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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44794 ***
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
+  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
+  signs=.
+
+
+
+
+THE THAMES
+
+
+
+
+     VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES BY MORTIMER MENPES
+     EACH 20S. NET WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     THE DURBAR
+     JAPAN · WORLD'S CHILDREN
+     WORLD PICTURES · VENICE
+     WAR IMPRESSIONS
+     INDIA · BRITTANY
+
+
+     _Published by_
+     A. & C. BLACK. SOHO SQUARE. LONDON. W.
+
+
+     _AGENTS_
+
+     AMERICA    THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
+                  64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
+
+     CANADA     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
+                  27 RICHMOND STREET, TORONTO
+
+     INDIA      MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
+                  MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
+                  309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: PUNTING]
+
+
+
+
+     THE THAMES
+
+     BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
+     TEXT BY G. E. MITTON
+     PUBLISHED BY A.&C. BLACK
+     SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
+
+
+
+
+     _Published July 1906_
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER I                                        PAGE
+  The Beauty of the River                             1
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  The Oxford Meadows                                 25
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  The Old Town of Abingdon                           37
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  Dorchester and Sinodun Hill                        47
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  Castle and Stronghold                              53
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  Twin Villages                                      57
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  A Mitred Abbot                                     67
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  Sonning and its Roses                              72
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  Wargrave and Neighbourhood                         80
+
+  CHAPTER X
+  Henley                                             97
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+  The Romance of Bisham and Hurley                  105
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+  Boulter's Lock and Maidenhead                     128
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+  Windsor and Eton                                  140
+
+  CHAPTER XIV
+  Magna Charta                                      155
+
+  CHAPTER XV
+  Penton Hook                                       161
+
+  CHAPTER XVI
+  Weybridge and Chertsey                            167
+
+  CHAPTER XVII
+  The Londoner's Zone                               177
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII
+  The River at London                               205
+
+  CHAPTER XIX
+  Our National Possession                           231
+
+  Index                                             243
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  1. Punting                                           _Frontispiece_
+                                                                 PAGE
+  2. Thames Ditton                                                  v
+  3. Sutton Courtney, Culham Bridge                                 1
+  4. Pangbourne                                _Facing_             4
+  5. Dorchester Abbey                          "                    8
+  6. Day's Lock                                "                   12
+  7. Near the Bridge, Sutton Courtney          "                   14
+  8. Streatley Inn                             "                   18
+  9. Sandford Lock                                                 25
+  10. Iffley                                   _Facing_            28
+  11. Radley College Boat-house                "                   34
+  12. Almshouses of Abingdon                                       37
+  13. Abingdon                                 _Facing_            38
+  14. The Mill at Abingdon                     "                   40
+  15. Sutton Courtney Backwater                "                   42
+  16. Clifden Hampden from the Bridge          "                   44
+  17. Clifden Hampden                          "                   46
+  18. Hurley                                                       47
+  19. Cottages, Dorchester                     _Facing_            48
+  20. White Hart Hotel, Dorchester             "                   50
+  21. Dorchester Backwater                     "                   52
+  22. Danesfield                                                   53
+  23. Wallingford                              _Facing_            54
+  24. Streatley Mill                           "                   56
+  25. Goring Bridge                                                57
+  26. Streatley                                _Facing_            58
+  27. Goring Church                            "                   60
+  28. Goring                                   "                   62
+  29. Pangbourne, from the Swan Hotel          "                   64
+  30. Whitchurch Lock                          "                   64
+  31. Mapledurham Mill                         "                   66
+  32. Evening                                                      67
+  33. Caversham                                _Facing_            70
+  34. Paddling                                                     72
+  35. The Rose Garden at Sonning               _Facing_            72
+  36. Sonning                                  "                   76
+  37. St. George and the Dragon, Wargrave                          80
+  38. The Church at Wargrave                   _Facing_            80
+  39. Barges at Oxford                                             97
+  40. Red Lion Hotel, Henley                   _Facing_            98
+  41. Henley Regatta                           "                  100
+  42. Hambleden                                "                  102
+  43. Medmenham Abbey                                             105
+  44. General View of Marlow                   _Facing_           106
+  45. Quarry Woods                             "                  108
+  46. Bisham Church                            "                  110
+  47. Hurley Backwater                         "                  112
+  48. Bisham Abbey                             "                  114
+  49. Cookham, from above                                         128
+  50. Boulter's Lock, Ascot Sunday             _Facing_           128
+  51. Below Boulter's Lock                     "                  130
+  52. Maidenhead                               "                  132
+  53. Eton, from the Brocas                                       140
+  54. Windsor Castle                           _Facing_           140
+  55. Windsor                                  "                  144
+  56. Eton Chapel, from the Fields             "                  148
+  57. Magna Charta Island                                         155
+  58. Hedsor Fishery                                              161
+  59. Temple Lock                                                 167
+  60. Walton Bridge                            _Facing_           172
+  61. Sunbury                                  "                  174
+  62. Hampton Court                                               177
+  63. Hampton Court, from the River            _Facing_           178
+  64. Marlow Church                                               205
+  65. Beyond Hammersmith Bridge                _Facing_           206
+  66. The Custom House                         "                  208
+  67. Dutch Barges near the Tower              "                  210
+  68. The Tower of St. Magnus                  "                  212
+  69. St. Paul's                               _Facing_           214
+  70. The Houses of Parliament                 "                  216
+  71. Westminster by Night                     "                  218
+  72. Hay Barges near Westminster Bridge       "                  222
+  73. Chelsea Reach, with the Old Church       "                  226
+  74. View from Richmond Hill                                     231
+  75. From Battersea Bridge                    _Facing_           232
+  _Sketch Map at end of Volume_
+
+
+_The Illustrations in this volume were engraved and printed at the
+Menpes Press, Watford._
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BEAUTY OF THE RIVER
+
+
+Close your eyes and conjure up a vision of the river Thames; what
+is the picture that you see? If you are a prosaic and commercial
+person, whose business lies by the river side, the vision will be one
+of wharves and docks, of busy cranes loading and unloading; a row of
+bonded warehouses rising from the water's edge; lighters filled with
+tea lying in their shadow, tarpaulined and padlocked; ships of all
+sizes and shapes, worn by water and weather. And up and down, in and
+out, among it all you see river police on their launch, inquisitive
+and determined, watching everything, hearing everything, and turning
+up when least expected. The glories of the high Tower Bridge, and the
+smoky gold of the setting sun will not affect you, for your thoughts
+are fixed on prosaic detail. As for green fields and quiet backwaters,
+such things do not enter into the vision at all.
+
+Yet for one who sees the Thames thus prosaically, a hundred see it in
+a gayer aspect. To many a man it is always summer there, for the river
+knows him not when the chill grey days draw in. He sees gay houseboats
+in new coats of paint, decorated with scarlet geraniums and other
+gaudy plants. He associates the river with "a jolly good time" with a
+carefully chosen house-party, with amateur tea-making and an absence of
+care. Nowhere else is one so free to "laze" without the rebuke even of
+one's own occasionally too zealous conscience.
+
+To another the Thames simply means the Boat Race, nothing more and
+nothing less. Year by year he journeys up to London from his tiny
+vicarage in the heart of the country for that event. If the high
+tide necessitates it, he stands shivering on the brink in the chill
+whiteness of early morning. He sits on the edge of a hard wooden cart
+for an immense time, and, by way of keeping up his strength, eats an
+indigestible penny bun, a thing that it would never enter his head to
+do at any other time. He sees here and there one or the other of those
+school-fellows or university chums who have dropped out of his life for
+all the rest of the year. Then, after a moment's shouting, a moment's
+tense anxiety or bitter disappointment, according to the position of
+the boats, the flutter of a flag, and a thrill of something of the old
+enthusiasm that the unsparing poverty of his life has slowly ground out
+of him, he retires to his vicarage again for another year, elated or
+depressed according to the result of the race.
+
+To others Henley is the embodiment of all that is joyous; the one week
+in the year that is worth counting. But to others, and these a vast
+majority of those who know the river at all, the Thames means fresh
+and life-giving air after a week spent within four walls. It means
+congenial exercise and light, and the refreshment that beauty gives,
+even if but half realised. It means a quiet dream with a favourite pipe
+in a deep backwater so overhung with trees that it resembles a green
+tunnel. The gentle drone of the bees sounds from the banks, there is a
+flash of blue sheen as a kingfisher darts by; a gentle dip and slight
+crackling tell of another favoured individual making his way cautiously
+along to the same sheltered alley; the radiant sunlight falls white
+upon the water through the leaves and sends shimmering reflections of
+dancing ripples on the sides of the punt. Such a position is as near
+Paradise as it is given to mortal to attain.
+
+These are only a few of an inexhaustible variety of aspects of this
+glorious river, and each reader is welcome to add his own favourite to
+the list.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE]
+
+For the purposes of this book we are dealing with the Thames between
+Oxford and London, though as a matter of fact, tradition has it that
+the Thames proper does not begin until below Oxford, where it is formed
+by the junction of the Thame and the Isis. Tamese (Thames) means
+"smooth spreading water." Tam is the same root as occurs in Tamar,
+etc., and the "es" is the perpetually recurring word for water, _e.g._,
+Ouse, ooze, usquebagh. Isis is probably a back formation, from Tamesis.
+In Drayton's _Polyolbion_, we have the pretty allegory of the wedding
+of Thame and Isis, from which union is born the sturdy Thames.
+
+     Now Fame had through this Isle divulged in every ear
+     The long expected day of marriage to be near,
+     That Isis, Cotswold's heir, long woo'd was lastly won,
+     And instantly should wed with Thame, old Chiltern's son.
+
+In Spenser's _Faërie Queene_ the notion is carried one step further,
+and Thames, the son of Thame and Isis, is to wed with Medway, a
+far-fetched conceit, for the rivers do not run into each other in any
+part of their course.
+
+It is strange that a river such as the Thames, which, though by no
+means great as regards size, has played an important part in the
+life of the nation, should not have inspired more writers. There is
+no striking poem on the Thames. The older poets, Denham, Drayton,
+Spenser, Cowley, Milton, and Pope, all refer to the river more or less
+frequently, but they have not taken it as a main theme. It is even more
+neglected by later poets. There are poems to special parts or scenes,
+such as Gray's well-known "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College";
+the river colours one or two of Matthew Arnold's poems; but the great
+poem, which shall take it as a sole theme, is yet to come. Neither
+is there a good book on this river, though it is among rivers what
+London is among the cities of men. Yet the material is abundant, and
+associations are scattered thickly along the banks. No fewer than seven
+royal palaces have stood by the river. And of these one is still the
+principal home of our sovereign. Of the others, Hampton Court, chiefly
+reminiscent of William III., is standing. The neighbouring palace of
+Richmond remains but in a fragment. At London, Westminster, the home of
+our early and mediæval kings, has vanished, except for the great hall
+and a crypt. Whitehall--the old palace--is wholly gone, though one part
+of the new palace projected by James I. remains. As for the old palace
+of Greenwich, so full of memories of the Tudors, that has been replaced
+by a later structure. I hesitate to name Kew in this list, so entirely
+unworthy is it of the name of palace, yet, as the residence of a king
+it should, perhaps, find a place.
+
+From the annals of these palaces English history could be completely
+reconstructed from the time of Edward the Confessor to the present day.
+
+But it is not in historical memories alone that the Thames is so rich.
+Poets, authors, politicians, and artists have crowded thickly on its
+banks from generation to generation. The lower reaches are haunted by
+the names of Hogarth, Cowley, Thomson; further up we come to the homes
+of Walpole, Pope, and Fielding. At Laleham lived Matthew Arnold. Not
+far from Magna Charta Island is Horton, where Milton lived. Though his
+home was not actually on the river, Milton must have often strolled
+along the banks of the Thames, and many of his poems show the impress
+of associations gathered from such scenery as is to be found about
+Ankerwyke and Runneymead:
+
+     Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
+     While the landscape round it measures:
+     Russet lawns and fallows gray,
+     Where the nibbling flocks do stray.
+     Meadows trim with daisies pied;
+     Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
+
+From the records of Eton alone many a book might be compiled of the
+lives of men in the public eye, whose impressions were formed there by
+the Thames side. Indeed, had the river no other claim to notice than
+its connection with Eton and Oxford, through which more men who have
+controlled the destiny of their country and made empire have passed,
+than through any similar foundations in England, this alone would be
+cause enough to make it a worthy subject for any book.
+
+Beside palaces and the homes of great men, castles and religious
+houses once stood thickly along the banks of the river. The notable
+monasteries of Reading, Dorchester, Chertsey, and Abingdon, etc., were
+widely celebrated as seats of learning in their day, and the castles of
+Reading, Wallingford, and Oxford were no less well known.
+
+It is a curious law in rivers that, as a whole, the windings usually
+cover double the length of the direct axis, and the Thames is no
+exception to the rule. It sweeps in and out with a fair amount of
+regularity, the great bend to the south at Thames Ditton and Weybridge
+being reversed higher up in the great bend to the north at Bourne End
+and Hambleden. Naturally the sides of these indentations run north and
+south instead of in the usual course of east and west. From Wargrave
+to Henley the current is almost due north, and likewise from Surbiton
+to Brentford. A more apparent curve, because much smaller in radius, is
+that at Abingdon; here the course by the stream is about nine miles, in
+contrast to the two overland. The Great Western Railway is the chief
+river railway, but as it runs a comparatively straight course between
+London and Didcot, some places on the great curves are considerably
+off the main line, and are served by branches. After Reading it keeps
+very close to the river as far as Moulsford, and is not distant from
+it the rest of the way to Oxford, as it turns almost direct north from
+Didcot Junction. The Great Western Railway is ably supplemented by the
+London and South Western Railway, from which the lesser stations on the
+south of the river near to London can be reached, also the districts
+of Twickenham, Hampton, etc., included in the chapter called "The
+Londoners' Zone." Further up, Weybridge, Chertsey, Egham, and Windsor
+can also be reached by this railway, which cuts a curve and touches the
+river again at Reading.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER ABBEY]
+
+There are many zones on the river, and each has its devotees. It is
+curious to notice how one crowd differs from another crowd on its
+"people-pestered shores." It is difficult to draw hard and fast lines,
+but taking the boundaries of the London County Council as the end of
+London, we can count above it many zones, rich in beauty, divided from
+each other by stretches of dulness; for, beautiful as the river is,
+it must be admitted parts of it are dull, though, like the patches
+on a fair skin, these serve but to emphasise the characteristics
+of the remainder. A rather dreary bit succeeds Hammersmith, though
+this is not without its own attractiveness, and the first real zone
+that we can touch upon is that from Richmond to Hampton, which runs
+Maidenhead hard for first place in popularity; but the Richmond and
+Hampton river people are largely recruited from the inhabitants, while
+those at Maidenhead are mostly visitors. Passing over the waterworks
+and embankments above Hampton, we begin another zone, much less known
+because less accessible, but in its own way more attractive than that
+of Richmond. It is pure country, with green fields, willow trees, cows
+grazing on the banks, many curves and doublings in the channel of the
+main stream, and ever varying vistas, and this continues to beyond
+Weybridge. About Chertsey the scenery is flat, but Laleham and Penton
+Hook are two places that annually delight hundreds of persons.
+
+Between Staines and Windsor there is a fairly attractive stretch, with
+the park and woods of Ankerwyke on one side, and the meadows on the
+other. High on the south rises Cooper's Hill, and beyond Albert Bridge
+we see the smoothly kept turf of the Home Park.
+
+Windsor and Eton, of course, will require a chapter to themselves. In
+this general description it is sufficient to say that the influence
+of Eton is apparent all the way to Bray. Then we start a new zone, the
+most popular one on the river, that from Maidenhead to Bourne End. Of
+the delights of this beautiful and varied section it is unnecessary
+here to speak. But the Maidenhead reach is spoilt for fastidious people
+by its too great popularity. To those who love the river for itself,
+the endless passing and repassing, the impossibility of finding quiet,
+undisturbed corners, the noise and merrymaking, even the sight of too
+many fellow creatures, is a burden. From this the part above Marlow is
+protected by being less accessible. It is too far to be reached easily
+from Maidenhead, and those who come by train have an awkward change at
+a junction; therefore the crowd finds it not. Yet the beauties are no
+less admirable than those of the adored Maidenhead.
+
+At Hambleden the influence of Henley begins to be felt, and above
+Henley we enter on another zone. Nowhere else on the river are to
+be found so many fascinating spots lying in the stream; certainly,
+no other part offers so many tempting backwaters. This is the zone
+for those who love the country pure and simple, and who can put up
+cheerfully with the inconveniences attendant on the procuring of
+supplies, for the sake of the quiet, marshy meadows.
+
+The reach includes Sonning with its two bridges, its islands, and its
+rose-garden; but beyond Sonning dulness is apparent once more, and
+with the neighbourhood of the great and smoky town of Reading, charm
+withers. It is not until Mapledurham that the prettiness of the river
+becomes again apparent, and Mapledurham is rather an oasis, for in
+the reach beyond it, though the great rounded chalk hills grow opal
+in the sunlight, and the larks sing heavenwards, the attractiveness
+cannot be called beauty. From Pangbourne and Whitchurch to Goring and
+Streatley, the river lies beneath the chalk heights, which seem to dip
+underground, reappearing on the other side by Streatley; and the whole
+of the stretch, with its rich and varied woods, its delightful islands
+and weirs, its pretty cottages and churches, is full of charm.
+
+  [Illustration: DAY'S LOCK]
+
+Beyond Cleeve Lock, with the single exception of Mongewell, there is
+again dulness, though for boating pure and simple the reach is very
+good. Wallingford has a trim prettiness of its own, with its clean-cut
+stone bridge and its drooping willow. Park-like grounds and pleasant
+trees succeed, Sinodun Hill looms up ahead, and one may penetrate up
+the Thame to Dorchester, where the willows nearly meet overhead. Day's
+Lock still belongs to the clean prettiness of the Wallingford stretch,
+which, in fact, continues all the way to Culham, notwithstanding that
+we pass the much admired Clifton Hampden, where the church stands high
+on the cliff. Culham itself is dull, but with the pretty backwater of
+Sutton Courtney we begin a new kind of scenery. Abingdon has something
+of its richness and profusion, and Nuneham Courtney woods, though not
+rising so abruptly as those at Clieveden, are glorious. After this
+we begin the famous meadows that continue more or less all the way to
+Oxford, and have a fascination of their own.
+
+The best way to see the river as a whole, for those who can spare the
+time, is to go on Salter's steamers, which run daily, Sundays excepted,
+during the summer. The fare one way is 14s., exclusive of food, and the
+night spent _en route_. The trip takes two days, the steamer leaving
+Kingston at 9 in the morning, and reaching Henley at 7.15 in the
+evening. The reverse way, it leaves Oxford at 9.30, and reaches Henley,
+which is about half-way, at 7 in the evening.
+
+In this rough sketch it has been shown that there is no lack of choice
+for those who seek their pleasure on the river, and the opportunity
+meets with full response. Seen in sunshine on a summer morning,
+especially if it be the end of the week, the river is brilliant. The
+dainty coloured muslins and laces, the Japanese parasols, the painted
+boats, the large shady hats, the sparkle where the oars meet the
+water, and the white sails of the sailing boats bellying in the wind,
+are only a few items in a sparkling picture. Fragile, yellow-white
+butterflies and the richer coloured red admirals hover about the banks;
+purple loose-strife, meadow-sweet, and snapdragon grow on the banks
+with many a tall gaudily coloured weed. Here and there great cedars
+rise among the lighter foliage, showing black against a turquoise sky;
+while on the water, where the wind has ruffled it, there is the "many
+twinkling smile" ascribed by Æschylus to the ocean. But, to those
+who know the Thames, this smiling aspect is not the only lovable one:
+they know it also after rain, when the water comes thundering over the
+weirs in translucent hoops of vivid green, and the boiling foam below
+dances like whipped cream. To walk along the sedgy banks is to leave
+a trail of "squish-squash" with every step. All the yellow and brown
+flat-leaved green things that grow thickly near the edges are barely
+able to keep their heads above the stream, and the long reeds bend with
+the current like curved swords. Every little tributary gushes gurgling
+to join in the mad race, and the sounds that tell of water are in our
+ears like the instruments in an orchestra. There are the rush, the
+dip, and the tinkle, as well as the deep-throated roar. Watching and
+listening, we feel a strange sympathy with the new life brought by
+the increased current; we feel as if it were flooding through our own
+veins, and as if we, like the squirming, wriggling things that live
+in the slime below the flood-curtain, were waking up anew after a long
+torpor.
+
+  [Illustration: NEAR THE BRIDGE, SUTTON COURTNEY]
+
+Even in late autumn, when the slow, white mist rises from the marshy
+ground, and most of the birds are gone; when the eddies are full of
+dead leaves floating away from the wood where all their sheltered
+lives have been spent; when the sparkle and the gaiety and the
+light-heartedness are gone, and the water looks indigo and dun, with
+patches of quicksilver floating on it; when the great webs of the
+spiders that haunt the banks hang like filmy curtains of lace heavy
+with the moisture of the air, and the sun sinks wanly behind a bank of
+cloud--even then the river may be loved.
+
+Assuredly, those who go on the river for the day only, and know it but
+under one aspect--that of lazy heat--lose much. In the evening time, as
+one steps from the long French window into the scented dusk, soft white
+moths flap suddenly across the strip of light, and one's feet fall
+silently on the velvet turf, cool with the freshness that ever is on
+a river margin. Down by the edge the black water hurries swiftly past
+with a continuous soothing gurgle. A sleepy bird moves in a startled
+way in a bush, and all the small things that awake in the night are
+stirring. One can reach down and touch the onyx water slipping between
+one's fingers like dream jewels; and far overhead in the rent and torn
+caverns of the clouds, the stars, bigger and brighter than ever they
+look in London, sail swiftly and silently from shelter to shelter. The
+plaintive cry of an owl sounds softly from the meadow across the water,
+and there is an indescribable sense of motion and poetry, and a thrill
+of expectation that would be wholly lacking in a landscape ever so
+beautiful, without the river.
+
+Then there are the grey days, when sudden sheens of silver drop upon
+the ruffled water as it eddies round a corner, and in a moment the
+surface is peopled with dancing fairies, spangled and brilliant,
+flitting in and out in bewildering movement. Or the same cold, silver
+light catches the side of a ploughed field, a moment before brown,
+but now shot with green as all the long delicate blades are revealed.
+These, and a thousand other delights, cannot be known to the visitor
+of a day only. Under all its aspects, in all its vagaries, the river
+may be loved; and in the swift gliding motion there is an irresistible
+fascination. It gives meaning to idleness, and fills up vacancy. By the
+banks of the river one never can be dull.
+
+The river is one of the greatest of our national possessions. Other
+rivers there are in England where one may boat on a small part, where
+here and there are beauty spots; but the Thames alone gives miles of
+bewildering choice, and can take hundreds and hundreds at once upon
+its flood. Now embanked and weired and locked, its waters are ideal for
+boating, and its fishing, with little exception, is free to all.
+
+Shooting on the banks of the Thames is forbidden, and the birds have
+quickly learned to know their sanctuary. Lie still for a while in the
+lee of an osier-covered ait, or beneath the shelter of an overhanging
+willow, and that cheeky little reed-bunting will hop about so near,
+that, were you endowed by nature with the quickness of movement granted
+to a cat, you could seize it in one hand. White-throats, robins,
+thrushes, blackbirds, all haunt the stream, and reed warblers and sedge
+warblers have their haunts by the banks. The kingfisher is rapidly
+increasing, and makes his home quite close to the locks and weirs; the
+russet brown of his breast, as he sits motionless on a twig waiting his
+time for a dart, may now be seen by a noiseless and sharp-eyed watcher.
+The soft coo of the wood pigeons sounds from tall trees, and the cawing
+of the rooks, softened by distance into a melodious conversation, is
+wafted from many a rookery. The chatter of an impudent magpie may worry
+you, or the hoarse squawk of a jay break your rest, but they are only
+the discords that the great musician, Nature, knows how to introduce
+into her river symphony.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY INN]
+
+Hotels on the river have, in the last few years, awakened to the cry
+of the middle classes for air and light, and yet more air. Some of
+the hotels are pretty with verandahs and creeper covered walls, but
+others are old-fashioned--with low rooms. Yet every proprietor who can
+by hook or crook manage it, now runs a lawn of exquisite turf down to
+the water's edge, decorates it with flowers far more vivid than can
+be seen elsewhere, and knocks up a bungalow-like building, terribly
+desolate in the winter when the green mould creeps insidiously over
+the wooden posts, and the sail-cloth rots in the damp; but airy and
+commodious in the summer, when relays of fifty people or more may be
+seated at a time, and yet there is no satiating smell of cooked food.
+The boat owners have also seen fit to accommodate their convenience to
+the demand, and at any large builder's landing-stage, boats may now be
+hired to be left almost anywhere on the river, to be fetched back by
+the owner.
+
+Pessimists say that the river is losing its charm, that the advent of
+motor cars, stirring in people a hitherto dormant love of speed, makes
+the slow progress of punting a weariness instead of a relaxation. But
+this is not greatly to be feared. The charm of a motor is one thing,
+the charm of the river another; and we cannot spare either. Crowds may
+slightly diminish, but this is no loss, rather a gain to the real river
+lover.
+
+Thames gardens are peculiar. By the nature of the case they must be far
+more public than ordinary gardens, for the owner's reason for buying
+the house was that he wanted to sit on his own green turf and see the
+river flow endlessly past. Therefore, though he may hedge around the
+three land sides with high walls and impenetrable thorns, he leaves
+the fourth side open so that all the world may look. No one has yet
+been clever enough to invent a screen that shall be transparent on
+one side and opaque on the other, and until they do, the owners of
+these beautiful river lawns must sit in the full light that beats upon
+the river banks, and allow every passing stranger who has raked up a
+shilling to hire a boat, to enjoy the beauties of a garden he has not
+paid for. Thames lawns are celebrated, and rightly so. Not even the
+turf of college quads, grown for hundreds of years, can beat their
+turf. Thick, smooth, closely woven they are, and above all, of a pure
+rich green that is a delight to see, and, by way of enhancing this
+marvellous green, the colour which is most often to be seen with it is
+its complementary colour, red. Whether the effect is obtained merely
+by contrast I do not know, but certainly it seems as if nowhere else
+could be found geraniums of so rich a vermilion, roses of so glorious
+a crimson. In many of these river gardens, too, especially where a
+little stream trickles down, a light trellis arch is thrown up and
+covered with Rambler roses, old rose in colour, and only second to the
+vermilion as a complement to the green lawn.
+
+Two of these gloriously green lawns I have particularly in mind, one at
+Shepperton, and one near Thames Ditton, but where they are to be seen
+so frequently it is invidious to particularise.
+
+These are the private gardens of a grand sort, and no whit less
+beautiful, though without the same expanse of lawn, are the gardens of
+the lock-keepers, in which the owners take a particular pride.
+
+     Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,
+     Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,
+     Sweet-william with his homely cottage smell,
+     And stocks in fragrant blow;
+     Roses, that down the alleys shine afar,
+     And open, jasmine-muffled lattices.
+                                   --_M. Arnold._
+
+But in taking count of Thames's decorations we are not confined to
+gardens. Among the flowers growing wild on the river banks we have
+no lack of choice. It is a pretty conceit of Drayton's, to make his
+bridal pair, Thame and Isis, travel to meet one another along paths
+flower-decked by willing nymphs. Old Thame, as the man, was to have
+only wild flowers, not those "to gardens that belong":
+
+     The primrose placing first because that in the spring
+     It is the first appears, then only flourishing,
+     The azured harebell next, with them they neatly mix'd,
+     T'allay whose luscious smell, they woodbind plac'd betwixt.
+     Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in the lily;
+     And near to that again her sister daffodilly.
+     To sort these flowers of show with th' other that were sweet
+     The cowslip then they couch, and th' oxlip, for her meet,
+     The columbine amongst they sparingly do set,
+     The yellow king-cup wrought in many a curious fret,
+     And now and then among, of eglantine a spray,
+     By which again a course of lady smocks they lay
+     The crow flower, and thereby the clover-flower they stick.
+     The daisie over all those sundry sweets so thick;
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The crimson darnel flowers, the blue-bottle and gold
+     Which, though esteemed but weeds, yet for their dainty hues
+     And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose choose.
+
+The "luscious smell" cannot refer to the harebell, which has a very
+faint perfume; besides, it is difficult to think of the harebell in
+this connection, for it is a full summer flower, while all the rest
+belong to spring: Drayton must, therefore, mean the wild hyacinth,
+which is still often called the bluebell by people in England, though
+in Scotland this name is correctly reserved for the harebell. The
+"luscious smell" exactly describes the rich, rather cloying scent of
+the hyacinth. There has been some discussion as to what is meant by the
+eglantine, which the old poets are so fond of mentioning. In Milton it
+means the honeysuckle, but in the others probably the sweetbriar; while
+woodbine is either the twining clematis, the "traveller's joy"--rather
+a misnomer, by-the-way, as it is an insignificant and disappointing
+flower--or the honeysuckle.
+
+Isis was gay with garden flowers:
+
+                 ... The brave carnation then,
+     With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the pale,
+     Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale
+     Of sweetness, yet in scents as various as in sorts.
+     The purple violet then, the pansy there supports
+     The marygold above t' adorn the arched bar;
+     The double daisie, thrift, the button bachelor,
+     Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion, and to these
+     Some lavender they put with rosemary and bays.
+
+To make a catalogue of the flowers which may be found on the Thames
+banks at the present day would be out of place here, yet there are
+one or two plants so frequently seen that they may be mentioned.
+Among these are the purple loose-strife, with its tapering, richly
+coloured spikes, standing sometimes as high as four feet, and
+occasionally mistaken for a foxglove; the pink-flowered willow-herb;
+the wild mustard or cherlock, with its sulphur yellow blossoms, and
+creeping-jenny. The bog-bean, or buck-bean, with white lace-like
+flowers may be seen occasionally in stagnant swamps. The water-violet,
+which, however, is not in the least like a violet, is also to be
+found in the tributary ditches, as well as the tall yellow iris;
+the flowering rush and the bur-reeds often form details in a river
+picture. In the lock gardens herbaceous borders, full of phlox,
+sweet-william, stocks, valerian, big white lilies, and, later, red hot
+pokers, sunflowers, and hollyhocks, are ordinary sights. In the meadows
+near Oxford fritillaries, otherwise called snakes'-heads, are seen
+abundantly in spring, but these and other flowers shall be mentioned
+more particularly in connection with the places where they grow.
+
+It remains but to end with the aspiration of Denham:
+
+     O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
+     My great example as it is my theme!
+     Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
+     Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing full.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OXFORD MEADOWS
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+This account of the river may well begin at Folly Bridge, seeing it
+is folly in any case to attempt to cut off a section of a river, and,
+as before explained, our course from Oxford to London is peculiarly
+arbitrary, for the Thames proper does not begin till below Dorchester,
+and at Oxford the river is the Isis. Having thus disarmed criticism,
+without further explanation or apology, we stand upon Folly Bridge,
+which is a little way above the end of the course for both Torpids and
+Eights.
+
+To the left are the college barges, resplendent in many colours, with
+their slender flagstaffs rising against a background of the shady trees
+that border Christchurch meadows. The reach of water beside them is
+alive with boats, and the oars rise and dip with the regularity of the
+legs of a monster centipede. The barges should be seen in Eights week,
+when they are in their glory, occupied by the mothers, sisters, and
+aunts of the undergraduates, dressed in costumes that in mass look like
+brilliant flower-beds.
+
+To see the bridge properly, however, it is necessary to go down to
+the tow-path and look back at it, when its quaint, foreign appearance
+can be better estimated. It stands across an island on which is the
+renowned Salter's boat-house, and its solidity and the tall houses near
+it, which throw black shadows in the yellow sunlight, make it look not
+unlike a corner in Venice.
+
+Following the river down, we see on the Oxford side the narrow mouth
+of the meandering Cherwell under a white arched bridge. The most
+delightful place for "lazing" in a boat is the Cherwell, shady and not
+too wide; deliciously cool in the height of the summer, so rich is the
+foliage of the over-arching trees. Lower down is the New Cut, destined
+to relieve the Cherwell of its superfluous water in flood time and so
+prevent the flooding of the Christchurch meadows. Opposite the mouth
+of the New Cut is the University Boat-house, and further down, where
+a branch of the river runs off to the right, are the bathing places.
+This branch is crossed by a bridge, and it makes the next strip of land
+an island. The place is known as the Long Bridges. The river narrows
+at the point, and the narrowed part is called The Gut; just below a
+tributary from the Cherwell, known as the Freshman's river, dribbles
+into the Thames. It is at The Gut that the most exciting scenes in the
+races generally happen. As everyone knows, Torpids are in the fourth
+and fifth weeks after the beginning of the Lent term, and as they
+are not of so much importance as the Eights, and as the weather does
+not lend itself to open-air festivities, they are generally watched
+only by a shivering handful of spectators who have a more or less
+personal interest in them. The Eights, which take place in the middle
+of the summer term, are the event of the year to Oxford, and intensely
+exciting they may be. The lowest boat starts from the lasher above
+Iffley, and the course ends at Salter's Barge. But the crux of the
+whole matter often lies in The Gut, and much depends on the ability of
+the cox to steer a clean course, as to whether his boat is bumped or
+bumps. As the boats in cutting the curve below this crucial point come
+diagonally at it, disaster here often overtakes a crew which has before
+been doing well. The aforesaid narrow channel from the Cherwell is
+navigable only in a canoe and by good luck; but the tale is told that
+one cox, in his first year, being excited beyond reason, mistook it for
+the main channel, and, steering right ahead, landed his crew high and
+dry on the shoals. Hence the name, the Freshman's river.
+
+  [Illustration: IFFLEY]
+
+Here are two pictures, taken from life, which express the difference
+between the two occasions:
+
+     The Eights: Brilliant blue sky above, glinting blue water
+     beneath. Down across Christchurch meadow troops a butterfly
+     crowd, flaunting brilliant parasols and chattering gaily
+     to the "flannelled fools" who form the escort. Despite
+     the laughter it is a solemn occasion, for the college boat
+     that is head of the river may be going to be bumped this
+     afternoon, and, if so, the bump will surely take place in
+     front of the barges. The only question is, before which
+     barge will it happen? When the exciting moment draws near,
+     chatter ceases, a tense stillness holds the crowd in thrall;
+     the relentless pursuers creep on steadily, narrowing the
+     gap between themselves and the first boat, and finally bump
+     it exactly opposite its own barge! A moment's pause. The
+     completeness of the triumph is too impressive to be grasped
+     at once; then--pandemonium! Pistol-shots, rattles, hoots,
+     yells, shrieks of joy, wildly waving parasols, and groans.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The Torpids: A raw cold February day; a leaden sky heavy with
+     snow; dimly seen figures scudding over the frozen meadows
+     of Iffley; the river itself is almost frost-bound, and the
+     men waiting in the boats for the starting gun look blue
+     and pinched. They must find these last ten seconds hard to
+     endure. Nine, eight, seven, six--ugh! will it never go? At
+     last! And, as the signal sounds, the oars strike the water
+     with a splash, and the boats shoot off and begin the long
+     tussle against a head wind and that strong stream which
+     always makes the Torpids a harder matter than the Eights
+     rowed in summer water. It is too late to follow them, so
+     heigh-ho for the King's Arms Hotel at Sandford, and a cup of
+     the good hot tea that the landlady knows so well how to make!
+
+The channel running past the bathing places is equally unsuited
+for navigation, and is moreover guarded by two mills, but it may be
+negotiated with the aforesaid element of good luck. Hinksey Stream
+flows into this backwater, and there are several places, after shoals
+have been avoided or surmounted, where it is extremely pleasant to
+while away an idle hour. By means of the Long Bridges and the lock
+at Iffley it is possible to get across the river from side to side
+diagonally. Passing on down stream we soon come to Iffley. In the
+meantime we can see many of the pinnacles and spires and domes for
+which Oxford is famous, and marvellous is the way in which they appear
+to swing round as we change our position. The part of new Oxford which
+lines the Iffley road behind the meadows is not attractive, but when
+we come in sight of Iffley itself we may well exclaim that it would be
+hard to find a sweeter spot. There are stone walls, thatched cottages
+and farmyards, hay and orchards, elms, alders, and silver-stemmed
+birches; in consequence a quiet, rural atmosphere broods over all.
+The cows feed down to the edge of the river, and swallows dart about
+overhead, while perhaps a man paddling a canoe shoots up and away
+again, his white flannels and the strength and grace of his movement
+irresistibly recalling a swan. The mill, half stone, half wooden cased,
+is very ancient; the massive foundations have become like rock from
+their long immersion in the running water. There is a great quiet pool
+behind the lock island, and here and there a glimpse may be caught of
+the square tower of the famous church, which is not far off, but is
+well hidden by trees.
+
+Iffley Church takes rank with Stewkley as the most beautiful example
+of a Norman church remaining to us out of London. It is, like so
+many Norman churches, very small and very solid. And it must yield
+to Stewkley in the fact that its architecture is not pure. Yet its
+massive central tower and its fine windows place it very high indeed.
+Its date is not certainly known, but is supposed to be between 1160 and
+1170. "The interior seems at first sight curious. There are, in fact,
+two chancels, one behind the other. The further one is early English
+work, and is much lighter in style than the rest of the building, and
+the east end is disappointing. This may have been added to lengthen
+the church. In the bay next to it, where the choir now sit, there are
+fourteenth century windows inserted under Norman arches, showing that
+the walls were of the earlier date. These windows were added by John de
+la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, in the latter half of the sixteenth century.
+There is a groined roof, and the piers are beautifully decorated. The
+arches supporting the tower are richly moulded, almost incongruously
+so in regard to the massive type of the masonry, which points to early
+Norman. The Perpendicular windows inserted in the north and south walls
+are good. It is only at the extreme west end that the Norman windows
+remain untouched. The font is of black marble, and is very curious.
+The triple west-end window, a splendid specimen, is best seen from
+the churchyard. Its moulding is very rich, and this alone would be
+sufficient to make Iffley rank high among ancient churches. Below it is
+a circular window inserted about 1858 on the supposed plan of a former
+one of which traces were found. The impossibility of approaching the
+style of the old work in modern times was never more strikingly shown.
+Below is a fine doorway with beak-head and billet moulding, worthy to
+be classed with the triple window. A very ancient yew stands on the
+south side of the church, and near it is the slender shaft of an old
+cross. The rectory house, dating from Tudor times, is a fine addition
+to the picturesque group."--_Guide to the Thames._
+
+Between Iffley and Sandford the famous Oxford meadows are seen at their
+best. In the summer they are gemmed with countless flowers, so that
+they rival the celebrated Swiss pastures. Prominent among these is the
+fritillary:
+
+     I know what white, what purple fritillaries
+     The grassy harvest of the river-fields,
+     Above by Ensham, down by Sandford yields,
+     And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries.
+                                       --_M. Arnold._
+
+Mr. G. Claridge Druce, the well-known botanist, who has made a special
+study of the Thames Valley and Oxfordshire, says:--"The Thames from
+Oxford to Sandford flows through meadows rich with fritillaries,
+its banks are bordered with the sweet-scented Acorus, and its waters
+are inhabited by Potamogeton prœlongus, flabellatus, and compressus,
+Zannichellia macrostemon, Å’nanthe fluviatilis, &c., and near Sandford
+appears, for the first time in the river's course, the lovely Leucojum
+æstivum." This is the flower better known as the summer snowflake,
+which we shall meet again. The above are only a tithe of the flowers
+which Mr. Druce mentions. Among others which may be recognised are the
+yellow iris, the cuckoo flower, the water villarsia, the purple orchis,
+and the willow weed. In the spring the marsh mallow is the first to
+appear with a vivid glory as of sunshine. The banks are flat and low,
+and, except for the flowers, uninteresting; nevertheless this is a
+useful part of the river, especially for sailing. Some college fours
+are rowed here. Passing under the railway line we see the pink-washed
+walls of the Swan Hotel, which stands on Kennington Island, connected
+with the mainland by a bridge; and then we come to Sandford itself,
+with charms almost as great as, though entirely different from, those
+of Iffley. The approach is disappointing. The tall mill chimney and
+the new brick houses are bare and ugly. The mill is a paper mill, and
+supplies the Clarendon Press. It stands close to the old-fashioned
+and pretty hotel, so completely ivy-covered that even one of the tall
+chimneys is quite overgrown. When close to the lock the mill is not
+noticeable and has the advantage of affording some shelter. As at
+Iffley, one can get right across from bank to bank by means of bridges,
+a most charming method that might well be adopted in other parts of
+the river. Indeed, near Oxford one great delight is the freedom from
+interference. Everyone is allowed full liberty; you may ride your
+bicycle along the tow-path, take it across locks, or even walk it by
+the side of the meadows, without any rebuke. Having put up a notice
+that they are not responsible for the condition of the tow-path and
+that people use it at their own risk, the Conservancy leave the matter
+alone. The islands at Sandford are rather complicated, and there are a
+couple of weirs, beneath which the water frills out over mossy stones
+into deep, shady pools. The fishing here is as good as any on the
+river. The Radley College boat-house and bathing place are near the
+lower pool, the college itself being rather more than a mile away. In
+spring these pools, with their broken banks of brown earth and their
+masses of scented white hawthorn, are most beautiful. The shy white
+violets hide in the grass near the weirs, and are found by only a few
+who know where to seek them.
+
+  [Illustration: RADLEY COLLEGE BOAT-HOUSE]
+
+In the Oxford zone we must include the woods at Nuneham Courtney,
+which, by the courtesy of the owner (Aubrey Harcourt), are open to
+undergraduates all Commemoration week and twice a week in the summer
+term; while the general public, after writing in advance, are allowed
+to picnic at the lock cottages two days a week from May to September.
+The Nuneham woods are on a ridge of greensand, and though they are
+not so high or at such a striking angle as those of Clieveden, they
+certainly have quite as great a charm. Anyone is allowed to walk
+through the park if it be approached from the road, but bicycles are
+not permitted. The lock cottages, which are a popular resort in the
+summer, stand beside a pretty wooden bridge which connects the islands
+with the mainland. Masses of wild roses and flowering clematis add
+their delicate touch to the beauty of the overhanging trees. Close
+by the water is the Carfax monument, a conduit or fountain erected
+by Otho Nicholson, who set it up at the place still called Carfax in
+Oxford, whence it was removed to its present position in 1787. The
+woods contain nothing very striking in the way of trees, though all
+the commoner sorts, the beeches, oaks, horse-chestnuts, and so on, are
+well represented. There are about 400 acres of wood, which surround the
+park, where the oaks show well, standing apart from each other.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE OLD TOWN OF ABINGDON
+
+
+As a headquarters for boating, for those who want to dawdle and
+explore odd corners and have no desire to rush through as many locks
+as possible in a day, Abingdon makes a good centre. It is within
+easy reach of the part lying below the woods at Nuneham, and in the
+other direction is the Sutton Courtney backwater, which, Wargrave
+notwithstanding, is not to be beaten on the Thames. Further down
+again is Clifton Hampden, which attracts many people, and the river
+at Abingdon itself is by no means to be despised. The bridge, called
+Burford Bridge, is a real delight. It is old and irregular, with
+straggling arches, some rounded, some pointed; and all, even the
+highest, comparatively low down over the water, framing cool, dark
+shadows within the embrace of the mighty piers. The bridge cannot be
+seen in the glance of an eye. It is very long, and rests partly on an
+island. Standing on this, the Nag's Head Inn projects from one side
+of the bridge, and from it stretches out a small garden with several
+orchard trees. The red tiles and creamy tint of the hotel walls show
+well in contrast with the grey stone of the bridge, and when the hotel
+is seen from the river above the bridge, with the tall spire of St.
+Helen's Church rising behind it, it is worth noticing.
+
+  [Illustration: ABINGDON]
+
+There are bits of old wall lining the bank on the town side, and ivy
+grows freely over them. Many of the houses stand back from the water;
+a part of the ruined abbey and the long range of the abbot's residence
+can be seen between masses of blossom. The great exterior chimney
+of the abbey buildings should particularly be noticed. The blossom
+at Abingdon is a great feature, and one not to be found everywhere.
+Horse-chestnuts and holm oaks dip their boughs in the water, and
+from the branches arises a perfect chorus of birds. Abingdon has its
+chimneys, of course, as well as hideous buildings suited to modern
+requirements of business, but in the general view these things are lost
+sight of.
+
+Burford is a corruption of Borough-ford, and before the building of the
+bridge in the fifteenth century, the ferry at Culham was the main means
+of communication with the other side of the river.
+
+The range of Nuneham, below which runs the backwater called the Old
+River, can be seen to the south-east. If this ever was the main stream
+it must have been very long ago, for the memory of it is not recorded
+in any document now extant. The Old River is crossed by another bridge,
+and the two are linked by a straight road, made by Geoffrey Barbour
+at the same time as the building of the bridges. There is a picture of
+Barbour in the almshouses, and this shows the bridge being built in the
+background; while an illuminated copy of verses tells us:
+
+     King Herry the Fyft, in his fourthe yere,
+     He hath i-founde for his folke a brige in Berkschire,
+     For cartis with cariage may go and come clere,
+     That many wynters afore were mareed in the myre.
+     Culham hithe [_wharf or landing_] hath caused many a curse,
+     I-blessed be our helpers we have a better waye,
+     Without any peny for cart and for horse.
+
+Below Burford Bridge, the great bur-reeds grow near the islands.
+There is one delightful old house, formerly a malt house, with all
+sorts of odd angles and corners. It encloses a small terraced court,
+from which steps lead down to the water. It stands on the site of St.
+Helen's nunnery, founded about 690. Further on are some of the newer
+almshouses--a blot on the scene; and then a glimpse may be had of the
+wooden cloister of the old almshouses, which, in their way, are as
+pretty as those at Bray.
+
+Christ's Hospital, as the almshouses are called, was founded in the
+reign of Edward VI. out of lands belonging to a dissolved Guild of
+the Holy Cross. The central hall dates, however, from 1400. It has a
+stone mullioned window and panelled walls; in the ceiling is a dome or
+cupola. Once a week eighty loaves of bread are here distributed among
+the poor people of the town, and when the loaves, with their crisp,
+flaky, yellow crust, stand in piles on the polished oak table, and the
+poor old people gather for their share, there is an old-world touch
+in the picture such as one does not often see nowadays. The cloister
+or arcade of dark wood outside is decorated with texts and proverbs
+on its inner wall. The newer almshouses, built in 1797, lack all the
+homeliness and interest of the older ones. The church of St. Helen's,
+which has a very tall spire, is close to the almshouses and the river,
+and is well worthy of its position. It has been much restored, but is
+mainly of sixteenth century work.
+
+  [Illustration: THE MILL AT ABINGDON]
+
+Of course there was an abbey at Abingdon, though whether the name
+of the town arose from that fact or from a proper name Aben or Æbba
+is doubtful. The earliest name of the town was the unpronounceable
+one of Seovechesham, and it was then a royal residence. The abbey
+was founded by Cissa about 675. It was destroyed by the Danes and
+reconstructed long before most places on the river had begun to have
+any history at all. The abbey rose to great importance and wealth. It
+held manors innumerable, and its abbot was a person to reckon with.
+Even at the date of Domesday Book the abbey held no less than thirty
+manors. But its power did not save it, and it suffered the common fate
+at the Dissolution. A gateway of about the fourteenth century and some
+ruins, which show where the dwellings of the monks stood, are all that
+remain, beside the guest-chamber--a large, barn-like building--and
+the almoner's residence. The latter has a magnificent fireplace and
+chimney. The ceiling of the room below is groined, and looks like
+that of a crypt, but this is said to have been the kitchen. The chief
+feature of interest is the huge chimney, which is like a room, and
+has little windows on each side; its size is best appreciated from the
+exterior view. The church has quite disappeared, for the little ancient
+church near the gateway was not the abbey church, but is supposed to
+have been at first a chapel of ease. In this there is some Norman work,
+including the west doorway, and it is probably of quite as ancient
+lineage as anything now remaining of the abbey.
+
+Henry I. was sent by his father, as a lad of twelve, to be educated
+at Abingdon Abbey, and the learning by which he gained the name of
+Beauclerc shows that there must have been some able men here. The town
+hall in the market place at Abingdon is really a fine bit of work. It
+has been attributed to Inigo Jones, and stands over an open arcade,
+according to the style of town halls of the seventeenth century. The
+lock is a good way above Abingdon, and from it the millstream, as usual
+a pleasant backwater, flows right back to the town, enclosing a large
+island.
+
+  [Illustration: SUTTON COURTNEY BACKWATER]
+
+The lock at Culham is one of the least interesting on the river, and of
+the hundreds who pass through it only a few know that they are close
+to the very prettiest backwater on the Thames, namely Sutton Pool.
+There is one backwater at Sutton Courtney which can be reached from
+above Culham Lock. This leads to the mill, now disused, and runs along
+the top of the numerous weirs that pour into Sutton Pool itself. It
+is pretty also, and it is pleasant to see the meadows where the cows
+stand knee-deep in flowering plants, and the little square tower of
+the church peeping through the trees. This backwater is the best for
+landing to go to the village. Along the top of the weirs runs a path--a
+public right-of-way--which leads across the fields to Culham Lock, and
+anyone may land here and look down upon the pool; but to get right into
+it the lock must be passed, and some way further, after going under
+the bridge, we can turn the corner of a large island and retrace our
+way upstream until we come into the great pool, with its miniature
+bays and tumbling water. The weirs are high, and the streams come down
+with force, making a restless heave and swell when the river is full.
+The little tongues of land that divide one bay from another are shaded
+by willows, and the lush green grass grows here and there around tiny
+beaches of white sand. In spring, masses of hawthorn, "all frosted"
+with flowers, bend down from above, and the wild hyacinths break up
+between the blades of grass. Tall reeds form tiny islets, and perhaps a
+little moorhen flaps out. It is in secluded places like this that the
+dainty nest of the reed-warbler may be seen, swinging so lightly upon
+its supports that it is extraordinary to think that so large a bird as
+the cuckoo should dare to deposit its egg there. Yet reed-warblers and
+sedge-warblers are both among the cuckoo's victims. Unfortunately, in
+this little paradise landing is everywhere strictly forbidden, but no
+one can forbid enjoyment of the beauties which appeal to sight.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN FROM THE BRIDGE]
+
+The village of Sutton Courtney is certainly worth visiting. The village
+green, with its tall chestnuts, limes, and elms, is the very picture of
+what a green should be. The church is particularly interesting, for it
+is that rarity an unrestored building, with the old red-tiled floor and
+the rudeness of the original--so often smoothed away behind stencilling
+and paint--still left untouched. There is a shelf of chained books,
+a fine carved screen, and an altar-tomb of some interest. The manor
+house, which is not far off, is in a medley of styles, ranging from
+Norman to Jacobean. Malefactors are said to have been hanged from the
+stout oak beam which is still in good preservation. One wing is of
+perfect Jacobean work, with an overhanging storey decorated with carved
+pendants. A fine old building, half-way up the village, is called the
+Hall of Justice; this, however, may have a meaning less obvious than
+supposed at first sight, as the family of Justice held the manor for
+some generations.
+
+In it there is a fine old Norman doorway. The owner has furnished the
+interior with tapestry hangings, etc., somewhat in accordance with what
+it may have looked like originally when in use. It certainly gives one
+an idea of the old Saxon or Norman style of dwelling before even the
+upper chamber or _solar_ came into fashion.
+
+The river at Clifton Hampden is not a couple of miles from the river
+at Nuneham Courtney, so great is the loop by Abingdon. It may be noted
+that the name Courtney, though spelt differently, is derived from the
+ownership of the Courtenays, Earls of Exeter, in both the instances
+above. Clifton Hampden is a great favourite with artists, for the
+church, with its little, pointed spire, stands on a cliff which has
+in parts broken away, showing the rich yellow ochre of the soil. This
+makes up well in a "composition." The river sweeps round beneath it
+in a sort of little bay, and when white ducks dabble in the water and
+blue-pinafored children play beneath the yellow-ochre cliff, there is
+much to be said for it. The houses, too, are not without points. They
+are mostly thatched, and have their share of plants and creepers. The
+bridge is of red brick, and, with a little toning by weather, will
+make a capital accessory. But to my mind Clifton Hampden lacks that
+indefinable quality of charm found in such abundance elsewhere.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN]
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SINODUN HILL AND DORCHESTER
+
+
+The island near Day's Lock, lying beneath the Wittenham Woods and
+Sinodun Hill, is particularly well kept and neat, and, in summer,
+bright with flowers. Standing on the end of the lock-keeper's island
+you can look straight up the weir, below which the river drifts away on
+each side of the island.
+
+On the right bank, raised slightly above the river, is the church of
+Little Wittenham, with a long, narrow bastion turret adhering to its
+tower. Inside there is a handsome monument, one of those legacies from
+the ages that prove long descent. A warm belt of Scotch firs grows
+near.
+
+Wittenham Woods lie under the shelter of the hill and close to the
+life-giving water. The trees grow well and form a home for countless
+birds of all kinds. "The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild
+pheasant, crow, sparrowhawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ring-dove, brown
+owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded side); in summer the cuckoo and
+turtle-dove are all found there, and, with the exception of the pigeons
+and kestrels, which seek their food at a distance during the day, they
+seldom leave the shelter of its trees."--_C. J. Cornish._
+
+  [Illustration: COTTAGES, DORCHESTER]
+
+Sinodun Hill, and its companion, Harp Hill, which is as like it as
+one twin to another, are sometimes called Wittenham Clumps. They are
+remarkable and conspicuous objects, rising abruptly and evenly from a
+very flat district, and they can be seen from many miles around, and,
+what is more curious, can be recognised. The smooth, rounded cone is so
+symmetrical that, whichever way you look at it, it seems the same, not
+changing its shape in the bewildering way of most hills; and the clump
+of trees placed so exactly on its crown is an unfailing river-mark.
+Sinodun is about 250 feet in height, and on it is a British earthwork,
+a triple line of entrenchment, with vallum and foss all round. The
+circumference of this on the outside is about a mile. Harp Hill has
+on it a tumulus called Brightwell Barrow. Then down below, close to
+Dorchester, is a double line of earthworks, much mutilated, but quite
+noticeable. No one knows the origin of these defences, which date far
+back into unhistorical days. Those on Sinodun are called British, while
+the others are supposed to be Roman. Roman camps were nearly always
+square, while British followed the windings of the hill.
+
+Dorchester, with its cornfields and trees, its vegetable gardens,
+and its old houses bowed this way and that, is a very unsophisticated
+little place. The deep quiet of its village street, where the cottages
+glow all hues in the sunlight, from deep red ochre to egg-colour,
+brooded over by the long-backed abbey church, is a rest-cure in itself.
+The great yew trees, the pretty lych-gate, the old wooden porch,
+are all just what one would expect to find. Dorchester is not on the
+Thames, yet belongs to it certainly, for the Thame, which combines
+with the Isis to form the Thames, flows past it. As its name proclaims,
+Dorchester was once a Roman camp. Numerous Roman coins have been found
+in the neighbourhood, and a Roman altar. It was also the seat of one of
+the first and largest bishoprics in England.
+
+In 634 a monk of the order of St. Benedict, named Birinus, crossed
+to Britain to follow in the steps of St. Augustine and work as a
+missionary among the men of Wessex. He landed safely, and came to this
+part of the country, then in Wessex, which at that time stretched north
+of the Thames, though afterwards, when Mercia's power became great
+under King Offa, Dorchester fell within that kingdom. Birinus preached
+with so much effect that the King conferred upon him the office of
+bishop and gave him Dorchester for his residence. He died in 650 and
+was buried in his own church, though it is said his body was afterwards
+moved to Winchester.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITE HART HOTEL, DORCHESTER]
+
+The early bishopric was vast. It included what in our own day are
+the Sees of Bath and Wells, Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln,
+Salisbury, Worcester, and Winchester. There must have been a church in
+some degree adequate to the importance of such a charge, but it was
+probably of wood; in any case, nothing remains of it, though certain
+indications seem to show that it stood on the same site as the present
+one.
+
+Dorchester was an important city, but its glory did not long remain,
+and the bishopric was ultimately split up into many Sees. In 1085 the
+seat of the See of Mercia was transferred to Lincoln. The abbey was
+founded here in 1140 for Augustinian monks, and it is the monks' church
+which still in great part exists. The long nave, with its red roof,
+is seen easily from the river, but the tower appears rather inadequate
+in height. On approaching, however, it is found to be of massive work.
+The interior of the church is wide and high, and gives that impression
+of bareness which is consistent with Norman work. In the east window
+is a great pier or transom which is supposed to have been originally
+intended as the support for a groined roof. The north chancel window
+is the famous Jesse window, with carved tracery, carrying figures all
+the way up the numerous branches. The lowest is that of Jesse, from
+whom spring all the subsequent ones. Very few figures are missing,
+considering the age of the window, and the carving is remarkably
+interesting. It is supposed that the figures of the Virgin and Child
+were at one time above that of the patriarch, but were removed at the
+Reformation. The rich green glass in the sedilia on the other side of
+the chancel should be noted. It is unusual to see sedilia pierced.
+Two of the nave arches are plain Norman work. A rood door remains,
+and there are one or two handsome altar tombs; also a leaden font,
+well moulded, and, on the east wall of the south aisle, there are some
+remains of frescoes. Close to the porch outside is a graceful shaft
+with a "restored" head.
+
+The Thame we have already spoken of. Its arching trees and corners,
+and deep shady alleys, make it a delightful place for an idler. It runs
+close by the abbey church.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER BACKWATER]
+
+In the river near Dorchester grow the sweet sedge and the amphibious
+yellow cress, and on the banks may be found the blue pimpernel.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CASTLE AND STRONGHOLD
+
+
+Wallingford boasts of having the oldest corporation in England,
+preceding that of London by a hundred years, and its record certainly
+reaches very far back. In 1006 it was destroyed by the Danes. William
+the Conqueror rested here on his way to London after the battle of
+Hastings. The town was then held by Wigod, a noble Saxon, who lived in
+his great fortress-castle. His son-in-law was Robert D'Oyley, who built
+the castle at Oxford, and rebuilt and greatly strengthened that at
+Wallingford. From the part of the river above the bridge a tree-grown
+mound can be seen, and, further back, a comparatively modern house.
+On the mound once stood the strong castle, and the modern house is its
+present-day representative. The grounds are famous for their trees, and
+particularly for their evergreens, which grow thickly on the slopes
+of what was once the inner castle moat, for there were no less than
+three. No wonder Queen Maud felt that in reaching Wallingford in safety
+after her terrible escape over the frozen meadows of Oxford, she once
+more held the lead in the game she and Stephen played for the crown.
+Stephen, however, was not daunted. He settled down at Crowmarsh across
+the river, and made strenuous attempts to take the fortress. After a
+long time, when the garrison were beginning to despair, the Queen's
+son Henry came to the rescue with a force sufficient to afford relief.
+It was at Wallingford the treaty was made which eventually secured
+Henry's succession. The castle was given to Piers Gaveston by Edward
+II., but after the fall of Gaveston it reverted to the Crown. Joan,
+the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of the Black Prince, died here in 1385, and
+later, in the Civil Wars between King and Parliament, Wallingford held
+stoutly to the Stuarts. The town was the last place in Berkshire which
+remained to the King, and it was taken in July, 1646, after a siege of
+sixty-five days. Cromwell, therefore, cherished a grudge against it,
+and when he came into power he ordered the castle to be destroyed, an
+order which was unfortunately carried out. Not far away in the same
+grounds is a fragment of a ruined and ivy-grown tower. This is part of
+an ancient college of St. Nicholas founded by Edmund, second Earl of
+Cornwall, who died in 1300.
+
+  [Illustration: WALLINGFORD]
+
+In some ways Wallingford reminds one of Abingdon. They are both homely,
+pleasant, brick-built market-towns, rather sleepy, but self-respecting.
+There are several islands beside the bridge; but Wallingford has
+not made the most of its islands. They are bare, and disfigured by
+boat-building works. The bridge is fair, and, seen from below, where
+a weeping willow falls softly over one bank, the view is pretty. A
+conspicuous feature is the steeple of the church near, looking as if
+it had been joined on to the body without any thought of continuity
+of style. There are three churches in Wallingford, which once owned
+fourteen! There is rather a good seventeenth century Town Hall in
+the market-place and a Corn Exchange. Friday is the market-day.
+Both above and below the town the river is pleasant, though without
+original features; there are well-kept parks and fine-grown trees to
+be seen frequently. The only interesting place in the stretch below is
+Mongewell, where a large piece of artificial water joins the river,
+and near it is a small church quaintly built. Shute Barrington, the
+well-known Bishop of Durham, married for his second wife the heiress
+of Mongewell, and lived here before his death. Below Mongewell is a
+long, dull stretch, good for boating, but too unshaded and open to be
+pleasant for loiterers. The Trial Eights take place here in December.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY MILL]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+TWIN VILLAGES
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+When two villages stand facing one another across a bridge, it is
+inevitable that comparisons, however impertinent, will be made. And it
+may be said at once that Streatley, for all its old church, its pretty
+hotel, and its mill, cannot dispute the palm with Goring, which has
+an older church and a more charming mill, and many other advantages.
+Streatley church is singularly vivid in colouring. Rarely is there
+to be seen a deeper green-gold than that made by the lichen on the
+red roof, and when the sunshine flashes out upon it the effect is
+positively startling.
+
+Not less attractive in its way is the red-roofed hotel with its backing
+of thick, green foliage, its tiny grass plots on the river's edge, and
+its gay flowers. The flour mill would be a valuable asset in the beauty
+items of any place not eclipsed by so near a neighbour.
+
+There are islands in the stream, and the bridge which runs across them
+is singularly picturesque. This is one of the few old wooden bridges
+remaining, and it is doubtless destined soon to be replaced by one of
+iron, as has been done at Pangbourne. At this one can hardly cavil,
+for delightful as are the long slender wooden piles to look at, they do
+seem as if they might give way unexpectedly at any minute.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY]
+
+If we stand down by the lock there are numberless views in all
+directions, each good in itself. It is a hot day in summer, and the
+vivid scarlet and the deep carmine of the lock-keeper's geraniums
+literally strike one's eyeballs with their colour. We do not, alas!
+hear the wash of the water tumbling over the weir, for weirs in summer
+often run dry, or give only a small trickle, though it is just the
+time when their gay music would most appeal to the heart of man. The
+lock-keeper has stories to tell of the days before the "pound" locks,
+as they used to be called, were made. What we call the weirs were then
+the "locks." The great barges had to be towed up the weirs by means
+of rope and capstan; and sometimes, when the water ran low, they had
+to wait for weeks for a freshet that would enable them to get up. The
+lock here is only five-eighths of a mile below that at Cleeve, and
+these two are the nearest together on the river, except those of Temple
+and Hurley. Beyond Cleeve there is a long stretch of six and a-half
+miles before the next, Benson Lock. It almost seems as if the powers
+that deal with locks had in their justice tried to make things even by
+multiplying them in the beauty spots, so that those who want only the
+best have to pay for it by the worry of passing locks; while those who
+are content with something less can have it without bother. Some locks,
+however, have been done away with as unnecessary. There used to be
+one between those of Cleeve and Benson, and another at Hartslock Wood,
+below Goring; but these have disappeared.
+
+The ancient road known as the Icknield Street crosses the river at
+Streatley; it was used by the Romans, but made long before their time.
+
+High beyond the bridge, and, rising above it, as we stand at the lock,
+is the grand sweep of hill locally known as Greenhill, in distinction
+from Whitehill on the Goring side.
+
+To the right, on the top of the heights, are the golf links, and
+the small white road winds steeply up, carrying with it a touch of
+melancholy, which the sight of a far-away and steep road always gives,
+a suggestion of a journey that winds "uphill all the way."
+
+Reading has now established a regatta to keep its own folk in its
+own neighbourhood on the August Bank-Holiday; and a great boon this
+has been to the quiet up-river places, for they are not now invaded
+by launches full of rollicking, bottle-shying crowds, such as are
+characteristic of the neighbourhood of all great towns, and on these
+occasions apt to become remarkably prominent.
+
+  [Illustration: GORING CHURCH]
+
+Goring stands high among Thames villages, literally and figuratively.
+Its main street runs winding up-hill to the station, and though there
+are few of the genuine old cottages left, the small houses which have
+replaced them have been mostly built in the best modern river style,
+with exterior beams, porches, projecting windows and ornamental gables.
+Creepers flourish abundantly. From the river the church is easily seen.
+A small and narrow backwater leads under a bridge to within fifty yards
+of the tower.
+
+The building is very old, and was originally the church of the
+Augustinian priory. It is partly covered with rough stucco, which
+is peeling off untidily in patches. The tower is Norman, and has a
+bastion turret, which greatly adds to its appearance, and, what is more
+uncommon, the east end is an apse, though we are bound in honesty to
+say an apse rebuilt.
+
+Close by the church is the mill, which eclipses that at Streatley in
+appearance, and shows adaptability in applying its power as an electric
+generating station, while Streatley remains conservative, and still
+grinds the sweet-scented white flour. But the electric charging has
+not spoilt the mossy roof, gleaming green and russet alternately, or
+the pretty pigeon-house from which flocks of white pigeons often sweep
+round over the glistening water and the low islands. A very large and
+neat boat-house lies below the bridge on the Goring side.
+
+Between this and Pangbourne we have at first rich well-covered heights
+on the one side, and high, open chalky hills on the other, dotted with
+the neat circular clumps usually associated with chalk uplands. But
+after a while these are replaced by the famous Hartslock Woods.
+
+Speaking of the valley of the Thames between Goring and Henley, in his
+introduction to the _Flora of Oxfordshire_, Mr. G. Claridge Druce says:
+
+"We may wander for miles through verdant alleys whose groundwork begins
+in early spring with the glossy gold of the smaller celandine, followed
+by the pale stars of the wood anemones and myriads of primroses, these
+giving place to sheets of hyacinths, 'that seem the heavens upbreaking
+through the earth,' the blue being here and there relieved by the
+yellow archangel or brightened with stitchwort; still later on the
+bluebells are replaced by masses of the fragrant woodruff, and these
+by the more sombre colouring of the bugle. Then come the creamy-white
+flowers of the helleborine, the dull, livid spikes of the bird's nest
+orchis and the blue forget-me-nots, giving place to a galaxy of summer
+flowers, brightening in later months into the brilliant yellow of the
+ragworts and the purple of the foxgloves. The grassy downs, too, in
+spring are resplendent with the milkwort in all its purity of colour,
+whether of that typical blue which rivals the Swiss gentian in beauty,
+or fading into white or blushing to pink; while mixed with it are
+brilliant patches of rich orange yellow hippocrepis. Later on appear
+the rosy crimson spikes of the pyramidal orchis and the pale lemon
+flowers of lady's fingers, and the drooping blue-flowered campanula. If
+perchance the land have remained fallow, the bright flowers of iberis,
+sometimes suffused with rich purple, the glaucous foliage of rare
+fumarias, the deep crimson petals of the hybrid poppy, the bright rosy
+pink spikes of sainfoin and yellow toad flax, combine to form a varied
+show."
+
+  [Illustration: GORING]
+
+Before reaching Pangbourne we pass acres of osier beds on the right.
+Pangbourne and Whitchurch stand to each other in the same relation as
+do Goring and Streatley, but in this case it is the southern side to
+which the palm must be awarded. At Pangbourne the old wooden bridge
+has given place to an iron one, but the deed has been carried out in a
+manner that reflects credit on the doer, for the new bridge runs in a
+graceful curve, and its sides of latticed ironwork are painted white.
+Seen in glimpses between the islands, the new bridge does not detract
+from the charms of Pangbourne, but rather adds to them.
+
+There are numbers of islands at Pangbourne, and they lie in a great
+basin between and beneath the weirs, which are small and frequent. The
+pool is full of beauty. The trees grow freshly and well, and throw
+a veil of tender green over the water, which is, on a summer day,
+brilliant in hues of blue and green, cobalt, sea-green, pale apple,
+indigo; these can all be traced lying in strips and sections where
+the riotous torrent from the weirs frays out its inquietude and loses
+itself. In one corner by a pretty cottage is a splash of vivid crimson,
+an arcade of roses. Near the bridge great launch works are a blot
+and an eyesore, but it is so seldom we find our ointment without the
+proverbial fly.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE FROM THE SWAN HOTEL]
+
+Pangbourne village is quaint and pleasing enough, but it is not so
+beautiful as some of the villages along the Thames side. No village
+built haphazard, with a little river bridged over in its main street,
+with a brick-towered church, with dark evergreens, and a fair amount
+of creepers, could fail to be attractive in some sense. But there is
+too much new brick in Pangbourne. The river Pang is a tiny streamlet,
+and the winding ways do not hold that charm which can be felt even as
+one races by in a motor. Further up the river a row of neatly-built,
+red-brick and white-balconied houses stands up against a high chalk
+bank overlooking the river; behind this, in a deep cutting, runs the
+railway line. Above the bridge there is a landing on the Whitchurch
+side close to the church, which is a well-kept flint building. In the
+chancel there is a monument to the Lybbe family, dated 1599. Whitchurch
+is mostly built of red brick, and is neat and clean, but without any
+very great attractions. Before reaching Mapledurham a fine old house,
+Hardwicke, is passed. Charles I. stayed here and played bowls. The
+house itself is well protected by trees, but it stands in rather open
+country, amid bare chalk uplands, where sometimes may be seen a curious
+opaline glow in pale sunshine.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITCHURCH LOCK]
+
+Mapledurham is greatly spoilt by the churlishness of its main landlord.
+The lock-keeper is strictly forbidden to ferry anyone across the
+river, and though the crossing would be but short, and would involve
+only a walk of a few seconds along the bank to the mill, it is not
+permitted. As the nearest bridges on each side are those of Pangbourne
+and Caversham, it is necessary for anyone going by road to keep to
+the north side of the river between these points if he wants to see
+Mapledurham. The place certainly is worth some trouble, but it is
+small, and the restrictions are tiresome. The fine old Elizabethan
+house is a real mansion of the good old sort; one could imagine endless
+stories of romance connected with it. It was fortified during the civil
+wars by Sir Arthur Blount, governor of Reading, and is still held by
+the same family. The principal entrance is by an avenue of elms nearly
+a mile long, but the house is perhaps best seen through the gates from
+the churchyard. The church is small, and Perpendicular in style, with
+the exception of the tower, a modern addition in flint and brick. There
+is within a Blount chapel with many family memorials, including an
+altar-tomb.
+
+  [Illustration: MAPLEDURHAM MILL]
+
+The mill at Mapledurham is also a great delight to look upon, and
+numbers of artists sketch it from every point of view. The islands
+lying in the swirl of the weir-pool afford many a quiet nook in which
+to anchor, though landing is forbidden. From this it may be judged that
+if Mapledurham is a Paradise, it is sternly guarded with notices, which
+meet one on every side with the persistence of the flaming sword.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A MITRED ABBOT
+
+
+The Abbot of Reading was, like the Abbot of Abingdon, mitred, and bore
+powerful rule. Reading ranked third among the abbeys of England, and
+held the great privilege of coining. It was founded in 1121 by King
+Henry I. himself, who was afterwards buried here. It was for long
+supposed that Adeliza his queen lay here also, but the evidence goes to
+show she was buried in Flanders. The Empress Maud lies at Reading. The
+great church was dedicated by Thomas à Becket, and in it took place the
+marriage of John of Gaunt.
+
+Fuller, who is always worth quoting, says that though Ely "bare away
+the bell for bountefull feast making," Reading "spurred up close" to
+it, and continues: "The mention of Reading minds me of a pleasant and
+true story, which, to refresh my wearied self and reader, after long
+pains, I here intend to relate":
+
+"King Henry VIII. as he was hunting in Windsor forest lost himself,
+and struck down about dinner-time to the Abbey of Reading, where,
+disguising himself, he was invited to the abbot's table and passed for
+one of the king's guard. A sirloin of beef was set before him on which
+the king laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for whom he
+was mistaken. 'Well fare thy heart,' quoth the abbot, 'and here in a
+cup of sack, I remember the health of his Grace your master. I would
+give a hundred pounds on the condition I could feed so heartily on beef
+as you do. Alas, my weak and squeasy stomach will hardly digest the
+wing of a small rabbit or chicken.' The king pleasantly pledged him,
+and heartily thanking him for his good cheer, after dinner departed as
+undiscovered as he came thither. Some weeks after the abbot was sent
+for by a pursuivant, brought up to London, clapped in the Tower, kept
+close prisoner, fed for a short time with bread and water. Yet not so
+empty his body of food as his mind was filled with fears, creating
+many suspicions to himself, when and how he had incurred the king's
+displeasure. At last a sirloin of beef was set before him, on which the
+abbot fed as the farmer of his grange, and verified the proverb that
+'Two hungry meals make the third a glutton.' In springs King Henry out
+of a private lobby where he had placed himself, the invisible spectator
+of the abbot's behaviour. 'My lord,' quoth the king, 'presently deposit
+your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of
+your life. I have been your physician to cure you of your squeasy
+stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand my fee for the same.' The
+abbot down with his dust, and glad he had escaped so, returned to
+Reading, as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more merrier in heart
+than when he came thence."
