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behind the town, the prospects of mingled sea and land | she little thought of how ancient date was the custom are deservedly famous. But the sketch we have already of preparing the rich scalded cream in the manner she given in speaking of the walks in the neighbourhood was describing to me. 'Auncient!' she exclaimed: of Sidmouth, must suffice as a sort of general description "I'se warrant he's as old as Adam; for all the best of the characteristics of Devonshire scenery; and here, things in the world were to be had in Paradise. And," as in other places, we must be content with a mere adds our fair authoress, "I must admit, if all the best reference. It would be improper, however, not to things in the world were really to be found in Paradise, speak particularly of the advantages that Teignmouth our cream might certainly there claim a place." Let the affords for aquatic excursions. The boats and boatmen reader try it at breakfast next time he is in Devonshire, of the town are celebrated; and the visitor will find a and he will be of the same opinion. sail along the coast towards Babbicombe, or up the Teign, a treat of no ordinary kind. There is a regatta at Teignmouth every season, which is famed all through these parts.

If it be not thought worth while to hire a boat for a sail up the river, there are market-boats which ply daily between Teignmouth and Newton, that carry passengers for a trifling fare, in which a place can be taken; and the scenery of the river may be well en

The Teign, although not so romantic in its lower course as the Dart, has much of loveliness and some-joyed from them. Just above the town the Teign is thing of majesty. As you ascend it the valley opens in a series of exquisite reaches; the banks at one moment descend to the edge of the water in gentle wooded slopes, and presently rise in abrupt cliffs; while ever and again is seen on the hill sides, or in some sheltered vale, a cottage, or a little collection of cottages:

"Cluster'd like stars some few, but single most,
And lurking dimly in their shy retreats;
Or glancing on each other cheerful looks,
Like separated stars with clouds between."
Wordsworth.

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To some one or other of these quiet, retired places, parties are often made for a summer holiday. Combe and Coombeinteignhead Cellars, are especial favourites with those who love to go junketting. Devonshire, the reader no doubt knows, is famous for two delicious preparations of milk-junkets and clotted cream. They are imitated in other countries, but in Devonshire only are they to be had in perfection. The junket, which is made by mixing spirits and spices with cream prepared in a particular manner, is properly a summer dish; but the cream is for every season. Cobbett, in the pleasantest and healthiest of his books, the Rural Rides,' relates how, on halting on a dreary day at an inn in Sussex, and finding to his sorrow there was no bacon in the house, he at once resolved to proceed again on his journey, though the night was drawing on and it was pouring of rain :-the want of bacon, he says, making him fearful as to all other comforts. And he was right. He knew the country well; and he knew, therefore, that the lack of bacon in a Sussex inn was a sure symptom of ill housekeeping. In Devonshire the test is a different one. Here the rambler may be certain, if he be not served with clotted cream to his breakfast, there must be something amiss; and he will do well at once to shift his quarters.

Mrs. Bray very properly extols the junkets and cream of her favourite Devonshire: and she adds a good illustration of their excellence. After speaking of the references made to them in old authors, she says that she one day observed to an old dame, of whose cream she had just been partaking in her dairy, and who had explained her method of preparing it, "that

crossed by a bridge, which was erected about twenty years ago, and which is said to be the longest bridge in England. The roadway is supported on iron trusses, which form some four or five-and-thirty arches. Over the main channel there is a swing-bridge, which opens so as to permit the passage of ships up the river. This bridge is another of the pleasant walks of Teignmouth. At low water there is on either side a muddy swamp, but at high tide the view from the bridge up the river is very beautiful, especially at sunset. The richlywooded valley through which the broad stream winds is backed by hills, receding behind each other till the distance is closed by the lofty Tors of Dartmoor. Looking downwards, the river, with Teignmouth on one side, and Shaldon on the other, is singularly picturesque: and it is still finer and more rememberable if beheld on a bright night, when the full moon is high over the distant sea, and sends a broad path of lustre along the river,-which appears like a lake closed in by the sand-bank that then seems to be united to the opposite Ness, and the white houses that lie within reach of the moon's beams shine out in vivid contrast to the masses of intense shadow.

TORQUAY,

On leaving Teignmouth we may cross the river by the bridge and look at Ringmoor, or by the ferry to the picturesque village of Shaldon, which both from its fishery and as a watering-place may be considered as an adjunct to Teignmouth. The Torquay road lies along the summits of the lofty cliffs, and though too much enclosed within high banks, there may be had from it numerous views of vast extent. But more striking combinations of sea and land are to be found nearer the edge of the cliffs. Teignmouth, with the coast beyond, is seen here to great advantage. (Cut No. 5.) The coast from Teignmouth to Torquay is all along indented with greater or less recesses, and as the rocks are high and rugged, many of these coves have a most picturesque appearance. A larger one, Babbicombe Bay, is considered to be one of the finest of the smaller bays on the coast. Here, till not many years ago, were only a dozen rude fishermen's hovels, which

