236 BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM CHESHIRE. [Auyust, 



times past ; but the train has no sympathy with these sentimen- 

 talismsj and time has as little ; the old adage about " time and 

 tide " may be modified into time and train ; they tarry not on 

 the scenes of ancient or bygone memories. Before these are re- 

 produced and have saddened the heart, the train is at Birming- 

 ham, the end of the second stage. 



From Birmingham to Shrewsbury everybody who has travelled 

 by either of the lines — for there are two now — is conscious of a 

 change in the scenery, which is as disagreeable as it is striking : 

 it is like nothing else in England. The saline wells and salt-pits 

 of Cheshire, the coal-pits of Lancashire and Durham, the foun- 

 dries of Derbyshire — and the Potteries may be added — are all very 

 unpleasant objects; but the scenery between Birmingham and 

 Wolverhampton combines the unpleasant features of the whole. 

 The entire country, for about a dozen miles, may be characterized 

 as a series of ash-heaps, interspersed with blast-furnaces, houses 

 and huts, coals, lime, iron, stone, canals, roads, etc. etc. The 

 population is immense. Wednesbury, Dudley, Bilston, are popu- 

 lous towns. Birmingham and Wolverhampton are among the 

 busiest and most thriving towns in the country. 



This is the first subdivision of the third division of our route. 



From Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury there is nothing very re- 

 markable. We are in the Vale of the Severn, and the scenery 

 is flatter than between Birmingham and Oxford, but not so flat 

 as much that lies between Oxford and London. The land is 

 partly cultivated, but there is a great portion of it in grass. 



At Oakengates near Wellington there are iron and coal works; 

 these however do not much affect the beauty of the landscape, 

 which here is rendered doubly interesting by the vicinity of the 

 Wrekin, and the beautiful river which nearly surrounds the an- 

 cient town of Shrewsbury. 



This is the second subdivision of the third stage from London 

 to Chester. 



The fourth stage has, like the three foregoing, its distinct fea- 

 tures, impressing an individuality upon that part of the journey be- 

 tween Shrewsbury and LlangoUen-road station, and that between 

 the last-mentioned place and Chester. The line passes through 

 a rather fine hilly and open country ; the high hills of Stipper- 

 stone, on the borders of Wales, and possibly Craig Breiddon it- 

 self, also the ridge bounding the Vale of Llangollen, are on the 