+
+When the Dissolution came, the abbot, full of belief in his own
+strength, defied the king, though he saw the whirlwind around him
+which had devastated other monasteries no less powerful than his own.
+There was no over-tenderness in Henry's methods, and Hugh Faringford,
+thirty-first was abbot, hanged, drawn and quartered in front of his own
+gateway in 1539.
+
+There is very little left of this famous abbey now, and the gateway has
+been so carefully "restored" that there is more restoration about it
+than anything else; in fact, it is simply a reconstruction. Nearly all
+the remains lie within a very few acres, and the Forbury public garden
+is on the site of one of the courts of the abbey. The ruins at the east
+end are heavily covered with masses of ivy, but preserve the outlines
+of the chapter house and church, which was over five hundred feet in
+length.
+
+Reading possessed a castle as well as an abbey, and the castle has
+vanished still more completely, leaving even its exact site unknown,
+though it is supposed to have been at the west end of the present
+Castle Street, or at the place where the prison now stands.
+
+  [Illustration: CAVERSHAM]
+
+In 871 the Danes got as far up the river as Reading, and seized both
+town and castle. Many times has parliament been held in the ancient
+town, and many sovereigns have visited Reading, including Queen
+Elizabeth, who stayed there no less than six times. In the civil wars
+Reading was a stronghold for the king until, after a severe siege, in
+1653 the garrison capitulated on condition of being allowed to walk out
+free with arms and baggage, a boon which was granted. After this the
+place was held by the Parliamentarians, but was again occupied for the
+king, only to become once again the headquarters of the Parliamentary
+army, and so it had many changes of fortune. St. Giles's church still
+bears the marks of the artillery from which it suffered during those
+uncertain times. There are other churches in Reading, but this is not
+a guide book, so there is no need to enumerate them. Archbishop Laud
+was born in Reading, and educated at the Free School. Reading is not
+actually on the river, and Caversham may be called its river-suburb.
+It is not a place which much attracts boating men. From its size,
+its manufactories, its chimneys, it is necessarily in many aspects
+unpleasant to those who have come to seek their rest and pleasure far
+from smoke and toil. The most important industries are Messrs. Sutton's
+seed emporium, and Messrs. Huntley and Palmer's biscuit factory, which
+employs more than five thousand persons; there are also breweries
+and many lesser works. Did it not lie between two such pre-eminently
+charming places as Sonning and Mapledurham, boating people would avoid
+it altogether.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Sonning and its Roses
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+There are certain notable details of the river-side which stand out in
+the mind after the rest have been merged in mere general remembrance
+of lazy happiness. In these we may include the backwater at Sutton
+Courtney, the woods at Clieveden, the Mill at Mapledurham, and the Rose
+Garden at Sonning. Roses grow well all along by the river, but nowhere
+so well as they do at Sonning, and the rose garden forms an attraction
+which draws hundreds to the place. Yet Sonning has other attractions
+too; it is very varied and very pretty. When one arrives at it first,
+perhaps coming upstream, one is rather perplexed to discover the exact
+topography. We round a great curve which encloses an osier bed; here,
+in early spring, the osiers may be seen lying in great bundles, shaded
+from olive-green to brown madder. Then we see some green lawns and
+landing places beneath the shadow of a fine clump of elms, and catch
+sight of the lovable old red-brick bridge, with its high centre arch,
+spanning the stream. But there is another bridge, a wooden foot-bridge,
+which also spans the stream, at right angles to the other, and peering
+through beneath this, we can see the continuation of the red brick one
+in a new iron structure, which stretches on right up to the neat flower
+beds of the French Horn Hotel. The truth is, the river suddenly widens
+out here into a great bulge, and in the bulge are several islands, on
+one of which are a mill and a house and several other things, not to
+forget a charming garden. It is the river channel between this island
+and the bank that the first bridge, the old one, spans. And what a
+view it is! Above the bridge can be seen rising the little grey church
+tower. On one side is the White Hart Hotel, with its warm tone of
+yellow wash, its red tiles and its creepers, and above all its famous
+rose garden. In the foreground is a willow-covered ait placed in
+exactly the right position. It is a perfect picture. But yet this is
+not the best side of the bridge. The other side is better; for here,
+to resist the flow of the current, the builders placed the buttresses
+which emphasise the height of that centre arch; buttresses now capped
+with tufty grass and emerald moss, and from the crevices of which
+spring clumps of yellow daisies, candytuft, wallflower, hart's-tongue
+fern, and other things. In the bricks all colours may be seen, after
+the manner of worn bricks, not even excluding blue. The mill is, as
+it should be, wooden, and with Sandford Mill, is mentioned in Domesday
+Book. From the dark shadow beneath its wheel, the largest on the river,
+gurgles away the water in cool green streams, passing beneath the
+overhanging boughs of planes and horse-chestnuts. From the mighty sweep
+of the wheel, as it may be seen in its house, the drops rise glittering
+in cascades to varying heights like the sprays of diamonds on a tiara.
+The mill-house, called Aberlash, stands not far off on the same island,
+with a delightful garden.
+
+  [Illustration: THE ROSE GARDEN AT SONNING]
+
+This island spreads onward with green lawns in a sweeping semicircle to
+the lock and cottage, and from two small weirs the water dances down,
+adding variety to a beautiful pool where stand many irregular pollard
+willows on tiny aits. Over the smaller weir, framed in a setting of
+evergreens, is a bit of far distant blue landscape. There is a bank
+here too, an embankment, which might be covered with flowers according
+to its owner's design, but that the water nymphs, intolerant of
+flowers, except those of their own choosing, take a wicked delight in
+sweeping down over the weir, and sending the water flowing like a lace
+shawl all over the embankment to carry back all the roots and bulbs
+and other things that may have been planted there to use as playthings;
+their gurgle of delight at their own unending joke may be heard all day
+long.
+
+The shy kingfishers love the big pool below the weir, but it is not
+often they are seen unless the watcher has the faculty for making
+himself invisible against his background and is able to remain
+motionless.
+
+The woods of the Holme Park, rising high close by, throw a deep-toned
+shadow on the picture, particularly refreshing on a baking summer's
+day. Many birds find their refuge in these woods, and at night the
+weird cries of the owls sound hauntingly over the flats. A ghost is
+supposed to inhabit the park, and the owl's cry might very well serve
+for a ghost's moan on occasion.
+
+Having thus explored the puzzling bit of river, we may land and walk up
+through the Rose Garden, or, according to Mr. Ashby Sterry in his _Lays
+of a Lazy Minstrel_:
+
+     Let's land at the lawn of the cheery White Hart,
+     Now gay with the glamour of June!
+     For here we can lunch to the music of trees,
+       In sight of the swift river running,
+     Off cuts of cold beef and a prime Cheddar cheese,
+       And a tankard of bitter at Sonning.
+
+For the sake of those who have gardens of their own, we give a list of
+the principal roses grown at Sonning:
+
+     Monsieur E. Y. Teas, Madame Marie les Dier, Marie Baumann,
+     Viscountess Folkestone, Duchess of Bedford, Aimée Vibert,
+     Prince Camille de Rohan, W. A. Richardson, Edouard Morren,
+     Queen of Queens, Sultan of Zanzibar, Suzanne M. Rodocanachi,
+     Madame de Watteville, Souvenir d'un Ami, Homer, Duke of Teck,
+     Duke of Edinburgh, Cristal, Jules Margottin, Mavourneen, Rêve
+     d'Or, Clio, Countess of Rosebery, The Bourbon, Souvenir de la
+     Malmaison, Maréchal Niel, Alfred Colombo, Mrs. W. J. Grant,
+     Magna Charta, La France, Prince Arthur, Charles Lefebvre,
+     Dean Hole, Mrs. F. Laing, Maman Cochet, Madame Willinoz,
+     Horace Vernet, Caroline Testout, Gloire de Dijon, Auguste
+     Rigstard, Abel Carrière, Abel Grand, Eclair, Rubens, Bessie
+     Brown, Beauty of Waltham, Boule de Neige, Jeremiah Dickson,
+     Catherine Mermet, Gruss an Teplitz, Lady Battersea.
+
+  [Illustration: SONNING]
+
+With this brilliant mass of colour, the rich dark reds, the glorious
+pinks, the pale yellows, dead whites and the flaming apricot of William
+Allen Richardson, the effect may be imagined; and the entry to all this
+beauty is beneath a trellised arch covered with masses of the Crimson
+Rambler!
+
+Sonning village itself is very irregular, uphill and downhill, with
+roads all ways. There are rights of way through the quiet churchyard,
+where there is a row of magnificent elms, and the villagers are real
+flower lovers. Almost at any season of the year at which flowers will
+flourish out of doors, flowers there are to be seen. Earliest of all,
+the quince, the yellow jasmine, and the dainty almond blossom; then the
+golden bunches of laburnum and the fresh mauve lilac; later on roses
+of all kinds, not always climbing, but in bushes and clumps. Window
+boxes are seen everywhere, and Virginia creeper and ampelopsis cover
+up all bare corners. The houses themselves are charming. There are many
+more cottages in the older style than can be found at Wargrave. Many a
+tiny diamond-paned window is seen high up, almost lost in a straggling
+creeper. The projecting storeys, the brown lathes imbedded deep in the
+brick, making rectangles of broken colour, the yellow wash of a deep
+umber, the high external chimneys, all make up many nooks to be looked
+at again and again with appreciation. Sydney Smith was staying at
+Sonning in 1807, and we can but admire his taste.
+
+There is a tradition, very hazy, that Sonning was once the seat of a
+bishopric. There is no evidence at all as to this, but the fact that
+the See of Salisbury has held the manor since the time when Domesday
+Book was made may have led to the error.
+
+The bishops had a house here, and it was at the bishops' house that
+King John stayed for six days a month before his death. Leland says:
+"And yet remaineth a faire olde House there of stone, even by the
+Tamise Ripe longging to the Bishop of Saresbyri, and thereby is a fine
+Park."
+
+The oldest parts of the church probably date from 1180, but there
+is very little of this date left. The principal bits are the south
+doorway and a small window above it. The south aisle was built about
+1350, the piers of the nave about 1400, at which date the chancel was
+added. The north chancel aisle and the north aisle came about 100 years
+later. The whole church was restored in 1852. There are one or two
+interesting monuments to be seen in it, and it is a good model of what
+a well-preserved, dignified parish church should be.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WARGRAVE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
+
+
+Wargrave is one of the most delightful of Thames-side villages. There
+is not much that is old among the houses that line the village street;
+thatch has almost gone. Wooden beams are not noticeable, except when
+used in the modern architecture that imitates the old; the material
+seen everywhere is red brick. Wind and weather, however, soon tone
+down the asperities of red brick, and from the rich soil creepers
+spring up quickly to cover it with loving tendrils; so the street
+becomes a delightful medley of casement windows, gable ends, and bushy
+foliage. Not the least of the charm is that each small house has its
+own ideas about frontage, and entirely refuses to stand in line with
+the rest. There are houses with their doorsteps in the roadway, and
+houses modestly retiring behind bushes in their strip of garden. Here
+is a wistaria with a stem as thick as a man's arm, and there roses
+and sweetbriar, purple clematis and starry jasmine, succeeding and
+intermingling. Wargrave has learnt to choose the good and refuse the
+evil of the modern spirit; she is clean and self-respecting as some
+villages will never learn to be. Her small shops are good of their
+kind, but self-conscious she is not, or garish, or any other of the
+horrible things associated with modernity.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CHURCH AT WARGRAVE]
+
+The place centres about cross roads, but straggles in many directions,
+and on the high ground surrounding it many a new house has been built
+lately, and stands amid delightful grounds.
+
+The church, which is near the open green, where grow fine trees, is
+of flint, with a red-brick pinnacled tower, half ivy-covered. In the
+church is buried Thomas Day, author of _Sandford and Merton_, who was
+killed by a fall from his horse in 1789. A Norman doorway, a carved oak
+pulpit black with age, and a huge family pew, tell of long survival,
+and give the church the same touch of self-respecting dignity that the
+village has. It can be seen from the water, peeping over greenery near
+a backwater, with its tower overtopped by trees.
+
+The whole of Wargrave is seen to advantage from the water or from the
+meadows opposite. Many green lawns slope down to the brink, and the
+height of the bushy elms is a thing to note. A few Lombardy poplars
+break the fulness of the bosky foliage with their elongated ovals, and
+that most graceful of all trees, the wych elm, curves his beautiful
+lines in soft arches over the velvety lawns or smoothly-flowing water.
+
+     Witch elms that counterchange the floor
+       Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright;
+       And thou, with all thy breadth and height
+     Of foliage, towering sycamore.
+                                   --_Tennyson._
+
+The river turns almost a right angle at Wargrave, and, from running
+eastward, goes due north. The little village, being situated at the
+bend, gets the benefit of both vistas. The George Hotel, indeed, stands
+exactly at the angle, and the sweep of the water catches its wharf
+with full force. It boasts a signboard painted by two R.A.s; this is
+preserved indoors, while another swings as its proxy in the village
+street. Placed as it is in regard to the river channel, and with the
+wide flats of Shiplake meadows opposite, the hotel is exposed, and
+the very openness of its garden, an attraction which draws hundreds of
+summer visitors, makes it a butt for the racing winds of early spring.
+It is a pretty hotel built of brick, with a white painted verandah,
+after the usual river pattern; and a gigantic wistaria embowers all the
+front in its delicate mauve in summer, while roses trained over trellis
+work flash answering colour signals.
+
+The view over the river includes the glowing sunsets, which leave a
+slowly dying splendour behind a distant bank of trees.
+
+     And there was still, where day had set,
+       A flush that spoke him loth to die;
+     A last link of his glory yet
+       Binding together earth and sky.
+                                  --_Moore._
+
+Looking up to the left is the railway bridge, which is not so ugly as
+it might be; below, every hundred yards shows fresh beauties.
+
+Wargrave backwater is one of the most noted on the river, and in
+summer, or early spring, is a fairyland of greenery. The entrance is
+behind the large willow-covered island that lies below the hotel. The
+tiny arched bridge, not far in, is so low that one has to lie full
+length in a boat in order to pass under it. This is called Fiddler's
+bridge, though no local tradition keeps alive the origin of the name.
+The gentle light shimmers down between the spear-leaved willows in a
+veil of glory, and the stream is so narrow, one can almost touch the
+banks with both hands at once. In the main stream meantime, there are
+several islands decorated with the new rough stuccoed houses now so
+popular in river architecture, and, at the end where the backwater
+emerges again, there is a brightly-coloured boat-house. Beyond this,
+again, is a long stretch where there are generally house-boats. In
+winter, a little creek on the left bank is a kind of storehouse for
+them. This is a fine wide reach, and above it rises Wargrave Hill with
+its large white house conspicuously placed.
+
+Further down, the river makes a succession of curves; and facing up
+stream is Bolney Court, in a solid, old-fashioned style, of a dull
+yellow colour, while, behind and around it, the deep blue-green of
+Scotch firs is seen among the lighter foliage, and on the curving
+heights which block the vista to the north, the heights above Henley,
+these trees are conspicuous everywhere. Indeed, evergreens of all kinds
+flourish well in the chalky soil about Wargrave.
+
+The late C. J. Cornish said somewhere that Thames eyots always seem to
+have been put in place by a landscape gardener, and those about Bolney
+recall the words. They are thickly grown over by sedge and osiers, and
+overshadowed by taller trees; between them, the channels of shining
+water, half hidden half revealed, gain all the charm of elusiveness.
+Has anyone ever reflected what a kindly thought it was of Nature's, to
+arrange that trees growing on the water's edge should invariably take
+an outward angle, so as to lean over the water? How much less effective
+the result would have been had they grown inward, may be pictured by
+imagining a river without reflections. In the stillness of a backwater,
+or in the narrowed channel beside a large island, the beautiful effect
+of this outward angle is best seen. If the channel be very narrow, the
+trunks fold one behind the other in perspective, so as to form an arch
+over a shining aisle. In the water, all the many-coloured gnarled stems
+are smoothed by the gentle movement into something softer than the
+rigid reality, with its hard knots of shadow. The different colouring
+on the stems of the same species of tree is a thing to marvel at. From
+the deep mahogany of a joint where the damp has made an open wound, to
+the faint biscuit-colour of the place where a strip of bark has been
+newly peeled off, the stems of pollarded willows furnish every brown
+and yellow on a painter's palette. Many of them are richly crowned by
+a head of ivy, whose satin-smooth leaves fall in garlands like locks,
+and sway with every touch of air. These are reflected in the water as
+a shaded mass of green with no detail.
+
+There are so many varieties of willow that it is difficult for the
+lay mind to remember them all, and numbers of them are to be seen
+about Wargrave. It is the Crack willow and the White willow, with long
+slender leaves, that are commonly pollarded as osiers, though they will
+grow tall enough if they are allowed to. There is a legend that the
+mournful droop of the leaves of the weeping willow is a reminiscence of
+the sad time of the Captivity:
+
+     By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we
+     remembered thee, O Sion;
+     As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the willow trees
+     that grow therein.
+
+Besides the willows, there are their cousins, the poplars, chief among
+which, is the fine Populus tremula, whose leaves whisper perpetual
+secrets, even on the stillest days. This is caused by the broad leaves
+being attached to a slender flattened stalk. They are silky on the
+wrong side, and when the wind blows through the foliage it turns a
+soft greyish white, like a cottony mass. There is a legend that the
+wood of this tree was used for the Cross, and that in consequence it
+has trembled ever since, and so its leaves are in a perpetual state of
+quivering.
+
+The poplar, like the ash, is not kind to neighbouring trees, its
+numerous suckers taking more than their share of nourishment and
+moisture from the ground, and the leaves, when they fall, seem to be as
+destructive as those of the beech, for grass will not grow where they
+lie.
+
+In spring, these trees shed their long catkins, like hairy
+caterpillars, all over the water, and they are swept up in heaps into
+every eddy.
+
+In spite of the delights of summer, there is a time which well bears
+comparison with it; I mean the first fine days of early spring, before
+the rest of the world has awakened to the fact that winter is over.
+And about Wargrave at such times there is to be found great charm by
+those whose senses are alert. It is true that the splendid hedge that
+lines the tow-path shows only the long withes of the creepers and no
+starry flowers; that the graceful sprays of the wild rose now appear
+barbed and polished and ferocious, instead of sweet and enticing. A
+bush of barberry or berberis is not often seen in hedges, for the old
+folk-lore taught that wheat never throve when the barberry was in the
+hedge; therefore the farmers grubbed it up whenever they found it. But
+science has confirmed the empirical wisdom of our fathers, for it was
+discovered that the barberry furnishes the intermediate host for rust
+in wheat. On the green river bank there are quivering blades of tender
+green, but no flowers with their umbrella heads of white, or bunchy
+yellow, or pale mauve. Yet still there are compensations. To begin
+with, the river itself talks in spring as it never does in summer,
+and what is better, one can hear it without the interruption of human
+chatter or noise. One has the whole stretch to one's self, and attuning
+one's ear to the key of that conversation, one can listen to it sucking
+at the bank, flop-flopping under the prow of one's punt, chuckling
+as it races past the pole, and, laughing a little silvery laugh of
+merriment, that we call rippling--a word we have learnt to adapt to our
+poor human attempts in the same direction. The river sprites are with
+us, and very busy they are--ceaselessly busy about nothing at all, and
+so happy in their activity that to hear them is to laugh for right good
+fellowship. The wind is in the water, urging them on faster and faster;
+each wavelet has its crest of foam, and, in the heights and hollows
+ahead there is every shade of green, from emerald to olive. One must be
+very still in order to imbibe the real spirit of the scene, for they
+are shy, these river nymphs, as shy as the birds and beasts that live
+around them, and have learned the fear of tempestuous man. A shy-bold
+wren, with a sudden glint of sunlight on his rich brown back, flies
+to the edge of the water where the punt lies drifting, and then darts
+back in haste to the shelter of that commanding hedge he never likes to
+leave. His pertness is all in his appearance; never did looks so belie
+a timid character! A water-hen, startled by the sudden dip of the pole,
+flies out of the reeds close by, and skims in a swift low line to the
+islet opposite; her smooth dark body, with the elongated neck and scant
+tail, resembles an Eastern water skin.
+
+There is a gentle continuous whispering among the reeds, as if they
+questioned themselves, with quiet disapprobation, why the river was
+always in such a hurry. From the field behind the hedge comes the
+sweet scream of a wheeling peewit, and two large wood-pigeons flap
+noisily from the tall trees on the island, a very picture of contented
+domesticity.
+
+We slide on gently, close by the tow-path, until the tall hedge comes
+to an end, and the green meadows stretch right away from the lip of the
+river, and around them rise the tree-crowned heights in a semicircle,
+like the tiers of a giant amphitheatre.
+
+Flop! A water rat dives furtively. Though called a rat, he is in
+reality a vole, and is almost exclusively graminivorous; in this
+differing from his namesake, the real rat, which also haunts river
+banks, especially near mills. With hoarse squawk, a wild duck rises
+heavily from cover, and after the first difficult spiral, wings off
+like an arrow, his long neck extended. It is a day of cloud and shadow,
+and suddenly the light breaks out on the trees ahead with a wild
+freshness that makes one catch one's breath. It races up stream, and
+the dun is turned to gold at the touch of its breath. The sweetness of
+early spring is in the air and in our blood; the larks feel it as they
+rise:
+
+                   Sounds of vernal showers
+                     On the twinkling grass,
+                   Rain-awaken'd flowers,
+                     All that ever was
+     Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
+                                              --_Shelley._
+
+And there is a stirring of sap and juice in things--small things deep
+down in dark holes and corners, and in all green and growing things.
+
+After this, how cloying the richness of summer, with its still days,
+its glaring reflections, the luscious foliage, and the overpowering
+scents--the thought of it strikes one's senses as the thought of a
+hothouse would strike a child of the moor and the mountain. And when
+we remember Wargrave regatta, with its crowded banks, its lined shores,
+its flags a-flutter, and its noise, we are thankful that August is afar
+off.
+
+Though we have wandered down stream, the bit above Wargrave is equally
+attractive. Just beyond the railway bridge the river Loddon flows into
+the Thames. To pass up it and its tributary, St. Patrick's stream,
+is no easy feat; yet by using this loop the lock may be evaded, and
+it is the only place on the river where such a trick is possible. It
+is, however, far the best to explore this by-way from the other end
+and to come down stream by its means. To reach it, one must go high
+up above the lock, beyond the last of the chain of islands which here
+breaks the channel, and there turn in under a small bridge, into this
+curious tributary, which starts from the river and returns to it again.
+It flows at first through wide flat meadows, and then bifurcates, one
+branch, blocked by a weir, communicating again with the Thames, and the
+other falling into the Loddon, and with it rejoining the main river.
+
+Part of St. Patrick's stream is fringed by well-grown uniform pollard
+willows that hedge it like a wall. In summer, when the meadows are
+rich in buttercups, and the wind hums softly over the clover, bringing
+wafts of scent, and many a quaint weed adds its note of colour to the
+general harmony, it is very charming. But the most delightful feature
+is the growth of the Leucojum æstivum, or summer snowflake, which is so
+numerous that it is popularly known as the Loddon lily. This is like
+a large snowdrop in which several blooms spring from one head. It is
+also to be found on several of the islands in the main river near, but
+is not abundant there. The Loddon itself rises far inland: Twyford gets
+its name from lying near two branches, a twy-ford. The stream is slow,
+and it is only the swift current of St. Patrick that enlivens it lower
+down.
+
+Above the mouth of the Loddon there lies an interesting bit of the
+river. On a large island, owned by the Corporation of London, stands
+the lock-keeper's cottage, and opposite to it, on the mainland, a
+delightful old mill-house with tiled roof, and that weather-worn,
+rather battered appearance, which all self-respecting mill-houses aim
+at as the perfection of ripeness. The long tongue of the lock island
+projects down stream like the nose of a pike. In winter, the little
+moorhens, partly tamed by hunger, and reassured by the absence of those
+noisy humans who come in such numbers in warmer weather, run about
+all over it. Other things run too, all the year round; the lock-keeper
+has a fine stock of hens, but accepts philosophically the fact that he
+can never rear any chickens "because of the rats." The rats, which are
+attracted by the ample stores at the mill-house, and find such variety
+of lodgings along the banks of the stream and in the crevices of the
+much worn woodwork, are the pest of these places.
+
+The island is a popular camping ground, and the pitches are generally
+secured early in the season, having been well prepared beforehand
+by being laid in sand and flints to ensure a dry foundation. There
+are also a tiny bungalow, to be had for two guineas the week, and a
+bathing place available. Altogether a very attractive island. The main
+stream races over the weir, forming a wide tumbling pool below, and on
+the other side of the island there is a pleasant stretch down to the
+lock. These lock channels are among some of the most charming places
+on the river. They are generally very still, with the mass of water
+hardly moving. On some days every twig is reflected, and the view in
+this particular one is well worth looking at, as, with the group of
+the mill buildings rising high on one side, and the cottage with its
+accompaniment of standard roses on the other, there are the elements
+of a most satisfactory composition. The meadows slope down at just
+that angle that shows them off to the best advantage; they are dotted
+with fine trees and are crowned by clumps of wood, from which sounds
+the homely cawing of rooks. The red cows stand knee-deep in the placid
+water, lashing at the flies with their tails; and on the other side is
+a mass of greenery:
+
+             I ...
+     Walked forth to ease my pain
+     Along the shore of silver streaming Thames;
+     Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
+     Was painted all with variable flowers,
+     And all the meads adorned with dainty gems
+     Fit to deck maidens' bowers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Sweet Thames! run softly till I end my song.
+                                     --_Spenser._
+
+Shiplake stands high above the flat meadows by the river bank. The
+little flint church, in which Tennyson was married, has a prettily
+buttressed tower, and around it grow many tall evergreens and waving
+trees. There are also some interesting old frescoes on the walls, two
+representing St. Christopher, who seems particularly appropriate in a
+river church. From the porch, down between two rows of shrubs, one can
+look on to the top of a mass of trees, which shuts out a bend of the
+silver river, and beyond them see the blue distance, miles and miles
+away. Mrs. Climenson, whose book on Shiplake was privately printed,
+suggests that the name originated in schiff-laacken, for the story goes
+that when the Danes got so far, their boats stuck on the shoals, and
+their commander ordered them to be burnt, to prevent a possibility of
+retreat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HENLEY REGATTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Who can ever think of Henley without its regatta? And yet Henley
+is very well worth thinking of at all times of the year. It is a
+pleasantly-built, middle-aged, red-brick town. Its history does not
+reach back so far as that of Abingdon or Reading. It boasts neither
+abbey nor cathedral. Near the esplanade above the bridge, there are
+one or two of the tumble-down, out-of-perpendicular style of cottages,
+which invariably add so much to a river scene; but the main part of
+the town, which is, of course, of red brick, has a homely air of the
+seventeenth century about it. The solid and stately Red Lion Hotel,
+close to the bridge, is one of the most historic houses in the place.
+Charles I. stayed here in 1632, when, after severe dissensions, he
+was trying the method of ruling England without a Parliament, and
+when the terrible fate that was to befall him had not yet "cast its
+shadow before." It is doubtful if he paid his bills, for he was in
+chronic want of money; but he left a memento behind him which has more
+than repaid the hotel, for it forms a perennial source of interest.
+This is a large fresco painting of the royal monogram and coat of
+arms over one of the mantelpieces, and from the date it is evident it
+was done at the time of this visit. It was not discovered till 1889,
+having probably been hastily concealed during the troublous days of
+Cromwell's ascendency. Being on one of the principal coaching roads,
+Henley received more than its share of celebrated visitors. On July the
+12th, 1788, George III., with the Queen and three of his daughters,
+had breakfast at the Red Lion; George IV. once dined here; and the
+celebrated Duke of Marlborough regularly kept a room here that he might
+use it in his journeys from Blenheim; his bed is still preserved. After
+these associations, that of Shenstone, who wrote a poem with a diamond
+on a window-pane, comes as an anticlimax. The poem begins:
+
+     To thee, fair Freedom, I retire,
+       From flattery, cards, and dice, and din;
+     Nor art thou found in mansions higher
+       Than the low cott or humble inn.
+
+And the last verse, which is often quoted, runs:
+
+     Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
+       Whate'er his stages may have been,
+     May sigh to think he still has found
+       The warmest welcome at an inn.
+
+In summer the red brick of the hotel is almost hidden by the creepers
+which embrace it; especially noticeable is the glorious wistaria, most
+lovely of all the climbing plants.
+
+  [Illustration: RED LION HOTEL, HENLEY]
+
+The bridge was built in 1786, and is of stone. The keystones of the
+central arch are adorned with sculptured masks of Thame and Isis.
+They were the work of Mrs. Damer, a cousin of Horace Walpole's, and as
+such falling within the limits of the great man's kindly appreciation.
+Behind the hotel and well seen from the bridge, is the church, with its
+four corner pinnacles.
+
+At the time of the regatta, and for some weeks before, it is impossible
+to get accommodation in the town anywhere. Of all the river regattas
+Henley is by far the greatest, and comes even before the Boat Race in
+the estimation of some people. The races used to end at the bridge,
+and so the lawn of the Red Lion was in the position of a favoured
+grand-stand, but now the winning post is a quarter of a mile short of
+this, opposite the last villa on the left bank. The starting point is
+near Temple or Regatta Island, and the reach certainly makes a fine
+one for the purpose. The course is railed off by piles and booms,
+and all the hundreds of craft which gather to the scene have to cram
+themselves in somehow, so as not to cause obstruction. It is well not
+to select an outrigged boat for such an occasion. The best and most
+commonly seen craft are punts, worked by means of canoe paddles; for
+the punts are too solid to collapse easily in the pressure that may be
+put upon them, and the paddles, requiring little room to work, are less
+dangerous to one's neighbours than poles. But all kinds of skiffs and
+canoes appear, and some are even bold enough to tempt fate in Canadian
+canoes. On a brilliant day, when the light sparkles on the water,
+and there is enough wind to set the pennons and streamers flying, the
+scene is undeniably gay and pretty. All the luncheon tents on the green
+lawns near form a bright adjunct. Salter and Talboys, from Oxford, and
+other boat-builders, have landing-stages for the week, and the various
+clubs entertain largely. Chief among these is the Leander, whose fine
+club-house is on the right bank not far from the bridge; it also has
+a lawn further down. Not far off are the grand-stand, the Grosvenor,
+and the New Oxford and Cambridge Clubs, and one large lawn is taken as
+a clubland _pied-à-terre_ for the use of any members of London clubs
+in general. But beside these there are the Isthmian, Sports, and Bath
+Clubs on the left bank, and Phyllis Court, with smooth lawns; and
+then a long line of house-boats begins, continuing past Fawley Court
+on to Temple Island, with just one break for the lawns of the Court.
+Bands play, luncheons are consumed, flags flutter; everyone is gay and
+lively, and the scene is one that can hardly be described justly in
+mere word painting. At noon the first race is rowed. A bell is rung
+to clear the course. All sorts of boats and canoes have slipped out
+between the openings left for them, and they must hurry back and crush
+into the already tightly wedged mass; in a moment everything else is
+forgotten in the excitement of the special event. On the last evening
+of the regatta there is a grand firework display and a procession of
+illuminated boats; and, as may very well be guessed, the real success
+of Henley depends greatly upon the weather, which, even in the first
+week of July, when it takes place, is not always kind.
+
+  [Illustration: HENLEY REGATTA]
+
+As we have said, the surroundings of Henley are of a sort to attract
+attention, even without the additional glories of the regatta. Above
+the bridge is a long ait, and high on the right bank rise the woods of
+Park Place. Here the brilliant green of the beeches is diversified by
+the dark blue-greens of fir and cedar. The Place was once the residence
+of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the grounds were greatly improved by
+Field-Marshal Conway, a cousin of Horace Walpole. A long glade is cut
+through the wood. It runs under a bridge made of blocks of stone taken
+from Reading Abbey, and over this passes the road. From the river a
+peep of the striking vista can be had. Higher up again is Marsh Lock.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMBLEDEN]
+
+But the influence of Henley extends down as well as up the river.
+Phyllis and Fawley Courts both at one time belonged to Bulstrode
+Whitelocke. Fawley was wrecked very early in the civil wars; but
+Phyllis was strongly fortified, and some of the earthworks may still be
+seen. Henley was a Parliamentarian stronghold, and was annoyed by the
+neighbourhood of plucky little Greenlands at Hambleden, which, "for a
+little fort, was made very strong for the King."
+
+It belonged in the time of the Stuarts to Sir Cope d'Oyley, who was a
+staunch Royalist. When he died his eldest son held Greenlands for the
+King, and his house was battered by the cannon of the Parliamentarians
+from across the water. In the nineteenth century the Rt. Hon. W. H.
+Smith lived here, and his widow took from the village the title he
+himself never lived to enjoy. In Hambleden also there is a fine old
+manor house, and some of the clipped yews in the gardens of private
+houses are very remarkable. High above the place rise the woods
+near Fingest and Stokenchurch. The weirs at Hambleden are the most
+attractive on the river. Long curved bridges run across them from shore
+to shore, and are open to the public as a right-of-way. The curves
+strike off at different angles, and every moment the point of view
+changes. Whether we are passing over tumbling weirs, where the water
+glides across long mossy planes, or over sluice-gates where it bursts
+through, the enchantment is the same. Flags and tall yellow irises and
+the greenest of green tufts grow in the water and about the foundations
+of the bridges. Looking back at the mill, we see it reflected in the
+calm, deep water above the weirs as in a polished looking-glass. There
+are old cedars and red-roofed cottages, and plenty of Scotch firs and
+yew hedges in the background. Away up the river is the white mass of
+Greenlands with its pierced look-out tower.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE ROMANCE OF BISHAM AND HURLEY
+
+
+One of the greatest calumnies I ever heard expressed was the remark,
+"What, writing a book about the river! Why, the river is all alike,
+isn't it?" It is true that many reaches of the river are so exceedingly
+attractive that there is a danger of applying the adjectives "pretty"
+and "beautiful" and "charming" to many of them, but the sameness is
+not in the reaches, it is in the poverty of one's own language. What
+can be more different, for instance, than the river about Maidenhead
+and the river above Marlow? Yet both are delightful. The patrons of
+the Maidenhead part no doubt outnumber those of Bisham and Hurley,
+but that is because Maidenhead is one of the most accessible places on
+the river. The station at Marlow is on a branch, and many a weary hour
+must be spent waiting, if one is dependent on trains. This is the only
+station for Hurley and Bisham, unless we go on equally far in the other
+direction to Henley. However, this is one of the reasons why the Marlow
+section is preferable to the Maidenhead one--when you do get there.
+
+Great Marlow itself is a fairly important place for a riverside
+village. It is like a little country town, and though many new
+red-brick villas are springing up, it could not be called "residential"
+in the way that the word could be applied to Richmond, for instance.
+The ground plan is very simple. One wide street runs straight down to
+the bridge, and another street crosses it at the top. In the latter is
+to be found Marlow's chief literary association, for here still stands
+the cottage where Shelley lived. It is marked by a tablet, and is a
+low, long building, creeper-covered, and is now divided into several
+cottages. Here he wrote _The Revolt of Islam_ and _Alastor, or the
+Spirit of Solitude_.
+
+  [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF MARLOW]
+
+Down by the water side the whole aspect of Marlow is bright and open.
+It must be entirely different from the older Marlow, when the wooden
+bridge--which crossed the river lower down than the present one--and
+the old church were still in existence. At present, in the summer all
+is gay and clean looking. The suspension bridge, which is the best of
+the modern sort of bridges from an artist's point of view, is rather
+low over the water; standing on it one can look right down on to the
+green lawn of the Compleat Angler Hotel, and see the many-coloured
+muslins, the white flannels, the gay cushions, the awnings, and the
+sunshades, as if they were all a gigantic flower bed. The red hotel
+itself is from this point caught against the background of the Quarry
+Woods. Opposite to it is the very green strip of the churchyard
+coming right down to the edge of the river, and only separated from
+it by a low stone parapet: weeping willows fling their green spray
+out over the water, and behind is the church. It is undeniable that
+the materials used in the church are distinctly ugly, but the steeple
+goes some way towards redeeming it, and if it can be seen silhouetted,
+so that the materials are lost in dimness, and only the outlines are
+apparent, it becomes at once more than passable. Spires are not common
+in Thames-side churches, which are far more often capped by rather low
+battlemented towers.
+
+One of the glories of Marlow is its weir. It runs in a great
+semicircular sweep below the hotel; and, from a terrace there, one can
+look right down into the swirling water; or by coming up the backwater
+below in a boat, one can land at the hotel without facing the lock at
+all, a great advantage. The weir is in several planes, and the extended
+flood makes a perpetual wash, rising to a roar in winter, and dwindling
+to the merest tinkle in summer. Marlow is distinctly a summer place:
+its openness, its many trees, its wide reach of water, and the splash
+of the weir are all summer accompaniments; and in winter, when the wind
+sweeps down from the south, the unprotected side, and the water hisses
+and bubbles in its struggle to get down to lower levels, it is weird
+and melancholy.
+
+  [Illustration: QUARRY WOODS]
+
+The lock channel is fringed by several islets, and there is the usual
+mill, and a pretty wooden foot-bridge. Several of the most graceful of
+our trees, the dainty silver birch, stand near the mill. On some of the
+lower islands osiers grow, and there are one or two neat boat-houses.
+Wide meadows fringe the river below; and eastward--the bridge lies
+due north and south--are the famous Quarry Woods, held by many to be
+superior even to the Clieveden Woods. In some points they are, and
+not the least of these is that they are traversed by several roads,
+while those at Clieveden are kept strictly private. The woods are
+composed almost wholly of beech, the tree that loves the chalk, here
+so abundant, and only a few patches of larch may be seen in clumps
+among them. Beginning at the water's edge, rising above the curious
+white castle with harled walls called Quarry Hill, now to let, the
+woods continue in a straight line inland, getting further and further
+from the river as they go. It is difficult to say at what season of
+the year they are the most beautiful. In early spring, before the buds
+burst, if looked at in the mass, there is to be seen a kind of purple
+bloom made by the myriad buds, which is not found in any mixed woods.
+In spring the buds burst out into that tender indescribable green,
+like nothing else in the world, and the new-born leaves, suspended
+from their dark and almost invisible twigs, are for all the world like
+fronds of giant maidenhair. In the autumn the whole ground is one blaze
+of rich burnt-sienna, a carpet of leaves laid so industriously that not
+a speck of the bare brown earth appears; and from this rise the stems
+smooth and straight, lichen-covered every one, and thus transformed to
+brilliant emerald. Where the light strikes through the rapidly thinning
+branches, they have the very glow of the stones themselves. It is an
+enchanted wood, and at any moment a wizard might peep out from behind
+one of those magic trunks.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM CHURCH]
+
+The woods alone would be sufficient to give Marlow a high rank among
+river places. But all this is below the bridge, and above there is
+much to see. Not far off, on the right bank of the river, is Bisham,
+a tiny village with its church and abbey, now a dwelling house. The
+whole of Bisham is well worth lingering over. The cottages stand
+along the road in straggling fashion, old and new, and some of the
+gardens are bright with homely, sweet-scented flowers, among which,
+stocks and sweet-williams seem to be the favourites in the summer.
+One tumble-down row, rather off the road, is a mass of honeysuckle,
+and roses and ivy. The little church stands so near to the margin of
+the river that not a dozen yards separate its tower from the flood.
+A low moss-grown stone parapet edges the churchyard; over this elms
+dip their crooked boughs in a vain endeavour to touch the ripples as
+they spring playfully upward, driven by the wind. The little church
+has a square stone tower, wonderfully softened, so that it looks as if
+it must fray to powder at a touch. The brick battlements are a later
+addition, but the gentle river air has breathed on them so that they
+tone in harmoniously. Some of the windows are transition Norman. For
+ages the little church has stood there looking out across the water
+to the green flat meadows, and though it has been rebuilt and altered,
+there is much of it that is fairly ancient. The Hoby chapel was built
+about 1600, by the disconsolate widow of Sir Thomas Hoby, Ambassador
+to France; in it are several fine tombs, and on that of Sir Thomas, his
+lady, who was learned, as it was the fashion for great ladies to be in
+her time, wrote long inscriptions in Latin and Greek and English; the
+last of which ends up with:
+
+     "Give me, O God, a husband like unto Thomas,
+     Or else restore me to my husband Thomas!"
+
+Eight years later she married again, so that she had presumably found
+a husband "like unto Thomas." The Hoby window in this chapel, with
+its coat of arms, is especially interesting, and when the morning sun
+streams through in tones of purple and gold upon the worn stones, the
+effect is striking.
+
+There are one or two good brasses in the church, and a small monument
+to two children who are traditionally said to have owned Queen
+Elizabeth as mother!
+
+  [Illustration: HURLEY BACKWATER]
+
+From the reign of Edward VI. to 1780 the Hoby family held the abbey,
+and then it was bought by the ancestors of the present owner. It is
+a splendid group of masonry, and stands very effectively near the
+river. The tall tower, the oriel windows, and the red tints against
+the fine mass of greenery, make a very unusual picture. Bisham at one
+time belonged to the Knights Templars, who founded here a preceptory.
+But their Order was dissolved in the reign of Edward II. In 1338 the
+Earl of Salisbury established here a priory for Augustinian monks.
+This was twice surrendered, having been re-established after the first
+time. It is rather curious that the last prior, being permitted by
+the tenets of the Reformed Church to marry, became the father of five
+daughters, each of whom married a bishop; while he himself was Bishop
+of St. Davids. Poor Anne of Cleves was presented with the abbey by
+her sometime husband the King, who, however, died before the gift was
+confirmed. She was allowed to retain it, and from her it passed to
+the Hobys as aforesaid. The house has therefore a long history, and
+much of the fabric is very old. One of the oldest parts is the fine
+entrance gateway, dating from the reign of King Stephen. The great
+hall is supposed to have been at one time the church of the abbey. As
+three Earls of Salisbury, the great "King Maker" Warwick, and Edward
+Plantagenet, unhappy son of an unhappy father, were all buried in the
+abbey church, there is every reason to suppose that their bones lie
+beneath the pavement in the hall.
+
+During Queen Mary's reign Princess Elizabeth was a prisoner at
+Bisham under the charge of Sir Thomas Hoby. No doubt she "took water"
+frequently, and glided gently down with the stream; for people were
+accustomed to use their river when there were no roads to speak of.
+She must often have gazed upon the Quarry Woods in all their flaming
+splendour of autumn, but the Marlow she knew is so different from our
+Marlow we can hardly otherwise picture it. Several alterations were
+made at the abbey while Elizabeth was there, such as the construction
+of a dais, and a large window; small points, which show, however, that
+she was treated with all due respect. And she herself has left it on
+record that she received kindness and courtesy from her enforced hosts.
+These alterations were followed subsequently, in her own reign, by the
+rebuilding of much of the abbey, which was then made as we now see it.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM ABBEY]
+
+It is inevitable that such a historic house should have a tradition or
+two attached to it; and traditions are not lacking. It is said that
+the ghost of someone drowned in the river rises at times in the form
+of a mist, and spreads all across the channel, and woe be to anyone who
+attempts to penetrate it. Another tale is that the house is haunted by
+a certain Lady Hoby, who beat her little boy to death because he could
+not write without blots. She goes about wringing her hands and trying
+to cleanse them from indelible inkstains. The story has probably some
+foundation, for a number of copybooks of the age of Elizabeth were
+discovered behind one of the shutters during some later alterations,
+and one of these was deluged in every line with blots. We all know that
+great severity was exercised by parents with their children at that
+time; even Lady Jane Grey had to undergo "pinches, nips, and bobs,"
+until she thought herself "in hell," while with her parents, and the
+story, if not the ghost, may safely be accepted.
+
+Another tradition tells of an elopement. One of the Earls of Salisbury,
+about to set out for the Holy Land, sent for his daughter, who was a
+nun at the convent of Little Marlow, to bid him farewell. She came to
+him at Bisham, and while there was persuaded by one of the squires to
+elope with him. The pair crossed the water, but were almost immediately
+captured. The girl was presumably returned to her nunnery, where her
+escapade would give her something to think of during all the monotonous
+days that followed, and the man was imprisoned at Bisham. In attempting
+to make his escape he fell from a high window and was badly injured. It
+is said that he afterwards took the vows and became a monk.
+
+Temple Mill and House and Lock, which come next to Bisham up the river,
+recall the possession of the Knights Templars. This and Hurley Lock are
+the two nearest together of all on the river, and experienced oarsmen
+frequently catch the second one by making a dash on high days and
+holidays when there is likely to be a crowd and consequent delay.
+
+Interesting as Bisham is, it is rivalled by Hurley, with its remains of
+the fine old mansion Lady Place.
+
+In order to reach the lock one passes under a high wooden foot-bridge,
+"the marrow" to one further up. On the lock island is a large red-brick
+mill-house, near which stand one or two evergreens; while on an apple
+tree in the lock-keeper's garden is a fine growth of mistletoe, of
+which he is justly proud. Mistletoe grows a good deal in the valley
+of the Thames. It is not as a rule easily seen, owing to the foliage
+of the trees on which it grows; but in the winter, across the frozen
+meadows, against the cold white sky, it may be seen in great tufts that
+look like giant nests.
+
+It is supposed that the seeds of the mistletoe in order to become
+fruitful must pass through the body of the missel thrush, which is
+extremely partial to them, and seems to be almost the only bird that
+will touch them, hence its name; and if, as is conjectured, the seeds
+cannot germinate without this process, we have the phenomenon of an
+animal forming the "host" for a vegetable parasite.
+
+Beyond the lock there is a sheltered channel with the quaintest
+old-world flavour about it, a flavour which grows yearly more and
+more difficult to find as it melts away before the onward sweep of
+the advertising age. A strip of green turf is lined by an old brick
+wall with lichen and moss growing on its coping, so that when the sun
+catches it, it is like a ribbon of gold. Tall gate piers, crowned by
+stone balls, frame a bit of the excellently kept velvet lawns of Lady
+Place. There are many of these old piers and balls, and nearly all are
+overgrown with roses.
+
+     Look to the blowing rose about us--'Lo,
+     Laughing,' she says, 'into the world I blow,
+     At once the silken tassel of my purse
+     Tear, and its treasures on the garden throw.'
+                    --_Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam._
+
+The splendid cedars, themselves a guarantee of age that no modern Midas
+can summon to deck the grounds of his new mansion; the tinkle of a
+cowbell from the meadow near; and the Decorated windows of Lady Place
+peering over the wall; all add to the impression made by the whole.
+The abbey was founded in 1086 for Benedictine monks. It is interesting
+to note what a very great attraction water always held for monks;
+doubtless the necessity for Friday fish was one reason for this; but
+one likes to think that they also loved the river for its own sake,
+and that they found in the current the same sort of fascination which
+it holds for us now. It may be also that it was the constant gliding
+of the water, an emblem of their own smoothly running lives, that drew
+them so strongly:
+
+     Glide gently, thus for ever glide,
+       O Thames! that other bards may see
+     As lovely visions by thy side
+       As now, fair river! come to me.
+     O glide, fair stream, for ever so,
+       Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
+     Till all our minds for ever flow
+       As thy deep waters now are flowing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     How calm! how still! the only sound,
+       The dripping of the oar suspended!
+     The evening darkness gathers round
+       By virtue's holiest powers attended.
+                            --_Wordsworth._
+
+Of this abbey not much remains. The crypt is isolated, standing away
+from the remainder of the buildings, and anyone may penetrate into
+it. The old moat is excellently well preserved, and its circuit shows
+that the abbey premises must have extended over at least five acres of
+ground. The church, which is now the parish church, is an odd little
+building. It has a single aisle, and the original work is Norman,
+though it has been much modernised. It forms part of a courtyard or
+quadrangle, and faces a large, barn-like structure, which was the
+refectory; in parts this is also Norman, and in it are the Decorated
+windows. The materials used in the construction of this refectory
+are most curious--brick, chalk, flint, any sort of rubble, all mixed
+together, and very solid. The stable is built in the same way, and it
+is amazing that such heterogeneous stuff should have stood the test of
+time. Not far off also is a dove-house of a very ancient pattern. The
+interior, with its cavernous gloom and the numerous holes in the chalk
+for the birds to nest in, is well worth looking into. Indeed, the whole
+of this side of the buildings--away from the river--is worth landing to
+see. It is all within a very few yards, and once past the modern house
+we find the little church with its old-fashioned wooden tower, the
+green with its well-grown elms, and the dove-house and stable, which
+combine to form a very unusual scene altogether.
+
+Sir Richard Lovelace, created Baron Lovelace by Charles I., built
+Lady Place on the site of the abbey in 1600. He was a relative of the
+Cavalier poet of the same name.
+
+In Macaulay's history there is an account of Lady Place, given
+graphically as he well knew how. He is speaking of a descendant of the
+founder, and he says:
+
+"His mansion, built by his ancestors out of the spoils of the Spanish
+galleons from the Indies, rose on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in
+that beautiful valley, through which the Thames, not yet defiled by the
+precincts of a great capital, nor rising and falling with the flow and
+ebb of the sea, rolls under woods of beech round the gentle hills of
+Berkshire. Beneath the stately saloon, adorned by Italian pencils, was
+a subterraneous vault in which the bones of ancient monks had sometimes
+been found."
+
+The third Lord Lovelace plotted for the coming of William of Orange,
+and in the crypt many a secret meeting was held to arrange the details.
+It is said that the actual invitation which brought the Dutchman over
+was signed in this low, dark vault.
+
+Lady Place later belonged to a brother of Admiral Kempenfelt, who went
+down with the _Royal George_.
+
+Certain places are frequently associated with certain seasons of the
+year, and to my mind at Hurley it is always summer. The smell of the
+new mown hay on the long island between the lock channel and part of
+the main stream, the faint, delicate scent of dog-roses, and all the
+other scents that load the summer air, seem to linger for ever in this
+sheltered place. The backwater running up on the other side of this
+island to the weir is a very enticing one. Thirsty plants dip their
+pretty heads to drink of the water that comes swirling from the weir
+like frosted glass, and trees of all sorts--ash, elm, horse-chestnut,
+and the ubiquitous willows and poplars--lean over the water in crooked
+elbows, giving a sweet shade and a delicious coolness. The weir is a
+long one, broken by islands into three parts. Another long island is
+parallel to the first one. Indeed, Hurley is a complicated place, and
+one that is ever new. The swans certainly appreciate it. Drayton says
+"Our flood's queen, Thames, with ships and swans is crowned." I don't
+know about the ships; nothing very large can get above Molesey Lock;
+but as for the swans they abound, and especially about here.
+
+The swans on the river belong to the Crown, the Vintners' and the
+Dyers' Companies. The grant of this privilege to the companies goes
+back so far that it is lost in the mists of antiquity. The Crown is
+far the largest holder, but as the numbers of swans, of course, vary
+from year to year, it is difficult to form an estimate of the total.
+The Vintners, who come next, own perhaps 150. They preserve only those
+that live below Marsh Lock, with the exception of a few black ones,
+which, contrary to expectation, have thriven very well, and find a
+happy hunting ground about Goring and Moulsford. The system of marking,
+called swan-upping, has been modified of late years, as a protest was
+made against it on the ground of cruelty. Before that time the Vintners
+marked their swans with a large V right across the upper mandible,
+but now they give only two little nicks, one on each side. From this
+comes the well-known sign of old yards and public-houses, the Swan
+with Two Necks, a corruption of nicks! The Dyers have a nick on one
+side only. The origin and variety of swan marks is a curious subject.
+The process of swan-upping, or as it is often incorrectly called,
+swan-hopping, gives an occasion for a pleasant excursion, as it occurs
+about a fortnight before the August Bank-Holiday, in the very height
+of the summer. Only the birds of the current year are done, as the
+marks generally last for life, and though they are accustomed to see
+too many people to fear mankind, the handling naturally frightens them.
+The swans, as a rule, find their own living, grubbing about in the
+banks and on the river bottom, and they are also occasionally fed from
+house-boats and pleasure boats, but in winter sometimes they are hard
+put to it, and provision has to be made by their owners.
+
+A swan exercises on me something of the same fascination that a camel
+does; though far be it from me to compare the two in grace. They are
+both full of character, and both preserve a strictly critical attitude
+toward the human race. In the case of the swan, nature has perhaps
+dealt unfairly with him, for the curious little black cap, at the
+junction of bill and head, technically known as the "berry," gives
+him a fixed expression which he has no power to alter, even if he
+felt beaming with good humour. As it is, he is condemned to go through
+life as if he momentarily expected an attack upon his dignity and was
+prepared to repel it. When the sun is shining and the swan dips his
+long neck in the water and flings it upon his shoulders, the large,
+glistening drops, running together on the oily surface, lie like a
+necklet of diamonds in the hollow of his back.
+
+The irises and bur-reeds line the low banks above the weir, and a line
+of short black poplars give some shade.
+
+     And on by many a level mead,
+     And shadowing bluffs that made the banks,
+     We glided, winding under ranks
+     Of iris and the golden reed.
+                                --_Tennyson._
+
+I have said that Hurley is a summer place, and so it is; but there is
+one spring beauty which those who know it only in summer must for ever
+miss. On the slopes where the heights on the northern side fold into
+one another there is a little pillared temple, and about and around it
+some lavish and generous person has planted crocuses in big battalions,
+and they lie there in the sun, royal in purple and gold, and quite as
+rich in tint as those lights shining through the stained glass window
+at Bisham we saw a while ago.
+
+Above the next stretch of the river stands the great modern palace of
+Danesfield, which is built of chalk, one would imagine a singularly
+unlasting material. Though hidden by trees from directly beneath,
+from a distance it is very noticeable, and the white walls gleam out
+beneath the red tiles in a way that cannot be overlooked. It is well
+thus to have used local material, for local it is, as can be seen by
+the great chalk cliffs that line the river side; and the idea is daring
+and original. The interior fittings are worthy of any palace, and no
+pains and cost has been spared. It is a worthy object to build a house
+which shall rank with those bygone mansions on which their owners
+so lovingly lavished their thought and time, and which have also so
+frequently disappeared. The name arises from the fact of there having
+been a Danish camp in the neighbourhood, and the place is still pointed
+out. After this there is rather a flat bit of meadow land, fringed
+with sedge and many a gay plant, growing gallantly in blue and mauve.
+We pass two reedy islands opposite a line of little houses called
+Frogmill, and then we see Medmenham Abbey, which looks more imposing
+than it is, being at the best a carefully composed ruin. However,
+sometimes these compositions, if artistically done, are worth having,
+and Medmenham has memories behind it. It was once a real abbey, founded
+for Cistercian monks in 1200. But after the Dissolution the buildings
+fell into ruin. Later they became the headquarters of the daring and
+impious club known as the "Hell Fire" Club, of which one of the leading
+spirits was Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards Lord Le Despencer, the
+same who built the church at West Wycombe, only a few miles away as
+the crow flies. This is a church where the pulpit and reading desk
+are armchairs; the latter stands on a chest of drawers, which, being
+pulled out, serve as steps. On the tower of the church an immense ball
+like a gigantic football is tethered by chains. This can contain twelve
+people, and the mad lord held meetings here with his friends. The motto
+of his club was _Fay ce que voudras_, and the members went as near to
+devil worship as they dared. Once while they were at Medmenham someone
+let a huge ape down the chimney, when the revellers, worked up to a
+frantic pitch of excitement and more than half drunk, thought that his
+Satanic majesty had paid them a visit in good earnest. From such orgies
+Medmenham has long been free, and it is now a respectable dwelling
+house with a nice bit of cloister over which ivy hangs in folds, and to
+which the word "picturesque" may quite fitly be applied.
+
+There is a ferry over the river at Medmenham, and, not far off, the old
+Abbey Hotel, in which numbers of artists stay. Up the green lane is a
+curious old house, once the residence of Sir John Borlase, whom Charles
+II. used to visit, riding here on horseback, accompanied frequently, so
+it is said, by Nell Gwynne. Standing by the high road, which here is
+not half a mile from the river, is a quaint little church with wooden
+porch and shady evergreens, a very model of what a tiny village church
+should be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BOULTER'S LOCK AND MAIDENHEAD
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Human beings are by nature sociable; and to state that a crowd of
+well-dressed people will be at a certain point of the river at a
+particular date, is to ensure that everyone else who possibly can
+will be there too--only better dressed. It would seem to the ordinary
+ungregarious bachelor that Boulter's Lock, the Sunday after Ascot,
+would be a place to avoid, for there will be the necessity of waiting
+for hours on a river--grilling in the sun if the day be fine, or
+shivering if the day be cloudy; for the English climate never lacks
+the spice of uncertainty, and at this season of the year it is more
+capricious than usual. The middle of June is proverbially a time of
+roses, but it is just as likely to be a time for chills, at least so
+says the pessimist. To the optimist and he who "loves his fellow-men,"
+Boulter's Lock, on this one day of the year, reveals itself to memory
+as a day of delight and flashing colour; he has only to shut his
+eyes to recall a scene as brilliant as a flower garden. Here, close
+to him, lies a long, flat-bottomed punt, with gay cushions on which
+lean two fair girls, their faces toned to a pink glow by the sun's
+rays penetrating gently through their rose-pink sunshades. Their
+large flapping hats are tied under their chins with huge bows of
+ribbon as pink as their cheeks; their soft, white muslin dresses lie
+in folds and frills and heaps bewildering to contemplate; they are
+exactly, exasperatingly, absurdly alike. "How can a woman be such an
+idiot as to duplicate her charms?" the onlooker exclaims to himself;
+but he looks again. Dark eyes dancing as merrily as the ripples on
+the breeze-stirred water; chatter and laugh; and babble as soft and
+meaningless as the gurgle of the little tributary stream; textures of
+fabric as delicate as the flowers peeping over the grey stone walls
+from the lock-keeper's garden above; dainty arms bare to the elbow;
+Japanese umbrellas jewelled in the sunlight; striped awnings, as gay
+as Joseph's coat, flapping softly; the long low outlines of craft
+of every kind, skiff and dingey and canoe, from the smoothly gliding
+little electric launch to the heavy clinker-built boat on hire for its
+tenth season; these items make up a scene quite unlike anything else.
+For half a mile below the lock you could step across a solid bridge of
+boats over half the river. Some years ago, the homely serge and sailor
+straw-hat were considered the proper river costume; now, the straw is
+worn only by men, whose severe flannels show little alteration from
+year to year, for men are much more conservative in sartorial matters
+than women. And every tantalising muslin, lace, and flower-decked hat
+is considered suitable for a woman on the river. The more fantastic
+and enormous, the more gauzy and lace-trimmed, the better. And, as her
+grandmother did, the young girl dresses in the thinnest of muslins and
+lawns, wears an open neck in the day time, and elbow sleeves.
+
+  [Illustration: BOULTER'S LOCK, ASCOT SUNDAY]
+
+In pushing forward between the open lock-gates into the lock, a slender
+canoe fits into an almost impossible space between the electric launch
+and the punt. A heavily weighted boatload, where four elderly women
+are rowed by one heated man, falls foul of its neighbour and has to be
+righted. The chatter is silenced for a moment, but rises again when
+the craft are fitted, like the pieces in an old fashioned puzzle,
+inside the green and slimy walls, which throw a deep shadow on one
+side. Then the gates are shut, and a wash and gurgle of water begins,
+delightfully cool to hear. A nervous girl gives a little shriek and
+jumps so that every boat is set a-rocking, as all are touching. Others
+laugh. It is impossible to upset, for there is no room. The whole
+gently swaying mass rises on the breast of the rising water up out of
+the shadow into the sunlight; into the view of the waiting crowds on
+the tow-path. Colours flash out once more; an excited little dog rushes
+yapping from stem to stern of his boat, and finally, with a vigorous
+jump, lands on the lock-keeper's garden, where there is a profusion of
+sweet old-fashioned flowers, and such roses as grow nowhere but by the
+river-side. Then, to the accompaniment of the dog's frantic barks, the
+massive gates creak backward on their hinges, and we ride forward into
+the wide expanse of the sparkling river. Only a few boats await the
+opening of the lock here, for, at this time of day, more are going up
+than coming down. But behind, away below the lock, a chaotic flotilla
+has once more collected, and may have to wait for hours, for it is
+rather like the process of ladling the river up in a tablespoon.
+
+  [Illustration: BELOW BOULTER'S LOCK]
+
+This reach at Maidenhead, is one of the most popular on the river. On
+each side of the wide stone bridge half a mile below the lock, Taplow
+and Maidenhead face one another. But though popular and easy of access,
+being on the Great Western Railway, which runs quick trains at frequent
+intervals, both stations are a little distance from the river. The
+name Maidenhead is derived from Maiden-hithe, or wharf, as a large
+wharf for wood at one time stood near the bridge. The bridge itself,
+though a modern fabric, is of ancient lineage, for we know that in
+1352 a guild was formed for the purpose of keeping it in repair. It
+may be remembered that bridges at that time were considered works of
+charity, and competed with masses and alms as a means of doing good
+posthumously.
+
+     Another blissed besines is brigges to make,
+       That there the pepul may not passe [_die_] after great
+     showres,
+     Dole it is to drawe a deed body oute of a lake,
+       That was fulled in a fount-stoon, and a felow of ours.
+
+And in _Piers Plowman_:
+
+     Therewith to build hospitals, helping the sick,
+     Or roads that are rotten full rightly repair,
+     Or bridges, when broken, to build up anew.
+
+  [Illustration: MAIDENHEAD]
+
+The main road between London and Bath, a well-known coaching road,
+runs this way, and a very good road it is. The railway bridge crosses
+below the road, but it is of brick with wide arches, and is by no
+means unsightly. Between the two is the River-side club, where a band
+plays on the smooth green lawn in the season, and the smartest of
+smart costumes are the rule. Near here also is Bond's boat-house and a
+willow-grown islet. There are numbers of steps and railings and landing
+stages, all painted white, and these give a certain lightness to the
+scene. Close by the bridge are several hotels, of which the oldest
+established is Skindle's, low-lying and creeper-covered, on the Taplow
+side. Boats for hire line the banks everywhere, for many cater for the
+wants of the butterfly visitor, out of whom enough must be taken in the
+season to carry the establishments on through the winter; and the river
+visitor is essentially a butterfly. Few know the charms of the Thames
+in the winter, when, in an east and west stretch, the glowing red ball
+of the sun sinks behind dun banks of mist; when the trees are leafless,
+and the skeleton branches are outlined against a pale clear sky; when
+a touch of frost is in the air, and the river glides so stilly that it
+almost seems asleep.
+
+     A bitter day, that early sank
+     Behind a purple frosty bank
+     Of vapour, leaving night forlorn.
+                         --_Tennyson._
+
+The visitor goes to the river in the summer because of its coolness,
+and though the coolness is ofttimes delusive, being in appearance
+rather than reality, lying in the sight of the sparkles and the sound
+of the ripples, yet it is a fine make-believe. Such river-side hotels
+as cater for the season are content to lie dormant all the chill
+long winter, until, with the breath of early spring, the celandines
+raise their polished golden faces and the lords and ladies stud the
+hedgerows. Then a few adventurous beings come down on the first fine
+days, like the early swallows, a portent that summer is at hand; and
+these lucky people have the river largely to themselves, and do not
+find lovers in every attractive backwater; and if they have to row to
+keep themselves warm, they gain an increase of vigour that no burning
+summer sun can give.
+
+The view from Maidenhead Bridge northwards--for here the river runs due
+south--is spoilt by the gasometers which rise over the willow-covered
+islets. But once past Boulter's Lock, the scenery improves with every
+hundred yards. Close by the lock itself is Ray Mead Hotel, where the
+deep carmine-tinted geraniums grow in quantities. Sometimes as many
+as three hundred people are supplied with tea at the hotel on a fine
+summer afternoon, while over a thousand pass through the lock. Above
+Boulter's is a secluded backwater formed by the stream of a mill, and
+this is one of the pleasantest retreats in the neighbourhood.
+
+     ... In my boat I lie
+     Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer heats.
+                              --_Matthew Arnold._
+
+Above the river, on the east, rise the cliff-like heights of Clieveden,
+wooded to their summits, and seen magnificently by reason of the curve
+at the end of the reach, which gives their full sweep at one glance.
+The cliff rises to a height of 140 feet, but the thickness of the
+trees, and their own height towering above, make it look much higher.
+The trees are of all kinds, oak and beech, chestnut and ash, and many a
+dark evergreen; while here and there a Lombardy poplar shoots up like a
+straight line, and the wild clematis throws its shawls of greenery from
+tree to tree, giving the whole the appearance of a tropical forest.
+Seen in early spring, when the tender green of the beeches and the
+bursting gummy buds of the horse-chestnut are shedding a veil over the
+fretwork of twig and bough, they are glorious enough; but in autumn,
+when orange and russet break out in all directions, they are, perhaps,
+more imposing. River people do not, as a rule, see them at their
+best, for before that touch of frost has come which sends a flame of
+crimson over the maples, and heightens the orange of the beeches, the
+fairweather boatsman has fled to his fireside.
+
+At one point we catch a glimpse of Clieveden itself, standing high and
+facing downstream. Evelyn says in his diary:
+
+     I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood,
+     and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, buildings of
+     extraordinary expense.... The stande, somewhat like Frascati
+     as to its front, and on the platform is a circular view to
+     the utmost verge of the horizon, which, with the serpenting
+     of the Thames, is admirable.... But the land all about
+     wretchedly barren, and producing nothing but fern.
+
+The taste of those days differed from ours; now we should prefer to see
+an expanse of ferns to a field of potatoes.
+
+The first great mansion here was built by "Steenie," the Duke of
+Buckingham, King Charles's favourite. He was a villain, even for a time
+of slack morals, and the chief association connected with his house
+is that he brought here a comrade in every way suited to him, in the
+person of the Countess of Shrewsbury, who stood by, dressed as a page,
+holding his horse, while he killed her husband in a duel. The house was
+twice burnt down; the present one was built about the middle of the
+nineteenth century, and belongs to Mr. Astor. A pleasanter memory is
+that of the poet Thomson, whose masque _Alfred_ was acted here in 1740,
+on the birthday of Princess Augusta. This contained, as a kernel, the
+song "Rule Britannia," destined to survive long after its husk had been
+forgotten.
+
+Opposite Clieveden the ground is low lying, and, to use Evelyn's word,
+the river "serpents" a good deal. There are several islands, on one of
+which, called Formosa, there is a house. There are several side-streams
+crossed by footbridges, and in one of these is the lock. The main
+stream continues in a great sweep, and is guarded by two weirs. The
+fishing here is very popular, and though it belongs to Lord Boston,
+permission to fish may be obtained by writing beforehand. Hedsor Church
+stands well on high ground near; and with its bosky foliage and many
+islets, the river here is not a bad place in which to idle away many an
+hour.
+
+The hotel at Cookham is right down on the water's edge, and from its
+lawn a charming view is gained of the main stream breaking into its
+many channels, with the wooded island of Formosa in the middle. All
+about here is a favourite place for anglers, and many a punt is moored
+across stream with its ridiculous chairs on which sit two or three
+solemn elderly men, content to sit, and sit, and watch the dull brown
+water rush beneath for hour after hour, without once raising their eyes
+to see the green of the witching trees, or listening to the hum of the
+joyous life around them. To an onlooker they appear to be quaffing the
+flattest part of the sport, having missed all its head and froth. How
+different the punt fisher's day from that of the man who starts off
+up-stream, through many a low-lying willow-fringed meadow, who reaches
+over to land his fly in the deep brown pool into which the stream
+falls. Punt fishing, like loch fishing, must have its fascinations, or
+few would do it, but it lacks all the sparkle expressed in such a song
+as that of Walton's, for instance:
+
+     In a morning, up we rise,
+         Ere Aurora's peeping,
+     Drink a cup to wash our eyes,
+     Leave the sluggard sleeping.
+         Then we go
+         To and fro,
+         With our knacks
+         At our backs,
+         To such streams
+         As the Thames,
+       If we have the leisure.
+
+The less said about the rhyme the better, but this has the swing and
+lilt of the true feeling!
+
+From Cookham Bridge we can see the gaily covered lawn of the hotel,
+where a perfect flotilla of craft is anchored, while the owners have
+tea or more cooling drinks; and turning we can view the wide expanse
+of Bourne End, where the races of the Upper Thames Sailing Club are
+held all the summer, and where, about the end of June, when the great
+regatta is held, the surface of the water is dotted with swan-like
+boats.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WINDSOR AND ETON
+
+
+However disappointed a foreign monarch, on his first visit to England,
+may be with the drab hideousness of Buckingham Palace, he cannot but
+confess that in Windsor Castle we have a dwelling meet even for the
+King of England. Both architecturally and by reason of its age, Windsor
+is a truly royal palace. Its history is linked with that of our kings
+until its very stones proclaim the annals of our country. Ages ago,
+Edward the Confessor took a fancy to this quiet place by the Thames,
+and he gave it to his beloved monks of Westminster. William I. saw what
+a splendid shooting lodge might be built in the midst of the wild and
+open country abounding in game, and after having first one shooting
+lodge and then another in the neighbourhood, he acquired the high
+outstanding boss or knob of chalk on which the castle stands, and built
+thereon a residence for himself. His son, Henry I., altered it greatly;
+and succeeding kings and queens have rarely been content to leave it
+without an alteration or addition as their mark. Windsor has ever been
+a favourite with royalty. It has held its own while Westminster and
+Whitehall and Greenwich utterly vanished; while the Tower and Hampton
+have ceased to be royal dwellings; and it is still pre-eminently the
+royal castle. Certain kings, such as William III., have sometimes
+preferred other places for a while, but Windsor has satisfied alike the
+dignity of Edward III. and the homeliness of George III.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE]
+
+The situation is superb. The castle stands high above the river, which
+here curves, so as to show off its irregular outlines to the greatest
+advantage. They rise in a series of rough levels to the mighty Round
+Tower, the crown of the whole, which is massive enough to dominate,
+but not sufficiently high to dwarf the rest. Turrets, battlements,
+and smaller towers serve only to emphasize the dignity of this central
+keep. It was built in the time of Edward III., and strangely enough,
+though altered and heightened in that worst period of architectural
+taste, the reign of George IV., it was not spoiled; and even to a child
+proclaims something of the grandeur one naturally associates with it.
+
+As seen from the bridge the whole of the north range can be followed
+by the eye, from the Prince of Wales's Tower, facing the east terrace,
+to the Curfew Tower on the west. Intermediately there are the State
+apartments, and the Norman gateway, over which is the Library. These
+overlook the north terrace--open to the public at all hours from
+sunrise to sunset.
+
+The view from this terrace is very fine, stretching away to Maidenhead,
+and at times, on days of cloud and shadow, the light-coloured walls of
+Clieveden stand out suddenly, caught by a passing gleam, amid a forest
+of green trees. We can look down on the whole of Eton--the church with
+its tall spire; the buttresses and pinnacles of the chapel standing up
+white against an indigo background; the red and blue roofs piled this
+way and that; and the green playing fields girdled by the swift river.
+It was on the castle terrace that George III. used to walk with all his
+family, except the erring eldest, when he took those tiresome parades
+which Miss Burney describes with so much life-like detail.
+
+The Chapel cannot be seen from the river, as it is in the lower ward
+behind the canons' houses, and is not sufficiently high to rise well
+above them.
+
+It would be of little use to attempt to tell stories of Windsor, for
+its history belongs to the history of England and not to the river
+Thames; yet there is one memory which may be noted. Young James Stuart
+of Scotland had been sent by his father, Robert III., to France after
+the death of his elder brother, the wild Duke of Rothesay, nominally
+for education, but in reality for safe keeping. The boy was captured by
+the English while on the sea and brought as a prisoner to England. He
+was then only about ten or twelve years old. He was treated with every
+consideration, and educated so worthily that he became afterwards one
+of the best of all the Scottish kings. He was at first in the Tower
+and elsewhere, but when he reached young manhood he was brought to
+Windsor, where he had apartments allotted to him. Though he was allowed
+to follow the chase and pursue the amusements of his time, he was yet
+a prisoner, and the sad opening stanzas of his great poem, the _Kingis
+Quair_, speak the melancholy he often felt. This poem was composed at
+Windsor, and its pensiveness changes after the day when, looking down
+from his window in the castle, the youth saw walking in the garden Joan
+Beaufort, whom he afterwards made his wife:
+
+     And therewith cast I down mine eye again,
+     Where as I saw, walking under the tower,
+     The fairest or the freshest young flower
+     That ever I saw methought before that hour.
