are far from showy. Facing the sea, however, there

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are good houses and terraces of the ordinary wateringplace species. There are in the town and opposite the sea the usual public buildings, baths, and hotels. The showiest building in Teignmouth is the Public Rooms, which stands in the centre of the Crescent fronting the Den; it is a large structure, with an Ionic pediment, and a Doric colonnade. It contains a spacious ball-room, billiard and reading-rooms, and all the other rooms usual in such an edifice. The lighthouse is plain, but substantial; it is intended to warn vessels off the sand, and, by the aid of a light fixed on a house on the Den, to guide them in entering the river. There are two churches in Teignmouth, both comparatively recent, and positively ugly. Probably it would be hard to find another town that has only two churches, and both so ill-favoured. East Teignmouth Church is a singular building it is said to be intended as an example of the Saxon style,-if so, it is a very bad example. The interior is described as being warm and comfortable;" matters that are no doubt appreciated on a Sunday morning. West Teignmouth Church has no redeeming quality. In form it is an octagon, with a queer tower at one of the angles. The interior might raise a doubt whether the design was not taken from a riding-circus, to which use it might, with a little alteration of the pit and gallery, be readily converted.

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The glory of Teignmouth is its promenade,-unrivalled on this coast, and not to be easily surpassed elsewhere. The Den was a wide, uneven, unsightly sandy waste, lying between the sea and the town, and extending from East Teignmouth to the river. This waste it at length entered into the imagination of the towns

people might as well be applied to some use: accordingly it was levelled, the centre was laid down with turf, and around it was carried an excellent carriagedrive; while between this and the beach a broad walk was formed, extending above half a mile along the seaside. Thus, what had hitherto been a deformity became not merely an ornament, but one of the most valuable additions which could have been made to the town. Within the last year the sea-wall of the railway has prolonged this walk for more than a mile farther. The people of Teignmouth are justly proud of the Den. The cove, within which Teignmouth lies, is a very beautiful one: the broad blue ocean, which in all its wondrous beauty stretches before you, is studded with vessels constantly passing to and fro; occasionally, one and another ship is seen working in or out of the harbour, unless it be when the curl of the waves over the bar at low water indicates the hidden danger; and the Den not only affords the most convenient means of observing the beauty and interest of the scene, but in itself would possess great attractions for the gay folks who visit these towns, as a parade whereon to take their daily exercise, or to assemble in order to see and be seen. The Den appears to great advantage on a summer evening, when the sun is sinking behind the distant cliffs. The moonlight view of the sea on a fine clear night is marvellously fine. Half the town seems sometimes to be assembled on the Den, if the full moon be particularly brilliant.

The country about Teignmouth is of uncommon beauty in every direction there are pleasant and attractive walks. From the hills, which rise far aloft

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