292 Country Rambles. 



the streets lead the way to as much pleasure, after 

 another manner, as the field-paths. It is nothing but a 

 thoughtless mistake which lauds the country at the 

 expense of the town, crying out that God made the one, 

 but that the other is the work of man. Each is comple- 

 mentary to the other; each, as with the sexes, affords 

 pleasures which itself only can give; each is best in turn, 

 and full of compensation, and whatever may be thought 

 of the adjacent country, no town is more enjoyable to 

 the intelligent, by virtue simply and sufficiently of its 

 Free Libraries, than Manchester. With these inexpres- 

 sibly precious stores at perfect command, the private 

 property, virtually, of every man who takes interest in 

 their contents, let none, then, ever deplore rain, or 

 piercing winds, mud, snow, sleet, or any species of 

 atmospheric hindrance to rural pleasure. More lies 

 within the walls of our three great Free Libraries than a 

 life-time is sufficient to consume. To the student of wild 

 nature they are peculiarly valuable, since they supply 

 interpretation of everything that can possibly come before 

 him in the fields. 



The books in our three great Free Libraries the 

 Chetham, the City, and the Peel Park---which deal with 

 zoological subjects, and with palaeontology, are easily 

 discoverable, the number of important ones, especially 

 such as have plates, being limited, The printed 

 catalogues, and the courtesy of the respective librarians, 

 give ready information as to these, and the titles of the 

 various works generally indicate the contents with suffi- 