+
+His visions further on in the poem must have been coloured more or less
+by what he daily saw before him, and we may credit to the Thames the
+flowing lines:
+
+     Where in a lusty plain took I my way,
+     Along a river pleasant to behold,
+     Embroidered all with fresh flowers gay,
+     Where, through the gravel, bright as any gold,
+     The crystal water ran so clear and cold.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR]
+
+Windsor should be seen in sunshine and heat, when black shadows set off
+the towering walls, and all the uneven houses and crooked streets are
+pieced in light and shade. Then it is exceedingly like a foreign town
+in its details; and many people who travel miles to admire Chinon, and
+others of its class, would do well to visit Windsor first.
+
+The town has always been subordinate to the castle, for it was the
+castle that caused the town to spring up, as there were always numbers
+of artificers, attendants, grooms, workmen and others needed for the
+service of the Court. In the fourteenth century it was reckoned that
+the Court employed an army of 20,000 of such people. These would all
+have to be housed somehow, and the nearer the protection of the castle
+the better; hence the town on the slopes.
+
+The Home Park, in which is the mausoleum, borders the river. It is
+separated by a road from the Great Park, made for hunting. Pope's poem
+on "Windsor Forest" is not particularly beautiful; perhaps the best
+descriptive lines are those that follow:
+
+     There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades,
+     Thin trees arise that shun each others shades:
+     Here in full light the russet plains extend;
+     There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills ascend.
+
+Windsor Park is introduced by Shakspeare as the scene of some of
+Falstaff's escapades, an honour shared by the neat, bright village of
+Datchet, opposite. Datchet is a model village grouped about a green,
+and the houses are softened by all the usual creepers and bushes: we
+see roses, jasmine, laurustinus, magnolia, and ampelopsis at every
+turn. Above and below Datchet this clean neatness continues.
+
+The Victoria and Albert bridges are severe, and the weir and the great
+bow of the channel, which is cut by the lock-stream, have no particular
+characteristics. The whole neighbourhood has rather the air of holding
+itself on its best behaviour, as though royalty might any moment appear
+upon the scene. As might be expected, the scenery is rather like the
+poetry it inspired. Here is Sir John Denham's effusion about Coopers
+Hill:
+
+     My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
+     Where Thames, among the wanton valleys strays:
+     Thames, the most loved of all the Ocean's sons
+     By his old sire, to his embraces runs:
+       Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
+       Like mortal life to meet eternity.
+
+There is a pretty reach below Old Windsor, where willows and poplars
+are massed effectively. It is in places like this, where they grow
+abundantly, that the beautiful tawny colour which willows assume in the
+spring, just before bursting into leaf, can be best seen.
+
+The Bells of Ouseley stands at a bend, and with its tinted walls
+and the old elm tree growing close to the entrance, is a typical
+old-English Inn. The road to Staines passes by the water's edge, and
+the guide-post is less reticent than guide-posts are wont to be, for it
+tells us this is the "Way to Staines, except at high-water."
+
+As we pass softly back up the current to Eton, we think how often
+in this reach the incomparable Izaak and his friend Sir Henry Wotton
+fished together.
+
+     I sat down under a willow tree by the water side ... for
+     I could there sit quietly, and, looking on the water, see
+     some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others
+     leaping at flies of several shapes and colours; ... looking
+     down the meadows, could see here a boy gathering lilies
+     and ladysmocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeys and
+     cowslips.
+
+Wotton built a fishing box a mile below the college, from which he and
+Walton often sallied forth during the fifteen years he was provost of
+Eton, and to his rod many a "jealous trout that low did lie, rose at a
+well dissembled fly," as he himself has left on record.
+
+     Ye distant spires, ye antique towers
+       That crown the wat'ry glade,
+     Where grateful Science still adores
+       Her Henry's holy shade;
+     And ye, that from the stately brow
+     Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below
+     Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
+     Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among
+     Wanders the hoary Thames along
+       His silver-winding way.
+                                        --_Gray._
+
+In rounding the great sweep of the river below the London and South
+Western railway bridge, we catch at once the pinnacles of Eton
+chapel--most glorious of chapels--and see the green playing fields.
+
+The long tree-covered island of Romney, on one side of which lies the
+lock, ends in a terrible "snout," strengthened by "camp-shedding." This
+point is locally known as the "Cobbler," and is a source of peril to
+many an inexperienced boatman.
+
+  [Illustration: ETON CHAPEL FROM THE FIELDS]
+
+The bridge over the river can, unfortunately, hardly be called a good
+feature in the landscape--it is as ugly as a railway bridge! Just above
+it is a row of boat-houses, and then follows the Brocas, the famous
+meadow. Above the bridge is a tiny islet which serves as an objective
+in the Fourth of June procession of boats. The boats come down and
+round the island, and once more returning, pass under the bridge to the
+lock, having made a sort of spiral. Nearly all the Eton races are rowed
+in this strip of the river, though, of course, Henley Regatta is the
+greatest event in the boating calendar. A small string of islands faces
+some little public gardens, and away northward winds the Great Western
+Railway on a series of small arches which carry it over the marshy
+ground, no doubt at one time under water.
+
+Beyond the line is a small backwater known as Cuckoo weir, the bathing
+place of the lower boys. Here the swimming trials take place, when
+a set of trembling pink youngsters stand in a punt ready to take a
+graceful header, or, from sheer nervousness, to fall with an ugly flop
+smack upon the water and be disqualified for the time being!
+
+The bathing place of the upper boys, called by the dignified title of
+Athens, is further up in the main river, near the curious island on
+which is Windsor racecourse. The river winds giddily in and out between
+the end of this island and Upper and Lower Hope, which lie between it
+and Cuckoo weir. A mill stands at the end of the long narrow stream
+that separates the racecourse from the mainland, and on the other side
+of the island is Boveney Lock. The quaint old chapel stands amid trees
+further up.
+
+Above the island was once Surley Hall, a favourite resort of the
+Etonians, but it is now pulled down, and Monkey Island is the place
+to go to on half-holidays. Monkey Island is a good way up, and is the
+third of a row of islands. The little one below it, called Queen's
+ait, now belongs to the Eton boys, who have built a small cottage on
+it. Monkey Island itself is a curious and attractive place, except
+when the launches come up from Windsor on Saturdays, bringing hundreds
+of people, who sit about at little tables on the green sward under
+the famous walnut trees, and call for refreshments. There is a large
+pavilion, part boat-house, which belongs to the Eton boys, where they
+can get tea served without mingling with the townspeople. Near it is
+a quaint little temple. This, as well as the house, now the hotel,
+was built by the third Duke of Marlborough, a man of curious taste.
+The hall in the hotel is painted all round with the figures of monkeys
+engaged in various sports and pastimes. There is a broad frieze which
+appears to have been executed in water colours on plaster; the ceiling
+is likewise painted, but in rather a different style. The monkeys
+are a good size, and attract a vast crowd of visitors. The pretty
+verandah round the hotel redeems its appearance externally. Inside it
+has at once all the attractions and disadvantages of an old house--low
+ceilings, very small rooms; but on the other hand there are windings
+and twistings, crooked passages and odd corners, that delight the heart
+of those to whom machine-made houses are an abomination. The duke's
+bedroom is shown, and is as queerly shaped a room as ever mortal man
+conceived. Monkey Island is being embanked with the precious gravel
+dredged from the bed of the Thames, and, though no doubt a necessary
+precaution, as the river insidiously breaks off what it can, the
+operation is not a beautiful one. The island is very proud of its
+walnut trees, and well it may be, for they are a great change after
+the ubiquitous willows, and their gnarled stems and fine shady leaves
+are just the right element in such a scene as a gay lawn covered with
+summer folk in summer dresses.
+
+From Monkey Island the little church tower of Bray can be seen, but
+before reaching it Bray Lock has to be negotiated, and here are a long
+sinuous osier-covered ait and a mill, making, as usual, a convenient
+backwater.
+
+Bray is truly a charming place, and one could find it in one's heart
+to forgive the vicar who turned his coat to keep his vicarage. The
+real man lived in the reign of Henry VIII. and his successors, and
+changed his religious practices in conformity with those of the
+sovereign for the time being, turning from Roman Catholic to Reformed
+Church, Reformed to Roman Catholic, and back once more with ease
+and pliability. In the ballad he is represented as living in the
+seventeenth century, and his gymnastics refer to the varying fortunes
+of the house of Stuart, and the Romish tendencies of the later kings of
+that house. Fuller, with his usual quaintness, remarks of him that he
+had seen some martyrs burnt at Windsor and "found this fire too hot for
+his tender temper." But one would fain believe it was not altogether
+cowardice, but also a love of his delightful village, that made him
+so amenable. The little flint and stone tower of the church peeps
+at the river over a splendid assortment of evergreens--laurels, holm
+oaks, yews, and spruce firs being particularly noticeable--and the old
+vicarage with this growth of sheltering trees and its smooth lawn right
+down to the water's edge, is certainly a place that one would think
+twice about before leaving. The village itself is so irregular that,
+tiny as it is, one may get lost in it. There are endless vistas of
+gable ends, of bowed timbers, of pretty porches, and worn brick softly
+embraced by vine or wistaria; yet even in Bray, new red brick is making
+its way. One of the most interesting features is the almshouses, and
+if one lands by the hotel, they are reached after only a few minutes'
+walk. The exterior is very quaint; large cylindrical yews and hollies,
+like roly-poly puddings on end, stand up in stubborn rank before the
+worn red brick. The statue of the founder, of an immaculate whiteness,
+with the glitter of gilt in the coat-of-arms below, just lightens the
+effect. Through an ancient arch one passes to the quadrangle, which
+is filled with tiny flower-beds, and surrounded by a low range of red
+brick with dormer windows. At the other side is the chapel covered with
+ivy, and this, with the little diamond panes and the brightness of the
+variegated flower-beds, is home-like and cosy. Yet it must be confessed
+that in his well-known picture, "The Harbour of Refuge," admittedly
+taken from Bray, Frederick Walker, the artist, has greatly improved
+the scene with artistic licence. The raised terrace at the side, the
+greater width of the quadrangle, the smooth green lawn and sheltering
+central tree in his picture, are far more harmonious and beautiful than
+the reality.
+
+Bray is a very popular haunt with artists and boating people. In
+summer the George Hotel cannot take in all its visitors, and beds are
+hired all over the village, consequently, anyone wishing to spend some
+weeks in Bray must make arrangements well beforehand. This is not to
+be wondered at, because, as well as its own attractions, it is within
+easy reach of Maidenhead and the delights beyond, and its unspoilt
+quaintness makes it ideal to stay in. Long may Bray remain as it is,
+unaltered and a tiny village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MAGNA CHARTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Magna Charta Island is something of a shock at first sight; it is so
+exceptionally well cared for and so pretty. One pictures a tangle of
+wild trees, a mass of rushes, osiers perhaps, and general grimness.
+The osiers are confined to a fraction of the island; on the remainder
+is a prettily-built house of a fair size, with the very best sort of
+river-lawn, on which grow various fine and regular trees. Many are the
+evergreens; and the bosky holm oak, the dignified stone pine, and the
+flourishing walnut, seen in conjunction with the beautifully kept turf
+and bright flower-beds, are altogether unlike one's conception of the
+place.
+
+It is true that, though the island has the name of it, it is now
+generally supposed that the actual signing of our great charter of
+liberties took place on the mainland. John had delayed, and played
+false, and postponed the issue for long, but he knew now that all was
+up, and he was cornered. A truce was declared, and from Windsor he
+agreed to meet his barons and "concede to them the laws and liberties
+which they asked." The fifteenth of June was fixed for the day, and
+Runney Mead, or Runnymede, for the place. With the barons were almost
+the whole of the English nobility; with John, certain ecclesiastical
+powers, namely, the Archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin, and seven
+bishops, as well as some earls and barons. It is quite obvious that the
+barons could have had no idea of the vast consequences of their act.
+They would have been astonished could they have foreseen that it would
+become the basis of the English constitution. They merely wanted to
+bind down a particular king who had outraged their liberties.
+
+One can hardly imagine a better place for the assembling of a great
+body of armed men than these meadows by the river. The land is as flat
+as a platform, and sheltered to the south by the heights of Cooper's
+Hill, which rise like the tiers in an amphitheatre. The Long Mead, with
+the exception of the road now running across it, must have looked very
+much then as it does now. Runney Mead is more altered, because it is
+shut in by hedges. We know not if the day were fine or overcast when
+the great charter was signed; but when the deed was done John, in a
+rage, retired to Windsor. The barons remained on the meads for about
+ten days, during which the place must have been like a fair.
+
+It is very hot on this part of the river on a sunny day. The trees
+growing on the banks are all on the north side, and consequently give
+little shade. They border Ankerwyke Park, and grow so close to the
+water that many of their roots are in it. The swallows dart to and
+fro, and clouds of gnats dance like thistledown in the air. Near the
+banks grow many flowers. The spotted knotweed or persicaria, with its
+bright flesh-coloured flowers, is sometimes in water, sometimes on
+the land; the common forget-me-not can be seen peeping up with its
+bright blue eyes; the pink willow herb flourishes; and the yellow iris
+and the purple loosestrife are also to be seen. And when there is no
+wind the scent of the meadow-sweet and the dog-roses becomes almost
+overpowering.
+
+Ankerwyke was once a priory. It was appropriated by Henry VIII., who is
+said to have carried on the courtship of Anne Boleyn under the mighty
+chestnuts for which it was even then famous:
+
+     The tyrant Harry felt love's softening flame,
+     And sighing breathed his Anna Boleyn's name.
+
+A bit of doggerel just about worthy of the occasion!
+
+A more interesting association, though one that leads us rather far
+from the river, is Milton's residence at Horton. He lived here with
+his parents for five years after leaving Cambridge, and no doubt his
+rambles over country which would not then be hedged in and cut up as
+it is now, often led him in the direction of the river. It was this
+scenery, noted at those deeply impressionable years, that he could
+still see when earthly sight was gone.
+
+_Lycidas_ and _Comus_ were both written in the next four or five years,
+and in
+
+     The willows and the hazel copses green
+
+we have a touch of real nature breaking through the conventional
+allusions to vines and wild thyme; also:
+
+     Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
+     Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
+     On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks;
+     Throw hither all your quaint, enamell'd eyes
+     That on the green turf suck the honied showers,
+     And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
+     Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
+     The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
+     The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
+     The glowing violet,
+     The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
+     With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
+     And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
+     Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
+     And daffadillies fill their cups with tears.
+                                     --_Lycidas._
+
+     By the rushy-fringed bank
+     Where grows the willow and the osier dank.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Thus I set my printless feet
+     O'er the cowslip's velvet head
+     That bends not as I tread.
+                         --_Comus._
+
+Not very far below Ankerwyke, the river Coln runs into the Thames
+near Bell Weir Lock, and a little bit above Staines is London
+Stone, standing in a meadow close by the water. It marked the former
+jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London over the river, but these
+rights are now vested in the Thames Conservators. Staines does not
+make the most of itself, or sufficiently endeavour to veil those
+unsightlinesses incidental to a town. The large gasometers opposite
+London Stone are not the only blemishes. Standing on the bridge and
+looking up-stream there are many ugly, yellow-brick, manufacturing
+buildings to be seen; while the screen of willows does not hide piles
+of untidy stones, rusty old iron and other uglinesses. Even the very
+passable island in the centre does not atone. Down stream things are
+a little better, though the want of architectural beauty in the new
+church by the river and the "plastered-on" pinnacles of the parish
+church are both eyesores.
+
+From Staines, however, one may pass rapidly to a fascinating corner at
+Penton Hook.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PENTON HOOK
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Penton Hook is quite peculiar. To a select little coterie of people it
+is _the_ place on the river, but to hundreds of others it is not known
+at all. To its own manifest advantage it is off the "hard high road,"
+and the scorchers and the bounders, and the multitude generally, fly by
+within a comparatively short distance, little knowing what they have
+missed. But one or two of the favoured few turn down to quiet little
+Laleham, and wheeling round a corner come right on to the tow-path by
+the river's brink; in a hundred yards they are at Penton Hook. But
+though the Hook is very select and highly favoured, that is not to
+say it lacks population, only--it is a population of the right sort.
+Little camps of charming bungalows dot the banks both above and below
+the lock. Some are built on ground leased from the Conservancy, some on
+that of private owners. To each man is allotted a strip of ground, with
+so much river frontage, whereon he builds to his own taste and fancy a
+little one-storeyed white-painted house, and lays out the tiny garden
+from which his own white steps reach down to the water. Think of the
+joy of it! The leader in an important case has been in a stuffy court
+all day, burdened with his wig and gown, seeing all the dust and stains
+of unswept corners of human nature; accusing, with upraised finger,
+the brazen witness who has just perjured himself; dragging from that
+yellow-faced man the secret he thought buried. Faugh! But the court
+rises; he is away. The motor takes him down in less than an hour. Gone
+are the stifling garments; the worn and wicked faces. The dull roar of
+Strand traffic is replaced by the splashing of the water as it bounds
+over the weir. The freed man tumbles into flannels and lies full length
+on the green grass, smoking, with the water flowing at his feet, or he
+dawdles in a boat round the Hook, tempting the fish with all the decoys
+he knows. Happy man!
+
+The trees near the bungalows, and those that fringe the meadows near,
+are not pollarded; there is space between their tall stems. The short
+grass, gemmed with pink-tipped daisies, can be seen everywhere, and
+there is air, and freshness, and openness for everyone. The white
+paint of the bungalows and their neat green or pink roofs, the rows
+of geraniums, roses, and other flowers carefully kept and tended, add
+touches of gaiety and brightness.
+
+There are three weirs, for the river here makes the neatest horse-shoe
+in its whole length, and the authorities have cut through the neck
+of land, so that the greater part of the stream goes rioting and
+tumbling in joyous confusion beneath the great new weir, provided with
+a pent-house roof, under which it is always cool on the hottest summer
+day, with transparent reflections dancing on the wall and a ripple
+and splash below. The second weir, a mere tumbling-weir, is only a
+few yards away. The water does not often leap over it unless it is at
+flood time, when it affords a safety outlet. The third and widest is a
+mixture, half sluice gates and half of the tumbling kind. At one time
+there was no weir here, and boats could avoid the lock by navigating
+the Hook, but that is now no longer possible. There is one advantage in
+it; it keeps the Hook more secluded. The little red water-gauge house
+is connected by wires with Staines, and so to all the rest of England.
+By an automatic arrangement, the register shows simultaneously here and
+at the offices of the water company what depth of water there is, so
+that they may know how much they can take.
+
+At Penton it should be always summer, with dog-roses and sweetbriar,
+with placid red cows grazing on the tender grass, with boats tethered
+in the lazy current round the bend of the Hook.
+
+An uncommonly good place for fishing it is, this Hook, as the
+kingfishers have found out, for they are yearly increasing, and
+apparently do not mind the gay tide of summer company that invades
+their haunts. Right down on the banks near the lock one pair nested
+this year. No steamers churn up the waters and frighten the fish; only
+a slow-moving house-boat or two towed to position and there left, or
+those drifting boats belonging to young men and maidens who are content
+to drift metaphorically as well as actually.
+
+The Abbey river starts away on its own account on the far side of the
+Hook, and begins its short course of about a couple of miles, to fall
+into the Thames again at Chertsey. It used to be possible to get up
+it in a boat, but now it is barred. However, visitors have nothing to
+complain of, for the meadows around are singularly open to them, and
+the place is not hedged about with restrictions as are so many river
+resorts. Numbers of people come down to picnic, and it is no uncommon
+sight to see quite a row of motors outside the lock-keeper's house,
+while footman or chauffeur carries across the luncheon hampers to what
+was once a peninsula but is now an island. Tradesmen's carts come round
+too, finding in the swallow-colony quite enough demand to make it worth
+their while; and year by year the bungalows grow. A whole new piece of
+meadow, hitherto osier bed, is even now going to be devoted to them.
+"Why, I get as many as twenty to thirty applications for land every
+week," says the lock-keeper. It is to be hoped Penton Hook will not
+become over-populated, or the delightful freedom from conventionality
+which now characterises it might die away. "Ladies who come down
+here--why, some of them, they never put a hat on their heads the whole
+time, and I was going to say not shoes or stockings either!" The place
+is particularly sought after by theatrical people. Miss Ellen Terry
+still holds the bungalow she has had for many years. It is surprising
+how early the season begins; even at the end of chilly March a few of
+the first of the swallows appear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ABOUT CHERTSEY AND WEYBRIDGE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Between Chertsey and Penton Hook is Laleham, where the tiny ivy-covered
+church is too much hidden away to be seen easily. An old red brick
+moss-grown wall is the chief object near the river, and with the
+bending trees and quiet fields there is a sense of brooding peace which
+only remains in places off the main roads. Matthew Arnold was born at
+Laleham and is buried in the churchyard. His father, Dr. Arnold of
+Rugby, came here in 1819, but he left when Matthew was only six, to
+take the head-mastership of Rugby.
+
+Between Laleham and Chertsey there is some open, rather untidy ground
+on which gypsies are wont to camp. It cannot be said that the river
+looks its best above Chertsey. The country is too flat and open, and on
+a summer day one is too often scorched. Yet there is always some beauty
+to be found, and it is certainly in open spaces like these that we see
+best reflected "heaven's own blue." Away to the west the tiny Abbey
+river flows in past a mill. By Chertsey bridge a triumphant victory in
+regard to right-of-way over the Thames Conservancy in 1902, is recorded
+on two newly built villas. Opposite is the Bridge Hotel, which, with
+its little bay, its Lombardy poplars and green lawn, is a pleasant
+oasis.
+
+Chertsey Abbey, which was of great fame, lay between the town and the
+river. It was founded in 666, and some Saxon tiles from the flooring
+may be seen in the British Museum. The buildings were destroyed by the
+Danes, but it was re-established in 964 as a Benedictine Monastery.
+
+Nothing shows more the immense power of the monks in England than
+these mighty abbeys which studded the country. We have come across so
+many, even in our short journey between Oxford and London, that the
+fact cannot escape notice; though they probably were more thickly set
+beside the river than elsewhere, because, as I have said, flowing water
+attracted these old monks for more than one reason. There is hardly
+anything left of Chertsey Abbey now, yet in its prime it was like a
+small town, giving employment to hundreds of people. There are a few
+ivy-covered steps near the back of the church and an old bit of wall
+doubtfully supposed to have been part of the boundary; this is near
+the Abbey river. Henry VI. was buried at Chertsey, and his funeral is
+referred to in Shakespeare's play of _Richard III._:
+
+     ... after I have solemnly interr'd
+     At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
+     And wet his grave with my repentant tears.
+
+So he makes the hypocritical Duke of Gloucester speak. Cowley, the
+poet, lived in Chertsey for two years before his death. The house
+still stands; it has an overhanging storey and is covered with rough
+stucco. Charles James Fox was born in a house near, and this probably
+decided him in making choice of a residence many years later, for he
+chose St. Anne's Hill, only two miles away, which can be seen far and
+wide around. There he settled to indulge in the delightful hobby of
+improving his grounds.
+
+Below Chertsey Bridge is an excellent punting reach, where the
+championship punting competition is held every year in the beginning
+of August. This is, doubtless, the reason why Chertsey is crowded
+with visitors in the summer, when out of all the innumerable lodgings
+scarcely a room is to be had.
+
+The river about Weybridge and Shepperton is much more varied than
+at Chertsey, and to my mind variety is a direct element of beauty in
+river scenery. We have passed through flat meadows lined with straight
+ranks of Lombardy poplars that might belong to northern France, and
+then suddenly, at Weybridge, we begin once more curves and twists and
+unexpected islands and snug corners. There is a ferry across the river,
+and the place seems to get along wonderfully well without a bridge.
+In the middle of the stream is a well-kept island which belonged to
+the late Mr. D'Oyly Carte; it is hedged about with an exclusive wall,
+enclosing a pretty garden. In the centre is a neat white house with
+projecting tiles.
+
+In every direction there are numerous boat-building establishments.
+The lock island is large and has other buildings on it besides the
+lock-keeper's cottage. It is a favourite camping ground in summer, and
+has rather an untidy appearance. The wide-mouthed Wey flows in beside
+a couple of other islands, and is itself a very attractive place to
+explore, winding away through meadows and beneath overhanging trees.
+It is, however, not free from locks, though of a somewhat simpler kind
+than those on the Thames. Weybridge is a fresh and pleasant place,
+rapidly growing in all directions, and in its gorsy common land and
+masses of pine woods it reminds one of the parts of Surrey about
+Camberley. On the green stands the column which once presented seven
+faces to the seven streets in London, called after it Seven Dials.
+Since then it has risen in life, having been bought and surmounted with
+a coronet instead of the dial stone; this was in honour of the Duchess
+of York, who died in 1820. She lived at Oatlands Park and was very
+popular.
+
+Oatlands Park is the great place of the neighbourhood. It was once
+a hunting ground of King Henry VIII., but now belongs to a large
+residential hotel. Nothing remains of the building, which was used
+by many of our English monarchs. George IV. entertained here the
+Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and all the princes and
+generals who visited England after Waterloo. In 1790 the Duke of
+York, who is commemorated by the column in Waterloo Place, bought and
+rebuilt the house, and still later it was in the possession of the
+Earl of Ellesmere. Remodelled, the house still stands as the hotel. A
+large piece of ornamental water in the grounds is almost as great an
+attraction as Virginia Water. Just where the park touches the river is
+the place known as Cowey Stakes. It is said that here Cæsar crossed the
+river when in pursuit of Cassivelaunus, in 54 B.C. The stakes, which
+are no longer to be seen, are supposed to have been placed there to
+obstruct his use of the ford. They had been so long under water, that
+when found they were like ebony; they were about six feet long and
+shod with iron. They appear to have been too imposing and carefully
+formed to have been put in for the mere purpose of a river weir or for
+fishing; but, on the other hand, instead of running with the axis of
+the river, as would appear reasonable if they were meant to obstruct
+the passage of men, they were planted across it like a weir. They have
+afforded matter for endless discussion among antiquaries.
+
+  [Illustration: WALTON BRIDGE]
+
+What we know is that Cæsar, having landed at Pevensey, marched inland
+and came to the Thames at about eighty miles from the sea. The river
+was fordable only at one place, and here natives were drawn up to
+oppose him, and the ford fortified with sharp stakes. So the evidence
+certainly seems in favour of this place.
+
+Near Cowey Stakes is Walton Bridge, on the far side of which is a large
+pool connected with the river by a channel; here are constantly to be
+found punt fishers. Turner painted Walton Bridge, and certainly, in
+some aspects, the place is worthy of being painted. The present bridge
+is of brick and iron, but the old one was of oak. Walton, like every
+other place on the Thames, depends greatly on the weather. On days
+when the cedars are seen against a vivid blue sky and the songs of a
+thousand birds are heard, when the meadows are lined with flowers, it
+is beautiful.
+
+     Now rings the woodland loud and long,
+       The distance takes a lovelier hue,
+       And drown'd in yonder living blue
+     The lark becomes a sightless song.
+
+There are other days when the whole is curiously like a platinotype
+photograph; when the steel-grey water reflects a white sun, and all the
+countless twigs of the trees are seen in one feathery mass. All colours
+seem drawn out of the picture, even the green of the grass is turned
+to dun. Light is everything in estimating beauty, but it is sometimes
+difficult to realise quite how much one owes to it. We might quote from
+Cowley's _Hymn to the Light_:
+
+     Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay
+       Dost thy bright wood of stars survey,
+       And all the year dost with thee bring
+     Of thousand flow'ry lights thine own nocturnal spring.
+
+     When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy waken'd head
+       Out of the morning's purple bed,
+       Thy quire of birds about thee play,
+     And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.
+
+In Walton Church is a small brass with, _inter alia_, a man riding
+on a stag's back. The story goes that this man, John Selwyn, was an
+under-keeper in Oatlands Park in Queen Elizabeth's time, and that when
+she was present at the "chace," he leapt from his own horse's back
+straight on to that of the driven stag, when "he not only kept his
+seat gracefully in spite of every effort of the affrighted beast, but,
+drawing his sword, with it guided him toward the Queen, and coming near
+her presence plunged it into his throat, so that the animal fell dead
+at her feet."
+
+  [Illustration: SUNBURY]
+
+In the vestry is a Scolds' or Gossips' bridle, designed in the old days
+of witch-hunting and other atrocities to torture poor women.
+
+Admiral Rodney was a native of Walton, and an old and quaintly built
+house which belonged to the regicide Bradshaw is still in existence.
+
+Below Walton is Sunbury with its long, long weirs, and its little
+houses spread beside the edge of the water. But with Hampton we reach
+the Londoner's zone, which is for another chapter. At present Halliford
+and Shepperton, two little places opposite Oatlands, are far too pretty
+to be passed by without remark. The Manor House at Shepperton has one
+of the finest lawns on the river, which is no small thing. Shepperton
+is a scattered place and lies low; the meadows all around are often
+flooded for miles and miles, looking like an inland sea. A tiny river
+called the Exe finds its way into the Thames near Halliford. A glimpse
+of the quaint church of Shepperton should not be missed. The tower is
+very lean and narrow; it looks rather as if bricks had run short. It
+was added later than the rest, which was built in 1614. Tradition says
+that the previous church was destroyed by a Thames flood, though it
+stood on piles to raise it from the marshy ground. The old rectory,
+with its dormer windows and projecting wings, is really built of oak,
+though it has been faced with tiles which look like brick. It is about
+four hundred years old, and is one of the most delightful rectory
+houses imaginable. The list of rectors goes back to before 1330.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE LONDONER'S ZONE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+As far as Hampton the river may be said to lie within the zone of the
+Londoner. By means of the District Railway and the London and South
+Western Railway he can get at any part of it, and trams are yearly
+stretching out further and further, so that he can go above ground, if
+he wishes, all the way to Hampton. At Hampton itself, at Richmond and
+Kew, there are large open spaces once the gardens or parks belonging
+to kings, but now open as public pleasure grounds, ideal places for
+the man who has a small family to take with him, and whose holiday is
+limited to a day. For those who are free from encumbrances, there are
+always boats to be had in abundance, at a much cheaper rate than one
+would have to pay for them at, say, Maidenhead; and the scenery itself,
+though not so fine as some higher up, is pleasant and attractive. If
+the day be wet or uncertain there is the palace at Hampton to explore;
+and accommodation for eating and drinking is amply supplied by numerous
+inns and hotels clustering round its gates.
+
+The gateway to the Palace is imposing, with its brick piers and stone
+heraldic animals, and the long low range of buildings on the left side
+makes a strip of bright colour.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMPTON COURT FROM THE RIVER]
+
+The older part of the palace was built by Wolsey, but by far the
+greater part of it, as it now stands, is due to William III. Some
+parts of the entrance gateway and the great hall are all that remain
+to speak of Wolsey's inconceivable boldness in attempting to build a
+palace which should outshine that of a jealous monarch like Henry VIII.
+Skelton's satire, beginning:
+
+     Why come ye not to courte?
+     To which courte?
+     To the kinge's courte,
+     Or to Hampton Courte?
+
+showed what everyone thought, and doubtless served to concentrate
+attention upon Wolsey's temerity. The irony of the matter lay in the
+fact that the palace was not seized, but that the unfortunate owner was
+forced to make a present of it to the King:
+
+     With turrettes and with toures,
+     With halls and with boures
+     Stretching to the starres,
+     With glass windows and barres;
+     Hanginge about their walles
+     Clothes of gold and palles
+     Fresh as floures in Maye.
+
+Whether he gave the palace as it stood, with its "two hundred and four
+score beds, the furniture of most being of silk," is not recorded; but
+it is probable that when he had been wrought up to the pitch of terror
+necessary for overcoming his reluctance to part with his beautiful new
+possession, he would give all--everything--feeling that so long as his
+life was safe it was all he cared about. As a mark of royal favour,
+Henry allowed him to occupy apartments at Richmond, where he was not
+too far off to observe the doings of the monarch in his palace. The
+king was so pleased with his new establishment that he formed a mighty
+park, embracing all the land for miles around, including East and West
+Molesey, Cobham, Esher, Byfleet, and Thames Ditton, and was sorely
+aggrieved because his loving subjects, whose land and rights had thus
+been confiscated, dared to make an outcry.
+
+Edward VI. was born at Hampton. After his death Queen Mary came here
+with her husband Philip, and the unhappy couple, one full of sullen
+hate, the other sore and bitter in her loneliness, must have strolled
+in the grounds many a time.
+
+For three months King Charles I. was held prisoner here while his fate
+was undecided, and when he was removed it was to go up the river to
+Maidenhead, where he said his last farewell to his children. Oliver
+Cromwell, who, though he dared not take the name of king, had no
+dislike to the royal privileges, lived at Hampton, and one of his
+daughters was married from the palace. But by the time of William
+III., much of the building had fallen into decay. The situation was
+pleasant, and though Henry's park had in great part reverted to its
+rightful owners, there was still much open ground around which made
+the place desirable. William had a passion for building, and loved the
+prim Dutch style, as was natural. The maze and the canal, and the long
+avenues of trees in Bushey, are all evidences of his taste. But in the
+palace he attempted to copy Versailles, as he had already copied it
+at Kensington. Poor Wren must have been as much perplexed as ever he
+was in his life when told to remodel a Tudor building into the copy of
+one of the Renaissance, and that he succeeded at all is greatly to his
+credit. Two out of the five courts which remained of the old palace
+were pulled down, and the state rooms, as we now see them, are the
+work of Wren under William's directions. Since then the interest and
+beauty of the interior has been much added to by the famous collection
+of pictures, which attracts at least as many visitors as the building
+does.
+
+Bushey Park adjoins Hampton, and lies so close to the river that it
+forms part of the river scenery. Its glory is in its great double line
+of chestnuts, with the broad sweep of green grass lining the avenues
+formed by them. Chestnut Sunday, when the trees are in bloom, is a
+well-known date in the Londoner's calendar, and every description of
+conveyance is hired, chartered, or borrowed, to see the great sight.
+Hundreds of people, to whom it is one of the great days in the year,
+walk about or eat refreshments beneath the sombre green masses which
+are lightened by a thousand pyramidal candles. The central avenue is
+one mile and forty yards in length, and the width of it is fifty-six
+yards. A noble conception, worthy of the little man with the wise head.
+On Hampton Green, outside the gates of the palace, Sir Christopher
+Wren passed the last five years of his life, in sight of his greatest
+architectural problem.
+
+Molesey Lock, just above the bridge, is a popular place in summer. All
+those who have come down to enjoy the fresh air, and who want an excuse
+for doing nothing, stand and watch the boats passing through; there
+is always as great a crowd on the tow-path as on the water. A number
+of islands lie above the lock, the largest of which is Tagg's, as well
+known as any island on the river, and much patronised by holiday-makers
+at lunch and tea time. In summer a band plays on the lawn twice a week.
+It is opposite the end of the Hurst Park Racecourse, patronised by
+altogether a different type of people from those who come to Hampton
+Court, and who can only be said to belong to the river accidentally,
+by reason of the position of the course. A wonderful club boat-house
+of polished wood has sprung up of recent years on the Hampton side,
+and above it is Garrick's Villa with portico and columns. This the
+great actor bought in 1754, and kept until his death, after which his
+widow lived in it for another forty years. He was visited here by all
+the celebrated men of his time, including Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson
+and Hogarth, and here he gave a splendid series of river fêtes. The
+little temple on the bank was built by him as a shrine for a statue of
+Shakespeare, which has now been removed. A small public garden on the
+edge of the water makes this a favourite lounging place for the people
+of the neighbourhood. The scenery is rather tame, but has that charm
+always to be found in flowing water and green grass, in the absence of
+chimneys and other horrors of man's making.
+
+The church of Hampton village stands up fairly high above the water.
+It is in a most unlovely style, but ivy has done something to smooth
+down its defects, which are further toned by distance. There is a
+ferry close by, and as this is the nearest point to the station, many
+of those who arrive by train on race-days cross at this point, and the
+ferrymen reap rich harvests.
+
+Not far beyond this loom up the great earthworks and reservoirs of
+the West Middlesex and Grand Junction Water Company, and with that the
+influence of Hampton may be said to cease.
+
+Returning again to the bridge at Hampton, we have the river Mole
+flowing in on the right bank. Molesey Regatta takes place every year
+in July. The trees and red brickwork of the palace are on the left,
+and only a short way down is the pretty little oasis of Thames Ditton,
+which somehow seems as if it ought to belong to the river much higher
+up, and had fallen here by mistake. The Swan Inn is right on the edge
+of the water. It is proud of the fact that Theodore Hook wrote a verse
+on a pane of glass at a time when such things were quite legitimate,
+because the tourist, as we know him, had not then come into existence
+to vulgarise the practice. The pane has been broken, but the verse is
+remembered, and the following lines are a sample:
+
+     The Swan, snug inn, good fare affords
+       As table e'er was put on,
+     And worthier quite of loftier boards,
+       Its poultry, fish and mutton.
+     And while sound wine mine host supplies,
+       With ale of Meux and Tritton,
+     Mine hostess with her bright blue eyes
+       Invites to stay at Ditton.
+
+We wonder how many hostesses since have wished the lines had never been
+written. An old inn near by, with overhanging gable end and clinging
+wistaria, makes a pretty corner, and in the High Street itself there
+are bits so different from the Kingston and Surbiton ideal, that one
+cannot understand how they can be in the same zone with them at all.
+The green lawns of Ditton House and Boyle Farm are quite close, and the
+fine island with its willows hides the flatness of the further bank.
+
+About the end of the eighteenth century this part of the river was
+celebrated for its magnificent fêtes.
+
+One of these, given at Boyle Farm, inspired Moore to write a poem which
+was not published until long after:
+
+     Lamps of all hues, from walks and bowers,
+     Broke on the eye like kindling flowers
+     Till budding into light each tree
+     Bore its full fruit of brilliancy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     And now along the waters fly
+     Swift gondoles of Venetian breed,
+     With knights, and dames, who calm reclined,
+     Lisp out love sonnets as they glide,
+     Astonishing old Thames to find
+     Such doings on his moral tide.
+
+The reach is a favourite one for sailing boats. Below Long Ditton are
+the large waterworks of the Lambeth Company. On fine Saturdays and
+Sundays the Hampton tow-path on the other side is generally alive with
+people. On Raven's Ait is the club-house of the Kingston Rowing Club,
+and beside the water runs a well laid out strip of ground with bushes
+and seats, and a good stout hedge to keep off the dust from the motor
+cars which race by on the road--a section of the Ripley Road beloved of
+scorchers. In summer this little public garden is bright with flowers,
+and it is a great favourite with the inhabitants of Kingston and
+Surbiton. Before arriving at the bridge there are the backs of untidy
+houses, and generally a great medley of barges, laden with hay and
+bricks and coal, lying about by the wharves.
+
+Kingston, as we have said elsewhere, can boast of one of the oldest
+bridges over the river. A bridge of wood stood here in 1225, when
+there was no other in the whole sweep downward as far as London Bridge.
+The present one is very narrow, and its convenience is not increased
+since a double line of tramways has been laid across it. The general
+similarity of position between it and Richmond Bridge may be remarked.
+Both have large boat-building establishments near, and both are about
+the same distance from the railway bridges which cross below them.
+
+As this is not a guide-book, no attempt is made to describe other
+than picturesque effects and ancient survivals such as are likely to
+attract the notice of anyone actually on the river, but an exception
+must be made in favour of Kingston Stone, which anyone ought to land
+to see. It is in the market-place, not five minutes from the river,
+and from it--the King's Stone--the name of the place is derived. It
+is a shapeless block, mounted on a granite base, and round it are
+inscribed the names of seven Saxon kings who were crowned here, and
+a silver penny of each of their reigns has been inserted. There seems
+to be no authentic history of this interesting relic, and no definite
+explanation as to why these kings should have been here crowned; but
+a suggestion there is that at the date of the first of the coronations
+Mercia and Wessex were joined under one king, and while the boundaries
+of Mercia reached to the Thames on the north side, those of Wessex
+marched with them on the south. Kingston was equally accessible to
+both, and as London was at that time in the hands of the Danes, and the
+ford at Kingston the only one above London by which the river could be
+safely crossed, the place was chosen accordingly.
+
+Teddington Lock was for a long time the lowest on the river, but has
+been supplanted by a Benjamin in the shape of a half-tide lock at
+Richmond. The reach about Teddington is in the summer very pretty. The
+banks are dotted with little bungalows, bright with blue and white
+paint and gay with flowers. The long smooth lawns of the riverside
+houses stretch down to the water, and the Crimson Rambler climbs over
+many a rustic bridge and iron trellis. It is a well-cared for part, and
+holds its own against rivals of greater grandeur. There are several
+islands forming cover where one can ship oars and rest, and though
+landing is in most places forbidden, there is no law against a boat's
+drawing inshore beneath the shelter of the overhanging trees, amongst
+which may be noted several weeping willows. This bit recalls Moore's:
+
+           ... where Thames is seen
+     Gliding between his banks of green,
+     While rival villas on each side
+     Peep from their bowers to win his tide.
+
+Beyond Teddington we are in Twickenham Reach:
+
+     Where silver Thames round Twit'nam meads
+     His winding current sweetly leads.
+                                 --_Walpole._
+
+There is a great bend at Twickenham, and in it the chimneys of
+Strawberry Hill may be seen overtopping the high evergreen hedge that
+surrounds it. The house has been altered considerably since Walpole's
+date, but in its essence it is the house he built. He himself describes
+his view thus:
+
+     Directly before it is an open grove through which you see a
+     field, which is bounded by a serpentine wood of all kind of
+     trees, and flowering shrubs, and flowers. The lawn before
+     the house is situated on the top of a small hill from whence
+     to the left you see the town and church of Twickenham,
+     encircling a turn of the river, that looks exactly like a
+     seaport in miniature. The opposite shore is a most delicious
+     meadow, bounded by Richmond Hill, which loses itself in the
+     noble woods of the park to the end of the prospect on the
+     right, where is another turn of the river, and the suburbs
+     of Kingston as luckily placed as Kingston is on the left....
+     You must figure that all this is perpetually enlivened by a
+     navigation of boats and barges.
+
+His architecture was a medley of everything that could by any
+possibility be included under the heading Gothic, and the result was
+more curious than beautiful, though it became the fashion to visit
+the house. Walpole bemoaned the crowds aloud, but secretly delighted
+in them. He published a description of the house, in the beginning of
+which he says he trusts it will be a lesson in taste to all who see
+it! An example of the suave self-belief of an egotist. At Twickenham
+there is another fantastic building called Pope's Villa. This can be
+seen much better from the river than Strawberry Hill can, and it is an
+affected piece of architecture. It has been described as "a combination
+of an Elizabethan half-timber house and a Stuart Renaissance, with the
+addition of Dutch and Swiss, Italian and Chinese features." This is not
+the house occupied by Pope, nor is it even exactly on the same site
+as his. In front of it is a group of weeping willows, a kind of tree
+which shows to particular advantage by the water-side. Pope himself is
+said to have been the first to introduce it into England, having found
+some sticks of it in a bundle sent to him from Spain by the Countess of
+Suffolk.
+
+Pope lived at Twickenham from 1719 to 1744, and produced here most of
+his important works, including the last books of his _Odyssey_, the
+_Dunciad_ and the famous _Essay on Man_. He was here visited by Gay
+and Swift, and many another contemporary whose name is still held in
+estimation. He laid out his grounds in a decorative way, and made a
+curious underground grotto, which lies away from the water, on the
+other side of the road. Among the celebrated men who have, at one time
+or another, lived at Twickenham are numbered Henry Fielding, Dr. Donne,
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, Tennyson, and Turner. The last-named was very fond
+of fishing, and used to fish a good deal in this part of the river.
+
+There is a little esplanade at Twickenham, shaded by small
+horse-chestnuts, and in front lies the famous Eel-pie Island, which
+vies with Tagg's in summer popularity. The hotel has a pleasant garden,
+but the rest of the island is, it must be confessed, rather untidy,
+with several places for building motor launches and many boat-houses.
+At the small wharf opposite the church there are nearly always barges
+unloading bricks or sand and gravel. Yet the place has an air of
+dignity, perhaps given to it by the old Perpendicular stone tower
+of the church, so incongruously welded on to a red-brick pedimented
+Georgian building. The architect was the same who built St. George's,
+Hanover Square; but, as Sir Godfrey Kneller was churchwarden, one
+might have expected something in better taste. Pope is buried inside,
+and a flat slab with his initial letter on it now serves as a base for
+several pews. Not far from the church is York House, and with Orleans
+and Ham House on the other side of the river this is a notable group.
+In the great gardens of Orleans House grow splendid cedars, stone
+pines, and other evergreens. The little Duke of Gloucester, the only
+child who survived babyhood out of Queen Anne's enormous family, was
+brought here for his health in 1694. Six years later this quaint child,
+with a rickety body and an enormous head, died of small-pox at the age
+of eleven. The house was afterwards rebuilt. To it in 1800 came Louis
+Philippe, then Duc d'Orleans, and his two brothers. After his brief
+summer of prosperity in France, he returned to England as an exile in
+1848; that he had a warm remembrance of the house is shown by his then
+purchasing it. He did not, however, live here himself, but placed his
+son, the Duc d'Aumale, in it, and a colony of royal refugees settled
+round. At Mount Lebanon, not far off, was the Prince de Joinville; and
+the Duc d'Aumale, having bought York House, gave it to his nephew the
+Comte de Paris, who lived there for six or seven years. Queen Anne was
+born in York House--it had been given to her mother's father, Lord
+Clarendon--and with her elder sister she spent her earliest years
+at Twickenham. All these notable houses and dignified memories are
+enough to account for the air of sober gravity never wholly absent
+from the river at Twickenham even on the brightest days; and the rows
+of Lombardy poplars, the magnificent cedars, and the fine foliage of
+the other trees enhance the impression. Ham House, on the other side,
+was built in 1611, it is said for Prince Henry, James I.'s eldest son.
+It is screened from the water by a row of tall trees. Around it grow
+Scotch firs and holm oaks.
+
+We have not long left Twickenham before we see the little oblong island
+about which there was so much contention because it formed an item in
+the famous Marble Hill view, seen from the heights of Richmond Park.
+The London County Council are now owners of the Marble Hill estate,
+and have made it into a public park. It lies on the Twickenham side.
+The house was built by George II. for the Countess of Suffolk. Gay,
+Pope, and Swift all took an interest in the building, and voiced their
+opinions as to the style and the laying out of the grounds. A suite of
+rooms in the house was afterwards set aside for Gay, who was a great
+favourite with the countess.
+
+The other side of the river is open, and it must be admitted that on
+a sunny day this bit is a stiff pull if one is unfortunate enough to
+be going against the current. It is often to be described by the word
+"glaring," yet the fine scimitar-like sweep of the tree-crowned heights
+above, capped by the huge mass of the Star and Garter Hotel, toned to
+unoffending mediocrity of colour, is worth seeing.
+
+Richmond, like nearly all the other places on the river, has an
+atmosphere of its own, difficult to put into words. It is less flippant
+than Kingston, and has not a tinge of the gravity of Twickenham. The
+houses rise high and are irregular; those in the main street recede
+from the water as they leave the bridge, and between them and the
+stream are innumerable others, some with gardens, some overshadowed by
+trees. Weeping willows, Scotch firs, and ivy-covered trunks abound,
+and the place is the perfection of a residential quarter. There is
+enough oldness and irregularity to avoid stiffness, enough modernity
+to ensure cleanliness. The bridge has a peculiarly individual curve--a
+real humpback--and its stone balustrade is very fine. At the southern
+end, far too many new red-brick flats are springing up, alas! but on
+the north or east, where lies old Richmond, they are not visible to any
+appreciable extent. The scene below the bridge is distinctly pretty.
+Large boat-building yards, as at Kingston, occupy the foreground, and
+the warm cinnamons and ochres of newly-varnished boats are generally
+to be seen, as well as the more crude and garishly painted craft. The
+islands are tree-covered, and are well placed in the stream. Yet one
+may note that, popular as Richmond is, it is not flooded in the summer
+time with such crowds of boating visitors as Hampton. There are more
+large craft about, and boating people do not care for that.
+
+What remains of Richmond Palace must be sought below the bridge, for it
+will not be seen without a little effort. The old palace stood right
+on the margin of the water, and an engraving of it is still extant,
+showing a pinnacled and many chimneyed building. The angular towers
+are capped by turrets like those of the old palace at Greenwich. Henry
+I. was the first English king to live here, but until Edward III.'s
+time it was hardly a recognised royal palace. It fell before the hand
+of Richard II., who in a fit of frenzy at the death of his wife, which
+occurred here, ordered its destruction. Henry V. restored it, but it
+was burnt down in the end of the fifteenth century, and afterwards
+rebuilt by Henry VII., who changed its name from Sheen to Richmond,
+and who himself died there. The old Tudor gateway of his time remains
+still. It is said, but with doubtful accuracy, that the Countess of
+Nottingham died in the room over the gateway, after having confessed
+to Elizabeth her duplicity about the Earl of Essex and the ring he had
+confided to her charge. We have many records of Richmond from the time
+of the miserable Katherine of Arragon--widow of one boy prince, but
+not yet affianced to the other, a foreigner in a strange land, bitterly
+hating her surroundings--to the time of Charles I., who made the great
+park and hunted in it. A large Carthusian monastery stood near the
+palace. Perkin Warbeck found an asylum in the monastery, and in 1550
+Robert Dudley was here married to Amy Robsart.
+
+There is a half-tide lock at Richmond, with a footbridge. This is
+at present the lowest lock on the river, though there is some talk
+of making a similar one at Wandsworth. It is quite different in
+construction from the usual kind. It has three great sluices, each
+weighing thirty-two tons, and when the tide brings up the water, so
+that it is equal with that above--that is to say, at half-tide--the
+sluices are raised by the addition of a small weight to the massive
+pendules by which they are exactly balanced, and the water is allowed
+free way.
+
+All along this stretch of the river there is on one side a fine row
+of shady trees growing to a great height. Beyond the raised footpath
+is the old Deer Forest, on which stands Kew Observatory, and a minor
+stream, which afterwards forms a moat to Kew Gardens, runs along
+merrily. Isleworth is finely placed at a bend of the river, and though
+it is a manufacturing place, it is not so bad as Brentford. The large
+willow-covered ait in front affords occupation to the osier gatherers.
+The church is ugly; it is placed very like that at Hampton, and, like
+Hampton also, its ugliness is mitigated by a covering of ivy. The
+tower, as so frequently happens, is much older than the rest. Was it
+that church towers were built more solidly than the naves, or that the
+naves would have stood equally well had they been allowed to remain?
+
+Then we come to the great park surrounding Syon House (Duke of
+Northumberland), a park fringed with marshy ground, where reeds and
+rushes flourish, and which is overflowed at every flood. Crows consider
+it a delightful place, if their perpetual presence may be taken to
+indicate opinion. A great clump of cedars stands between the house
+and the river, but we have to go considerably further on before the
+severe line of frontage, with its ground floor arcade and battlemented
+parapet, can be seen at full length. The astonished lion stands clear
+up against the sky, as he did of old at Northumberland House, over the
+site of which now flows a ceaseless stream of traffic. Long years ago
+there stood here at Isleworth a convent for nuns. This was suppressed
+at the Dissolution. Katherine Howard was imprisoned in Syon House
+until three days before her execution, and only five years later the
+corpse of her murderer, the tyrant Henry, stopped here on its way to
+Windsor. Edward VI. granted the place to Lord-Protector Somerset, who,
+with his usual mania for building, began to reconstruct it on a much
+larger scale; but before he had got farther than the mere shell of
+his design, he suffered disgrace, and Syon House passed to the Duke
+of Northumberland. Here came Lady Jane Grey, timid and doubting, to
+receive the offer of the crown, and from here she started on her last
+sad journey to the Tower.
+
+Queen Mary naturally tried to re-establish the nuns, but found it
+difficult, as some had died and others had married! Fuller's comment is
+worth quoting:
+
+     It was some difficulty to stock it with such as had
+     been veiled before, it being now thirty years since the
+     Dissolution, in which time most of the elder nuns were in
+     their graves, and the younger in the arms of their husbands,
+     as afterwards embracing a married life.
+
+In James I.'s reign Syon House was in the hands of the Earl of
+Northumberland, who also fell under his sovereign's displeasure, but
+was allowed to return here to die. Under his successor, the tenth earl,
+Inigo Jones was employed to alter the house; but the architect of the
+present building was Adam (1728-92).
+
+The place is often very quiet, and the hovering crows, and perhaps
+a few men in boats grubbing for sand and gravel from the river-bed
+with long-handled scoops, have it all to themselves. It is not much
+frequented because just below comes Brentford, with all its ugliness,
+a sore blot on the river. Nevertheless, on the Surrey side, to
+counterbalance it, we have the famous Kew Gardens. The very varied
+trees that grow here can be well seen, for the parapet of the wall is
+low, the Gardens being sufficiently protected by the moat. Further on,
+when this comes to an end, the wall is heightened, and only the tops
+of the elms and ashes and horse-chestnuts peep over. Presently a new
+object comes into view--a "palace," in that it was the dwelling-place
+of royalty; but anything less like a palace surely never was seen.
+A stiff, square red-brick house, where Miss Burney served her "sweet
+queen," and the old king cried "What, what, what?" a hundred times a
+day, and the overflowing quiverful of their Royal Highnesses quarrelled
+and played and grew up.
+
+Very few people realise what a large basin there is on the river
+Brent, and what an amount of business is carried on here. From the
+river, one's chief reflection is thankfulness that the trees on the
+large islands have grown so well that they form a screen for the soap
+factories, the cement works, the breweries, etc., which constitute the
+industries of Brentford.
+
+     Brentford, tedious town,
+     For dirty streets and white-legged chickens known,
+
+says Gay. The dirty streets are still there, with the confusion in
+their narrow limits worse confounded by the passing of tramcars, which,
+over the mile along which Brentford spreads itself, take double the
+time spent on any other bit of equal distance on their route. Most
+people have a hazy notion about two kings at Brentford; this is one
+of those curious examples of the persistence of an unimportant detail.
+The allusion was first made in a play called _The Rehearsal_, written
+by the Duke of Buckingham, and Thackeray's ballad on the same subject
+carried it a step further. That there was a battle at Brentford one
+learns in the history books. It was when the Parliamentarians, who had
+rested in the town all night, were surprised by Prince Rupert, under
+the cover of a thick mist, and completely routed.
+
+All along the Kew side, up to the bridge, are tea-gardens sandwiched
+between boat-houses; and the new bridge made of granite, with its
+branching lamps and royal arms, is really an imposing object. Above and
+below the bridge the character of the river is singularly different.
+Above, as we have seen, are the mudflats, and wharves, and chimneys,
+not to omit water towers and gasometers; and below is a bit of
+Chiswick, built along by the waterside, a queer little irregular row of
+red-brick houses and cottages, near which are fastened the boats of men
+who live by fishing; it is a little riverside place of the old sort.
+There are meadows, called Duke's Meadows, opposite Mortlake; these
+afford a fine vantage-ground for spectators who come to see the great
+Boat Race.
+
+The hour of the Boat Race varies according to the tide, for the race
+is rowed at the "top of the tide"--when it is at its fullest. If the
+hour be an easy one--about mid-day--and the weather is promising, and
+especially if the reports of the prowess of the crews give reason to
+believe the race will be a close one, then the crowd is very large
+indeed. Some prefer to watch the start; some enthusiasts keep up with
+the boats on water the whole way; but a great majority there are who
+want to see the last effort between Hammersmith and Barnes Bridges, for
+it is almost a certainty that the crew leading at Barnes Bridge will be
+the winner. Almost, but not quite; for there was an occasion when, by a
+sudden spurt, the positions of the boats were reversed, and Cambridge,
+which had been behind, won the race. The road along by Mortlake is
+lined with crowds; every window is filled, and all available roofs.
+On the railway bridge are closely-packed ranks of people, brought
+there and deposited by trains, which afterwards decorously withdraw
+and wait to pick them up again. The price of this first-rate position
+is included in the fares. Chiswick meadows afford space for many more
+persons, who usually pay a shilling a head to the land-holders. This
+is a very favourite position, because the grassy slopes form such a
+pleasant seat while the inevitable waiting is gone through.
+
+In the river itself lie several steamers packed with passengers,
+and also various small boats. Then down comes the launch of the
+Thames Conservators to clear the course. The long strings of barges,
+which have been taking advantage of the flowing tide to make their
+way up-stream, are seen no more. A gun goes off, and then, an
+extraordinarily short time after, a murmur begins among the crowds on
+the Mortlake side. It grows and grows and swells along the Chiswick
+shore, as first one boat creeps round the corner, and then the other.
+"Cambridge wins; Cambridge, Cambridge!" "Row up, Oxford!"
+
+Then, perhaps--usually--it is seen that one boat is leading by so many
+lengths as to make it impossible for the other to catch up. The leading
+boat goes ahead with a straight, splendid swing into clear water. The
+losing one, getting into its opponent's wash, rocks as it labours on,
+its crew lose heart, and the distance widens.
+
+Close behind are the umpire's launch and a dozen others gliding along,
+keeping just behind the backward crew. And when all have passed, the
+river, so calm before, is churned up into miniature waves that wash and
+beat on the banks. Presently the umpire's boat is seen coming swiftly
+back, bearing the winning flag at the bows over the other.
+
+The trains move slowly forward to pick up the passengers; bicycles,
+motors, and carriages begin to move off; streams of people pour down
+every road; and all is over for another year.
+
+The chief memory of Chiswick is that of Hogarth, who is buried in the
+churchyard close by the water. The house in which he lived is still
+standing, and is a few minutes' walk from the church. Hogarth was
+here for about three years, though when he left to go to Leicester
+Square he did not sell the house, and his widow lived in it after
+his death. For two years Pope also lived in Chiswick; and in Chiswick
+House, which lies away from the river on the other side of the fields,
+two great men, Charles James Fox and George Canning, died in the
+same room, in 1806 and 1827 respectively. And in the Roman Catholic
+Cemetery at Mortlake is the massive sarcophagus--in the form of an Arab
+tent--beneath which lies the dust of the great traveller, Sir Richard
+Burton, and his wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE RIVER AT LONDON
+
+
+There is a subtle difference in the river above and below Hammersmith:
+above, it is a stream of pleasure--below, it is something less
+beautiful, but grander, more crowded with memories, more important.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Though pleasure boats are to be seen in quantities any summer evening
+about Putney; though market gardens still border the banks at Fulham;
+yet the river is for the greater part lined with wharves and piers and
+embankments. It is no wild thing running loose, but a strong worker
+full of earnest purpose. It is the great river without which there
+would have been no London, the river which bears the largest trade the
+world has ever known.
+
+Unfortunately, the habit of using the river at London as a highway
+was lost some time in the eighteenth century and has not yet been
+recovered, notwithstanding the gallant attempt of the London County
+Council to educate the people to it. At one time the river was used
+for every sort of traffic: tilt boats, covered with an awning, ran up
+and down like omnibuses and charged sixpence a passenger; and every man
+of importance kept his private barge, for the smoothly gliding waters
+made an infinitely preferable route to the vile roads. At every set
+of stairs--and the stairs were frequent--numberless wherries awaited
+hire. In the sixteenth century there were two thousand on the water,
+and it was reckoned that nine thousand watermen earned their living
+by transporting people up and down or from shore to shore. When it is
+objected that these men were a pest and a nuisance, so that we are well
+rid of them, that their language was unspeakable and their manners
+filthy, it may be replied, _autres temps autres mœurs_, for there
+are a few watermen still to be had at Westminster, at the Tower, and
+at most of the river stairs, and they are civil and obliging, only,
+alas, the public rarely patronises them. Occasionally, an uncommonly
+adventurous person, probably a visitor staying in London, penetrates to
+the haunt of the watermen, and, upon inquiry, he finds a respectable
+man, duly licensed like a cabman, liable to be reported for rudeness
+or misconduct, strictly limited by law as to the fees he may demand,
+and ready to add greatly to the pleasure of the trip by his genial,
+shrewd humour and his keen observation; qualities found frequently in
+men whose business is upon great waters.
+
+  [Illustration: BEYOND HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE]
+
+Without counting the railways, fourteen bridges now span the Thames
+from Hammersmith downward, and even fourteen we sometimes find
+inadequate to our needs in this hurrying life. Not until the middle of
+the eighteenth century was the historic London Bridge backed up by a
+second. Before that time, all men crossed by boat, or by the ferry at
+Westminster, or even by the ford there, a feat which the embanking of
+the river has long rendered impossible.
+
+We can see it, this great river of ours, as in a vision, gradually
+emerging from its primeval wilderness. First it spread widely between
+the rising ground on each side, a vast area of lagoons, flooded at
+high tide, and at low tide a swampy place full of half-submerged
+islets. Then one or two small settlements for trade were planted on
+its banks, first at Westminster, and others about the site of Cannon
+Street Station, where the Walbrook leapt to meet the larger current.
+There was a gradual extension of houses along the brink. At last an
+attempt was made to bridge the river over, probably by a wooden bridge.
+This succeeded, and when the bridge had stood for some time it was
+replaced by another in the twelfth century. This was built and rebuilt,
+as the turbulent river, feeling the erection of earthworks to curtail
+its flood, fretted to be free, and rushed seaward with force, tearing
+down the obstruction offered by this quaint old London Bridge with its
+double line of houses. Many a picture of this bridge still remains.
+It was a fascinating, a wonderful structure. Numberless children have
+yearned to have lived there, high above the flood. What delight to look
+out from one's nursery window and see the grey-green water hastening
+past. To see it mysteriously stop as if by some command from on High,
+then slowly turn and race inward again. Marvellous feat! Miraculous
+bridge! There was a beautiful chapel, a veritable gem of work, upon
+this bridge. There was a house like a puzzle-house, put together with
+pegs, without an iron nail in it. There were gateways at each end, and
+on the gateways were the grisly remains of the heads of men and women
+who had been executed. There were shops on each side of the road where
+ribbons and laces and other haberdashery might be bought at will.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CUSTOM HOUSE]
+
+There were gaps between the houses, where one could escape for a moment
+from the lumbering, creaking, groaning traffic pent up in the narrow,
+mud-splashed roadway, and see the water itself, and see how the houses
+were built out over it, resting on nothing. Another miracle! A mighty
+tome might be written about Old London Bridge; of all the relics of
+a past London, it is the one I should like most to have seen. Mills
+there were on this bridge, to which the people could bring their corn
+to be ground by the force of the water. Waterworks there were, too,
+and the bridge itself contained a drawbridge to protect London against
+invasion, for, as there was none other crossing, an enemy prevented
+here might well be held in check altogether.
+
+Next to London Bridge, the oldest bridge across the river was at
+Kingston, and it is on record that in 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt, finding
+London Bridge closed against him, marched all the way to Kingston
+in order to cross, but on arrival there, found that he had been
+anticipated, and that the bridge was broken down.
+
+The present London Bridge has been recently widened. At one end of
+it rises the white tower of St. Magnus, a Danish saint, and behind
+it is the pointing finger of the Monument, while down the river are
+the market of Billingsgate, the quay of the Custom House, and beyond,
+rising tall and ghostly, close to the Tower itself, the Tower Bridge,
+the latest addition to the list.
+
+On the south side of London Bridge, over the houses peep the pinnacles
+of St. Saviour's tower, Southwark. Anciently, it was called St. Mary
+Overies, and was once a priory, one of the most ancient houses in
+London. From this there ran a ferry, which was in use long after the
+bridge was built, for the narrowness of the street and the continual
+blocks made a passage by the bridge a process of time. Gower, the poet,
+was a benefactor to the priory, and is buried in the church.
+
+  [Illustration: DUTCH BARGES NEAR THE TOWER]
+
+As the Tower Bridge can swing open, ships of all sizes can get up as
+far as London Bridge, when the tide allows them sufficient water-way,
+and a busy scene, watched by a never-failing crowd of idlers, is always
+to be witnessed in the reach below. Ships there are of all shapes and
+sizes, but mostly hideous, made for merchandise and not for show. Many
+of them are iron, and run between eight and twelve hundred tons. They
+come from Hamburg, Hull, Newcastle, Holland, and many another port.
+There, out in the river, is a dredger working with a hideous grinding
+noise, and beyond it are two or three brilliantly painted green and red
+boats with great wooden flaps, or lee boards, on their sides. They are
+Dutch eel boats, and are allowed to lie in the river free from dues,
+if they keep always in the same place. It is a survival of an ancient
+custom.
+
+As we pass through under London Bridge, and come out on the other side,
+we can see the grey river with its bustling craft, framed like a series
+of pictures in the wide arches.
+
+Some of the oldest theatres in London stood on the part called
+Bankside, about Southwark Bridge; at present the view is dingy
+and uninteresting. The Bishop of Winchester's palace once adjoined
+Bankside, as that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, still
+stands near Westminster Bridge; but it fell into ruins and the bishops
+removed to Chelsea.
+
+It is impossible to enumerate the palaces and fine houses that once
+stood along Thames Street, which, in the fourteenth century, was
+the most fashionable street in London. The part of the foreshore
+now occupied by wharves and great warehouses--where cranes swing and
+lighters await their loads all day long, and every working day--has
+all been reclaimed from the river. Once it was covered at every
+returning tide, but strong piles were driven into the mud, and on this
+unpromising spot houses began to rise and débris accumulated, until
+firm ground was made, and this became one side of a busy street.
+
+On the up-side of Cannon Street, close to the cavernous jaws of the
+station, is a wharf marked in white letters, "Walbrook Wharf." This
+is as near as we can get to the first site of London, where the Briton
+made his modest lake-fort, Llyn-din, and afterwards the Romans pitched
+their strong citadel.
+
+  [Illustration: THE TOWER OF ST. MAGNUS]
+
+Queenhithe was given by King John to his mother, Queen Eleanor.
+Hence arose the name. It was no trifling gift, for this was the most
+important dock on the Thames at that time, and dues were collected from
+all the ships unlading here. Now it is a small area in which the water
+laps at rotting lichened posts as it slowly uncovers and re-covers the
+slimy mud.
+
+The whole of this district lying north of the Thames is the oldest part
+of our ancient city, and it is thick with memories. Down the crooked
+streets Spenser came as a boy from his home beyond the city ditch to
+his school of the Merchant Taylors in Dowgate. Here a fair-haired
+gentle lad, called Chaucer, loitered many a time, for his father's
+house was in Thames Street.
+
+Not far from Puddle dock stood Baynard's Castle with its high
+buttressed walls. In it Edward IV. was proclaimed, and in it, also,
+Richard III. made a feint of refusing the crown belonging to his
+imprisoned nephew. Tower Royal, Montfichet, and many another glorious
+building, have gone utterly, so that their sites can be fixed only
+approximately. The river Fleet, up which large ships could ply once,
+flowed into the Thames where is now Blackfriars Bridge. By its banks
+the great religious houses of the Black and White Friars rose, and the
+boundary cliff hewed by its current may still be traced in the steep
+rise up Ludgate Hill, which tries the patient omnibus horses day by
+day. Over all, as we draw further up the river, towers the great dome
+of St. Paul's.
+
+The Surrey side of the Thames continues unlovely--a medley of browns
+and greys, tall chimneys and tumble-down sheds; it needs the veil which
+the atmosphere of London mercifully throws over it.
+
+The railway bridge and Blackfriars are so close together, they almost
+touch. As we pass underneath there is a hollow reverberation, like
+the beat of the surf in a cave on the shore. Just above the bridge is
+anchored the _Buzzard_, the Naval Volunteer training ship.
+
+  [Illustration: ST. PAUL'S]
+
+Along the northern side now begins the Embankment, with its solid
+granite walls and fringe of young planes. The green lawns and red
+buildings of the Temple can be seen only when the river is very high.
+Further on is Somerset House, followed by a line of hotels, the palaces
+of modern days. Somerset House is the successor of the palace built
+by the arrogant Protector Somerset, from the stones of churches and
+religious buildings; between it and the Temple stood Arundel and Essex
+Houses. The latter had earlier been called Leicester House, and Spenser
+lived there for a time as secretary to the Earl of Leicester.
+
+The tide has turned and is coming in. Little steam tugs, gallantly
+towing six barges, two abreast and each twice as large as themselves,
+pant up stream; while the bargees, with faces the colour of brickdust,
+the colour they are so fond of reproducing in their paint and even in
+their sails, stand by their huge rudders. Some barges are struggling
+along without mechanical aid. The men in charge bend back horizontally
+in their manipulation of the huge sweeps. There must be a knack in it.
+No one could work so hard as they seem to be doing; spine and sinews
+would give way altogether. Their whole strength results in but a slow
+progress, and the barge, responding to the push of the water, makes
+a kind of crab-like movement, sidling up the river broadside on. One,
+laden with yellow straw till it appears like a huge barn, is stranded
+right in mid-stream. The long ends of the straw sweep in the water, and
+there is no moving until the current increases.
+
+Here and there red-brown sails, patched and stained, spring up, and
+others still furled, stand up along the wharves like crooked warning
+fingers. Just before Waterloo Bridge there is, neatly tucked away below
+the Embankment, so that few ever know of its existence, a station of
+the river police, with trim muslin curtains over the windows.
+
+Between Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridges the same sort of thing
+continues. An enormous chimney on the Surrey side mocks the dignity
+of Cleopatra's Needle, now safe in haven after many vicissitudes. The
+sweep of the river makes these two bridges radiate out like the spokes
+of a wheel, so that the southern ends are nearer than the northern. The
+chimneys and wharves and the ubiquitous barges still continue, and as
+we pass beneath the hideous red iron bridge of Charing Cross, we get a
+vision of the many towers and pinnacles of Westminster ahead.
+
+  [Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT]
+
+Besides the great houses of old times already mentioned, there were
+others down this stretch of the river too--the Savoy, home of John
+of Gaunt, and in its time prison and hospital; Durham, Worcester, and
+Salisbury Houses. These were all either flush with the water or hemmed
+in by high walls in which were stairs "to take water at." The only
+relic of these mansions lies in the watergate of York House, now about
+a hundred yards from the river, behind a strip of land which has all
+been reclaimed by the making of the Embankment. But that the Embankment
+does not always suffice to curb the current was proved not so long ago,
+for in March, 1906, there was a combination of circumstances which
+swelled the volume of water abnormally. Sudden floods of rain caused
+every weir far up the river to be opened, and bounding, exulting to
+be free, the huge mass of water, swelled by every brook and tributary
+and swollen to twice its usual size, rushed seaward. But it was met by
+a high spring tide, and the collision was increased by a strong wind,
+so that the water rose higher and higher, and the curious spectacle
+was witnessed of barges floating above the roadway, propelled by
+sweeps braced against the granite walls. The water burst up through
+the pavement and the manholes, and ran in a flood under Charing Cross
+Bridge, but it just did not overtop the Embankment wall by an inch
+or two, and as the tide subsided the tension relaxed. In the higher
+reaches, about Barnes and Chiswick, "tide-boards" were used to fill up
+the crevices below the doors, and by this means alone many a house was
+saved from being swamped.
+
+The scene is lively enough. Seagulls of all ages--big dingy drab ones
+and neat ones in liveries of dove-grey and white--float merrily on the
+ripples, or poise and wheel in the air. Here a County Council steamer
+ploughs past, churning the river into wavelets, there a lad paddles
+a boat from shore to shore with a single oar used rudderwise, a feat
+possible only to a born waterman.
+
+  [Illustration: WESTMINSTER BY NIGHT]
+
+As we pass on we can see the high bastion towers of Scotland Yard.
+Northumberland Avenue stretches over ground which was once the gardens
+of Northumberland House--they came down to the water--and beyond this
+were quadrangles and a medley of buildings, mostly low and mostly
+of brick, which formed the palace of Whitehall, snatched by Henry
+VIII. from Wolsey because the royal palace at Westminster had fallen
+into decay. The Houses of Parliament, standing on the site of the
+latter palace, are the finest work of Barry, who has been abused for
+many things, but who seems to have been touched by a genuine spirit
+of architecture in this instance, and to have realised the right
+characteristics of majesty and delicacy in his work. But he had a
+noble chance, for the position of the building, standing on the edge
+of the water, with the bridge rising beside it, gave room for a fine
+conception.
+
+From Westminster to the Tower or Fleet prison, how many prisoners have
+come and gone--come up against the current full of hope, and returned
+of hope bereft! The ghosts are endless, because the river was the usual
+mode of communication between the Tower and the Court at Westminster,
+as the Strand was full of holes and seamed by watercourses. If this
+reach of water were to tell its tale, much of the history of England
+would be interwoven with it, and it would be tinged with the bitterest
+sorrow human life can know--death with disgrace.
+
+From the time of Edward the Confessor to the time of Henry VIII., our
+kings were housed at Westminster as one of the chief of their royal
+palaces. Luckily the Great Hall, which Rufus built, escaped the fire
+of 1834, and still may be seen, but all else, with the exception of the
+crypt of St. Stephen's, has vanished utterly.
