Marple Ridge. 9 



tinuous rise. Standing with our backs to Disley, on 

 the right we have the great green pyramid called Cob- 

 den Edge, then the hills that rise above Whaley-Bridge 

 and Taxal, with Kinder-Scout resting, as it were, on their 

 shoulders though far away and villages, groves, and 

 spires among their feet. In front are hills again, Wer- 

 neth Lowe, always recognised by its vertical fringe of 

 trees ; Stirrup-benches and Charlesworth-coombs, tower- 

 ing into the horizon ; and the three hill churches, whose 

 names alike begin with the letter M Mellor, Mottram, 

 and Marple with Chadkirk and Compstall in the val- 

 ley. Looking southwards, at the distance of a couple of 

 miles or so, are Lyme Cage and Lyme Hall, the latter 

 half-concealed among trees ; and due west, lying be- 

 neath us like a garden below a balcony, is the vast 

 plain already surveyed from Jackson Edge, and which 

 stretches uninterruptedly to Chester, with Alderley, Dun- 

 ham spire, the Frodsham hills, (dropping off at the ex- 

 tremity like an unfinished railway embankment,) and 

 the towers and large buildings of Manchester and Stock- 

 port. To see this grand prospect in perfection, of course 

 requires that the atmosphere shall be clear ; the sun, too, 

 must be bright, but a little veiled with clouds shining 

 upon it, but not dazzling our eyes. The best time is 

 shortly before sunset on a Sunday evening in July, when 

 the smoke of the preceding week is dissipated, and the 

 sunbeams mellow, and almost horizontal at once 

 illuminate the western faces of the mountains and the 



