The feeling of melancholy which such a place as this produces is so mixed up with misery, that it affords no pleasure; whereas, an old neglected place, where there is no evidence of the neglect being the result of want of means, fills the mind with a feeling of veneration and respect, as well as sadness. A young or new place in a state of neglect or disorder affords an example of melancholy and misery; while an old full-grown place, uninhabited, in which nothing seems to be doing but keeping the place in tolerable order, is an example of melancholy and grandeur. To remove the idea of hopeless melancholy from an old place, there ought to be signs of life and improvement, if it were nothing more than the planting here and there of young trees where the old ones have been cut down. An old place, with nothing but old trees, leaves the mind without hope. There is nothing to look forward to but their decay; but an old place, with both old and young trees, more especially if it has been long in possession of the same family, and that family have children, is, we think, better calculated to give a feeling of perpetual existence to the proprietor for the time being, than any other state of things that we can conceive, unless it be that of a hereditary sovereign. One of the finest things at Sharpham is a broad walk from the house, along the side of a steep valley, to the head of that valley, where it crosses over by the gardener's cottage to a similar walk on the opposite side; the walk all the while winding much in direction, but being always nearly on a level. We were informed that it is continued through the woods towards the sea, exhibiting many fine views of the Dart and its opposite banks.
