WHARFEDALE. 121 



gainers by this intrusive companionship, inasmuch as the 

 persecuted angler \A\o was in search of — 



" Respite respite, and nepenthe" 



from the parliament of science, lost no time in reckoning 

 with his host and departing from the " field of Otho." 



The railway has accomplished many wonders and over- 

 come many difficulties. Steadily and surely it has intruded 

 into the realms of romance and reduced them to its own 

 utilitarian level. But Upper Wharfedale hitherto has defied 

 it. Nor is it easy to perceive how it is possible to lay down 

 a permanent way over Barden and Conistone Moors, or to 

 convert Bolton Abbey into a station and Great Whernside 

 into a terminus. It fills me, I confess, with a savage glee 

 to spread out the map and behold how the iron horse has 

 snorted and screamed up to the very foot of the balmy 

 moorlands, and then stopped short, sullen and defeated. 

 Thrice did he start off to invade the district of which 

 Skiptcn may be taken as the southern, Ripon the eastern, 

 the Westmoreland border the western, and Barnard Castle 

 the northern limits. At Ilkley he was frightened by Rom- 

 bald's Moor and the uplands towards Bolton. At Pateley 

 Bridge, Dallowgill and Appletrewick Moors blocked the 

 way; and at Ley burn a judicious halt was sounded, at 

 least for the present. 



None but strong, enduring pedestrians can, therefore, do 

 Wharfedale full justice, and it may be here said generally 

 that every turn of the sp-eam from Otley to its source under 

 the brow of Cam Fell will repay the pedestrian, and reveal 

 new surprises in itself, in the vistas beyond, and in the 

 ever-varying quantities and qualities of its steep wooded 

 banks. 



