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The wanderer on Dartmoor should by all means make Carrington his companion. His poem has well been compared to certain wines, which can be drunk in perfection nowhere but among their native hills; and with Carrington in one hand, and Mr. Murray's red book in the other, it will be the traveller's own fault if he misses the most remarkable points of beauty or of interest. As in all similar regions, the borders of the central moors are more picturesque than the highland itself, which forms the watershed of the county, and rises, at its greatest eminence, to a height of more than 2000 feet. Deep, narrow coombes, covered with a coppice of birch and oak, lie between the hills that extend, like bastions, into the lower country; and each of the river valleysthe Plym, the Dart, the Teign, and many a lesser stream-presents scenes of ancient, untouched woodland, and, in its upper course, of granite-strewn glen and ferny hill, such as might well inspire a far worse poet than Carrington. The tourist may make a circuit of Dartmoor, never leaving, for more than a hundred miles, this wild and romantic scenery, far more suggestive of the days of Sir Tristrem or of Britomart, than of these brisker times of telegraph and railroad. It resembles, and very closely, those parts of Galloway-the scenery of Guy Mannering-which form a ring of wooded glens about the central moors and mountains. But the Devonshire landscape impresses us with a far greater sense of security and ancient peacefulness than that of Dumfriesshire or the Stewartry. No rude tower of lime and stane' rises on its heathery knoll at the head of the glen, or looks far out over the moors to catch the first glance of the distant forayers. The only enemies feared by the Devonshire franklin were 'winter and rough weather;' and the ancient farmhouses, with their granite porches, their great walnut trees, and the beehives ranged under their casements, are generally niched into the sunniest corner on the hill side, or preside over the green, quiet meadows through which the river sparkles onward. In early spring

'When all the hills with moor-burn are a-blaze,'

and the peaks of the distant tors are half shrouded by wreaths of white smoke-when the bright green of the birch woods and larch plantations rivals the golden blaze of the furze, and every coppice is fragrant with great tufts of primroses, the scene from a hill-side on the Dartmoor border is exceeded in beauty by none with which it can be compared, either in England or in Scotland,

We must not, however, lose ourselves among the attractions of Devonshire scenery. In spite of their number and variety, no

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great show-point' has, we believe, been omitted in the Handbook.' Almost every class of scenery has its representative in the county, which supplies a not less wide range of climate, from the bracing, highland atmosphere of the moors to the sunny warmth of the south coast, where oranges and citrons ripen in the open air, and where flowers which are elsewhere treated as exotics-the lovely Devoniensis' rose among them-flourish unprotected throughout the winter. The two Devonshire railways, among the most picturesque in England, afford the tourist an easy access to much of the county; but he must still, if he mean really to enjoy it, wander among the intricate net-work of lanes which cross and recross it in all directions. And if the distant views are somewhat excluded, and roving propensities somewhat checked, no traveller with the eye of an artist will quarrel with the steep banks covered with ferns and wild flowers, and in due season scarlet with strawberries-'most toothsome to the palate,' says old Fuller, who has placed them among the 'natural commodities' of Devon (I mean if with clarett wine or sweet cream), and so plentiful in this county that a traveller may gather them sitting on horseback in their hollow highwayes.' Such was the depth of these 'hollow highwayes' in Westcote's time, that he tells us a man might have then ridden from one end of Devonshire to the other without seeing a single flock of sheep. Perhaps the feat might still be accomplished; but the tourist must in such case carefully avoid the magnificent panoramas which open here and there from the lanes themselves, and which may always be seen by turning into the open fields at the hill

crests.

Until the tall hedges of the Devonshire lanes have entirely disappeared from the land-a consummation which, it may be feared, will follow in the train of modern agriculture-the ancient dialect of the county will continue to maintain its place. It will, no doubt, become obsolete as the province is more and more opened by railways and good roads; and in the mean time the diligence of the local antiquary should be exerted to procure as complete glossaries as possible. The dialect should be of no small interest to archæologists, since, according to Giraldus Cambrensis (writing in 1204), the more ancient mode of speaking lingered longer in Devonshire than elsewhere,' although, he adds, the language now appears more unpolished

*

The best illustrations of the Devonshire dialect which exist at present are the Exmoor Scolding' and Mrs. Gwatkin's 'Dialogue.' The locality in which a word is found should always be carefully noticed, since the difference between the dialects of North and South Devon is considerable.

'incomposita.'

'incomposita.'* The ancient mode of speaking' was the genuine Saxon of Wessex; and words and phrases may yet be heard in Devonshire, which have never become extinct through all the changes of a thousand years. In what degree beauty, as well as antiquity, is to be found in the local dialect, is a question which will be variously decided, according as the judges are Devonians or not. Roger North, who accompanied the Lord Keeper Guildford on his circuit at the end of Charles II.'s reign, insists that the common speech of Devonshire is more barbarous than in any other part of England-the north not excepted.' Few certainly would now be found to agree in this judgment, although the stranger may still meet with many a word rusted with age, and requiring explanation to all but antiquarian ears. Where this is difficult, let us hope it may be as judiciously avoided as in the case recorded by Peter Pindar in his Royal Visit to Exeter :'

'Now Varmer Tab, I understand,

Drode his legs vore, and catched the hand,

And shaked wey might and main :

"I'm glad your Medjesty to zee,

And hope your Medjesty," quoth he,

"Wull ne'er be mazed again."

