1 1 6 Country Rambles. 



in itself a new and excellent starting point. If desiring 

 to go beyond, the London and North- Western should be 

 chosen. The massive heights on the way to Buxton, 

 including the well-known and far-conspicuous mamelon 

 called Shutlings Low, are accessible only by carriage or 

 on foot. North Rode, on the other hand, is but a few 

 minutes' continued railway journey, and for this, if we 

 come at all, the longest day is all too short. Just in front 

 rises Cloud-end, the mighty promontory seen from the 

 fields near Butts Clough (p. 23), covered with trees, 

 the Vitis Idcea filling the open spaces, and plenty of nuts 

 in the neighbouring hedgerows. Keeping the mountain 

 to the left, descending the green lane, and passing, " on 

 sufferance," through North Rode Park, agreeable scenery 

 on each side all the way, the end is that beau-ideal of a 

 rural retreat, pretty Gawsworth. The ancient trees, the 

 venerable church, the dignified old residences, all speak 

 at once of a long-standing and undisturbed respec- 

 tability such as few villages can now assert. In the 

 graveyard stand patriarchal yews, one of them, reduced 

 to a torso, encased in ivy, and protected on the weaker 

 side by a little wall of steps, intended seemingly to make 

 it useful as a tree-pulpit. Six great walnut-trees form part 

 of the riches of the Hall, another pleasing old "magpie;" 

 water also is near at hand, thronged with fishes that 

 sport near the surface, and gliding through the sunbeams 

 gleam like silver. To return to Macclesfield there is no 

 need to retrace one's steps to North Rode, the walk being 

 short and pleasant, and rendered peculiarly interesting 