+
+The time to see the Houses of Parliament is undoubtedly at night,
+when Big Ben's illuminated face sheds a sort of ethereal light on the
+architectural fretwork near him.
+
+Wordsworth admired the view most in the early morning, before the first
+waking of the great world of bustle and business:
+
+     The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
+     Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
+     Open unto the fields and to the sky,
+     All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
+     Never did sun more beautifully steep
+     In his first splendour, valley rock or hill;
+     Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep;
+     The river glideth at his own sweet will.
+     Dear God, the very houses seem asleep;
+     And all that mighty heart is lying still.
+
+Westminster Bridge is particularly wide, and has a low parapet. In the
+sudden gusts of wind that come sweeping down the river it is a marvel
+that no one has been caught up and tossed over into the rolling green
+torrent. These peculiarities also are noticeable when the bridge is
+seen from the Embankment, for the traffic looms up very high on it, and
+the omnibuses and cabs look almost as if they were careering along on
+the parapet itself.
+
+From Westminster to Lambeth is but a short way, and what Westminster
+Palace was, while it existed, to the lord temporal, so Lambeth has
+been, and is, to the lord spiritual; from the very earliest times the
+Archbishops of Canterbury have lodged here.
+
+In our peaceful days the holder of the highest dignity of the Church
+has not to fear the Tower and the "sharp medicine of the axe" as some
+of his predecessors did. Laud and Juxon were executed, and for Cranmer
+there was the worse horror of the torturing stake. Lambeth has seen
+much cruelty mingled with the name of religion in the time that it has
+stood above the flood. The Lollards, imprisoned within the tower which
+still bears their name, made deep incisions on the walls to wile away
+the weary hours of suspense, and the groans of prisoners have been
+stifled by these walls as well as by those of the grim Tower.
+
+On the same side as Lambeth, nearer Westminster Bridge, are the curious
+detached buildings of St. Thomas's Hospital, looking like nothing in
+the world less than a hospital.
+
+Where Lambeth Bridge is now, was once the ferry by which King James II.
+passed when he made a hurried exit from the kingdom that repudiated
+him. It was a bitter night, and, attended by only one gentleman, the
+king slipped secretly out of his palace at Whitehall, and crossing the
+Privy Gardens, made his way to the ferry, where he entered a small
+boat with a single pair of oars. In mid-stream he threw the Great
+Seal into the water. A curious and dramatic incident this, that might
+well be made the subject of a picture by some historical painter. The
+Great Seal was afterwards accidentally drawn up in the net of some
+fisherman. But there is another memory further back still, which gives
+to this strip of river an importance which no other part can boast.
+Here lay the first ford, to which all the traffic of the north, on
+its way to the south coast, had to come. In the ages before even the
+oldest London Bridge was built, a string of pack horses, of weary
+men and of travellers, continually wandered down through the marshes
+lying around Thorney Island, on which stands the present Abbey, and,
+guided by stakes placed for the purpose, arrived at the river's bank,
+there to await low tide, when they could cross over to the further
+shore. Through the ages we see them continuing, and when England was
+Christianised, to the procession were added monks and pilgrims bent on
+holy missions. When London Bridge was built, a great majority of the
+age-long procession was diverted that way, but many still continued to
+prefer the ancient ford at Westminster. Of course, since the Embankment
+was made, and the river no longer wanders uncurbed over the lowlands
+and meadows of Westminster, the current runs deep and strong and no
+fording is possible.
+
+  [Illustration: HAY BARGES NEAR WESTMINSTER BRIDGE]
+
+Above Lambeth we pass the Tate Gallery and the new bridge at Vauxhall,
+and then traverse a dreary strip of river, dreary on both sides,
+until we come near to Chelsea Bridge. This is a high-swinging and
+imposing bridge of the same type as the Albert Bridge further up. How
+different the Chelsea we see now from the ancient Chelsea. Ours is a
+Chelsea mainly of red brick, with many tall flats and many beautifully
+designed houses in pseudo-ancient style. A long line of planes runs
+along the embankment, which is one of the prettiest embankments on
+the river. The gardens and green lawns of the Royal Hospital reach to
+the roadway, and away behind them at some distance can be seen the
+comparatively low and long range of buildings dating from the time
+of the Stuarts, and forming an asylum for old soldiers. On the strip
+of ground to the east of them once stood Ranelagh, the gay rotunda
+which played such a part in all London flirtations; where misses met
+their beaux and walked round in stately steps to the sound of music.
+The breakfasts at Ranelagh were at one time almost as popular as the
+evening entertainments:
+
+     A thousand feet rustled on mats,
+       A carpet that had once been green;
+     Men bowed with their outlandish hats,
+       With corners so fearfully keen;
+     Fair maids, who at home in their haste
+       Had left all clothing else but a train,
+     Swept the floor clean as slowly they paced,
+       And then walked round and swept it again.
+
+Thus Bloomfield satirically described the scene. Ranelagh plays a
+large part in _Evelina_ and other romances of that date. The last
+public entertainment was given in 1803, and of the gay rotunda with its
+gorgeous fittings not a vestige now remains.
+
+High red-brick flats which stand at the foot of the Royal Hospital
+gardens by the river, are succeeded by smaller houses, and beyond
+the Albert Bridge the district has not yet been transformed, as it
+assuredly will be.
+
+In the small public gardens that face the river there is a bronze
+statue of Carlyle, the Sage of Chelsea, and not far off rises the
+curious little tower of dark brick that belongs to the old church,
+a very mausoleum of tombs. Chelsea has, perhaps, been more altered
+by the formation of the Embankment than any other part of the river.
+Its very name implies a bank of shingly beach stretching down to the
+water, and so it was in old times, and to this beach the gardens of
+the stately palaces reached. Chelsea has been called a village of
+palaces. A village it was in old times, quite detached from London, and
+considered a country residence by many a famous nobleman and statesman.
+On the site of the row of houses in Cheyne Walk stood the New Manor
+House built by Henry VIII. as part of the jointure of Catherine Parr,
+who afterwards lived here with her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, Lord
+High Admiral. Both Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey spent part
+of their childhood in it. The palace of the Bishops of Winchester, at
+Southwark, having become dilapidated, as we have seen, a new one was
+built at Chelsea in 1663, and was occupied by eight successive bishops.
+Shrewsbury House was another palace built in the reign of Henry VIII.
+The wife of the Earl of Shrewsbury was the founder of Chatsworth,
+Oldcotes and Hardwick. In Lawrence or Monmouth House, near the church,
+lived Smollett the novelist, and further on, somewhere near the end
+of Beaufort Street, was the house once occupied by Sir Thomas More,
+whose memory is still cherished in Chelsea. No garden among all the
+famous gardens of Chelsea was so carefully tended as his. When More had
+been made Lord Chancellor, and had spent his days hearing cases in the
+stuffy precincts of the court, how joyfully must he have stepped into
+his barge in the cool of the evening, to be rowed back up-stream to his
+roses and his children, where he could indulge his kindly humour and
+his playfulness, and unbend without fear. Sometimes the royal barge
+would sweep up after him, and the tyrant Harry himself spring ashore
+and walk up and down the sweet-scented alleys, with his arm round the
+Chancellor's neck, a dangerous fondness that in time resulted in More's
+being cut off altogether from his garden and his peaceful evenings, and
+in his going down that stream never to return. His monument is in the
+church, with an inscription written by himself, but whether his body
+lies here is a question that can never be definitely answered.
+
+  [Illustration: CHELSEA REACH WITH THE OLD CHURCH]
+
+Beyond Battersea Bridge is a little creek, and from a small house on
+the other side of the road Turner used to look out upon the river.
+He came here incognito from his real house in Queen Anne Street, and
+studied the gorgeous sunset effects, which can be seen nowhere better
+than at Chelsea.
+
+     Now in his palace of the west,
+       Sinking to slumber, the bright day,
+     Like a tired monarch fanned to rest,
+       Mid the cool airs of evening lay;
+     While round his couch's golden rim
+       The golden clouds like courtiers crept,
+     Struggling each other's light to dim,
+       And catch his last smile ere he slept.
+                                   --_Moore._
+
+Turner brings us to modern memories. Besides himself and Carlyle, there
+lived in Chelsea, Rossetti and George Eliot, not to mention living men.
+
+Opposite Chelsea is the long wall that bounds Battersea Park, and after
+passing Battersea Bridge, we encounter a very unlovely strip of water,
+with wharves and chimneys and tumble-down buildings. It is utilitarian
+and not beautiful.
+
+The green embankment which hems in the grounds of Hurlingham Club
+gives a touch of relief, and the fine trees which existed long before
+the club, since the time that the house was a private mansion, rise
+towering above it. On the other side the river Wandle, from which
+Wandsworth takes its name, a river known to few, empties itself into
+the Thames. Then we reach Putney Bridge, with its wide, curved white
+arches. On the east is another embankment which bounds Bishop's Park,
+partly turned into pleasure gardens open to all the world. The palace
+itself is not well seen from the river, for it is low and hidden by
+trees.
+
+The manor of Fulham has belonged to the See of London since the end
+of the seventh century. The palace is built round two courtyards, the
+older of which dates from Henry VII.'s reign, and the other from the
+middle of the eighteenth century. The west or river side contains the
+rooms used by Laud while he was bishop.
+
+As we draw away from the bridge we see to advantage the two churches,
+curiously alike, one belonging to Putney and the other to Fulham,
+which stand at two corners of the bridge, diagonally, looking at one
+another. Boat-houses and flats fill up the western shore until they are
+succeeded by the trees of Barn Elms Park, otherwise known as Ranelagh.
+The chief memories of Ranelagh centre about the Kit-Kat Club, which met
+here, and included among the members such men as Walpole, Vanbrugh,
+Congreve, Addison and Steele. Their portraits were all painted by
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, and hung round the club room; consequently,
+this particular size of portrait, 36 inches by 28, became known as a
+kit-kat. The name of the club itself is said to have originated in a
+pastrycook named Christopher Kat, who used to make excellent mutton
+pies, called Kit-Kats, which were always included in the bill of fare
+at club dinners.
+
+Many a visit did Evelyn and Pepys and other notable Londoners make
+to Barn Elms in summer evenings in the seventeenth century. Pepys was
+particularly fond of idling under the well-grown trees. Hear him:
+
+     After dinner, by water, the day being mighty pleasant, and
+     the tide serving finely, I up as high as Barne Elmes and
+     there took one turn alone.
+
+This was in April; and another time:
+
+     I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great pleasure saw
+     some gallant ladies and people come with their bottles and
+     baskets and chairs, to sup under the trees by the water-side,
+     which was mighty pleasant.
+
+On the opposite side of the river from Barn Elms stood Brandenburg
+House, where lived Queen Caroline, unhappy consort of George IV.
+
+Below Hammersmith Bridge there is a very untidy bit of foreshore, with
+factories and chimneys and many dreary objects scattered about it,
+and always a superfluity of clumsy barges. Beyond the fine suspension
+bridge there is another bit of foreshore not quite so untidy, where
+racing boats and other boats lie, and from which many a crew turns out
+to practice. Along this stretch runs the Mall, Upper and Lower. In the
+coffee house near the junction of the two, Thomson wrote "Winter," in
+_The Seasons_.
+
+The Mall is associated with the Kelmscott Press, founded by William
+Morris, who named it after his country house. Turner lived in the Mall
+for six years, and the novelist Marryat was a resident for a short time
+in 1830. Here also was a large house occupied by Catherine of Braganza
+after the death of Charles II. The river at Hammersmith is 750 feet
+wide. The inhabitants make the bridge a favourite lounging place, for
+seats line both sides; the total amount of fresh air thus imbibed no
+man can calculate, for the tide races up bringing ozone straight from
+the sea, and the wind blows freshly over the glittering water. On the
+south bank are the reservoirs of a large water company.
+
+With Hammersmith we must end this chapter, for we have joined the
+account of the stream of pleasure which comes down to London.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OUR NATIONAL POSSESSION
+
+
+The Thames is a great national possession, affording means of
+recreation and delight to thousands yearly. It is difficult to compare
+it with anything else in Great Britain. It stands by itself, and is
+unique. Other rivers there are, which for a small part of their course
+are excellent for boating; but there is nothing in England to equal the
+Thames, where the water is now kept at a high level, and where, for
+the 112 miles between London Bridge and Oxford, there is practically
+continuous beauty and convenience for boating. The reproach has been
+brought against us that we do not make full use of our river at London
+as the Parisians do of the Seine at Paris. But the two things are not
+on the same footing at all. There are many problems in connection with
+the Thames as a tidal river that have not to be solved by the Parisians
+in regard to the Seine. Perhaps if the great barrage at Gravesend,
+which has been discussed, ever comes into existence, we shall be able
+to remove the reproach, to run our steamboats to time, and to use the
+river as a river of pleasure, even so far down as London Bridge. There
+are, however, grave objections to the barrage scheme, which for the
+present has been set aside. Though the tides interfere with pleasure
+boats, they are a source of motive power for innumerable barges;
+the river traffic would be seriously hindered by the elimination of
+the element of tide, and many owners of wharves and quays would be
+injured by the change. There are also other difficulties. At present
+the sewage, after being dealt with by filtration in sewage-beds, is
+returned to the river, and, having been rendered innocuous, floats
+out to sea, and mingles with the pure water satisfactorily. It would,
+however, be another thing to return thousands of gallons of water,
+which, however innocuous, can hardly be called clean, to the great lake
+of fresh water the river would become if dammed up by a barrage.
+
+  [Illustration: FROM BATTERSEA BRIDGE]
+
+Yet the continual increase in the size of ships, and the consequent
+demand for a river ever deeper, is a source of perplexity to the
+Thames Conservancy. This involves constant dredging, which would
+not be necessary were a perpetual high tide to be maintained. It is
+true that this dredging in some parts is a source of profit, not of
+expense. Thames gravel is exceedingly valuable, and it is found to
+be worth while for men not only to buy and maintain large dredgers
+down near the river mouth, but to pay a rent of something like £1500
+to the Conservancy for the privilege of doing so! The dredging,
+however, is not all so profitable. Where the river-bed is slime and
+mud, the channel has to be kept clear by dredgers at the expense of
+the Conservancy, and no delightful rents accrue from the process. This
+dredging is altogether rather an interesting matter. In some places it
+is found remunerative enough for men to do it by hand for the sake of
+what they bring up, and they obtain leave to go dredging.
+
+It is a fact not realised by everyone that the whole river, and all
+the craft upon it are under the strictest surveillance. Everything
+that floats must be licensed and carry its number for purposes of
+ready identification. The barges seen lying about in shoals near
+Westminster or Waterloo Bridges are not lying haphazard, but in certain
+specified places marked by buoys and allotted by the Conservancy,
+much as cabstands are allotted by the police. It is true that quays,
+wharves, landing stages, etc., being on land, are not subject to
+the Conservancy, which is in the somewhat anomalous position of
+dealing with the water, but not with the banks that hem it in. Yet
+the Conservancy manages to have a finger in this too, for suppose
+a man buys a bit of the river's bank, and erects a boat-building
+establishment thereon, he is obviously at a loss without steps down
+to the water or a landing place, and for this he has to pay rent to
+the Conservancy. The amusing part of it is that a man's property is
+sometimes in the air. In the case of a tree growing out of the water,
+it would truly tax the judgment of a Solomon to say what the rights of
+the Conservancy are toward that tree; but it is held that if the tree
+constitutes any danger or obstruction to the river-way the Conservators
+may insist on its being lopped. In connection with this a curious case
+sometimes arises. Man is always cunning where his own interests are
+concerned. It is not only to one man that the idea has occurred of
+propping up his overhanging tree by a stake. And, if the stake remains
+for any length of time, silt and rubbish collect between it and the
+shore, and eventually the island or the land of the cunning man is
+enlarged by a foot or two! More; sometimes stakes have been planted in
+the river bed with the same object without even excuse of the tree. It
+is the duty of the Conservancy officials to deal with all such stakes.
+
+Whatever may be alleged as to our neglect of the river at London,
+no such charge can be brought against us in our appreciation of it
+higher up. Day by day, in the summer, hundreds enjoy the air and the
+brilliance and the interest of the river reaches. House-boats are
+moored, permission and licences having been obtained, and men and women
+practically live in the open air for weeks together. The house-boats
+are not allowed to anchor everywhere, but are allotted certain
+stations, due regard being had to the width of the river. If they plant
+themselves near private ground they must gain the permission of the
+owner, as well as of the Conservancy, which is quite reasonable.
+
+To preserve an unimpeded channel may be taken as one of the great
+duties of the Conservancy. For this reason they have power to remove
+snags; to prevent the egotistical punt-fisher from placing his punt
+broadside in the midmost current; and to regulate the rules for the
+passing of craft. It is rather amusing to see sometimes how the punt
+man edges his craft as far from the bank as he dare before he sits
+down on his cane-bottomed chair and sorts out his tackle; but if a
+Conservancy official come along, and, eyeing him, decides, in spite of
+his extreme innocency and unconsciousness, that he has encroached too
+far, back he has to go. It is a perpetual game.
+
+In regard to the fishing, most of the Thames is free; and the coarse
+fishing--bream, dace, chub, and so on--is good of its kind. Here and
+there, as at Hedsor, there is a bit preserved. For the commonsense
+view is taken that, if both banks belong to the same owner, the river
+bed belongs also to him, and likewise the fishing. He cannot, however,
+prevent boats from passing up and down the stream flowing through his
+property, or the highway would be a highway no more. The fishery in the
+Thames has of late years greatly improved, owing to the disinterested
+action of many clubs and associations in putting in stock which
+they cannot hope subsequently to reclaim, but which, once gone into
+the water, belongs to everyone alike. An instance of this occurred
+recently, when 300 trout (_Salmo fario_), about fourteen inches long,
+were put into the Thames at Shepperton Weir in March by the Weybridge,
+Shepperton, and Halliford Thames Trout Stocking Association. These
+trout cost 2s. 6d. each! There is good coarse fishing in nearly all
+parts of the Thames; bream, dace, chub, perch, and pike can generally
+be caught.
+
+There are many curious and interesting points in regard to the
+river, and none more interesting than those relating to the tow-path.
+This venerable and ancient right-of-way still remains, crossing and
+recrossing from side to side as occasion demands, but traversable from
+end to end. As, however, it passes through private grounds by far the
+greater part of the way, it _is_ private, and yet public. Bicycles
+are frequently forbidden by stern notices put up by owners, who yet
+cannot prevent the pedestrian. The Conservancy has no power over the
+tow-path. What, then, happens when a part of the tow-path gives way and
+requires making up again? In theory it is the owner's duty to do it;
+but it would be expecting rather more than is warranted of human nature
+to expect an owner, who must regard the right-of-way with dislike and
+suspicion, to incur expense by mending it. As a matter of fact, if he
+does not do it, the Conservancy does. It may be remarked here that a
+very simple and effective way of embanking, known as "camp-shedding,"
+is often employed about the river banks and the projecting points of
+lock islands which are liable to be carried away by the current. This
+consists in dropping large bags of dry cement into the water. The water
+itself consolidates and hardens the stuff, which becomes a splendid
+barrier.
+
+There is another point in connection with the breaking away of the
+tow-path which is still more perplexing. Supposing it breaks away
+from a private owner's land in such a way that it cannot be built up
+again, but must be carried inland, what right has the public to say,
+"My right-of-way has fallen into the water, so I am going to take some
+of your land to replace it"? Apparently none at all. Yet the tow-path
+must be carried on. One wonders how, in the beginning, it was allotted
+to one side or the other. How was it that one owner said, "My lawns
+must slope right down to the water's edge; therefore I will not have
+the tow-path on my side; let it go upon the other?" And why has it
+never happened that two owners, equally strong and equally determined,
+have both flatly refused it? Be that as it may, the tow-path runs its
+tortuous but continuous course, and will continue to run as long as the
+river flows.
+
+Such things as locks and weirs are, of course, entirely in the power
+of the Conservancy, who pay the keepers and regulate the fees. The
+half-tide lock at Richmond has answered admirably so far (_see_ p.
+196); but the question is, Where is this sort of thing going to stop?
+There is an idea now of a similar lock at Wandsworth, and then we come
+to the matter of the barrage. We are so greedy of our river, we want it
+to be pent up, and not allowed to flow away to the sea. Weirs of some
+sort, which were at first called locks, are very ancient. In the end of
+the twelfth century we find orders respecting them.
+
+Stow tells us that about the year 1578 or 1579 there were twenty-three
+"locks," sixteen mills, sixteen floodgates and seven weirs on the
+river between Maidenhead and Oxford. In the next six years thirty more
+locks and weirs had been made in spite of complaints that many persons
+had been drowned "by these stoppages of the water." He adds that "the
+going up the locks was so steep that every year cables had been broken
+that cost £400." Especial complaint was made about Marlow lock, where
+one man had had his brains dashed out, and Stow remarks that all the
+compensation the widow received was £5! The barges were not charged
+for going up but only for coming down, and a barge passing from Oxford
+to London in Stow's time paid £12 18_s._ This was in the summer, when
+the water was low. In 1585 a petition was made to Queen Elizabeth
+"in the name of the widows and fatherless children whose parents and
+husbands were by these means slain, against the great mischief done
+to her loving subjects by the great number of dangerous locks, weirs,
+mills and floodgates unlawfully erected in many places on the river."
+Queen Elizabeth must have known something of the subject from her early
+acquaintance with Bisham. (_See_ Chap. XI.)
+
+In an old book of 1770 we find this passage: "The locks were machines
+of wood placed across the river, and so contrived to hold the water as
+long as convenient, that is, till the water rises to such a height as
+to allow of depth enough for the barge to pass over the shallows, which
+being effected, the water is set at liberty, and the loaded vessel
+proceeds on its voyage till another shoal requires the same convenience
+to carry it forward. This arrangement was in the summer when the water
+was low; in other seasons the locks were removed."
+
+When the present locks were made they were called "pound" locks; a
+great many of them were opened between 1770 and 1780.
+
+The members of the Conservancy Board go up in their launch several
+times a year to see that all is in order, and that their officials are
+doing their duty. Once a year they penetrate beyond Oxford, where the
+launch cannot go, and they have to take to rowing boats. They are not
+supposed to preserve the amenities of the river, but only its highway
+properties. They have no power to remove unsightlinesses, such as
+hideous advertisement boards; but only obstructions. Yet, in keeping
+the river free from sewage contamination; by forbidding the casting of
+refuse into the current from house-boats or elsewhere; by exercising
+a general jurisdiction, which makes people realise they are not free
+to amuse themselves to the annoyance of their neighbours--no doubt the
+amenities are very much more preserved than they would otherwise be.
+
+Stow ends up his account of the river: "And thus, as this fine river is
+of great use and profit to the city, so the many neat towns and seats
+on the banks of it make it extraordinary pleasant and delightful. So
+that the citizens and gentlemen, nay kings, have in the summer time
+usually taken the air by water; being carried in boats and barges along
+the Thames, both upward and downward according to their pleasures."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abbey Hotel, Medmenham, 126
+
+  Abbey River, 165, 168
+
+  à Becket, Thomas, 67
+
+  Aberlash, 74
+
+  Abingdon, 37
+
+  Abingdon Abbey, 41
+
+  Adam, 199
+
+  Addison, 228
+
+  Albert Bridge, 223
+
+  Ankerwyke Park, 157
+
+  Archbishop Laud, 71
+
+  Arnold, Dr., of Rugby, 167
+
+  Arnold, Matthew, 5, 167
+
+  Arragon, Katherine of, 196
+
+  Arundel House, 215
+
+  Athens, 149
+
+
+  Bankside, 211
+
+  Barbour, Geoffrey, 39
+
+  Barges, 234
+
+  Barn Elms Park, 228
+
+  Barrage, 232
+
+  Barrington Shute, 56
+
+  Barry, 218
+
+  Battersea Bridge, 226
+
+  Baynard's Castle, 213
+
+  Bell Weir Lock, 159
+
+  Benson Lock, 59
+
+  Billingsgate, 210
+
+  Birds, 17
+
+  Birinus, 50
+
+  Bisham Abbey, 112
+
+  Bisham Church, 111
+
+  Bishop of Winchester's Palace, 212
+
+  Bishop's Park, 227
+
+  Blackfriars Bridge, 213, 214
+
+  Bloomfield, 224
+
+  Blount, Sir Arthur, 66
+
+  Boat Race, 2, 201
+
+  Boleyn, Anne, 158
+
+  Bolney Court, 84
+
+  Borlase, Sir John, 127
+
+  Boulter's Lock, 128
+
+  Bourne End, 139
+
+  Boveney Lock, 150
+
+  Boyle Farm, 185
+
+  Bradshaw, 175
+
+  Braganza, Catherine of, 230
+
+  Brandenburg House, 229
+
+  Bray, 152
+
+  Bray Lock, 151
+
+  Brent River, 200
+
+  Brentford, 200
+
+  Bridges:
+    Battersea, 226
+    Blackfriars, 213, 214
+    Charing Cross, 216
+    Chelsea, 223
+    Folly, 25
+    Hammersmith, 229
+    Lambeth, 221
+    London,210
+    Old London, 208
+    Putney, 227
+    Tower, 210
+    Walton, 173
+    Waterloo, 216
+
+  Brightwell Barrow, 49
+
+  Buckingham, Duke of, 137
+
+  Burford Bridge, 38
+
+  Burney, Miss, 143, 199
+
+  Burton, Sir Richard, 204
+
+  Bushey Park, 181
+
+
+  Cæsar, Julius, 172
+
+  "Camp-shedding," 238
+
+  Canning, George, 204
+
+  Carfax Monument, 36
+
+  Carlyle, 224
+
+  Caversham, 71
+
+  Charing Cross Bridge, 216
+
+  Charles I., 65, 98, 180
+
+  Charles II., 127
+
+  Chaucer, 213
+
+  Chelsea Bridge, 223
+
+  Chelsea Embankment, 224, 225
+
+  Chertsey, 168
+
+  Chertsey Abbey, 168
+
+  Cherwell, 26
+
+  Chestnut Sunday, 181
+
+  Chiswick, 201
+
+  Chiswick House, 204
+
+  Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, 40
+
+  Cleeve Lock, 59
+
+  Cleopatra's Needle, 216
+
+  Clieveden, 136
+
+  Clifton Hampden, 45
+
+  Climenson, Mrs., 96
+
+  Coln River, 159
+
+  Compleat Angler Hotel, Marlow, 107
+
+  Congreve, 228
+
+  Conway, Field-Marshal, 102
+
+  Cookham, 138
+
+  Cooper's Hill, 146, 157
+
+  Cornish, J. C., 85
+
+  Countess of Nottingham, 195
+
+  Countess of Suffolk, 193
+
+  Cowley, 5, 6, 169, 174
+
+  Cowley Stakes, 172
+
+  Cranmer, 221
+
+  Cromwell, 55, 180
+
+  Crowmarsh, 54
+
+  Cuckoo Weir, 149
+
+  Culham, 42
+
+  Custom House, 210
+
+
+  Damer, Mrs., 99
+
+  Danesfield, 124
+
+  Datchet, 146
+
+  Day, Thomas, 82
+
+  Day's Lock, 47
+
+  Denham, 5, 24
+
+  Denham, Sir John, 146
+
+  Despencer, Lord Le, 126
+
+  Ditton House, 185
+
+  Donne, Dr., 190
+
+  Dorchester, 49
+
+  Dorchester Abbey, 51
+
+  Dowgate, 213
+
+  D'Oyley, Robert, 53
+
+  D'Oyley, Sir Cope, 103
+
+  Drayton, 4, 5, 22
+
+  Dredging, 233
+
+  Druce, Claridge G., 32, 62
+
+  Duc d'Aumale, 192
+
+  Duchess of York, 171
+
+  Dudley, Robert, 196
+
+  Duke of Buckingham, 137
+
+  Duke of Gloucester, 192
+
+  Duke of Marlborough, 150
+
+  Duke of York, 172
+
+  Duke's Meadows, 201
+
+  Durham House, 216
+
+  Dyers' Company, 122
+
+
+  Earl of Essex, 196
+
+  Earl of Leicester, 215
+
+  Edward IV., 213
+
+  Edward VI., 180
+
+  Edward Plantagenet, 113
+
+  Edward the Confessor, 140
+
+  Eel-pie Island, 191
+
+  Eights, The, 28
+
+  Eliot, George, 227
+
+  Embankment, The, 214
+
+  Empress Maud, 67
+
+  Essex, Earl of, 196
+
+  Essex House, 215
+
+  Eton, 7, 148
+
+  Evelyn, 229
+
+  Exe River, 175
+
+
+  Fair Maid of Kent, 54
+
+  Faringford, Hugh, 69
+
+  Fawley Court, 101, 102
+
+  Ferry Hotel, Cookham, 138
+
+  Fielding, Henry, 8, 190
+
+  Fingest, 103
+
+  Fishing, 236
+
+  Fleet River, 213
+
+  Floods, 217
+
+  Flora of Oxfordshire, 62
+
+  Folly Bridge, 25
+
+  Forbury Public Garden, Reading, 70
+
+  Fox, Charles James, 169, 204
+
+  Frogmill, 125
+
+  Fulham Palace, 228
+
+  Fuller, 67, 152, 198
+
+
+  Garrick's Villa, 183
+
+  Gaunt, John of, 67, 216
+
+  Gaveston, Piers, 54
+
+  Gay, 190, 193
+
+  General description, 9 ff
+
+  George III., 98
+
+  George IV., 98, 172
+
+  George Hotel, Bray, 154
+
+  George Hotel, Wargrave, 82
+
+  Gloucester, Duke of, 192
+
+  Goring, 57
+
+  Goring Church, 61
+
+  Gray, 5
+
+  Great Hall, Westminster, 219
+
+  Great Marlow, 106
+
+  Great Western Railway, 8
+
+  Greenhill, 60
+
+  Greenlands, 103
+
+  Greenwich Palace, 6
+
+  Grey, Lady Jane, 198
+
+  Gwynne, Nell, 127
+
+
+  Halliford, 175
+
+  Ham House, 191, 193
+
+  Hambleden, 103
+
+  Hammersmith Bridge, 229
+
+  Hampton, 177
+
+  Hampton Court, 6, 178
+
+  Hampton Green, 182
+
+  Hardwicke House, 65
+
+  Harp Hill, 48
+
+  Hartslock Woods, 62
+
+  Hedsor Church, 138
+
+  Henley, 97
+
+  Henley Regatta, 3, 100
+
+  Henry I., 42, 141, 195
+
+  Henry V., 195
+
+  Henry VI., 169
+
+  Henry VII., 195
+
+  Henry VIII., 68, 158, 178
+
+  Hoby, Sir Thomas, 111
+
+  Hogarth, 6, 183, 204
+
+  Holme Park, 75
+
+  Home Park, 145
+
+  Hook, Theodore, 184
+
+  Horton, 158
+
+  Hotels, 18
+
+  House-boats, 235
+
+  Houses of Parliament, 218
+
+  Howard, Katherine, 198
+
+  Hurley, 116
+
+  Hurlingham Club, 227
+
+  Hurst Park Racecourse, 182
+
+
+  Icknield Street, 59
+
+  Iffley, 29
+
+  Isleworth, 197
+
+
+  James II., 221
+
+  James Stuart, 143
+
+  Joan, 54
+
+  John, 78, 156, 213
+
+  Johnson, Dr., 183
+
+  Jones, Inigo, 199
+
+  Juxon, 221
+
+
+  Kelmscott Press, 230
+
+  Kempenfelt, Admiral, 120
+
+  Kew Gardens, 199
+
+  Kew Observatory, 197
+
+  Kew Palace, 6
+
+  _Kingis Quair_, 144
+
+  King's Stone, 187
+
+  Kingston, 186
+
+  Kingston Rowing Club, 186
+
+  Kit-Kat Club, 228
+
+  Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 190, 191, 228
+
+
+  Lady Place, 116
+
+  Laleham, 161, 167
+
+  Lambeth Bridge, 221
+
+  Lambeth Palace, 221
+
+  Laud, Archbishop, 71, 221, 228
+
+  Leicester, Earl of, 215
+
+  Leicester House, 215
+
+  Leland, 78
+
+  Llyn-din, 212
+
+  Locks, 239
+    Bell Weir, 159
+    Benson, 59
+    Boulter's, 128
+    Boveney, 150
+    Bray, 157
+    Cleeve, 59
+    Marsh, 102
+    Teddington, 187
+    Temple, 115
+
+  Loddon River, 92
+
+  London and South Western Railway, 9
+
+  London Bridge, 210
+
+  London Stone, 159
+
+  Long Ditton, 185
+
+  Long Mead, 157
+
+  Louis Philippe, 192
+
+  Lower Hope, 149
+
+  Lower Mall, 230
+
+
+  Macaulay, 120
+
+  Magna Charta Island, 155
+
+  Maidenhead, 132
+
+  Mapledurham House, 65, 66
+
+  Marble Hill, 193
+
+  Marlborough, Duke of, 98, 150
+
+  Marryat, 230
+
+  Marsh Lock, 102
+
+  Medmenham Abbey, 125
+
+  Merchant Taylors' School, 213
+
+  Milton, 5, 7, 158
+
+  Mole River, 184
+
+  Molesey Lock, 182
+
+  Molesey Regatta, 184
+
+  Mongewell, 56
+
+  Monkey Island, 150
+
+  Monmouth House, 225
+
+  Montfichet, 213
+
+  Moore, Thomas, 185, 188
+
+  More, Sir Thomas, 225
+
+  Morris, William, 230
+
+  Mortlake, 202
+
+  Mount Lebanon, 192
+
+
+  Naval Volunteer Training Ship, 214
+
+  New Cut, 27
+
+  Northumberland Avenue, 218
+
+  Northumberland House, 218
+
+  Nottingham, Countess of, 195
+
+  Nuneham Courtney, 35
+
+
+  Oatlands Park, 171, 174
+
+  Obstructions, 234
+
+  Old Deer Forest, 197
+
+  Old London Bridge, 208
+
+  Old Windsor, 146
+
+  Orleans House, 191
+
+  Oxford, 7
+
+  Oxford Meadows, 32
+
+
+  Pang River, 64
+
+  Pangbourne, 63
+
+  Park Place, 102
+
+  Parr, Catherine, 225
+
+  Penton Hook, 161
+
+  Pepys, 229
+
+  Phyllis Court, 101, 102
+
+  Pope, 5, 6, 145, 190, 193, 204
+
+  Pope's Villa, 189
+
+  Prince de Joinville, 192
+
+  Prince Henry, 193
+
+  Princess Elizabeth, 225
+
+  Puddle Dock, 213
+
+  Punting competition, 170
+
+  Putney Bridge, 227
+
+
+  Quarry Woods, 109
+
+  Queen Anne, 192
+
+  Queen Caroline, 229
+
+  Queen Eleanor, 213
+
+  Queen Elizabeth, 70, 113, 240
+
+  Queen Mary, 180
+
+  Queen Maud, 54
+
+  Queenhithe, 213
+
+
+  Radley College Boat-house, 34
+
+  Ranelagh, 223, 228
+
+  Raven's Ait, 186
+
+  Ray Mead Hotel, Maidenhead, 135
+
+  Reading Abbey, 67
+
+  Reading Castle, 70
+
+  Red Lion Hotel, Henley, 98
+
+  Richard II., 195
+
+  Richard III., 213
+
+  Richmond, 194
+
+  Richmond Palace, 6, 195
+
+  Rivers: Abbey, 165, 168
+    Brent, 200
+    Coln, 159
+    Exe, 175
+    Fleet, 213
+    Loddon, 92
+    Mole, 184
+    Pang, 64
+    Thame, 52
+    Wandle, 227
+    Wey, 173
+
+  Robsart, Amy, 196
+
+  Rodney, Admiral, 175
+
+  Romney Island, 148
+
+  Rose Garden, Sonning, 72
+
+  Rossetti, 227
+
+  Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 223
+
+  Runney Mead, 156
+
+  Rupert, Prince, 201
+
+
+  St. Anne's Hill, 170
+
+  St. Helen's Nunnery, Abingdon, 40
+
+  St. Mary Overies, 210
+
+  St. Patrick's Stream, 92
+
+  St. Saviour's, 210
+
+  St. Thomas's Hospital, 221
+
+  Salisbury House, 216
+
+  Sandford, 33
+
+  Savoy, The, 216
+
+  Scotland Yard, 218
+
+  Seagulls, 218
+
+  Seymour, Thomas, 225
+
+  Shelley, 106
+
+  Shenstone, 99
+
+  Shepperton, 170, 175
+
+  Shiplake, 95
+
+  Shrewsbury House, 225
+
+  Sinodun Hill, 48
+
+  Skindle's Hotel, Maidenhead, 133
+
+  Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 103
+
+  Smith, Sydney, 78
+
+  Smollett, 225
+
+  Somerset, Lord-Protector, 198, 215
+
+  Somerset House, 214
+
+  Sonning, 72
+
+  Spenser, 5, 213, 215
+
+  Staines, 159
+
+  Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, 194
+
+  Steele, 228
+
+  Stephen, 54
+
+  Stokenchurch, 103
+
+  Stow, 239
+
+  Strawberry Hill, 188
+
+  Streatley, 57
+
+  Sunbury, 175
+
+  Surbiton, 186
+
+  Surley Hill, 150
+
+  Sutton Courtney, 43
+
+  Sutton Pool, 43
+
+  Swan Hotel, Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Swans, 121
+
+  Swift, 190, 193
+
+  Syon House, 197
+
+
+  Tagg's Island, 182
+
+  Taplow, 132
+
+  Tate Gallery, 223
+
+  Teddington Lock, 187
+
+  Temple, 214
+
+  Temple Island, 101
+
+  Temple Lock, 115
+
+  Temple Mill, 115
+
+  Tennyson, 95, 191
+
+  Terry, Ellen, 166
+
+  Thame, The, 52
+
+  Thames Conservancy, 233
+
+  Thames, derivation of, 4
+
+  Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Thames Gardens, 19
+
+  Thomson, 6, 137, 230
+
+  Thorney Island, 222
+
+  Torpids, The, 29
+
+  Tow-path, 237
+
+  Tower, 210
+
+  Tower Bridge, 210, 211
+
+  Tower Royal, 213
+
+  Turner, 173, 191, 226, 230
+
+  Twickenham, 191
+
+  Twickenham Reach, 188
+
+
+  Upper Hope, 149
+
+  Upper Mall, 230
+
+  Upper Thames Sailing Club, 139
+
+
+  Vanbrugh, 228
+
+  Vauxhall Bridge, 223
+
+  Vintners' Company, 122
+
+
+  Walbrook, 208
+
+  Walbrook Wharf, 212
+
+  Walker, Frederick, 153
+
+  Wallingford, 53
+
+  Walpole, Horace, 6, 183, 189, 228
+
+  Walton Bridge, 173
+
+  Walton Church, 174
+
+  Walton, Izaak, 147
+
+  Wandle River, 227
+
+  Wandsworth, 227
+
+  Warbeck, Perkin, 196
+
+  Wargrave, 80
+
+  Warwick, "King Maker," 113
+
+  Waterloo Bridge, 216
+
+  Watermen, 206
+
+  Weirs, 239
+
+  Westminster Abbey, 222
+
+  Westminster Bridge, 220
+
+  Westminster Palace, 6
+
+  Wey River, 171
+
+  Weybridge, 170, 171
+
+  Whitchurch, 63
+
+  Whitehall, 218
+
+  Whitehall Palace, 6
+
+  White Hart Hotel, Sonning, 74
+
+  Whitehill, 60
+
+  Wigod, 53
+
+  William the Conqueror, 53, 141
+
+  William III., 141, 180
+
+  Winchester House, 225
+
+  Windsor Castle, 140
+
+  Wittenham, Little, 47
+
+  Wittenham Woods, 47
+
+  Wolsey, 178
+
+  Worcester House, 216
+
+  Wordsworth, 220
+
+  Wotton, Sir Henry, 147
+
+  Wren, Sir Christopher, 181, 182
+
+  Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 210
+
+
+  York, Duchess of, 171
+
+  York, Duke of, 172
+
+  York House, 191, 217
+
+
+_Printed by_ Geo. W. Jones, Limited, _Watford_.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE THAMES
+   FROM OXFORD TO LONDON
+
+   MAP ACCOMPANYING "THE THAMES" BY MORTIMER MENPES AND G. E. MITTON.
+   PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON]
+
+
+
+
+BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
+
+ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR
+
+BY MORTIMER MENPES
+
+
+     JAPAN
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Times.=--"Mr. Menpes's pictures are here given in most perfect
+facsimile, and they form altogether a series of colour impressions of
+Japan which may fairly be called unrivalled. Even without the narrative
+they would show that Mr. Menpes is an enthusiast for Japan, her art and
+her people; and very few European artists have succeeded in giving such
+complete expression to an admiration in which all share."
+
+
+     INDIA
+
+     WITH 75 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Evening Standard.=--"This sumptuous book is the result of an
+ideal collaboration, for the artist is at his best with colour schemes
+and atmospheric impressions, such as we find in his famous 'Japan'
+and 'Durbar' books; while Mrs. Steel has not only the saving grace of
+imagination, but is able by the sympathy and wise knowledge gained by
+a long residence in India to write a text of more than ordinary charm."
+
+
+     THE DURBAR
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Morning Post.=--"This splendid book will be accepted by all as the
+best realisation of an epoch-making ceremony that we are ever likely to
+get."
+
+=The Academy.=--"Unquestionably the best pictorial representation of
+the Durbar which has appeared."
+
+=The Globe.=--"Likely to be the most brilliant and lasting record of
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+
+
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+
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+
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+writers, some with and others without a genuine sympathy for their
+subject, has helped us to glimpses of the Queen of the Adriatic,
+through the spectacles of art, history, archæology, poetry, and
+romance; but the _Magnum Opus_ of Mortimer Menpes embraces to a great
+degree all five points of view, and persuades us that at last (and that
+not a day too soon) the stones of Venice have found at once a painter
+and a writer equally worthy of the vanished glories, the memories of
+which still cling to every church, palace, or bridge drawn or described
+in this charming work."
+
+
+     BRITTANY
+
+     WITH 75 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Pall Mall Gazette.=--"It is of course the picturesque aspects of
+Brittany that appeal to Mr. Menpes.... Whether he paints cottage
+interiors or peasant types, straggling village streets and coast-town
+alleys, or a market-place bustling and baking in the sunshine, it is
+all one to his graceful pencil; and reproduced, as the drawings are, by
+his own colour-process, they make another of those many charming albums
+of travel which Messrs. Black have made a special province of their
+own."
+
+
+     WORLD
+     PICTURES
+
+     WITH 500 ILLUSTRATIONS
+     (50 IN COLOUR)
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Scotsman.=--"Mr. Menpes has been a wanderer over the face of the
+earth armed with brush and pencil, and he has brought back with him
+portfolios filled with samples of the colour and sunshine, and of the
+life and form, quaint or beautiful, of the most famous countries of
+the East and of the West, and his charming book is a kind of album into
+which he has gathered the cream of an artist's memories and impressions
+of the many countries he has visited and sketched in."
+
+
+     THE WORLD'S
+     CHILDREN
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Times.=--"Of the cleverness, both of the pictures and letterpress,
+there can be no doubt. Miss Menpes's short papers on the children
+of different lands are full of insight, human and fresh experience;
+and Mr. Menpes's 100 pictures ... are above all remarkable for their
+extraordinary variety of treatment, both in colour scheme and in the
+pose and surroundings of the subject."
+
+
+     WAR
+     IMPRESSIONS
+
+     WITH 99 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Daily Telegraph.=--"One hardly knows which to admire the more--the
+skill of the artist or the skill with which his studies have been
+reproduced, for the colours of the originals are shown with marvellous
+fidelity, and the delicate art of the impressionist loses nothing
+in the process. The book, therefore, is a double triumph, and will
+therefore be prized by collectors."
+
+
+     WHISTLER AS
+     I KNEW HIM
+
+     WITH 125 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+     AND TINT
+
+     PRICE 40s. NET
+
+Haldane Macfall in =The Academy=.--"No one who loves the Art of
+Whistler should be without this handsome book; it contains works of Art
+of exquisite beauty; it contains a delightful picture of the outward
+Whistler that the man himself wished to be mistaken for the real
+thing--half butterfly, half wasp, wholly laughing enigma."
+
+=The Observer.=--"A singularly illuminating and intimate monograph."
+
+
+     REMBRANDT
+
+     WITH 16 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 12s. 6d. NET
+
+=Aberdeen Free Press.=--"The illustrations are magnificent examples
+of the perfection to which reproduction in colour is carried by Mr.
+Menpes, and the book as a whole is of very special interest."
+
+=British Weekly.=--"An invaluable collection of superb reproductions of
+Rembrandt's work. The book is a most desirable possession."
+
+
+PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK · SOHO SQUARE · LONDON · W.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44794 ***
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44794 ***</div>
+
+<div class="tnbox">
+<p class="center"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></p>
+<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original
+document have been preserved.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="Cover" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>
+THE THAMES
+</h1>
+
+<div class="bbox p6">
+<div class="ibox">
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">Volumes in this Series by</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Mortimer Menpes</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+<div class="ibox">
+<p class="center">
+EACH <b>20s.</b> NET<br />
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+</p>
+
+<hr class="l05" />
+
+<p class="center">
+THE DURBAR<br />
+JAPAN · WORLD'S CHILDREN<br />
+WORLD PICTURES · VENICE<br />
+WAR IMPRESSIONS<br />
+INDIA · BRITTANY<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div class="ibox">
+<p class="center">
+<i>Published by</i><br />
+<span class='smcap'>A. &amp; C. Black. Soho Square. London. W.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center p4">
+<i>AGENTS</i>
+</p>
+
+<table summary="Publishers">
+<tr>
+<td>AMERICA</td>
+<td class="tdh">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>64 &amp; 66 Fifth Avenue</span>, NEW YORK</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>CANADA</td>
+<td class="tdh">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>27 Richmond Street</span>, TORONTO</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>INDIA</td>
+<td class="tdh">MACMILLAN &amp; COMPANY, LTD.<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>Macmillan Building</span>, BOMBAY<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>309 Bow Bazaar Street</span>, CALCUTTA</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i004" id="i004"></a>
+<img src="images/i-004.jpg" width="423" height="550" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="blockquot p6">
+<p class="center b20">
+THE THAMES</p>
+
+<p class="center b13">BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.<br />
+TEXT BY G. E. MITTON<br />
+PUBLISHED BY A.&amp;C. BLACK<br />
+SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.</p>
+<div class="figright p2"><a name="i007" id="i007"></a>
+<img src="images/i-007.jpg" width="55" height="55" alt="" />
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center p6 s08">
+<i>Published July 1906</i>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_v' name='Page_v'>[v]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i009" id="i009"></a>
+<img src="images/i-009.jpg" width="550" height="353" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CONTENTS
+</h2>
+
+<table summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><span class="s08">PAGE</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Beauty of the River</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Oxford Meadows</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Old Town of Abingdon</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Dorchester and Sinodun Hill</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_vi' name='Page_vi'>[vi]</a></span></td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Castle and Stronghold</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Twin Villages</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>A Mitred Abbot</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Sonning and its Roses</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Wargrave and Neighbourhood</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER X</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Henley</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Romance of Bisham and Hurley</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Boulter's Lock and Maidenhead</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Windsor and Eton</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_vii' name='Page_vii'>[vii]</a></span></td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Magna Charta</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Penton Hook</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Weybridge and Chertsey</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Londoner's Zone</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVIII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The River at London</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIX</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Our National Possession</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td>
+  </tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Index</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_ix' name='Page_ix'>[ix]</a></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_viii' name='Page_viii'></a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+</h2>
+
+<table summary="List of Illustrations">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">1. </td>
+    <td colspan="2">Punting</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><i><a href="#i004">Frontispiece</a></i></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="4"><span class="s08">PAGE</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">2. </td>
+    <td>Thames Ditton</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i009">v</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">3. </td>
+    <td>Sutton Courtney, Culham Bridge</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i017">1</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">4. </td>
+    <td>Pangbourne</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i023">4</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">5. </td>
+    <td>Dorchester Abbey</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i031">8</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">6. </td>
+    <td>Day's Lock</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i039">12</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">7. </td>
+    <td>Near the Bridge, Sutton Courtney</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i045">14</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">8. </td>
+    <td>Streatley Inn</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i053">18</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">9. </td>
+    <td>Sandford Lock</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i061">25</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">10. </td>
+    <td>Iffley</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i067">28</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">11. </td>
+    <td>Radley College Boat-house</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i077">34</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">12. </td>
+    <td>Almshouses of Abingdon</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i081">37</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">13. </td>
+    <td>Abingdon</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i085">38</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">14. </td>
+    <td>The Mill at Abingdon</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i091">40</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">15. </td>
+    <td>Sutton Courtney Backwater</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i097">42</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">16. </td>
+    <td>Clifden Hampden from the Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i103">44</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">17. </td>
+    <td>Clifden Hampden</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i109">46</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">18. </td>
+    <td>Hurley</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i111">47</a><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_x' name='Page_x'>[x]</a></span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">19. </td>
+    <td>Cottages, Dorchester</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i115">48</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">20. </td>
+    <td>White Hart Hotel, Dorchester</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i121">50</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">21. </td>
+    <td>Dorchester Backwater</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i127">52</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">22. </td>
+    <td>Danesfield</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i129">53</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">23. </td>
+    <td>Wallingford</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i133">54</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">24. </td>
+    <td>Streatley Mill</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i139">56</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">25. </td>
+    <td>Goring Bridge</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i141">57</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">26. </td>
+    <td>Streatley</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i145">58</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">27. </td>
+    <td>Goring Church</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i151">60</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">28. </td>
+    <td>Goring</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i157">62</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">29. </td>
+    <td>Pangbourne, from the Swan Hotel</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i163">64</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">30. </td>
+    <td>Whitchurch Lock</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i165">64</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">31. </td>
+    <td>Mapledurham Mill</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i171">66</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">32. </td>
+    <td>Evening</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i173">67</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">33. </td>
+    <td>Caversham</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i179">70</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">34. </td>
+    <td>Paddling</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i182">72</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">35. </td>
+    <td>The Rose Garden at Sonning</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i185">72</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">36. </td>
+    <td>Sonning</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i193">76</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">37. </td>
+    <td>St. George and the Dragon, Wargrave</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i198">80</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">38. </td>
+    <td>The Church at Wargrave</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i201">80</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">39. </td>
+    <td>Barges at Oxford</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i219">97</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">40. </td>
+    <td>Red Lion Hotel, Henley</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i223">98</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">41. </td>
+    <td>Henley Regatta</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i229">100</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">42. </td>
+    <td>Hambleden</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i235">102</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">43. </td>
+    <td>Medmenham Abbey</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i239">105</a><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_xi' name='Page_xi'>[xi]</a></span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">44. </td>
+    <td>General View of Marlow</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i243">106</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">45. </td>
+    <td>Quarry Woods</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i249">108</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">46. </td>
+    <td>Bisham Church</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i255">110</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">47. </td>
+    <td>Hurley Backwater</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i261">112</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">48. </td>
+    <td>Bisham Abbey</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i267">114</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">49. </td>
+    <td>Cookham, from above</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i282">128</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">50. </td>
+    <td>Boulter's Lock, Ascot Sunday</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i285">128</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">51. </td>
+    <td>Below Boulter's Lock</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i291">130</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">52. </td>
+    <td>Maidenhead</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i297">132</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">53. </td>
+    <td>Eton, from the Brocas</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i306">140</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">54. </td>
+    <td>Windsor Castle</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i309">140</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">55. </td>
+    <td>Windsor</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i317">144</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">56. </td>
+    <td>Eton Chapel, from the Fields</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i325">148</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">57. </td>
+    <td>Magna Charta Island</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i333">155</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">58. </td>
+    <td>Hedsor Fishery</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i339">161</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">59. </td>
+    <td>Temple Lock</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i345">167</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">60. </td>
+    <td>Walton Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i353">172</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">61. </td>
+    <td>Sunbury</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i359">174</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">62. </td>
+    <td>Hampton Court</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i363">177</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">63. </td>
+    <td>Hampton Court, from the River</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i367">178</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">64. </td>
+    <td>Marlow Church</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i395">205</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">65. </td>
+    <td>Beyond Hammersmith Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i399">206</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">66. </td>
+    <td>The Custom House</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i405">208</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">67. </td>
+    <td>Dutch Barges near the Tower</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i411">210</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">68. </td>
+    <td>The Tower of St. Magnus</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i417">212</a><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_xii' name='Page_xii'>[xii]</a></span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">69. </td>
+    <td>St. Paul's</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i423">214</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">70. </td>
+    <td>The Houses of Parliament</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i429">216</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">71. </td>
+    <td>Westminster by Night</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i435">218</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">72. </td>
+    <td>Hay Barges near Westminster Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i443">222</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">73. </td>
+    <td>Chelsea Reach, with the Old Church</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i451">226</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">74. </td>
+    <td>View from Richmond Hill</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i457">231</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">75. </td>
+    <td>From Battersea Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i461">232</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td colspan="3" class="tdc"><i><a href="#i479">Sketch Map at end of Volume</a></i></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="center p4">
+<i>The Illustrations in this volume were engraved and printed at
+the Menpes Press, Watford.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_1' name='Page_1'>[1]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i017" id="i017"></a>
+<img src="images/i-017.jpg" width="550" height="354" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER I<br /><br /><span class="s08">
+THE BEAUTY OF THE RIVER
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+Close your eyes and conjure up a vision of the
+river Thames; what is the picture that you see? If
+you are a prosaic and commercial person, whose
+business lies by the river side, the vision will be
+one of wharves and docks, of busy cranes loading
+and unloading; a row of bonded warehouses
+rising from the water's edge; lighters filled with
+tea lying in their shadow, tarpaulined and padlocked;
+ships of all sizes and shapes, worn by
+water and weather. And up and down, in and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_2' name='Page_2'>[2]</a></span>
+out, among it all you see river police on their
+launch, inquisitive and determined, watching everything,
+hearing everything, and turning up when
+least expected. The glories of the high Tower
+Bridge, and the smoky gold of the setting sun
+will not affect you, for your thoughts are fixed
+on prosaic detail. As for green fields and quiet
+backwaters, such things do not enter into the
+vision at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet for one who sees the Thames thus prosaically,
+a hundred see it in a gayer aspect. To
+many a man it is always summer there, for the
+river knows him not when the chill grey days
+draw in. He sees gay houseboats in new coats
+of paint, decorated with scarlet geraniums and
+other gaudy plants. He associates the river with
+"a jolly good time" with a carefully chosen house-party,
+with amateur tea-making and an absence
+of care. Nowhere else is one so free to "laze"
+without the rebuke even of one's own occasionally
+too zealous conscience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To another the Thames simply means the Boat
+Race, nothing more and nothing less. Year by year
+he journeys up to London from his tiny vicarage
+in the heart of the country for that event. If the
+high tide necessitates it, he stands shivering on the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_3' name='Page_3'>[3]</a></span>
+brink in the chill whiteness of early morning. He
+sits on the edge of a hard wooden cart for an
+immense time, and, by way of keeping up his
+strength, eats an indigestible penny bun, a thing
+that it would never enter his head to do at any other
+time. He sees here and there one or the other of
+those school-fellows or university chums who have
+dropped out of his life for all the rest of the year.
+Then, after a moment's shouting, a moment's
+tense anxiety or bitter disappointment, according
+to the position of the boats, the flutter of a
+flag, and a thrill of something of the old enthusiasm
+that the unsparing poverty of his life has
+slowly ground out of him, he retires to his vicarage
+again for another year, elated or depressed according
+to the result of the race.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To others Henley is the embodiment of all
+that is joyous; the one week in the year that is
+worth counting. But to others, and these a vast
+majority of those who know the river at all, the
+Thames means fresh and life-giving air after a
+week spent within four walls. It means congenial
+exercise and light, and the refreshment that
+beauty gives, even if but half realised. It means a
+quiet dream with a favourite pipe in a deep backwater
+so overhung with trees that it resembles a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_4' name='Page_4'>[4]</a></span>
+green tunnel. The gentle drone of the bees
+sounds from the banks, there is a flash of blue
+sheen as a kingfisher darts by; a gentle dip and
+slight crackling tell of another favoured individual
+making his way cautiously along to the same sheltered
+alley; the radiant sunlight falls white upon the
+water through the leaves and sends shimmering
+reflections of dancing ripples on the sides of the
+punt. Such a position is as near Paradise as it
+is given to mortal to attain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are only a few of an inexhaustible variety
+of aspects of this glorious river, and each reader
+is welcome to add his own favourite to the list.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i023" id="i023"></a>
+<img src="images/i-023.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">PANGBOURNE</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+For the purposes of this book we are dealing
+with the Thames between Oxford and London,
+though as a matter of fact, tradition has it that
+the Thames proper does not begin until below
+Oxford, where it is formed by the junction of the
+Thame and the Isis. Tamese (Thames) means
+"smooth spreading water." Tam is the same root
+as occurs in Tamar, etc., and the "es" is the perpetually
+recurring word for water, <i>e.g.</i>, Ouse, ooze,
+usquebagh. Isis is probably a back formation, from
+Tamesis. In Drayton's <i>Polyolbion</i>, we have the
+pretty allegory of the wedding of Thame and Isis,
+from which union is born the sturdy Thames.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_5' name='Page_5'>[5]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Now Fame had through this Isle divulged in every ear
+</p>
+<p>
+The long expected day of marriage to be near,
+</p>
+<p>
+That Isis, Cotswold's heir, long woo'd was lastly won,
+</p>
+<p>
+And instantly should wed with Thame, old Chiltern's son.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In Spenser's <i>Faërie Queene</i> the notion is
+carried one step further, and Thames, the son of
+Thame and Isis, is to wed with Medway, a far-fetched
+conceit, for the rivers do not run into each
+other in any part of their course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is strange that a river such as the Thames,
+which, though by no means great as regards size,
+has played an important part in the life of the
+nation, should not have inspired more writers.
+There is no striking poem on the Thames. The
+older poets, Denham, Drayton, Spenser, Cowley,
+Milton, and Pope, all refer to the river more or
+less frequently, but they have not taken it as a
+main theme. It is even more neglected by later
+poets. There are poems to special parts or scenes,
+such as Gray's well-known "Ode on a Distant
+Prospect of Eton College"; the river colours one
+or two of Matthew Arnold's poems; but the great
+poem, which shall take it as a sole theme, is yet
+to come. Neither is there a good book on this
+river, though it is among rivers what London is
+among the cities of men. Yet the material is
+abundant, and associations are scattered thickly
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_6' name='Page_6'>[6]</a></span>
+along the banks. No fewer than seven royal
+palaces have stood by the river. And of these one
+is still the principal home of our sovereign. Of
+the others, Hampton Court, chiefly reminiscent
+of William III., is standing. The neighbouring
+palace of Richmond remains but in a fragment.
+At London, Westminster, the home of our early and
+mediæval kings, has vanished, except for the great
+hall and a crypt. Whitehall&mdash;the old palace&mdash;is
+wholly gone, though one part of the new palace
+projected by James I. remains. As for the old
+palace of Greenwich, so full of memories of the
+Tudors, that has been replaced by a later structure.
+I hesitate to name Kew in this list, so entirely
+unworthy is it of the name of palace, yet, as the
+residence of a king it should, perhaps, find a place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the annals of these palaces English history
+could be completely reconstructed from the time
+of Edward the Confessor to the present day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it is not in historical memories alone that
+the Thames is so rich. Poets, authors, politicians,
+and artists have crowded thickly on its banks
+from generation to generation. The lower reaches
+are haunted by the names of Hogarth, Cowley,
+Thomson; further up we come to the homes of
+Walpole, Pope, and Fielding. At Laleham lived
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_7' name='Page_7'>[7]</a></span>
+Matthew Arnold. Not far from Magna Charta
+Island is Horton, where Milton lived. Though
+his home was not actually on the river, Milton
+must have often strolled along the banks of the
+Thames, and many of his poems show the impress
+of associations gathered from such scenery as is to
+be found about Ankerwyke and Runneymead:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
+</p>
+<p>
+While the landscape round it measures:
+</p>
+<p>
+Russet lawns and fallows gray,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where the nibbling flocks do stray.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meadows trim with daisies pied;
+</p>
+<p>
+Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+From the records of Eton alone many a book
+might be compiled of the lives of men in the public
+eye, whose impressions were formed there by the
+Thames side. Indeed, had the river no other
+claim to notice than its connection with Eton
+and Oxford, through which more men who have
+controlled the destiny of their country and made
+empire have passed, than through any similar
+foundations in England, this alone would be cause
+enough to make it a worthy subject for any book.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beside palaces and the homes of great men,
+castles and religious houses once stood thickly
+along the banks of the river. The notable monasteries
+of Reading, Dorchester, Chertsey, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_8' name='Page_8'>[8]</a></span>
+Abingdon, etc., were widely celebrated as seats
+of learning in their day, and the castles of Reading,
+Wallingford, and Oxford were no less well
+known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a curious law in rivers that, as a whole, the
+windings usually cover double the length of the
+direct axis, and the Thames is no exception to the
+rule. It sweeps in and out with a fair amount of
+regularity, the great bend to the south at Thames
+Ditton and Weybridge being reversed higher up in
+the great bend to the north at Bourne End and
+Hambleden. Naturally the sides of these indentations
+run north and south instead of in the usual
+course of east and west. From Wargrave to
+Henley the current is almost due north, and
+likewise from Surbiton to Brentford. A more
+apparent curve, because much smaller in radius, is
+that at Abingdon; here the course by the stream
+is about nine miles, in contrast to the two overland.
+The Great Western Railway is the chief river
+railway, but as it runs a comparatively straight
+course between London and Didcot, some places
+on the great curves are considerably off the
+main line, and are served by branches. After
+Reading it keeps very close to the river as far
+as Moulsford, and is not distant from it the rest
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_9' name='Page_9'>[9]</a></span>
+of the way to Oxford, as it turns almost direct
+north from Didcot Junction. The Great Western
+Railway is ably supplemented by the London and
+South Western Railway, from which the lesser
+stations on the south of the river near to London
+can be reached, also the districts of Twickenham,
+Hampton, etc., included in the chapter called
+"The Londoners' Zone." Further up, Weybridge,
+Chertsey, Egham, and Windsor can also be
+reached by this railway, which cuts a curve and
+touches the river again at Reading.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i031" id="i031"></a>
+<img src="images/i-031.jpg" width="550" height="441" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DORCHESTER ABBEY
+</p>
+
+</div>
+<p>
+There are many zones on the river, and each has
+its devotees. It is curious to notice how one
+crowd differs from another crowd on its "people-pestered
+shores." It is difficult to draw hard and
+fast lines, but taking the boundaries of the London
+County Council as the end of London, we can
+count above it many zones, rich in beauty, divided
+from each other by stretches of dulness; for,
+beautiful as the river is, it must be admitted parts
+of it are dull, though, like the patches on a fair
+skin, these serve but to emphasise the characteristics
+of the remainder. A rather dreary bit
+succeeds Hammersmith, though this is not without
+its own attractiveness, and the first real zone that
+we can touch upon is that from Richmond to
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_10' name='Page_10'>[10]</a></span>
+Hampton, which runs Maidenhead hard for first
+place in popularity; but the Richmond and
+Hampton river people are largely recruited from
+the inhabitants, while those at Maidenhead are
+mostly visitors. Passing over the waterworks and
+embankments above Hampton, we begin another
+zone, much less known because less accessible, but
+in its own way more attractive than that of
+Richmond. It is pure country, with green
+fields, willow trees, cows grazing on the banks,
+many curves and doublings in the channel of the
+main stream, and ever varying vistas, and this
+continues to beyond Weybridge. About Chertsey
+the scenery is flat, but Laleham and Penton Hook
+are two places that annually delight hundreds of
+persons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Staines and Windsor there is a fairly
+attractive stretch, with the park and woods of
+Ankerwyke on one side, and the meadows on the
+other. High on the south rises Cooper's Hill, and
+beyond Albert Bridge we see the smoothly kept
+turf of the Home Park.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Windsor and Eton, of course, will require a
+chapter to themselves. In this general description
+it is sufficient to say that the influence of Eton is
+apparent all the way to Bray. Then we start a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_11' name='Page_11'>[11]</a></span>
+new zone, the most popular one on the river,
+that from Maidenhead to Bourne End. Of the
+delights of this beautiful and varied section it is
+unnecessary here to speak. But the Maidenhead
+reach is spoilt for fastidious people by its too
+great popularity. To those who love the river for
+itself, the endless passing and repassing, the
+impossibility of finding quiet, undisturbed corners,
+the noise and merrymaking, even the sight of too
+many fellow creatures, is a burden. From this the
+part above Marlow is protected by being less
+accessible. It is too far to be reached easily from
+Maidenhead, and those who come by train have
+an awkward change at a junction; therefore the
+crowd finds it not. Yet the beauties are no less
+admirable than those of the adored Maidenhead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Hambleden the influence of Henley begins
+to be felt, and above Henley we enter on another
+zone. Nowhere else on the river are to be found
+so many fascinating spots lying in the stream;
+certainly, no other part offers so many tempting
+backwaters. This is the zone for those who
+love the country pure and simple, and who can
+put up cheerfully with the inconveniences attendant
+on the procuring of supplies, for the sake of the
+quiet, marshy meadows.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_12' name='Page_12'>[12]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reach includes Sonning with its two bridges,
+its islands, and its rose-garden; but beyond Sonning
+dulness is apparent once more, and with the neighbourhood
+of the great and smoky town of Reading,
+charm withers. It is not until Mapledurham that
+the prettiness of the river becomes again apparent,
+and Mapledurham is rather an oasis, for in the
+reach beyond it, though the great rounded chalk
+hills grow opal in the sunlight, and the larks sing
+heavenwards, the attractiveness cannot be called
+beauty. From Pangbourne and Whitchurch to
+Goring and Streatley, the river lies beneath the
+chalk heights, which seem to dip underground,
+reappearing on the other side by Streatley; and the
+whole of the stretch, with its rich and varied woods,
+its delightful islands and weirs, its pretty cottages
+and churches, is full of charm.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i039" id="i039"></a>
+<img src="images/i-039.jpg" width="550" height="434" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DAY'S LOCK
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Beyond Cleeve Lock, with the single exception
+of Mongewell, there is again dulness, though for
+boating pure and simple the reach is very good.
+Wallingford has a trim prettiness of its own, with
+its clean-cut stone bridge and its drooping willow.
+Park-like grounds and pleasant trees succeed,
+Sinodun Hill looms up ahead, and one may
+penetrate up the Thame to Dorchester, where the
+willows nearly meet overhead. Day's Lock still
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_13' name='Page_13'>[13]</a></span>
+belongs to the clean prettiness of the Wallingford
+stretch, which, in fact, continues all the way to
+Culham, notwithstanding that we pass the much
+admired Clifton Hampden, where the church
+stands high on the cliff. Culham itself is dull, but
+with the pretty backwater of Sutton Courtney
+we begin a new kind of scenery. Abingdon has
+something of its richness and profusion, and
+Nuneham Courtney woods, though not rising
+so abruptly as those at Clieveden, are glorious.
+After this we begin the famous meadows that
+continue more or less all the way to Oxford, and
+have a fascination of their own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best way to see the river as a whole, for
+those who can spare the time, is to go on Salter's
+steamers, which run daily, Sundays excepted,
+during the summer. The fare one way is 14s.,
+exclusive of food, and the night spent <i>en route</i>.
+The trip takes two days, the steamer leaving
+Kingston at 9 in the morning, and reaching Henley
+at 7.15 in the evening. The reverse way, it leaves
+Oxford at 9.30, and reaches Henley, which is
+about half-way, at 7 in the evening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this rough sketch it has been shown that
+there is no lack of choice for those who seek their
+pleasure on the river, and the opportunity meets
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_14' name='Page_14'>[14]</a></span>
+with full response. Seen in sunshine on a summer
+morning, especially if it be the end of the week,
+the river is brilliant. The dainty coloured muslins
+and laces, the Japanese parasols, the painted boats,
+the large shady hats, the sparkle where the oars
+meet the water, and the white sails of the sailing
+boats bellying in the wind, are only a few items in
+a sparkling picture. Fragile, yellow-white butterflies
+and the richer coloured red admirals hover
+about the banks; purple loose-strife, meadow-sweet,
+and snapdragon grow on the banks with
+many a tall gaudily coloured weed. Here and
+there great cedars rise among the lighter foliage,
+showing black against a turquoise sky; while on
+the water, where the wind has ruffled it, there is
+the "many twinkling smile" ascribed by Æschylus
+to the ocean. But, to those who know the Thames,
+this smiling aspect is not the only lovable one:
+they know it also after rain, when the water comes
+thundering over the weirs in translucent hoops
+of vivid green, and the boiling foam below dances
+like whipped cream. To walk along the sedgy
+banks is to leave a trail of "squish-squash" with
+every step. All the yellow and brown flat-leaved
+green things that grow thickly near the
+edges are barely able to keep their heads above
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_15' name='Page_15'>[15]</a></span>
+the stream, and the long reeds bend with the
+current like curved swords. Every little tributary
+gushes gurgling to join in the mad race, and
+the sounds that tell of water are in our ears like
+the instruments in an orchestra. There are the
+rush, the dip, and the tinkle, as well as the deep-throated
+roar. Watching and listening, we feel a
+strange sympathy with the new life brought by the
+increased current; we feel as if it were flooding
+through our own veins, and as if we, like the
+squirming, wriggling things that live in the slime
+below the flood-curtain, were waking up anew
+after a long torpor.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i045" id="i045"></a>
+<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="550" height="448" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">NEAR THE BRIDGE, SUTTON COURTNEY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Even in late autumn, when the slow, white
+mist rises from the marshy ground, and most of
+the birds are gone; when the eddies are full of
+dead leaves floating away from the wood where
+all their sheltered lives have been spent; when the
+sparkle and the gaiety and the light-heartedness
+are gone, and the water looks indigo and dun, with
+patches of quicksilver floating on it; when the
+great webs of the spiders that haunt the banks
+hang like filmy curtains of lace heavy with the
+moisture of the air, and the sun sinks wanly
+behind a bank of cloud&mdash;even then the river may
+be loved.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_16' name='Page_16'>[16]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Assuredly, those who go on the river for the day
+only, and know it but under one aspect&mdash;that of
+lazy heat&mdash;lose much. In the evening time,
+as one steps from the long French window
+into the scented dusk, soft white moths flap
+suddenly across the strip of light, and one's
+feet fall silently on the velvet turf, cool with
+the freshness that ever is on a river margin.
+Down by the edge the black water hurries swiftly
+past with a continuous soothing gurgle. A sleepy
+bird moves in a startled way in a bush, and all the
+small things that awake in the night are stirring.
+One can reach down and touch the onyx water
+slipping between one's fingers like dream jewels;
+and far overhead in the rent and torn caverns of
+the clouds, the stars, bigger and brighter than ever
+they look in London, sail swiftly and silently from
+shelter to shelter. The plaintive cry of an owl
+sounds softly from the meadow across the water,
+and there is an indescribable sense of motion
+and poetry, and a thrill of expectation that
+would be wholly lacking in a landscape ever so
+beautiful, without the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then there are the grey days, when sudden
+sheens of silver drop upon the ruffled water as it
+eddies round a corner, and in a moment the surface
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_17' name='Page_17'>[17]</a></span>
+is peopled with dancing fairies, spangled and
+brilliant, flitting in and out in bewildering movement.
+Or the same cold, silver light catches the
+side of a ploughed field, a moment before brown,
+but now shot with green as all the long delicate
+blades are revealed. These, and a thousand other
+delights, cannot be known to the visitor of a day
+only. Under all its aspects, in all its vagaries,
+the river may be loved; and in the swift gliding
+motion there is an irresistible fascination. It
+gives meaning to idleness, and fills up vacancy.
+By the banks of the river one never can be dull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The river is one of the greatest of our national
+possessions. Other rivers there are in England
+where one may boat on a small part, where here
+and there are beauty spots; but the Thames alone
+gives miles of bewildering choice, and can take
+hundreds and hundreds at once upon its flood.
+Now embanked and weired and locked, its waters
+are ideal for boating, and its fishing, with little
+exception, is free to all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting on the banks of the Thames is forbidden,
+and the birds have quickly learned to know
+their sanctuary. Lie still for a while in the lee of
+an osier-covered ait, or beneath the shelter of an
+overhanging willow, and that cheeky little reed-bunting
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_18' name='Page_18'>[18]</a></span>
+will hop about so near, that, were you
+endowed by nature with the quickness of movement
+granted to a cat, you could seize it in
+one hand. White-throats, robins, thrushes, blackbirds,
+all haunt the stream, and reed warblers
+and sedge warblers have their haunts by the
+banks. The kingfisher is rapidly increasing, and
+makes his home quite close to the locks and weirs;
+the russet brown of his breast, as he sits motionless
+on a twig waiting his time for a dart, may now
+be seen by a noiseless and sharp-eyed watcher.
