[63]
The Otter9 flows out to sea farther to the east, along that beach, obscurely, but still one speculates idly—no help for it but to do anything “idly” in South Devon—by what strange and exceptional chance Budleigh Salterton is not “Ottermouth” in this county of Axmouth, Sidmouth, Exmouth, Teignmouth, and other places which own rivers as their godfathers and godmothers. Yet one is not too idle to discover that East Budleigh and this Budleigh “Saltern,” as it was originally named, do, after all, in a way, follow the general rule, for they are named after the contributory streamlet, the Buddle, on which they stand and the “leas,” or meadows, that border it.
It is the same old story, with regard to the haven10 at the mouth of the Otter, that has already been told of other places. Leland, writing close upon four hundred years ago, tells us that: “Less than an hunderith yeres sins shippes usid this haven, but it is now clean barred,” and so it remains11. Salterton and its neighbourhood are therefore without the convenience of a port.
The front of the townlet is, as an Irishman might say, at the back, for in times before the invention of the seaside as a place of holiday, the inhabitants seem to have had a surfeit12 of the sea by which they got their living, and built their houses on the low crumbly cliff, not only with the faces turned away from it, but in many cases with high dead walls, enclosing back-gardens, entirely13 excluding any sight of the water. And so the “front” remains; nor is it clear how,[64] without a wholesale14 rebuilding, it will ever be otherwise. It is a curious spot for a seaside resort, and in places more resembles an allotment-garden, or the side of one of those railway embankments, where frugal15 porters and platelayers cultivate vegetables; for between the pathway and the sea, on the fringe of that beach where the gigantic popples lie, ranging in size from a soup-plate down to a saucer, and forming the raw material of the local paving, there are rows of potatoes, cabbages, peas, and scarlet16 runners! The effect is a good deal more funny than the humour of a professional humourist, for it has that essential ingredient of real humour, unexpectedness; and he who does not laugh at first sight of the peas among those amazing popples, and the boats amid the beans, must be a dull dog.
The explorer who does not wish to martyr17 himself on the way from Salterton to Exmouth may be recommended to take steamer, for it is six miles of anti-climax by shore and cliff, and four by uninteresting hard high road, passing the wickednesses of suburban18 expansion at Littleham, in whose churchyard is the neglected grave of Frances, Viscountess Nelson, who died in 1831, the deeply wronged wife of the naval19 hero.
A marble monument to her in the church does, however, make some amends20 for the neglect outside. There, in that interior, are memorials to Peels, relatives of the statesman, and others to those ubiquitous Drakes who, like the Courtenays and recurring21 decimals, repeat themselves indefinitely.
[65]
Leaving Littleham behind, there presently begins the long-drawn approach to Exmouth itself, looking as though all Ladbroke Grove22 and Putney Hill had moved down, en bloc23, for a sea-change. And, oh, how blue and refreshing24 and lovely looks that peep of the sea over towards Dawlish that you get at the end of this long, hot and dry perspective!
And as you think thus, you remember the pungent25 saying of Dr. Temple, who once, while still Bishop26 of Exeter, stood upon the steps of the vicarage of Exmouth and remarked that “Exmouth was a good place to look—from.”
He was absolutely correct, for Exmouth, facing directly into the west, is especially famed for its sunsets. To peruse27 the local guide-books one might even think Exmouth had entered into arrangements with the solar system for a supply of the best displays.
But there was, as you have already suspected, a sting behind the bishop’s remark. What a waspishness beyond the ordinary these high-placed clerics do develop! The beauties of Exmouth are external, extrinsic28, a minus quantity; but it is placed in the loveliest situation at the seaward end of the long and beautiful estuary29 of the Exe. The beauty of the views across sea and river are unspeakable. To me it is an Avalon, a Gilead, where the balm is; a country in the likeness30 of the Land of the Blest, you see over there, where the red cliffs dip down in fantastic shapes to the sea, and where the heights of Great[66] Haldon and Mamhead, clothed with clumps31 of trees of a richness only Devon can show, rise to the glowing sky. I yearn32 ever to be over yonder in that Land of Heart’s Desire, as the good Christian33 should yearn for Paradise; and the little hamlets dwarfed34 by the two miles of water, and even the little trains that seem to go so slowly, trailing their long trails of steam, are things of poetry and romance.
