Stirrup-benches. 143 



in part by Bottoms-hall Wood, through which there is a 

 footway to Werneth Low, and then to Hyde or Woodley, 

 a very pleasant sufficiency for an afternoon. On the 

 Derbyshire side, after crossing a few fields, Stirrup Wood 

 forms a beautiful counterpoise to Bottoms - hall ; and 

 when through this we are upon Stirrup-benches, famous 

 for profusion of the Oreads' fern that fragrant one so 

 fittingly dedicated to the nymphs who once upon a time 

 danced on green slopes around Diana, 



Hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades. 



Botanists call it the Lastrea Oreopteris. It is. well to 

 be reminded by them that scientific nomenclature is 

 something more than Greek and Latin, and a burden for 

 the memory, and that all the best and oldest portion of it 

 lies bosomed in poesy. The mythical Oreads them- 

 selves are not required, for we have better ones in our 

 live companions ; but of the memory of them it would be 

 an irreparable loss to be despoiled. 



Above Stirrup-benches comes Ludworth Moor. Then 

 far away, again up above, the grand mountain-terrace 

 called Charlesworth Coombs, the semi-circular and de- 

 nuded face of which is in some parts very nearly perpen- 

 dicular, the ridge affording, yet once again, supreme 

 views. On every side there is a tumultuous sea of 

 mountain-crests, with intermixture of sweet green knolls, 

 often wooded, in the relish of which, as upon Kinder, 

 one thinks of the immortals in art and literature, 



"Who never can be wholly known, 

 But still their beauty grows, 



