94 Mobberley. 



a couple of horse-chesnuts, and curl round by a thatched 

 farmhouse called Baguley-green. The lane, which de- 

 scends rapidly, is cool, pleasant, and excellent for botan- 

 ising; the rough banks on either hand give support 

 to untrimmed hedges, while at their feet are runnels of 

 water hidden by vegetable aquatics and amphibia. 



Next appears Mobberley-brook, a lively little stream, 

 which commences in two or three springs near Chorley 

 and Lindow. After crossing the railway line, it unites 

 with Ashley-brook ; the combined waters then go into 

 partnership with the Birkin, and eventually they are 

 received by the Bollin, at a point not far distant from 

 Newbridge-hollow. Let not the "day of small things" 

 be despised. This is one of the little streams that in 

 the great concourse called the Mersey does honour at 

 last to the British Tyre. Drayton notices it in the 

 "Poly-olbion:" 



" From hence he getteth Goyte down from her Pealcish spring ; 

 And Bollen, that along doth nimbler Birkin bring. " * 



A little way beyond the bridge, on the left-hand bank, 



* Song the Eleventh, p. 171. The full title of this famous old 

 poem, first published in 1622, is, "A Chorographical Description 

 of all the Tracts, Rivers, Mountains, Forests, and other Parts of 

 this Renowned Isle of Great Britain ; with intermixture of the most 

 Remarkable Stories, Antiquities, Wonders, Rarities, Pleasures, 

 and Commodities of the Same." Opposite page 171 is a map of 

 Cheshire, showing the rivers, out of every one of which, (as in the 

 other county maps,) rises a sort of tutelary nymph, in design droll 

 beyond imagination. ( Vide the copy in the Chetham Library.) 



