EXMOOR 



201 



Where the matter will end is rather make-believe, unless outsiders recog- 



difficult to say. Fifty years will nize a certain interest in what is going 



probably see the last of all that on and make some protest. Only 



deserves the name of wild life. Further they will have to be very quick now, 



taming will do away with the need otherwise they may as well sleep on. 



of any distinction between barnyard From what is said of the modern 



and the surrounding country. Half interest in nature, one would assume 



the time may be trusted to make an some signs of awakening. It may be 



end of what remains of sport. Even all talk, all superficial reading, out 



the new sportsman may tire of his of which nothing will come. 



XXXIX 



EXMOOR 



" Bees that soar for bloom 

 High as the highest peak of Furness Fells, 

 Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells.' 



npHERE are mixed in the West 

 * Country certain qualities of 

 scenery not often found united. Ex- 

 moor and Dartmoor with their great 

 barren and exposed uplands, and the 

 rugged Cornish coastline, projected far 

 out into the Atlantic and lashed by 

 enormous breakers, are features of 

 sternness and grandeur. They dom- 

 inate the country. You are never far 

 from cliff or moor and the feeling of 

 wildness that clings to them. But, 

 on the other hand, you are never far 

 either from associations of an exactly 

 different kind. The valleys and 



WORDSWORTH. 



combes that wind down from the moors, 

 and lead the streams collected among 

 their misty plateaux into the low 

 country, are full of a rich vegetation 

 which never all through the summer 

 loses its emerald green, while the milk 

 and cream in the farm dairies are a 

 proof to all visitors of its quality. 

 The farms themselves, with their strag- 

 gling outbuildings, are half drowned 

 in a foam of apple blossom, and 

 almost every cottage is covered and 

 half obliterated by a load of honey- 

 suckle and roses. 



And it is the same along the coast. 



16 



