a village about a mile and a half away from Exeter, for his father and mother, who resided there for three and a half years.  Dickens frequently came to see them, and “Mr. Micawber,” with his ample seals and air of importance, made a great impression on the people of the village.  Dickens freely entered into the social life of Exeter, and he was a regular visitor on these occasions at the old “Turk’s Head Inn,” adjoining the Guildhall, where it was said he picked up the “Fat Boy” in Pickwick.  Mrs. Lupin of the “Blue Dragon” appeared as a character in Martin Chuzzlewit, and “Pecksniff” was a local worthy whom he grossly and unpardonably caricatured.

[Illustration:  “MILE END COTTAGE,” ALPHINGTON.]

On leaving Exeter we crossed the river by the Exe bridge and followed the course of that stream on our way to regain the sea-coast, entering the suburb of St. Thomas the Apostle, where at a church mentioned in 1222 as being “without the walls,” we saw the tower from which the vicar was hanged for being concerned in the insurrection of 1549.  At Alphington we had pointed out to us the “Mile End Cottage,” formerly the residence of the parents of Charles Dickens, and then walked on to Exminster, expecting from its name to find something interesting, but we were doomed to disappointment.  On the opposite side of the river, however, we could see the quaint-looking little town of Topsham, which appeared as if it had been imported from Holland, a country which my brother had visited seven years previously; we heard that the principal treasures stored in the houses there were Dutch tiles.  Ships had formerly passed this place on their way to Exeter, but about the year 1290 Isabella de-Fortibus, Countess of Exeter, having been offended by the people there, blocked up the river with rocks and stones, thereby completely obstructing the navigation and doing much damage to the trade of Exeter.  At that time cloths and serges were woven from the wool for which the neighbourhood of Exeter was famous, and exported to the Continent, the ships returning with wines and other merchandise; hence Exeter was at that time the great wine-importing depot of the country.  The weir which thus blocked the river was still known as the “Countess Weir,” and Topsham—­which, by the way, unlike Exeter, absolutely belonged to the Earls of Devon—­increased in importance, for ships had now to stop there instead of going through to Exeter.  The distance between the two places is only about four miles, and the difficulty appeared to have been met in the first instance by the construction of a straight road from Exeter, to enable goods to be conveyed between that city and the new port.  This arrangement continued for centuries, but in 1544 a ship canal was made to Topsham, which was extended and enlarged in 1678 and again in 1829, so that Exeter early recovered its former position, as is well brought out in the finely-written book of the Exeter Guild of Merchant Adventurers, still