MAIN ROUTE RESUMED-TAVISTOCK TO DEVONPORT.

The Tavistock and Plymouth Railway passes through a succession of rich and lovely landscapes, through the meadows of Buckland and the vale of Bickleigh; but if the tourist really desires to explore this beautiful district with any degree of completeness, he must fare on foot.

Below BUCKLAND MONACHORUM (Monks' Buckland), at 5 miles from Tavistock, a road diverges to MEAVY (population, 294), from whence the whole vale of the Meavy may be examined as far as SHEEP'S TOR. The river abounds in trout, carp, roach, and dace. The MEAVY OAK is 27 feet in girth, and is supposed to have been a vigorous tree in the reign of John. A granite cross, 9 feet high, near the bridge, and KNOLLE FARM-HOUSE, date 1610, with its adjacent waterfall, are points to be visited.

About 6 miles further we reach BICKLEIGH (population, 300. Inn: The Maristowe Arms), where an ancient CHURCH contains the tomb and effigies of Sir Nicholas Slanning and his wife. In the garth stands a noble cross.

Keeping across the fields, eastwards, we reach SHAUGH BRIDGE, whence we may wander into the valley of the Cad, and descend the river as far as DEWERSTONE, a many-coloured cliff, which was for years a favourite resort of the Devonshire poet, N. T. Carrington. On a slab inserted in the ground above is engraved his name and the date of his death. This leafy dell and the river-valley are haunted by a demon huntsman, whose shrill horn and baying hounds often disturb the stilly night. "Dewerstone" is traceable, perhaps, to Tieu's stan, the rock of Tieu, or Tuesco, the Saxon divinity to whom "Tuesday" was anciently dedicated.

We may now follow the Valley of Bickleigh to its opening at PLYM BRIDGE (where there stands a little roadside chantry of ancient date), and thence to BORINGDON, the former residence of the Parkers, Earls of Morley, but now a substantial farm-house, embodying the hall and some other portions of the old fourteenth century mansion. The landscape here is of a beauty that surpasses description. Or we may turn aside, on the right, into the Devonport road, and digress to MARISTOW (Sir Ralph Lopez), or

MARTINSTOW, a stately mansion which stands on the rise of an ample sward, near the estuary of the River Tavy. Attached to it is a domestic chapel, dedicated to St. Martin. Following the course of the river, we arrive at WARLEIGH (W. Radcliffe, Esq.), built in the reign of Stephen, and enlarged temp. Henry VII. and VIII., which Prince describes as a "seat both pleasant and profitable; for, standing near the Tamar side, and having a park and fair demesnes belonging to it, it wants no variety which sea or land can yield." On the Cornish bank of the Tamar lies the village of LANDULPH (population, 250), and across the Tavy, north, stands BEER FERRIS (population, 3401), or Beer Ferrers, whose gray old Decorated CHURCH was built, temp. Henry II., by William de Ferrariis, and contains a monument to its founder. This village was the scene of Stothard's death.

We regain the road at the village of TAMERTON FOLIOT (population, 1147), situated at the junction of three well-wooded glens, and looking out upon winding river and low green hills. The CHURCH contains numerous memorials of the De Gorges, Foliots, and Coplestones. Remark the COPLESTONE OAK, the ominous and fatal tree of the lords of Warleigh. The Tamar here sends up into the woods a small but pleasant creek.

The Albert Bridge now greets us, flinging its gigantic tubes across the noble river with a peculiar air of grandeur; the Tamar broadens into the Hamoaze, and the fresh sea-breeze brings to our ears the music of distant waters. We once more strike inland as far as WESTON PEVERIL, and, regaining the high road, continue our way through the suburb of Stoke Damerel into Plymouth, or Devonport, as choice or necessity dictates.

[For PLYMOUTH, see p. 121, and for DEVONPORT, p. 133.]

ROUTE VIII.-PLYMOUTH to EXETER,

BY SOUTH DEVON RAILWAY.

[Plympton St. Mary, 5 m.; Cornwood Road, 5 m.; Ivy Bridge, 1} m.; Kingsbridge, 3 m.; Brent, 2 m.; Totness, 7 m.; Newton Junction, 84 m.; Teignmouth, 5 m.; Dawlish, 3 m.; Starcross, 3 m.; Exeter, 93 m. ; = 54 m.]

No sad vacuities his heart annoy ;—

Blows not a zephyr, but it whispers joy;
For him the flowers their idle sweets exhale;

He tastes "the meanest note that swells the gale;'
For him sod seats the cottage-door adorn,

And peeps the far off spire, his evening bourn!
Moves there a cloud o'er mid-day's flaming eye?
Upward he looks, "and calls it luxury,"
Kind nature's charities his steps attend,
In every babbling brook he finds a friend,

Whilst chast'ning thoughts of sweetest use, bestow'd
By wisdom, moralize his pensive road.

BARRY CORNWALL sings—

WORDSWORTH.

"Dost thou not love the golden antique time,
When knights and heroes, for a lady's love,
Would spear the dragon ?"

