240 CHEDDAR PLANTS. [Octob&T, 



he would not light his candles^ even for a single visitor, under three 

 shillings ; any number above three are charged one shilling each, 

 so that if my information is correct, and I do not doubt that it 

 isj the miller-host of the hotel grinds tourists as well as corn. 



A few yards further on I came to a large stream of water com- 

 ing out at the bottom of the cliff; but, instead of its being clear, 

 as we should naturally expect to find it from such a source, it was 

 quite turbid. Upon my inquiring the reason, I was informed that 

 there were lead-mines in the hill, and since the commencement of 

 their working, the water has been discoloured and the fish killed. 



A small distance further on I came to the bevy of ancient 

 dames who gave the Rev. W. Bree so much annoyance with their 

 importunities. Their appearance was quite in keeping. with the 

 other objects around me. With a little help of the imagination, 

 they might have been taken for the weird sisters of the clifis. 

 They were quite ci\il, and procured me an assistant for the fol- 

 lowing day. Finding that I did not want to purchase Cheddar 

 plants, one of them informed me that she had got a very curious 

 herb which grew upon Wells cathedral, which when I saw I re- 

 cognized as Saxifraga ceratophylla ; so I left the old dame to sell 

 her " Cathedrial Moss " (as she called it) to another customer. 



I rose at an early hour on the following morning ; the tops of 

 the cliffs were gilt by the sun, whilst the lower parts were in the 

 shade. The effect was beautiful, but I think not quite so fine as 

 is their frown when the sun leaves them in the evening. My 

 first care was to secure some plants of Polypodiurn calcareum, 

 which grows in abundance on both sides of the glen ; if I were 

 to say that there are three acres of it, I am confident that I 

 should not exaggerate. It grows in large irregular patches 

 amongst loose stones, with so scanty a supply of soil, that in 

 many places I could find little else but its own roots and creep- 

 ing rhizomes. Here it is quite exposed to the influence of the 

 sun and the wind, and does not appear to sufier much from 

 either ; but at the same time I observed that it grew most luxu- 

 riantly where it had the partial shade of a large stone. I in- 

 quired from my guide as to P. Phegopteris and P.Dryopteris, and 

 was informed that there was a Fern growing in another place, 

 which some gentlemen said was a difterent one, but upon my 

 being shown the spot I found that it was P. calcareum, growing 

 in a more sheltered situation, where, as a matter of course, it was 

 of a deeper green. 



