192 Country Rambles. 



tion is declared by the "river terraces" discoverable at 

 intervals all the way up, and which correspond with those 

 that betoken the ancient presence of the waters of the 

 Mersey at a much greater elevation than at present. 

 Abney Hall is built upon one of these river-terraces. 

 Cheadle village stands upon a yet higher and older one. 



Peculiarly associated with the valley of the Irvvell, and 

 the adjacent cloughs and woods of Stand and Prestwich, 

 is the memory of John Horsefield, one of the most cele- 

 brated of the old Lancashire operative botanists. It was 

 Horsefield who first showed us the way through Mere 

 dough, and pointed out the spots occupied by its rare 

 plants. For thirty-two years he was president and chief 

 stay of the Prestwich Botanical Society, and from 1830, 

 up to the time of his death, president also of the united 

 societies of the whole district. He earned his livelihood 

 as a hand-loom weaver, following that occupation in a 

 cottage at Besses-o'th'-Barn. Though the small wages 

 his employment yielded him, and the trifling amount of 

 leisure it permitted him to enjoy, naturally hindered 

 pursuit of his darling science so fully as he desired, it is 

 marvellous to see how much he accomplished. In the 

 Manchester Guardian of March 2nd, 1850, in the course 

 of a long and very interesting autobiography, he gives 

 some slight idea of his labours. "Since I first held office 

 as president," he tells us, "I have attended upwards of 

 four hundred of these general meetings; thousands of 

 specimens have passed through my hands, and all my 

 reward or fee is the privilege of being scot-free." With 