seemed to grow out of the rough rocky banks: now there are numerous goodly villas with their gardens and plantations, scattered along the hill-sides; hotels have been built, and there reigns over all an air of gentility and refinement;-a poor compensation for the old, uncultivated, native wildness that has vanished before it. St. Mary Church, just above Babbicombe Bay, has also altered with the changing times. From a quiet country village, it has grown into a place of some resort, and houses fitted for the reception of wealthy visitors have been built and are building on every side. There is not much to notice in the village. The church is a plain building of various dates, and not uninteresting to the architectural antiquary. It stands on an elevated site, and the tall tower serves as a land-mark for a long distance. In the church-yard may be seen a pair of stocks and a whipping-post in excellent preservation. While at St. Mary's the stranger will do well to visit Mr. Woodly's marble works: the show-rooms, which are open to him, contain a wonderful variety of the Devonshire marbles, wrought into chimney-pieces and various articles of use or ornament. Some of the specimens are very beautiful.

A short distance further is Bishopstowe, the seat of the Bishop of Exeter: a large and handsome building of recent erection, in the Italian Palazzo style. It stands in a commanding situation in one of the very finest parts of this coast; and the terraces and towers must afford the most splendid prospects. Immediately below the Bishop's palace is Anstis Cove, the most romantic spot from Sidmouth to the Dart. (Cut, No. 6.) It is a deep indentation in the cliffs, where a stream appears at some time or other to have worked out its way in a bold ravine to the ocean. On either hand the little bay is bounded by bold wild rocks. On the left a bare headland juts out into the sea, which has worn it, though of hardest marble, into three or four rugged peaks. On the right, the craggy sides of the lofty hill are covered thick with wild copse and herbage, while from among the loose fragments of rock project stunted oak, and birch, and ash trees, their trunks overgrown with mosses and lichens, and encompassed with tangled heaps of trailing plants. The waves roll heavily into the narrow cove, and dash into snowy foam against the marble rocks and upon the raised beach. A lovely spot it is as a lonely wanderer or a social party could desire for a summer-day's enjoyment. The Devonshire marble, which is now in so much request, is chiefly quarried from Anstis Cove and Babbicombe Bay. While here, Kent's Hole, a cavern famous for the fossil remains which have been discovered in it, and so well known from the descriptions of Dr. Buckland' and other geologists, may be visited, if permission has been previously obtained of the Curator of the museum at Torquay. The cavern is said to be 600 feet in length, and it has several chambers and winding passages. Numerous stalactites depend from the roof, and the floor is covered by a slippery coating of stalagmite: the place is very curious, but has little of the impressiveness of the caverns of Yorkshire and the Peak. At Tor-wood,

close by, are a few picturesque fragments of a building that once belonged to the monks of Tor Abbey; was afterwards a seat of the Earl of Londonderry; and then a farmhouse.

Nearly all the way from Teignmouth the stranger will have observed, not without surprise, the number of large and expensive residences that have been recently erected on almost every available (and many an unpromising) spot. Many appear to have been begun without a proper reckoning of the cost, and are standing in an unfinished state; many that are finished are to let,' but more are occupied. As Torquay is approached, the number rapidly increases, until on the skirts of the town there appears, as it has been appropriately termed, "a forest of villas." What old Fuller calls "the plague of building," seems to have alighted here in its strongest form. But whatever may be the case further off, it is said that a villa of the best kind is hardly ever completed and furnished in the immediate vicinity of the town before a tenant is found ready to secure it.

No other watering-place in England has risen so rapidly into importance as Torquay. Leland indicates. its existence without mentioning its name. Speaking of Torbay he says, "There is a pier and succour for fisher-boats in the bottom by Torre priory." What it was in the middle of the sixteenth century it remained, with little alteration, to the end of the eighteenth. "The living generation," says the Route Book of Devon,' ,"has seen the site where now stand stately buildings, handsome shops, and a noble pier, with a busy population of 8000 souls, occupied by a few miserable-looking fishing-huts, and some loose stones jutting out from the shore, as a sort of anchorage or protection for the wretched craft of its inhabitants." The same work suggests a reason, in addition to the causes that have led to its unrivalled popularity, for the remarkable increase of houses:-" The increase of buildings and houses here has been, perhaps, greater than in any other town-[watering-place is meant: Birkenhead and other commercial and manufacturing towns have, of course, increased to a much greater extent]in the kingdom. This, in a great measure, may be attributed, in addition to its beauty of situation and salubrity of climate, to the natural advantages it possesses for building. The whole district being nearly one large marble quarry, the renter or possessor of a few feet square has only to dig for his basement story, and the material, with the exception of a little timber, which is landed before his door, for the completion of his superstructure, is found."

