A PARADISE OF FERNS. 



the leaflets giving to the plant a beautiful 

 appearance. 



Our lane still winds onwards and upwards, now 

 widening as if to afford a prospect of the rich 

 scenery lying below us, now sinking between high 

 hedges, which get higher and higher, as the steep 

 path contends with the steeper hill. At length 

 we reach the brow of the acclivity, and turning 

 round, we can command one of the finest pros- 

 pects in all England. Away straight below us lie 

 clustering houses, beautifully embowered in or- 

 chards and fruit-gardens, with the church tower 

 rising calmly above the whole. On the right of 

 the town, still away below us, the eye delightedly 

 rests on a wide extent of undulating meadows and 

 tree-covered uplands. Beyond, the wooded up- 

 lands rise steeper and steeper, until, in the dim 

 horizon, a line of lofty hills, looming against the 

 sky, bounds the view. Far away in the same 

 direction, the sunlight is reflected from the silvery 

 stream of the Dart, where, flowing at the feet of 

 two wooded hills, it brightly contrasts with the 

 dark lines of trees. 



To the left of the town, in the dim distance, 