+The soft coo of the wood pigeons sounds from
+tall trees, and the cawing of the rooks, softened by
+distance into a melodious conversation, is wafted
+from many a rookery. The chatter of an impudent
+magpie may worry you, or the hoarse squawk
+of a jay break your rest, but they are only the
+discords that the great musician, Nature, knows
+how to introduce into her river symphony.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i053" id="i053"></a>
+<img src="images/i-053.jpg" width="442" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">STREATLEY INN
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Hotels on the river have, in the last few years,
+awakened to the cry of the middle classes for air
+and light, and yet more air. Some of the hotels
+are pretty with verandahs and creeper covered
+walls, but others are old-fashioned&mdash;with low
+rooms. Yet every proprietor who can by hook or
+crook manage it, now runs a lawn of exquisite
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_19' name='Page_19'>[19]</a></span>
+turf down to the water's edge, decorates it with
+flowers far more vivid than can be seen elsewhere,
+and knocks up a bungalow-like building, terribly
+desolate in the winter when the green mould
+creeps insidiously over the wooden posts, and
+the sail-cloth rots in the damp; but airy and
+commodious in the summer, when relays of fifty
+people or more may be seated at a time, and yet
+there is no satiating smell of cooked food. The
+boat owners have also seen fit to accommodate
+their convenience to the demand, and at any large
+builder's landing-stage, boats may now be hired
+to be left almost anywhere on the river, to be
+fetched back by the owner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pessimists say that the river is losing its charm,
+that the advent of motor cars, stirring in people a
+hitherto dormant love of speed, makes the slow
+progress of punting a weariness instead of a relaxation.
+But this is not greatly to be feared. The
+charm of a motor is one thing, the charm of
+the river another; and we cannot spare either.
+Crowds may slightly diminish, but this is no loss,
+rather a gain to the real river lover.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thames gardens are peculiar. By the nature of
+the case they must be far more public than
+ordinary gardens, for the owner's reason for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_20' name='Page_20'>[20]</a></span>
+buying the house was that he wanted to sit on his
+own green turf and see the river flow endlessly
+past. Therefore, though he may hedge around
+the three land sides with high walls and impenetrable
+thorns, he leaves the fourth side open
+so that all the world may look. No one has
+yet been clever enough to invent a screen that
+shall be transparent on one side and opaque on
+the other, and until they do, the owners of these
+beautiful river lawns must sit in the full light
+that beats upon the river banks, and allow every
+passing stranger who has raked up a shilling to
+hire a boat, to enjoy the beauties of a garden he
+has not paid for. Thames lawns are celebrated,
+and rightly so. Not even the turf of college quads,
+grown for hundreds of years, can beat their turf.
+Thick, smooth, closely woven they are, and above
+all, of a pure rich green that is a delight to see,
+and, by way of enhancing this marvellous green,
+the colour which is most often to be seen with
+it is its complementary colour, red. Whether
+the effect is obtained merely by contrast I do
+not know, but certainly it seems as if nowhere
+else could be found geraniums of so rich a vermilion,
+roses of so glorious a crimson. In many of these
+river gardens, too, especially where a little stream
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_21' name='Page_21'>[21]</a></span>
+trickles down, a light trellis arch is thrown up
+and covered with Rambler roses, old rose in colour,
+and only second to the vermilion as a complement
+to the green lawn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two of these gloriously green lawns I have
+particularly in mind, one at Shepperton, and
+one near Thames Ditton, but where they are
+to be seen so frequently it is invidious to particularise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are the private gardens of a grand sort,
+and no whit less beautiful, though without the
+same expanse of lawn, are the gardens of the
+lock-keepers, in which the owners take a particular
+pride.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,
+</p>
+<p>
+Sweet-william with his homely cottage smell,
+</p>
+<p>
+And stocks in fragrant blow;
+</p>
+<p>
+Roses, that down the alleys shine afar,
+</p>
+<p>
+And open, jasmine-muffled lattices.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>M. Arnold.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+But in taking count of Thames's decorations
+we are not confined to gardens. Among the
+flowers growing wild on the river banks we
+have no lack of choice. It is a pretty conceit
+of Drayton's, to make his bridal pair, Thame
+and Isis, travel to meet one another along paths
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_22' name='Page_22'>[22]</a></span>
+flower-decked by willing nymphs. Old Thame,
+as the man, was to have only wild flowers, not
+those "to gardens that belong":
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The primrose placing first because that in the spring
+</p>
+<p>
+It is the first appears, then only flourishing,
+</p>
+<p>
+The azured harebell next, with them they neatly mix'd,
+</p>
+<p>
+T'allay whose luscious smell, they woodbind plac'd betwixt.
+</p>
+<p>
+Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in the lily;
+</p>
+<p>
+And near to that again her sister daffodilly.
+</p>
+<p>
+To sort these flowers of show with th' other that were sweet
+</p>
+<p>
+The cowslip then they couch, and th' oxlip, for her meet,
+</p>
+<p>
+The columbine amongst they sparingly do set,
+</p>
+<p>
+The yellow king-cup wrought in many a curious fret,
+</p>
+<p>
+And now and then among, of eglantine a spray,
+</p>
+<p>
+By which again a course of lady smocks they lay
+</p>
+<p>
+The crow flower, and thereby the clover-flower they stick.
+</p>
+<p>
+The daisie over all those sundry sweets so thick;
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The crimson darnel flowers, the blue-bottle and gold
+</p>
+<p>
+Which, though esteemed but weeds, yet for their dainty hues
+</p>
+<p>
+And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose choose.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The "luscious smell" cannot refer to the harebell,
+which has a very faint perfume; besides,
+it is difficult to think of the harebell in this
+connection, for it is a full summer flower, while
+all the rest belong to spring: Drayton must,
+therefore, mean the wild hyacinth, which is still
+often called the bluebell by people in England,
+though in Scotland this name is correctly reserved
+for the harebell. The "luscious smell" exactly
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_23' name='Page_23'>[23]</a></span>
+describes the rich, rather cloying scent of the
+hyacinth. There has been some discussion as
+to what is meant by the eglantine, which the
+old poets are so fond of mentioning. In Milton it
+means the honeysuckle, but in the others probably
+the sweetbriar; while woodbine is either the twining
+clematis, the "traveller's joy"&mdash;rather a misnomer,
+by-the-way, as it is an insignificant and disappointing
+flower&mdash;or the honeysuckle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Isis was gay with garden flowers:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i6">
+            ... The brave carnation then,
+</p>
+<p>
+With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the pale,
+</p>
+<p>
+Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale
+</p>
+<p>
+Of sweetness, yet in scents as various as in sorts.
+</p>
+<p>
+The purple violet then, the pansy there supports
+</p>
+<p>
+The marygold above t' adorn the arched bar;
+</p>
+<p>
+The double daisie, thrift, the button bachelor,
+</p>
+<p>
+Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion, and to these
+</p>
+<p>
+Some lavender they put with rosemary and bays.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+To make a catalogue of the flowers which may
+be found on the Thames banks at the present
+day would be out of place here, yet there are
+one or two plants so frequently seen that they
+may be mentioned. Among these are the purple
+loose-strife, with its tapering, richly coloured
+spikes, standing sometimes as high as four feet,
+and occasionally mistaken for a foxglove; the
+pink-flowered willow-herb; the wild mustard or
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_24' name='Page_24'>[24]</a></span>
+cherlock, with its sulphur yellow blossoms, and
+creeping-jenny. The bog-bean, or buck-bean, with
+white lace-like flowers may be seen occasionally
+in stagnant swamps. The water-violet, which,
+however, is not in the least like a violet, is also
+to be found in the tributary ditches, as well as the
+tall yellow iris; the flowering rush and the bur-reeds
+often form details in a river picture. In the
+lock gardens herbaceous borders, full of phlox,
+sweet-william, stocks, valerian, big white lilies,
+and, later, red hot pokers, sunflowers, and hollyhocks,
+are ordinary sights. In the meadows near
+Oxford fritillaries, otherwise called snakes'-heads,
+are seen abundantly in spring, but these and other
+flowers shall be mentioned more particularly in
+connection with the places where they grow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It remains but to end with the aspiration of
+Denham:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
+</p>
+<p>
+My great example as it is my theme!
+</p>
+<p>
+Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
+</p>
+<p>
+Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing full.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_25' name='Page_25'>[25]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER II<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE OXFORD MEADOWS
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i061" id="i061"></a>
+<img src="images/i-061.jpg" width="274" height="340" alt="" />
+</div>
+<p>
+This account of
+the river may well
+begin at Folly
+Bridge, seeing it
+is folly in any case
+to attempt to cut
+off a section of a
+river, and, as before
+explained,
+our course from
+Oxford to London
+is peculiarly arbitrary,
+for the
+Thames proper
+does not begin till below Dorchester, and at
+Oxford the river is the Isis. Having thus
+disarmed criticism, without further explanation
+or apology, we stand upon Folly Bridge, which
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_26' name='Page_26'>[26]</a></span>
+is a little way above the end of the course for
+both Torpids and Eights.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the left are the college barges, resplendent
+in many colours, with their slender flagstaffs
+rising against a background of the shady trees
+that border Christchurch meadows. The reach
+of water beside them is alive with boats, and the
+oars rise and dip with the regularity of the legs
+of a monster centipede. The barges should be
+seen in Eights week, when they are in their
+glory, occupied by the mothers, sisters, and aunts
+of the undergraduates, dressed in costumes that
+in mass look like brilliant flower-beds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To see the bridge properly, however, it is
+necessary to go down to the tow-path and look
+back at it, when its quaint, foreign appearance
+can be better estimated. It stands across an
+island on which is the renowned Salter's boat-house,
+and its solidity and the tall houses near it,
+which throw black shadows in the yellow sunlight,
+make it look not unlike a corner in Venice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Following the river down, we see on the Oxford
+side the narrow mouth of the meandering Cherwell
+under a white arched bridge. The most delightful
+place for "lazing" in a boat is the Cherwell,
+shady and not too wide; deliciously cool in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_27' name='Page_27'>[27]</a></span>
+height of the summer, so rich is the foliage of
+the over-arching trees. Lower down is the
+New Cut, destined to relieve the Cherwell of
+its superfluous water in flood time and so prevent
+the flooding of the Christchurch meadows.
+Opposite the mouth of the New Cut is the
+University Boat-house, and further down, where
+a branch of the river runs off to the right, are
+the bathing places. This branch is crossed by
+a bridge, and it makes the next strip of land an
+island. The place is known as the Long Bridges.
+The river narrows at the point, and the narrowed part
+is called The Gut; just below a tributary from the
+Cherwell, known as the Freshman's river, dribbles
+into the Thames. It is at The Gut that the most
+exciting scenes in the races generally happen. As
+everyone knows, Torpids are in the fourth and
+fifth weeks after the beginning of the Lent term,
+and as they are not of so much importance as the
+Eights, and as the weather does not lend itself to
+open-air festivities, they are generally watched only
+by a shivering handful of spectators who have a
+more or less personal interest in them. The Eights,
+which take place in the middle of the summer term,
+are the event of the year to Oxford, and intensely
+exciting they may be. The lowest boat starts
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_28' name='Page_28'>[28]</a></span>
+from the lasher above Iffley, and the course ends
+at Salter's Barge. But the crux of the whole
+matter often lies in The Gut, and much depends on
+the ability of the cox to steer a clean course, as to
+whether his boat is bumped or bumps. As the
+boats in cutting the curve below this crucial point
+come diagonally at it, disaster here often overtakes
+a crew which has before been doing well. The
+aforesaid narrow channel from the Cherwell is
+navigable only in a canoe and by good luck; but
+the tale is told that one cox, in his first year, being
+excited beyond reason, mistook it for the main
+channel, and, steering right ahead, landed his crew
+high and dry on the shoals. Hence the name, the
+Freshman's river.<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_29' name='Page_29'></a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i067" id="i067"></a>
+<img src="images/i-067.jpg" width="550" height="435" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">IFFLEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Here are two pictures, taken from life, which
+express the difference between the two occasions:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+The Eights: Brilliant blue sky above, glinting blue
+water beneath. Down across Christchurch meadow troops
+a butterfly crowd, flaunting brilliant parasols and chattering
+gaily to the "flannelled fools" who form the escort. Despite
+the laughter it is a solemn occasion, for the college boat
+that is head of the river may be going to be bumped this
+afternoon, and, if so, the bump will surely take place in
+front of the barges. The only question is, before which
+barge will it happen? When the exciting moment draws
+near, chatter ceases, a tense stillness holds the crowd in
+thrall; the relentless pursuers creep on steadily, narrowing
+the gap between themselves and the first boat, and finally
+bump it exactly opposite its own barge! A moment's pause.
+The completeness of the triumph is too impressive to be
+grasped at once; then&mdash;pandemonium! Pistol-shots, rattles,
+hoots, yells, shrieks of joy, wildly waving parasols, and groans.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+The Torpids: A raw cold February day; a leaden sky
+heavy with snow; dimly seen figures scudding over the
+frozen meadows of Iffley; the river itself is almost frost-bound,
+and the men waiting in the boats for the starting
+gun look blue and pinched. They must find these last ten
+seconds hard to endure. Nine, eight, seven, six&mdash;ugh!
+will it never go? At last! And, as the signal sounds, the
+oars strike the water with a splash, and the boats shoot off
+and begin the long tussle against a head wind and that
+strong stream which always makes the Torpids a harder
+matter than the Eights rowed in summer water. It is too
+late to follow them, so heigh-ho for the King's Arms
+Hotel at Sandford, and a cup of the good hot tea that the
+landlady knows so well how to make!
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The channel running past the bathing places is
+equally unsuited for navigation, and is moreover
+guarded by two mills, but it may be negotiated
+with the aforesaid element of good luck. Hinksey
+Stream flows into this backwater, and there are
+several places, after shoals have been avoided or
+surmounted, where it is extremely pleasant to
+while away an idle hour. By means of the Long
+Bridges and the lock at Iffley it is possible to
+get across the river from side to side diagonally.
+Passing on down stream we soon come to Iffley.
+In the meantime we can see many of the pinnacles
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_30' name='Page_30'>[30]</a></span>
+and spires and domes for which Oxford is famous,
+and marvellous is the way in which they appear to
+swing round as we change our position. The part
+of new Oxford which lines the Iffley road behind
+the meadows is not attractive, but when we come
+in sight of Iffley itself we may well exclaim that
+it would be hard to find a sweeter spot. There are
+stone walls, thatched cottages and farmyards, hay
+and orchards, elms, alders, and silver-stemmed
+birches; in consequence a quiet, rural atmosphere
+broods over all. The cows feed down to the edge of
+the river, and swallows dart about overhead, while
+perhaps a man paddling a canoe shoots up and away
+again, his white flannels and the strength and grace
+of his movement irresistibly recalling a swan. The
+mill, half stone, half wooden cased, is very ancient;
+the massive foundations have become like rock
+from their long immersion in the running water.
+There is a great quiet pool behind the lock island,
+and here and there a glimpse may be caught of the
+square tower of the famous church, which is not
+far off, but is well hidden by trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Iffley Church takes rank with Stewkley as the
+most beautiful example of a Norman church
+remaining to us out of London. It is, like so
+many Norman churches, very small and very solid.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_31' name='Page_31'>[31]</a></span>
+And it must yield to Stewkley in the fact that its
+architecture is not pure. Yet its massive central
+tower and its fine windows place it very high
+indeed. Its date is not certainly known, but is
+supposed to be between 1160 and 1170. "The
+interior seems at first sight curious. There are,
+in fact, two chancels, one behind the other. The
+further one is early English work, and is much
+lighter in style than the rest of the building, and
+the east end is disappointing. This may have been
+added to lengthen the church. In the bay next
+to it, where the choir now sit, there are fourteenth
+century windows inserted under Norman arches,
+showing that the walls were of the earlier date.
+These windows were added by John de la Pole,
+Duke of Suffolk, in the latter half of the sixteenth
+century. There is a groined roof, and the piers are
+beautifully decorated. The arches supporting the
+tower are richly moulded, almost incongruously so
+in regard to the massive type of the masonry,
+which points to early Norman. The Perpendicular
+windows inserted in the north and south walls are
+good. It is only at the extreme west end that the
+Norman windows remain untouched. The font
+is of black marble, and is very curious. The triple
+west-end window, a splendid specimen, is best seen
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_32' name='Page_32'>[32]</a></span>
+from the churchyard. Its moulding is very rich,
+and this alone would be sufficient to make Iffley
+rank high among ancient churches. Below it is
+a circular window inserted about 1858 on the
+supposed plan of a former one of which traces were
+found. The impossibility of approaching the style
+of the old work in modern times was never more
+strikingly shown. Below is a fine doorway with
+beak-head and billet moulding, worthy to be
+classed with the triple window. A very ancient
+yew stands on the south side of the church, and
+near it is the slender shaft of an old cross. The
+rectory house, dating from Tudor times, is a fine
+addition to the picturesque group."&mdash;<i>Guide to the
+Thames.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Iffley and Sandford the famous Oxford
+meadows are seen at their best. In the summer
+they are gemmed with countless flowers, so that
+they rival the celebrated Swiss pastures. Prominent
+among these is the fritillary:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+I know what white, what purple fritillaries
+</p>
+<p>
+The grassy harvest of the river-fields,
+</p>
+<p>
+Above by Ensham, down by Sandford yields,
+</p>
+<p>
+And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>M. Arnold.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Mr. G. Claridge Druce, the well-known botanist,
+who has made a special study of the Thames
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_33' name='Page_33'>[33]</a></span>
+Valley and Oxfordshire, says:&mdash;"The Thames
+from Oxford to Sandford flows through meadows
+rich with fritillaries, its banks are bordered with
+the sweet-scented Acorus, and its waters are
+inhabited by Potamogeton prœlongus, flabellatus,
+and compressus, Zannichellia macrostemon,
+Å’nanthe fluviatilis, &amp;c., and near Sandford appears,
+for the first time in the river's course, the lovely
+Leucojum æstivum." This is the flower better
+known as the summer snowflake, which we shall
+meet again. The above are only a tithe of the
+flowers which Mr. Druce mentions. Among others
+which may be recognised are the yellow iris,
+the cuckoo flower, the water villarsia, the purple
+orchis, and the willow weed. In the spring the
+marsh mallow is the first to appear with a
+vivid glory as of sunshine. The banks are
+flat and low, and, except for the flowers,
+uninteresting; nevertheless this is a useful part of
+the river, especially for sailing. Some college fours
+are rowed here. Passing under the railway line
+we see the pink-washed walls of the Swan Hotel,
+which stands on Kennington Island, connected with
+the mainland by a bridge; and then we come to
+Sandford itself, with charms almost as great as,
+though entirely different from, those of Iffley.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_34' name='Page_34'>[34]</a></span>
+The approach is disappointing. The tall mill
+chimney and the new brick houses are bare and
+ugly. The mill is a paper mill, and supplies
+the Clarendon Press. It stands close to the
+old-fashioned and pretty hotel, so completely
+ivy-covered that even one of the tall chimneys
+is quite overgrown. When close to the lock
+the mill is not noticeable and has the advantage
+of affording some shelter. As at Iffley, one can
+get right across from bank to bank by means of
+bridges, a most charming method that might well
+be adopted in other parts of the river. Indeed,
+near Oxford one great delight is the freedom from
+interference. Everyone is allowed full liberty;
+you may ride your bicycle along the tow-path,
+take it across locks, or even walk it by the side of
+the meadows, without any rebuke. Having put up
+a notice that they are not responsible for the condition
+of the tow-path and that people use it at
+their own risk, the Conservancy leave the matter
+alone. The islands at Sandford are rather complicated,
+and there are a couple of weirs, beneath
+which the water frills out over mossy stones into
+deep, shady pools. The fishing here is as good as
+any on the river. The Radley College boat-house
+and bathing place are near the lower pool, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_35' name='Page_35'>[35]</a></span>
+college itself being rather more than a mile away.
+In spring these pools, with their broken banks of
+brown earth and their masses of scented white
+hawthorn, are most beautiful. The shy white
+violets hide in the grass near the weirs, and are
+found by only a few who know where to seek
+them.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i077" id="i077"></a>
+<img src="images/i-077.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">RADLEY COLLEGE BOAT-HOUSE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In the Oxford zone we must include the woods
+at Nuneham Courtney, which, by the courtesy of
+the owner (Aubrey Harcourt), are open to undergraduates
+all Commemoration week and twice a
+week in the summer term; while the general
+public, after writing in advance, are allowed to
+picnic at the lock cottages two days a week from
+May to September. The Nuneham woods are on
+a ridge of greensand, and though they are not so
+high or at such a striking angle as those of
+Clieveden, they certainly have quite as great a
+charm. Anyone is allowed to walk through the
+park if it be approached from the road, but
+bicycles are not permitted. The lock cottages,
+which are a popular resort in the summer, stand
+beside a pretty wooden bridge which connects the
+islands with the mainland. Masses of wild roses
+and flowering clematis add their delicate touch
+to the beauty of the overhanging trees. Close
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_36' name='Page_36'>[36]</a></span>
+by the water is the Carfax monument, a conduit
+or fountain erected by Otho Nicholson, who set it
+up at the place still called Carfax in Oxford,
+whence it was removed to its present position in
+1787. The woods contain nothing very striking
+in the way of trees, though all the commoner
+sorts, the beeches, oaks, horse-chestnuts, and so
+on, are well represented. There are about 400 acres
+of wood, which surround the park, where the oaks
+show well, standing apart from each other.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_37' name='Page_37'>[37]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i081" id="i081"></a>
+<img src="images/i-081.jpg" width="550" height="428" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<h2>
+CHAPTER III<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE OLD TOWN OF ABINGDON
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+As a headquarters for boating, for those who want
+to dawdle and explore odd corners and have no
+desire to rush through as many locks as possible
+in a day, Abingdon makes a good centre. It
+is within easy reach of the part lying below the
+woods at Nuneham, and in the other direction is
+the Sutton Courtney backwater, which, Wargrave
+notwithstanding, is not to be beaten on the Thames.
+Further down again is Clifton Hampden, which
+attracts many people, and the river at Abingdon
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_38' name='Page_38'>[38]</a></span>
+itself is by no means to be despised. The bridge,
+called Burford Bridge, is a real delight. It is old
+and irregular, with straggling arches, some rounded,
+some pointed; and all, even the highest, comparatively
+low down over the water, framing cool, dark
+shadows within the embrace of the mighty piers.
+The bridge cannot be seen in the glance of an eye.
+It is very long, and rests partly on an island.
+Standing on this, the Nag's Head Inn projects
+from one side of the bridge, and from it stretches
+out a small garden with several orchard trees.
+The red tiles and creamy tint of the hotel walls
+show well in contrast with the grey stone of the
+bridge, and when the hotel is seen from the river
+above the bridge, with the tall spire of St. Helen's
+Church rising behind it, it is worth noticing.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i085" id="i085"></a>
+<img src="images/i-085.jpg" width="440" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">ABINGDON
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+There are bits of old wall lining the bank on the
+town side, and ivy grows freely over them. Many
+of the houses stand back from the water; a part
+of the ruined abbey and the long range of the
+abbot's residence can be seen between masses of
+blossom. The great exterior chimney of the abbey
+buildings should particularly be noticed. The
+blossom at Abingdon is a great feature, and one
+not to be found everywhere. Horse-chestnuts and
+holm oaks dip their boughs in the water, and from
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_39' name='Page_39'>[39]</a></span>
+the branches arises a perfect chorus of birds. Abingdon
+has its chimneys, of course, as well as hideous
+buildings suited to modern requirements of business,
+but in the general view these things are lost sight of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Burford is a corruption of Borough-ford, and
+before the building of the bridge in the fifteenth
+century, the ferry at Culham was the main means
+of communication with the other side of the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The range of Nuneham, below which runs the
+backwater called the Old River, can be seen to the
+south-east. If this ever was the main stream it
+must have been very long ago, for the memory of
+it is not recorded in any document now extant.
+The Old River is crossed by another bridge, and
+the two are linked by a straight road, made by
+Geoffrey Barbour at the same time as the building
+of the bridges. There is a picture of Barbour
+in the almshouses, and this shows the bridge being
+built in the background; while an illuminated copy
+of verses tells us:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+King Herry the Fyft, in his fourthe yere,
+</p>
+<p>
+He hath i-founde for his folke a brige in Berkschire,
+</p>
+<p>
+For cartis with cariage may go and come clere,
+</p>
+<p>
+That many wynters afore were mareed in the myre.
+</p>
+<p>
+Culham hithe [<i>wharf or landing</i>] hath caused many a curse,
+</p>
+<p>
+I-blessed be our helpers we have a better waye,
+</p>
+<p>
+Without any peny for cart and for horse.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_40' name='Page_40'>[40]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Burford Bridge, the great bur-reeds
+grow near the islands. There is one delightful old
+house, formerly a malt house, with all sorts of odd
+angles and corners. It encloses a small terraced
+court, from which steps lead down to the water.
+It stands on the site of St. Helen's nunnery,
+founded about 690. Further on are some of the
+newer almshouses&mdash;a blot on the scene; and then
+a glimpse may be had of the wooden cloister of
+the old almshouses, which, in their way, are as
+pretty as those at Bray.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Christ's Hospital, as the almshouses are called,
+was founded in the reign of Edward VI. out of
+lands belonging to a dissolved Guild of the Holy
+Cross. The central hall dates, however, from 1400.
+It has a stone mullioned window and panelled
+walls; in the ceiling is a dome or cupola. Once a
+week eighty loaves of bread are here distributed
+among the poor people of the town, and when the
+loaves, with their crisp, flaky, yellow crust, stand
+in piles on the polished oak table, and the poor old
+people gather for their share, there is an old-world
+touch in the picture such as one does not often see
+nowadays. The cloister or arcade of dark wood
+outside is decorated with texts and proverbs on its
+inner wall. The newer almshouses, built in 1797,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_41' name='Page_41'>[41]</a></span>
+lack all the homeliness and interest of the older
+ones. The church of St. Helen's, which has a very
+tall spire, is close to the almshouses and the river,
+and is well worthy of its position. It has been
+much restored, but is mainly of sixteenth century
+work.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i091" id="i091"></a>
+<img src="images/i-091.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE MILL AT ABINGDON
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Of course there was an abbey at Abingdon, though
+whether the name of the town arose from that fact
+or from a proper name Aben or Æbba is doubtful.
+The earliest name of the town was the unpronounceable
+one of Seovechesham, and it was then a
+royal residence. The abbey was founded by Cissa
+about 675. It was destroyed by the Danes and
+reconstructed long before most places on the river
+had begun to have any history at all. The abbey
+rose to great importance and wealth. It held
+manors innumerable, and its abbot was a person
+to reckon with. Even at the date of Domesday
+Book the abbey held no less than thirty manors.
+But its power did not save it, and it suffered the
+common fate at the Dissolution. A gateway of
+about the fourteenth century and some ruins,
+which show where the dwellings of the monks
+stood, are all that remain, beside the guest-chamber&mdash;a
+large, barn-like building&mdash;and the almoner's residence.
+The latter has a magnificent fireplace and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_42' name='Page_42'>[42]</a></span>
+chimney. The ceiling of the room below is groined,
+and looks like that of a crypt, but this is said to
+have been the kitchen. The chief feature of
+interest is the huge chimney, which is like a room,
+and has little windows on each side; its size is best
+appreciated from the exterior view. The church
+has quite disappeared, for the little ancient church
+near the gateway was not the abbey church, but is
+supposed to have been at first a chapel of ease.
+In this there is some Norman work, including the
+west doorway, and it is probably of quite as
+ancient lineage as anything now remaining of the
+abbey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Henry I. was sent by his father, as a lad of
+twelve, to be educated at Abingdon Abbey, and the
+learning by which he gained the name of Beauclerc
+shows that there must have been some able men
+here. The town hall in the market place at
+Abingdon is really a fine bit of work. It has been
+attributed to Inigo Jones, and stands over an open
+arcade, according to the style of town halls of the
+seventeenth century. The lock is a good way above
+Abingdon, and from it the millstream, as usual
+a pleasant backwater, flows right back to the town,
+enclosing a large island.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i097" id="i097"></a>
+<img src="images/i-097.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">SUTTON COURTNEY BACKWATER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The lock at Culham is one of the least interesting
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_43' name='Page_43'>[43]</a></span>
+on the river, and of the hundreds who pass
+through it only a few know that they are close to
+the very prettiest backwater on the Thames,
+namely Sutton Pool. There is one backwater at
+Sutton Courtney which can be reached from above
+Culham Lock. This leads to the mill, now disused,
+and runs along the top of the numerous weirs that
+pour into Sutton Pool itself. It is pretty also, and
+it is pleasant to see the meadows where the cows
+stand knee-deep in flowering plants, and the little
+square tower of the church peeping through the
+trees. This backwater is the best for landing to
+go to the village. Along the top of the weirs runs
+a path&mdash;a public right-of-way&mdash;which leads across
+the fields to Culham Lock, and anyone may land
+here and look down upon the pool; but to get
+right into it the lock must be passed, and some
+way further, after going under the bridge, we can
+turn the corner of a large island and retrace our
+way upstream until we come into the great pool,
+with its miniature bays and tumbling water. The
+weirs are high, and the streams come down with
+force, making a restless heave and swell when the
+river is full. The little tongues of land that divide
+one bay from another are shaded by willows, and
+the lush green grass grows here and there around
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_44' name='Page_44'>[44]</a></span>
+tiny beaches of white sand. In spring, masses of
+hawthorn, "all frosted" with flowers, bend down
+from above, and the wild hyacinths break up
+between the blades of grass. Tall reeds form tiny
+islets, and perhaps a little moorhen flaps out. It is
+in secluded places like this that the dainty nest
+of the reed-warbler may be seen, swinging so
+lightly upon its supports that it is extraordinary
+to think that so large a bird as the cuckoo should
+dare to deposit its egg there. Yet reed-warblers
+and sedge-warblers are both among the cuckoo's
+victims. Unfortunately, in this little paradise landing
+is everywhere strictly forbidden, but no one can
+forbid enjoyment of the beauties which appeal to
+sight.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i103" id="i103"></a>
+<img src="images/i-103.jpg" width="447" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CLIFTON HAMPDEN FROM THE BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The village of Sutton Courtney is certainly
+worth visiting. The village green, with its tall
+chestnuts, limes, and elms, is the very picture of
+what a green should be. The church is particularly
+interesting, for it is that rarity an unrestored building,
+with the old red-tiled floor and the rudeness
+of the original&mdash;so often smoothed away behind
+stencilling and paint&mdash;still left untouched. There
+is a shelf of chained books, a fine carved screen,
+and an altar-tomb of some interest. The manor
+house, which is not far off, is in a medley of styles,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_45' name='Page_45'>[45]</a></span>
+ranging from Norman to Jacobean. Malefactors
+are said to have been hanged from the stout oak
+beam which is still in good preservation. One
+wing is of perfect Jacobean work, with an overhanging
+storey decorated with carved pendants. A
+fine old building, half-way up the village, is called
+the Hall of Justice; this, however, may have a
+meaning less obvious than supposed at first sight,
+as the family of Justice held the manor for some
+generations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In it there is a fine old Norman doorway.
+The owner has furnished the interior with tapestry
+hangings, etc., somewhat in accordance with what
+it may have looked like originally when in use.
+It certainly gives one an idea of the old Saxon
+or Norman style of dwelling before even the upper
+chamber or <i>solar</i> came into fashion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The river at Clifton Hampden is not a couple
+of miles from the river at Nuneham Courtney,
+so great is the loop by Abingdon. It may be noted
+that the name Courtney, though spelt differently,
+is derived from the ownership of the Courtenays,
+Earls of Exeter, in both the instances above.
+Clifton Hampden is a great favourite with artists,
+for the church, with its little, pointed spire, stands
+on a cliff which has in parts broken away, showing
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_46' name='Page_46'>[46]</a></span>
+the rich yellow ochre of the soil. This makes
+up well in a "composition." The river sweeps
+round beneath it in a sort of little bay, and when
+white ducks dabble in the water and blue-pinafored
+children play beneath the yellow-ochre cliff, there
+is much to be said for it. The houses, too, are
+not without points. They are mostly thatched,
+and have their share of plants and creepers. The
+bridge is of red brick, and, with a little toning by
+weather, will make a capital accessory. But to
+my mind Clifton Hampden lacks that indefinable
+quality of charm found in such abundance
+elsewhere.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_47' name='Page_47'>[47]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i109" id="i109"></a>
+<img src="images/i-109.jpg" width="550" height="438" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CLIFTON HAMPDEN
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i111" id="i111"></a>
+<img src="images/i-111.jpg" width="550" height="386" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER IV<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+SINODUN HILL AND DORCHESTER
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+The island near Day's Lock, lying beneath the
+Wittenham Woods and Sinodun Hill, is particularly
+well kept and neat, and, in summer, bright
+with flowers. Standing on the end of the lock-keeper's
+island you can look straight up the weir,
+below which the river drifts away on each side
+of the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the right bank, raised slightly above the
+river, is the church of Little Wittenham, with
+a long, narrow bastion turret adhering to its tower.
+Inside there is a handsome monument, one of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_48' name='Page_48'>[48]</a></span>
+those legacies from the ages that prove long
+descent. A warm belt of Scotch firs grows near.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wittenham Woods lie under the shelter of the
+hill and close to the life-giving water. The trees
+grow well and form a home for countless birds of
+all kinds. "The hobby breeds there yearly. The
+wild pheasant, crow, sparrowhawk, kestrel, magpie,
+jay, ring-dove, brown owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded
+side); in summer the cuckoo and turtle-dove
+are all found there, and, with the exception
+of the pigeons and kestrels, which seek their food
+at a distance during the day, they seldom leave the
+shelter of its trees."&mdash;<i>C. J. Cornish.</i>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i115" id="i115"></a>
+<img src="images/i-115.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">COTTAGES, DORCHESTER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Sinodun Hill, and its companion, Harp Hill,
+which is as like it as one twin to another,
+are sometimes called Wittenham Clumps. They
+are remarkable and conspicuous objects, rising
+abruptly and evenly from a very flat district, and
+they can be seen from many miles around, and,
+what is more curious, can be recognised. The
+smooth, rounded cone is so symmetrical that,
+whichever way you look at it, it seems the same,
+not changing its shape in the bewildering way of
+most hills; and the clump of trees placed so
+exactly on its crown is an unfailing river-mark.
+Sinodun is about 250 feet in height, and on it is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_49' name='Page_49'>[49]</a></span>
+a British earthwork, a triple line of entrenchment,
+with vallum and foss all round. The circumference
+of this on the outside is about a mile.
+Harp Hill has on it a tumulus called Brightwell
+Barrow. Then down below, close to Dorchester,
+is a double line of earthworks, much mutilated,
+but quite noticeable. No one knows the origin
+of these defences, which date far back into
+unhistorical days. Those on Sinodun are called
+British, while the others are supposed to be Roman.
+Roman camps were nearly always square, while
+British followed the windings of the hill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dorchester, with its cornfields and trees, its
+vegetable gardens, and its old houses bowed this
+way and that, is a very unsophisticated little place.
+The deep quiet of its village street, where the
+cottages glow all hues in the sunlight, from deep
+red ochre to egg-colour, brooded over by the long-backed
+abbey church, is a rest-cure in itself. The
+great yew trees, the pretty lych-gate, the old
+wooden porch, are all just what one would expect
+to find. Dorchester is not on the Thames, yet
+belongs to it certainly, for the Thame, which
+combines with the Isis to form the Thames, flows
+past it. As its name proclaims, Dorchester was
+once a Roman camp. Numerous Roman coins
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_50' name='Page_50'>[50]</a></span>
+have been found in the neighbourhood, and a
+Roman altar. It was also the seat of one of the
+first and largest bishoprics in England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 634 a monk of the order of St. Benedict, named
+Birinus, crossed to Britain to follow in the steps of
+St. Augustine and work as a missionary among
+the men of Wessex. He landed safely, and came
+to this part of the country, then in Wessex, which
+at that time stretched north of the Thames, though
+afterwards, when Mercia's power became great
+under King Offa, Dorchester fell within that
+kingdom. Birinus preached with so much effect
+that the King conferred upon him the office of
+bishop and gave him Dorchester for his residence.
+He died in 650 and was buried in his own church,
+though it is said his body was afterwards moved
+to Winchester.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i121" id="i121"></a>
+<img src="images/i-121.jpg" width="550" height="447" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WHITE HART HOTEL, DORCHESTER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The early bishopric was vast. It included what
+in our own day are the Sees of Bath and Wells,
+Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Salisbury,
+Worcester, and Winchester. There must have
+been a church in some degree adequate to the
+importance of such a charge, but it was probably
+of wood; in any case, nothing remains of it,
+though certain indications seem to show that it
+stood on the same site as the present one.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_51' name='Page_51'>[51]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dorchester was an important city, but its glory
+did not long remain, and the bishopric was ultimately
+split up into many Sees. In 1085 the seat
+of the See of Mercia was transferred to Lincoln.
+The abbey was founded here in 1140 for Augustinian
+monks, and it is the monks' church which
+still in great part exists. The long nave, with its
+red roof, is seen easily from the river, but the
+tower appears rather inadequate in height. On
+approaching, however, it is found to be of massive
+work. The interior of the church is wide and
+high, and gives that impression of bareness which
+is consistent with Norman work. In the east
+window is a great pier or transom which is supposed
+to have been originally intended as the
+support for a groined roof. The north chancel
+window is the famous Jesse window, with carved
+tracery, carrying figures all the way up the
+numerous branches. The lowest is that of Jesse,
+from whom spring all the subsequent ones.
+Very few figures are missing, considering the age
+of the window, and the carving is remarkably
+interesting. It is supposed that the figures of the
+Virgin and Child were at one time above that of
+the patriarch, but were removed at the Reformation.
+The rich green glass in the sedilia on the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_52' name='Page_52'>[52]</a></span>
+other side of the chancel should be noted. It
+is unusual to see sedilia pierced. Two of the nave
+arches are plain Norman work. A rood door
+remains, and there are one or two handsome altar
+tombs; also a leaden font, well moulded, and,
+on the east wall of the south aisle, there are
+some remains of frescoes. Close to the porch
+outside is a graceful shaft with a "restored" head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Thame we have already spoken of. Its
+arching trees and corners, and deep shady alleys,
+make it a delightful place for an idler. It runs
+close by the abbey church.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i127" id="i127"></a>
+<img src="images/i-127.jpg" width="550" height="448" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DORCHESTER BACKWATER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In the river near Dorchester grow the sweet
+sedge and the amphibious yellow cress, and on the
+banks may be found the blue pimpernel.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_53' name='Page_53'>[53]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i129" id="i129"></a>
+<img src="images/i-129.jpg" width="550" height="390" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER V<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+CASTLE AND STRONGHOLD
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+Wallingford boasts of having the oldest corporation
+in England, preceding that of London
+by a hundred years, and its record certainly
+reaches very far back. In 1006 it was destroyed
+by the Danes. William the Conqueror rested
+here on his way to London after the battle of
+Hastings. The town was then held by Wigod,
+a noble Saxon, who lived in his great fortress-castle.
+His son-in-law was Robert D'Oyley,
+who built the castle at Oxford, and rebuilt and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_54' name='Page_54'>[54]</a></span>
+greatly strengthened that at Wallingford. From
+the part of the river above the bridge a tree-grown
+mound can be seen, and, further back, a comparatively
+modern house. On the mound once stood
+the strong castle, and the modern house is its
+present-day representative. The grounds are
+famous for their trees, and particularly for their
+evergreens, which grow thickly on the slopes of
+what was once the inner castle moat, for there were
+no less than three. No wonder Queen Maud felt
+that in reaching Wallingford in safety after her
+terrible escape over the frozen meadows of Oxford,
+she once more held the lead in the game she and
+Stephen played for the crown. Stephen, however,
+was not daunted. He settled down at Crowmarsh
+across the river, and made strenuous attempts to
+take the fortress. After a long time, when the
+garrison were beginning to despair, the Queen's
+son Henry came to the rescue with a force sufficient
+to afford relief. It was at Wallingford the
+treaty was made which eventually secured Henry's
+succession. The castle was given to Piers Gaveston
+by Edward II., but after the fall of Gaveston it
+reverted to the Crown. Joan, the Fair Maid of
+Kent, wife of the Black Prince, died here in 1385,
+and later, in the Civil Wars between King and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_55' name='Page_55'>[55]</a></span>
+Parliament, Wallingford held stoutly to the
+Stuarts. The town was the last place in Berkshire
+which remained to the King, and it was
+taken in July, 1646, after a siege of sixty-five days.
+Cromwell, therefore, cherished a grudge against it,
+and when he came into power he ordered the castle
+to be destroyed, an order which was unfortunately
+carried out. Not far away in the same grounds is
+a fragment of a ruined and ivy-grown tower. This
+is part of an ancient college of St. Nicholas founded
+by Edmund, second Earl of Cornwall, who died
+in 1300.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i133" id="i133"></a>
+<img src="images/i-133.jpg" width="550" height="441" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WALLINGFORD
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In some ways Wallingford reminds one of
+Abingdon. They are both homely, pleasant,
+brick-built market-towns, rather sleepy, but self-respecting.
+There are several islands beside the
+bridge; but Wallingford has not made the most
+of its islands. They are bare, and disfigured by
+boat-building works. The bridge is fair, and, seen
+from below, where a weeping willow falls softly
+over one bank, the view is pretty. A conspicuous
+feature is the steeple of the church near, looking
+as if it had been joined on to the body without
+any thought of continuity of style. There are
+three churches in Wallingford, which once owned
+fourteen! There is rather a good seventeenth
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_56' name='Page_56'>[56]</a></span>
+century Town Hall in the market-place and a Corn
+Exchange. Friday is the market-day. Both above
+and below the town the river is pleasant, though
+without original features; there are well-kept parks
+and fine-grown trees to be seen frequently. The
+only interesting place in the stretch below is
+Mongewell, where a large piece of artificial water
+joins the river, and near it is a small church
+quaintly built. Shute Barrington, the well-known
+Bishop of Durham, married for his second wife
+the heiress of Mongewell, and lived here before
+his death. Below Mongewell is a long, dull stretch,
+good for boating, but too unshaded and open to
+be pleasant for loiterers. The Trial Eights take
+place here in December.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i139" id="i139"></a>
+<img src="images/i-139.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">STREATLEY MILL
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_57' name='Page_57'>[57]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER VI
+<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">TWIN VILLAGES</span>
+</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i141" id="i141"></a>
+<img src="images/i-141.jpg" width="325" height="401" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+When two villages
+stand facing
+one another across
+a bridge, it is inevitable
+that comparisons,
+however
+impertinent, will
+be made. And
+it may be said at
+once that Streatley,
+for all its old
+church, its pretty
+hotel, and its mill,
+cannot dispute
+the palm with Goring, which has an older church
+and a more charming mill, and many other
+advantages. Streatley church is singularly vivid in
+colouring. Rarely is there to be seen a deeper
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_58' name='Page_58'>[58]</a></span>
+green-gold than that made by the lichen on the red
+roof, and when the sunshine flashes out upon it
+the effect is positively startling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not less attractive in its way is the red-roofed
+hotel with its backing of thick, green foliage, its
+tiny grass plots on the river's edge, and its gay
+flowers. The flour mill would be a valuable asset
+in the beauty items of any place not eclipsed by
+so near a neighbour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are islands in the stream, and the bridge
+which runs across them is singularly picturesque.
+This is one of the few old wooden bridges remaining,
+and it is doubtless destined soon to be replaced
+by one of iron, as has been done at Pangbourne.
+At this one can hardly cavil, for delightful as are
+the long slender wooden piles to look at, they do
+seem as if they might give way unexpectedly at
+any minute.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i145" id="i145"></a>
+<img src="images/i-145.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">STREATLEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+If we stand down by the lock there are numberless
+views in all directions, each good in itself. It
+is a hot day in summer, and the vivid scarlet and
+the deep carmine of the lock-keeper's geraniums
+literally strike one's eyeballs with their colour.
+We do not, alas! hear the wash of the water
+tumbling over the weir, for weirs in summer often
+run dry, or give only a small trickle, though it is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_59' name='Page_59'>[59]</a></span>
+just the time when their gay music would most
+appeal to the heart of man. The lock-keeper has
+stories to tell of the days before the "pound"
+locks, as they used to be called, were made. What
+we call the weirs were then the "locks." The great
+barges had to be towed up the weirs by means of
+rope and capstan; and sometimes, when the water
+ran low, they had to wait for weeks for a freshet
+that would enable them to get up. The lock here
+is only five-eighths of a mile below that at Cleeve,
+and these two are the nearest together on the river,
+except those of Temple and Hurley. Beyond
+Cleeve there is a long stretch of six and a-half
+miles before the next, Benson Lock. It almost
+seems as if the powers that deal with locks had
+in their justice tried to make things even by
+multiplying them in the beauty spots, so that those
+who want only the best have to pay for it by the
+worry of passing locks; while those who are
+content with something less can have it without
+bother. Some locks, however, have been done
+away with as unnecessary. There used to be one
+between those of Cleeve and Benson, and another
+at Hartslock Wood, below Goring; but these have
+disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ancient road known as the Icknield Street
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_60' name='Page_60'>[60]</a></span>
+crosses the river at Streatley; it was used by the
+Romans, but made long before their time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+High beyond the bridge, and, rising above it,
+as we stand at the lock, is the grand sweep of hill
+locally known as Greenhill, in distinction from
+Whitehill on the Goring side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the right, on the top of the heights, are the
+golf links, and the small white road winds steeply
+up, carrying with it a touch of melancholy, which
+the sight of a far-away and steep road always gives,
+a suggestion of a journey that winds "uphill all
+the way."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reading has now established a regatta to keep
+its own folk in its own neighbourhood on the
+August Bank-Holiday; and a great boon this
+has been to the quiet up-river places, for they are
+not now invaded by launches full of rollicking,
+bottle-shying crowds, such as are characteristic of
+the neighbourhood of all great towns, and on these
+occasions apt to become remarkably prominent.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i151" id="i151"></a>
+<img src="images/i-151.jpg" width="437" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">GORING CHURCH
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Goring stands high among Thames villages,
+literally and figuratively. Its main street runs
+winding up-hill to the station, and though there
+are few of the genuine old cottages left, the small
+houses which have replaced them have been mostly
+built in the best modern river style, with exterior
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_61' name='Page_61'>[61]</a></span>
+beams, porches, projecting windows and ornamental
+gables. Creepers flourish abundantly. From the
+river the church is easily seen. A small and narrow
+backwater leads under a bridge to within fifty yards
+of the tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The building is very old, and was originally the
+church of the Augustinian priory. It is partly
+covered with rough stucco, which is peeling off
+untidily in patches. The tower is Norman, and
+has a bastion turret, which greatly adds to its
+appearance, and, what is more uncommon, the east
+end is an apse, though we are bound in honesty
+to say an apse rebuilt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Close by the church is the mill, which eclipses that
+at Streatley in appearance, and shows adaptability
+in applying its power as an electric generating
+station, while Streatley remains conservative, and
+still grinds the sweet-scented white flour. But the
+electric charging has not spoilt the mossy roof,
+gleaming green and russet alternately, or the pretty
+pigeon-house from which flocks of white pigeons
+often sweep round over the glistening water and
+the low islands. A very large and neat boat-house
+lies below the bridge on the Goring side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between this and Pangbourne we have at first
+rich well-covered heights on the one side, and high,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_62' name='Page_62'>[62]</a></span>
+open chalky hills on the other, dotted with the
+neat circular clumps usually associated with chalk
+uplands. But after a while these are replaced
+by the famous Hartslock Woods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Speaking of the valley of the Thames between
+Goring and Henley, in his introduction to the <i>Flora
+of Oxfordshire</i>, Mr. G. Claridge Druce says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We may wander for miles through verdant
+alleys whose groundwork begins in early spring
+with the glossy gold of the smaller celandine, followed
+by the pale stars of the wood anemones and
+myriads of primroses, these giving place to sheets
+of hyacinths, 'that seem the heavens upbreaking
+through the earth,' the blue being here and there
+relieved by the yellow archangel or brightened
+with stitchwort; still later on the bluebells are
+replaced by masses of the fragrant woodruff, and
+these by the more sombre colouring of the bugle.
+Then come the creamy-white flowers of the helleborine,
+the dull, livid spikes of the bird's nest
+orchis and the blue forget-me-nots, giving place
+to a galaxy of summer flowers, brightening in later
+months into the brilliant yellow of the ragworts and
+the purple of the foxgloves. The grassy downs, too,
+in spring are resplendent with the milkwort in all
+its purity of colour, whether of that typical blue
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_63' name='Page_63'>[63]</a></span>
+which rivals the Swiss gentian in beauty, or fading
+into white or blushing to pink; while mixed with
+it are brilliant patches of rich orange yellow hippocrepis.
+Later on appear the rosy crimson spikes of
+the pyramidal orchis and the pale lemon flowers
+of lady's fingers, and the drooping blue-flowered
+campanula. If perchance the land have remained
+fallow, the bright flowers of iberis, sometimes suffused
+with rich purple, the glaucous foliage of rare
+fumarias, the deep crimson petals of the hybrid
+poppy, the bright rosy pink spikes of sainfoin and
+yellow toad flax, combine to form a varied show."
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i157" id="i157"></a>
+<img src="images/i-157.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">GORING
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Before reaching Pangbourne we pass acres of
+osier beds on the right. Pangbourne and Whitchurch
+stand to each other in the same relation
+as do Goring and Streatley, but in this case it is
+the southern side to which the palm must be
+awarded. At Pangbourne the old wooden bridge has
+given place to an iron one, but the deed has been
+carried out in a manner that reflects credit on the
+doer, for the new bridge runs in a graceful curve,
+and its sides of latticed ironwork are painted white.
+Seen in glimpses between the islands, the new
+bridge does not detract from the charms of Pangbourne,
+but rather adds to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are numbers of islands at Pangbourne,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_64' name='Page_64'>[64]</a></span>
+and they lie in a great basin between and beneath
+the weirs, which are small and frequent. The pool
+is full of beauty. The trees grow freshly and well,
+and throw a veil of tender green over the water,
+which is, on a summer day, brilliant in hues
+of blue and green, cobalt, sea-green, pale apple,
+indigo; these can all be traced lying in strips and
+sections where the riotous torrent from the weirs
+frays out its inquietude and loses itself. In one
+corner by a pretty cottage is a splash of vivid
+crimson, an arcade of roses. Near the bridge
+great launch works are a blot and an eyesore, but
+it is so seldom we find our ointment without the
+proverbial fly.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i163" id="i163"></a>
+<img src="images/i-163.jpg" width="550" height="449" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">PANGBOURNE FROM THE SWAN HOTEL
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Pangbourne village is quaint and pleasing enough,
+but it is not so beautiful as some of the villages
+along the Thames side. No village built haphazard,
+with a little river bridged over in its main
+street, with a brick-towered church, with dark
+evergreens, and a fair amount of creepers, could
+fail to be attractive in some sense. But there is
+too much new brick in Pangbourne. The river
+Pang is a tiny streamlet, and the winding ways do
+not hold that charm which can be felt even as one
+races by in a motor. Further up the river a row
+of neatly-built, red-brick and white-balconied
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_65' name='Page_65'>[65]</a></span>
+houses stands up against a high chalk bank overlooking
+the river; behind this, in a deep cutting,
+runs the railway line. Above the bridge there is
+a landing on the Whitchurch side close to the
+church, which is a well-kept flint building. In the
+chancel there is a monument to the Lybbe family,
+dated 1599. Whitchurch is mostly built of red
+brick, and is neat and clean, but without any very
+great attractions. Before reaching Mapledurham
+a fine old house, Hardwicke, is passed. Charles I.
+stayed here and played bowls. The house itself
+is well protected by trees, but it stands in rather
+open country, amid bare chalk uplands, where
+sometimes may be seen a curious opaline glow in
+pale sunshine.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i165" id="i165"></a>
+<img src="images/i-165.jpg" width="550" height="446" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WHITCHURCH LOCK
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Mapledurham is greatly spoilt by the churlishness
+of its main landlord. The lock-keeper is strictly forbidden
+to ferry anyone across the river, and though
+the crossing would be but short, and would involve
+only a walk of a few seconds along the bank to the
+mill, it is not permitted. As the nearest bridges
+on each side are those of Pangbourne and Caversham,
+it is necessary for anyone going by road to
+keep to the north side of the river between these
+points if he wants to see Mapledurham. The
+place certainly is worth some trouble, but it is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_66' name='Page_66'>[66]</a></span>
+small, and the restrictions are tiresome. The fine
+old Elizabethan house is a real mansion of the
+good old sort; one could imagine endless stories
+of romance connected with it. It was fortified
+during the civil wars by Sir Arthur Blount,
+governor of Reading, and is still held by the same
+family. The principal entrance is by an avenue
+of elms nearly a mile long, but the house is perhaps
+best seen through the gates from the churchyard.
+The church is small, and Perpendicular in style,
+with the exception of the tower, a modern addition
+in flint and brick. There is within a Blount chapel
+with many family memorials, including an altar-tomb.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i171" id="i171"></a>
+<img src="images/i-171.jpg" width="550" height="448" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">MAPLEDURHAM MILL
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The mill at Mapledurham is also a great delight
+to look upon, and numbers of artists sketch it from
+every point of view. The islands lying in the
+swirl of the weir-pool afford many a quiet nook
+in which to anchor, though landing is forbidden.
+From this it may be judged that if Mapledurham
+is a Paradise, it is sternly guarded with notices,
+which meet one on every side with the persistence
+of the flaming sword.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_67' name='Page_67'>[67]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i173" id="i173"></a>
+<img src="images/i-173.jpg" width="550" height="338" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER VII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+A MITRED ABBOT
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+The Abbot of Reading was, like the Abbot of
+Abingdon, mitred, and bore powerful rule. Reading
+ranked third among the abbeys of England,
+and held the great privilege of coining. It was
+founded in 1121 by King Henry I. himself, who
+was afterwards buried here. It was for long supposed
+that Adeliza his queen lay here also, but the
+evidence goes to show she was buried in Flanders.
+The Empress Maud lies at Reading. The great
+church was dedicated by Thomas à Becket, and
+in it took place the marriage of John of Gaunt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fuller, who is always worth quoting, says that
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_68' name='Page_68'>[68]</a></span>
+though Ely "bare away the bell for bountefull
+feast making," Reading "spurred up close" to it,
+and continues: "The mention of Reading minds
+me of a pleasant and true story, which, to refresh
+my wearied self and reader, after long pains, I here
+intend to relate":
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"King Henry VIII. as he was hunting in
+Windsor forest lost himself, and struck down about
+dinner-time to the Abbey of Reading, where,
+disguising himself, he was invited to the abbot's
+table and passed for one of the king's guard. A
+sirloin of beef was set before him on which the king
+laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for
+whom he was mistaken. 'Well fare thy heart,'
+quoth the abbot, 'and here in a cup of sack, I
+remember the health of his Grace your master.
+I would give a hundred pounds on the condition I
+could feed so heartily on beef as you do. Alas, my
+weak and squeasy stomach will hardly digest the
+wing of a small rabbit or chicken.' The king
+pleasantly pledged him, and heartily thanking him
+for his good cheer, after dinner departed as undiscovered
+as he came thither. Some weeks after the
+abbot was sent for by a pursuivant, brought up to
+London, clapped in the Tower, kept close prisoner,
+fed for a short time with bread and water. Yet
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_69' name='Page_69'>[69]</a></span>
+not so empty his body of food as his mind was filled
+with fears, creating many suspicions to himself,
+when and how he had incurred the king's displeasure.
+At last a sirloin of beef was set before
+him, on which the abbot fed as the farmer of his
+grange, and verified the proverb that 'Two hungry
+meals make the third a glutton.' In springs
+King Henry out of a private lobby where he
+had placed himself, the invisible spectator of the
+abbot's behaviour. 'My lord,' quoth the king,
+'presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold,
+or else no going hence all the days of your life.
+I have been your physician to cure you of your
+squeasy stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand
+my fee for the same.' The abbot down with his dust,
+and glad he had escaped so, returned to Reading,
+as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more
+merrier in heart than when he came thence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Dissolution came, the abbot, full of
+belief in his own strength, defied the king,
+though he saw the whirlwind around him which
+had devastated other monasteries no less powerful
+than his own. There was no over-tenderness in
+Henry's methods, and Hugh Faringford, thirty-first
+was abbot, hanged, drawn and quartered in front
+of his own gateway in 1539.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_70' name='Page_70'>[70]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is very little left of this famous abbey now,
+and the gateway has been so carefully "restored"
+that there is more restoration about it than anything
+else; in fact, it is simply a reconstruction.
+Nearly all the remains lie within a very few acres,
+and the Forbury public garden is on the site of one
+of the courts of the abbey. The ruins at the east
+end are heavily covered with masses of ivy, but
+preserve the outlines of the chapter house and
+church, which was over five hundred feet in length.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reading possessed a castle as well as an abbey,
+and the castle has vanished still more completely,
+leaving even its exact site unknown, though it is
+supposed to have been at the west end of the
+present Castle Street, or at the place where the
+prison now stands.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i179" id="i179"></a>
+<img src="images/i-179.jpg" width="442" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CAVERSHAM
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 871 the Danes got as far up the river as
+Reading, and seized both town and castle. Many
+times has parliament been held in the ancient
+town, and many sovereigns have visited Reading,
+including Queen Elizabeth, who stayed there no
+less than six times. In the civil wars Reading was
+a stronghold for the king until, after a severe siege,
+in 1653 the garrison capitulated on condition of
+being allowed to walk out free with arms and baggage,
+a boon which was granted. After this the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_71' name='Page_71'>[71]</a></span>
+place was held by the Parliamentarians, but was
+again occupied for the king, only to become once
+again the headquarters of the Parliamentary army,
+and so it had many changes of fortune. St. Giles's
+church still bears the marks of the artillery from
+which it suffered during those uncertain times.
+There are other churches in Reading, but this is
+not a guide book, so there is no need to enumerate
+them. Archbishop Laud was born in Reading,
+and educated at the Free School. Reading is not
+actually on the river, and Caversham may be called
+its river-suburb. It is not a place which much
+attracts boating men. From its size, its manufactories,
+its chimneys, it is necessarily in many
+aspects unpleasant to those who have come to seek
+their rest and pleasure far from smoke and toil.
+The most important industries are Messrs. Sutton's
+seed emporium, and Messrs. Huntley and Palmer's
+biscuit factory, which employs more than five
+thousand persons; there are also breweries and
+many lesser works. Did it not lie between two
+such pre-eminently charming places as Sonning
+and Mapledurham, boating people would avoid it
+altogether.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_72' name='Page_72'>[72]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER VIII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+<span class='smcap'>Sonning and its Roses</span>
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i182" id="i182"></a>
+<img src="images/i-182.jpg" width="327" height="411" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<p>
+There are certain
+notable details of
+the river-side
+which stand out
+in the mind after
+the rest have been
+merged in mere
+general remembrance
+of lazy
+happiness. In
+these we may include
+the backwater
+at Sutton
+Courtney, the
+woods at Clieveden, the Mill at Mapledurham,
+and the Rose Garden at Sonning. Roses grow
+well all along by the river, but nowhere so
+well as they do at Sonning, and the rose
+garden forms an attraction which draws hundreds
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_73' name='Page_73'>[73]</a></span>
+to the place. Yet Sonning has other attractions
+too; it is very varied and very pretty.
+When one arrives at it first, perhaps coming
+upstream, one is rather perplexed to discover the
+exact topography. We round a great curve which
+encloses an osier bed; here, in early spring, the
+osiers may be seen lying in great bundles, shaded
+from olive-green to brown madder. Then we see
+some green lawns and landing places beneath the
+shadow of a fine clump of elms, and catch sight of
+the lovable old red-brick bridge, with its high centre
+arch, spanning the stream. But there is another
+bridge, a wooden foot-bridge, which also spans the
+stream, at right angles to the other, and peering
+through beneath this, we can see the continuation
+of the red brick one in a new iron structure, which
+stretches on right up to the neat flower beds of the
+French Horn Hotel. The truth is, the river suddenly
+widens out here into a great bulge, and in
+the bulge are several islands, on one of which are
+a mill and a house and several other things, not to
+forget a charming garden. It is the river channel
+between this island and the bank that the first
+bridge, the old one, spans. And what a view it is!
+Above the bridge can be seen rising the little grey
+church tower. On one side is the White Hart
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_74' name='Page_74'>[74]</a></span>
+Hotel, with its warm tone of yellow wash, its red
+tiles and its creepers, and above all its famous rose
+garden. In the foreground is a willow-covered ait
+placed in exactly the right position. It is a perfect
+picture. But yet this is not the best side of the
+bridge. The other side is better; for here, to resist
+the flow of the current, the builders placed the
+buttresses which emphasise the height of that
+centre arch; buttresses now capped with tufty
+grass and emerald moss, and from the crevices of
+which spring clumps of yellow daisies, candytuft,
+wallflower, hart's-tongue fern, and other things. In
+the bricks all colours may be seen, after the manner
+of worn bricks, not even excluding blue. The
+mill is, as it should be, wooden, and with Sandford
+Mill, is mentioned in Domesday Book. From the
+dark shadow beneath its wheel, the largest on the
+river, gurgles away the water in cool green streams,
+passing beneath the overhanging boughs of planes
+and horse-chestnuts. From the mighty sweep of
+the wheel, as it may be seen in its house, the drops
+rise glittering in cascades to varying heights like
+the sprays of diamonds on a tiara. The mill-house,
+called Aberlash, stands not far off on the same
+island, with a delightful garden.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i185" id="i185"></a>
+<img src="images/i-185.jpg" width="550" height="446" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE ROSE GARDEN AT SONNING
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This island spreads onward with green lawns in a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_75' name='Page_75'>[75]</a></span>
+sweeping semicircle to the lock and cottage, and
+from two small weirs the water dances down,
+adding variety to a beautiful pool where stand
+many irregular pollard willows on tiny aits. Over
+the smaller weir, framed in a setting of evergreens,
+is a bit of far distant blue landscape. There is a
+bank here too, an embankment, which might be
+covered with flowers according to its owner's design,
+but that the water nymphs, intolerant of flowers,
+except those of their own choosing, take a wicked
+delight in sweeping down over the weir, and
+sending the water flowing like a lace shawl all over
+the embankment to carry back all the roots and
+bulbs and other things that may have been planted
+there to use as playthings; their gurgle of delight
+at their own unending joke may be heard all day
+long.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shy kingfishers love the big pool below
+the weir, but it is not often they are seen unless
+the watcher has the faculty for making himself
+invisible against his background and is able to
+remain motionless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The woods of the Holme Park, rising high close
+by, throw a deep-toned shadow on the picture,
+particularly refreshing on a baking summer's day.
+Many birds find their refuge in these woods, and at
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_76' name='Page_76'>[76]</a></span>
+night the weird cries of the owls sound hauntingly
+over the flats. A ghost is supposed to inhabit the
+park, and the owl's cry might very well serve for a
+ghost's moan on occasion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having thus explored the puzzling bit of river,
+we may land and walk up through the Rose
+Garden, or, according to Mr. Ashby Sterry in his
+<i>Lays of a Lazy Minstrel</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Let's land at the lawn of the cheery White Hart,
+</p>
+<p>
+Now gay with the glamour of June!
+</p>
+<p>
+For here we can lunch to the music of trees,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  In sight of the swift river running,
+</p>
+<p>
+Off cuts of cold beef and a prime Cheddar cheese,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And a tankard of bitter at Sonning.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+For the sake of those who have gardens of their
+own, we give a list of the principal roses grown at
+Sonning:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+Monsieur E. Y. Teas, Madame Marie les Dier, Marie
+Baumann, Viscountess Folkestone, Duchess of Bedford,
+Aimée Vibert, Prince Camille de Rohan, W. A. Richardson,
+Edouard Morren, Queen of Queens, Sultan of Zanzibar,
+Suzanne M. Rodocanachi, Madame de Watteville, Souvenir
+d'un Ami, Homer, Duke of Teck, Duke of Edinburgh,
+Cristal, Jules Margottin, Mavourneen, Rêve d'Or, Clio,
+Countess of Rosebery, The Bourbon, Souvenir de la
+Malmaison, Maréchal Niel, Alfred Colombo, Mrs. W. J.
+Grant, Magna Charta, La France, Prince Arthur, Charles
+Lefebvre, Dean Hole, Mrs. F. Laing, Maman Cochet,
+Madame Willinoz, Horace Vernet, Caroline Testout, Gloire
+de Dijon, Auguste Rigstard, Abel Carrière, Abel Grand,
+Eclair, Rubens, Bessie Brown, Beauty of Waltham, Boule de
+Neige, Jeremiah Dickson, Catherine Mermet, Gruss an
+Teplitz, Lady Battersea.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i193" id="i193"></a>
+<img src="images/i-193.jpg" width="550" height="438" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">SONNING
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+With this brilliant mass of colour, the rich dark
+reds, the glorious pinks, the pale yellows, dead
+whites and the flaming apricot of William Allen
+Richardson, the effect may be imagined; and the
+entry to all this beauty is beneath a trellised arch
+covered with masses of the Crimson Rambler!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sonning village itself is very irregular, uphill and
+downhill, with roads all ways. There are rights of
+way through the quiet churchyard, where there is
+a row of magnificent elms, and the villagers are
+real flower lovers. Almost at any season of the
+year at which flowers will flourish out of doors,
+flowers there are to be seen. Earliest of all, the
+quince, the yellow jasmine, and the dainty almond
+blossom; then the golden bunches of laburnum
+and the fresh mauve lilac; later on roses of all
+kinds, not always climbing, but in bushes and
+clumps. Window boxes are seen everywhere, and
+Virginia creeper and ampelopsis cover up all bare
+corners. The houses themselves are charming.
+There are many more cottages in the older style
+than can be found at Wargrave. Many a tiny
+diamond-paned window is seen high up, almost lost
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_78' name='Page_78'>[78]</a></span>
+in a straggling creeper. The projecting storeys,
+the brown lathes imbedded deep in the brick,
+making rectangles of broken colour, the yellow
+wash of a deep umber, the high external chimneys,
+all make up many nooks to be looked at again and
+again with appreciation. Sydney Smith was staying
+at Sonning in 1807, and we can but admire his
+taste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a tradition, very hazy, that Sonning was
+once the seat of a bishopric. There is no evidence
+at all as to this, but the fact that the See of Salisbury
+has held the manor since the time when
+Domesday Book was made may have led to the
+error.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bishops had a house here, and it was at the
+bishops' house that King John stayed for six days
+a month before his death. Leland says: "And
+yet remaineth a faire olde House there of stone,
+even by the Tamise Ripe longging to the Bishop
+of Saresbyri, and thereby is a fine Park."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The oldest parts of the church probably date
+from 1180, but there is very little of this date left.
+The principal bits are the south doorway and a
+small window above it. The south aisle was built
+about 1350, the piers of the nave about 1400, at
+which date the chancel was added. The north
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_79' name='Page_79'>[79]</a></span>
+chancel aisle and the north aisle came about 100
+years later. The whole church was restored in
+1852. There are one or two interesting monuments
+to be seen in it, and it is a good model of
+what a well-preserved, dignified parish church
+should be.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_80' name='Page_80'>[80]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i198" id="i198"></a>
+<img src="images/i-198.jpg" width="550" height="460" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER IX<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+WARGRAVE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+Wargrave is one of the most delightful of
+Thames-side villages. There is not much that is
+old among the houses that line the village street;
+thatch has almost gone. Wooden beams are not
+noticeable, except when used in the modern
+architecture that imitates the old; the material
+seen everywhere is red brick. Wind and weather,
+however, soon tone down the asperities of red brick,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_81' name='Page_81'>[81]</a></span>
+and from the rich soil creepers spring up quickly
+to cover it with loving tendrils; so the street
+becomes a delightful medley of casement windows,
+gable ends, and bushy foliage. Not the least of
+the charm is that each small house has its own
+ideas about frontage, and entirely refuses to stand
+in line with the rest. There are houses with their
+doorsteps in the roadway, and houses modestly
+retiring behind bushes in their strip of garden.
+Here is a wistaria with a stem as thick as a
+man's arm, and there roses and sweetbriar, purple
+clematis and starry jasmine, succeeding and intermingling.
+Wargrave has learnt to choose the
+good and refuse the evil of the modern spirit;
+she is clean and self-respecting as some villages
+will never learn to be. Her small shops are good
+of their kind, but self-conscious she is not, or
+garish, or any other of the horrible things associated
+with modernity.
+</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i201" id="i201"></a>
+<img src="images/i-201.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE CHURCH AT WARGRAVE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The place centres about cross roads, but straggles
+in many directions, and on the high ground
+surrounding it many a new house has been built
+lately, and stands amid delightful grounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The church, which is near the open green,
+where grow fine trees, is of flint, with a red-brick
+pinnacled tower, half ivy-covered. In the church
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_82' name='Page_82'>[82]</a></span>
+is buried Thomas Day, author of <i>Sandford and
+Merton</i>, who was killed by a fall from his horse
+in 1789. A Norman doorway, a carved oak
+pulpit black with age, and a huge family pew, tell
+of long survival, and give the church the same
+touch of self-respecting dignity that the village
+has. It can be seen from the water, peeping over
+greenery near a backwater, with its tower overtopped
+by trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole of Wargrave is seen to advantage
+from the water or from the meadows opposite.
+Many green lawns slope down to the brink, and
+the height of the bushy elms is a thing to note.
+A few Lombardy poplars break the fulness of
+the bosky foliage with their elongated ovals, and
+that most graceful of all trees, the wych elm,
+curves his beautiful lines in soft arches over the
+velvety lawns or smoothly-flowing water.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Witch elms that counterchange the floor
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright;
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And thou, with all thy breadth and height
+</p>
+<p>
+Of foliage, towering sycamore.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Tennyson.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The river turns almost a right angle at Wargrave,
+and, from running eastward, goes due north.
+The little village, being situated at the bend, gets
+the benefit of both vistas. The George Hotel,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_83' name='Page_83'>[83]</a></span>
+indeed, stands exactly at the angle, and the
+sweep of the water catches its wharf with full
+force. It boasts a signboard painted by two
+R.A.s; this is preserved indoors, while another
+swings as its proxy in the village street. Placed
+as it is in regard to the river channel, and with
+the wide flats of Shiplake meadows opposite,
+the hotel is exposed, and the very openness of
+its garden, an attraction which draws hundreds
+of summer visitors, makes it a butt for the racing
+winds of early spring. It is a pretty hotel built
+of brick, with a white painted verandah, after
+the usual river pattern; and a gigantic wistaria
+embowers all the front in its delicate mauve in
+summer, while roses trained over trellis work
+flash answering colour signals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The view over the river includes the glowing
+sunsets, which leave a slowly dying splendour
+behind a distant bank of trees.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And there was still, where day had set,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  A flush that spoke him loth to die;
+</p>
+<p>
+A last link of his glory yet
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Binding together earth and sky.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Moore.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Looking up to the left is the railway bridge,
+which is not so ugly as it might be; below, every
+hundred yards shows fresh beauties.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_84' name='Page_84'>[84]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wargrave backwater is one of the most noted
+on the river, and in summer, or early spring, is
+a fairyland of greenery. The entrance is behind
+the large willow-covered island that lies below
+the hotel. The tiny arched bridge, not far in,
+is so low that one has to lie full length in a
+boat in order to pass under it. This is called
+Fiddler's bridge, though no local tradition keeps
+alive the origin of the name. The gentle light
+shimmers down between the spear-leaved willows
+in a veil of glory, and the stream is so narrow,
+one can almost touch the banks with both hands
+at once. In the main stream meantime, there are
+several islands decorated with the new rough
+stuccoed houses now so popular in river architecture,
+and, at the end where the backwater
+emerges again, there is a brightly-coloured boat-house.
