SAINT THOMAS.
With Alphington were passed Exeter’s latest encroachments upon the country in this direction, and the road presently became perfectly rural. To the left was the rich level through which the Exe flows, now restrained by cunningly constructed canals, weirs, banks, and sluices from flooding the pastures, in some instances below its level, and intersected by little dykes for their better irrigation.
EXETER, FROM THE DUNSFORD ROAD.
The road shortly descended into a pretty valley, where were some cottages beneath a peculiar isolated hill, crowned with a windy coppice; below were pools of water that reflected hurrying clouds. At the extremity of the valley the road was bordered by evergreen shrubs, firs, and larches, and a dense undergrowth of brambles and wild-flowers harmonised with the rich colour of a disused quarry, from whose red ledges dripped drops of water with hollow sound.
ALPHINGTON.
Then, past the huge building of the Devon County Lunatic Asylum, we came into Exminster, standing on somewhat high ground. For sketching purposes it does not group well: there are, though, some points of interest within the church, among them a recessed portrait effigy of Grace Tothill.
“Grace, wife of William Tothill
of the Middle Temple, Died 1623, æt. 18.”
“If grace could lengthe of dayes thee give,
or vertue coulde haue made thee live
If goodnesse could thee heere have kept
or teares of frindes which for thee wept
Then hadst thou liv’d Amongst us heere
to whom thy vertues made thee deer
But thou a Sainte didst Heaven aspire
whiles heere on Earth wee thee admire
Then rest deere corps in mantle claye
Till Christ thee raise the latter daye.