88 
THE FERN PARADISE . 
far as the eye can reach, in dusky outlines. 
Town, river, and wood below, sloping uplands with 
meadow and corn-field, steep wood-crowned hills 
beyond, and the rugged peaks and barren torrs 
of Dartmoor in the far-off distance. Such is the 
landscape which lies stretched out before and 
below you. 
But you turn again towards the glorious lane, 
which now begins a swift descent, the pathway 
rapidly narrowing. The branches again close over 
your head. Majestic fronds of the Brake, the Male 
Fern, and the Broad Buckler Fern, brush against 
you. The path is now almost obstructed by 
the wild and glorious vegetation which clothes 
the ground. Fern-fronds thicken around ; the 
thickly-matted growth of the hedge-banks be- 
comes more dense ; the way appears almost 
barred by a grand specimen of Polystichum 
angular e ; and you stop at the same moment, 
arrested by the fragrant odour from a huge 
bush of honeysuckle in full flower. Here, for 
a few yards, the shrubs overhead spread their 
branches far away from the hedge-top, and the 
