lawn or green plot which forms the churchyard is particularly gratifying to the sight by its pleasing smoothness. Part of a Roman cross remains before the door. The church is the picture of seclusion and quiet, and appears on the first view as a place admirably adapted for religious worship, to receive the fervent throbbings of man crying for mercy to his Creator: the impressive grandeur of the surrounding hills, by a natural transition, raises the mind to the Power that produced them; and our admiration and reverence are followed by the most animating views of the intentions of Providence, from the analogy of the adaptation in every part of the creation of the means to some wise end. But it is rather too poetical a situation for the general mixture of a common congregation; besides, men who are wearied with the toils of the week, require, on the seventh day, some repose; and to those who live on the heights or downs, the descent to Culbone is far from a relaxation of labour; the fatigue of the body

.

will abate the pious fervour of the mind, and a state of lukewarm devotion must in consequence too often prevail.

Had Cowper visited Culbone, he would not

have exclaimed,

"O for a lodge in some vast wilderness,

"Some boundless contiguity of shade,

"Where rumour of oppression might never reach
"My ear."

He might here have found a solitude independent of a desert, and an uninterrupted retirement for serious contemplation; in an infinite number of other places, which might be made as free from interruption, and the discord of mankind, and as impenetrable, as a lodge in some vast wilderness. With a small income like the Man of Ross, the man of real humanity who wishes for seclusion, might find in such a place as Culbone, a still retreat, where no rumour of oppression, which he could not redress, would reach his ear; nor no patient suffering of poverty present itself, which he could not relieve; the cabals and dissensions of extensive society he might never hear; and his happiness would be more exquisite than where he had no field for active charity, and his conscience undisturbed by regret, for having neglected the industrious part of society,

because there might be folly and depravity in greatness.

Having at a former period visited the principal places below Lynton to the west, and the weather beginning to change, I returned to Barnstaple. Amongst these places Clovelly and Ilfracombe deserve particular attention. The former is striking from its romantic situation. It is built on the steepest part of the coast, which rises to a considerable height; and each cottage above the line of houses on the quay is embowered with wood, which also crowns the summit of this part of the coast, beautifully varied by its gentle swellings. The pier, which has been lately erected, or improved, is of considerable importance to the small shipping which are employed in the trade of the Channel; its sudden storms and dangerous navigation frequently obliging them to retreat for shelter to it, where while they ride in safety, the agitated sea breaks against the firm wall, and throws, in a most picturesque manner, its white spray over the inclosed shipping. From the end of the pier the best view is seen, unparalleled in the county for its beauty. To the west of Clovelly is the seat of Sir J.

Hamlyn, called Clovelly Court, lately ornamented with a beautiful Gothic front, and considerable internal improvements; the rides over the grounds are pleasant and varied; the scenery of the coast is formed principally of bold projections of fine schistose rock, and overhanging brushwood, which is continued to Hartland Point, the Promontorium Herculis of old authors and the western boundary of the county. Ilfracombe is also highly attracting; the town itself is irregular and about a mile in length; but the entrance by sea, under high cliffs, and the fine eminence on which is a light-house, with the view of the lower part of the town, is amongst the most interesting scenery on the whole coast. A commodious packet sails twice a week for Swansea, which renders it a place of busy communication, and an excise cutter is stationed to look after the smugglers.

Coomb Martin is about five miles from Ilfracombe, towards Lynton; and is remarkable for its ancient mines of silver, or rather for the quantity of that metal obtained by working the veins of galena, or lead ore, which abound in the

"a rich

adjoining hills. Sir Beavis Bulmer gave and fayer cupp to the right honourable William Earl of Bath," of the silver from this place, and a similar present to the "Honourable Sir R. Martyn, Knight, Lord Mayor of the citie of London, to contynue to the said citie for ever." the last were these lines:

"When water works in broaken wharfe

At first erected weare,

And Beavis Bulmer with his art

The waters 'gan to reare,

Dispersed I in earth dyd lie

Since all beginnings old,

In place call'd Comb, wher Martin longe
Had hydd me in his molde.

I did no service on the earth,

Nor no man set me free,

Till Bulmer by his skill and change
Did frame me this to be.

"Anno nostræ Redemptionis 1593,
Reginæ Virginis 35.

On

Richardo Martino militi, iterum majori sive vice secunda * civitatis London."

The intermediate coast from Ilfracombe to Lynton I had no opportunity of seeing; but from those who are acquainted with it, learn, that it is more romantic than any other part.