2io Hoghton Tower. 



fortunes commenced, when they were penniless boys, in 

 the valley below, and who are pourtrayed by Dickens in 

 the " Cheeryble Brothers." On the slopes, as we ascend 

 to the tower, we note the delicate flowers of the eyebright, 

 that inside their lilac lips have purple veins and a spot 

 of gold. The opposite, or western side of the valley, is 

 comparatively treeless, and swells into a huge, bare tract 

 of moorland, called Holcombe Hill. At its further ex- 

 tremity stands the lofty landmark familiar as the " Peel 

 Monument." 



From Ramsbottom we again run on, now to Helm- 

 shore, Accrington, and Blackburn. Near the first-named 

 place, at Haslingden Station, is reached the highest level 

 of the line, and here we are no less than 780 feet above 

 Liverpool low-water mark. Everywhere, on either hand, 

 the country is thickly inhabited, and full of pleasant and 

 picturesque neighbourhoods, with plenty of lofty emin- 

 ences. That portion of the line which, crosses Rishton 

 Moor, after passing Accrington, is the only one that 

 bisects an uncultivated and unoccupied country. 



Six miles before reaching Preston, we come to Hogh- 

 ton station, so named from the celebrated old mansion 

 that crowns the hill upon the left, and which in the 

 views from the grass in front, and the delightful sur- 

 rounding woodlands, is a charming place to visit. The 

 ascent from the station is through lanes, and fields, and 

 a plantation, and on emerging from this, we are close 



