288 THE BEITISH ISLES. 



the only thing needed to render this rej^ion a fit place of residence for humun 

 beings, and that need has been abundantly supplied by artesian wells. A layer 

 of clay about 25 feet in thickness underlies the surface soil for 50 miles along 

 the coast and 10 miles inland, so that all that is requisite to be done in order to 

 obtain pure water is to bore through this clay, when a fountain will burst forth, 

 sometimes rising to a height of 10 feet. 



The physiognomy of the towns and villages of a considerable portion of the 

 basin of the Ilumber has undergone a singular change in the course of the nine- 

 teenth century, and perhaps nowhere is this change more striking than in "Western 

 Yorkshire. Quiet villages, unfettered rivulets, are found no longer. The valleys 

 are filled with noisy factories ; every stream of water is confined within bounds to 

 set in motion wheels and turbines ; the roads are black ; and even the atmosphere is 

 filled with particles of soot. The number of inhabitants is tenfold — nay, hundred- 

 fold in certain districts — what it used to be. Manufacturing towns have sprung 

 from the soil where at the beginning of the century the eye beheld only open 

 moors or forests. These changes are due to the same causes which have brought 

 about similar results in other parts of England. The counties at the foot of the 

 Pennine chain have learnt to appreciate the wealth which they possess in their 

 rocks — coal, iron, lime, and building stone — and the inhabitants of Yorkshire, at all 

 events, have set themselves to utilise these treasures with an eagerness far surpassing 

 that of other Englishmen. The people of Yorkshire are, indeed, noted for their 

 industry, activity, and business intelligence, and few are their equals in the art of 

 making money. Conservative though they be — as is proved by an adherence to 

 their ancient dialect — the}' have nevertheless, in the course of becoming a manu- 

 facturing people, greatly changed their time-honoured customs. And this perilous 

 social evolution, whilst it enriched thousands, has condemned hundreds of thousands 

 to the precarious existence of proletarians. How great the contrast between the 

 factory hands of the West Eiding and their ancestors, whose hero was merry 

 Itobin Hood ! 



Topography. 



Staffordshire lies wholly within the great central plain of England, and its 

 surface, except in the north, where it is broken by barren hills, including the Axe 

 Edge Hill (1,810 feet), Mow Copt (1,101 feet), Weaver Hill (1,154 feet), and other 

 outliers of the Pennine chain, is slightly undulating, and upon the whole fertile. 

 The river Trent rises near the northern boundary of the county, and passes through 

 its centre, receiving on its way several tributaries, the principal of which are the 

 Dove, which forms the eastern boundary of the county, and the Tame, which drains 

 the south. 



The valley of the Trent is noted for its fertility, but Stafi'ordshire is essentially 

 a manufacturing and mining county. The distribution of the bulk of its popula- 

 tion has been determined by the existence of coal and iron, and there are conse- 