+Beyond this, again, is a long stretch where
+there are generally house-boats. In winter, a little
+creek on the left bank is a kind of storehouse for
+them. This is a fine wide reach, and above it
+rises Wargrave Hill with its large white house
+conspicuously placed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Further down, the river makes a succession of
+curves; and facing up stream is Bolney Court, in
+a solid, old-fashioned style, of a dull yellow colour,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_85' name='Page_85'>[85]</a></span>
+while, behind and around it, the deep blue-green
+of Scotch firs is seen among the lighter foliage,
+and on the curving heights which block the vista
+to the north, the heights above Henley, these
+trees are conspicuous everywhere. Indeed, evergreens
+of all kinds flourish well in the chalky
+soil about Wargrave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The late C. J. Cornish said somewhere that
+Thames eyots always seem to have been put in
+place by a landscape gardener, and those about
+Bolney recall the words. They are thickly grown
+over by sedge and osiers, and overshadowed by taller
+trees; between them, the channels of shining water,
+half hidden half revealed, gain all the charm of
+elusiveness. Has anyone ever reflected what a
+kindly thought it was of Nature's, to arrange
+that trees growing on the water's edge should
+invariably take an outward angle, so as to lean
+over the water? How much less effective the
+result would have been had they grown inward,
+may be pictured by imagining a river without
+reflections. In the stillness of a backwater, or
+in the narrowed channel beside a large island,
+the beautiful effect of this outward angle is
+best seen. If the channel be very narrow, the
+trunks fold one behind the other in perspective,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_86' name='Page_86'>[86]</a></span>
+so as to form an arch over a shining aisle. In
+the water, all the many-coloured gnarled stems
+are smoothed by the gentle movement into something
+softer than the rigid reality, with its hard
+knots of shadow. The different colouring on
+the stems of the same species of tree is a thing
+to marvel at. From the deep mahogany of a joint
+where the damp has made an open wound, to
+the faint biscuit-colour of the place where a strip
+of bark has been newly peeled off, the stems of
+pollarded willows furnish every brown and yellow
+on a painter's palette. Many of them are richly
+crowned by a head of ivy, whose satin-smooth leaves
+fall in garlands like locks, and sway with every
+touch of air. These are reflected in the water
+as a shaded mass of green with no detail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are so many varieties of willow that it
+is difficult for the lay mind to remember them
+all, and numbers of them are to be seen about
+Wargrave. It is the Crack willow and the White
+willow, with long slender leaves, that are commonly
+pollarded as osiers, though they will grow tall
+enough if they are allowed to. There is a legend
+that the mournful droop of the leaves of the
+weeping willow is a reminiscence of the sad time
+of the Captivity:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_87' name='Page_87'>[87]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion;
+</p>
+<p>
+As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the willow trees that grow therein.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Besides the willows, there are their cousins, the
+poplars, chief among which, is the fine Populus
+tremula, whose leaves whisper perpetual secrets,
+even on the stillest days. This is caused by the
+broad leaves being attached to a slender flattened
+stalk. They are silky on the wrong side, and when
+the wind blows through the foliage it turns a soft
+greyish white, like a cottony mass. There is a
+legend that the wood of this tree was used for
+the Cross, and that in consequence it has trembled
+ever since, and so its leaves are in a perpetual state
+of quivering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The poplar, like the ash, is not kind to
+neighbouring trees, its numerous suckers taking
+more than their share of nourishment and moisture
+from the ground, and the leaves, when they fall,
+seem to be as destructive as those of the beech,
+for grass will not grow where they lie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In spring, these trees shed their long catkins,
+like hairy caterpillars, all over the water, and
+they are swept up in heaps into every eddy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In spite of the delights of summer, there is a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_88' name='Page_88'>[88]</a></span>
+time which well bears comparison with it; I mean
+the first fine days of early spring, before the rest
+of the world has awakened to the fact that winter
+is over. And about Wargrave at such times there
+is to be found great charm by those whose senses
+are alert. It is true that the splendid hedge
+that lines the tow-path shows only the long
+withes of the creepers and no starry flowers; that
+the graceful sprays of the wild rose now appear
+barbed and polished and ferocious, instead of
+sweet and enticing. A bush of barberry or
+berberis is not often seen in hedges, for the old
+folk-lore taught that wheat never throve when
+the barberry was in the hedge; therefore the
+farmers grubbed it up whenever they found it.
+But science has confirmed the empirical wisdom
+of our fathers, for it was discovered that the
+barberry furnishes the intermediate host for rust
+in wheat. On the green river bank there are
+quivering blades of tender green, but no flowers
+with their umbrella heads of white, or bunchy
+yellow, or pale mauve. Yet still there are
+compensations. To begin with, the river itself
+talks in spring as it never does in summer, and
+what is better, one can hear it without the
+interruption of human chatter or noise. One has
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_89' name='Page_89'>[89]</a></span>
+the whole stretch to one's self, and attuning one's
+ear to the key of that conversation, one can
+listen to it sucking at the bank, flop-flopping
+under the prow of one's punt, chuckling as it races
+past the pole, and, laughing a little silvery laugh
+of merriment, that we call rippling&mdash;a word we
+have learnt to adapt to our poor human attempts
+in the same direction. The river sprites are with
+us, and very busy they are&mdash;ceaselessly busy about
+nothing at all, and so happy in their activity that
+to hear them is to laugh for right good fellowship.
+The wind is in the water, urging them on faster
+and faster; each wavelet has its crest of foam,
+and, in the heights and hollows ahead there is
+every shade of green, from emerald to olive. One
+must be very still in order to imbibe the real
+spirit of the scene, for they are shy, these river
+nymphs, as shy as the birds and beasts that live
+around them, and have learned the fear of tempestuous
+man. A shy-bold wren, with a sudden
+glint of sunlight on his rich brown back, flies
+to the edge of the water where the punt lies
+drifting, and then darts back in haste to the
+shelter of that commanding hedge he never
+likes to leave. His pertness is all in his appearance;
+never did looks so belie a timid character!
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_90' name='Page_90'>[90]</a></span>
+A water-hen, startled by the sudden dip of the
+pole, flies out of the reeds close by, and skims
+in a swift low line to the islet opposite; her
+smooth dark body, with the elongated neck and
+scant tail, resembles an Eastern water skin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a gentle continuous whispering among
+the reeds, as if they questioned themselves, with
+quiet disapprobation, why the river was always
+in such a hurry. From the field behind the hedge
+comes the sweet scream of a wheeling peewit, and
+two large wood-pigeons flap noisily from the tall
+trees on the island, a very picture of contented
+domesticity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We slide on gently, close by the tow-path, until
+the tall hedge comes to an end, and the green
+meadows stretch right away from the lip of the
+river, and around them rise the tree-crowned
+heights in a semicircle, like the tiers of a giant
+amphitheatre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flop! A water rat dives furtively. Though
+called a rat, he is in reality a vole, and is almost
+exclusively graminivorous; in this differing from
+his namesake, the real rat, which also haunts river
+banks, especially near mills. With hoarse squawk,
+a wild duck rises heavily from cover, and after
+the first difficult spiral, wings off like an arrow,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_91' name='Page_91'>[91]</a></span>
+his long neck extended. It is a day of cloud
+and shadow, and suddenly the light breaks out
+on the trees ahead with a wild freshness that
+makes one catch one's breath. It races up
+stream, and the dun is turned to gold at the
+touch of its breath. The sweetness of early
+spring is in the air and in our blood; the larks
+feel it as they rise:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i7">
+              Sounds of vernal showers
+</p>
+<p class="i8">
+                On the twinkling grass,
+</p>
+<p class="i7">
+              Rain-awaken'd flowers,
+</p>
+<p class="i8">
+                All that ever was
+</p>
+<p>
+Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Shelley.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+And there is a stirring of sap and juice in things&mdash;small
+things deep down in dark holes and corners,
+and in all green and growing things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this, how cloying the richness of summer,
+with its still days, its glaring reflections, the
+luscious foliage, and the overpowering scents&mdash;the
+thought of it strikes one's senses as the
+thought of a hothouse would strike a child of the
+moor and the mountain. And when we remember
+Wargrave regatta, with its crowded banks, its
+lined shores, its flags a-flutter, and its noise, we
+are thankful that August is afar off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though we have wandered down stream, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_92' name='Page_92'>[92]</a></span>
+bit above Wargrave is equally attractive. Just
+beyond the railway bridge the river Loddon flows
+into the Thames. To pass up it and its tributary,
+St. Patrick's stream, is no easy feat; yet by using
+this loop the lock may be evaded, and it is the
+only place on the river where such a trick is
+possible. It is, however, far the best to explore
+this by-way from the other end and to come
+down stream by its means. To reach it, one must
+go high up above the lock, beyond the last of
+the chain of islands which here breaks the channel,
+and there turn in under a small bridge, into this
+curious tributary, which starts from the river and
+returns to it again. It flows at first through
+wide flat meadows, and then bifurcates, one
+branch, blocked by a weir, communicating again
+with the Thames, and the other falling into the
+Loddon, and with it rejoining the main river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Part of St. Patrick's stream is fringed by
+well-grown uniform pollard willows that hedge
+it like a wall. In summer, when the meadows
+are rich in buttercups, and the wind hums softly
+over the clover, bringing wafts of scent, and
+many a quaint weed adds its note of colour to
+the general harmony, it is very charming. But
+the most delightful feature is the growth of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_93' name='Page_93'>[93]</a></span>
+Leucojum æstivum, or summer snowflake, which
+is so numerous that it is popularly known as the
+Loddon lily. This is like a large snowdrop in
+which several blooms spring from one head. It is
+also to be found on several of the islands in the
+main river near, but is not abundant there. The
+Loddon itself rises far inland: Twyford gets its
+name from lying near two branches, a twy-ford.
+The stream is slow, and it is only the swift current
+of St. Patrick that enlivens it lower down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Above the mouth of the Loddon there lies an
+interesting bit of the river. On a large island,
+owned by the Corporation of London, stands the
+lock-keeper's cottage, and opposite to it, on the
+mainland, a delightful old mill-house with tiled
+roof, and that weather-worn, rather battered
+appearance, which all self-respecting mill-houses
+aim at as the perfection of ripeness. The long
+tongue of the lock island projects down stream
+like the nose of a pike. In winter, the little
+moorhens, partly tamed by hunger, and reassured
+by the absence of those noisy humans who come
+in such numbers in warmer weather, run about
+all over it. Other things run too, all the year
+round; the lock-keeper has a fine stock of hens,
+but accepts philosophically the fact that he can
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_94' name='Page_94'>[94]</a></span>
+never rear any chickens "because of the rats."
+The rats, which are attracted by the ample stores
+at the mill-house, and find such variety of
+lodgings along the banks of the stream and in
+the crevices of the much worn woodwork, are the
+pest of these places.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The island is a popular camping ground, and
+the pitches are generally secured early in the
+season, having been well prepared beforehand by
+being laid in sand and flints to ensure a dry
+foundation. There are also a tiny bungalow, to
+be had for two guineas the week, and a bathing
+place available. Altogether a very attractive
+island. The main stream races over the weir,
+forming a wide tumbling pool below, and on the
+other side of the island there is a pleasant stretch
+down to the lock. These lock channels are
+among some of the most charming places on
+the river. They are generally very still, with the
+mass of water hardly moving. On some days
+every twig is reflected, and the view in this
+particular one is well worth looking at, as, with
+the group of the mill buildings rising high on
+one side, and the cottage with its accompaniment
+of standard roses on the other, there are the
+elements of a most satisfactory composition.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_95' name='Page_95'>[95]</a></span>
+The meadows slope down at just that angle that
+shows them off to the best advantage; they are
+dotted with fine trees and are crowned by clumps
+of wood, from which sounds the homely cawing
+of rooks. The red cows stand knee-deep in the
+placid water, lashing at the flies with their tails;
+and on the other side is a mass of greenery:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i4">
+        I ...
+</p>
+<p>
+Walked forth to ease my pain
+</p>
+<p>
+Along the shore of silver streaming Thames;
+</p>
+<p>
+Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
+</p>
+<p>
+Was painted all with variable flowers,
+</p>
+<p>
+And all the meads adorned with dainty gems
+</p>
+<p>
+Fit to deck maidens' bowers.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Sweet Thames! run softly till I end my song.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Spenser.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Shiplake stands high above the flat meadows
+by the river bank. The little flint church, in which
+Tennyson was married, has a prettily buttressed
+tower, and around it grow many tall evergreens
+and waving trees. There are also some interesting
+old frescoes on the walls, two representing
+St. Christopher, who seems particularly appropriate
+in a river church. From the porch, down between
+two rows of shrubs, one can look on to the top
+of a mass of trees, which shuts out a bend of
+the silver river, and beyond them see the blue
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_96' name='Page_96'>[96]</a></span>
+distance, miles and miles away. Mrs. Climenson,
+whose book on Shiplake was privately printed,
+suggests that the name originated in schiff-laacken,
+for the story goes that when the Danes got so
+far, their boats stuck on the shoals, and their commander
+ordered them to be burnt, to prevent a
+possibility of retreat.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_97' name='Page_97'>[97]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER X<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+HENLEY REGATTA
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i219" id="i219"></a>
+<img src="images/i-219.jpg" width="323" height="407" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<p>
+Who can ever
+think of Henley
+without its regatta?
+And yet
+Henley is very
+well worth thinking
+of at all times
+of the year. It is
+a pleasantly-built,
+middle-aged, red-brick
+town. Its
+history does not
+reach back so far
+as that of Abingdon
+or Reading. It boasts neither abbey nor
+cathedral. Near the esplanade above the bridge,
+there are one or two of the tumble-down, out-of-perpendicular
+style of cottages, which invariably
+add so much to a river scene; but the main
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_98' name='Page_98'>[98]</a></span>
+part of the town, which is, of course, of red
+brick, has a homely air of the seventeenth
+century about it. The solid and stately Red
+Lion Hotel, close to the bridge, is one of the
+most historic houses in the place. Charles I.
+stayed here in 1632, when, after severe dissensions,
+he was trying the method of ruling England without
+a Parliament, and when the terrible fate that
+was to befall him had not yet "cast its shadow
+before." It is doubtful if he paid his bills, for
+he was in chronic want of money; but he left
+a memento behind him which has more than
+repaid the hotel, for it forms a perennial source of
+interest. This is a large fresco painting of the
+royal monogram and coat of arms over one of
+the mantelpieces, and from the date it is evident it
+was done at the time of this visit. It was not
+discovered till 1889, having probably been hastily
+concealed during the troublous days of Cromwell's
+ascendency. Being on one of the principal coaching
+roads, Henley received more than its share of
+celebrated visitors. On July the 12th, 1788,
+George III., with the Queen and three of
+his daughters, had breakfast at the Red Lion;
+George IV. once dined here; and the celebrated
+Duke of Marlborough regularly kept a room here
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_99' name='Page_99'>[99]</a></span>
+that he might use it in his journeys from Blenheim;
+his bed is still preserved. After these associations,
+that of Shenstone, who wrote a poem with a
+diamond on a window-pane, comes as an anticlimax.
+The poem begins:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+To thee, fair Freedom, I retire,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  From flattery, cards, and dice, and din;
+</p>
+<p>
+Nor art thou found in mansions higher
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Than the low cott or humble inn.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+And the last verse, which is often quoted, runs:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Whate'er his stages may have been,
+</p>
+<p>
+May sigh to think he still has found
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The warmest welcome at an inn.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In summer the red brick of the hotel is almost
+hidden by the creepers which embrace it; especially
+noticeable is the glorious wistaria, most lovely of
+all the climbing plants.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i223" id="i223"></a>
+<img src="images/i-223.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">RED LION HOTEL, HENLEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The bridge was built in 1786, and is of stone.
+The keystones of the central arch are adorned with
+sculptured masks of Thame and Isis. They were
+the work of Mrs. Damer, a cousin of Horace
+Walpole's, and as such falling within the limits of
+the great man's kindly appreciation. Behind the
+hotel and well seen from the bridge, is the church,
+with its four corner pinnacles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time of the regatta, and for some weeks
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_100' name='Page_100'>[100]</a></span>
+before, it is impossible to get accommodation in
+the town anywhere. Of all the river regattas
+Henley is by far the greatest, and comes even
+before the Boat Race in the estimation of some
+people. The races used to end at the bridge, and
+so the lawn of the Red Lion was in the position of
+a favoured grand-stand, but now the winning post
+is a quarter of a mile short of this, opposite the
+last villa on the left bank. The starting point is
+near Temple or Regatta Island, and the reach
+certainly makes a fine one for the purpose. The
+course is railed off by piles and booms, and all the
+hundreds of craft which gather to the scene have
+to cram themselves in somehow, so as not to cause
+obstruction. It is well not to select an outrigged
+boat for such an occasion. The best and most
+commonly seen craft are punts, worked by means
+of canoe paddles; for the punts are too solid to
+collapse easily in the pressure that may be put
+upon them, and the paddles, requiring little room
+to work, are less dangerous to one's neighbours than
+poles. But all kinds of skiffs and canoes appear, and
+some are even bold enough to tempt fate in Canadian
+canoes. On a brilliant day, when the light
+sparkles on the water, and there is enough wind
+to set the pennons and streamers flying, the scene
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_101' name='Page_101'>[101]</a></span>
+is undeniably gay and pretty. All the luncheon
+tents on the green lawns near form a bright
+adjunct. Salter and Talboys, from Oxford, and
+other boat-builders, have landing-stages for the
+week, and the various clubs entertain largely.
+Chief among these is the Leander, whose fine
+club-house is on the right bank not far from the
+bridge; it also has a lawn further down. Not
+far off are the grand-stand, the Grosvenor, and
+the New Oxford and Cambridge Clubs, and one
+large lawn is taken as a clubland <i>pied-à-terre</i>
+for the use of any members of London clubs in
+general. But beside these there are the Isthmian,
+Sports, and Bath Clubs on the left bank, and
+Phyllis Court, with smooth lawns; and then a long
+line of house-boats begins, continuing past Fawley
+Court on to Temple Island, with just one break for
+the lawns of the Court. Bands play, luncheons are
+consumed, flags flutter; everyone is gay and lively,
+and the scene is one that can hardly be described
+justly in mere word painting. At noon the first
+race is rowed. A bell is rung to clear the course.
+All sorts of boats and canoes have slipped out
+between the openings left for them, and they must
+hurry back and crush into the already tightly
+wedged mass; in a moment everything else is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_102' name='Page_102'>[102]</a></span>
+forgotten in the excitement of the special event.
+On the last evening of the regatta there is a grand
+firework display and a procession of illuminated
+boats; and, as may very well be guessed, the real
+success of Henley depends greatly upon the
+weather, which, even in the first week of July,
+when it takes place, is not always kind.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i229" id="i229"></a>
+<img src="images/i-229.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HENLEY REGATTA
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As we have said, the surroundings of Henley
+are of a sort to attract attention, even without the
+additional glories of the regatta. Above the bridge
+is a long ait, and high on the right bank rise the
+woods of Park Place. Here the brilliant green of
+the beeches is diversified by the dark blue-greens
+of fir and cedar. The Place was once the residence
+of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the grounds
+were greatly improved by Field-Marshal Conway,
+a cousin of Horace Walpole. A long glade is cut
+through the wood. It runs under a bridge made
+of blocks of stone taken from Reading Abbey,
+and over this passes the road. From the river a
+peep of the striking vista can be had. Higher
+up again is Marsh Lock.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i235" id="i235"></a>
+<img src="images/i-235.jpg" width="550" height="445" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HAMBLEDEN
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+But the influence of Henley extends down as
+well as up the river. Phyllis and Fawley Courts
+both at one time belonged to Bulstrode Whitelocke.
+Fawley was wrecked very early in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_103' name='Page_103'>[103]</a></span>
+civil wars; but Phyllis was strongly fortified, and
+some of the earthworks may still be seen. Henley
+was a Parliamentarian stronghold, and was annoyed
+by the neighbourhood of plucky little Greenlands
+at Hambleden, which, "for a little fort, was made
+very strong for the King."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It belonged in the time of the Stuarts to Sir
+Cope d'Oyley, who was a staunch Royalist. When
+he died his eldest son held Greenlands for the
+King, and his house was battered by the cannon
+of the Parliamentarians from across the water. In
+the nineteenth century the Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith
+lived here, and his widow took from the village the
+title he himself never lived to enjoy. In Hambleden
+also there is a fine old manor house, and
+some of the clipped yews in the gardens of
+private houses are very remarkable. High above
+the place rise the woods near Fingest and Stokenchurch.
+The weirs at Hambleden are the most
+attractive on the river. Long curved bridges run
+across them from shore to shore, and are open
+to the public as a right-of-way. The curves strike
+off at different angles, and every moment the point
+of view changes. Whether we are passing over
+tumbling weirs, where the water glides across long
+mossy planes, or over sluice-gates where it bursts
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_104' name='Page_104'>[104]</a></span>
+through, the enchantment is the same. Flags and
+tall yellow irises and the greenest of green tufts
+grow in the water and about the foundations of
+the bridges. Looking back at the mill, we see it
+reflected in the calm, deep water above the weirs
+as in a polished looking-glass. There are old cedars
+and red-roofed cottages, and plenty of Scotch firs
+and yew hedges in the background. Away up the
+river is the white mass of Greenlands with its
+pierced look-out tower.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_105' name='Page_105'>[105]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i239" id="i239"></a>
+<img src="images/i-239.jpg" width="550" height="424" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XI<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE ROMANCE OF BISHAM AND HURLEY
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+One of the greatest calumnies I ever heard
+expressed was the remark, "What, writing a
+book about the river! Why, the river is all alike,
+isn't it?" It is true that many reaches of the river
+are so exceedingly attractive that there is a danger
+of applying the adjectives "pretty" and "beautiful"
+and "charming" to many of them, but the sameness
+is not in the reaches, it is in the poverty of
+one's own language. What can be more different,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_106' name='Page_106'>[106]</a></span>
+for instance, than the river about Maidenhead and
+the river above Marlow? Yet both are delightful.
+The patrons of the Maidenhead part no doubt
+outnumber those of Bisham and Hurley, but that
+is because Maidenhead is one of the most accessible
+places on the river. The station at Marlow is
+on a branch, and many a weary hour must be
+spent waiting, if one is dependent on trains. This
+is the only station for Hurley and Bisham, unless
+we go on equally far in the other direction to
+Henley. However, this is one of the reasons why
+the Marlow section is preferable to the Maidenhead
+one&mdash;when you do get there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great Marlow itself is a fairly important place
+for a riverside village. It is like a little country
+town, and though many new red-brick villas are
+springing up, it could not be called "residential"
+in the way that the word could be applied to
+Richmond, for instance. The ground plan is very
+simple. One wide street runs straight down to the
+bridge, and another street crosses it at the top.
+In the latter is to be found Marlow's chief literary
+association, for here still stands the cottage where
+Shelley lived. It is marked by a tablet, and is a
+low, long building, creeper-covered, and is now
+divided into several cottages. Here he wrote
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_107' name='Page_107'>[107]</a></span>
+<i>The Revolt of Islam</i> and <i>Alastor, or the Spirit of
+Solitude</i>.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i243" id="i243"></a>
+<img src="images/i-243.jpg" width="550" height="435" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">GENERAL VIEW OF MARLOW
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Down by the water side the whole aspect of
+Marlow is bright and open. It must be entirely
+different from the older Marlow, when the wooden
+bridge&mdash;which crossed the river lower down than
+the present one&mdash;and the old church were still
+in existence. At present, in the summer all is
+gay and clean looking. The suspension bridge,
+which is the best of the modern sort of bridges
+from an artist's point of view, is rather low over
+the water; standing on it one can look right down
+on to the green lawn of the Compleat Angler
+Hotel, and see the many-coloured muslins, the
+white flannels, the gay cushions, the awnings,
+and the sunshades, as if they were all a gigantic
+flower bed. The red hotel itself is from this
+point caught against the background of the
+Quarry Woods. Opposite to it is the very green
+strip of the churchyard coming right down to
+the edge of the river, and only separated from
+it by a low stone parapet: weeping willows fling
+their green spray out over the water, and behind
+is the church. It is undeniable that the materials
+used in the church are distinctly ugly, but the
+steeple goes some way towards redeeming it,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_108' name='Page_108'>[108]</a></span>
+and if it can be seen silhouetted, so that the
+materials are lost in dimness, and only the outlines
+are apparent, it becomes at once more than
+passable. Spires are not common in Thames-side
+churches, which are far more often capped by
+rather low battlemented towers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the glories of Marlow is its weir. It
+runs in a great semicircular sweep below the
+hotel; and, from a terrace there, one can look
+right down into the swirling water; or by coming
+up the backwater below in a boat, one can land
+at the hotel without facing the lock at all, a great
+advantage. The weir is in several planes, and
+the extended flood makes a perpetual wash,
+rising to a roar in winter, and dwindling to
+the merest tinkle in summer. Marlow is distinctly
+a summer place: its openness, its many trees, its
+wide reach of water, and the splash of the weir
+are all summer accompaniments; and in winter,
+when the wind sweeps down from the south,
+the unprotected side, and the water hisses and
+bubbles in its struggle to get down to lower
+levels, it is weird and melancholy.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i249" id="i249"></a>
+<img src="images/i-249.jpg" width="550" height="451" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">QUARRY WOODS
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The lock channel is fringed by several islets,
+and there is the usual mill, and a pretty wooden
+foot-bridge. Several of the most graceful of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_109' name='Page_109'>[109]</a></span>
+our trees, the dainty silver birch, stand near the
+mill. On some of the lower islands osiers grow,
+and there are one or two neat boat-houses. Wide
+meadows fringe the river below; and eastward&mdash;the
+bridge lies due north and south&mdash;are the
+famous Quarry Woods, held by many to be
+superior even to the Clieveden Woods. In some
+points they are, and not the least of these is
+that they are traversed by several roads, while
+those at Clieveden are kept strictly private. The
+woods are composed almost wholly of beech, the
+tree that loves the chalk, here so abundant, and
+only a few patches of larch may be seen in
+clumps among them. Beginning at the water's
+edge, rising above the curious white castle with
+harled walls called Quarry Hill, now to let, the
+woods continue in a straight line inland, getting
+further and further from the river as they go.
+It is difficult to say at what season of the year
+they are the most beautiful. In early spring,
+before the buds burst, if looked at in the mass,
+there is to be seen a kind of purple bloom made
+by the myriad buds, which is not found in any
+mixed woods. In spring the buds burst out into
+that tender indescribable green, like nothing
+else in the world, and the new-born leaves,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_110' name='Page_110'>[110]</a></span>
+suspended from their dark and almost invisible
+twigs, are for all the world like fronds of giant
+maidenhair. In the autumn the whole ground is
+one blaze of rich burnt-sienna, a carpet of leaves
+laid so industriously that not a speck of the
+bare brown earth appears; and from this rise
+the stems smooth and straight, lichen-covered
+every one, and thus transformed to brilliant
+emerald. Where the light strikes through the
+rapidly thinning branches, they have the very
+glow of the stones themselves. It is an enchanted
+wood, and at any moment a wizard might peep
+out from behind one of those magic trunks.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i255" id="i255"></a>
+<img src="images/i-255.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BISHAM CHURCH
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The woods alone would be sufficient to give
+Marlow a high rank among river places. But all
+this is below the bridge, and above there is much
+to see. Not far off, on the right bank of the
+river, is Bisham, a tiny village with its church
+and abbey, now a dwelling house. The whole
+of Bisham is well worth lingering over. The
+cottages stand along the road in straggling fashion,
+old and new, and some of the gardens are bright
+with homely, sweet-scented flowers, among which,
+stocks and sweet-williams seem to be the
+favourites in the summer. One tumble-down row,
+rather off the road, is a mass of honeysuckle, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_111' name='Page_111'>[111]</a></span>
+roses and ivy. The little church stands so near to
+the margin of the river that not a dozen yards
+separate its tower from the flood. A low moss-grown
+stone parapet edges the churchyard; over
+this elms dip their crooked boughs in a vain
+endeavour to touch the ripples as they spring
+playfully upward, driven by the wind. The little
+church has a square stone tower, wonderfully
+softened, so that it looks as if it must fray to
+powder at a touch. The brick battlements are a
+later addition, but the gentle river air has breathed
+on them so that they tone in harmoniously. Some
+of the windows are transition Norman. For ages
+the little church has stood there looking out across
+the water to the green flat meadows, and though
+it has been rebuilt and altered, there is much of it
+that is fairly ancient. The Hoby chapel was
+built about 1600, by the disconsolate widow of
+Sir Thomas Hoby, Ambassador to France; in it
+are several fine tombs, and on that of Sir Thomas,
+his lady, who was learned, as it was the fashion
+for great ladies to be in her time, wrote long
+inscriptions in Latin and Greek and English; the
+last of which ends up with:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+"Give me, O God, a husband like unto Thomas,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or else restore me to my husband Thomas!"
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_112' name='Page_112'>[112]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Eight years later she married again, so that
+she had presumably found a husband "like unto
+Thomas." The Hoby window in this chapel, with
+its coat of arms, is especially interesting, and when
+the morning sun streams through in tones of
+purple and gold upon the worn stones, the effect
+is striking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are one or two good brasses in the
+church, and a small monument to two children
+who are traditionally said to have owned Queen
+Elizabeth as mother!
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i261" id="i261"></a>
+<img src="images/i-261.jpg" width="550" height="447" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HURLEY BACKWATER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+From the reign of Edward VI. to 1780 the
+Hoby family held the abbey, and then it was
+bought by the ancestors of the present owner. It
+is a splendid group of masonry, and stands very
+effectively near the river. The tall tower, the oriel
+windows, and the red tints against the fine mass of
+greenery, make a very unusual picture. Bisham
+at one time belonged to the Knights Templars,
+who founded here a preceptory. But their Order
+was dissolved in the reign of Edward II. In
+1338 the Earl of Salisbury established here a
+priory for Augustinian monks. This was twice
+surrendered, having been re-established after the
+first time. It is rather curious that the last prior,
+being permitted by the tenets of the Reformed
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_113' name='Page_113'>[113]</a></span>
+Church to marry, became the father of five
+daughters, each of whom married a bishop;
+while he himself was Bishop of St. Davids.
+Poor Anne of Cleves was presented with the
+abbey by her sometime husband the King, who,
+however, died before the gift was confirmed.
+She was allowed to retain it, and from her it
+passed to the Hobys as aforesaid. The house has
+therefore a long history, and much of the fabric is
+very old. One of the oldest parts is the fine
+entrance gateway, dating from the reign of King
+Stephen. The great hall is supposed to have been
+at one time the church of the abbey. As three
+Earls of Salisbury, the great "King Maker"
+Warwick, and Edward Plantagenet, unhappy
+son of an unhappy father, were all buried in the
+abbey church, there is every reason to suppose
+that their bones lie beneath the pavement in the
+hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During Queen Mary's reign Princess Elizabeth
+was a prisoner at Bisham under the charge of
+Sir Thomas Hoby. No doubt she "took water"
+frequently, and glided gently down with the stream;
+for people were accustomed to use their river when
+there were no roads to speak of. She must often
+have gazed upon the Quarry Woods in all their
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_114' name='Page_114'>[114]</a></span>
+flaming splendour of autumn, but the Marlow
+she knew is so different from our Marlow we can
+hardly otherwise picture it. Several alterations
+were made at the abbey while Elizabeth was there,
+such as the construction of a dais, and a large
+window; small points, which show, however, that
+she was treated with all due respect. And she
+herself has left it on record that she received
+kindness and courtesy from her enforced hosts.
+These alterations were followed subsequently, in
+her own reign, by the rebuilding of much of the
+abbey, which was then made as we now see it.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i267" id="i267"></a>
+<img src="images/i-267.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BISHAM ABBEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+It is inevitable that such a historic house should
+have a tradition or two attached to it; and traditions
+are not lacking. It is said that the ghost
+of someone drowned in the river rises at times in
+the form of a mist, and spreads all across the
+channel, and woe be to anyone who attempts to
+penetrate it. Another tale is that the house is
+haunted by a certain Lady Hoby, who beat her
+little boy to death because he could not write
+without blots. She goes about wringing her hands
+and trying to cleanse them from indelible inkstains.
+The story has probably some foundation, for a
+number of copybooks of the age of Elizabeth were
+discovered behind one of the shutters during some
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_115' name='Page_115'>[115]</a></span>
+later alterations, and one of these was deluged in
+every line with blots. We all know that great
+severity was exercised by parents with their
+children at that time; even Lady Jane Grey had
+to undergo "pinches, nips, and bobs," until she
+thought herself "in hell," while with her parents,
+and the story, if not the ghost, may safely be
+accepted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another tradition tells of an elopement. One
+of the Earls of Salisbury, about to set out for the
+Holy Land, sent for his daughter, who was a nun
+at the convent of Little Marlow, to bid him
+farewell. She came to him at Bisham, and while
+there was persuaded by one of the squires to elope
+with him. The pair crossed the water, but were
+almost immediately captured. The girl was presumably
+returned to her nunnery, where her
+escapade would give her something to think of
+during all the monotonous days that followed, and
+the man was imprisoned at Bisham. In attempting
+to make his escape he fell from a high window and
+was badly injured. It is said that he afterwards
+took the vows and became a monk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Temple Mill and House and Lock, which come
+next to Bisham up the river, recall the possession
+of the Knights Templars. This and Hurley Lock
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_116' name='Page_116'>[116]</a></span>
+are the two nearest together of all on the river, and
+experienced oarsmen frequently catch the second
+one by making a dash on high days and holidays
+when there is likely to be a crowd and consequent
+delay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Interesting as Bisham is, it is rivalled by Hurley,
+with its remains of the fine old mansion Lady Place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order to reach the lock one passes under a
+high wooden foot-bridge, "the marrow" to one
+further up. On the lock island is a large red-brick
+mill-house, near which stand one or two evergreens;
+while on an apple tree in the lock-keeper's garden
+is a fine growth of mistletoe, of which he is justly
+proud. Mistletoe grows a good deal in the valley
+of the Thames. It is not as a rule easily seen,
+owing to the foliage of the trees on which it
+grows; but in the winter, across the frozen
+meadows, against the cold white sky, it may be
+seen in great tufts that look like giant nests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is supposed that the seeds of the mistletoe
+in order to become fruitful must pass through the
+body of the missel thrush, which is extremely
+partial to them, and seems to be almost the only
+bird that will touch them, hence its name; and
+if, as is conjectured, the seeds cannot germinate
+without this process, we have the phenomenon
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_117' name='Page_117'>[117]</a></span>
+of an animal forming the "host" for a vegetable
+parasite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beyond the lock there is a sheltered channel
+with the quaintest old-world flavour about it, a
+flavour which grows yearly more and more difficult
+to find as it melts away before the onward sweep
+of the advertising age. A strip of green turf is
+lined by an old brick wall with lichen and moss
+growing on its coping, so that when the sun
+catches it, it is like a ribbon of gold. Tall gate
+piers, crowned by stone balls, frame a bit of the
+excellently kept velvet lawns of Lady Place. There
+are many of these old piers and balls, and nearly
+all are overgrown with roses.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Look to the blowing rose about us&mdash;'Lo,
+</p>
+<p>
+Laughing,' she says, 'into the world I blow,
+</p>
+<p>
+At once the silken tassel of my purse
+</p>
+<p>
+Tear, and its treasures on the garden throw.'
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The splendid cedars, themselves a guarantee of
+age that no modern Midas can summon to deck the
+grounds of his new mansion; the tinkle of a cowbell
+from the meadow near; and the Decorated
+windows of Lady Place peering over the wall; all
+add to the impression made by the whole. The
+abbey was founded in 1086 for Benedictine monks.
+It is interesting to note what a very great attraction
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_118' name='Page_118'>[118]</a></span>
+water always held for monks; doubtless the necessity
+for Friday fish was one reason for this; but
+one likes to think that they also loved the river
+for its own sake, and that they found in the
+current the same sort of fascination which it
+holds for us now. It may be also that it was
+the constant gliding of the water, an emblem of
+their own smoothly running lives, that drew them
+so strongly:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Glide gently, thus for ever glide,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  O Thames! that other bards may see
+</p>
+<p>
+As lovely visions by thy side
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  As now, fair river! come to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+O glide, fair stream, for ever so,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
+</p>
+<p>
+Till all our minds for ever flow
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  As thy deep waters now are flowing.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+How calm! how still! the only sound,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The dripping of the oar suspended!
+</p>
+<p>
+The evening darkness gathers round
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  By virtue's holiest powers attended.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Wordsworth.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Of this abbey not much remains. The crypt is
+isolated, standing away from the remainder of the
+buildings, and anyone may penetrate into it. The
+old moat is excellently well preserved, and its circuit
+shows that the abbey premises must have
+extended over at least five acres of ground. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_119' name='Page_119'>[119]</a></span>
+church, which is now the parish church, is an odd
+little building. It has a single aisle, and the original
+work is Norman, though it has been much modernised.
+It forms part of a courtyard or quadrangle,
+and faces a large, barn-like structure, which was the
+refectory; in parts this is also Norman, and in it
+are the Decorated windows. The materials used
+in the construction of this refectory are most
+curious&mdash;brick, chalk, flint, any sort of rubble, all
+mixed together, and very solid. The stable is
+built in the same way, and it is amazing that such
+heterogeneous stuff should have stood the test of
+time. Not far off also is a dove-house of a very
+ancient pattern. The interior, with its cavernous
+gloom and the numerous holes in the chalk for
+the birds to nest in, is well worth looking into.
+Indeed, the whole of this side of the buildings&mdash;away
+from the river&mdash;is worth landing to see. It
+is all within a very few yards, and once past the
+modern house we find the little church with its
+old-fashioned wooden tower, the green with its
+well-grown elms, and the dove-house and stable,
+which combine to form a very unusual scene
+altogether.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Richard Lovelace, created Baron Lovelace
+by Charles I., built Lady Place on the site of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_120' name='Page_120'>[120]</a></span>
+abbey in 1600. He was a relative of the Cavalier
+poet of the same name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Macaulay's history there is an account of
+Lady Place, given graphically as he well knew
+how. He is speaking of a descendant of the
+founder, and he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"His mansion, built by his ancestors out of the
+spoils of the Spanish galleons from the Indies, rose
+on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in that beautiful
+valley, through which the Thames, not yet
+defiled by the precincts of a great capital, nor
+rising and falling with the flow and ebb of the
+sea, rolls under woods of beech round the gentle
+hills of Berkshire. Beneath the stately saloon,
+adorned by Italian pencils, was a subterraneous
+vault in which the bones of ancient monks had
+sometimes been found."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The third Lord Lovelace plotted for the
+coming of William of Orange, and in the crypt
+many a secret meeting was held to arrange the
+details. It is said that the actual invitation which
+brought the Dutchman over was signed in this
+low, dark vault.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Place later belonged to a brother of
+Admiral Kempenfelt, who went down with the
+<i>Royal George</i>.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_121' name='Page_121'>[121]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Certain places are frequently associated with
+certain seasons of the year, and to my mind at
+Hurley it is always summer. The smell of the
+new mown hay on the long island between the
+lock channel and part of the main stream, the
+faint, delicate scent of dog-roses, and all the other
+scents that load the summer air, seem to linger for
+ever in this sheltered place. The backwater running
+up on the other side of this island to the
+weir is a very enticing one. Thirsty plants dip
+their pretty heads to drink of the water that comes
+swirling from the weir like frosted glass, and trees
+of all sorts&mdash;ash, elm, horse-chestnut, and the
+ubiquitous willows and poplars&mdash;lean over the
+water in crooked elbows, giving a sweet shade
+and a delicious coolness. The weir is a long one,
+broken by islands into three parts. Another
+long island is parallel to the first one. Indeed,
+Hurley is a complicated place, and one that is ever
+new. The swans certainly appreciate it. Drayton
+says "Our flood's queen, Thames, with ships and
+swans is crowned." I don't know about the ships;
+nothing very large can get above Molesey Lock;
+but as for the swans they abound, and especially
+about here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The swans on the river belong to the Crown,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_122' name='Page_122'>[122]</a></span>
+the Vintners' and the Dyers' Companies. The
+grant of this privilege to the companies goes
+back so far that it is lost in the mists of antiquity.
+The Crown is far the largest holder, but as the
+numbers of swans, of course, vary from year to
+year, it is difficult to form an estimate of the total.
+The Vintners, who come next, own perhaps 150.
+They preserve only those that live below Marsh
+Lock, with the exception of a few black ones,
+which, contrary to expectation, have thriven very
+well, and find a happy hunting ground about
+Goring and Moulsford. The system of marking,
+called swan-upping, has been modified of late years,
+as a protest was made against it on the ground of
+cruelty. Before that time the Vintners marked
+their swans with a large V right across the upper
+mandible, but now they give only two little nicks,
+one on each side. From this comes the well-known
+sign of old yards and public-houses, the Swan with
+Two Necks, a corruption of nicks! The Dyers
+have a nick on one side only. The origin and
+variety of swan marks is a curious subject. The
+process of swan-upping, or as it is often incorrectly
+called, swan-hopping, gives an occasion for a
+pleasant excursion, as it occurs about a fortnight
+before the August Bank-Holiday, in the very
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_123' name='Page_123'>[123]</a></span>
+height of the summer. Only the birds of the
+current year are done, as the marks generally last
+for life, and though they are accustomed to see too
+many people to fear mankind, the handling naturally
+frightens them. The swans, as a rule, find
+their own living, grubbing about in the banks and
+on the river bottom, and they are also occasionally
+fed from house-boats and pleasure boats, but in
+winter sometimes they are hard put to it, and provision
+has to be made by their owners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A swan exercises on me something of the same
+fascination that a camel does; though far be it
+from me to compare the two in grace. They are
+both full of character, and both preserve a strictly
+critical attitude toward the human race. In the
+case of the swan, nature has perhaps dealt unfairly
+with him, for the curious little black cap, at the
+junction of bill and head, technically known as the
+"berry," gives him a fixed expression which he has
+no power to alter, even if he felt beaming with
+good humour. As it is, he is condemned to go
+through life as if he momentarily expected an
+attack upon his dignity and was prepared to repel
+it. When the sun is shining and the swan dips
+his long neck in the water and flings it upon his
+shoulders, the large, glistening drops, running
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_124' name='Page_124'>[124]</a></span>
+together on the oily surface, lie like a necklet of
+diamonds in the hollow of his back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The irises and bur-reeds line the low banks
+above the weir, and a line of short black poplars
+give some shade.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And on by many a level mead,
+</p>
+<p>
+And shadowing bluffs that made the banks,
+</p>
+<p>
+We glided, winding under ranks
+</p>
+<p>
+Of iris and the golden reed.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Tennyson.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+I have said that Hurley is a summer place,
+and so it is; but there is one spring beauty
+which those who know it only in summer
+must for ever miss. On the slopes where the
+heights on the northern side fold into one another
+there is a little pillared temple, and about and
+around it some lavish and generous person has
+planted crocuses in big battalions, and they lie
+there in the sun, royal in purple and gold, and
+quite as rich in tint as those lights shining through
+the stained glass window at Bisham we saw a
+while ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Above the next stretch of the river stands the
+great modern palace of Danesfield, which is built
+of chalk, one would imagine a singularly unlasting
+material. Though hidden by trees from directly
+beneath, from a distance it is very noticeable, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_125' name='Page_125'>[125]</a></span>
+the white walls gleam out beneath the red tiles in
+a way that cannot be overlooked. It is well thus
+to have used local material, for local it is, as can
+be seen by the great chalk cliffs that line the river
+side; and the idea is daring and original. The
+interior fittings are worthy of any palace, and no
+pains and cost has been spared. It is a worthy
+object to build a house which shall rank with those
+bygone mansions on which their owners so lovingly
+lavished their thought and time, and which have
+also so frequently disappeared. The name arises
+from the fact of there having been a Danish camp
+in the neighbourhood, and the place is still pointed
+out. After this there is rather a flat bit of meadow
+land, fringed with sedge and many a gay plant,
+growing gallantly in blue and mauve. We pass
+two reedy islands opposite a line of little houses
+called Frogmill, and then we see Medmenham
+Abbey, which looks more imposing than it is,
+being at the best a carefully composed ruin. However,
+sometimes these compositions, if artistically
+done, are worth having, and Medmenham has
+memories behind it. It was once a real abbey,
+founded for Cistercian monks in 1200. But after
+the Dissolution the buildings fell into ruin. Later
+they became the headquarters of the daring and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_126' name='Page_126'>[126]</a></span>
+impious club known as the "Hell Fire" Club, of
+which one of the leading spirits was Sir Francis
+Dashwood, afterwards Lord Le Despencer, the
+same who built the church at West Wycombe,
+only a few miles away as the crow flies. This is
+a church where the pulpit and reading desk
+are armchairs; the latter stands on a chest of
+drawers, which, being pulled out, serve as steps.
+On the tower of the church an immense ball like
+a gigantic football is tethered by chains. This can
+contain twelve people, and the mad lord held meetings
+here with his friends. The motto of his club
+was <i>Fay ce que voudras</i>, and the members went as
+near to devil worship as they dared. Once while
+they were at Medmenham someone let a huge ape
+down the chimney, when the revellers, worked up
+to a frantic pitch of excitement and more than half
+drunk, thought that his Satanic majesty had paid
+them a visit in good earnest. From such orgies
+Medmenham has long been free, and it is now a
+respectable dwelling house with a nice bit of
+cloister over which ivy hangs in folds, and to which
+the word "picturesque" may quite fitly be applied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a ferry over the river at Medmenham,
+and, not far off, the old Abbey Hotel, in which
+numbers of artists stay. Up the green lane is a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_127' name='Page_127'>[127]</a></span>
+curious old house, once the residence of Sir John
+Borlase, whom Charles II. used to visit, riding
+here on horseback, accompanied frequently, so it is
+said, by Nell Gwynne. Standing by the high
+road, which here is not half a mile from the river,
+is a quaint little church with wooden porch and
+shady evergreens, a very model of what a tiny
+village church should be.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_128' name='Page_128'>[128]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+BOULTER'S LOCK AND MAIDENHEAD
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i282" id="i282"></a>
+<img src="images/i-282.jpg" width="332" height="413" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Human beings
+are by nature
+sociable; and to
+state that a crowd
+of well-dressed
+people will be at
+a certain point
+of the river at a
+particular date, is
+to ensure that
+everyone else who
+possibly can will
+be there too&mdash;only
+better dressed. It
+would seem to the ordinary ungregarious bachelor
+that Boulter's Lock, the Sunday after Ascot, would
+be a place to avoid, for there will be the necessity of
+waiting for hours on a river&mdash;grilling in the sun if
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_129' name='Page_129'>[129]</a></span>
+the day be fine, or shivering if the day be cloudy;
+for the English climate never lacks the spice of
+uncertainty, and at this season of the year it is more
+capricious than usual. The middle of June is
+proverbially a time of roses, but it is just as likely
+to be a time for chills, at least so says the
+pessimist. To the optimist and he who "loves his
+fellow-men," Boulter's Lock, on this one day of the
+year, reveals itself to memory as a day of delight
+and flashing colour; he has only to shut his eyes
+to recall a scene as brilliant as a flower garden.
+Here, close to him, lies a long, flat-bottomed punt,
+with gay cushions on which lean two fair girls,
+their faces toned to a pink glow by the sun's rays
+penetrating gently through their rose-pink sunshades.
+Their large flapping hats are tied under
+their chins with huge bows of ribbon as pink as
+their cheeks; their soft, white muslin dresses lie in
+folds and frills and heaps bewildering to contemplate;
+they are exactly, exasperatingly, absurdly
+alike. "How can a woman be such an idiot as
+to duplicate her charms?" the onlooker exclaims
+to himself; but he looks again. Dark eyes dancing
+as merrily as the ripples on the breeze-stirred
+water; chatter and laugh; and babble as soft and
+meaningless as the gurgle of the little tributary
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_130' name='Page_130'>[130]</a></span>
+stream; textures of fabric as delicate as the flowers
+peeping over the grey stone walls from the lock-keeper's
+garden above; dainty arms bare to the
+elbow; Japanese umbrellas jewelled in the sunlight;
+striped awnings, as gay as Joseph's coat, flapping
+softly; the long low outlines of craft of every kind,
+skiff and dingey and canoe, from the smoothly
+gliding little electric launch to the heavy clinker-built
+boat on hire for its tenth season; these items
+make up a scene quite unlike anything else. For
+half a mile below the lock you could step across a
+solid bridge of boats over half the river. Some
+years ago, the homely serge and sailor straw-hat
+were considered the proper river costume; now, the
+straw is worn only by men, whose severe flannels
+show little alteration from year to year, for men
+are much more conservative in sartorial matters
+than women. And every tantalising muslin, lace,
+and flower-decked hat is considered suitable for a
+woman on the river. The more fantastic and
+enormous, the more gauzy and lace-trimmed, the
+better. And, as her grandmother did, the young girl
+dresses in the thinnest of muslins and lawns, wears
+an open neck in the day time, and elbow sleeves.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i285" id="i285"></a>
+<img src="images/i-285.jpg" width="444" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BOULTER'S LOCK, ASCOT SUNDAY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In pushing forward between the open lock-gates
+into the lock, a slender canoe fits into an almost
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_131' name='Page_131'>[131]</a></span>
+impossible space between the electric launch and
+the punt. A heavily weighted boatload, where
+four elderly women are rowed by one heated man,
+falls foul of its neighbour and has to be righted.
+The chatter is silenced for a moment, but rises
+again when the craft are fitted, like the pieces in
+an old fashioned puzzle, inside the green and slimy
+walls, which throw a deep shadow on one side.
+Then the gates are shut, and a wash and gurgle
+of water begins, delightfully cool to hear. A
+nervous girl gives a little shriek and jumps so that
+every boat is set a-rocking, as all are touching.
+Others laugh. It is impossible to upset, for there
+is no room. The whole gently swaying mass rises
+on the breast of the rising water up out of the
+shadow into the sunlight; into the view of the
+waiting crowds on the tow-path. Colours flash out
+once more; an excited little dog rushes yapping
+from stem to stern of his boat, and finally, with a
+vigorous jump, lands on the lock-keeper's garden,
+where there is a profusion of sweet old-fashioned
+flowers, and such roses as grow nowhere but by
+the river-side. Then, to the accompaniment of
+the dog's frantic barks, the massive gates creak
+backward on their hinges, and we ride forward
+into the wide expanse of the sparkling river.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_132' name='Page_132'>[132]</a></span>
+Only a few boats await the opening of the lock
+here, for, at this time of day, more are going
+up than coming down. But behind, away below
+the lock, a chaotic flotilla has once more collected,
+and may have to wait for hours, for it is
+rather like the process of ladling the river up in a
+tablespoon.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i291" id="i291"></a>
+<img src="images/i-291.jpg" width="441" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BELOW BOULTER'S LOCK
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This reach at Maidenhead, is one of the most
+popular on the river. On each side of the wide
+stone bridge half a mile below the lock, Taplow and
+Maidenhead face one another. But though popular
+and easy of access, being on the Great Western
+Railway, which runs quick trains at frequent
+intervals, both stations are a little distance from
+the river. The name Maidenhead is derived from
+Maiden-hithe, or wharf, as a large wharf for wood
+at one time stood near the bridge. The bridge
+itself, though a modern fabric, is of ancient lineage,
+for we know that in 1352 a guild was formed for
+the purpose of keeping it in repair. It may be
+remembered that bridges at that time were considered
+works of charity, and competed with masses
+and alms as a means of doing good posthumously.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Another blissed besines is brigges to make,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  That there the pepul may not passe [<i>die</i>] after great showres,
+</p>
+<p>
+Dole it is to drawe a deed body oute of a lake,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  That was fulled in a fount-stoon, and a felow of ours.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_133' name='Page_133'>[133]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And in <i>Piers Plowman</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Therewith to build hospitals, helping the sick,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or roads that are rotten full rightly repair,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or bridges, when broken, to build up anew.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i297" id="i297"></a>
+<img src="images/i-297.jpg" width="550" height="438" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">MAIDENHEAD
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The main road between London and Bath, a
+well-known coaching road, runs this way, and a
+very good road it is. The railway bridge crosses
+below the road, but it is of brick with wide arches,
+and is by no means unsightly. Between the two
+is the River-side club, where a band plays on the
+smooth green lawn in the season, and the smartest
+of smart costumes are the rule. Near here also
+is Bond's boat-house and a willow-grown islet.
+There are numbers of steps and railings and
+landing stages, all painted white, and these give
+a certain lightness to the scene. Close by the
+bridge are several hotels, of which the oldest
+established is Skindle's, low-lying and creeper-covered,
+on the Taplow side. Boats for hire line the
+banks everywhere, for many cater for the wants of
+the butterfly visitor, out of whom enough must
+be taken in the season to carry the establishments
+on through the winter; and the river visitor is
+essentially a butterfly. Few know the charms of
+the Thames in the winter, when, in an east and west
+stretch, the glowing red ball of the sun sinks
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_134' name='Page_134'>[134]</a></span>
+behind dun banks of mist; when the trees are
+leafless, and the skeleton branches are outlined
+against a pale clear sky; when a touch of frost is
+in the air, and the river glides so stilly that it
+almost seems asleep.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+A bitter day, that early sank
+</p>
+<p>
+Behind a purple frosty bank
+</p>
+<p>
+Of vapour, leaving night forlorn.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Tennyson.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The visitor goes to the river in the summer
+because of its coolness, and though the coolness is
+ofttimes delusive, being in appearance rather than
+reality, lying in the sight of the sparkles and the
+sound of the ripples, yet it is a fine make-believe.
+Such river-side hotels as cater for the season are
+content to lie dormant all the chill long winter,
+until, with the breath of early spring, the celandines
+raise their polished golden faces and the lords and
+ladies stud the hedgerows. Then a few adventurous
+beings come down on the first fine days, like the
+early swallows, a portent that summer is at hand;
+and these lucky people have the river largely to
+themselves, and do not find lovers in every
+attractive backwater; and if they have to row to
+keep themselves warm, they gain an increase of
+vigour that no burning summer sun can give.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The view from Maidenhead Bridge northwards&mdash;for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_135' name='Page_135'>[135]</a></span>
+here the river runs due south&mdash;is spoilt by the
+gasometers which rise over the willow-covered
+islets. But once past Boulter's Lock, the scenery
+improves with every hundred yards. Close by
+the lock itself is Ray Mead Hotel, where the
+deep carmine-tinted geraniums grow in quantities.
+Sometimes as many as three hundred people are
+supplied with tea at the hotel on a fine summer
+afternoon, while over a thousand pass through the
+lock. Above Boulter's is a secluded backwater
+formed by the stream of a mill, and this is one of
+the pleasantest retreats in the neighbourhood.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+... In my boat I lie
+</p>
+<p>
+Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer heats.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Matthew Arnold.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Above the river, on the east, rise the cliff-like
+heights of Clieveden, wooded to their summits, and
+seen magnificently by reason of the curve at the
+end of the reach, which gives their full sweep at
+one glance. The cliff rises to a height of 140 feet,
+but the thickness of the trees, and their own height
+towering above, make it look much higher. The
+trees are of all kinds, oak and beech, chestnut and
+ash, and many a dark evergreen; while here and
+there a Lombardy poplar shoots up like a straight
+line, and the wild clematis throws its shawls of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_136' name='Page_136'>[136]</a></span>
+greenery from tree to tree, giving the whole the
+appearance of a tropical forest. Seen in early
+spring, when the tender green of the beeches and
+the bursting gummy buds of the horse-chestnut are
+shedding a veil over the fretwork of twig and
+bough, they are glorious enough; but in autumn,
+when orange and russet break out in all directions,
+they are, perhaps, more imposing. River people
+do not, as a rule, see them at their best, for before
+that touch of frost has come which sends a flame
+of crimson over the maples, and heightens the
+orange of the beeches, the fairweather boatsman
+has fled to his fireside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At one point we catch a glimpse of Clieveden
+itself, standing high and facing downstream. Evelyn
+says in his diary:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood,
+and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, buildings of
+extraordinary expense.... The stande, somewhat like
+Frascati as to its front, and on the platform is a circular
+view to the utmost verge of the horizon, which, with the
+serpenting of the Thames, is admirable.... But the
+land all about wretchedly barren, and producing nothing
+but fern.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The taste of those days differed from ours; now
+we should prefer to see an expanse of ferns to a
+field of potatoes.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_137' name='Page_137'>[137]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first great mansion here was built by
+"Steenie," the Duke of Buckingham, King Charles's
+favourite. He was a villain, even for a time of
+slack morals, and the chief association connected
+with his house is that he brought here a comrade
+in every way suited to him, in the person of the
+Countess of Shrewsbury, who stood by, dressed as
+a page, holding his horse, while he killed her
+husband in a duel. The house was twice burnt
+down; the present one was built about the middle
+of the nineteenth century, and belongs to Mr.
+Astor. A pleasanter memory is that of the poet
+Thomson, whose masque <i>Alfred</i> was acted here in
+1740, on the birthday of Princess Augusta. This
+contained, as a kernel, the song "Rule Britannia,"
+destined to survive long after its husk had been
+forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Opposite Clieveden the ground is low lying,
+and, to use Evelyn's word, the river "serpents" a
+good deal. There are several islands, on one of
+which, called Formosa, there is a house. There
+are several side-streams crossed by footbridges,
+and in one of these is the lock. The main stream
+continues in a great sweep, and is guarded by two
+weirs. The fishing here is very popular, and though
+it belongs to Lord Boston, permission to fish may
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_138' name='Page_138'>[138]</a></span>
+be obtained by writing beforehand. Hedsor Church
+stands well on high ground near; and with its
+bosky foliage and many islets, the river here is not
+a bad place in which to idle away many an hour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hotel at Cookham is right down on the
+water's edge, and from its lawn a charming view is
+gained of the main stream breaking into its many
+channels, with the wooded island of Formosa in
+the middle. All about here is a favourite place
+for anglers, and many a punt is moored across
+stream with its ridiculous chairs on which sit two
+or three solemn elderly men, content to sit, and
+sit, and watch the dull brown water rush beneath
+for hour after hour, without once raising their eyes
+to see the green of the witching trees, or listening
+to the hum of the joyous life around them. To an
+onlooker they appear to be quaffing the flattest
+part of the sport, having missed all its head and
+froth. How different the punt fisher's day from
+that of the man who starts off up-stream, through
+many a low-lying willow-fringed meadow, who
+reaches over to land his fly in the deep brown pool
+into which the stream falls. Punt fishing, like loch
+fishing, must have its fascinations, or few would do
+it, but it lacks all the sparkle expressed in such a
+song as that of Walton's, for instance:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_139' name='Page_139'>[139]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+In a morning, up we rise,
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    Ere Aurora's peeping,
+</p>
+<p>
+Drink a cup to wash our eyes,
+</p>
+<p>
+Leave the sluggard sleeping.
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    Then we go
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    To and fro,
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    With our knacks
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    At our backs,
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    To such streams
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    As the Thames,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  If we have the leisure.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The less said about the rhyme the better, but
+this has the swing and lilt of the true feeling!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Cookham Bridge we can see the gaily
+covered lawn of the hotel, where a perfect flotilla
+of craft is anchored, while the owners have tea or
+more cooling drinks; and turning we can view the
+wide expanse of Bourne End, where the races of
+the Upper Thames Sailing Club are held all the
+summer, and where, about the end of June, when
+the great regatta is held, the surface of the water
+is dotted with swan-like boats.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_140' name='Page_140'>[140]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i306" id="i306"></a>
+<img src="images/i-306.jpg" width="550" height="392" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XIII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+WINDSOR AND ETON
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+However disappointed a foreign monarch, on his
+first visit to England, may be with the drab
+hideousness of Buckingham Palace, he cannot
+but confess that in Windsor Castle we have a
+dwelling meet even for the King of England.
+Both architecturally and by reason of its age,
+Windsor is a truly royal palace. Its history is
+linked with that of our kings until its very
+stones proclaim the annals of our country. Ages
+ago, Edward the Confessor took a fancy to this
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_141' name='Page_141'>[141]</a></span>
+quiet place by the Thames, and he gave it to
+his beloved monks of Westminster. William I.
+saw what a splendid shooting lodge might be
+built in the midst of the wild and open country
+abounding in game, and after having first one
+shooting lodge and then another in the neighbourhood,
+he acquired the high outstanding boss or
+knob of chalk on which the castle stands, and
+built thereon a residence for himself. His son,
+Henry I., altered it greatly; and succeeding kings
+and queens have rarely been content to leave it
+without an alteration or addition as their mark.
+Windsor has ever been a favourite with royalty.
+It has held its own while Westminster and Whitehall
+and Greenwich utterly vanished; while the
+Tower and Hampton have ceased to be royal
+dwellings; and it is still pre-eminently the royal
+castle. Certain kings, such as William III., have
+sometimes preferred other places for a while,
+but Windsor has satisfied alike the dignity of
+Edward III. and the homeliness of George III.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i309" id="i309"></a>
+<img src="images/i-309.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WINDSOR CASTLE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The situation is superb. The castle stands high
+above the river, which here curves, so as to show
+off its irregular outlines to the greatest advantage.
+They rise in a series of rough levels to the
+mighty Round Tower, the crown of the whole,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_142' name='Page_142'>[142]</a></span>
+which is massive enough to dominate, but not
+sufficiently high to dwarf the rest. Turrets, battlements,
+and smaller towers serve only to emphasize
+the dignity of this central keep. It was built in
+the time of Edward III., and strangely enough,
+though altered and heightened in that worst period
+of architectural taste, the reign of George IV.,
+it was not spoiled; and even to a child proclaims
+something of the grandeur one naturally associates
+with it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As seen from the bridge the whole of the north
+range can be followed by the eye, from the Prince
+of Wales's Tower, facing the east terrace, to the
+Curfew Tower on the west. Intermediately there
+are the State apartments, and the Norman gateway,
+over which is the Library. These overlook the
+north terrace&mdash;open to the public at all hours
+from sunrise to sunset.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The view from this terrace is very fine, stretching
+away to Maidenhead, and at times, on days of
+cloud and shadow, the light-coloured walls of
+Clieveden stand out suddenly, caught by a passing
+gleam, amid a forest of green trees. We can
+look down on the whole of Eton&mdash;the church
+with its tall spire; the buttresses and pinnacles of
+the chapel standing up white against an indigo
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_143' name='Page_143'>[143]</a></span>
+background; the red and blue roofs piled this way
+and that; and the green playing fields girdled by
+the swift river. It was on the castle terrace that
+George III. used to walk with all his family,
+except the erring eldest, when he took those tiresome
+parades which Miss Burney describes with
+so much life-like detail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Chapel cannot be seen from the river, as
+it is in the lower ward behind the canons' houses,
+and is not sufficiently high to rise well above them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be of little use to attempt to tell
+stories of Windsor, for its history belongs to the
+history of England and not to the river Thames;
+yet there is one memory which may be noted.
+Young James Stuart of Scotland had been sent
+by his father, Robert III., to France after the
+death of his elder brother, the wild Duke of
+Rothesay, nominally for education, but in reality
+for safe keeping. The boy was captured by
+the English while on the sea and brought as
+a prisoner to England. He was then only about
+ten or twelve years old. He was treated with
+every consideration, and educated so worthily
+that he became afterwards one of the best of
+all the Scottish kings. He was at first in the
+Tower and elsewhere, but when he reached young
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_144' name='Page_144'>[144]</a></span>
+manhood he was brought to Windsor, where he
+had apartments allotted to him. Though he was
+allowed to follow the chase and pursue the amusements
+of his time, he was yet a prisoner, and
+the sad opening stanzas of his great poem, the
+<i>Kingis Quair</i>, speak the melancholy he often
+felt. This poem was composed at Windsor, and
+its pensiveness changes after the day when, looking
+down from his window in the castle, the
+youth saw walking in the garden Joan Beaufort,
+whom he afterwards made his wife:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And therewith cast I down mine eye again,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where as I saw, walking under the tower,
+</p>
+<p>
+The fairest or the freshest young flower
+</p>
+<p>
+That ever I saw methought before that hour.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+His visions further on in the poem must have
+been coloured more or less by what he daily saw
+before him, and we may credit to the Thames the
+flowing lines:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Where in a lusty plain took I my way,
+</p>
+<p>
+Along a river pleasant to behold,
+</p>
+<p>
+Embroidered all with fresh flowers gay,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where, through the gravel, bright as any gold,
+</p>
+<p>
+The crystal water ran so clear and cold.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i317" id="i317"></a>
+<img src="images/i-317.jpg" width="433" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WINDSOR
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Windsor should be seen in sunshine and heat,
+when black shadows set off the towering walls,
+and all the uneven houses and crooked streets
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_145' name='Page_145'>[145]</a></span>
+are pieced in light and shade. Then it is exceedingly
+like a foreign town in its details; and many
+people who travel miles to admire Chinon, and
+others of its class, would do well to visit Windsor
+first.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The town has always been subordinate to the
+castle, for it was the castle that caused the town
+to spring up, as there were always numbers of
+artificers, attendants, grooms, workmen and others
+needed for the service of the Court. In the
+fourteenth century it was reckoned that the
+Court employed an army of 20,000 of such people.
+These would all have to be housed somehow,
+and the nearer the protection of the castle the
+better; hence the town on the slopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Home Park, in which is the mausoleum,
+borders the river. It is separated by a road from
+the Great Park, made for hunting. Pope's poem
+on "Windsor Forest" is not particularly beautiful;
+perhaps the best descriptive lines are those that
+follow:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades,
+</p>
+<p>
+Thin trees arise that shun each others shades:
+</p>
+<p>
+Here in full light the russet plains extend;
+</p>
+<p>
+There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills ascend.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Windsor Park is introduced by Shakspeare as
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_146' name='Page_146'>[146]</a></span>
+the scene of some of Falstaff's escapades, an
+honour shared by the neat, bright village of
+Datchet, opposite. Datchet is a model village
+grouped about a green, and the houses are softened
+by all the usual creepers and bushes: we see
+roses, jasmine, laurustinus, magnolia, and ampelopsis
+at every turn. Above and below Datchet
+this clean neatness continues.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Victoria and Albert bridges are severe,
+and the weir and the great bow of the channel,
+which is cut by the lock-stream, have no particular
+characteristics. The whole neighbourhood has
+rather the air of holding itself on its best behaviour,
+as though royalty might any moment appear
+upon the scene. As might be expected, the
+scenery is rather like the poetry it inspired. Here
+is Sir John Denham's effusion about Coopers
+Hill:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
+</p>
+<p>
+Where Thames, among the wanton valleys strays:
+</p>
+<p>
+Thames, the most loved of all the Ocean's sons
+</p>
+<p>
+By his old sire, to his embraces runs:
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Like mortal life to meet eternity.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+There is a pretty reach below Old Windsor,
+where willows and poplars are massed effectively.
+It is in places like this, where they grow
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_147' name='Page_147'>[147]</a></span>
+abundantly, that the beautiful tawny colour
+which willows assume in the spring, just before
+bursting into leaf, can be best seen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bells of Ouseley stands at a bend, and with
+its tinted walls and the old elm tree growing close
+to the entrance, is a typical old-English Inn. The
+road to Staines passes by the water's edge, and the
+guide-post is less reticent than guide-posts are
+wont to be, for it tells us this is the "Way to
+Staines, except at high-water."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we pass softly back up the current to Eton,
+we think how often in this reach the incomparable
+Izaak and his friend Sir Henry Wotton fished
+together.
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+I sat down under a willow tree by the water side ...
+for I could there sit quietly, and, looking on the water, see
+some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others
+leaping at flies of several shapes and colours; ...
+looking down the meadows, could see here a boy gathering
+lilies and ladysmocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeys
+and cowslips.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Wotton built a fishing box a mile below the
+college, from which he and Walton often sallied
+forth during the fifteen years he was provost of
+Eton, and to his rod many a "jealous trout that
+low did lie, rose at a well dissembled fly," as he
+himself has left on record.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_148' name='Page_148'>[148]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Ye distant spires, ye antique towers
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  That crown the wat'ry glade,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where grateful Science still adores
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Her Henry's holy shade;
+</p>
+<p>
+And ye, that from the stately brow
+</p>
+<p>
+Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below
+</p>
+<p>
+Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
+</p>
+<p>
+Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among
+</p>
+<p>
+Wanders the hoary Thames along
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  His silver-winding way.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Gray.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In rounding the great sweep of the river below
+the London and South Western railway bridge,
+we catch at once the pinnacles of Eton chapel&mdash;most
+glorious of chapels&mdash;and see the green playing
+fields.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The long tree-covered island of Romney, on
+one side of which lies the lock, ends in a terrible
+"snout," strengthened by "camp-shedding." This
+point is locally known as the "Cobbler," and is a
+source of peril to many an inexperienced boatman.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i325" id="i325"></a>
+<img src="images/i-325.jpg" width="437" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">ETON CHAPEL FROM THE FIELDS
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The bridge over the river can, unfortunately,
+hardly be called a good feature in the landscape&mdash;it
+is as ugly as a railway bridge! Just above it
+is a row of boat-houses, and then follows the
+Brocas, the famous meadow. Above the bridge
+is a tiny islet which serves as an objective in the
+Fourth of June procession of boats. The boats
+come down and round the island, and once more
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_149' name='Page_149'>[149]</a></span>
+returning, pass under the bridge to the lock,
+having made a sort of spiral. Nearly all the
+Eton races are rowed in this strip of the river,
+though, of course, Henley Regatta is the greatest
+event in the boating calendar. A small string of
+islands faces some little public gardens, and away
+northward winds the Great Western Railway
+on a series of small arches which carry it over
+the marshy ground, no doubt at one time under
+water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beyond the line is a small backwater known as
+Cuckoo weir, the bathing place of the lower boys.
+Here the swimming trials take place, when a set
+of trembling pink youngsters stand in a punt
+ready to take a graceful header, or, from sheer
+nervousness, to fall with an ugly flop smack upon
+the water and be disqualified for the time being!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bathing place of the upper boys, called
+by the dignified title of Athens, is further up in
+the main river, near the curious island on which
+is Windsor racecourse. The river winds giddily
+in and out between the end of this island and
+Upper and Lower Hope, which lie between it
+and Cuckoo weir. A mill stands at the end of the
+long narrow stream that separates the racecourse
+from the mainland, and on the other side of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_150' name='Page_150'>[150]</a></span>
+island is Boveney Lock. The quaint old chapel
+stands amid trees further up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Above the island was once Surley Hall, a
+favourite resort of the Etonians, but it is now
+pulled down, and Monkey Island is the place to
+go to on half-holidays. Monkey Island is a good
+way up, and is the third of a row of islands. The
+little one below it, called Queen's ait, now belongs
+to the Eton boys, who have built a small cottage
+on it. Monkey Island itself is a curious and
+attractive place, except when the launches come
+up from Windsor on Saturdays, bringing hundreds
+of people, who sit about at little tables on the
+green sward under the famous walnut trees, and
+call for refreshments. There is a large pavilion,
+part boat-house, which belongs to the Eton boys,
+where they can get tea served without mingling
+with the townspeople. Near it is a quaint little
+temple. This, as well as the house, now the hotel,
+was built by the third Duke of Marlborough, a
+man of curious taste. The hall in the hotel is
+painted all round with the figures of monkeys
+engaged in various sports and pastimes. There is
+a broad frieze which appears to have been executed
+in water colours on plaster; the ceiling is likewise
+painted, but in rather a different style. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_151' name='Page_151'>[151]</a></span>
+monkeys are a good size, and attract a vast crowd
+of visitors. The pretty verandah round the hotel
+redeems its appearance externally. Inside it has
+at once all the attractions and disadvantages of
+an old house&mdash;low ceilings, very small rooms; but
+on the other hand there are windings and twistings,
+crooked passages and odd corners, that delight
+the heart of those to whom machine-made houses
+are an abomination. The duke's bedroom is shown,
+and is as queerly shaped a room as ever mortal
+man conceived. Monkey Island is being embanked
+with the precious gravel dredged from
+the bed of the Thames, and, though no doubt
+a necessary precaution, as the river insidiously
+breaks off what it can, the operation is not a
+beautiful one. The island is very proud of its
+walnut trees, and well it may be, for they are
+a great change after the ubiquitous willows, and
+their gnarled stems and fine shady leaves are just
+the right element in such a scene as a gay lawn
+covered with summer folk in summer dresses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Monkey Island the little church tower
+of Bray can be seen, but before reaching it Bray
+Lock has to be negotiated, and here are a long
+sinuous osier-covered ait and a mill, making, as
+usual, a convenient backwater.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_152' name='Page_152'>[152]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bray is truly a charming place, and one could
+find it in one's heart to forgive the vicar who
+turned his coat to keep his vicarage. The real
+man lived in the reign of Henry VIII. and
+his successors, and changed his religious practices
+in conformity with those of the sovereign for
+the time being, turning from Roman Catholic to
+Reformed Church, Reformed to Roman Catholic,
+and back once more with ease and pliability. In
+the ballad he is represented as living in the seventeenth
+century, and his gymnastics refer to the
+varying fortunes of the house of Stuart, and the
+Romish tendencies of the later kings of that
+house. Fuller, with his usual quaintness, remarks
+of him that he had seen some martyrs burnt
+at Windsor and "found this fire too hot for
+his tender temper." But one would fain believe
+it was not altogether cowardice, but also a love
+of his delightful village, that made him so amenable.
