Page:Once a Week Volume 8.djvu/170

162 for the next fifty years just as it is: in short, he trusts that it will never be a “watering-place.”

There are three chief roads which lead to Bude. One from Bideford, through Holsworthy; another from the same place, across the country, by way of Clovelly and Hartland; the third from Launceston. The last of these is the least varied, perhaps, in character, being more like the common roads and usual scenery which one finds everywhere. Of the others, the second runs across some moors for several miles, interesting from their wildness and extent, with occasional broad glimpesglimpses [sic] of Barnstaple Bay, and the steep headlands near Clovelly, and the point and church at Hartland, with Lundy Island at a few miles’ distance. It is worth while to go to Bude by the road through Holsworthy, on account of the superb view which suddenly opens about halfway from that town, upon the top of the last hill, which sinks with a gradual descent of several miles down to the level of the sea. There is no sign which suggests the chance or likelihood of any change: the road has been winding through a somewhat dreary-looking district for a few miles past; the traveller forgets that he has been passing for a long time over a high inland level, until, with a sharp turn of the road, as it were a new world lies before him. He is suddenly upon the edge of the declivity; and before his eyes, on either side, there spreads a vast expanse of country, its horizon bounded by the distant undulations of a semicircle of lofty hills, bending in every direction downwards to the west; with the outlines of a thousand cliffs, and the hollows of the larger bays, and the mighty sea itself, gleaming and distinct beneath his feet, lighted, it may be, under the slanting brilliance of a setting sun.

Bude Haven is a hamlet in the parish of Stratton, in Cornwall, about 25 miles from Bideford, and 20 from Launceston. The population may amount to some 600 or 700; the men mostly employed in manning the twenty sloops and schooners belonging to the port; or in loading and unloading vessels which trade from and to the place. Large employment is also given by the proprietors of the Bude Canal, which carries goods in two or three directions into the interior of the county, and immense quantities of sea-sand for the farmers for manure.

The village of Bude lies upon two sides of a small stream, which runs into the sea at the mouth of the harbour. It belongs chiefly to two proprietors only: and consists upon the north side of a scattered collection of houses, some in rows, some singly, extending up a moderately sloping hill; upon the other of rows of houses, and a pretentious-looking hotel, a new church, the parsonage, the coast-guard station, and some good cottages let to visitors in the summer. The two sides are very different in character and appearance. On the one side there is little sign of care or expense in keeping the houses in repair, or of attention to the wants of those who live in them: and not a few of the buildings which are under the control of the proprietor, exhibit a very narrow escape indeed from the general look of a dilapidated little Irish town. There is no difficulty whatever in distinguishing upon this side those houses which are in the hands of other owners; for there is a distinct attempt at improvement, and, so far as means allow, generally successful. But upon the other side, every house or little row of houses, though not always perhaps built with the best taste, shows as plainly as words could tell it, that the careful hand and eye of a liberal landlord have been over them for years. Here, there is no unheeded cry for necessary repairs; there are no dirty pigsties close under cottage windows, and opposite cottage doors; no stables with rotting roofs; or open gutters, miscalled drains; but everything is kept, fairly, in decent order.

On both sides, north and south, there are several rows of small houses, which, in the summer and autumn, are let to visitors. Most of them have two small sitting-rooms, and three, four, or five bedrooms: and it is not an uncommon circumstance from July to September to find every lodging occupied and bespoke. These houses, except some two or three, do not command a view of the sea: built originally rather for shelter (if not, it is difficult to discover a reason for such perverseness), their first owners did not, perhaps, anticipate the future uses to which they might be put. But there are three cottages, of a better kind, not a quarter of a mile distance from the village, which were built for lodging-houses, twenty years ago, close upon the shore, perfectly sheltered, and commanding fine views along the coast.

The church—at first intended for a chapel of ease, but now a district church—stands well upon the slope of the hill on the south side; plain in appearance, and, were it not for its picturesque position, some cavillers might possibly think it something worse than “plain.” But it was a noble gift of the same generous landlord, a layman, whom I have spoken of already, to the people of the place: and he has given them a schoolhouse also; and to the incumbent and his successors, a fine old manor-house, as a parsonage. Thinking of all these things, people regret that there should be a stream of water dividing the two sides of Bude.

Lying midway between the two opposite slants of hill is a large mound, about eighty or one hundred feet high, originally a mere sand-bank, but now covered with green turf, with a lawn of an acre or two towards the village, and terraced slopes and banks towards the sea; close under its shelter is a larger house, occupied by the family of the owner during the summer and autumn months. At low water the sands extend in front, and when the tide is high the waves rush along its sea-wall. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the sea-view from the windows of this house. It looks straight out towards the Atlantic Ocean (not an inch of land between it and America), and on either side, before you reach the water’s edge, the hills which enclose the little harbour sweep in a gradual rise to the summits of the cliffs, with the Breakwater and the Chapel Rock extending halfway across between them.

Considerable as the population of Bude is, there is no doctor resident in the village: but there soon may be. Coming events are casting their shadows before; and last year a well-appointed chemist’s shop startled and pleased the people with its huge blue and green and yellow