"Mazed, mazed-What's mazed?" then said the King,
"I never heerd of zich a thing;

What's mazed, what, what-my Lord?"
"Hem," zaid my Lord, and blowed his nose;
"Hem, hem, Zir-'tis, I do suppose,

Zir-zome old Devonshire word."'

The agriculture of Devonshire-still sadly behind the rest of the world-is improving year by year, and the enterprise of the greater landowners will, no doubt, eventually raise the county, in this respect, to a high position. The mild climate of its lower districts has been taken advantage of by the gardeners. Devonshire, among many other contributions, has supplied our lawns and ornamental grounds with the brilliant double furze and the evergreen or Luccombe' oak-a cross between the Turkey oak and the cork-tree. Such nurseries as those of Luccombe and Pince, and of the Veitches at Exeter, will sustain a comparison with any in the world; and among show places,' Mr. Loudon has pronounced the beautiful gardens and grounds of Bicton to be more complete in every branch, and in more

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* Cambriæ Descriptio, 1. i. c. 6, quoted by Sir Frederick Madden, Preface to Layamon's Brut, p. xxvi.

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admirable order, than any he had met with elsewhere. Devon-
shire is now almost entirely an agricultural county; for, although
the woollen trade still lingers in a few towns, it is not sufficiently
extensive to be of great importance, and now disperses but slender
'labours of the loom '-

'Through Dart, and sullen Exe, whose murmuring wave
Envies the Dune and Rother, who have won

The serge and kersie to their blanching streams.' *

Yet Devonshire was at one time a centre of this manufacture. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Totnes was one of the chief clothing towns of England, and hose of fine Totnes' appear in sundry romances and in the Welch 'Mabinogion,' when the dress of an important personage is described as especially splendid. Crediton became the later wool mart of the county. as Kirton (Crediton) spinning,' was a general proverb; and 'As fine Westcote asserts that 140 threads of woollen yarn spun in that town were drawn together through the eye of a tailor's needle, 'which needle and threads were, for many years together, to be seen in Watling Street in London, in the shop of one Mr. Dunscombe, at the sign of the Golden Bottle.'

The modern history of Plymouth, of its dockyards, its harbour, and its wide-extended commerce, demands a volume to itself. The influence of its great public establishments is felt throughout the county, of which it has become by far the most important town. Mr. Cotton's noble gift to Plymouth of his very valuable art library, sketches by the ancient masters, prints, and pictures, ought to make it a school of art for both Devon and Cornwall. In this respect, as in so many others, the county has been distinguished above most of the other counties of England. The succession of eminent Devonshire artists, at the head of which stands the glorious name of Sir Joshua Reynolds, includes Northcote, Haydon, and the present accomplished President of the Royal Academy.

ART. VI.-1. The Life and Times of Charles James Fox. By
Lord John Russell. Vol. I. 1859.

2. A History of England during the Reign of George III. By
William Massey, M.P. Two first volumes. 1855, 1858.

THE

HE work of Lord John Russell will probably disappoint many readers, more from the promise held out by the announcement than from any real deficiency in the execution. A 'Life of Fox' by such a hand as his Lordship's, familiar through

* Dyer's 'Fleece.'

party

party and household tradition with the personal character of the great Whig leader, enabled by a long course of public life to judge of his achievements and failings as a statesman, would indeed be no common gain to the literature of our country. It is the more disappointing to find that, in the present instance, his Lordship has, in his own words, only attempted rather to follow the political career, than to portray the personal life, of Mr. Fox ;' and that, in point of fact, the volume before us contains very little except the mere skeleton narrative of public facts, and extracts from parliamentary speeches, which are within the reach of any industrious man. Some of the observations of the author are extremely interesting, and it is to be regretted that he should speak so seldom in his own person. It would, however, be premature to criticise a work of which the present may perhaps be regarded as a mere introductory volume. In the mean time we intend to concern ourselves on this occasion with one portion only of Lord John Russell's labours. He has dwelt with much force on the circumstance that a clue to a large portion of our Court and Parliamentary history for more than twenty years is to be found in the antagonism of will and character between George III. and Charles Fox. But we are forced to add that he is unable to take a generous view, in our belief, of the real character and position of the two champions who are thus set in historical opposition to each other.

There are periods in history,' it was observed in this Journal a few years ago, on which the calm of impartial opinion never rests. The grave softens no animosities-time clears away no prejudice. Nearly a century has elapsed since the accession of George III.; yet misrepresentation is as busy with his name now as when the mob chalked 45 on every wall in London, and Wilkes, Junius, and Horne propagated their calumnies.' Yet we had imagined that even the strength of Whig tradition was beginning to soften under the influence of years—at least in writers of the higher order-that the justice his personal virtues deserved was beginning to be rendered to the monarch-and that, while retaining even more than contemporary admiration of the great qualities of Fox, modern readers were at least ready to admit that, in the quarrels between him and his Sovereign, the faults were by no means confined to one side. Lord John Russell, however, we are sorry to say, adopts the stereotyped Whig parallel of the last century-the Tyrant on one hand, the Friend of the People on the other; the political Arimanes and Oromasdes of our Jacobin grandfathers :

'George III. was actuated by a conscientious principle, and a ruling passion. The conscientious principle was an honest desire to perform

his

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