263

Lorna's Bower 265

Waterslide: Doone Valley 267

Doone Valley 269

Powderham Castle 272

Berry Pomeroy Castle 285

Compton Castle 295

Okehampton Castle 297

Sydenham House 299

Bradfield 306

Pynes, near Exeter 308

Devon

CHAPTER I

Exeter

'Richmond! When last I was at Exeter,
The mayor in courtesy show'd me the castle,
And call'd it Rougemont: at which name I started,
Because a bard of Ireland told me once,
I should not live long after I saw Richmond.'

_King Richard III._, Act IV, Sc. ii.

There are not many towns which stir the imagination as much as Exeter.
To all West-Countrymen she is a Mother City ... and there is not one
among them, however long absent from the West, who does not feel, when
he sets foot in Exeter, that he is at home again, in touch with people
of his own blood and kindred.... In Exeter all the history of the West
is bound up--its love of liberty, its independence, its passionate
resistance to foreign conquerors, its devotion to lost causes, its
loyalty to the throne, its pride, its trade, its maritime adventure--all
these many strands are twined together in that bond which links
West-Countrymen to Exeter.' Mr Norway is a West-Countryman, and he sums
up very justly the sentiment, more or less consciously realized, of the
people for whom he speaks, and especially the feeling of the citizens.

Not only the Cathedral, the Castle, and Guildhall, bear legends for
those who know how to read them, but here and again through all the
streets an ancient house, a name, or a tower, will bring back the memory
of one of the stirring events that have happened. One royal pageant
after another has clattered and glittered through the streets, and the
old carved gabled houses in the side-lanes must many a time have shaken
to the heavy tramp of armed men, gathered to defend the city or to march
out against the enemy.

'Exeter,' says Pr