Biddulph Grange. 159 



is brought close to the eye, they are turned into a green 

 and moving stereoscopic picture. 



A little way along upon the left, soon after quitting 

 the village, in a plantation of oaks and larches, stands 

 the tomb of the celebrated wit, poet, and player, Samuel 

 Johnson, known by his generation as " Lord Flame," and 

 whose remains, by his own desire, were buried here in 

 1773- 



"Averse to strife, how oft he 'd -gravely say, 

 These peaceful groves should shade his breathless clay. " * 



If, instead of leaving the North Staffordshire line at 

 North Rode, we continue for three or four miles, we 

 reach CONGLETON, the best station for Brookhouse-moss, 

 noted for some curious plants, and lying between the 

 rivers Wheelock and Croco. Congleton is the station 

 also for Biddulph Grange, now accessible by a branch to 

 " Gillow Heath," but more pleasantly reached either by 

 the field-path or the coach-road, being scarcely three 

 miles distant. It is just inside Staffordshire, and no more. 

 The attraction of the place to Manchester excursionists, 

 and far more deservingly so to all persons interested in 

 horticulture and botanical science, consists in the cele- 

 brated and absolutely unique gardens attached to the 



* For the whole of the epitaph, and for other particulars respect- 

 ing Gawsworth, see Mr T. W. Barlow's " Cheshire, its Historical 

 and Literary Associations, 1855." Or better still, Ormerod's 

 " Cheshire," vol. iii., pp. 289-296. 



