At Buxton, once the _El Dorado_ of local naturalists, the visitor finds picturesque beauty and historical associations, even if he be not in search of the recruited health which this celebrated old town is supposed to be always so willing to supply. Plenty of exhilarating rambles may be found within the compass of an afternoon, the hills being lofty, while for those who cannot climb there is the romantic valley of the Wye, called Ashwood Dale. [Illustration] Footnote [17: It may be permitted here to note that when on Jackson Edge we are close to the home of the accomplished authoress of the well-known and always welcome letters "From the Lyme hills."] [Illustration] CHAPTER XI. BY THE MIDLAND LINE. But the dell, Bathed in the mist, is fresh and delicate As vernal corn-field, or the unripe flax, When through its half-transparent stalks at eve The level sunshine glimmers with green light. S. T. COLERIDGE. The opening of the Midland line through Marple, like that of the L. & N. W. through Disley, was hailed with immense delight by all lovers of country rambles. Access thereto previously was possible only on foot, or by canal, and in either case the journey was rather long. Chadkirk, soon reached, is a celebrated old village thought by some to preserve the name of the once greatly-honoured patron-saint commemorated also in Chadderton, Chaddock, Chatburn, and Chat Moss; by others, to refer to one "Earl Cedda." Be that as it may, the tradition of the old missionary's once abiding here still clings to Chadkirk, and a clear spring by the roadside, upon the left, going up the hill near the church, and now lined with mosses, is to this day "St. Chad's well." The earliest ecclesiastical notice of the place does not occur till temp. Henry VIII. The hill itself, Werneth Low, is one of the highest in Cheshire, and the first of several such in that odd piece of the county which runs away to the north-east, stretched forth, as an old topographer says, "like the wing of an eagle." Like all the other eminences hereabouts, it commands very noble and extensive views. So complete, in truth, is the look-out in all directions from the summit, that to walk from end to end, is like pacing a watch-tower. The plains of Cheshire and South Lancashire lie to the west; Lyme, Marple, and Disley are seen to the south; and eastwards there are inviting bits of Derbyshire, here separated from Cheshire by the Etherowe, the opposite side charmingly clothed by the Ernocroft woods, while in the distance rise the vast moorlands of Charlesworth and Glossop. If bound for Werneth Low it is best, perhaps, after all, to quit the train at Woodley, or to make our way to that place from Parkwood. In any case, until Werneth Low has been ascended, knowledge of our local scenery is decidedly immature.