All along the inner line of the Wirral Peninsula, which here bounds the Mersey, are pleasant residential suburbs, and at the extreme end lies New Brighton, beloved of Lancashire and Cheshire folk. Immediately to the north of New Brighton is one of the defences of the river in Rock Fort, and just beyond the fort is the Perch Rock Lighthouse. At this point, the visible shore-line of the Mersey on the west side comes to an end, but the channel of the river runs on over a well-buoyed line of route, some eight or nine miles further on, and for navigation purposes does not really cease till the bar is crossed. Directly to the north-west of the Wirral Peninsula are great sandbanks, but these as a rule are within the ken only of the mariner familiar with the ins and the outs of this great commercial highway. The total length of the river is about 70 miles. At least 12 miles of that, towards the mouth, is a vast basin, having an average width of about two and a half miles, and containing at high tide some 600,000,000 tons of water. To see the Mersey here at the flood is to agree with Drayton:-- "Whence, where the rivers meet with all their stately train, Proud Mersey is so great in entering the Main, As he would make a sea for Empery to stand, And wrest the three-forked mace from out grim Neptune's hand." /W. S. Cameron./ [Illustration: THE PERCH ROCK LIGHTHOUSE.] RIVERS OF LANCASHIRE AND LAKELAND. A Birthplace of Rivers--The /Ribble/: Ribblehead--Horton-in-Ribblesdale--Survival of Old Traditions--Hellifield--The Hodder--Stonyhurst and its College--The Calder--Burnley--Towneley Hall--Preston--Its Development as a Port. The /Wyre/: Poulton-le-Fylde. The /Lune/: Kirkby Lonsdale--The Greta and the Wenning--Hornby Castle--Lancaster--Morecambe Bay--The Journey from Lancaster to Ulverston in Coaching Days--Shifting Sands. The /Kent/: Kentmere--Kendal. The /Gilpin/ and the /Winster/. The /Rothay/ and the /Brathay/. Grasmere and Wordsworth--Rydal Water--Ambleside--Windermere. Troutbeck. Esthwaite Water. The /Leven/: Newby Bridge--The Estuary. The /Crake/: Coniston Water--Coniston Hall--Brantwood and Mr. Ruskin. The /Duddon/: Wordsworth's Sonnets. The /Esk/ and the /Irt/: Wastwater. The /Liza/: Ennerdale Water. The /Ehen/: Egremont Castle. The /Derwent/: The Vale of St. John--The Greta and Keswick--The View from Castlerigg top--Derwent water.