THE COMBES 



|F one ancient English word may specially 

 be cited as proper to the West Country, 

 perhaps "combe" is that word. It is pure 

 Saxon, according to most philologists, 

 though I learn that some derive the word from 

 the Welsh cwm, which "combe" resembles both in 

 sound and significance. There are in Devon above 

 thirty "combes" or "coombes" without any other 

 designation ; more than twenty villages and hamlets 

 have the word as a prefix to their special appellation ; 

 and it is an affix to two hundred places in the 

 county. 



To me the use of Shakespeare commends a word 

 before all things. I am therefore sorry that " combe " 

 shall be found nowhere in his recorded work, but his 

 contemporary poet, our own William Browne, author 

 of Britannia's Pastorals, employs "combe" to proper 

 purpose, as becomes a Devon writer. 



The word is so much part of descriptive conversa- 

 tion in the West, and conveys a meaning so distinct, 

 that to display a combe for those who know it not 

 becomes at once a curious and a pleasant task. 



To make mystery of the matter, or pretend that 



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