If I were to say that Exmouth was the Margate of Devonshire, I should please neither Exmouth nor Margate; for all Devon does not contain a purely35 seaside resort of the size of that favourite place in Kent. But it is, like Margate, popular with trippers; it has sands; and is, in short a place where the crowd spends a happy day: the crowd in this instance hailing, as a rule, from no further than Exeter.
Exeter is an interesting city, and its citizens, in their own streets and in their everyday garb36 are sufficiently37 amiable38, but when Exmouth on Sundays and other holiday-times is overrun with Exeter’s young men, tradesmen’s assistants, clad in the impossible clothes pictured on provincial39 advertisement boardings, laughing horse-laughs, singing London’s last season’s comic songs, wearing flashy jewellery, and smoking bad cigars, Exeter’s reputation, and Exmouth’s suffer alike. If you can imagine such a curious hybrid40 as a provincial cockney—the type really exists, although it has not yet been noticed by men of science—you may picture something of Exmouth’s week-end patrons.[67] The provincial cockney, poor thing, imagines himself in the forefront of style, but he is merely a caricature of the London cockney plus his own accent, which, wedded42 to cockney slang, is peculiarly offensive.
But Exmouth, when its week-end patrons are behind their counters, in their aprons43, is a vastly-different place. It is cheap, and has always been, and always will be, but it is at last sloughing44 off that air of impending45 bankruptcy46 that once sat so dolefully upon the scene; and the shops that were once mere41 apologies are now for the most part real shops, and stocked with articles less than ten years old. Moreover, the tennis lawns and gardens have grown by lapse47 of time into things of beauty: the lawns becoming something else than bald patches of red earth, and the gardens luxuriant indeed. But cheap railway trips from Exeter, only ten miles distant, by South Western Railway, have determined48 the character of Exmouth for ever, and grey stucco, only on the outskirts49 occasionally varied50 with red brick, or rough-cast, has clothed it in a sad shabbiness until its ninety-nine years building-leases shall have lapsed51.
Modern times, however, are making themselves felt in other directions. In early days, when the town of Exmouth was merely a longshore settlement called “Pratteshythe,” situated52 where the docks now are, the mouth of the river was largely obstructed53 by an immense sandbank stretching from this shore. At some unnamed period this[68] geographical54 feature of the place changed sides, and has for centuries past been that delightfully55 wild, nearly two-miles long wilderness56, “the Warren,” which extends a sandy arm from Langston Cliff; leaving something less than half-a-mile of fairway at the mouth of Exe. Until quite recently the Warren has remained the haunt of the wild-fowler and the naturalist57, but now the red roofs of bungalows58 are beginning to plentifully59 dot the wastes; and to play at Robinson Crusoe, with twentieth-century embellishments and more or less luxurious60 fringes, has become a favourite summer pastime on this once solitary61 haunt of the heron, the wild duck, and the sea-mew.
The salt estuary of the Exe runs up boldly from Exmouth, a mile broad, past Lympstone; and then, suddenly contracting, reaches Topsham, which was in other days a place of considerable importance, where ships were built and a great deal done in the Newfoundland trade; and in the smuggling62 trade too. Now the old shipyards are forgotten, and Topsham, which, among other things, was formerly63 the port of Exeter, is merely a relic64, in course of being submerged by Exeter’s suburbs. Yet still odd nooks may be found, with that curious alien air belonging to all such out-of-date seaports65, and in shy old houses Topsham is peculiarly rich in old blue-and-white Dutch tiles.
Topsham ceased from being a port when the present Exe Canal was made, in 1827, from Turf[69] up to the very streets of the city: the first ship canal that ever was. It is five miles in length, and thirty feet wide, and it cost £125,000. Anciently, however, the tide flowed the whole way to Exeter, until, in the old high-handed mediæval days, the imperious Isabella de Redvers wrought66 her vengeance67 against the city by causing the stream to be dammed with felled trees, thus obstructing68 the navigation. Doubtless, in their turn, the citizens damned the countess, so far as they safely could, but there the obstruction69 remained, and thus the still-existing “Countess Weir” came into being.
