CHAPTER IX. 



IN THE PEAK COUNTRY. 



IeSsjIWO hours ago, smoke, crowded thoroughfares, groan- 

 f»"jj§j| ing machinery, and the very heart of a prosperous 

 industrial community of nearly three hundred thou- 

 sand inhabitants; now purple heather, far-reaching hills, 

 shooting-boxes, grouse, snipe, and here and there a black- 

 cock. Two hours ago the landscape was one of chimneys 

 — a forest of them ; now it is a warmly-tinted picture of 

 mountainous moorland in Nature's matchless perspective. 

 Two hours ago the air was heavy and dim, and your temples 

 throbbed in unison with those wonderful machines that were 

 pressing out massive armour plates and drawing steel rails 

 from the roller as if they were bits of thread; now the 

 atmosphere is, by comparison, preternaturally clear, and 

 exhilarating to a degree which is best measured by the long- 

 drawn gulp asked for by the greedy lungs. Two hours ago 

 the ear was assailed by the shrieks, wails, sobs, groans, and 

 bellowings that proceeded from some of the most famous 

 metal works in the kingdom ; here 



" All the air a solemn stillness holds," 



save where the honey-laden bee softly hums herself a homely 



