Alton Towers. 393 



a considerable stream and a navigable canal. This last im- 

 mense valley, it is said, the late earl intended to cover entirely 

 with water; and, as it would have saved the Canal Company 

 a mile or two of canal, they offered to form the dam or head 

 at their own expense. 



In approaching from Cheadle, we arrive in front of the 

 castellated stables, and see the abbey across the pond above 

 the level of the bridge. Proceeding a little farther towards 

 the dry bridge, Stonehenge appears in the foreground, and 

 the seven gilt glass domes of the main range of conserva- 

 tories below. Raising the eyes, the lofty Gothic temple appears 

 on the left of the picture ; and on the right, across the valley, 

 the harper's cottage. In the centre of the picture, over the 

 domes in the foreground, the valley loses itself in a winding 

 bank of wood, in a style of great grandeur and seclusion. 

 None of the details of the valley here obtrude themselves ; 

 and the stranger, coming from a wild country with no marks 

 of refinement, on this view so unexpectedly, must feel it to be 

 singularly impressive. It strikes him with surprise, and fills 

 him with astonishment and delight, to find so much of the 

 magnificence of art amidst so much of thiC wildness and 

 grandeur of nature. The imitation of Stonehenge, too, is a fea- 

 ture in artificial landscape which we have not elsewhere seen, 

 and a stranger is puzzled and confounded by finding a stream 

 and a small waterfall, supplying a lake on what he conceives 

 to be the highest point of high ground. 



Thus far as to the first impressions. We shall not here 

 go into details. It is evident that the contents of the valley 

 defy all criticism ; and that, perhaps, is paying the author a 

 compliment after his own heart. If his object were originality, 

 and that of a kind which should puzzle and confound, he has 

 certainly succeeded ; and having attained the end which he 

 proposed, as far as it respects himself, he is to be considered 

 a successful artist. How far it may be commendable for a 

 man of wealth to gratify a peculiar taste, rather than one 

 which is generally approved by the intelligence of the country 

 in which he lives, is not in these days, perhaps, a question of 

 much consequence. 



The present earl has wisely considered it his duty to con- 

 tinue employing as many hands as were employed by his pre- 

 decessor ; and his works, on the whole, are in a taste that will 

 be more generally approved. In the gardens, he has obliter- 

 ated a number of the walks, stairs, and shell-works ; which 

 we almost regret, because no trifling alteration can ever im- 

 prove what is so far out of the reach of reason. To the house, 

 the present earl has made, and is making, extensive additions, 



