that let apartments.  The distance from the railway at Lyme and Bridport will effectually bar any “development.”  Jane Austen’s description still holds good:—­“Its high grounds and extensive sweeps of country, and, still more, its sweet retired bay, backed by dark cliffs where fragments of low rock among the sands make it the happiest spot for watching the flow of the tide; for sitting in unwearied contemplation.” (Persuasion.)

The picturesque old George Inn on the right-hand side of the street is sometimes pointed out as the lodging occupied by Charles II, but this was at the “Queen’s Arms” nearly opposite; it is now a Congregational Manse.  “Everything was in readiness for the departure at midnight, but Captain Limbry, master of the ship, came ashore just after dark for his luggage.  Questioned by his wife he foolishly admitted that he was concerned with the safety of a dark gentleman from Worcester.  Without more ado the good woman pushed him into his bedroom and turned the key upon him.”  Charles and his friends waited in vain at the inn, the “dark gentleman” as insouciant as ever, the rest of the party greatly perturbed.  Urgently advised by Ellesdon (organizer of the escape) to wait no longer, the party took to the Bridport road, and so in the early morning the fugitives rode up and down the hills these pages have just traversed, in an endeavour to find sanctuary in a ship, the only inviolable one, that they were not to gain until far distant Brighthelmstone was reached.

[Illustration:  LYME FROM THE CHARMOUTH FOOTPATH.]

Charmouth Church is as ugly as one would expect of an erection of the last year of the Sailor King.  Within are preserved some of the monuments from the old building.  It is said that a Roman station was established somewhere on this hill, and that after fierce fighting in the bay the Danes captured and held the Char valley for some years.  It is possible that many of the country people have a strain of the wild northern blood in their veins.  Close to the church and the Coach and Horses Hotel, the unpretentious but comfortable hostelry on the left of the street, a lane leads to the coastguard station and beach.

The shore can be followed to Lyme, but only at low water.  By far the best way is to keep to the high road, passing through the cutting made in the hill for the better passage of the coaches, and named by the more proper “Windy Gap,” and by the rest “The Devil’s Bellows.”  In a storm the wayfarer is likely to be blown back to Charmouth.  At the top of the hill a path turns leftwards to the open cliff and affords the traveller the most exquisite views of Lyme, the bay and the surrounding hills.  This path eventually rejoins the main road near the cemetery.  Within is a fine Celtic cross erected to commemorate those who perished in the Formidable in 1915.