43 
THE UNITED DEVON ASSOCIATION. 
HERE is a tradition that in the days before the intro- 
duction of the steam engine, prosperity reigned supreme 
in Devonshire. Strings of mules, laden with different 
kinds of woollen cloths or with Southern fruits, might 
be seen upon the roads leading from the inland and maritime 
towns to Exeter. Cary, writing in 1793, describes the county 
as being rich in minerals, marbles, timber, fruit, game, fish, 
“ pill corn, wild madder and woad," and he gives a list of the 
most remarkable places, extensive views and situations, and 
draws particular attention to “ a spring called Laywell, near 
Torbay, that ebbs and flows, never freezes, is very transparent 
and sometimes bubbles up like a boiling pot twenty times an 
hour.” 
The woollen factories are closed, the Southern fruits are no 
longer carried in packs, and most of the old hostelries, in which 
the jolly hosts kept some Newfoundland port and much good 
Devonshire cheer for their wealthy patrons, have disappeared ; 
but the pleasant prospects, the remarkable places, the extensive 
views and the situations for the most part remain, unspoilt by 
the speculative builder. 
About three years ago, it entered into the mind of Mr. 
Richards, of Exeter and Riversdale, Torquay, that as the beauti- 
ful scenery of Devonshire is not improved away, as has been 
the case in some counties, the wealthy patrons might yet be 
found in tourists and persons anxious to live in what a poetical 
author once described as the sub-alpine district of the \\'est of 
England. Emboldened by this thought, Mr. Richards originated 
a Society which he has styled the United Devon Association. 
The aim of this Association may be described as commer- 
cially philanthropic, but strongly influenced by Selbornian feeling. 
By the efforts of the General Managers of the Great Western 
and South Western Railway Companies and the proprietors of 
coaches, facilities have been obtained for visiting the objects of 
interest described and depicted in the “ Book of Fair Devon ” 
issued by the Society, and it now only remains to provide that 
kind of accommodation required by the visitors whose patronage 
Mr. Richards is so desirous of obtaining. 
In many parts of the Continent, the small proprietors having 
unlimited faith in the money value of the beauty of the neigh- 
bourhood, build and equip their hotels and then secure the 
visitors, but in our own country this bold speculation meets 
with little favour. In spite of the success attending, for example, 
the efforts made in the Black Forest, particularly at Freiberg, 
and the common opinion amongst English and American 
tourists that more comfort can be obtained in hotels erected and 
managed on the Swiss system, our hotel companies persist in 
building and conducting hotels on certain lines which are not 
