Editing River Mole (section)

==Literature==
The river has captured the imagination of several authors and poets,<ref name=Judy_Hayden/> particularly since in very hot summers the river channel can become dry between Dorking and Leatherhead (most recently during the [[1976 United Kingdom heat wave|1976 drought]]).<ref name="Wooldridge_Hutchings"/><ref name="Currie"/>

[[File:The_Faerie_Queene_frontispiece.jpg|thumb|upright|Title-page of ''The Faerie Queene'' by Edmund Spenser, published in 1590.]]
In ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' (first published in 1590) [[Edmund Spenser]] wrote of the river:
<blockquote>
:And Mole, that like a nousling mole doth make
:His way still under ground till Thamis he overtake.<ref>The Fairie Queen, book 4, canto 11, verse 32</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:Michael-Drayton-Poly-Olbion.jpg|thumb|upright|Title-page of ''Poly-Olbion'' by Michael Drayton, published in 1612.]]
In ''[[Poly-Olbion]]'' (first published in 1612) the poet [[Michael Drayton]] described the journey taken by the River Thames to the sea:
<blockquote>
:As still his goodly traine yet every houre increast,
:And from the ''Surrian'' shores cleer ''Wey'' came down to meet
:His Greatnes, whom the ''Tames'' so gratiously doth greet
:That with the Fearne-crown'd Flood he Minion-like doth play:
:Yet is not this the Brook, entiseth him to stay.
:But as they thus, in pompe, came sporting on the shole,
:Gainst ''Hampton-Court'' he meets the soft and gentle ''Mole''.
:Whose eyes so pierc't his breast, that seeming to foreslowe
:The way which he so long intended was to go,
:With trifling up and down, he wandreth here and there;
:And that he in her sight, transparent might appeare,
:Applyes himselfe to Fords, and setteth his delight,
:On that which might make him gratious in her sight.<ref>Poly-Olbion, Song XVII lines 20-32</ref>

:But ''Tames'' would hardly on: oft turning back to show,
:For his much loved ''Mole'' how loth he was to go.
:The mother of the ''Mole'', old ''Holmsdale'', likewise beares
:Th'affection of her childe, as ill as they do theirs:
:But ''Mole'' respects her words, as vaine and idle dreames,
:Compar'd with that high joy, to be belov'd of ''Tames:''
:And head-long holds her course, his company to win.
:''Mole'' digs her selfe a path, by working day and night
:(According to her name, to shew her nature right)
:And underneath the Earth, for three miles space doth creep:
:Till gotten out of sight, quite from her mothers keep,
:Her foreintended course the wanton Nymph doth run;
:As longing to imbrace old ''Tame'' and ''Isis'' son...<ref>Poly-Olbion, Song XVII lines 47-50, 53-57, 59-64</ref>
</blockquote>
He writes in the appendix to Song XVII
<blockquote>
This ''Mole'' runnes into the earth, about a mile from ''Darking'' in ''Surrey'', and after some two miles sees the light againe, which to be certaine hath been affirmed by Inhabitants thereabout reporting triall made of it.
</blockquote>

[[John Milton (composer)|John Milton]] ({{circa|1562}}–1647) described the river as
<blockquote>
:sullen Mole that runneth underneath
</blockquote>

In a similar vein, [[Alexander Pope]] (1688–1744) wrote in his poem ''Windsor Forest'' (first published 1713)
<blockquote>
:And sullen Mole that hides his diving flood
</blockquote>

[[Robert Bloomfield]] (1766–1823) writes the following lines about the Mole Valley in his 1806 poem ''Wild Flowers''.
<blockquote>
:Sweet Health, I seek thee! Hither bring
:Thy balm that softens human ills;
:Come on the long drawn clouds that fling
:Their shadows o'er the Surry-Hills.
:Yon green-topt hills, and far away
:Where late as now I freedom stole,
:And spent one dear delicious day
:On thy wild banks romantic Mole.

:Ay there's the scene! Beyond the sweep
:Of London's congregated cloud,
:The dark-brow'd wood, the headlong steep,
:And valley paths without a crowd!
:Here Thames I watch thy flowing tides,
:Thy thousand sails am proud to see;
:But where the Mole all silent glides
:Dwells Peace - and Peace is wealth to me.<ref>R Bloomfield (1806) ''Wild Flowers; or Pastoral and Local Poetry''</ref>
</blockquote>

Extract from ''The River Mole or Emlyn Stream'' by Mary Drinkwater Bethune, which was published in 1839.{{#tag:ref|Mary Drinkwater Bethune was the daughter of the English army officer and military historian [[John Drinkwater Bethune|Colonel John Drinkwater Bethune]], who lived at Thorncroft Manor, Leatherhead, from 1836 to 1844.<ref>{{cite book |title= A topographical history of Surrey |last1= Brayley |first1= E. W. |author-link1=Edward Wedlake Brayley |last2= Britton |first2=J. |author-link2=John Britton (antiquary) |year= 1841 | publisher= Dorking |location= Surrey}}</ref>  Mary Drinkwater Bethune married Norman Uniacke at [[St George's, Hanover Square]] in September 1844.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Marriages |date= 11 September 1844 |page= 7 |issue= 18712 }}</ref>|group=note}}
<blockquote>
:Who may count back that forgotten time
:When first the waters forced an outlet here:
:When the foundations of these stedfast hills
:Were shaken, and the long imprisoned stream
:Flowed through the yawning chasm? That awful day
:Yet leaves its trace. The waters find their way,
:Now laughing in the sun - now swallowed up
:In caverns pervious to their course alone,
:They leave their channel dry, and hide awhile
:Their silent flow; like bitter tears, unshed
:From the dim eye, before a careless world
:Unheeding of our grief; but swelling still
:In the full heart, which leaves unsoothed, unseen,
:And broods o'er ruined hopes, and days gone by.
</blockquote>