278 THE VICARAGE. 



one-arched bridges, which everywhere abound over 

 the rapid trout-streams, and afford subjects for a 

 painter ; all these are characteristic of this charm- 

 ing county. Every hill that is ascended has its 

 own peculiar and extensive view, while the atmos- 

 phere of the southern vallies is so mild, that the 

 myrtle flourishes unsheltered, and grapes are 

 gathered from the garden-walls as fine, and almost 

 as early, as those of Italy. 



It was in one of these vallies that the Vicarage 



of T might be seen, with its village church 



hard by. The latter had one of those sturdy old 

 towers, with its supporting buttresses, which give 

 so much character to some of our ancient village 

 churches, and around which jackdaws cawed and 

 starlings chattered as they emerged from the clus- 

 tering ivy, which had made its way up the southern 

 side of the tower. Here, also, was the old porch, 

 with its rude carving over its entrance, and the 

 studded door, while the inside had its frame of 

 timbers, a venerable screen, and its white-washed 

 walls decorated with instructive texts of Scripture. 



In the chancel were two or three sepulchral 

 brasses, and a monument some two or three cen- 

 turies old, exhibiting, in Devonshire marble, the 

 effigies of a worthy couple, with their six sons 

 and four daughters, in a sort of kneeling proces- 

 sion, with the names of David, Jonas, Ruth, &c. 

 inscribed under the feet of each of them. 



