drive on, and "Squire Buller"
reached the House without further molestation.'

Two miles farther on the river passes the village of Newton St Cyres, or
Syriak Newton, as some of the older writers called it. The church has
several interesting features, and escaped the ruthless 'restoration'
that so many village churches suffered from at the beginning of the
nineteenth century. Alders and willows overhang the stream, which winds
its way to the south-west, and about two miles farther on one arrives
again at Cowley Bridge. The Valley of the Exe gets ever wider and
flatter, and after Exeter has been passed the flatness on either side of
the banks increases as the river draws near the estuary.

Topsham stands at the head of the estuary, and is a pleasant little
town, whose great days are gone by. It is difficult to believe that in
the reign of William III Topsham had more trade with Newfoundland than
any other port in the country excepting London. Presumably it was at
this time that certain Dutch merchants came to live here, and built
themselves quaint narrow houses of small Dutch bricks, painted the
colour of bath-bricks. Rounded gable-ends are a feature of these houses,
which may still be seen along the Strand. In many cases the clerk's
house, a smaller, humbler dwelling of exactly the same design, stands
close to the merchant's, separated by their respective gardens.

Till wooden ships were superseded, frigates for the navy were built
here, but now, although some of the largest ships stop and unload their
cargoes for Exeter, there is little of the stir and bustle that the town
must once have rejoiced in.

Miss Celia Fiennes, who rode through England about 1695, mentions
Topsham in her diary as 'a little market place and a very good Key;
hither they convey on horses their serges and soe load their shipps w^h
comes to this place, all for London.' She also speaks of Starcross, on
the farther side of the river, 'where the Great shipps ride, and there
they build some shipps.'

In the end of the seventeenth century there sprang from Topsham a man of
great resoluteness, pluck, and the spirit to fight against tremendous
odds in cold blood. Robert Lyde, mate of the _Friend's Adventure_,
himself wrote an account of his fortunes on board that vessel. Lyde's
great bitterness against the French is explained by the fact that he had
already suffered intensely at their hands. Two years before he had been
captured at sea by a French