128 THE EXETER ROAD 



that I have set up for a man of the world, it is my 

 vocation.' 



The latter part of his journey was accomplished 

 at nioht. Travellino- thus through Devonshire and 



O O <^ 



Cornwall is, he remarks, ' very striking for its mys- 

 teriousness.' It was a beautiful night, ' clear, frosty, 

 and bright, with a full moon. Mere richness of 

 vegetation is lost by night, but bold features remain. 

 As I came along, I had the whole train of pictures so 

 vividly upon my mind that I could have written 

 a most interesting account of it in the most approved 

 picturesque style of modern composition, but it has 

 all gone from me now, like a dream. 



' The night was enlivened by what Herodotus calls 

 a " night engagement " with a man, called by courtesy 

 a gentleman, on the box. The first act ended by his 

 calling me a d — d fool. The second by his insisting 

 on two most hearty shakes of the hand, with the pro- 

 test that he certainly did think me very injudicious 

 and ill-timed. I had opened by telling him he w^as 

 talking great nonsense to a silly goose of a maid- 

 servant stuck atop of the coach ; so I had no reason 

 to complain of his giving me the retort uncourteous.' 



There are corridors in the ' White Hart ' with up 

 and down twilight passages, in which the guests of 

 another day lost themselves with promptitude and 

 despatch. There is also a barbarically coloured coffee- 

 room, snug and comfortable, which looks as though 

 Washington Irving could have written an eloquent 

 essay around it ; and, more essential than anything 

 else in days of old, a capacious yard with huge 

 yawning stables. For Whitchurch is at the cross 



