The Express.
London, England, 1858-09-23 00:00:00

MY FISHING VILLAGE IN THE WEST.

Not to the elderly lounger, who, when he leaves
town, requires even pavement for his gouty feet,
salmi knees for ass incipient asthma, a clever
mires to attend al the esigeosies of his wig, warm
baths to 'unser ap whalers of life remiss in his
aged body, a indshis cwieisas se pimps his palled
appetite, sad pisimatitssosety of his etwo @undies to
disease thew aide hits of Wiese gossip sa winch he
lives—es to tic youthful losuger, ler whom are
sign yachts, long pies with the Germs' band at
4 pm., carecolling steeds, Hudson's replies, flashing
eyes, round hats, nett ands, saucy little roman
jackets, wavy hair, and all those other feminine
attributes which Mr. Leech se admirably depicts—
not to the Invalid, to whom rooms of • mean temps-
rature, general care, and uursing and attention are
esaesnial—not to the keen shot, or the patient fiy-
fisher, would my fishing village hold, oat the
slightest uldncientent for • visit. But to
me, who em Landon-ridden and work-sodden, to
whom the real meaning of • holiday is not only the
oesea:ion of ordinary labour, but_ a complete and
thorough change in the manner of hying, to whom a
mouth's vacation is Dot merely abstinence from
pea and ink, but the foundation of health and
strength, which is Mist me duriog the nentll months"
toil—to me this village is the beau Weida sojourn-
ing place.
It is something to be twenty miles beyond the
math of radway—it is something to be fora short
tines • dosses of • place where gm is unknown,
when there are but halterdosen shops, no bathing
asschmes, go metalled', no pavement, no harpies to
worry you to buy sand-and-shell preparations as you
lit on the beech, as lawyer, no doctor, and only
half a clergymen—hr we share one curate with
the neighbouring village. The name of my
haunt wild horses should not drag frees
me ; for, if it were dimeminated through
the medium of thyme columns, the locust
tribe of tourists would, in all probability,
coins sweeping down upon it next autumn, and the
charm and freshness of the picturesque little plate
would he gone for ever. I know them, these tourists!
artiets on the look-out fur new subjects, all beard
and sketching easel and while umbrella, litterateurs
in march of character or some unhackneyed spot in
which to lay the scene of their new novel ; sucking
barristers, who during the long vacation have bid
" good-bye to the bar and its moaning" (as Kingsley
hie it), sad are endeavouring to recover from theft
severe legal studies of heated dancing-teems, *SW
bones and comic songs, in some cheap sat
tered nook. The nearest hint that I will give=
whereabouts is that it lies dawn on the emit
of S uth Devon, and in a little bay Is..
tared in a• esormeas bay, of which Lalwarth
Cuffs and Start Point form the extremities.
From what I can make out, however, the London.
world will hive an opportunity of deciding for them.
selves the merits of my fishing village about the
beginning of next May, for having been told in the
vernacular of the district that " a man had bests
%Adis' down beer, a-draughtin'" (drivighting math
ing drawing, and the whole sentence treasietedim-
porting that an artist had been dayiog *u p),
I made further inquiries. and discovered dosed.
fishers had indeed been honoured by a visit from a
gentleman who is an associate of the Academy, and
who is second to none in his treatment of marine
subjects. And indeed he must have found apt food
he his pencil, fur scenery of the most picturreqes
and inset thoroughly English nature abounds in the
neighbourhood. After leaving the railway statists
you drive for twenty miles over an apparently
never-ending soccesmon of bills, bordered ea
either side by high hedges luxuriant in wild
flowers and blackberries, and bordering fields of •
brilliant verdure unknown but in Devonshire and
Ireland. Ali at half way you perceive nestling
down in a valley a little town, within • few yews •
sees fishing village like our own, but now under
building influences, and county patronap, arro-
gating to itself the title of watering. plan., and
stroeg in its possession of a pier running out into the
sea, an hotel, bathe, and an esplanade. Proceeding
several miles, and moray in; in reply to your inquiries
as to where the object of your search may be
satiated, a respectful .alutation and the words " I
du'low, 'tis just down hes," you begin to row
anxious at perceiving no signs of human habitation,
and are about to give up your journey in despair,
when after reaching the summit of a hill
little leas steep than the side of a how
you pseeeive the thatched roofs of our
village nestling in the valley below you.
