Having done up the week’s work I was ready to rejoin my family. The night had not been so good as the last, but I felt better and the day was fine. So I drove at nine o’clock to the Paddington Station, and took the train via Exeter to Torquay, where I had agreed to rejoin. The trip was very regular through Swindon, Bath, Bristol, Bridgewather, and Taunton to Exeter, much of the ground already gone over. But here I decided to stop for181 a short time, partly in the expectation of meeting here, and partly for the sake of visiting the Cathedral. Of my party I could get no trace at the New London Hotel, so I went at once to the church. But it was just three o’clock, the hour for Evening service. Having the time on my hands I decided at once to go in. This enabled me to see the choir at my ease, whilst I found the service in harmony with the condition of my mind. The attendance was not large, over and above the servitors of the church. It lasted about fifty minutes including an anthem tolerably sung. On looking at my watch however I found I had no time left to see the remainder of the edifice, which is really a fine one. The nave and choir very imposing. The Bishop’s throne is a peculiarity, but the screen and the organ seem not to be in harmony with it. The effect of this practice of inclosing the Choir seems to be to render to nave superfluous—a mere anteroom for loungers. And such it actually became until measures were resorted to to prevent it. The modern tendency to remove the barriers and restore the old idea of a popular church. How much this has been caused by the renovated admiration for Gothic architecture I shall not consider. The effect may be good in a high as well as in a lesser sense. Not having further time to speculate I returned to t he Hotel and from thence walked back to the Station. Then I started for Torquay. The way lies along the bank of the Exe to its mouth and thence on the seashore passing the pretty places of Dawlish and Newton and Teignmouth. At Torquay I found Henry awaiting me, and drove at once to the Queen’s Hotel where the party had arrived in the morning from Exeter where they had spent the night.