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each other to the fouthward, till they were loft in the depths of the ocean. But though no trace of the port now remains, and even the remembrance of it is swept away by the tide of time, this is by no means the cafe with refpect to the commerce and fpirit of enterprise which once animated this place. Tradition tells us that the pilchard fishery, that immenfe fource of national wealth, was once carried on to a great extent by the natives of Sidmouth that its hardy fons, with every returning feafon, fought their finny ftores, and purfued them along the coafts of Cornwall, round the Scilly Ifles, and even up the northern fhores of their native county. Unhappily two fucceeding unfavourable feafons overtook them, their boats were all caft away, their crews overwhelmed in the ocean returned no more.Where the buftle and gaiety of business had adorned every countenance with fmiles, nothing was feen but fable weeds; nothing was heard but fighs and lamentations! The fpirit which had animated this enterprifing fpot was quenched at once, and of all its former celebrity, nought remained but the apparatus in which its merchandize had been prepared for the market; the memory of what it once was, and the ecclefiaftical records, which detail to future incumbents the plenteous tythe which their forerunners had collected from the deep.

"It ought not to be forgotten that this fpirit of enterprife was not the confequence of their peculiar fituation it is faid, that when no longer able to find refuge for their bufy craft among their native rocks, the inhabitants of Sidmouth fet on foot a liberal subscription, and with it erected the quay at Torquay, and hence their veffels, boats, and craft of every defcription, take fhelter from the tempeft there, in time of diftrefs, without paying the customary port duties which are exacted of all others.

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"At prefent, Sidmouth is only known as a place of refort for the valetudinary and the diffipated; and to each

of

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of these it prefents attractions peculiarly inviting. Seated on the base of the two lofty mountains which form its charming vale, and closed up on the north by the Honiton hills, it prefents its bofom only to the fouthern ray, and to the fouthern zephyr, and fanned by the pure breeze of the ocean alone, muft, of course, be well calcu lated to redrefs the injury which filthy cities, crowded rooms, and mephitic vapours, entail upon mankind. In this refpect Sidmouth claims a decided fuperiority over all its competitors for public refort. Here no filthy lagoons impregnate the atmosphere with poisonous miafma; no ftagnant pools here putrify in the folar ray; wherever there is water, it flows, and conftantly croffing the traveller's path, tempers the fultry gale, gives fresh verdure to the luxuriant herbage which fringes its tinkling courfe, cherishes the thousand plants and flowers with which every hedge-row is garnished, embalms the air, and revives the fainting energies of nature. charming diverfity for which Devon is famed, feems here to be collected into one point. Does the fated mind turn from the monotony of the ocean? In the vale behind it, every thing is rich, luxuriant, and variegated, calculated to awaken the foftest and most tranquillizing emotions in the bofom: the trees are here feen flourishing, even to the water's edge, with a verdure and luxuriance which is elsewhere unknown. Along the banks of the Sid, which, bursting at once from beneath a mighty rock, meanders its three-mile-courfe to the ocean, we meet with all that beautiful variety of fcenery which Fenelon fo richly defcribes in his Telémaque, meadows embroidered with flowers, fields waving with corn, orchards laden with fruit; while every turn in its fantaftic windings, prefents us with the delicacies of the landf cape in fome new point of view, adds fome fresh tuft of trees, fome little murmuring water-fall, fome ftraw thatch cottage to the picture. Upon the mountain, the half-fuffocated victim of fashion and midnight or. gies, breathes the pure ætherial atmosphere; and while

