From the preceding account it would appear that Exmouth, "sixty years since," was but a dull place, even at the height of the season, and more likely to induce lowness of spirits than to prove a remedy for care, "the busy man's disease;" for what temperament, however mercurial, could bear up against the daily round of tea-parties--where silence was only broken by the "beldame's" scandal--diversified once a week with shilling whist or twopenny quadrille? Since the period when the above-quoted letter was written, Exmouth has been greatly improved, and many large houses have been built for the accommodation of visiters. But since the cot-houses have been elevated to handsome three-storied dwellings, it is only fair to add that the rate of lodgings has also been raised in the same proportion; "five or six rooms, neat and clean," are no longer to be obtained at a guinea a week. There is now a commodious assembly-room in the town, where the young and the fair--who are not so scarce at Exmouth as they appear to have been sixty years ago--occasionally meet to enjoy the amusement of dancing; while the more elderly have still the opportunity of cheating time at "shilling whist or twopenny quadrille." There are also several billiard and reading-rooms, which are places pleasant enough to while away an hour or two in when it rains; and the monotony of the morning walk on the hill, and the dulness of the evening tea-drinking, are now frequently diversified with excursions by water to Powderham Castle, Dawlish, Topsham, and places adjacent. [Illustration: BUDLEIGH SALTERTON.] BUDLEIGH-SALTERTON. The village of Budleigh-Salterton lies about half-way between Sidmouth and Exmouth, and at a short distance to the westward of the mouth of the river Otter. It is pleasantly situated by the sea-shore; and the beauty of the country in its vicinity, and the convenience afforded for sea-bathing, have caused it of late years to be much frequented as a watering-place.