Wild Exmoor 81 



the wild and treeless moors disappear, and 

 the stream, uniting with the Lyn, flows on 

 to the Severn sea through scenes, it is true, 

 of surpassing loveliness, but wanting in the 

 stern grandeur of the moorland: past Brendon 

 village, and past Watersmeet, the scene in 

 Whyte-Melville's ' Katerfelto ' of the fierce 

 struggle between Parson Gale and John 

 Garnet : on to Woodside cottage and Lyn- 

 mouth village, where, as Southey said, the 

 river and the sea ' make but one sound ' ! 

 Very pleasant memories these places have for 

 me ; but it is to Exmoor I would go when 

 weary for a while of the sounds and sights 

 of city life. A gracious silence broods over 

 hill and valley, broken only here and there 

 by the brawling of silvery trout-stream, and 

 sometimes in the summer by the thunder 

 echoing; from hill to hill. 



