SUMMER IN SOMERSET. 273 



put last, and must never be omitted ; thus, instead of 

 saying ' I bought this at Taunton,' it is correct to say ■ I 

 bought this to Taunton.' There are models under glass 

 cases in places of entertainment with a notice to say 

 that if a penny be inserted the machine will go. Audrey 

 the Little would not speak, but when a penny was put 

 in her hand she began to move, and made off for home 

 with the treasure. The road turned and turned, but 

 whichever way the Barle was always under us, and the 

 red rock rose high at the side. This rock fractures 

 aslant if worked, vast flakes come out, and the cleavage 

 is so natural that until closely approached a quarry 

 appears a cliff. Stone got out in squares, or cut down 

 straight, leaves an artificial wall ; these rocks cannot be 

 made to look artificial, and if painted a quarry would be 

 certainly quite indistinguishable from a natural precipice. 

 Entering a little town (Dulverton) the road is jammed 

 tight between cottages : so narrow is the lane that foot 

 passengers huddle up in doorways to avoid the touch of 

 the wheels, and the windows of the houses are protected 

 by iron bars like cages lest the splash-boards should 

 crack the glass. Nowhere in closest-built London is 

 there such a lane — one would imagine land to be dear 

 indeed. The farm labourers, filing homewards after 

 their day's work, each carry poles of oak or fagots on 

 their shoulders for their hearths, generally oak branches ; 

 it is their perquisite. The oak somehow takes root 

 among the interstices of the stones of this rocky land. 

 Past the houses the rush ! rush ! of the brown Barle 

 rises again in the still evening air. 



From the Devon border I drifted like a leaf detached 

 from a tree, across to a deep coombe in the Quantock 

 Hills. The vast hollow is made for repose and lotus-eating; 

 its very shape, like a hammock, indicates idleness. There 



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