Torquay lies in a sunny and sheltered cove at the north-eastern extremity of the noble Torbay. Lofty hills surround it on all sides except the south, where it is open to the sea. The houses are built on the sides of the hills, which rise steeply from the bosom of the bay. Thus happily placed, the town enjoys almost all the amenities of a more southern clime: the tempcrature is mild and equable, beyond perhaps that of any other part of the island. In winter the air is

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warm and balmy; while in summer the heat is tem-
pered by the gentle sea breezes; and it is said to be
less humid than any other spot on the coast of Devon.
It suffers only from the south-western gales, and they
serve to clear and purify the atmosphere. Dr. (now
Sir J.) Clarke, in his celebrated work on Climate,'
gives it the first place among English towns as a resi-
dence for those whose health requires a warm winter
abode; and his decision at once confirmed and widely
extended the popularity it had already attained. He
says, "The general character of the climate of this
coast is soft and humid. Torquay is certainly drier
than the other places, and almost entirely free from
fogs. This drier state of the atmosphere probably arises,
in part, from the limestone rocks, which are confined
to the neighbourhood of this place, and partly from its
position between the two streams, the Dart and the
Teign, by which the rain is in some degree attracted.
Torquay is also remarkably protected from the north-
east winds, the great evil of our spring climate. It is
likewise sheltered from the north-west. This pro-
tection from winds extends also over a very consider-
able tract of beautiful country, abounding in every
variety of landscape; so that there is scarcely a wind
that blows from which the invalid will not be able to
find a shelter for exercise, either on foot or horseback.
In this respect Torquay is much superior to any other
place we have noticed.
The selection will, I
believe, lie among the following places, as winter or
spring residences: Torquay, the Undercliff (Isle of
Wight), Hastings, and Clifton,-and perhaps in the
generality of cases will deserve the preference in the
order stated."

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our older towns of the same class, than it would to the baths of Germany, or the Italian cities of refuge.

Torquay has many buildings for the general convenience; but it has no public building that will attract attention on account of its importance or its architecture. There are subscription, reading, and assembly-rooms, first-rate hotels, a club-house, baths, and a museum; there are also three or four dispensaries and charitable institutions. But there are none of them noticeable buildings; the town wears altogether a domestic 'Belgravian' air: it is a town of terraces and villas. The pier is the chief public work: it is so constructed as to enclose a good though small tidal harbour; and it forms also a promenade. principal shops lie along the back of the harbour, and they, as may be supposed, are well and richly stored. The streets are mostly narrow and irregular. The houses which the visitors occupy are built on the higher grounds; they rise in successive tiers along the hill sides, and the villas extend far outside the older town. A new town of villas is stretching over Beacon Hill, and occupying the slopes that encircle Mead Foot Cove. All the new villa residences are more or less ambitious in their architecture; some of them are very elegant buildings. They are, of course, of different sizes, ranging from cottages to mansions. They are built of stone-till lately, in almost every instance covered with stucco. Some of very ornamental character have been recently erected with the limestone uncovered. There is no good public parade by the sea-side the new road to Paignton is but an apology for one, though a magnificent parade might have been constructed there: a better situation could not be desired. Recently a piece of ground of about four acres, in the most fashionable part of Torquay-but at some distance from the sea-has been laid out as a public garden: and it is, of its kind, a right pleasant one. The walks are numerous within the limits of the town, which are pleasant in themselves, or afford pleasing prospects. Along the summit of Waldon Hill the whole extent of Torbay is seen to great advantage: a grander prospect could hardly be desired over the evervarying and ever-glorious ocean.

After such an encomium from one of the most celebrated physicians of the day, Torquay could not fail to obtain a large influx of visitors-and those of the class most desiderated. Torquay is now the most fashionable resort of the kind. It has both a summer and a winter season; and the commencement of the one follows close upon the termination of the other. Hither come invalids from every part of the kingdom in search of health, or in the hope of alleviating sickness: and hither also flock the idle, the wealthy, and the luxu- | rious, in search of pleasure, or of novelty, or in the The views from Beacon Hill are almost equally fine. hope of somehow getting rid of the lingering hours. Noble views of Torquay, and of the eastern end of Torbay, may be had from the Paignton Road, and from the meadows by Tor Abbey, and the knolls about Livermead (Cut, No. 7). We shall say nothing of the walks in the vicinity of Torquay; the people of Torquay do not walk there: but there are rides and drives all around, of a kind to charm the least admiring; and the whole heart of the country is so verdant that they are hardly less admirable in winter than at any other season.

A good deal of amusement, and some instruction, might be found in a sketch of the history of the wells, and the baths, and the watering-places of England; and there are abundant materials for the illustration of such a sketch in our lighter literature. It would be curious to compare the various ways in which, in successive generations, the votaries of fashion and of pleasure have sought to amuse themselves, under the pretence of seeking after health; and how variously health has been sought after by those who have really been in pursuit of it and equally curious would it be to compare the appliances as well as the habits at such places. Torquay would probably be found to bear little more resemblance to Tonbridge-Wells or to Bath, to Harrowgate, or Buxton, or Cheltenham, or any other of

The appearance of Torbay is so tempting, that we can hardly suppose the visitor, however little of a sailor, will be content without having a sail on it. He should do so, if only to see Torquay to most advantage. From the crowd of meaner buildings which encircle the harbour and extend along the sides of the cove, rise the streets and terraces of white houses, like an amphitheatre, tier

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