+The little flint and stone tower of the
+church peeps at the river over a splendid assortment
+of evergreens&mdash;laurels, holm oaks, yews,
+and spruce firs being particularly noticeable&mdash;and
+the old vicarage with this growth of sheltering
+trees and its smooth lawn right down to the
+water's edge, is certainly a place that one would
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_153' name='Page_153'>[153]</a></span>
+think twice about before leaving. The village
+itself is so irregular that, tiny as it is, one may
+get lost in it. There are endless vistas of gable
+ends, of bowed timbers, of pretty porches, and
+worn brick softly embraced by vine or wistaria;
+yet even in Bray, new red brick is making its
+way. One of the most interesting features is the
+almshouses, and if one lands by the hotel, they
+are reached after only a few minutes' walk. The
+exterior is very quaint; large cylindrical yews and
+hollies, like roly-poly puddings on end, stand up in
+stubborn rank before the worn red brick. The
+statue of the founder, of an immaculate whiteness,
+with the glitter of gilt in the coat-of-arms below,
+just lightens the effect. Through an ancient arch
+one passes to the quadrangle, which is filled with
+tiny flower-beds, and surrounded by a low range
+of red brick with dormer windows. At the
+other side is the chapel covered with ivy, and this,
+with the little diamond panes and the brightness
+of the variegated flower-beds, is home-like and cosy.
+Yet it must be confessed that in his well-known
+picture, "The Harbour of Refuge," admittedly
+taken from Bray, Frederick Walker, the artist, has
+greatly improved the scene with artistic licence.
+The raised terrace at the side, the greater width
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_154' name='Page_154'>[154]</a></span>
+of the quadrangle, the smooth green lawn and
+sheltering central tree in his picture, are far more
+harmonious and beautiful than the reality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bray is a very popular haunt with artists and
+boating people. In summer the George Hotel
+cannot take in all its visitors, and beds are hired
+all over the village, consequently, anyone wishing
+to spend some weeks in Bray must make arrangements
+well beforehand. This is not to be
+wondered at, because, as well as its own attractions,
+it is within easy reach of Maidenhead and the
+delights beyond, and its unspoilt quaintness makes
+it ideal to stay in. Long may Bray remain as
+it is, unaltered and a tiny village.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_155' name='Page_155'>[155]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XIV<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+MAGNA CHARTA
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figright"><a name="i333" id="i333"></a>
+<img src="images/i-333.jpg" width="325" height="402" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<p>
+Magna Charta
+Island is something
+of a shock
+at first sight; it
+is so exceptionally
+well cared for and
+so pretty. One
+pictures a tangle
+of wild trees, a
+mass of rushes,
+osiers perhaps, and
+general grimness.
+The osiers are
+confined to a fraction
+of the island; on the remainder is a prettily-built
+house of a fair size, with the very best sort of
+river-lawn, on which grow various fine and regular
+trees. Many are the evergreens; and the bosky
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_156' name='Page_156'>[156]</a></span>
+holm oak, the dignified stone pine, and the
+flourishing walnut, seen in conjunction with the
+beautifully kept turf and bright flower-beds, are
+altogether unlike one's conception of the place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is true that, though the island has the name
+of it, it is now generally supposed that the actual
+signing of our great charter of liberties took place
+on the mainland. John had delayed, and played
+false, and postponed the issue for long, but he
+knew now that all was up, and he was cornered.
+A truce was declared, and from Windsor he agreed
+to meet his barons and "concede to them the laws
+and liberties which they asked." The fifteenth of
+June was fixed for the day, and Runney Mead, or
+Runnymede, for the place. With the barons were
+almost the whole of the English nobility; with
+John, certain ecclesiastical powers, namely, the
+Archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin, and seven
+bishops, as well as some earls and barons. It is
+quite obvious that the barons could have had no
+idea of the vast consequences of their act. They
+would have been astonished could they have foreseen
+that it would become the basis of the English
+constitution. They merely wanted to bind down
+a particular king who had outraged their liberties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One can hardly imagine a better place for the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_157' name='Page_157'>[157]</a></span>
+assembling of a great body of armed men than
+these meadows by the river. The land is as flat
+as a platform, and sheltered to the south by the
+heights of Cooper's Hill, which rise like the tiers
+in an amphitheatre. The Long Mead, with the
+exception of the road now running across it, must
+have looked very much then as it does now. Runney
+Mead is more altered, because it is shut in by hedges.
+We know not if the day were fine or overcast when
+the great charter was signed; but when the deed was
+done John, in a rage, retired to Windsor. The
+barons remained on the meads for about ten days,
+during which the place must have been like a fair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is very hot on this part of the river on a
+sunny day. The trees growing on the banks are
+all on the north side, and consequently give little
+shade. They border Ankerwyke Park, and grow
+so close to the water that many of their roots are
+in it. The swallows dart to and fro, and clouds of
+gnats dance like thistledown in the air. Near the
+banks grow many flowers. The spotted knotweed
+or persicaria, with its bright flesh-coloured flowers,
+is sometimes in water, sometimes on the land;
+the common forget-me-not can be seen peeping
+up with its bright blue eyes; the pink willow herb
+flourishes; and the yellow iris and the purple
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_158' name='Page_158'>[158]</a></span>
+loosestrife are also to be seen. And when there
+is no wind the scent of the meadow-sweet and
+the dog-roses becomes almost overpowering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ankerwyke was once a priory. It was appropriated
+by Henry VIII., who is said to have carried
+on the courtship of Anne Boleyn under the mighty
+chestnuts for which it was even then famous:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The tyrant Harry felt love's softening flame,
+</p>
+<p>
+And sighing breathed his Anna Boleyn's name.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+A bit of doggerel just about worthy of the
+occasion!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A more interesting association, though one that
+leads us rather far from the river, is Milton's residence
+at Horton. He lived here with his parents
+for five years after leaving Cambridge, and no
+doubt his rambles over country which would not
+then be hedged in and cut up as it is now, often
+led him in the direction of the river. It was
+this scenery, noted at those deeply impressionable
+years, that he could still see when earthly sight
+was gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Lycidas</i> and <i>Comus</i> were both written in the
+next four or five years, and in
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The willows and the hazel copses green
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+we have a touch of real nature breaking through the
+conventional allusions to vines and wild thyme; also:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_159' name='Page_159'>[159]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
+</p>
+<p>
+Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
+</p>
+<p>
+On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks;
+</p>
+<p>
+Throw hither all your quaint, enamell'd eyes
+</p>
+<p>
+That on the green turf suck the honied showers,
+</p>
+<p>
+And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
+</p>
+<p>
+The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
+</p>
+<p>
+The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
+</p>
+<p>
+The glowing violet,
+</p>
+<p>
+The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
+</p>
+<p>
+With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
+</p>
+<p>
+And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
+</p>
+<p>
+Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
+</p>
+<p>
+And daffadillies fill their cups with tears.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Lycidas.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+By the rushy-fringed bank
+</p>
+<p>
+Where grows the willow and the osier dank.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Thus I set my printless feet
+</p>
+<p>
+O'er the cowslip's velvet head
+</p>
+<p>
+That bends not as I tread.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Comus.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Not very far below Ankerwyke, the river Coln
+runs into the Thames near Bell Weir Lock, and
+a little bit above Staines is London Stone, standing
+in a meadow close by the water. It marked the
+former jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London
+over the river, but these rights are now vested
+in the Thames Conservators. Staines does not
+make the most of itself, or sufficiently endeavour to
+veil those unsightlinesses incidental to a town.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_160' name='Page_160'>[160]</a></span>
+The large gasometers opposite London Stone are
+not the only blemishes. Standing on the bridge
+and looking up-stream there are many ugly,
+yellow-brick, manufacturing buildings to be seen;
+while the screen of willows does not hide piles
+of untidy stones, rusty old iron and other uglinesses.
+Even the very passable island in the centre
+does not atone. Down stream things are a little
+better, though the want of architectural beauty in
+the new church by the river and the "plastered-on"
+pinnacles of the parish church are both eyesores.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Staines, however, one may pass rapidly to
+a fascinating corner at Penton Hook.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_161' name='Page_161'>[161]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XV<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+PENTON HOOK
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i339" id="i339"></a>
+<img src="images/i-339.jpg" width="321" height="408" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Penton Hook
+is quite peculiar.
+To a select little
+coterie of people
+it is <i>the</i> place on
+the river, but
+to hundreds of
+others it is not
+known at all. To
+its own manifest
+advantage it is off
+the "hard high
+road," and the
+scorchers and the
+bounders, and the multitude generally, fly by within
+a comparatively short distance, little knowing what
+they have missed. But one or two of the favoured
+few turn down to quiet little Laleham, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_162' name='Page_162'>[162]</a></span>
+wheeling round a corner come right on to the
+tow-path by the river's brink; in a hundred yards
+they are at Penton Hook. But though the Hook
+is very select and highly favoured, that is not to
+say it lacks population, only&mdash;it is a population
+of the right sort. Little camps of charming
+bungalows dot the banks both above and below
+the lock. Some are built on ground leased from
+the Conservancy, some on that of private owners.
+To each man is allotted a strip of ground, with
+so much river frontage, whereon he builds to his
+own taste and fancy a little one-storeyed white-painted
+house, and lays out the tiny garden from
+which his own white steps reach down to the
+water. Think of the joy of it! The leader in
+an important case has been in a stuffy court
+all day, burdened with his wig and gown, seeing
+all the dust and stains of unswept corners of
+human nature; accusing, with upraised finger, the
+brazen witness who has just perjured himself;
+dragging from that yellow-faced man the secret
+he thought buried. Faugh! But the court rises;
+he is away. The motor takes him down in less
+than an hour. Gone are the stifling garments;
+the worn and wicked faces. The dull roar of
+Strand traffic is replaced by the splashing of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_163' name='Page_163'>[163]</a></span>
+water as it bounds over the weir. The freed
+man tumbles into flannels and lies full length
+on the green grass, smoking, with the water
+flowing at his feet, or he dawdles in a boat
+round the Hook, tempting the fish with all the
+decoys he knows. Happy man!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The trees near the bungalows, and those that
+fringe the meadows near, are not pollarded; there
+is space between their tall stems. The short grass,
+gemmed with pink-tipped daisies, can be seen
+everywhere, and there is air, and freshness, and
+openness for everyone. The white paint of the
+bungalows and their neat green or pink roofs,
+the rows of geraniums, roses, and other flowers
+carefully kept and tended, add touches of gaiety
+and brightness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are three weirs, for the river here makes
+the neatest horse-shoe in its whole length, and
+the authorities have cut through the neck of land,
+so that the greater part of the stream goes rioting
+and tumbling in joyous confusion beneath the great
+new weir, provided with a pent-house roof, under
+which it is always cool on the hottest summer day,
+with transparent reflections dancing on the wall
+and a ripple and splash below. The second
+weir, a mere tumbling-weir, is only a few yards
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_164' name='Page_164'>[164]</a></span>
+away. The water does not often leap over it
+unless it is at flood time, when it affords a safety
+outlet. The third and widest is a mixture, half
+sluice gates and half of the tumbling kind. At
+one time there was no weir here, and boats could
+avoid the lock by navigating the Hook, but
+that is now no longer possible. There is one
+advantage in it; it keeps the Hook more secluded.
+The little red water-gauge house is connected
+by wires with Staines, and so to all the rest
+of England. By an automatic arrangement, the
+register shows simultaneously here and at the
+offices of the water company what depth of water
+there is, so that they may know how much they
+can take.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Penton it should be always summer, with
+dog-roses and sweetbriar, with placid red cows
+grazing on the tender grass, with boats tethered
+in the lazy current round the bend of the Hook.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An uncommonly good place for fishing it is,
+this Hook, as the kingfishers have found out, for
+they are yearly increasing, and apparently do not
+mind the gay tide of summer company that
+invades their haunts. Right down on the banks
+near the lock one pair nested this year. No
+steamers churn up the waters and frighten the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_165' name='Page_165'>[165]</a></span>
+fish; only a slow-moving house-boat or two towed
+to position and there left, or those drifting boats
+belonging to young men and maidens who are
+content to drift metaphorically as well as actually.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Abbey river starts away on its own account
+on the far side of the Hook, and begins its short
+course of about a couple of miles, to fall into the
+Thames again at Chertsey. It used to be possible
+to get up it in a boat, but now it is barred.
+However, visitors have nothing to complain of,
+for the meadows around are singularly open to
+them, and the place is not hedged about with
+restrictions as are so many river resorts. Numbers
+of people come down to picnic, and it is no
+uncommon sight to see quite a row of motors
+outside the lock-keeper's house, while footman
+or chauffeur carries across the luncheon hampers
+to what was once a peninsula but is now an
+island. Tradesmen's carts come round too, finding
+in the swallow-colony quite enough demand
+to make it worth their while; and year by year
+the bungalows grow. A whole new piece of
+meadow, hitherto osier bed, is even now going
+to be devoted to them. "Why, I get as many as
+twenty to thirty applications for land every week,"
+says the lock-keeper. It is to be hoped Penton
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_166' name='Page_166'>[166]</a></span>
+Hook will not become over-populated, or the
+delightful freedom from conventionality which
+now characterises it might die away. "Ladies
+who come down here&mdash;why, some of them, they
+never put a hat on their heads the whole time,
+and I was going to say not shoes or stockings
+either!" The place is particularly sought after by
+theatrical people. Miss Ellen Terry still holds
+the bungalow she has had for many years.
+It is surprising how early the season begins; even
+at the end of chilly March a few of the first of
+the swallows appear.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_167' name='Page_167'>[167]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XVI<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+ABOUT CHERTSEY AND WEYBRIDGE
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i345" id="i345"></a>
+<img src="images/i-345.jpg" width="332" height="403" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Between Chertsey
+and Penton
+Hook is Laleham,
+where the tiny ivy-covered
+church is
+too much hidden
+away to be seen
+easily. An old
+red brick moss-grown
+wall is the
+chief object near
+the river, and
+with the bending
+trees and quiet
+fields there is a sense of brooding peace which only
+remains in places off the main roads. Matthew
+Arnold was born at Laleham and is buried in the
+churchyard. His father, Dr. Arnold of Rugby,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_168' name='Page_168'>[168]</a></span>
+came here in 1819, but he left when Matthew was
+only six, to take the head-mastership of Rugby.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Laleham and Chertsey there is some
+open, rather untidy ground on which gypsies
+are wont to camp. It cannot be said that the
+river looks its best above Chertsey. The country
+is too flat and open, and on a summer day one
+is too often scorched. Yet there is always some
+beauty to be found, and it is certainly in open
+spaces like these that we see best reflected
+"heaven's own blue." Away to the west the
+tiny Abbey river flows in past a mill. By
+Chertsey bridge a triumphant victory in regard
+to right-of-way over the Thames Conservancy in
+1902, is recorded on two newly built villas.
+Opposite is the Bridge Hotel, which, with its
+little bay, its Lombardy poplars and green lawn, is
+a pleasant oasis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Chertsey Abbey, which was of great fame, lay
+between the town and the river. It was founded
+in 666, and some Saxon tiles from the flooring
+may be seen in the British Museum. The
+buildings were destroyed by the Danes, but
+it was re-established in 964 as a Benedictine
+Monastery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing shows more the immense power of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_169' name='Page_169'>[169]</a></span>
+monks in England than these mighty abbeys
+which studded the country. We have come
+across so many, even in our short journey between
+Oxford and London, that the fact cannot escape
+notice; though they probably were more thickly
+set beside the river than elsewhere, because, as
+I have said, flowing water attracted these old
+monks for more than one reason. There is hardly
+anything left of Chertsey Abbey now, yet in its
+prime it was like a small town, giving employment
+to hundreds of people. There are a few ivy-covered
+steps near the back of the church and an
+old bit of wall doubtfully supposed to have been
+part of the boundary; this is near the Abbey
+river. Henry VI. was buried at Chertsey, and
+his funeral is referred to in Shakespeare's play of
+<i>Richard III.</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+... after I have solemnly interr'd
+</p>
+<p>
+At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
+</p>
+<p>
+And wet his grave with my repentant tears.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+So he makes the hypocritical Duke of Gloucester
+speak. Cowley, the poet, lived in Chertsey for
+two years before his death. The house still stands;
+it has an overhanging storey and is covered with
+rough stucco. Charles James Fox was born in
+a house near, and this probably decided him in
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_170' name='Page_170'>[170]</a></span>
+making choice of a residence many years later,
+for he chose St. Anne's Hill, only two miles away,
+which can be seen far and wide around. There
+he settled to indulge in the delightful hobby of
+improving his grounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Chertsey Bridge is an excellent punting
+reach, where the championship punting competition
+is held every year in the beginning of
+August. This is, doubtless, the reason why
+Chertsey is crowded with visitors in the summer,
+when out of all the innumerable lodgings scarcely
+a room is to be had.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The river about Weybridge and Shepperton is
+much more varied than at Chertsey, and to my
+mind variety is a direct element of beauty in
+river scenery. We have passed through flat
+meadows lined with straight ranks of Lombardy
+poplars that might belong to northern France,
+and then suddenly, at Weybridge, we begin
+once more curves and twists and unexpected
+islands and snug corners. There is a ferry across
+the river, and the place seems to get along
+wonderfully well without a bridge. In the
+middle of the stream is a well-kept island which
+belonged to the late Mr. D'Oyly Carte; it is
+hedged about with an exclusive wall, enclosing a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_171' name='Page_171'>[171]</a></span>
+pretty garden. In the centre is a neat white
+house with projecting tiles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In every direction there are numerous boat-building
+establishments. The lock island is large
+and has other buildings on it besides the lock-keeper's
+cottage. It is a favourite camping ground
+in summer, and has rather an untidy appearance.
+The wide-mouthed Wey flows in beside a
+couple of other islands, and is itself a very
+attractive place to explore, winding away through
+meadows and beneath overhanging trees. It is,
+however, not free from locks, though of a somewhat
+simpler kind than those on the Thames.
+Weybridge is a fresh and pleasant place, rapidly
+growing in all directions, and in its gorsy common
+land and masses of pine woods it reminds
+one of the parts of Surrey about Camberley. On
+the green stands the column which once presented
+seven faces to the seven streets in London, called
+after it Seven Dials. Since then it has risen
+in life, having been bought and surmounted with
+a coronet instead of the dial stone; this was in
+honour of the Duchess of York, who died in 1820.
+She lived at Oatlands Park and was very popular.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oatlands Park is the great place of the neighbourhood.
+It was once a hunting ground of King
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_172' name='Page_172'>[172]</a></span>
+Henry VIII., but now belongs to a large residential
+hotel. Nothing remains of the building,
+which was used by many of our English monarchs.
+George IV. entertained here the Emperor of
+Russia, the King of Prussia, and all the princes
+and generals who visited England after Waterloo.
+In 1790 the Duke of York, who is commemorated
+by the column in Waterloo Place, bought and
+rebuilt the house, and still later it was in the
+possession of the Earl of Ellesmere. Remodelled,
+the house still stands as the hotel. A large piece
+of ornamental water in the grounds is almost
+as great an attraction as Virginia Water. Just
+where the park touches the river is the place
+known as Cowey Stakes. It is said that here
+Cæsar crossed the river when in pursuit of
+Cassivelaunus, in 54 <span class='s08'>B.C.</span> The stakes, which are
+no longer to be seen, are supposed to have been
+placed there to obstruct his use of the ford.
+They had been so long under water, that when
+found they were like ebony; they were about
+six feet long and shod with iron. They appear
+to have been too imposing and carefully formed
+to have been put in for the mere purpose of a
+river weir or for fishing; but, on the other hand,
+instead of running with the axis of the river,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_173' name='Page_173'>[173]</a></span>
+as would appear reasonable if they were meant
+to obstruct the passage of men, they were planted
+across it like a weir. They have afforded matter
+for endless discussion among antiquaries.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i353" id="i353"></a>
+<img src="images/i-353.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WALTON BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+What we know is that Cæsar, having landed
+at Pevensey, marched inland and came to the
+Thames at about eighty miles from the sea. The
+river was fordable only at one place, and here
+natives were drawn up to oppose him, and the ford
+fortified with sharp stakes. So the evidence
+certainly seems in favour of this place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Near Cowey Stakes is Walton Bridge, on the
+far side of which is a large pool connected with
+the river by a channel; here are constantly to
+be found punt fishers. Turner painted Walton
+Bridge, and certainly, in some aspects, the place
+is worthy of being painted. The present bridge
+is of brick and iron, but the old one was of oak.
+Walton, like every other place on the Thames,
+depends greatly on the weather. On days when
+the cedars are seen against a vivid blue sky and
+the songs of a thousand birds are heard, when
+the meadows are lined with flowers, it is beautiful.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Now rings the woodland loud and long,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The distance takes a lovelier hue,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And drown'd in yonder living blue
+</p>
+<p>
+The lark becomes a sightless song.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_174' name='Page_174'>[174]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are other days when the whole is
+curiously like a platinotype photograph; when the
+steel-grey water reflects a white sun, and all the
+countless twigs of the trees are seen in one
+feathery mass. All colours seem drawn out of
+the picture, even the green of the grass is turned
+to dun. Light is everything in estimating beauty,
+but it is sometimes difficult to realise quite how
+much one owes to it. We might quote from
+Cowley's <i>Hymn to the Light</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Dost thy bright wood of stars survey,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And all the year dost with thee bring
+</p>
+<p>
+Of thousand flow'ry lights thine own nocturnal spring.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy waken'd head
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Out of the morning's purple bed,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Thy quire of birds about thee play,
+</p>
+<p>
+And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In Walton Church is a small brass with, <i>inter
+alia</i>, a man riding on a stag's back. The story
+goes that this man, John Selwyn, was an under-keeper
+in Oatlands Park in Queen Elizabeth's
+time, and that when she was present at the
+"chace," he leapt from his own horse's back
+straight on to that of the driven stag, when "he
+not only kept his seat gracefully in spite of every
+effort of the affrighted beast, but, drawing his
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_175' name='Page_175'>[175]</a></span>
+sword, with it guided him toward the Queen,
+and coming near her presence plunged it into
+his throat, so that the animal fell dead at her
+feet."
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i359" id="i359"></a>
+<img src="images/i-359.jpg" width="439" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">SUNBURY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In the vestry is a Scolds' or Gossips' bridle,
+designed in the old days of witch-hunting and
+other atrocities to torture poor women.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Admiral Rodney was a native of Walton, and an
+old and quaintly built house which belonged to
+the regicide Bradshaw is still in existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Walton is Sunbury with its long, long
+weirs, and its little houses spread beside the edge
+of the water. But with Hampton we reach
+the Londoner's zone, which is for another chapter.
+At present Halliford and Shepperton, two little
+places opposite Oatlands, are far too pretty to
+be passed by without remark. The Manor House
+at Shepperton has one of the finest lawns on the
+river, which is no small thing. Shepperton is a
+scattered place and lies low; the meadows all
+around are often flooded for miles and miles,
+looking like an inland sea. A tiny river called
+the Exe finds its way into the Thames near
+Halliford. A glimpse of the quaint church of
+Shepperton should not be missed. The tower
+is very lean and narrow; it looks rather as if
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_176' name='Page_176'>[176]</a></span>
+bricks had run short. It was added later than
+the rest, which was built in 1614. Tradition says
+that the previous church was destroyed by a
+Thames flood, though it stood on piles to raise it
+from the marshy ground. The old rectory, with
+its dormer windows and projecting wings, is really
+built of oak, though it has been faced with tiles
+which look like brick. It is about four hundred
+years old, and is one of the most delightful rectory
+houses imaginable. The list of rectors goes back
+to before 1330.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_177' name='Page_177'>[177]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XVII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE LONDONER'S ZONE
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i363" id="i363"></a>
+<img src="images/i-363.jpg" width="322" height="405" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As far as Hampton
+the river may
+be said to lie
+within the zone
+of the Londoner.
+By means of the
+District Railway
+and the London
+and South Western
+Railway he
+can get at any
+part of it, and
+trams are yearly
+stretching out
+further and further, so that he can go above
+ground, if he wishes, all the way to Hampton. At
+Hampton itself, at Richmond and Kew, there are
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_178' name='Page_178'>[178]</a></span>
+large open spaces once the gardens or parks
+belonging to kings, but now open as public
+pleasure grounds, ideal places for the man who has
+a small family to take with him, and whose holiday
+is limited to a day. For those who are free from
+encumbrances, there are always boats to be had in
+abundance, at a much cheaper rate than one would
+have to pay for them at, say, Maidenhead; and the
+scenery itself, though not so fine as some higher
+up, is pleasant and attractive. If the day be wet
+or uncertain there is the palace at Hampton to
+explore; and accommodation for eating and drinking
+is amply supplied by numerous inns and hotels
+clustering round its gates.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gateway to the Palace is imposing, with its
+brick piers and stone heraldic animals, and the long
+low range of buildings on the left side makes a strip
+of bright colour.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i367" id="i367"></a>
+<img src="images/i-367.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HAMPTON COURT FROM THE RIVER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The older part of the palace was built by Wolsey,
+but by far the greater part of it, as it now stands, is
+due to William III. Some parts of the entrance
+gateway and the great hall are all that remain
+to speak of Wolsey's inconceivable boldness in
+attempting to build a palace which should outshine
+that of a jealous monarch like Henry VIII.
+Skelton's satire, beginning:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_179' name='Page_179'>[179]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Why come ye not to courte?
+</p>
+<p>
+To which courte?
+</p>
+<p>
+To the kinge's courte,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or to Hampton Courte?
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+showed what everyone thought, and doubtless
+served to concentrate attention upon Wolsey's
+temerity. The irony of the matter lay in the fact
+that the palace was not seized, but that the unfortunate
+owner was forced to make a present of it to
+the King:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+With turrettes and with toures,
+</p>
+<p>
+With halls and with boures
+</p>
+<p>
+Stretching to the starres,
+</p>
+<p>
+With glass windows and barres;
+</p>
+<p>
+Hanginge about their walles
+</p>
+<p>
+Clothes of gold and palles
+</p>
+<p>
+Fresh as floures in Maye.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Whether he gave the palace as it stood, with its
+"two hundred and four score beds, the furniture of
+most being of silk," is not recorded; but it is probable
+that when he had been wrought up to the
+pitch of terror necessary for overcoming his reluctance
+to part with his beautiful new possession, he
+would give all&mdash;everything&mdash;feeling that so long
+as his life was safe it was all he cared about. As a
+mark of royal favour, Henry allowed him to occupy
+apartments at Richmond, where he was not too
+far off to observe the doings of the monarch in
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_180' name='Page_180'>[180]</a></span>
+his palace. The king was so pleased with his
+new establishment that he formed a mighty park,
+embracing all the land for miles around, including
+East and West Molesey, Cobham, Esher, Byfleet,
+and Thames Ditton, and was sorely aggrieved
+because his loving subjects, whose land and rights
+had thus been confiscated, dared to make an outcry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Edward VI. was born at Hampton. After his
+death Queen Mary came here with her husband
+Philip, and the unhappy couple, one full of sullen
+hate, the other sore and bitter in her loneliness,
+must have strolled in the grounds many a time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For three months King Charles I. was held
+prisoner here while his fate was undecided, and
+when he was removed it was to go up the river to
+Maidenhead, where he said his last farewell to his
+children. Oliver Cromwell, who, though he dared
+not take the name of king, had no dislike to the
+royal privileges, lived at Hampton, and one of his
+daughters was married from the palace. But by
+the time of William III., much of the building
+had fallen into decay. The situation was
+pleasant, and though Henry's park had in great
+part reverted to its rightful owners, there was still
+much open ground around which made the place
+desirable. William had a passion for building, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_181' name='Page_181'>[181]</a></span>
+loved the prim Dutch style, as was natural. The
+maze and the canal, and the long avenues of trees
+in Bushey, are all evidences of his taste. But in
+the palace he attempted to copy Versailles, as he
+had already copied it at Kensington. Poor Wren
+must have been as much perplexed as ever he was
+in his life when told to remodel a Tudor building
+into the copy of one of the Renaissance, and that
+he succeeded at all is greatly to his credit. Two
+out of the five courts which remained of the old
+palace were pulled down, and the state rooms, as
+we now see them, are the work of Wren under
+William's directions. Since then the interest and
+beauty of the interior has been much added to by
+the famous collection of pictures, which attracts at
+least as many visitors as the building does.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bushey Park adjoins Hampton, and lies so close
+to the river that it forms part of the river scenery.
+Its glory is in its great double line of chestnuts,
+with the broad sweep of green grass lining the
+avenues formed by them. Chestnut Sunday, when
+the trees are in bloom, is a well-known date in the
+Londoner's calendar, and every description of conveyance
+is hired, chartered, or borrowed, to see the
+great sight. Hundreds of people, to whom it is
+one of the great days in the year, walk about or
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_182' name='Page_182'>[182]</a></span>
+eat refreshments beneath the sombre green masses
+which are lightened by a thousand pyramidal
+candles. The central avenue is one mile and forty
+yards in length, and the width of it is fifty-six
+yards. A noble conception, worthy of the little
+man with the wise head. On Hampton Green,
+outside the gates of the palace, Sir Christopher
+Wren passed the last five years of his life, in sight
+of his greatest architectural problem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Molesey Lock, just above the bridge, is a popular
+place in summer. All those who have come down
+to enjoy the fresh air, and who want an excuse for
+doing nothing, stand and watch the boats passing
+through; there is always as great a crowd on the
+tow-path as on the water. A number of islands
+lie above the lock, the largest of which is Tagg's, as
+well known as any island on the river, and much
+patronised by holiday-makers at lunch and tea
+time. In summer a band plays on the lawn twice
+a week. It is opposite the end of the Hurst Park
+Racecourse, patronised by altogether a different type
+of people from those who come to Hampton Court,
+and who can only be said to belong to the river
+accidentally, by reason of the position of the course.
+A wonderful club boat-house of polished wood
+has sprung up of recent years on the Hampton
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_183' name='Page_183'>[183]</a></span>
+side, and above it is Garrick's Villa with portico
+and columns. This the great actor bought in 1754,
+and kept until his death, after which his widow
+lived in it for another forty years. He was visited
+here by all the celebrated men of his time, including
+Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson and Hogarth, and
+here he gave a splendid series of river fêtes. The
+little temple on the bank was built by him as a
+shrine for a statue of Shakespeare, which has now
+been removed. A small public garden on the edge
+of the water makes this a favourite lounging place
+for the people of the neighbourhood. The scenery is
+rather tame, but has that charm always to be found
+in flowing water and green grass, in the absence of
+chimneys and other horrors of man's making.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The church of Hampton village stands up fairly
+high above the water. It is in a most unlovely
+style, but ivy has done something to smooth down
+its defects, which are further toned by distance.
+There is a ferry close by, and as this is the nearest
+point to the station, many of those who arrive by
+train on race-days cross at this point, and the ferrymen
+reap rich harvests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not far beyond this loom up the great earthworks
+and reservoirs of the West Middlesex and
+Grand Junction Water Company, and with that
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_184' name='Page_184'>[184]</a></span>
+the influence of Hampton may be said to cease.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Returning again to the bridge at Hampton, we
+have the river Mole flowing in on the right bank.
+Molesey Regatta takes place every year in July.
+The trees and red brickwork of the palace are on
+the left, and only a short way down is the pretty
+little oasis of Thames Ditton, which somehow seems
+as if it ought to belong to the river much higher
+up, and had fallen here by mistake. The Swan
+Inn is right on the edge of the water. It is proud
+of the fact that Theodore Hook wrote a verse on a
+pane of glass at a time when such things were quite
+legitimate, because the tourist, as we know him,
+had not then come into existence to vulgarise the
+practice. The pane has been broken, but the
+verse is remembered, and the following lines are a
+sample:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The Swan, snug inn, good fare affords
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  As table e'er was put on,
+</p>
+<p>
+And worthier quite of loftier boards,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Its poultry, fish and mutton.
+</p>
+<p>
+And while sound wine mine host supplies,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  With ale of Meux and Tritton,
+</p>
+<p>
+Mine hostess with her bright blue eyes
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Invites to stay at Ditton.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+We wonder how many hostesses since have
+wished the lines had never been written. An old
+inn near by, with overhanging gable end and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_185' name='Page_185'>[185]</a></span>
+clinging wistaria, makes a pretty corner, and in the
+High Street itself there are bits so different from
+the Kingston and Surbiton ideal, that one cannot
+understand how they can be in the same zone with
+them at all. The green lawns of Ditton House
+and Boyle Farm are quite close, and the fine
+island with its willows hides the flatness of the
+further bank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the end of the eighteenth century this
+part of the river was celebrated for its magnificent
+fêtes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of these, given at Boyle Farm, inspired
+Moore to write a poem which was not published
+until long after:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Lamps of all hues, from walks and bowers,
+</p>
+<p>
+Broke on the eye like kindling flowers
+</p>
+<p>
+Till budding into light each tree
+</p>
+<p>
+Bore its full fruit of brilliancy.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And now along the waters fly
+</p>
+<p>
+Swift gondoles of Venetian breed,
+</p>
+<p>
+With knights, and dames, who calm reclined,
+</p>
+<p>
+Lisp out love sonnets as they glide,
+</p>
+<p>
+Astonishing old Thames to find
+</p>
+<p>
+Such doings on his moral tide.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The reach is a favourite one for sailing boats.
+Below Long Ditton are the large waterworks of
+the Lambeth Company. On fine Saturdays and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_186' name='Page_186'>[186]</a></span>
+Sundays the Hampton tow-path on the other side
+is generally alive with people. On Raven's Ait is
+the club-house of the Kingston Rowing Club, and
+beside the water runs a well laid out strip of ground
+with bushes and seats, and a good stout hedge to
+keep off the dust from the motor cars which race
+by on the road&mdash;a section of the Ripley Road
+beloved of scorchers. In summer this little public
+garden is bright with flowers, and it is a great
+favourite with the inhabitants of Kingston and
+Surbiton. Before arriving at the bridge there are
+the backs of untidy houses, and generally a great
+medley of barges, laden with hay and bricks and
+coal, lying about by the wharves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kingston, as we have said elsewhere, can boast
+of one of the oldest bridges over the river. A
+bridge of wood stood here in 1225, when there was
+no other in the whole sweep downward as far as
+London Bridge. The present one is very narrow,
+and its convenience is not increased since a double
+line of tramways has been laid across it. The
+general similarity of position between it and
+Richmond Bridge may be remarked. Both have
+large boat-building establishments near, and both
+are about the same distance from the railway
+bridges which cross below them.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_187' name='Page_187'>[187]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As this is not a guide-book, no attempt is made
+to describe other than picturesque effects and
+ancient survivals such as are likely to attract the
+notice of anyone actually on the river, but an
+exception must be made in favour of Kingston
+Stone, which anyone ought to land to see. It is
+in the market-place, not five minutes from the river,
+and from it&mdash;the King's Stone&mdash;the name of the
+place is derived. It is a shapeless block, mounted
+on a granite base, and round it are inscribed the
+names of seven Saxon kings who were crowned
+here, and a silver penny of each of their reigns has
+been inserted. There seems to be no authentic
+history of this interesting relic, and no definite
+explanation as to why these kings should have been
+here crowned; but a suggestion there is that at the
+date of the first of the coronations Mercia and
+Wessex were joined under one king, and while the
+boundaries of Mercia reached to the Thames on
+the north side, those of Wessex marched with them
+on the south. Kingston was equally accessible to
+both, and as London was at that time in the hands
+of the Danes, and the ford at Kingston the only
+one above London by which the river could be
+safely crossed, the place was chosen accordingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Teddington Lock was for a long time the lowest
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_188' name='Page_188'>[188]</a></span>
+on the river, but has been supplanted by a Benjamin
+in the shape of a half-tide lock at Richmond. The
+reach about Teddington is in the summer very
+pretty. The banks are dotted with little bungalows,
+bright with blue and white paint and gay
+with flowers. The long smooth lawns of the riverside
+houses stretch down to the water, and the
+Crimson Rambler climbs over many a rustic bridge
+and iron trellis. It is a well-cared for part, and
+holds its own against rivals of greater grandeur.
+There are several islands forming cover where one
+can ship oars and rest, and though landing is in
+most places forbidden, there is no law against a
+boat's drawing inshore beneath the shelter of the
+overhanging trees, amongst which may be noted
+several weeping willows. This bit recalls Moore's:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i3">
+      ... where Thames is seen
+</p>
+<p>
+Gliding between his banks of green,
+</p>
+<p>
+While rival villas on each side
+</p>
+<p>
+Peep from their bowers to win his tide.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Beyond Teddington we are in Twickenham Reach:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Where silver Thames round Twit'nam meads
+</p>
+<p>
+His winding current sweetly leads.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Walpole.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+There is a great bend at Twickenham, and in it
+the chimneys of Strawberry Hill may be seen overtopping
+the high evergreen hedge that surrounds it.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_189' name='Page_189'>[189]</a></span>
+The house has been altered considerably since
+Walpole's date, but in its essence it is the house he
+built. He himself describes his view thus:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+Directly before it is an open grove through which you
+see a field, which is bounded by a serpentine wood of all
+kind of trees, and flowering shrubs, and flowers. The
+lawn before the house is situated on the top of a small hill
+from whence to the left you see the town and church of
+Twickenham, encircling a turn of the river, that looks
+exactly like a seaport in miniature. The opposite shore
+is a most delicious meadow, bounded by Richmond Hill,
+which loses itself in the noble woods of the park to the
+end of the prospect on the right, where is another turn of
+the river, and the suburbs of Kingston as luckily placed as
+Kingston is on the left.... You must figure that all
+this is perpetually enlivened by a navigation of boats and
+barges.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+His architecture was a medley of everything that
+could by any possibility be included under the
+heading Gothic, and the result was more curious
+than beautiful, though it became the fashion to
+visit the house. Walpole bemoaned the crowds
+aloud, but secretly delighted in them. He published
+a description of the house, in the beginning
+of which he says he trusts it will be a lesson in
+taste to all who see it! An example of the suave
+self-belief of an egotist. At Twickenham there is
+another fantastic building called Pope's Villa. This
+can be seen much better from the river than Strawberry
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_190' name='Page_190'>[190]</a></span>
+Hill can, and it is an affected piece of architecture.
+It has been described as "a combination
+of an Elizabethan half-timber house and a Stuart
+Renaissance, with the addition of Dutch and Swiss,
+Italian and Chinese features." This is not the
+house occupied by Pope, nor is it even exactly on
+the same site as his. In front of it is a group of
+weeping willows, a kind of tree which shows to
+particular advantage by the water-side. Pope
+himself is said to have been the first to introduce
+it into England, having found some sticks of it
+in a bundle sent to him from Spain by the Countess
+of Suffolk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pope lived at Twickenham from 1719 to
+1744, and produced here most of his important
+works, including the last books of his <i>Odyssey</i>,
+the <i>Dunciad</i> and the famous <i>Essay on Man</i>.
+He was here visited by Gay and Swift, and
+many another contemporary whose name is still
+held in estimation. He laid out his grounds in
+a decorative way, and made a curious underground
+grotto, which lies away from the water,
+on the other side of the road. Among the
+celebrated men who have, at one time or
+another, lived at Twickenham are numbered
+Henry Fielding, Dr. Donne, Sir Godfrey Kneller,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_191' name='Page_191'>[191]</a></span>
+Tennyson, and Turner. The last-named was very
+fond of fishing, and used to fish a good deal in
+this part of the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a little esplanade at Twickenham, shaded
+by small horse-chestnuts, and in front lies the
+famous Eel-pie Island, which vies with Tagg's in
+summer popularity. The hotel has a pleasant
+garden, but the rest of the island is, it must be
+confessed, rather untidy, with several places for
+building motor launches and many boat-houses.
+At the small wharf opposite the church there are
+nearly always barges unloading bricks or sand and
+gravel. Yet the place has an air of dignity, perhaps
+given to it by the old Perpendicular stone tower of
+the church, so incongruously welded on to a red-brick
+pedimented Georgian building. The architect
+was the same who built St. George's, Hanover
+Square; but, as Sir Godfrey Kneller was churchwarden,
+one might have expected something in
+better taste. Pope is buried inside, and a flat slab
+with his initial letter on it now serves as a base for
+several pews. Not far from the church is York
+House, and with Orleans and Ham House on the
+other side of the river this is a notable group. In
+the great gardens of Orleans House grow splendid
+cedars, stone pines, and other evergreens. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_192' name='Page_192'>[192]</a></span>
+little Duke of Gloucester, the only child who
+survived babyhood out of Queen Anne's enormous
+family, was brought here for his health in 1694.
+Six years later this quaint child, with a rickety
+body and an enormous head, died of small-pox at
+the age of eleven. The house was afterwards
+rebuilt. To it in 1800 came Louis Philippe, then
+Duc d'Orleans, and his two brothers. After his
+brief summer of prosperity in France, he returned
+to England as an exile in 1848; that he had a
+warm remembrance of the house is shown by his
+then purchasing it. He did not, however, live
+here himself, but placed his son, the Duc d'Aumale,
+in it, and a colony of royal refugees settled round.
+At Mount Lebanon, not far off, was the Prince de
+Joinville; and the Duc d'Aumale, having bought
+York House, gave it to his nephew the Comte de
+Paris, who lived there for six or seven years. Queen
+Anne was born in York House&mdash;it had been given
+to her mother's father, Lord Clarendon&mdash;and with
+her elder sister she spent her earliest years at
+Twickenham. All these notable houses and dignified
+memories are enough to account for the air of
+sober gravity never wholly absent from the river at
+Twickenham even on the brightest days; and the
+rows of Lombardy poplars, the magnificent cedars,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_193' name='Page_193'>[193]</a></span>
+and the fine foliage of the other trees enhance
+the impression. Ham House, on the other side,
+was built in 1611, it is said for Prince Henry,
+James I.'s eldest son. It is screened from the
+water by a row of tall trees. Around it grow
+Scotch firs and holm oaks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have not long left Twickenham before we
+see the little oblong island about which there was
+so much contention because it formed an item in
+the famous Marble Hill view, seen from the heights
+of Richmond Park. The London County Council
+are now owners of the Marble Hill estate, and
+have made it into a public park. It lies on the
+Twickenham side. The house was built by
+George II. for the Countess of Suffolk. Gay,
+Pope, and Swift all took an interest in the building,
+and voiced their opinions as to the style and the
+laying out of the grounds. A suite of rooms in
+the house was afterwards set aside for Gay, who
+was a great favourite with the countess.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other side of the river is open, and it must
+be admitted that on a sunny day this bit is a stiff
+pull if one is unfortunate enough to be going
+against the current. It is often to be described
+by the word "glaring," yet the fine scimitar-like
+sweep of the tree-crowned heights above, capped
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_194' name='Page_194'>[194]</a></span>
+by the huge mass of the Star and Garter Hotel,
+toned to unoffending mediocrity of colour, is worth
+seeing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Richmond, like nearly all the other places on
+the river, has an atmosphere of its own, difficult
+to put into words. It is less flippant than Kingston,
+and has not a tinge of the gravity of
+Twickenham. The houses rise high and are
+irregular; those in the main street recede from
+the water as they leave the bridge, and between
+them and the stream are innumerable others, some
+with gardens, some overshadowed by trees. Weeping
+willows, Scotch firs, and ivy-covered trunks
+abound, and the place is the perfection of a
+residential quarter. There is enough oldness and
+irregularity to avoid stiffness, enough modernity
+to ensure cleanliness. The bridge has a peculiarly
+individual curve&mdash;a real humpback&mdash;and its stone
+balustrade is very fine. At the southern end, far
+too many new red-brick flats are springing up,
+alas! but on the north or east, where lies old
+Richmond, they are not visible to any appreciable
+extent. The scene below the bridge is distinctly
+pretty. Large boat-building yards, as at Kingston,
+occupy the foreground, and the warm cinnamons
+and ochres of newly-varnished boats are generally
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_195' name='Page_195'>[195]</a></span>
+to be seen, as well as the more crude and garishly
+painted craft. The islands are tree-covered, and
+are well placed in the stream. Yet one may note
+that, popular as Richmond is, it is not flooded in
+the summer time with such crowds of boating
+visitors as Hampton. There are more large craft
+about, and boating people do not care for that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What remains of Richmond Palace must be
+sought below the bridge, for it will not be seen
+without a little effort. The old palace stood right
+on the margin of the water, and an engraving of
+it is still extant, showing a pinnacled and many
+chimneyed building. The angular towers are
+capped by turrets like those of the old palace at
+Greenwich. Henry I. was the first English king
+to live here, but until Edward III.'s time it was
+hardly a recognised royal palace. It fell before
+the hand of Richard II., who in a fit of frenzy at
+the death of his wife, which occurred here, ordered
+its destruction. Henry V. restored it, but it was
+burnt down in the end of the fifteenth century,
+and afterwards rebuilt by Henry VII., who changed
+its name from Sheen to Richmond, and who himself
+died there. The old Tudor gateway of his
+time remains still. It is said, but with doubtful
+accuracy, that the Countess of Nottingham died
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_196' name='Page_196'>[196]</a></span>
+in the room over the gateway, after having
+confessed to Elizabeth her duplicity about the
+Earl of Essex and the ring he had confided to her
+charge. We have many records of Richmond
+from the time of the miserable Katherine of
+Arragon&mdash;widow of one boy prince, but not yet
+affianced to the other, a foreigner in a strange
+land, bitterly hating her surroundings&mdash;to the time
+of Charles I., who made the great park and hunted
+in it. A large Carthusian monastery stood near
+the palace. Perkin Warbeck found an asylum in
+the monastery, and in 1550 Robert Dudley was
+here married to Amy Robsart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a half-tide lock at Richmond, with a
+footbridge. This is at present the lowest lock on
+the river, though there is some talk of making
+a similar one at Wandsworth. It is quite different
+in construction from the usual kind. It has three
+great sluices, each weighing thirty-two tons, and
+when the tide brings up the water, so that it is
+equal with that above&mdash;that is to say, at half-tide&mdash;the
+sluices are raised by the addition of a small
+weight to the massive pendules by which they are
+exactly balanced, and the water is allowed free way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All along this stretch of the river there is on
+one side a fine row of shady trees growing to a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_197' name='Page_197'>[197]</a></span>
+great height. Beyond the raised footpath is the
+old Deer Forest, on which stands Kew Observatory,
+and a minor stream, which afterwards forms
+a moat to Kew Gardens, runs along merrily.
+Isleworth is finely placed at a bend of the river,
+and though it is a manufacturing place, it is not
+so bad as Brentford. The large willow-covered
+ait in front affords occupation to the osier gatherers.
+The church is ugly; it is placed very like that at
+Hampton, and, like Hampton also, its ugliness is
+mitigated by a covering of ivy. The tower, as
+so frequently happens, is much older than the rest.
+Was it that church towers were built more solidly
+than the naves, or that the naves would have stood
+equally well had they been allowed to remain?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we come to the great park surrounding
+Syon House (Duke of Northumberland), a park
+fringed with marshy ground, where reeds and
+rushes flourish, and which is overflowed at every
+flood. Crows consider it a delightful place, if
+their perpetual presence may be taken to indicate
+opinion. A great clump of cedars stands between
+the house and the river, but we have to go
+considerably further on before the severe line of
+frontage, with its ground floor arcade and battlemented
+parapet, can be seen at full length. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_198' name='Page_198'>[198]</a></span>
+astonished lion stands clear up against the sky, as
+he did of old at Northumberland House, over the
+site of which now flows a ceaseless stream of traffic.
+Long years ago there stood here at Isleworth a
+convent for nuns. This was suppressed at the
+Dissolution. Katherine Howard was imprisoned
+in Syon House until three days before her execution,
+and only five years later the corpse of her
+murderer, the tyrant Henry, stopped here on its
+way to Windsor. Edward VI. granted the place
+to Lord-Protector Somerset, who, with his usual
+mania for building, began to reconstruct it on
+a much larger scale; but before he had got farther
+than the mere shell of his design, he suffered
+disgrace, and Syon House passed to the Duke of
+Northumberland. Here came Lady Jane Grey,
+timid and doubting, to receive the offer of the
+crown, and from here she started on her last sad
+journey to the Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Queen Mary naturally tried to re-establish the
+nuns, but found it difficult, as some had died and
+others had married! Fuller's comment is worth
+quoting:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+It was some difficulty to stock it with such as had been
+veiled before, it being now thirty years since the Dissolution,
+in which time most of the elder nuns were in their graves,
+and the younger in the arms of their husbands, as afterwards
+embracing a married life.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_199' name='Page_199'>[199]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In James I.'s reign Syon House was in the hands
+of the Earl of Northumberland, who also fell under
+his sovereign's displeasure, but was allowed to
+return here to die. Under his successor, the tenth
+earl, Inigo Jones was employed to alter the house;
+but the architect of the present building was Adam
+(1728-92).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The place is often very quiet, and the hovering
+crows, and perhaps a few men in boats grubbing
+for sand and gravel from the river-bed with
+long-handled scoops, have it all to themselves.
+It is not much frequented because just below
+comes Brentford, with all its ugliness, a sore blot
+on the river. Nevertheless, on the Surrey side,
+to counterbalance it, we have the famous Kew
+Gardens. The very varied trees that grow here
+can be well seen, for the parapet of the wall is
+low, the Gardens being sufficiently protected by
+the moat. Further on, when this comes to an end,
+the wall is heightened, and only the tops of the
+elms and ashes and horse-chestnuts peep over.
+Presently a new object comes into view&mdash;a
+"palace," in that it was the dwelling-place of
+royalty; but anything less like a palace surely
+never was seen. A stiff, square red-brick house,
+where Miss Burney served her "sweet queen,"
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_200' name='Page_200'>[200]</a></span>
+and the old king cried "What, what, what?" a
+hundred times a day, and the overflowing quiverful
+of their Royal Highnesses quarrelled and played
+and grew up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Very few people realise what a large basin there
+is on the river Brent, and what an amount of
+business is carried on here. From the river, one's
+chief reflection is thankfulness that the trees on
+the large islands have grown so well that they form
+a screen for the soap factories, the cement works,
+the breweries, etc., which constitute the industries
+of Brentford.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Brentford, tedious town,
+</p>
+<p>
+For dirty streets and white-legged chickens known,
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+says Gay. The dirty streets are still there, with
+the confusion in their narrow limits worse confounded
+by the passing of tramcars, which, over
+the mile along which Brentford spreads itself, take
+double the time spent on any other bit of equal
+distance on their route. Most people have a hazy
+notion about two kings at Brentford; this is one
+of those curious examples of the persistence of an
+unimportant detail. The allusion was first made
+in a play called <i>The Rehearsal</i>, written by the
+Duke of Buckingham, and Thackeray's ballad on
+the same subject carried it a step further. That
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_201' name='Page_201'>[201]</a></span>
+there was a battle at Brentford one learns in the
+history books. It was when the Parliamentarians,
+who had rested in the town all night, were surprised
+by Prince Rupert, under the cover of a thick mist,
+and completely routed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All along the Kew side, up to the bridge, are
+tea-gardens sandwiched between boat-houses; and
+the new bridge made of granite, with its branching
+lamps and royal arms, is really an imposing object.
+Above and below the bridge the character of the
+river is singularly different. Above, as we have
+seen, are the mudflats, and wharves, and chimneys,
+not to omit water towers and gasometers; and
+below is a bit of Chiswick, built along by the
+waterside, a queer little irregular row of red-brick
+houses and cottages, near which are fastened the
+boats of men who live by fishing; it is a little
+riverside place of the old sort. There are meadows,
+called Duke's Meadows, opposite Mortlake; these
+afford a fine vantage-ground for spectators who
+come to see the great Boat Race.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hour of the Boat Race varies according
+to the tide, for the race is rowed at the "top of
+the tide"&mdash;when it is at its fullest. If the hour
+be an easy one&mdash;about mid-day&mdash;and the weather
+is promising, and especially if the reports of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_202' name='Page_202'>[202]</a></span>
+prowess of the crews give reason to believe the
+race will be a close one, then the crowd is very
+large indeed. Some prefer to watch the start;
+some enthusiasts keep up with the boats on
+water the whole way; but a great majority there
+are who want to see the last effort between
+Hammersmith and Barnes Bridges, for it is almost
+a certainty that the crew leading at Barnes Bridge
+will be the winner. Almost, but not quite; for
+there was an occasion when, by a sudden spurt, the
+positions of the boats were reversed, and Cambridge,
+which had been behind, won the race. The road
+along by Mortlake is lined with crowds; every
+window is filled, and all available roofs. On the
+railway bridge are closely-packed ranks of people,
+brought there and deposited by trains, which afterwards
+decorously withdraw and wait to pick them
+up again. The price of this first-rate position is
+included in the fares. Chiswick meadows afford
+space for many more persons, who usually pay
+a shilling a head to the land-holders. This is a
+very favourite position, because the grassy slopes
+form such a pleasant seat while the inevitable
+waiting is gone through.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the river itself lie several steamers packed
+with passengers, and also various small boats.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_203' name='Page_203'>[203]</a></span>
+Then down comes the launch of the Thames
+Conservators to clear the course. The long strings
+of barges, which have been taking advantage of
+the flowing tide to make their way up-stream,
+are seen no more. A gun goes off, and then, an
+extraordinarily short time after, a murmur begins
+among the crowds on the Mortlake side. It grows
+and grows and swells along the Chiswick shore, as
+first one boat creeps round the corner, and then
+the other. "Cambridge wins; Cambridge, Cambridge!"
+"Row up, Oxford!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, perhaps&mdash;usually&mdash;it is seen that one boat
+is leading by so many lengths as to make it impossible
+for the other to catch up. The leading boat
+goes ahead with a straight, splendid swing into clear
+water. The losing one, getting into its opponent's
+wash, rocks as it labours on, its crew lose heart, and
+the distance widens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Close behind are the umpire's launch and a
+dozen others gliding along, keeping just behind
+the backward crew. And when all have passed,
+the river, so calm before, is churned up into miniature
+waves that wash and beat on the banks.
+Presently the umpire's boat is seen coming swiftly
+back, bearing the winning flag at the bows over
+the other.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_204' name='Page_204'>[204]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The trains move slowly forward to pick up the
+passengers; bicycles, motors, and carriages begin
+to move off; streams of people pour down every
+road; and all is over for another year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief memory of Chiswick is that of Hogarth,
+who is buried in the churchyard close by the water.
+The house in which he lived is still standing, and
+is a few minutes' walk from the church. Hogarth
+was here for about three years, though when he
+left to go to Leicester Square he did not sell the
+house, and his widow lived in it after his death.
+For two years Pope also lived in Chiswick; and
+in Chiswick House, which lies away from the river
+on the other side of the fields, two great men,
+Charles James Fox and George Canning, died in
+the same room, in 1806 and 1827 respectively.
+And in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Mortlake
+is the massive sarcophagus&mdash;in the form of an
+Arab tent&mdash;beneath which lies the dust of the
+great traveller, Sir Richard Burton, and his wife.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_205' name='Page_205'>[205]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XVIII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE RIVER AT LONDON
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i395" id="i395"></a>
+<img src="images/i-395.jpg" width="328" height="409" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+There is a subtle
+difference in the
+river above and
+below Hammersmith:
+above, it
+is a stream of
+pleasure&mdash;below,
+it is something
+less beautiful, but
+grander, more
+crowded with
+memories, more
+important.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though pleasure
+boats are to be seen in quantities any summer
+evening about Putney; though market gardens
+still border the banks at Fulham; yet the river
+is for the greater part lined with wharves and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_206' name='Page_206'>[206]</a></span>
+piers and embankments. It is no wild thing
+running loose, but a strong worker full of
+earnest purpose. It is the great river without
+which there would have been no London, the
+river which bears the largest trade the world has
+ever known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unfortunately, the habit of using the river at
+London as a highway was lost some time in the
+eighteenth century and has not yet been recovered,
+notwithstanding the gallant attempt of the London
+County Council to educate the people to it. At
+one time the river was used for every sort of
+traffic: tilt boats, covered with an awning, ran up
+and down like omnibuses and charged sixpence a
+passenger; and every man of importance kept his
+private barge, for the smoothly gliding waters
+made an infinitely preferable route to the vile
+roads. At every set of stairs&mdash;and the stairs
+were frequent&mdash;numberless wherries awaited hire.
+In the sixteenth century there were two thousand
+on the water, and it was reckoned that nine
+thousand watermen earned their living by transporting
+people up and down or from shore to
+shore. When it is objected that these men were a
+pest and a nuisance, so that we are well rid of them,
+that their language was unspeakable and their
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_207' name='Page_207'>[207]</a></span>
+manners filthy, it may be replied, <i>autres temps
+autres mœurs</i>, for there are a few watermen still
+to be had at Westminster, at the Tower, and
+at most of the river stairs, and they are civil
+and obliging, only, alas, the public rarely patronises
+them. Occasionally, an uncommonly adventurous
+person, probably a visitor staying in London,
+penetrates to the haunt of the watermen, and,
+upon inquiry, he finds a respectable man, duly
+licensed like a cabman, liable to be reported for
+rudeness or misconduct, strictly limited by law
+as to the fees he may demand, and ready to add
+greatly to the pleasure of the trip by his genial,
+shrewd humour and his keen observation; qualities
+found frequently in men whose business is upon
+great waters.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i399" id="i399"></a>
+<img src="images/i-399.jpg" width="550" height="447" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BEYOND HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Without counting the railways, fourteen bridges
+now span the Thames from Hammersmith downward,
+and even fourteen we sometimes find
+inadequate to our needs in this hurrying life. Not
+until the middle of the eighteenth century was
+the historic London Bridge backed up by a second.
+Before that time, all men crossed by boat, or by
+the ferry at Westminster, or even by the ford
+there, a feat which the embanking of the river
+has long rendered impossible.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_208' name='Page_208'>[208]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We can see it, this great river of ours, as in
+a vision, gradually emerging from its primeval
+wilderness. First it spread widely between the
+rising ground on each side, a vast area of lagoons,
+flooded at high tide, and at low tide a swampy
+place full of half-submerged islets. Then one or
+two small settlements for trade were planted on
+its banks, first at Westminster, and others about
+the site of Cannon Street Station, where the
+Walbrook leapt to meet the larger current. There
+was a gradual extension of houses along the
+brink. At last an attempt was made to bridge
+the river over, probably by a wooden bridge.
+This succeeded, and when the bridge had stood
+for some time it was replaced by another in
+the twelfth century. This was built and rebuilt,
+as the turbulent river, feeling the erection of
+earthworks to curtail its flood, fretted to be free,
+and rushed seaward with force, tearing down the
+obstruction offered by this quaint old London
+Bridge with its double line of houses. Many a
+picture of this bridge still remains. It was a
+fascinating, a wonderful structure. Numberless
+children have yearned to have lived there, high
+above the flood. What delight to look out from
+one's nursery window and see the grey-green
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_209' name='Page_209'>[209]</a></span>
+water hastening past. To see it mysteriously
+stop as if by some command from on High, then
+slowly turn and race inward again. Marvellous
+feat! Miraculous bridge! There was a beautiful
+chapel, a veritable gem of work, upon this bridge.
+There was a house like a puzzle-house, put
+together with pegs, without an iron nail in it.
+There were gateways at each end, and on the
+gateways were the grisly remains of the heads of
+men and women who had been executed. There
+were shops on each side of the road where ribbons
+and laces and other haberdashery might be bought
+at will.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i405" id="i405"></a>
+<img src="images/i-405.jpg" width="550" height="434" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE CUSTOM HOUSE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+There were gaps between the houses, where
+one could escape for a moment from the lumbering,
+creaking, groaning traffic pent up in the
+narrow, mud-splashed roadway, and see the water
+itself, and see how the houses were built out
+over it, resting on nothing. Another miracle!
+A mighty tome might be written about Old
+London Bridge; of all the relics of a past London,
+it is the one I should like most to have seen.
+Mills there were on this bridge, to which the
+people could bring their corn to be ground by the
+force of the water. Waterworks there were, too,
+and the bridge itself contained a drawbridge to
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_210' name='Page_210'>[210]</a></span>
+protect London against invasion, for, as there was
+none other crossing, an enemy prevented here
+might well be held in check altogether.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next to London Bridge, the oldest bridge across
+the river was at Kingston, and it is on record that
+in 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt, finding London
+Bridge closed against him, marched all the way
+to Kingston in order to cross, but on arrival
+there, found that he had been anticipated, and
+that the bridge was broken down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The present London Bridge has been recently
+widened. At one end of it rises the white tower
+of St. Magnus, a Danish saint, and behind it is
+the pointing finger of the Monument, while down
+the river are the market of Billingsgate, the quay
+of the Custom House, and beyond, rising tall and
+ghostly, close to the Tower itself, the Tower Bridge,
+the latest addition to the list.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the south side of London Bridge, over the
+houses peep the pinnacles of St. Saviour's tower,
+Southwark. Anciently, it was called St. Mary
+Overies, and was once a priory, one of the most
+ancient houses in London. From this there ran
+a ferry, which was in use long after the bridge
+was built, for the narrowness of the street and the
+continual blocks made a passage by the bridge a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_211' name='Page_211'>[211]</a></span>
+process of time. Gower, the poet, was a benefactor
+to the priory, and is buried in the church.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i411" id="i411"></a>
+<img src="images/i-411.jpg" width="550" height="451" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DUTCH BARGES NEAR THE TOWER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As the Tower Bridge can swing open, ships of
+all sizes can get up as far as London Bridge, when
+the tide allows them sufficient water-way, and
+a busy scene, watched by a never-failing crowd of
+idlers, is always to be witnessed in the reach
+below. Ships there are of all shapes and sizes,
+but mostly hideous, made for merchandise and
+not for show. Many of them are iron, and
+run between eight and twelve hundred tons.
+They come from Hamburg, Hull, Newcastle,
+Holland, and many another port. There, out in
+the river, is a dredger working with a hideous grinding
+noise, and beyond it are two or three brilliantly
+painted green and red boats with great wooden
+flaps, or lee boards, on their sides. They are
+Dutch eel boats, and are allowed to lie in the river
+free from dues, if they keep always in the same
+place. It is a survival of an ancient custom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we pass through under London Bridge, and
+come out on the other side, we can see the grey
+river with its bustling craft, framed like a series
+of pictures in the wide arches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of the oldest theatres in London stood
+on the part called Bankside, about Southwark
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_212' name='Page_212'>[212]</a></span>
+Bridge; at present the view is dingy and uninteresting.
+The Bishop of Winchester's palace once
+adjoined Bankside, as that of the Archbishop of
+Canterbury, at Lambeth, still stands near Westminster
+Bridge; but it fell into ruins and the
+bishops removed to Chelsea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is impossible to enumerate the palaces and
+fine houses that once stood along Thames Street,
+which, in the fourteenth century, was the most
+fashionable street in London. The part of the
+foreshore now occupied by wharves and great
+warehouses&mdash;where cranes swing and lighters await
+their loads all day long, and every working day&mdash;has
+all been reclaimed from the river. Once it
+was covered at every returning tide, but strong
+piles were driven into the mud, and on this
+unpromising spot houses began to rise and débris
+accumulated, until firm ground was made, and
+this became one side of a busy street.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the up-side of Cannon Street, close to the
+cavernous jaws of the station, is a wharf marked
+in white letters, "Walbrook Wharf." This is as
+near as we can get to the first site of London,
+where the Briton made his modest lake-fort,
+Llyn-din, and afterwards the Romans pitched
+their strong citadel.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_213' name='Page_213'>[213]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i417" id="i417"></a>
+<img src="images/i-417.jpg" width="440" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE TOWER OF ST. MAGNUS
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Queenhithe was given by King John to his
+mother, Queen Eleanor. Hence arose the name.
+It was no trifling gift, for this was the most
+important dock on the Thames at that time, and
+dues were collected from all the ships unlading
+here. Now it is a small area in which the water
+laps at rotting lichened posts as it slowly uncovers
+and re-covers the slimy mud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole of this district lying north of the
+Thames is the oldest part of our ancient city,
+and it is thick with memories. Down the crooked
+streets Spenser came as a boy from his home
+beyond the city ditch to his school of the Merchant
+Taylors in Dowgate. Here a fair-haired gentle
+lad, called Chaucer, loitered many a time, for his
+father's house was in Thames Street.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not far from Puddle dock stood Baynard's
+Castle with its high buttressed walls. In it
+Edward IV. was proclaimed, and in it, also,
+Richard III. made a feint of refusing the crown
+belonging to his imprisoned nephew. Tower
+Royal, Montfichet, and many another glorious
+building, have gone utterly, so that their sites
+can be fixed only approximately. The river Fleet,
+up which large ships could ply once, flowed into
+the Thames where is now Blackfriars Bridge. By
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_214' name='Page_214'>[214]</a></span>
+its banks the great religious houses of the Black
+and White Friars rose, and the boundary cliff
+hewed by its current may still be traced in the
+steep rise up Ludgate Hill, which tries the patient
+omnibus horses day by day. Over all, as we
+draw further up the river, towers the great dome
+of St. Paul's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Surrey side of the Thames continues
+unlovely&mdash;a medley of browns and greys, tall
+chimneys and tumble-down sheds; it needs the
+veil which the atmosphere of London mercifully
+throws over it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The railway bridge and Blackfriars are so close
+together, they almost touch. As we pass underneath
+there is a hollow reverberation, like the
+beat of the surf in a cave on the shore. Just
+above the bridge is anchored the <i>Buzzard</i>, the
+Naval Volunteer training ship.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i423" id="i423"></a>
+<img src="images/i-423.jpg" width="550" height="443" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">ST. PAUL'S
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Along the northern side now begins the
+Embankment, with its solid granite walls and
+fringe of young planes. The green lawns and
+red buildings of the Temple can be seen only
+when the river is very high. Further on is
+Somerset House, followed by a line of hotels,
+the palaces of modern days. Somerset House is
+the successor of the palace built by the arrogant
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_215' name='Page_215'>[215]</a></span>
+Protector Somerset, from the stones of churches
+and religious buildings; between it and the Temple
+stood Arundel and Essex Houses. The latter had
+earlier been called Leicester House, and Spenser
+lived there for a time as secretary to the Earl of
+Leicester.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tide has turned and is coming in. Little
+steam tugs, gallantly towing six barges, two
+abreast and each twice as large as themselves, pant
+up stream; while the bargees, with faces the
+colour of brickdust, the colour they are so fond
+of reproducing in their paint and even in their
+sails, stand by their huge rudders. Some barges
+are struggling along without mechanical aid. The
+men in charge bend back horizontally in their
+manipulation of the huge sweeps. There must be
+a knack in it. No one could work so hard as they
+seem to be doing; spine and sinews would give
+way altogether. Their whole strength results in
+but a slow progress, and the barge, responding to
+the push of the water, makes a kind of crab-like
+movement, sidling up the river broadside on. One,
+laden with yellow straw till it appears like a huge
+barn, is stranded right in mid-stream. The long
+ends of the straw sweep in the water, and there
+is no moving until the current increases.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_216' name='Page_216'>[216]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here and there red-brown sails, patched and
+stained, spring up, and others still furled, stand
+up along the wharves like crooked warning fingers.
+Just before Waterloo Bridge there is, neatly
+tucked away below the Embankment, so that
+few ever know of its existence, a station of the
+river police, with trim muslin curtains over the
+windows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridges
+the same sort of thing continues. An enormous
+chimney on the Surrey side mocks the dignity
+of Cleopatra's Needle, now safe in haven after
+many vicissitudes. The sweep of the river makes
+these two bridges radiate out like the spokes of
+a wheel, so that the southern ends are nearer
+than the northern. The chimneys and wharves
+and the ubiquitous barges still continue, and as
+we pass beneath the hideous red iron bridge of
+Charing Cross, we get a vision of the many towers
+and pinnacles of Westminster ahead.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i429" id="i429"></a>
+<img src="images/i-429.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Besides the great houses of old times already
+mentioned, there were others down this stretch
+of the river too&mdash;the Savoy, home of John of
+Gaunt, and in its time prison and hospital;
+Durham, Worcester, and Salisbury Houses. These
+were all either flush with the water or hemmed
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_217' name='Page_217'>[217]</a></span>
+in by high walls in which were stairs "to take
+water at." The only relic of these mansions
+lies in the watergate of York House, now about
+a hundred yards from the river, behind a strip
+of land which has all been reclaimed by the
+making of the Embankment. But that the
+Embankment does not always suffice to curb
+the current was proved not so long ago, for
+in March, 1906, there was a combination of
+circumstances which swelled the volume of water
+abnormally. Sudden floods of rain caused every
+weir far up the river to be opened, and bounding,
+exulting to be free, the huge mass of water,
+swelled by every brook and tributary and swollen
+to twice its usual size, rushed seaward. But it
+was met by a high spring tide, and the collision
+was increased by a strong wind, so that the water
+rose higher and higher, and the curious spectacle
+was witnessed of barges floating above the roadway,
+propelled by sweeps braced against the
+granite walls. The water burst up through the
+pavement and the manholes, and ran in a flood
+under Charing Cross Bridge, but it just did not
+overtop the Embankment wall by an inch or two,
+and as the tide subsided the tension relaxed. In
+the higher reaches, about Barnes and Chiswick,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_218' name='Page_218'>[218]</a></span>
+"tide-boards" were used to fill up the crevices
+below the doors, and by this means alone many
+a house was saved from being swamped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scene is lively enough. Seagulls of all
+ages&mdash;big dingy drab ones and neat ones in
+liveries of dove-grey and white&mdash;float merrily on
+the ripples, or poise and wheel in the air. Here
+a County Council steamer ploughs past, churning
+the river into wavelets, there a lad paddles a
+boat from shore to shore with a single oar
+used rudderwise, a feat possible only to a born
+waterman.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i435" id="i435"></a>
+<img src="images/i-435.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WESTMINSTER BY NIGHT
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As we pass on we can see the high bastion
+towers of Scotland Yard. Northumberland Avenue
+stretches over ground which was once the gardens
+of Northumberland House&mdash;they came down to
+the water&mdash;and beyond this were quadrangles
+and a medley of buildings, mostly low and
+mostly of brick, which formed the palace of
+Whitehall, snatched by Henry VIII. from
+Wolsey because the royal palace at Westminster
+had fallen into decay. The Houses of Parliament,
+standing on the site of the latter palace, are
+the finest work of Barry, who has been abused
+for many things, but who seems to have been
+touched by a genuine spirit of architecture in
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_219' name='Page_219'>[219]</a></span>
+this instance, and to have realised the right
+characteristics of majesty and delicacy in his
+work. But he had a noble chance, for the
+position of the building, standing on the edge
+of the water, with the bridge rising beside it,
+gave room for a fine conception.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Westminster to the Tower or Fleet
+prison, how many prisoners have come and
+gone&mdash;come up against the current full of hope,
+and returned of hope bereft! The ghosts are
+endless, because the river was the usual mode of
+communication between the Tower and the Court
+at Westminster, as the Strand was full of holes
+and seamed by watercourses. If this reach of
+water were to tell its tale, much of the history
+of England would be interwoven with it, and
+it would be tinged with the bitterest sorrow
+human life can know&mdash;death with disgrace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the time of Edward the Confessor to
+the time of Henry VIII., our kings were housed
+at Westminster as one of the chief of their royal
+palaces. Luckily the Great Hall, which Rufus
+built, escaped the fire of 1834, and still may
+be seen, but all else, with the exception of the
+crypt of St. Stephen's, has vanished utterly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The time to see the Houses of Parliament
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_220' name='Page_220'>[220]</a></span>
+is undoubtedly at night, when Big Ben's
+illuminated face sheds a sort of ethereal light
+on the architectural fretwork near him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wordsworth admired the view most in the
+early morning, before the first waking of the
+great world of bustle and business:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
+</p>
+<p>
+Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
+</p>
+<p>
+Open unto the fields and to the sky,
+</p>
+<p>
+All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
+</p>
+<p>
+Never did sun more beautifully steep
+</p>
+<p>
+In his first splendour, valley rock or hill;
+</p>
+<p>
+Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep;
+</p>
+<p>
+The river glideth at his own sweet will.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dear God, the very houses seem asleep;
+</p>
+<p>
+And all that mighty heart is lying still.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Westminster Bridge is particularly wide, and
+has a low parapet. In the sudden gusts of wind
+that come sweeping down the river it is a marvel
+that no one has been caught up and tossed over
+into the rolling green torrent. These peculiarities
+also are noticeable when the bridge is seen from
+the Embankment, for the traffic looms up very
+high on it, and the omnibuses and cabs look almost
+as if they were careering along on the parapet
+itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Westminster to Lambeth is but a short
+way, and what Westminster Palace was, while it
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_221' name='Page_221'>[221]</a></span>
+existed, to the lord temporal, so Lambeth has
+been, and is, to the lord spiritual; from the very
+earliest times the Archbishops of Canterbury have
+lodged here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our peaceful days the holder of the highest
+dignity of the Church has not to fear the Tower
+and the "sharp medicine of the axe" as some
+of his predecessors did. Laud and Juxon were
+executed, and for Cranmer there was the worse
+horror of the torturing stake. Lambeth has seen
+much cruelty mingled with the name of religion in
+the time that it has stood above the flood. The
+Lollards, imprisoned within the tower which still
+bears their name, made deep incisions on the walls
+to wile away the weary hours of suspense, and the
+groans of prisoners have been stifled by these walls
+as well as by those of the grim Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the same side as Lambeth, nearer Westminster
+Bridge, are the curious detached buildings
+of St. Thomas's Hospital, looking like nothing in
+the world less than a hospital.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where Lambeth Bridge is now, was once the
+ferry by which King James II. passed when he
+made a hurried exit from the kingdom that repudiated
+him. It was a bitter night, and, attended
+by only one gentleman, the king slipped secretly
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_222' name='Page_222'>[222]</a></span>
+out of his palace at Whitehall, and crossing the
+Privy Gardens, made his way to the ferry, where
+he entered a small boat with a single pair of oars.
