46 Whaley- Bridge. 



feature is it in our Lancashire and Cheshire reservoirs, 

 that when in the country, like this one below, as a rule 

 they simulate natural meres. Established as a recep- 

 tacle by damming up the 'narrow outlet of some little 

 valley through which a stream descends, the water, as it 

 accumulates, is allowed, as far as practicable, to determine 

 its own boundaries and fences. Hence, excepting the one 

 inevitable straight line formed by the dam, the banks are 

 winding and shore-like, and the water becomes a delight- 

 ful element of the landscape. We should remember these 

 things when disposed, as too often, to speak petulantly 

 of injury done to the picturesque by the spade of the 

 "navvy." Looked at fairly, as an Englishman prides 

 himself on looking at things, and assuming truth and 

 honesty until guilt is actually proved, there is quite as 

 much ground for congratulation as for murmuring. No 

 landscape is perfectly beautiful without water, a river, or 

 a mere, or the distant sea ; and hundreds of landscapes 

 have been made so by the introduction of such reser- 

 voirs as this at Whaley. So, too, in a hundred places, 

 where, since the creation, there had been only a hollow 

 filled with trees, we now have the most exquisite effects 

 produced by arches for the conveyance of the train. 

 Scenery that is impregnated with human enterprise and 

 human skill will always take deepest hold of our admira- 

 tion, simply because it is human. In our inmost heart 

 we are best pleased when we see the traces of man's 



