1 

 THE ROYAL FERN. 



perhaps, serve to recall similar scenes to the 

 minds of our readers. 



We had started from Totnes to search, on the 

 borders of Dartmoor, for some specimens of the 

 Koyal 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 glimpse of the wide landscape, spread, 

 in its mingled loveliness, over many a long mile; 

 now passing 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 

 upland, 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 



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