88 THE FERN PARADISE. 



far as the eye can reach, in dusky outlines. 

 Town, river, and wood below, sloping uplands 

 with meadow and cornfield, steep wood-crowned 

 hills beyond, and the rugged peaks and barren 

 torrs of Dartmoor in the far-off distance. Such 

 is the landscape which lies stretched out before 

 and below you. 



But you turn again towards the glorious lane, 

 which now begins a swift descent, the pathway 

 rapidly narrowing. The branches again close over 

 your head. Majestic fronds of the Brake, the Male 

 Fern, and the Broad Buckler Fern, brush against 

 you. The path is now almost obstructed by 

 the wild and glorious vegetation which clothes 

 the ground. Fern -fronds thicken around ; the 

 thickly matted growth of the hedge-banks be- 

 comes more dense ; the way appears almost 

 barred by a grand specimen of Polystichum 

 angulare\ and you stop at the same moment, 

 arrested by the fragrant odour from a huge 

 bush of honeysuckle in full flower. Here, for 

 a few yards, the shrubs overhead spread their 

 branches far away from the hedge-top, and the 