The enterprising citizens of Exeter cut a small canal, so early as 1554. This was afterwards enlarged, and the present undertaking70 is the still more enlarged successor of those early waterways. It is a pleasant and clear canal, with none of those evil associations the word “canal” generally implies, and the walk along the broad towing-paths into Exeter yields one of the most striking views of that picturesque71 city.
点击收听单词发音
1 emulative | |
adj.好胜 | |
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2 fulsome | |
adj.可恶的,虚伪的,过分恭维的 | |
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3 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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4 intervals | |
n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 );间隔时间;[数学]区间;(戏剧、电影或音乐会的)幕间休息 | |
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5 plank | |
n.板条,木板,政策要点,政纲条目 | |
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6 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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7 villas | |
别墅,公馆( villa的名词复数 ); (城郊)住宅 | |
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8 percolating | |
n.渗透v.滤( percolate的现在分词 );渗透;(思想等)渗透;渗入 | |
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9 otter | |
n.水獭 | |
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10 haven | |
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所 | |
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11 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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12 surfeit | |
v.使饮食过度;n.(食物)过量,过度 | |
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13 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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14 wholesale | |
n.批发;adv.以批发方式;vt.批发,成批出售 | |
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15 frugal | |
adj.节俭的,节约的,少量的,微量的 | |
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16 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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17 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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18 suburban | |
adj.城郊的,在郊区的 | |
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19 naval | |
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的 | |
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20 amends | |
n. 赔偿 | |
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21 recurring | |
adj.往复的,再次发生的 | |
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22 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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23 bloc | |
n.集团;联盟 | |
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24 refreshing | |
adj.使精神振作的,使人清爽的,使人喜欢的 | |
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25 pungent | |
adj.(气味、味道)刺激性的,辛辣的;尖锐的 | |
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26 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
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27 peruse | |
v.细读,精读 | |
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28 extrinsic | |
adj.外部的;不紧要的 | |
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29 estuary | |
n.河口,江口 | |
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30 likeness | |
n.相像,相似(之处) | |
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31 clumps | |
n.(树、灌木、植物等的)丛、簇( clump的名词复数 );(土、泥等)团;块;笨重的脚步声v.(树、灌木、植物等的)丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 );(土、泥等)团;块;笨重的脚步声 | |
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32 yearn | |
v.想念;怀念;渴望 | |
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33 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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34 dwarfed | |
vt.(使)显得矮小(dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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35 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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36 garb | |
n.服装,装束 | |
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37 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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38 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
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39 provincial | |
adj.省的,地方的;n.外省人,乡下人 | |
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40 hybrid | |
n.(动,植)杂种,混合物 | |
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41 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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42 wedded | |
adj.正式结婚的;渴望…的,执著于…的v.嫁,娶,(与…)结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43 aprons | |
围裙( apron的名词复数 ); 停机坪,台口(舞台幕前的部份) | |
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44 sloughing | |
v.使蜕下或脱落( slough的现在分词 );舍弃;除掉;摒弃 | |
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45 impending | |
a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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46 bankruptcy | |
n.破产;无偿付能力 | |
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47 lapse | |
n.过失,流逝,失效,抛弃信仰,间隔;vi.堕落,停止,失效,流逝;vt.使失效 | |
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48 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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49 outskirts | |
n.郊外,郊区 | |
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50 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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51 lapsed | |
adj.流失的,堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 );陷入;倒退;丧失 | |
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52 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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53 obstructed | |
阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 ); 堵塞; 阻碍; 阻止 | |
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54 geographical | |
adj.地理的;地区(性)的 | |
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55 delightfully | |
大喜,欣然 | |
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56 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
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57 naturalist | |
n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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58 bungalows | |
n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 );单层小屋,多于一层的小屋 | |
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59 plentifully | |
adv. 许多地,丰饶地 | |
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60 luxurious | |
adj.精美而昂贵的;豪华的 | |
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61 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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62 smuggling | |
n.走私 | |
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63 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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64 relic | |
n.神圣的遗物,遗迹,纪念物 | |
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65 seaports | |
n.海港( seaport的名词复数 ) | |
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66 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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67 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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68 obstructing | |
阻塞( obstruct的现在分词 ); 堵塞; 阻碍; 阻止 | |
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69 obstruction | |
n.阻塞,堵塞;障碍物 | |
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70 undertaking | |
n.保证,许诺,事业 | |
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71 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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