Alder ley Edge. 89 



Women, it has been remarked, need no eulogy, since 

 they speak for themselves. Something similar, descrip- 

 tively, might be said of Alderley Edge. Whatever smoke- 

 engendered thoughts may occupy the mind for twenty 

 minutes after contemplating Stockport, they are effectually 

 dispelled by the sight of the piny hill, a medley of nature 

 and art, that shows so proudly in front as soon as the train 

 crosses the Bollin. A grand undulating mass of sand- 

 stone, rising boldly out of the plain, of considerable 

 elevation, the highest point being six hundred and fifty 

 feet above the sea, and, reckoning to the out-of-sight 

 portion which overlooks Bollington, quite two miles in 

 length, must needs be impressive. Alderley gathers 

 charm also from its great smooth slants of green, rough 

 and projecting rocks, and trees innumerable, three or 

 four aged and wind-beaten firs upon the tip-top, giving 

 admirable accentuation. Every portion in view from the 

 railway is accessible by paths, usually easy, these intro- 

 ducing us to many a deep and sequestered glade that in 

 autumn is crowded with ferns, or leading to the crest of 

 the hill, the views from which compensate all possible 

 fatigue of climbing. The simplest route to follow is that 

 by the old road running to Macclesfield. From the 

 lower part of this we may take one of the bye-roads that 

 lie to the left, and thus get eventually to the somewhat 

 rough and scrambling, but still quite practicable and 

 pleasant, track which leads along the face of the great 

 westward incline. This huge slope, called the "Hough," 

 may be ascended also from beneath, keeping along the 