Oh that "golden antique time" which the poet speaks of! When mailed knights and peerless dames lived, it is said, in a very atmosphere of love and chivalry; when the beautiful inspired the poet, and the truthful animated the hero; when through leafy valleys wound glittering cavalcades of barons, squires, and ladies; when horns rang lustily in the greenwood, and harps flung out a wondrous music in the hall !

But was that " antique time" such a time of rose-coloured romance as the tale tellers would have us believe? Or, was it not rather an age of might? When they could keep who had the power; when the strong hand prevailed over the strong brain; when the only law was that which the will of the powerful enforced?

There is always a picturesqueness about the Past. Our very sorrows, looked at as they lie in the twilight" the dewy twilight of memory"-the shadow of the parted years-assume for us a

novel and even attractive aspect, and hence we are always sighing Non sum qualis eram, I am not what I was! It is even so in History. What has been is ever more full of interest than what is, and it is easier for the poet to invest with dreamy splendour the men and deeds of the Long Ago than the heroism of the Present, however sublime, and its achievements, however magnificent!

At PLYMPTON EARLE, 1 mile south of Plympton St. Mary, may be seen the ruins of a feudal stronghold, built by Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon, and dismantled by King Stephen, when Baldwin de Redvers, second Earl of Devon, defended Exeter against him. It was rebuilt in the following reign, and strengthened as years rolled on according to the new principles of military science. Prince Maurice, in 1643, appointed here his head quarters, and in the following year it fell into the hands of the Parliamentarian General, the Earl of Essex. The Roundheads took good care that it should never again be tenable as a military post. The moated area which the castle formerly occupied is now recognized by Plympton beaux and belles as an agreeable rendezvous; some ruins of the keep, however, retain their ground, and afford an object of interest to the zealous antiquarian.

Let it be remembered that at Plympton Earle, in 1722, was born Sir Joshua Reynolds, facile princeps of English portrait painters. His father was master of the Plympton GRAMMAR SCHOOL, where Reynolds himself was instructed in the "rudiments." The said school was founded by Sergeant Maynard, in 1658, from funds provided for charitable purposes by Elize Hele, Esq. of Fardell. The building—in the late Tudor style-was erected in 1665. The arcade is supported by massive piers of granite. PLYMPTON EARLE CHURCH, dedicated to St. Maurice, is an uninteresting edifice, and was originally a chapelry to the church of Plympton St. Mary.

Plympton returned a representative to Parliament as early as the 23d of Edward I., but was deprived of the privilege by the Reform Bill of 1832. In reference to its ancient opulence and consideration the local rhyme asserts

"When Plymouth was a vuzzy down,
Plympton was a borough-town."

The South Devon railway has a small STATION at PLYMPTON ST. MARY (population, 2815. Inns: George, and Railway Hotel), 4 miles from Plymouth. The CHURCH is a fine old pile of the Decorated order, with Perpendicular additions. Some of its grotesque masks; the granite columns separating the nave from the aisles; and its piscina are worth notice. Remark, too, the memorials of the families of Strode and Parker. A relic or two is still in existence of the Augustinian Priory which Bishop Warelwast of Exeter founded (A.D. 1121), upon the ruins of a Saxon Collegiate House.

To the north lies NEWNHAM PARK (G. Strode, Esq.), and on the banks of the Plym, ELFORDLEIGH (W. Fox, Esq.); HEMERDON HOUSE (Admiral Woolacombe), and BUCKWOOD HOUSE (Col. Mudge), are also in this vicinity.

We now proceed, leaving Caddlewood (Mrs. Symonds) on our right-and traversing the Blatchford (105 feet high) and Slade (103 feet high) viaducts—to the CORNWOOD ROAD STATION, 4 miles. CORNWOOD (population, 500) itself is about 1 mile from the station-pleasantly situated on the Yealm at a short distance from the south-west boundary of Dartmoor. SHELL TOP, one of the granite tors of that remarkable waste, and 1550 feet in height, lifts its vast pile above the river-glen, 1 mile to the north. Numerous Celtic remains are within an easy walk.

In Cornwood itself there is little to be seen. Its CHURCH appears to be a fourteenth century building, with later additions, and contains a few memorials. GOODAMOOR HOUSE (H. Tuby, Esq.), and THORLEY HALL, where Elizabeth Chudleigh, afterwards Duchess of Kingston, the heroine of the famous bigamy case, was born, are situated on the outskirts of the village. DELAMERE, to the south, was the residence of Winthrop Mackworth Praed, the poet, whose early death was so great a loss to English literature. Miss Mitford has characterized his poems as "the most graceful and finished verses of society" that could be found in our language, and as exhibiting "that love of the genuine and the true, that scorn for the false and the pretending, which is the foundation of all that is really good in eloquence as well as in poetry, in conduct and in character, as well as in art." Some of his sketches have a Devonshire flavour about them, as for instance, his portraits of "The Vicar,” and “Old Quince." The latter opens thus :—