All the trained and travelling industrials and all the sweet influences of Nature came and did all they could without man's help to make this great valley most delightful to the eye.

But the wolves still prowled and howled; the briers grew rough and rank; the grass, coarse and thin; the heathered hills were oozy and cold in their watery beds; the clumpy, shrubby trees wore the same ragged coats of moss; and no feature of the scene mended for the better from year to year.
Then came the great Blind Painter, with his rude, iron pencils, to the help of Nature.

He came with the Axe, Plough and Spade, her mightiest allies.

With these he had driven wild Druidic Paganism back mile by mile from England's centre; back into her dark fastnesses.

With the Axe, Spade and Plough he chased the foul beasts and barbarisms from the island.