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CHAPTER VIII.

TORQUAY.

Near APPROACH to Torquay-Encouraging Impressions-SAD SIGHT and first Experiment-Fair Evening and Rainy Morning-Sick Chamber Sounds-ASSES' MILK-Donkeys drawn by Horses-GEORGE III. and the Sea Coast-TOPOGRAPHY of Torquay-The Channel Fleet, Torbay, and the Officers' Wives-Localities of Torquay-SEMICIRCLORAMA-The BRADDON HILLS Villas-The HIGHER TERRACE-Rock House and the Castle-PARK PLACE-The STRAND-Victoria Terrace and Vaughan Terrace-Access to the Higher Levels-Pleasing Picture of Torquay-The ROYAL HOTEL-Its Favourable Situation— Stormy Day and a Calm Tropical Evening in November-The Torquay Band-HEARDER'S HOTEL-Inconvenience of Lofty Levels for Invalids-The "Frying Pan" Walk-The BASON and its ObjectionSide Views of Torquay-HOUSE RENT and Price of Lodging-ExPENSES of Living-List of Visiters-Its Analysis-AMUSEMENTS—— scription Library and the BALL ROOM-Gas Light in Dwelpoisonous to Lungs-The CLIMATE of Torquay-The late Doctor De Barry Heat and Rain-SALUBRIOUSNESS-Can the Climate of Torquay either cure Disease or prolong Life?—NUMBER of Deaths from Consumption in 1838 and 1839-Frequent tolling of the Death Bell.

THROUGH the opening of a wooded valley, along one mile of the road proceeds, ere it reaches Tor-Moham's neat village, a sudden peep of Torbay is caught. The western sun

was gilding a few lowering clouds just above the opening, and below them a distant line of the ocean appeared blue-blue as sapphire-a tint which all the hills on our right, as far as the southernmost head of the cove, "Berry Head," seemed to have caught. Descending thence by Torre Abbey, along a steep declivity, some of the more prominent features of Torquay, the haven of invalids I was in search of, successively presented themselves, principally towards the west and south, in which direction the well-wooded round hill, called the Rock Walk, with Rock House upon it, and the so-called Castle, were pointed out to me by the intelligent driver, who was formerly a medical practitioner, and still quite a gentleman in manners as well as appearance.

If the last few miles of road had been of a character to inspire feelings of hope in the bosom of those stricken with disease, who are wending their way to a winter retreat,-the coup-d'œil which that retreat presented, as the vehicle was yet hovering on the high ground above it, and gradually unfolded a goodly assemblage of white or stone-coloured gaylooking houses, around a still harbour, unruffled by any wind, was even more calculated to produce cheering and salutary impressions. These, by some readers, may be deemed trite and too trivial circumstances; but my experience as a physician has long taught me to attach great importance to them.

Having once gained the level ground of the little town, we were not long in reaching the ROYAL HOTEL, at the termination of the Strand. The room I took possession of faced the entrance into the little bay, and was directly south-west. I threw up the window to lose nothing of the most glorious and splendid sunset I had ever seen from an English coast. It was the 7th of November, and half-past four o'clock P.M.; yet the thermometer out of the window marked 5610, one degree and a half above " temperate !"

Surveying my neat chamber to see what sort of quarters I

was to occupy, the sight of "a spitting-pot," as a regular article of furniture by the side of those which generally adorn a washing-stand, spoke volumes to my imagination. I warrant me that no such sight ever presented itself at any other town in England. There was no such provision made in the chambers of the hotel at Clifton; but here every bed-room was furnished with it.

