Sept. 10.-Modbury to Fleet House, Kitley, Saltram, and Plymouth. Modbury is an ancient town of considerable size, without either a good inn or a bookseller's shop. We were informed that there was a subscription library for the better class; but we did not see the slightest evidence of intelligence or intellectual enjoyment among the mass. Fleet House; J. Bulteel, Esq. The house is of considerable antiquity and well placed, and it is undergoing great improvement under the immediate direction of the proprietor, who is his own architect, and is, perhaps, one of the cleverest amateur artists in England. He is not only a painter, but a modeller and sculptor. The doorways and fireplaces of the house had been originally of granite, with torus mouldings in a style peculiar, as it appeared to us, to those parts of Devonshire where granite was used as the master stone-work of buildings. These granite doorcases and chimney-pieces had in this house, as in Monadon House which we saw in the neighbourhood of Plymouth, been covered over with plaster, we suppose to give the house a more modern air; but Mr. Bulteel has removed all this, and is restoring these leading features to their original grandeur and simplicity. The ultimate effect will be unique. There are some large rooms admirably managed both in their finishing and furniture, and a long picture gallery, with a number of curious and valuable statues and pictures. Little or nothing has yet been done to the grounds; but they possess remarkably fine features, which will, doubtless, be taken advantage of. We learned here from Mr. Bulteel that the best apple for cider is called the white-sour; and also that the custom mentioned in our Arboretum still exists, of addressing the apple trees at a particular season, but with some additions as follows, the additions being in italic: - "Here's to thee, old apple tree, Whence thou mayst bud, and whence thou mayst blow; And whence thou mayst bear apples enow. Hats full! caps full! Bushel-bushel-sacks full! And my pockets full too! If thee does not bear either apple or corn, We'll down with thy top, and up with a horn." [Here the farmer shoots at the tree. Mr. Bulteel informed us that this practice is still continued by some persons; and that a few years ago a farmer, who was in the habit of going through the ridiculous ceremony, was cited before the ecclesiastical court for witchcraft; and that, before he could disentangle himself from the net in which he had inadvertently been caught, it required a considerable outlay both of time and money.