The boss, which are of fabulous antiquity, have all
thatched roofs, little windows, and low ceilings{ in
then live families dating from the Great Plague
(the Hegira of our village, which tuff red severely
frees the pestilence), generation succeeding genera.
tiro, and house, boat, end arts descending from
father to son with as great a regularity as entailed
ooperty moo( people better born. We boast of
t one narrow street, sloping down towards the
aria, t brough which rune • brawling stream, with her
stepping stones laid across it to give access to the
@otters, and it discharges itself over a pretty little
waterfall close by the Coast-guard station, on to the
beech. At this Coast-guard station—a white, ben-
rocky looking building, on the edge of the
Siff, with a flagstaff in front of it. and a Asa
weather-beaten looking preventives lounging abed
—dwells the lieutenant commanding, who, hem
position and education, is emphatically the snaa
of the place—a kind-hearted, simptheindeflo
gerruloas old man, full of wondrous stories et
doinp its the service; for in by-gone days •w4l.
lags acre anything but • respectable thensese,
and was the most notorious smuggling place ces the
coast. All this, however, is long sinew past ;agd
now those neat little smacks which you may ale
lying on our beech, surrounded by their litter of outs,
mom square-cut trimmed sails, lobster-poes, Bs.
are never used for anythieg but the most legitimise"
deep-sea &Ming. Away in them go at aa early
hour in the morning our entire male populate*. BM
late in the afternoon it is a pleasant pastime te
lazily on the tall cliff overhanging the little her.
hour and watch the tine malt, with the sunlight ins
the as sails giving them quite a Mediterranean
edect,oomeboundingoverthebay. We are so primitive
that we actually have DO windlass, no capstan, among
so that when the smacks, which come broadside
ea, ere mended ou the beach, all the available
palling and hauling force ski down in a line behind
each other, sod with a cheery " Yo-ho" song, by
sheer manual strength drags the boat oat of tido-
reach. With their customers, however, the fishers
have no direct dealing ; there is herr, as in all ether
places, a class of middlemen, who profit by the in-
nocence of the flab-catcher and the carelessness of
the fish purchases, and make their market out of
each. No sooner is the dirge landed thea these
harpies, who are principally old women, are en the
spot, the fish are at ones sold by auction (sad
em the purchasers, like Jews at a London sale-
room. never bid against each other, they p
ridicaloasly cheap), and the middlemen, Loading their,
little cart, thetr donkey-pannier, or their hand-
books', as the came may be, start off to supply the - -
neighbouring villages and the country seats which
are within a reasonable distance. The women of At ageneral ordination holden in the cathedral
the village, old and young, pas all that portion of church ^rNrumichie. 11•01•7 Issr, the hcllnwing Sencins
wave mdtained ham the holy ceders of deems and
their lives which unot spent in fish-curing and
boiling in the manufacture of lace; indeed, I am e66366—iirbiabsir°4l"; zdywdhassuieryChmalmsdslitast‘. "'di,. 1
given to understand diet nearly all the lace oom- ot lialvorolty Collooß, Durban Ilefiroroßy ; Th0000ra:
amply called " Honitoo "is made here, and that our sir Amodio a ime. OtillegaLeades; HOINT Asresse
lasses had the credit of turning out her Majesty's Loads Ortadie, &A., 84. Mary Bat Oxford; Wilmot
wedding-dress. Contingent upon thiamine, mast Doltion treks., late Student of Bins" %aut. ad,
4.Dotb. 74;.0orviirwdTt.,,T.o Av.: of Kiag's
be, I should imagine, a vast consumption of tea at
all events, you inn hit upon no tins of the day at ombrid,"„us, ji.°,lt.,eteitt;
which the teapot is absent from our hobo. The Ss Oxford,
_• Afrailats women drink tea with every meal ; and ; aitwasti Thaws Beam Gales
they are right, for it is the best potation P=
F 014144 Imam: Cbrise• OM-
.
place. I cannot say with Mrs. Prig, "the drinks is Jobe Vetch, B.A
all good :" worse and thinner beer, sore stomach. °aim; ga" weimet. 8.A., p.p.:a:whies paw/.
PABSBANINTS AND Aeroarritiets. .E.V
c. .f J.
114binfl• teeth-setting, tongne-roughing cyder. it has ganutt, yiew, d Naha., us, Lbws!, ley. 8.
ewer been my bad let to come across. There is, to be MIAs. mess of Lollovoxib • Whowdool
wore. sees very tolerable rum_ ; but rum is not a pithead et flarg=ara tiers
sittbsdrol.' Bow. H. B.
spirit which many of our Loudon stomachs will ranDleaar 184 idele elpearmathaera Meade of
tolerate without rebellion. Zee. C.W.. N. 11= Y.A. mar of B. Nisholoo:j Now-
How to paw your time ? WTheelrel,
ample. sad let it pass itself! fiosllonwothmi: °444.°a-Tyne
we.
al
Bob.. 3.7....0rtakt
mikethiLll.4l..,
g I moot Boatatos. Seems of Ossesy. T. T D
gl.Leonisv.
as thankful to say, which "we ought to do!" seise mid vier at Clierheimrs. there of show places to see. people to visit, stated hours to W. & Path& KA.. Sophia le the Camisklianthe
walk our, and special places to walk in. If you are la.' IL Q.'s' mu'
tad
ileit
etlsfls
a swimmer you shall find a splendid tumbling sea,dA
Bow. I . P. O. Testae, 8.A., taros
with thirty feet water, within two strides of du =lTht lee.
RrillFl4l. rteadwa"s-joba 4Thecket"
beech, whence you plunge; if you are what the