Alton Towers. 119 



that Rudyard, like the reservoir at Lymm, should have 

 for its parent a river Dane, though here the stream does 

 not vanish, the Rudyard Dane being the boundary of 

 the two counties, Cheshire and Staffordshire. 



Alton Towers, a trifle further, illustrate in the finest 

 manner what can be achieved by the skill of the land- 

 scape gardener. At the time of Waterloo the grounds 

 were simple rabbit-warren, and the site of the present 

 mansion was occupied by only a cottage. Worthily is it 

 inscribed, just within the garden gate, "He made the 

 desert smile," the he being Charles, the sixteenth earl, 

 under whose directions the work was executed. The 

 framework consists of two deep and winding valleys, 

 which lose themselves in a third of similar character. Over 

 their slopes have been diffused terraces, arbours, ivied 

 grottoes, trees and shrubs innumerable, green cypresses 

 that rise like spires among the round sycamores, and 

 rhododendrons that in May, looked at across the chasm, 

 seem changed to purple sea-foam. Wherever practicable, 

 there have been added waterfalls and aspiring fountains, 

 and threading in every direction there are moss-grown and 

 apparently interminable sylvan paths. From many points 

 of view, the scene is one no doubt that would have 

 captivated Claude or Salvator Rosa. Still, it must be 

 confessed that the impression, after survey, which lingers 

 longest in the mind is of something not simply lavish, 

 but inordinate. Very beautiful, without question, as an 

 essay in constructive art, therefore invaluable educa- 

 tionally, one falls back, nevertheless, when departing, on 