his

his path is ftrewed with flowers,gazes upon nature in fome of her most elegant attitudes, and catches at one glance an extent of profpect, a variety of fcenery which is almoft unrivaled. It has been debated to which of the adjacent fummits the palm of excellence in this refpect is due, but the point can alone be determined by the peculiar tafte of the beholder. From the eaftern high lands the vale of Sidmouth is certainly feen to the most advantage, the perspective is undoubtedly confined, but it teems with luxury. The ravifhed eye looks down upon a landscape ftretched out like a carpet beneath it, which centres within itfelf as much picturefque beauty as is collected within an equal boundary in any country upon the earth. Here every thing neceffary to an enchanting picture feems to be concentrated. Lands, rich and well cultivated, hedge-rows amply furnished with forest trees; mountains tipped with copfe, befpotted with fheep; here glowing with the gilded bloffoms of the furze, and there finely tinted with the numerous varieties of the heaths, which flourish on their flopes; the whole decorated, not with the frowning awe-commanding manfions of the great, but befprinkled with cot tages,villages, and hamlets, with their white-wafhed fpire peeping through the orchards that envelope and almott hide it from view. On the precipices which terminate either hill, the picture is uncommonly fublime and ftriking; from the eastern fummit the eye ranges over a vaft extent of country, and is only bounded at the diftance of forty miles, by the rugged tors upon the foreft of Dartmoor. Beneath we fee the Halidown Hills, the Start Point, the Berry Head, Torbay, with its everfhifting fleets; and in the cliffs we have "Pelion upon Offa," and "Caucafus upon Pelion," in tremendous maffes heaped upon each other. From the Peak we gaze upon the white cliffs of Albion (and here take our leave of them) the fouth-western coaft of Dorfet, the Portland Ile, which, like a bully, projects itself into the channel, and feems to hurl defiance against the oppofite

fhores.

fhores. In Sidmouth itself we have nothing which is worth noticing, if we except the church tower, which is certainly a fine piece of malonry. The modern erections are many, among the reft there is an excellent inn, a large and convenient affembly room, billiard room and reading room. On the beach a gravel walk of about one third of a mile in length, has been conftructed for the accommodation of the company; the bathing is commodious, and, for the convenience of the infirm, warm falt water baths have also been erected. Here the naturalift may find an ample field of investigation. The hills abound with plants, many of which are rare. In the cliffs numerous fpars of different kinds are to be collected: nor are the rocks deficient in materials for ftudy and amusement. Beautiful specimens of the Pholen are found imbedded in the marly foundations of the hills; and blocks of free-ftone, which have been broken from the fummits of the cliffs, abound with Echine marinæ, petrified coral, and many other productions of a fimilar defcription. In the bafons, worn by the action of the waves in the rocks, elegant corallines abound; and not unfrequently that fingular production of nature the animal flower, vulgarly called the fea anemone."

From this entertaining account of Sidmouth, by my friend, you will have it in your power to form a fatisfactory idea of the pleafing ipot at which we were now arrived.

As I am particularly partial to the contemplation of the SEA, you will indulge me in a few reflections on my favourite fubject.

The globe was originally diftributed into land and water. The measure was wifely defigned, and is appropriated to many important purposes. "The waters themfelves," fays Derham, in his Phyfico. Theology, are an admirable work of God, and of infinite ufe to that part of the globe already furveyed; and the prodigious variety and multitudes of curious and wonderful things obfervable in its inhabitants of all forts, are an inexhauftible scene of the Creator's wisdom and power N VOL. VIII

Th

The vaft bulk of fome, and prodigious minuteness of others, together with the incomparable contrivance and ftructure of the bodies of all; the provifions and fupplies of food afforded to fuch an innumerable company of eaters, and that in an element unlikely, one would think, to afford any great ftore of fupplies; the bufinefs of refpiration performed in a way fo different from, but equivalent to what is in land animals; the adjustment of the organs of vifion to that element in which the animal liveth; the poife, the fupport, the motion of the body forwards with great swiftness, and upwards and downwards with great readiness and agility, and all without feet and hands, and, ten thousand things befides; all these things lay before us a glorious and inexhaustible fcene of the divine power, wisdom, and goodness.”

What a number of curious articles are here brought together; to what an extent of meditation might fuch topics be applied!

The faltnefs of the fea has often excited my notice, and to many caufes has this its extraordinary quality, been afcribed by the learned. Their opinions are thus briefly ftated by an ingenious writer.

"Some think that rivers, imbibing fomewhat of faltnefs from bodies over which they flow, or which they carry to the fea, might in time, by leaving falts in the fea, render it falt; while others maintain that the fea was formerly falter than at prefent, the influx of fresh water gradually affecting the ocean, a contradictory mode of reasoning from the former, but equally void of demonftration or plaufibility. A third party hints at rocks of falt, fitly difpofed to be diffolved by the waters (and fuch we know there are) while thofe who think the water was originally created falt, urge much in fupport of that fentiment. Probably its degree of faltnefs was never very different from what we now find it ; for it seems that though certain kind of fishes are adapted to freth water, yet their numbers bear. little proportion to thofe which conftantly inhabit falt-water,

and

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