152 THE FERN PARADISE. 



Royal Fern, taking the precaution to provide 

 ourselves with the necessary digging implements. 

 Away we drove for seven miles amidst ever 

 varying landscapes, by copse, hedgerow, stream 

 and meadow ; now climbing the upland road ; 

 now arrived on the upland crest catching a 

 momentary glance of the wide landscape, spread, 

 in its mingled loveliness, over many a long mile ; 

 now diving down a steep declivity, under the 

 darkening shadow of overhanging woods. Still 

 descending, on we went. Now we crossed the 

 glancing waters of the winding Dart ; and now 

 again ascending and descending upland after up- 

 land, we arrived at length at a point of our road 

 within a few hundred yards of our destination. 

 Then we turned round to the right and, before 

 descending a carriage road just wide enough to 

 admit our barouche, we paused a moment spell- 

 bound by the transcendent loveliness of the 

 scene. A valley of woods of varying hues of 

 green, and in the deepest gorge of the valley 

 the beautiful Dart, its winding course where 

 the glancing water is hidden from view shown 