The morning which succeeded this lovely and almost tropical evening was as much the reverse of the latter as possible, and quite unfavourable. At a little after six it was raining very hard; and on inquiry in the coffee-room afterwards from persons, visiters like myself, who had been in the place since the middle of October, this morning-rain appeared to have been a daily occurrence for some time. All that was fair and balmy in the air through the night, (in the course of which I rose twice to test the outer temperature, and look to the sky from my casement,) I found, on waking in the morning, had disappeared. The ground was deluged with the rain, which was pouring down incessantly; while the distant shores and sea-marks were enveloped in mist. The temperature of my room was nevertheless 63°, that of the water 58°, and out of doors 54° of Fahrenheit; but in two hours it rose to and remained steadily at 60°. The wind was blowing from the south-east.

At morning dawn the sound of a cavernous cough, short, large, and followed by quick and ready expectoration, resounded from the bed-chamber to my left, the partition of which was very thin. It seemed to be the cough of a female. On the right, the adjoining bed-room had been the place whence a long, thin, sibilating cough,-dry, exasperating, and nervous, had been heard every five minutes through the short night I had allowed myself, namely, from two to six o'clock. At the latter hour the exhausted sufferer had probably sunk into a momentary slumber, beginning then his night's repose

when all else were stirring and quitting their beds. “And each of these patients," said I to myself,-" each of these distinct states of bronchial or pulmonic disease and irritation, is to be healed by sojourning in the mild atmosphere of Torquay!"

This is but a miniature picture, after all, of what obtains more extensively in the fine and handsome buildings that surrounded me, and many of which sheltered under their showy architectural exterior more than one victim of that most destructive malady, consumption. My two next-room neighbours were only momentary inmates of the hotel, and would soon, in all probability, get billeted in some more private and comfortable lodgings, there to struggle with various luck through the approaching winter.

The events of this first night, and the sight that had greeted me on entering my chamber, sufficiently indicated the sort of place I had come to; but to remove all doubts, some dozen asses passed before my window, even at that early hour, driven from one great house to another for the purpose, no doubt, of administering their healing milk to invalids. I wonder that the judicious, though somewhat ludicrous practice, common in Paris, of conveying these useful animals in covered carriages drawn by horses, with a view of preventing the échauffement du lait, has not yet been adopted in this country, where we often behold three or four wretched-looking quadrupeds of the assinine race standing yoked together by a rope, at the door of some noble lord or lady, for a few minutes, and next driven by an unmerciful urchin as fast as sixteen asses' legs can galop to another remote grand dwelling, to deliver at each the heated draught.

Since George III. introduced the fashion of regularly going to the southern coast for health, London and other doctors have been in the habit of recommending to those who cannot or choose not to go abroad, the same description of re

sidence in all cases of individuals of consumptive habit. The particular spot designated for this purpose has varied from time to time, having extended west and south, farther and farther every eight or ten years; from Weymouth to Sydmouth, from Sydmouth to Exmouth, and so on to Dawlish, and Teignmouth, and lastly and now to TORQUAY.

Now let us inquire how far this last change has been warranted by what might have been anticipated in making it, or has been sanctioned by the result obtained from it.

The peculiar position of Torquay is the first point that demands our attention in this investigation. Every one knows that between two remarkable promontories, the one (north) terminating in a limestone point, called "Hope's Nose," and the other (south), wholly of limestone, called "Berry Head,” which projects considerably out of the straight line of coast between Teignmouth and Dartmouth, there lies a bay, about three miles and a half deep, inland, and entirely open to the east, called TORBAY. Its greatest width is about four miles from north to south, and the centre of its semicircular shore is marked by a small head of land, composed of the Exeter red conglomerate sandstone, standing out into the sea, called Roundham Head; near to which and to the south, a naval hospital was established during the war. Into this bay many a time and often have I sailed during that eventful period, while cruizing in a king's ship on what was called the channel-station.

About that time Torquay consisted of a small row of houses, with green blinds, principally inhabited by naval officers' wives, who lived there in the chance of the channel-fleet or some of its detachments anchoring in the bay, and their husbands being permitted to come ashore.

The northern promontory, or great headland of this bay, the axis of which has a north-east and south-west direction, consists of a compact and almost indistinguishable group of high sum