+In mid-stream he threw the Great Seal into the
+water. A curious and dramatic incident this, that
+might well be made the subject of a picture by
+some historical painter. The Great Seal was afterwards
+accidentally drawn up in the net of some
+fisherman. But there is another memory further
+back still, which gives to this strip of river an
+importance which no other part can boast. Here
+lay the first ford, to which all the traffic of the
+north, on its way to the south coast, had to come.
+In the ages before even the oldest London Bridge
+was built, a string of pack horses, of weary men
+and of travellers, continually wandered down through
+the marshes lying around Thorney Island, on which
+stands the present Abbey, and, guided by stakes
+placed for the purpose, arrived at the river's bank,
+there to await low tide, when they could cross over
+to the further shore. Through the ages we see
+them continuing, and when England was Christianised,
+to the procession were added monks and
+pilgrims bent on holy missions. When London
+Bridge was built, a great majority of the age-long
+procession was diverted that way, but many still
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_223' name='Page_223'>[223]</a></span>
+continued to prefer the ancient ford at Westminster.
+Of course, since the Embankment was made,
+and the river no longer wanders uncurbed over the
+lowlands and meadows of Westminster, the current
+runs deep and strong and no fording is possible.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i443" id="i443"></a>
+<img src="images/i-443.jpg" width="550" height="446" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HAY BARGES NEAR WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Above Lambeth we pass the Tate Gallery and
+the new bridge at Vauxhall, and then traverse a
+dreary strip of river, dreary on both sides, until we
+come near to Chelsea Bridge. This is a high-swinging
+and imposing bridge of the same type as
+the Albert Bridge further up. How different the
+Chelsea we see now from the ancient Chelsea.
+Ours is a Chelsea mainly of red brick, with many
+tall flats and many beautifully designed houses in
+pseudo-ancient style. A long line of planes runs
+along the embankment, which is one of the prettiest
+embankments on the river. The gardens and green
+lawns of the Royal Hospital reach to the roadway,
+and away behind them at some distance can be
+seen the comparatively low and long range of
+buildings dating from the time of the Stuarts, and
+forming an asylum for old soldiers. On the strip
+of ground to the east of them once stood Ranelagh,
+the gay rotunda which played such a part in all
+London flirtations; where misses met their beaux
+and walked round in stately steps to the sound of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_224' name='Page_224'>[224]</a></span>
+music. The breakfasts at Ranelagh were at one
+time almost as popular as the evening entertainments:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+A thousand feet rustled on mats,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  A carpet that had once been green;
+</p>
+<p>
+Men bowed with their outlandish hats,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  With corners so fearfully keen;
+</p>
+<p>
+Fair maids, who at home in their haste
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Had left all clothing else but a train,
+</p>
+<p>
+Swept the floor clean as slowly they paced,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And then walked round and swept it again.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Thus Bloomfield satirically described the scene.
+Ranelagh plays a large part in <i>Evelina</i> and other
+romances of that date. The last public entertainment
+was given in 1803, and of the gay rotunda
+with its gorgeous fittings not a vestige now remains.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+High red-brick flats which stand at the foot of
+the Royal Hospital gardens by the river, are
+succeeded by smaller houses, and beyond the
+Albert Bridge the district has not yet been transformed,
+as it assuredly will be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the small public gardens that face the river
+there is a bronze statue of Carlyle, the Sage of
+Chelsea, and not far off rises the curious little
+tower of dark brick that belongs to the old church,
+a very mausoleum of tombs. Chelsea has, perhaps,
+been more altered by the formation of the Embankment
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_225' name='Page_225'>[225]</a></span>
+than any other part of the river. Its very
+name implies a bank of shingly beach stretching
+down to the water, and so it was in old times, and
+to this beach the gardens of the stately palaces
+reached. Chelsea has been called a village of
+palaces. A village it was in old times, quite
+detached from London, and considered a country
+residence by many a famous nobleman and statesman.
+On the site of the row of houses in Cheyne
+Walk stood the New Manor House built by Henry
+VIII. as part of the jointure of Catherine Parr,
+who afterwards lived here with her fourth husband,
+Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral. Both
+Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey spent part
+of their childhood in it. The palace of the Bishops
+of Winchester, at Southwark, having become
+dilapidated, as we have seen, a new one was built
+at Chelsea in 1663, and was occupied by eight
+successive bishops. Shrewsbury House was another
+palace built in the reign of Henry VIII. The
+wife of the Earl of Shrewsbury was the founder of
+Chatsworth, Oldcotes and Hardwick. In Lawrence
+or Monmouth House, near the church, lived
+Smollett the novelist, and further on, somewhere
+near the end of Beaufort Street, was the house
+once occupied by Sir Thomas More, whose memory
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_226' name='Page_226'>[226]</a></span>
+is still cherished in Chelsea. No garden among all
+the famous gardens of Chelsea was so carefully
+tended as his. When More had been made Lord
+Chancellor, and had spent his days hearing cases in
+the stuffy precincts of the court, how joyfully must
+he have stepped into his barge in the cool of the
+evening, to be rowed back up-stream to his roses
+and his children, where he could indulge his kindly
+humour and his playfulness, and unbend without
+fear. Sometimes the royal barge would sweep up
+after him, and the tyrant Harry himself spring
+ashore and walk up and down the sweet-scented
+alleys, with his arm round the Chancellor's neck, a
+dangerous fondness that in time resulted in More's
+being cut off altogether from his garden and his
+peaceful evenings, and in his going down that
+stream never to return. His monument is in the
+church, with an inscription written by himself, but
+whether his body lies here is a question that can
+never be definitely answered.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i451" id="i451"></a>
+<img src="images/i-451.jpg" width="550" height="435" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CHELSEA REACH WITH THE OLD CHURCH
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Beyond Battersea Bridge is a little creek, and
+from a small house on the other side of the road
+Turner used to look out upon the river. He came
+here incognito from his real house in Queen Anne
+Street, and studied the gorgeous sunset effects,
+which can be seen nowhere better than at Chelsea.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_227' name='Page_227'>[227]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Now in his palace of the west,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Sinking to slumber, the bright day,
+</p>
+<p>
+Like a tired monarch fanned to rest,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Mid the cool airs of evening lay;
+</p>
+<p>
+While round his couch's golden rim
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The golden clouds like courtiers crept,
+</p>
+<p>
+Struggling each other's light to dim,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And catch his last smile ere he slept.
+</p>
+
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Moore.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Turner brings us to modern memories. Besides
+himself and Carlyle, there lived in Chelsea, Rossetti
+and George Eliot, not to mention living men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Opposite Chelsea is the long wall that bounds
+Battersea Park, and after passing Battersea Bridge,
+we encounter a very unlovely strip of water, with
+wharves and chimneys and tumble-down buildings.
+It is utilitarian and not beautiful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The green embankment which hems in the
+grounds of Hurlingham Club gives a touch of
+relief, and the fine trees which existed long before
+the club, since the time that the house was a
+private mansion, rise towering above it. On the
+other side the river Wandle, from which Wandsworth
+takes its name, a river known to few, empties
+itself into the Thames. Then we reach Putney
+Bridge, with its wide, curved white arches. On
+the east is another embankment which bounds
+Bishop's Park, partly turned into pleasure gardens
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_228' name='Page_228'>[228]</a></span>
+open to all the world. The palace itself is not well
+seen from the river, for it is low and hidden by
+trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The manor of Fulham has belonged to the See
+of London since the end of the seventh century.
+The palace is built round two courtyards, the
+older of which dates from Henry VII.'s reign,
+and the other from the middle of the eighteenth
+century. The west or river side contains the rooms
+used by Laud while he was bishop.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we draw away from the bridge we see to
+advantage the two churches, curiously alike, one
+belonging to Putney and the other to Fulham,
+which stand at two corners of the bridge, diagonally,
+looking at one another. Boat-houses and flats fill
+up the western shore until they are succeeded by
+the trees of Barn Elms Park, otherwise known as
+Ranelagh. The chief memories of Ranelagh centre
+about the Kit-Kat Club, which met here, and
+included among the members such men as Walpole,
+Vanbrugh, Congreve, Addison and Steele. Their
+portraits were all painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller,
+and hung round the club room; consequently, this
+particular size of portrait, 36 inches by 28, became
+known as a kit-kat. The name of the club itself
+is said to have originated in a pastrycook named
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_229' name='Page_229'>[229]</a></span>
+Christopher Kat, who used to make excellent
+mutton pies, called Kit-Kats, which were always
+included in the bill of fare at club dinners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many a visit did Evelyn and Pepys and other
+notable Londoners make to Barn Elms in summer
+evenings in the seventeenth century. Pepys was
+particularly fond of idling under the well-grown
+trees. Hear him:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+After dinner, by water, the day being mighty pleasant,
+and the tide serving finely, I up as high as Barne Elmes
+and there took one turn alone.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This was in April; and another time:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great
+pleasure saw some gallant ladies and people come with
+their bottles and baskets and chairs, to sup under the trees
+by the water-side, which was mighty pleasant.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+On the opposite side of the river from Barn Elms
+stood Brandenburg House, where lived Queen
+Caroline, unhappy consort of George IV.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Hammersmith Bridge there is a very
+untidy bit of foreshore, with factories and chimneys
+and many dreary objects scattered about it, and
+always a superfluity of clumsy barges. Beyond
+the fine suspension bridge there is another bit of
+foreshore not quite so untidy, where racing boats
+and other boats lie, and from which many a crew
+turns out to practice. Along this stretch runs the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_230' name='Page_230'>[230]</a></span>
+Mall, Upper and Lower. In the coffee house
+near the junction of the two, Thomson wrote
+"Winter," in <i>The Seasons</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Mall is associated with the Kelmscott Press,
+founded by William Morris, who named it after his
+country house. Turner lived in the Mall for six
+years, and the novelist Marryat was a resident for
+a short time in 1830. Here also was a large house
+occupied by Catherine of Braganza after the death
+of Charles II. The river at Hammersmith is 750
+feet wide. The inhabitants make the bridge a
+favourite lounging place, for seats line both sides;
+the total amount of fresh air thus imbibed no man
+can calculate, for the tide races up bringing ozone
+straight from the sea, and the wind blows freshly
+over the glittering water. On the south bank are
+the reservoirs of a large water company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With Hammersmith we must end this chapter,
+for we have joined the account of the stream of
+pleasure which comes down to London.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_231' name='Page_231'>[231]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i457" id="i457"></a>
+<img src="images/i-457.jpg" width="513" height="342" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XIX<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+OUR NATIONAL POSSESSION
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+The Thames is a great national possession,
+affording means of recreation and delight to
+thousands yearly. It is difficult to compare it
+with anything else in Great Britain. It stands
+by itself, and is unique. Other rivers there are,
+which for a small part of their course are
+excellent for boating; but there is nothing
+in England to equal the Thames, where the
+water is now kept at a high level, and where,
+for the 112 miles between London Bridge and
+Oxford, there is practically continuous beauty and
+convenience for boating. The reproach has been
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_232' name='Page_232'>[232]</a></span>
+brought against us that we do not make full use
+of our river at London as the Parisians do of the
+Seine at Paris. But the two things are not on the
+same footing at all. There are many problems in
+connection with the Thames as a tidal river that
+have not to be solved by the Parisians in regard
+to the Seine. Perhaps if the great barrage at
+Gravesend, which has been discussed, ever comes
+into existence, we shall be able to remove the
+reproach, to run our steamboats to time, and to use
+the river as a river of pleasure, even so far down as
+London Bridge. There are, however, grave objections
+to the barrage scheme, which for the present
+has been set aside. Though the tides interfere with
+pleasure boats, they are a source of motive power
+for innumerable barges; the river traffic would
+be seriously hindered by the elimination of the
+element of tide, and many owners of wharves
+and quays would be injured by the change.
+There are also other difficulties. At present the
+sewage, after being dealt with by filtration in
+sewage-beds, is returned to the river, and, having
+been rendered innocuous, floats out to sea, and
+mingles with the pure water satisfactorily. It
+would, however, be another thing to return
+thousands of gallons of water, which, however
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_233' name='Page_233'>[233]</a></span>
+innocuous, can hardly be called clean, to the great
+lake of fresh water the river would become if
+dammed up by a barrage.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i461" id="i461"></a>
+<img src="images/i-461.jpg" width="550" height="441" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">FROM BATTERSEA BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Yet the continual increase in the size of ships,
+and the consequent demand for a river ever deeper,
+is a source of perplexity to the Thames Conservancy.
+This involves constant dredging, which
+would not be necessary were a perpetual high tide
+to be maintained. It is true that this dredging in
+some parts is a source of profit, not of expense.
+Thames gravel is exceedingly valuable, and it is
+found to be worth while for men not only to buy
+and maintain large dredgers down near the river
+mouth, but to pay a rent of something like £1500
+to the Conservancy for the privilege of doing so!
+The dredging, however, is not all so profitable.
+Where the river-bed is slime and mud, the channel
+has to be kept clear by dredgers at the expense of
+the Conservancy, and no delightful rents accrue
+from the process. This dredging is altogether rather
+an interesting matter. In some places it is found
+remunerative enough for men to do it by hand
+for the sake of what they bring up, and they obtain
+leave to go dredging.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a fact not realised by everyone that the
+whole river, and all the craft upon it are under the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_234' name='Page_234'>[234]</a></span>
+strictest surveillance. Everything that floats must
+be licensed and carry its number for purposes of
+ready identification. The barges seen lying about
+in shoals near Westminster or Waterloo Bridges
+are not lying haphazard, but in certain specified
+places marked by buoys and allotted by the Conservancy,
+much as cabstands are allotted by the
+police. It is true that quays, wharves, landing
+stages, etc., being on land, are not subject to the
+Conservancy, which is in the somewhat anomalous
+position of dealing with the water, but not with
+the banks that hem it in. Yet the Conservancy
+manages to have a finger in this too, for suppose
+a man buys a bit of the river's bank, and erects a
+boat-building establishment thereon, he is obviously
+at a loss without steps down to the water or a
+landing place, and for this he has to pay rent to
+the Conservancy. The amusing part of it is that a
+man's property is sometimes in the air. In the case
+of a tree growing out of the water, it would truly
+tax the judgment of a Solomon to say what the
+rights of the Conservancy are toward that tree; but
+it is held that if the tree constitutes any danger or
+obstruction to the river-way the Conservators may
+insist on its being lopped. In connection with this
+a curious case sometimes arises. Man is always
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_235' name='Page_235'>[235]</a></span>
+cunning where his own interests are concerned. It
+is not only to one man that the idea has occurred
+of propping up his overhanging tree by a stake.
+And, if the stake remains for any length of time,
+silt and rubbish collect between it and the shore,
+and eventually the island or the land of the cunning
+man is enlarged by a foot or two! More; sometimes
+stakes have been planted in the river bed with
+the same object without even excuse of the tree.
+It is the duty of the Conservancy officials to
+deal with all such stakes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever may be alleged as to our neglect of
+the river at London, no such charge can be brought
+against us in our appreciation of it higher up. Day
+by day, in the summer, hundreds enjoy the air and
+the brilliance and the interest of the river reaches.
+House-boats are moored, permission and licences
+having been obtained, and men and women
+practically live in the open air for weeks together.
+The house-boats are not allowed to anchor
+everywhere, but are allotted certain stations, due
+regard being had to the width of the river. If
+they plant themselves near private ground they
+must gain the permission of the owner, as well as
+of the Conservancy, which is quite reasonable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To preserve an unimpeded channel may be taken
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_236' name='Page_236'>[236]</a></span>
+as one of the great duties of the Conservancy. For
+this reason they have power to remove snags; to
+prevent the egotistical punt-fisher from placing his
+punt broadside in the midmost current; and to
+regulate the rules for the passing of craft. It is
+rather amusing to see sometimes how the punt
+man edges his craft as far from the bank as he dare
+before he sits down on his cane-bottomed chair
+and sorts out his tackle; but if a Conservancy
+official come along, and, eyeing him, decides, in
+spite of his extreme innocency and unconsciousness,
+that he has encroached too far, back he has
+to go. It is a perpetual game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In regard to the fishing, most of the Thames
+is free; and the coarse fishing&mdash;bream, dace, chub,
+and so on&mdash;is good of its kind. Here and there,
+as at Hedsor, there is a bit preserved. For the
+commonsense view is taken that, if both banks
+belong to the same owner, the river bed belongs
+also to him, and likewise the fishing. He cannot,
+however, prevent boats from passing up and down
+the stream flowing through his property, or the
+highway would be a highway no more. The fishery
+in the Thames has of late years greatly improved,
+owing to the disinterested action of many clubs
+and associations in putting in stock which they
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_237' name='Page_237'>[237]</a></span>
+cannot hope subsequently to reclaim, but which,
+once gone into the water, belongs to everyone
+alike. An instance of this occurred recently, when
+300 trout (<i>Salmo fario</i>), about fourteen inches
+long, were put into the Thames at Shepperton
+Weir in March by the Weybridge, Shepperton,
+and Halliford Thames Trout Stocking Association.
+These trout cost 2s. 6d. each! There is good coarse
+fishing in nearly all parts of the Thames; bream,
+dace, chub, perch, and pike can generally be
+caught.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are many curious and interesting points
+in regard to the river, and none more interesting
+than those relating to the tow-path. This venerable
+and ancient right-of-way still remains, crossing and
+recrossing from side to side as occasion demands,
+but traversable from end to end. As, however,
+it passes through private grounds by far the greater
+part of the way, it <i>is</i> private, and yet public.
+Bicycles are frequently forbidden by stern notices
+put up by owners, who yet cannot prevent the
+pedestrian. The Conservancy has no power over
+the tow-path. What, then, happens when a part
+of the tow-path gives way and requires making
+up again? In theory it is the owner's duty to
+do it; but it would be expecting rather more
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_238' name='Page_238'>[238]</a></span>
+than is warranted of human nature to expect an
+owner, who must regard the right-of-way with
+dislike and suspicion, to incur expense by mending
+it. As a matter of fact, if he does not do it, the
+Conservancy does. It may be remarked here that
+a very simple and effective way of embanking,
+known as "camp-shedding," is often employed
+about the river banks and the projecting points
+of lock islands which are liable to be carried
+away by the current. This consists in dropping
+large bags of dry cement into the water. The
+water itself consolidates and hardens the stuff,
+which becomes a splendid barrier.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is another point in connection with the
+breaking away of the tow-path which is still
+more perplexing. Supposing it breaks away from
+a private owner's land in such a way that it cannot
+be built up again, but must be carried inland, what
+right has the public to say, "My right-of-way has
+fallen into the water, so I am going to take some
+of your land to replace it"? Apparently none at
+all. Yet the tow-path must be carried on. One
+wonders how, in the beginning, it was allotted to
+one side or the other. How was it that one owner
+said, "My lawns must slope right down to the
+water's edge; therefore I will not have the tow-path
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_239' name='Page_239'>[239]</a></span>
+on my side; let it go upon the other?"
+And why has it never happened that two owners,
+equally strong and equally determined, have both
+flatly refused it? Be that as it may, the tow-path
+runs its tortuous but continuous course, and will
+continue to run as long as the river flows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such things as locks and weirs are, of course,
+entirely in the power of the Conservancy, who pay
+the keepers and regulate the fees. The half-tide
+lock at Richmond has answered admirably so far
+(<i>see</i> <a href="#Page_196">p. 196</a>); but the question is, Where is this
+sort of thing going to stop? There is an idea
+now of a similar lock at Wandsworth, and then
+we come to the matter of the barrage. We are so
+greedy of our river, we want it to be pent up,
+and not allowed to flow away to the sea. Weirs
+of some sort, which were at first called locks, are
+very ancient. In the end of the twelfth century
+we find orders respecting them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stow tells us that about the year 1578 or 1579
+there were twenty-three "locks," sixteen mills,
+sixteen floodgates and seven weirs on the river
+between Maidenhead and Oxford. In the next
+six years thirty more locks and weirs had been
+made in spite of complaints that many persons
+had been drowned "by these stoppages of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_240' name='Page_240'>[240]</a></span>
+water." He adds that "the going up the locks was
+so steep that every year cables had been broken
+that cost £400." Especial complaint was made
+about Marlow lock, where one man had had his
+brains dashed out, and Stow remarks that all the
+compensation the widow received was £5! The
+barges were not charged for going up but only for
+coming down, and a barge passing from Oxford to
+London in Stow's time paid £12 18<i>s.</i> This was
+in the summer, when the water was low. In
+1585 a petition was made to Queen Elizabeth "in
+the name of the widows and fatherless children
+whose parents and husbands were by these means
+slain, against the great mischief done to her
+loving subjects by the great number of dangerous
+locks, weirs, mills and floodgates unlawfully
+erected in many places on the river." Queen
+Elizabeth must have known something of the
+subject from her early acquaintance with Bisham.
+(<i>See</i> <a href="#Page_105">Chap. XI</a>.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In an old book of 1770 we find this passage:
+"The locks were machines of wood placed across
+the river, and so contrived to hold the water as long
+as convenient, that is, till the water rises to such
+a height as to allow of depth enough for the barge
+to pass over the shallows, which being effected,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_241' name='Page_241'>[241]</a></span>
+the water is set at liberty, and the loaded vessel
+proceeds on its voyage till another shoal requires
+the same convenience to carry it forward. This
+arrangement was in the summer when the water
+was low; in other seasons the locks were removed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the present locks were made they were
+called "pound" locks; a great many of them were
+opened between 1770 and 1780.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The members of the Conservancy Board go up
+in their launch several times a year to see that
+all is in order, and that their officials are doing
+their duty. Once a year they penetrate beyond
+Oxford, where the launch cannot go, and they
+have to take to rowing boats. They are not
+supposed to preserve the amenities of the river,
+but only its highway properties. They have no
+power to remove unsightlinesses, such as hideous
+advertisement boards; but only obstructions. Yet,
+in keeping the river free from sewage contamination;
+by forbidding the casting of refuse into the
+current from house-boats or elsewhere; by exercising
+a general jurisdiction, which makes people
+realise they are not free to amuse themselves to
+the annoyance of their neighbours&mdash;no doubt the
+amenities are very much more preserved than they
+would otherwise be.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_242' name='Page_242'>[242]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stow ends up his account of the river: "And
+thus, as this fine river is of great use and profit to
+the city, so the many neat towns and seats on the
+banks of it make it extraordinary pleasant and
+delightful. So that the citizens and gentlemen,
+nay kings, have in the summer time usually taken
+the air by water; being carried in boats and barges
+along the Thames, both upward and downward
+according to their pleasures."
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_243' name='Page_243'>[243]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+INDEX
+</h2>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li>
+Abbey Hotel, Medmenham, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Abbey River, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+à Becket, Thomas, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Aberlash, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Abingdon, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Abingdon Abbey, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Adam, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Addison, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Albert Bridge, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ankerwyke Park, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Archbishop Laud, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arnold, Dr., of Rugby, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arnold, Matthew, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arragon, Katherine of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arundel House, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Athens, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Bankside, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barbour, Geoffrey, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barges, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barn Elms Park, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barrage, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barrington Shute, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barry, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Battersea Bridge, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Baynard's Castle, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bell Weir Lock, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Benson Lock, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Billingsgate, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Birds, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Birinus, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bisham Abbey, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bisham Church, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bishop of Winchester's Palace, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bishop's Park, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Blackfriars Bridge, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bloomfield, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Blount, Sir Arthur, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boat Race, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boleyn, Anne, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bolney Court, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Borlase, Sir John, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boulter's Lock, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bourne End, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boveney Lock, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boyle Farm, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bradshaw, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Braganza, Catherine of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Brandenburg House, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bray, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bray Lock, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Brent River, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Brentford, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bridges:
+<ul class="sub">
+  <li>Battersea, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+  <li>Blackfriars, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+  <li>Charing Cross, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+  <li>Chelsea, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
+  <li>Folly, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+  <li>Hammersmith, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+  <li>Lambeth, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+  <li>London,210</li>
+  <li>Old London, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+  <li>Putney, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+  <li>Tower, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li>Walton, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+  <li>Waterloo, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>
+Brightwell Barrow, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Buckingham, Duke of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_244' name='Page_244'>[244]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Burford Bridge, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Burney, Miss, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Burton, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bushey Park, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Cæsar, Julius, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+"Camp-shedding," 238
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Canning, George, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Carfax Monument, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Carlyle, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Caversham, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Charing Cross Bridge, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Charles I., <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Charles II., <a href="#Page_127">127</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chaucer, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chelsea Bridge, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chelsea Embankment, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chertsey, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chertsey Abbey, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cherwell, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chestnut Sunday, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chiswick, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chiswick House, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cleeve Lock, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cleopatra's Needle, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Clieveden, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Clifton Hampden, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Climenson, Mrs., <a href="#Page_96">96</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Coln River, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Compleat Angler Hotel, Marlow, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Congreve, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Conway, Field-Marshal, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cookham, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cooper's Hill, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cornish, J. C., <a href="#Page_85">85</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Countess of Nottingham, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Countess of Suffolk, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cowley, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cowley Stakes, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cranmer, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cromwell, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Crowmarsh, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cuckoo Weir, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Culham, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Custom House, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Damer, Mrs., <a href="#Page_99">99</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Danesfield, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Datchet, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Day, Thomas, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Day's Lock, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Denham, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Denham, Sir John, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Despencer, Lord Le, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ditton House, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Donne, Dr., <a href="#Page_190">190</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dorchester, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dorchester Abbey, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dowgate, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+D'Oyley, Robert, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+D'Oyley, Sir Cope, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Drayton, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dredging, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Druce, Claridge G., <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duc d'Aumale, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duchess of York, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dudley, Robert, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of Buckingham, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of Gloucester, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of Marlborough, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of York, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke's Meadows, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Durham House, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dyers' Company, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Earl of Essex, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Earl of Leicester, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward IV., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward VI., <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward Plantagenet, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward the Confessor, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eel-pie Island, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eights, The, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eliot, George, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Embankment, The, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Empress Maud, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Essex, Earl of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Essex House, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eton, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Evelyn, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Exe River, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Fair Maid of Kent, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_245' name='Page_245'>[245]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Faringford, Hugh, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fawley Court, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ferry Hotel, Cookham, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fielding, Henry, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fingest, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fishing, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fleet River, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Floods, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Flora of Oxfordshire, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Folly Bridge, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Forbury Public Garden, Reading, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fox, Charles James, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Frogmill, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fulham Palace, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fuller, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Garrick's Villa, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gaunt, John of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gaveston, Piers, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gay, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+General description, <a href="#Page_9">9</a> ff
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George III., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George IV., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George Hotel, Bray, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George Hotel, Wargrave, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gloucester, Duke of, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Goring, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Goring Church, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gray, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Great Hall, Westminster, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Great Marlow, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Great Western Railway, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Greenhill, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Greenlands, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Greenwich Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Grey, Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gwynne, Nell, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Halliford, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ham House, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hambleden, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hammersmith Bridge, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hampton, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hampton Court, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hampton Green, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hardwicke House, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Harp Hill, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hartslock Woods, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hedsor Church, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henley, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henley Regatta, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry I., <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry V., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry VI., <a href="#Page_169">169</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry VII., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hoby, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hogarth, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Holme Park, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Home Park, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hook, Theodore, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Horton, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hotels, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+House-boats, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Houses of Parliament, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Howard, Katherine, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hurley, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hurlingham Club, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hurst Park Racecourse, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Icknield Street, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Iffley, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Isleworth, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+James II., <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+James Stuart, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Joan, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+John, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Johnson, Dr., <a href="#Page_183">183</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Jones, Inigo, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Juxon, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Kelmscott Press, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kempenfelt, Admiral, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kew Gardens, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kew Observatory, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kew Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+<i>Kingis Quair</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+King's Stone, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kingston, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kingston Rowing Club, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kit-Kat Club, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_246' name='Page_246'>[246]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kneller, Sir Godfrey, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Lady Place, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Laleham, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lambeth Bridge, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lambeth Palace, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Laud, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Leicester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Leicester House, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Leland, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Llyn-din, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Locks, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>
+<ul class="sub">
+  <li>Bell Weir, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+  <li>Benson, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+  <li>Boulter's, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+  <li>Boveney, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+  <li>Bray, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+  <li>Cleeve, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+  <li>Marsh, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+  <li>Teddington, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+  <li>Temple, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>
+Loddon River, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+London and South Western Railway, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+London Bridge, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+London Stone, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Long Ditton, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Long Mead, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Louis Philippe, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lower Hope, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lower Mall, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Macaulay, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Magna Charta Island, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Maidenhead, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mapledurham House, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marble Hill, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marlborough, Duke of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marryat, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marsh Lock, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Medmenham Abbey, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Merchant Taylors' School, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Milton, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mole River, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Molesey Lock, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Molesey Regatta, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mongewell, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Monkey Island, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Monmouth House, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Montfichet, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Moore, Thomas, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Morris, William, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mortlake, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mount Lebanon, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Naval Volunteer Training Ship, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+New Cut, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Northumberland Avenue, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Northumberland House, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Nottingham, Countess of, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Nuneham Courtney, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Oatlands Park, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Obstructions, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Old Deer Forest, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Old London Bridge, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Old Windsor, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Orleans House, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Oxford, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Oxford Meadows, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Pang River, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pangbourne, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Park Place, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Parr, Catherine, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Penton Hook, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pepys, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Phyllis Court, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pope, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pope's Villa, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Prince de Joinville, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Prince Henry, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Princess Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Puddle Dock, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Punting competition, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Putney Bridge, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Quarry Woods, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Anne, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Caroline, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Eleanor, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_247' name='Page_247'>[247]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Mary, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Maud, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queenhithe, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Radley College Boat-house, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ranelagh, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Raven's Ait, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ray Mead Hotel, Maidenhead, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Reading Abbey, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Reading Castle, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Red Lion Hotel, Henley, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richard II., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richard III., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richmond, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richmond Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rivers:
+<ul class="sub">
+  <li>Abbey, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+  <li>Brent, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+  <li>Coln, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+  <li>Exe, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+  <li>Fleet, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+  <li>Loddon, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
+  <li>Mole, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+  <li>Pang, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+  <li>Thame, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+  <li>Wandle, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+  <li>Wey, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>
+Robsart, Amy, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rodney, Admiral, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Romney Island, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rose Garden, Sonning, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rossetti, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Royal Hospital, Chelsea, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Runney Mead, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rupert, Prince, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+St. Anne's Hill, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Helen's Nunnery, Abingdon, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Mary Overies, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Patrick's Stream, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Saviour's, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Thomas's Hospital, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Salisbury House, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sandford, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Savoy, The, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Scotland Yard, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Seagulls, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Seymour, Thomas, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shelley, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shenstone, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shepperton, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shiplake, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shrewsbury House, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sinodun Hill, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Skindle's Hotel, Maidenhead, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Smith, Sydney, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Smollett, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Somerset, Lord-Protector, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Somerset House, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sonning, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Spenser, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Staines, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Steele, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Stephen, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Stokenchurch, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Stow, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Strawberry Hill, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Streatley, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sunbury, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Surbiton, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Surley Hill, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sutton Courtney, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sutton Pool, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Swan Hotel, Thames Ditton, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Swans, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Swift, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Syon House, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Tagg's Island, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Taplow, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tate Gallery, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Teddington Lock, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple Island, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple Lock, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple Mill, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tennyson, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_248' name='Page_248'>[248]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Terry, Ellen, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thame, The, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames Conservancy, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames, derivation of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames Ditton, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames Gardens, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thomson, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thorney Island, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Torpids, The, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tow-path, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tower, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tower Bridge, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tower Royal, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Turner, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Twickenham, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Twickenham Reach, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Upper Hope, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Upper Mall, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Upper Thames Sailing Club, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Vanbrugh, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Vauxhall Bridge, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Vintners' Company, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Walbrook, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walbrook Wharf, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walker, Frederick, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wallingford, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walpole, Horace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walton Bridge, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walton Church, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walton, Izaak, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wandle River, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wandsworth, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Warbeck, Perkin, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wargrave, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Warwick, "King Maker," 113
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Waterloo Bridge, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Watermen, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Weirs, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Westminster Abbey, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Westminster Bridge, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Westminster Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wey River, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Weybridge, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitchurch, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitehall, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitehall Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+White Hart Hotel, Sonning, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitehill, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wigod, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+William the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+William III., <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Winchester House, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Windsor Castle, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wittenham, Little, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wittenham Woods, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wolsey, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Worcester House, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wordsworth, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wotton, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wren, Sir Christopher, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wyatt, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+York, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+York, Duke of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+York House, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="center p4">
+<i>Printed by</i> <span class='smcap'>Geo. W. Jones, Limited</span>, <i>Watford</i>.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i479" id="i479"></a>
+<img src="images/i-479.jpg" width="550" height="338" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">
+<i>Sketch Map of the</i>
+THAMES
+<i>from</i> OXFORD <i>to</i> LONDON
+</p>
+
+<p class="caption s08">
+MAP ACCOMPANYING "THE THAMES" BY MORTIMER MENPES AND G. E. MITTON. PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON
+</p>
+<p class="caption"><a href="images/i-479lg.jpg">View larger image</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<table summary="Ads"  class="p6" border="1">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">
+<span class="b13">BEAUTIFUL BOOKS</span><br />
+<span class="b12">ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR</span><br />
+<span class="b12">BY MORTIMER MENPES</span><br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>JAPAN</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Times.</b>&mdash;"Mr. Menpes's pictures are here
+given in most perfect facsimile, and they form altogether
+a series of colour impressions of Japan which
+may fairly be called unrivalled. Even without the
+narrative they would show that Mr. Menpes is an
+enthusiast for Japan, her art and her people; and very
+few European artists have succeeded in giving such
+complete expression to an admiration in which all
+share."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>INDIA</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>75</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Evening Standard.</b>&mdash;"This sumptuous book
+is the result of an ideal collaboration, for the artist is
+at his best with colour schemes and atmospheric
+impressions, such as we find in his famous 'Japan'
+and 'Durbar' books; while Mrs. Steel has not only
+the saving grace of imagination, but is able by the
+sympathy and wise knowledge gained by a long
+residence in India to write a text of more than
+ordinary charm."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>THE DURBAR</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Morning Post.</b>&mdash;"This splendid book will be
+accepted by all as the best realisation of an epoch-making
+ceremony that we are ever likely to get."
+<br />
+<b>The Academy.</b>&mdash;"Unquestionably the best pictorial
+representation of the Durbar which has
+appeared."
+<br />
+<b>The Globe.</b>&mdash;"Likely to be the most brilliant and
+lasting record of the historical occasion."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>VENICE</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The King.</b>&mdash;"Within the last few years the industry
+of contemporary writers, some with and others without
+a genuine sympathy for their subject, has helped us to
+glimpses of the Queen of the Adriatic, through the
+spectacles of art, history, archæology, poetry, and
+romance; but the <i>Magnum Opus</i> of Mortimer Menpes
+embraces to a great degree all five points of view, and
+persuades us that at last (and that not a day too soon)
+the stones of Venice have found at once a painter and
+a writer equally worthy of the vanished glories, the
+memories of which still cling to every church, palace,
+or bridge drawn or described in this charming
+work."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>BRITTANY</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>75</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Pall Mall Gazette.</b>&mdash;"It is of course the picturesque
+aspects of Brittany that appeal to Mr. Menpes....
+Whether he paints cottage interiors or peasant
+types, straggling village streets and coast-town alleys,
+or a market-place bustling and baking in the sunshine,
+it is all one to his graceful pencil; and reproduced, as
+the drawings are, by his own colour-process, they make
+another of those many charming albums of travel
+which Messrs. Black have made a special province of
+their own."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>WORLD
+PICTURES</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>500</b> ILLUSTRATIONS
+(<b>50</b> IN COLOUR)<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Scotsman.</b>&mdash;"Mr. Menpes has been a wanderer
+over the face of the earth armed with brush and
+pencil, and he has brought back with him portfolios
+filled with samples of the colour and sunshine, and of
+the life and form, quaint or beautiful, of the most
+famous countries of the East and of the West, and
+his charming book is a kind of album into which he
+has gathered the cream of an artist's memories and
+impressions of the many countries he has visited and
+sketched in."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>THE WORLD'S
+CHILDREN</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Times.</b>&mdash;"Of the cleverness, both of the
+pictures and letterpress, there can be no doubt. Miss
+Menpes's short papers on the children of different
+lands are full of insight, human and fresh experience;
+and Mr. Menpes's 100 pictures ... are above all
+remarkable for their extraordinary variety of treatment,
+both in colour scheme and in the pose and
+surroundings of the subject."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>WAR
+IMPRESSIONS</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>99</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Daily Telegraph.</b>&mdash;"One hardly knows which to
+admire the more&mdash;the skill of the artist or the skill
+with which his studies have been reproduced, for the
+colours of the originals are shown with marvellous
+fidelity, and the delicate art of the impressionist loses
+nothing in the process. The book, therefore, is a
+double triumph, and will therefore be prized by
+collectors."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>WHISTLER AS
+I KNEW HIM</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>125</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+AND TINT<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>40s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<span class='smcap'>Haldane Macfall</span> in <b>The Academy</b>.&mdash;"No one
+who loves the Art of Whistler should be without this
+handsome book; it contains works of Art of exquisite
+beauty; it contains a delightful picture of the outward
+Whistler that the man himself wished to be mistaken
+for the real thing&mdash;half butterfly, half wasp, wholly
+laughing enigma."
+<br />
+<b>The Observer.</b>&mdash;"A singularly illuminating and
+intimate monograph."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>REMBRANDT</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>16</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>12s. 6d.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Aberdeen Free Press.</b>&mdash;"The illustrations are
+magnificent examples of the perfection to which
+reproduction in colour is carried by Mr. Menpes, and
+the book as a whole is of very special interest."
+<br />
+<b>British Weekly.</b>&mdash;"An invaluable collection of
+superb reproductions of Rembrandt's work. The
+book is a most desirable possession."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">
+<span class='smcap'>Published by</span> ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK · SOHO SQUARE · LONDON · W.
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44794 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
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@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #44794 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44794)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Thames
+
+Author: G. E. Mitton
+
+Illustrator: Mortimer Menpes
+
+Release Date: January 30, 2014 [EBook #44794]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THAMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
+  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
+  signs=.
+
+
+
+
+THE THAMES
+
+
+
+
+     VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES BY MORTIMER MENPES
+     EACH 20S. NET WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     THE DURBAR
+     JAPAN · WORLD'S CHILDREN
+     WORLD PICTURES · VENICE
+     WAR IMPRESSIONS
+     INDIA · BRITTANY
+
+
+     _Published by_
+     A. & C. BLACK. SOHO SQUARE. LONDON. W.
+
+
+     _AGENTS_
+
+     AMERICA    THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
+                  64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
+
+     CANADA     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
+                  27 RICHMOND STREET, TORONTO
+
+     INDIA      MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
+                  MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
+                  309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: PUNTING]
+
+
+
+
+     THE THAMES
+
+     BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
+     TEXT BY G. E. MITTON
+     PUBLISHED BY A.&C. BLACK
+     SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
+
+
+
+
+     _Published July 1906_
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER I                                        PAGE
+  The Beauty of the River                             1
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  The Oxford Meadows                                 25
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  The Old Town of Abingdon                           37
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  Dorchester and Sinodun Hill                        47
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  Castle and Stronghold                              53
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  Twin Villages                                      57
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  A Mitred Abbot                                     67
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  Sonning and its Roses                              72
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  Wargrave and Neighbourhood                         80
+
+  CHAPTER X
+  Henley                                             97
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+  The Romance of Bisham and Hurley                  105
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+  Boulter's Lock and Maidenhead                     128
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+  Windsor and Eton                                  140
+
+  CHAPTER XIV
+  Magna Charta                                      155
+
+  CHAPTER XV
+  Penton Hook                                       161
+
+  CHAPTER XVI
+  Weybridge and Chertsey                            167
+
+  CHAPTER XVII
+  The Londoner's Zone                               177
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII
+  The River at London                               205
+
+  CHAPTER XIX
+  Our National Possession                           231
+
+  Index                                             243
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  1. Punting                                           _Frontispiece_
+                                                                 PAGE
+  2. Thames Ditton                                                  v
+  3. Sutton Courtney, Culham Bridge                                 1
+  4. Pangbourne                                _Facing_             4
+  5. Dorchester Abbey                          "                    8
+  6. Day's Lock                                "                   12
+  7. Near the Bridge, Sutton Courtney          "                   14
+  8. Streatley Inn                             "                   18
+  9. Sandford Lock                                                 25
+  10. Iffley                                   _Facing_            28
+  11. Radley College Boat-house                "                   34
+  12. Almshouses of Abingdon                                       37
+  13. Abingdon                                 _Facing_            38
+  14. The Mill at Abingdon                     "                   40
+  15. Sutton Courtney Backwater                "                   42
+  16. Clifden Hampden from the Bridge          "                   44
+  17. Clifden Hampden                          "                   46
+  18. Hurley                                                       47
+  19. Cottages, Dorchester                     _Facing_            48
+  20. White Hart Hotel, Dorchester             "                   50
+  21. Dorchester Backwater                     "                   52
+  22. Danesfield                                                   53
+  23. Wallingford                              _Facing_            54
+  24. Streatley Mill                           "                   56
+  25. Goring Bridge                                                57
+  26. Streatley                                _Facing_            58
+  27. Goring Church                            "                   60
+  28. Goring                                   "                   62
+  29. Pangbourne, from the Swan Hotel          "                   64
+  30. Whitchurch Lock                          "                   64
+  31. Mapledurham Mill                         "                   66
+  32. Evening                                                      67
+  33. Caversham                                _Facing_            70
+  34. Paddling                                                     72
+  35. The Rose Garden at Sonning               _Facing_            72
+  36. Sonning                                  "                   76
+  37. St. George and the Dragon, Wargrave                          80
+  38. The Church at Wargrave                   _Facing_            80
+  39. Barges at Oxford                                             97
+  40. Red Lion Hotel, Henley                   _Facing_            98
+  41. Henley Regatta                           "                  100
+  42. Hambleden                                "                  102
+  43. Medmenham Abbey                                             105
+  44. General View of Marlow                   _Facing_           106
+  45. Quarry Woods                             "                  108
+  46. Bisham Church                            "                  110
+  47. Hurley Backwater                         "                  112
+  48. Bisham Abbey                             "                  114
+  49. Cookham, from above                                         128
+  50. Boulter's Lock, Ascot Sunday             _Facing_           128
+  51. Below Boulter's Lock                     "                  130
+  52. Maidenhead                               "                  132
+  53. Eton, from the Brocas                                       140
+  54. Windsor Castle                           _Facing_           140
+  55. Windsor                                  "                  144
+  56. Eton Chapel, from the Fields             "                  148
+  57. Magna Charta Island                                         155
+  58. Hedsor Fishery                                              161
+  59. Temple Lock                                                 167
+  60. Walton Bridge                            _Facing_           172
+  61. Sunbury                                  "                  174
+  62. Hampton Court                                               177
+  63. Hampton Court, from the River            _Facing_           178
+  64. Marlow Church                                               205
+  65. Beyond Hammersmith Bridge                _Facing_           206
+  66. The Custom House                         "                  208
+  67. Dutch Barges near the Tower              "                  210
+  68. The Tower of St. Magnus                  "                  212
+  69. St. Paul's                               _Facing_           214
+  70. The Houses of Parliament                 "                  216
+  71. Westminster by Night                     "                  218
+  72. Hay Barges near Westminster Bridge       "                  222
+  73. Chelsea Reach, with the Old Church       "                  226
+  74. View from Richmond Hill                                     231
+  75. From Battersea Bridge                    _Facing_           232
+  _Sketch Map at end of Volume_
+
+
+_The Illustrations in this volume were engraved and printed at the
+Menpes Press, Watford._
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BEAUTY OF THE RIVER
+
+
+Close your eyes and conjure up a vision of the river Thames; what
+is the picture that you see? If you are a prosaic and commercial
+person, whose business lies by the river side, the vision will be one
+of wharves and docks, of busy cranes loading and unloading; a row of
+bonded warehouses rising from the water's edge; lighters filled with
+tea lying in their shadow, tarpaulined and padlocked; ships of all
+sizes and shapes, worn by water and weather. And up and down, in and
+out, among it all you see river police on their launch, inquisitive
+and determined, watching everything, hearing everything, and turning
+up when least expected. The glories of the high Tower Bridge, and the
+smoky gold of the setting sun will not affect you, for your thoughts
+are fixed on prosaic detail. As for green fields and quiet backwaters,
+such things do not enter into the vision at all.
+
+Yet for one who sees the Thames thus prosaically, a hundred see it in
+a gayer aspect. To many a man it is always summer there, for the river
+knows him not when the chill grey days draw in. He sees gay houseboats
+in new coats of paint, decorated with scarlet geraniums and other
+gaudy plants. He associates the river with "a jolly good time" with a
+carefully chosen house-party, with amateur tea-making and an absence of
+care. Nowhere else is one so free to "laze" without the rebuke even of
+one's own occasionally too zealous conscience.
+
+To another the Thames simply means the Boat Race, nothing more and
+nothing less. Year by year he journeys up to London from his tiny
+vicarage in the heart of the country for that event. If the high
+tide necessitates it, he stands shivering on the brink in the chill
+whiteness of early morning. He sits on the edge of a hard wooden cart
+for an immense time, and, by way of keeping up his strength, eats an
+indigestible penny bun, a thing that it would never enter his head to
+do at any other time. He sees here and there one or the other of those
+school-fellows or university chums who have dropped out of his life for
+all the rest of the year. Then, after a moment's shouting, a moment's
+tense anxiety or bitter disappointment, according to the position of
+the boats, the flutter of a flag, and a thrill of something of the old
+enthusiasm that the unsparing poverty of his life has slowly ground out
+of him, he retires to his vicarage again for another year, elated or
+depressed according to the result of the race.
+
+To others Henley is the embodiment of all that is joyous; the one week
+in the year that is worth counting. But to others, and these a vast
+majority of those who know the river at all, the Thames means fresh
+and life-giving air after a week spent within four walls. It means
+congenial exercise and light, and the refreshment that beauty gives,
+even if but half realised. It means a quiet dream with a favourite pipe
+in a deep backwater so overhung with trees that it resembles a green
+tunnel. The gentle drone of the bees sounds from the banks, there is a
+flash of blue sheen as a kingfisher darts by; a gentle dip and slight
+crackling tell of another favoured individual making his way cautiously
+along to the same sheltered alley; the radiant sunlight falls white
+upon the water through the leaves and sends shimmering reflections of
+dancing ripples on the sides of the punt. Such a position is as near
+Paradise as it is given to mortal to attain.
+
+These are only a few of an inexhaustible variety of aspects of this
+glorious river, and each reader is welcome to add his own favourite to
+the list.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE]
+
+For the purposes of this book we are dealing with the Thames between
+Oxford and London, though as a matter of fact, tradition has it that
+the Thames proper does not begin until below Oxford, where it is formed
+by the junction of the Thame and the Isis. Tamese (Thames) means
+"smooth spreading water." Tam is the same root as occurs in Tamar,
+etc., and the "es" is the perpetually recurring word for water, _e.g._,
+Ouse, ooze, usquebagh. Isis is probably a back formation, from Tamesis.
+In Drayton's _Polyolbion_, we have the pretty allegory of the wedding
+of Thame and Isis, from which union is born the sturdy Thames.
+
+     Now Fame had through this Isle divulged in every ear
+     The long expected day of marriage to be near,
+     That Isis, Cotswold's heir, long woo'd was lastly won,
+     And instantly should wed with Thame, old Chiltern's son.
+
+In Spenser's _Faërie Queene_ the notion is carried one step further,
+and Thames, the son of Thame and Isis, is to wed with Medway, a
+far-fetched conceit, for the rivers do not run into each other in any
+part of their course.
+
+It is strange that a river such as the Thames, which, though by no
+means great as regards size, has played an important part in the
+life of the nation, should not have inspired more writers. There is
+no striking poem on the Thames. The older poets, Denham, Drayton,
+Spenser, Cowley, Milton, and Pope, all refer to the river more or less
+frequently, but they have not taken it as a main theme. It is even more
+neglected by later poets. There are poems to special parts or scenes,
+such as Gray's well-known "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College";
+the river colours one or two of Matthew Arnold's poems; but the great
+poem, which shall take it as a sole theme, is yet to come. Neither
+is there a good book on this river, though it is among rivers what
+London is among the cities of men. Yet the material is abundant, and
+associations are scattered thickly along the banks. No fewer than seven
+royal palaces have stood by the river. And of these one is still the
+principal home of our sovereign. Of the others, Hampton Court, chiefly
+reminiscent of William III., is standing. The neighbouring palace of
+Richmond remains but in a fragment. At London, Westminster, the home of
+our early and mediæval kings, has vanished, except for the great hall
+and a crypt. Whitehall--the old palace--is wholly gone, though one part
+of the new palace projected by James I. remains. As for the old palace
+of Greenwich, so full of memories of the Tudors, that has been replaced
+by a later structure. I hesitate to name Kew in this list, so entirely
+unworthy is it of the name of palace, yet, as the residence of a king
+it should, perhaps, find a place.
+
+From the annals of these palaces English history could be completely
+reconstructed from the time of Edward the Confessor to the present day.
+
+But it is not in historical memories alone that the Thames is so rich.
+Poets, authors, politicians, and artists have crowded thickly on its
+banks from generation to generation. The lower reaches are haunted by
+the names of Hogarth, Cowley, Thomson; further up we come to the homes
+of Walpole, Pope, and Fielding. At Laleham lived Matthew Arnold. Not
+far from Magna Charta Island is Horton, where Milton lived. Though his
+home was not actually on the river, Milton must have often strolled
+along the banks of the Thames, and many of his poems show the impress
+of associations gathered from such scenery as is to be found about
+Ankerwyke and Runneymead:
+
+     Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
+     While the landscape round it measures:
+     Russet lawns and fallows gray,
+     Where the nibbling flocks do stray.
+     Meadows trim with daisies pied;
+     Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
+
+From the records of Eton alone many a book might be compiled of the
+lives of men in the public eye, whose impressions were formed there by
+the Thames side. Indeed, had the river no other claim to notice than
+its connection with Eton and Oxford, through which more men who have
+controlled the destiny of their country and made empire have passed,
+than through any similar foundations in England, this alone would be
+cause enough to make it a worthy subject for any book.
+
+Beside palaces and the homes of great men, castles and religious
+houses once stood thickly along the banks of the river. The notable
+monasteries of Reading, Dorchester, Chertsey, and Abingdon, etc., were
+widely celebrated as seats of learning in their day, and the castles of
+Reading, Wallingford, and Oxford were no less well known.
+
+It is a curious law in rivers that, as a whole, the windings usually
+cover double the length of the direct axis, and the Thames is no
+exception to the rule. It sweeps in and out with a fair amount of
+regularity, the great bend to the south at Thames Ditton and Weybridge
+being reversed higher up in the great bend to the north at Bourne End
+and Hambleden. Naturally the sides of these indentations run north and
+south instead of in the usual course of east and west. From Wargrave
+to Henley the current is almost due north, and likewise from Surbiton
+to Brentford. A more apparent curve, because much smaller in radius, is
+that at Abingdon; here the course by the stream is about nine miles, in
+contrast to the two overland. The Great Western Railway is the chief
+river railway, but as it runs a comparatively straight course between
+London and Didcot, some places on the great curves are considerably
+off the main line, and are served by branches. After Reading it keeps
+very close to the river as far as Moulsford, and is not distant from
+it the rest of the way to Oxford, as it turns almost direct north from
+Didcot Junction. The Great Western Railway is ably supplemented by the
+London and South Western Railway, from which the lesser stations on the
+south of the river near to London can be reached, also the districts
+of Twickenham, Hampton, etc., included in the chapter called "The
+Londoners' Zone." Further up, Weybridge, Chertsey, Egham, and Windsor
+can also be reached by this railway, which cuts a curve and touches the
+river again at Reading.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER ABBEY]
+
+There are many zones on the river, and each has its devotees. It is
+curious to notice how one crowd differs from another crowd on its
+"people-pestered shores." It is difficult to draw hard and fast lines,
+but taking the boundaries of the London County Council as the end of
+London, we can count above it many zones, rich in beauty, divided from
+each other by stretches of dulness; for, beautiful as the river is,
+it must be admitted parts of it are dull, though, like the patches
+on a fair skin, these serve but to emphasise the characteristics
+of the remainder. A rather dreary bit succeeds Hammersmith, though
+this is not without its own attractiveness, and the first real zone
+that we can touch upon is that from Richmond to Hampton, which runs
+Maidenhead hard for first place in popularity; but the Richmond and
+Hampton river people are largely recruited from the inhabitants, while
+those at Maidenhead are mostly visitors. Passing over the waterworks
+and embankments above Hampton, we begin another zone, much less known
+because less accessible, but in its own way more attractive than that
+of Richmond. It is pure country, with green fields, willow trees, cows
+grazing on the banks, many curves and doublings in the channel of the
+main stream, and ever varying vistas, and this continues to beyond
+Weybridge. About Chertsey the scenery is flat, but Laleham and Penton
+Hook are two places that annually delight hundreds of persons.
+
+Between Staines and Windsor there is a fairly attractive stretch, with
+the park and woods of Ankerwyke on one side, and the meadows on the
+other. High on the south rises Cooper's Hill, and beyond Albert Bridge
+we see the smoothly kept turf of the Home Park.
+
+Windsor and Eton, of course, will require a chapter to themselves. In
+this general description it is sufficient to say that the influence
+of Eton is apparent all the way to Bray. Then we start a new zone, the
+most popular one on the river, that from Maidenhead to Bourne End. Of
+the delights of this beautiful and varied section it is unnecessary
+here to speak. But the Maidenhead reach is spoilt for fastidious people
+by its too great popularity. To those who love the river for itself,
+the endless passing and repassing, the impossibility of finding quiet,
+undisturbed corners, the noise and merrymaking, even the sight of too
+many fellow creatures, is a burden. From this the part above Marlow is
+protected by being less accessible. It is too far to be reached easily
+from Maidenhead, and those who come by train have an awkward change at
+a junction; therefore the crowd finds it not. Yet the beauties are no
+less admirable than those of the adored Maidenhead.
+
+At Hambleden the influence of Henley begins to be felt, and above
+Henley we enter on another zone. Nowhere else on the river are to
+be found so many fascinating spots lying in the stream; certainly,
+no other part offers so many tempting backwaters. This is the zone
+for those who love the country pure and simple, and who can put up
+cheerfully with the inconveniences attendant on the procuring of
+supplies, for the sake of the quiet, marshy meadows.
+
+The reach includes Sonning with its two bridges, its islands, and its
+rose-garden; but beyond Sonning dulness is apparent once more, and
+with the neighbourhood of the great and smoky town of Reading, charm
+withers. It is not until Mapledurham that the prettiness of the river
+becomes again apparent, and Mapledurham is rather an oasis, for in
+the reach beyond it, though the great rounded chalk hills grow opal
+in the sunlight, and the larks sing heavenwards, the attractiveness
+cannot be called beauty. From Pangbourne and Whitchurch to Goring and
+Streatley, the river lies beneath the chalk heights, which seem to dip
+underground, reappearing on the other side by Streatley; and the whole
+of the stretch, with its rich and varied woods, its delightful islands
+and weirs, its pretty cottages and churches, is full of charm.
+
+  [Illustration: DAY'S LOCK]
+
+Beyond Cleeve Lock, with the single exception of Mongewell, there is
+again dulness, though for boating pure and simple the reach is very
+good. Wallingford has a trim prettiness of its own, with its clean-cut
+stone bridge and its drooping willow. Park-like grounds and pleasant
+trees succeed, Sinodun Hill looms up ahead, and one may penetrate up
+the Thame to Dorchester, where the willows nearly meet overhead. Day's
+Lock still belongs to the clean prettiness of the Wallingford stretch,
+which, in fact, continues all the way to Culham, notwithstanding that
+we pass the much admired Clifton Hampden, where the church stands high
+on the cliff. Culham itself is dull, but with the pretty backwater of
+Sutton Courtney we begin a new kind of scenery. Abingdon has something
+of its richness and profusion, and Nuneham Courtney woods, though not
+rising so abruptly as those at Clieveden, are glorious. After this
+we begin the famous meadows that continue more or less all the way to
+Oxford, and have a fascination of their own.
+
+The best way to see the river as a whole, for those who can spare the
+time, is to go on Salter's steamers, which run daily, Sundays excepted,
+during the summer. The fare one way is 14s., exclusive of food, and the
+night spent _en route_. The trip takes two days, the steamer leaving
+Kingston at 9 in the morning, and reaching Henley at 7.15 in the
+evening. The reverse way, it leaves Oxford at 9.30, and reaches Henley,
+which is about half-way, at 7 in the evening.
+
+In this rough sketch it has been shown that there is no lack of choice
+for those who seek their pleasure on the river, and the opportunity
+meets with full response. Seen in sunshine on a summer morning,
+especially if it be the end of the week, the river is brilliant. The
+dainty coloured muslins and laces, the Japanese parasols, the painted
+boats, the large shady hats, the sparkle where the oars meet the
+water, and the white sails of the sailing boats bellying in the wind,
+are only a few items in a sparkling picture. Fragile, yellow-white
+butterflies and the richer coloured red admirals hover about the banks;
+purple loose-strife, meadow-sweet, and snapdragon grow on the banks
+with many a tall gaudily coloured weed. Here and there great cedars
+rise among the lighter foliage, showing black against a turquoise sky;
+while on the water, where the wind has ruffled it, there is the "many
+twinkling smile" ascribed by Æschylus to the ocean. But, to those
+who know the Thames, this smiling aspect is not the only lovable one:
+they know it also after rain, when the water comes thundering over the
+weirs in translucent hoops of vivid green, and the boiling foam below
+dances like whipped cream. To walk along the sedgy banks is to leave
+a trail of "squish-squash" with every step. All the yellow and brown
+flat-leaved green things that grow thickly near the edges are barely
+able to keep their heads above the stream, and the long reeds bend with
+the current like curved swords. Every little tributary gushes gurgling
+to join in the mad race, and the sounds that tell of water are in our
+ears like the instruments in an orchestra. There are the rush, the
+dip, and the tinkle, as well as the deep-throated roar. Watching and
+listening, we feel a strange sympathy with the new life brought by
+the increased current; we feel as if it were flooding through our own
+veins, and as if we, like the squirming, wriggling things that live
+in the slime below the flood-curtain, were waking up anew after a long
+torpor.
+
+  [Illustration: NEAR THE BRIDGE, SUTTON COURTNEY]
+
+Even in late autumn, when the slow, white mist rises from the marshy
+ground, and most of the birds are gone; when the eddies are full of
+dead leaves floating away from the wood where all their sheltered
+lives have been spent; when the sparkle and the gaiety and the
+light-heartedness are gone, and the water looks indigo and dun, with
+patches of quicksilver floating on it; when the great webs of the
+spiders that haunt the banks hang like filmy curtains of lace heavy
+with the moisture of the air, and the sun sinks wanly behind a bank of
+cloud--even then the river may be loved.
+
+Assuredly, those who go on the river for the day only, and know it but
+under one aspect--that of lazy heat--lose much. In the evening time, as
+one steps from the long French window into the scented dusk, soft white
+moths flap suddenly across the strip of light, and one's feet fall
+silently on the velvet turf, cool with the freshness that ever is on
+a river margin. Down by the edge the black water hurries swiftly past
+with a continuous soothing gurgle. A sleepy bird moves in a startled
+way in a bush, and all the small things that awake in the night are
+stirring. One can reach down and touch the onyx water slipping between
+one's fingers like dream jewels; and far overhead in the rent and torn
+caverns of the clouds, the stars, bigger and brighter than ever they
+look in London, sail swiftly and silently from shelter to shelter. The
+plaintive cry of an owl sounds softly from the meadow across the water,
+and there is an indescribable sense of motion and poetry, and a thrill
+of expectation that would be wholly lacking in a landscape ever so
+beautiful, without the river.
+
+Then there are the grey days, when sudden sheens of silver drop upon
+the ruffled water as it eddies round a corner, and in a moment the
+surface is peopled with dancing fairies, spangled and brilliant,
+flitting in and out in bewildering movement. Or the same cold, silver
+light catches the side of a ploughed field, a moment before brown,
+but now shot with green as all the long delicate blades are revealed.
+These, and a thousand other delights, cannot be known to the visitor
+of a day only. Under all its aspects, in all its vagaries, the river
+may be loved; and in the swift gliding motion there is an irresistible
+fascination. It gives meaning to idleness, and fills up vacancy. By the
+banks of the river one never can be dull.
+
+The river is one of the greatest of our national possessions. Other
+rivers there are in England where one may boat on a small part, where
+here and there are beauty spots; but the Thames alone gives miles of
+bewildering choice, and can take hundreds and hundreds at once upon
+its flood. Now embanked and weired and locked, its waters are ideal for
+boating, and its fishing, with little exception, is free to all.
+
+Shooting on the banks of the Thames is forbidden, and the birds have
+quickly learned to know their sanctuary. Lie still for a while in the
+lee of an osier-covered ait, or beneath the shelter of an overhanging
+willow, and that cheeky little reed-bunting will hop about so near,
+that, were you endowed by nature with the quickness of movement granted
+to a cat, you could seize it in one hand. White-throats, robins,
+thrushes, blackbirds, all haunt the stream, and reed warblers and sedge
+warblers have their haunts by the banks. The kingfisher is rapidly
+increasing, and makes his home quite close to the locks and weirs; the
+russet brown of his breast, as he sits motionless on a twig waiting his
+time for a dart, may now be seen by a noiseless and sharp-eyed watcher.
+The soft coo of the wood pigeons sounds from tall trees, and the cawing
+of the rooks, softened by distance into a melodious conversation, is
+wafted from many a rookery. The chatter of an impudent magpie may worry
+you, or the hoarse squawk of a jay break your rest, but they are only
+the discords that the great musician, Nature, knows how to introduce
+into her river symphony.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY INN]
+
+Hotels on the river have, in the last few years, awakened to the cry
+of the middle classes for air and light, and yet more air. Some of
+the hotels are pretty with verandahs and creeper covered walls, but
+others are old-fashioned--with low rooms. Yet every proprietor who can
+by hook or crook manage it, now runs a lawn of exquisite turf down to
+the water's edge, decorates it with flowers far more vivid than can
+be seen elsewhere, and knocks up a bungalow-like building, terribly
+desolate in the winter when the green mould creeps insidiously over
+the wooden posts, and the sail-cloth rots in the damp; but airy and
+commodious in the summer, when relays of fifty people or more may be
+seated at a time, and yet there is no satiating smell of cooked food.
+The boat owners have also seen fit to accommodate their convenience to
+the demand, and at any large builder's landing-stage, boats may now be
+hired to be left almost anywhere on the river, to be fetched back by
+the owner.
+
+Pessimists say that the river is losing its charm, that the advent of
+motor cars, stirring in people a hitherto dormant love of speed, makes
+the slow progress of punting a weariness instead of a relaxation. But
+this is not greatly to be feared. The charm of a motor is one thing,
+the charm of the river another; and we cannot spare either. Crowds may
+slightly diminish, but this is no loss, rather a gain to the real river
+lover.
+
+Thames gardens are peculiar. By the nature of the case they must be far
+more public than ordinary gardens, for the owner's reason for buying
+the house was that he wanted to sit on his own green turf and see the
+river flow endlessly past. Therefore, though he may hedge around the
+three land sides with high walls and impenetrable thorns, he leaves
+the fourth side open so that all the world may look. No one has yet
+been clever enough to invent a screen that shall be transparent on
+one side and opaque on the other, and until they do, the owners of
+these beautiful river lawns must sit in the full light that beats upon
+the river banks, and allow every passing stranger who has raked up a
+shilling to hire a boat, to enjoy the beauties of a garden he has not
+paid for. Thames lawns are celebrated, and rightly so. Not even the
+turf of college quads, grown for hundreds of years, can beat their
+turf. Thick, smooth, closely woven they are, and above all, of a pure
+rich green that is a delight to see, and, by way of enhancing this
+marvellous green, the colour which is most often to be seen with it is
+its complementary colour, red. Whether the effect is obtained merely
+by contrast I do not know, but certainly it seems as if nowhere else
+could be found geraniums of so rich a vermilion, roses of so glorious
+a crimson. In many of these river gardens, too, especially where a
+little stream trickles down, a light trellis arch is thrown up and
+covered with Rambler roses, old rose in colour, and only second to the
+vermilion as a complement to the green lawn.
+
+Two of these gloriously green lawns I have particularly in mind, one at
+Shepperton, and one near Thames Ditton, but where they are to be seen
+so frequently it is invidious to particularise.
+
+These are the private gardens of a grand sort, and no whit less
+beautiful, though without the same expanse of lawn, are the gardens of
+the lock-keepers, in which the owners take a particular pride.
+
+     Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,
+     Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,
+     Sweet-william with his homely cottage smell,
+     And stocks in fragrant blow;
+     Roses, that down the alleys shine afar,
+     And open, jasmine-muffled lattices.
+                                   --_M. Arnold._
+
+But in taking count of Thames's decorations we are not confined to
+gardens. Among the flowers growing wild on the river banks we have
+no lack of choice. It is a pretty conceit of Drayton's, to make his
+bridal pair, Thame and Isis, travel to meet one another along paths
+flower-decked by willing nymphs. Old Thame, as the man, was to have
+only wild flowers, not those "to gardens that belong":
+
+     The primrose placing first because that in the spring
+     It is the first appears, then only flourishing,
+     The azured harebell next, with them they neatly mix'd,
+     T'allay whose luscious smell, they woodbind plac'd betwixt.
+     Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in the lily;
+     And near to that again her sister daffodilly.
+     To sort these flowers of show with th' other that were sweet
+     The cowslip then they couch, and th' oxlip, for her meet,
+     The columbine amongst they sparingly do set,
+     The yellow king-cup wrought in many a curious fret,
+     And now and then among, of eglantine a spray,
+     By which again a course of lady smocks they lay
+     The crow flower, and thereby the clover-flower they stick.
+     The daisie over all those sundry sweets so thick;
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The crimson darnel flowers, the blue-bottle and gold
+     Which, though esteemed but weeds, yet for their dainty hues
+     And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose choose.
+
+The "luscious smell" cannot refer to the harebell, which has a very
+faint perfume; besides, it is difficult to think of the harebell in
+this connection, for it is a full summer flower, while all the rest
+belong to spring: Drayton must, therefore, mean the wild hyacinth,
+which is still often called the bluebell by people in England, though
+in Scotland this name is correctly reserved for the harebell. The
+"luscious smell" exactly describes the rich, rather cloying scent of
+the hyacinth. There has been some discussion as to what is meant by the
+eglantine, which the old poets are so fond of mentioning. In Milton it
+means the honeysuckle, but in the others probably the sweetbriar; while
+woodbine is either the twining clematis, the "traveller's joy"--rather
+a misnomer, by-the-way, as it is an insignificant and disappointing
+flower--or the honeysuckle.
+
+Isis was gay with garden flowers:
+
+                 ... The brave carnation then,
+     With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the pale,
+     Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale
+     Of sweetness, yet in scents as various as in sorts.
+     The purple violet then, the pansy there supports
+     The marygold above t' adorn the arched bar;
+     The double daisie, thrift, the button bachelor,
+     Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion, and to these
+     Some lavender they put with rosemary and bays.
+
+To make a catalogue of the flowers which may be found on the Thames
+banks at the present day would be out of place here, yet there are
+one or two plants so frequently seen that they may be mentioned.
+Among these are the purple loose-strife, with its tapering, richly
+coloured spikes, standing sometimes as high as four feet, and
+occasionally mistaken for a foxglove; the pink-flowered willow-herb;
+the wild mustard or cherlock, with its sulphur yellow blossoms, and
+creeping-jenny. The bog-bean, or buck-bean, with white lace-like
+flowers may be seen occasionally in stagnant swamps. The water-violet,
+which, however, is not in the least like a violet, is also to be
+found in the tributary ditches, as well as the tall yellow iris;
+the flowering rush and the bur-reeds often form details in a river
+picture. In the lock gardens herbaceous borders, full of phlox,
+sweet-william, stocks, valerian, big white lilies, and, later, red hot
+pokers, sunflowers, and hollyhocks, are ordinary sights. In the meadows
+near Oxford fritillaries, otherwise called snakes'-heads, are seen
+abundantly in spring, but these and other flowers shall be mentioned
+more particularly in connection with the places where they grow.
+
+It remains but to end with the aspiration of Denham:
+
+     O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
+     My great example as it is my theme!
+     Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
+     Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing full.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OXFORD MEADOWS
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+This account of the river may well begin at Folly Bridge, seeing it
+is folly in any case to attempt to cut off a section of a river, and,
+as before explained, our course from Oxford to London is peculiarly
+arbitrary, for the Thames proper does not begin till below Dorchester,
+and at Oxford the river is the Isis. Having thus disarmed criticism,
+without further explanation or apology, we stand upon Folly Bridge,
+which is a little way above the end of the course for both Torpids and
+Eights.
+
+To the left are the college barges, resplendent in many colours, with
+their slender flagstaffs rising against a background of the shady trees
+that border Christchurch meadows. The reach of water beside them is
+alive with boats, and the oars rise and dip with the regularity of the
+legs of a monster centipede. The barges should be seen in Eights week,
+when they are in their glory, occupied by the mothers, sisters, and
+aunts of the undergraduates, dressed in costumes that in mass look like
+brilliant flower-beds.
+
+To see the bridge properly, however, it is necessary to go down to
+the tow-path and look back at it, when its quaint, foreign appearance
+can be better estimated. It stands across an island on which is the
+renowned Salter's boat-house, and its solidity and the tall houses near
+it, which throw black shadows in the yellow sunlight, make it look not
+unlike a corner in Venice.
+
+Following the river down, we see on the Oxford side the narrow mouth
+of the meandering Cherwell under a white arched bridge. The most
+delightful place for "lazing" in a boat is the Cherwell, shady and not
+too wide; deliciously cool in the height of the summer, so rich is the
+foliage of the over-arching trees. Lower down is the New Cut, destined
+to relieve the Cherwell of its superfluous water in flood time and so
+prevent the flooding of the Christchurch meadows. Opposite the mouth
+of the New Cut is the University Boat-house, and further down, where
+a branch of the river runs off to the right, are the bathing places.
+This branch is crossed by a bridge, and it makes the next strip of land
+an island. The place is known as the Long Bridges. The river narrows
+at the point, and the narrowed part is called The Gut; just below a
+tributary from the Cherwell, known as the Freshman's river, dribbles
+into the Thames. It is at The Gut that the most exciting scenes in the
+races generally happen. As everyone knows, Torpids are in the fourth
+and fifth weeks after the beginning of the Lent term, and as they
+are not of so much importance as the Eights, and as the weather does
+not lend itself to open-air festivities, they are generally watched
+only by a shivering handful of spectators who have a more or less
+personal interest in them. The Eights, which take place in the middle
+of the summer term, are the event of the year to Oxford, and intensely
+exciting they may be. The lowest boat starts from the lasher above
+Iffley, and the course ends at Salter's Barge. But the crux of the
+whole matter often lies in The Gut, and much depends on the ability of
+the cox to steer a clean course, as to whether his boat is bumped or
+bumps. As the boats in cutting the curve below this crucial point come
+diagonally at it, disaster here often overtakes a crew which has before
+been doing well. The aforesaid narrow channel from the Cherwell is
+navigable only in a canoe and by good luck; but the tale is told that
+one cox, in his first year, being excited beyond reason, mistook it for
+the main channel, and, steering right ahead, landed his crew high and
+dry on the shoals. Hence the name, the Freshman's river.
+
+  [Illustration: IFFLEY]
+
+Here are two pictures, taken from life, which express the difference
+between the two occasions:
+
+     The Eights: Brilliant blue sky above, glinting blue water
+     beneath. Down across Christchurch meadow troops a butterfly
+     crowd, flaunting brilliant parasols and chattering gaily
+     to the "flannelled fools" who form the escort. Despite
+     the laughter it is a solemn occasion, for the college boat
+     that is head of the river may be going to be bumped this
+     afternoon, and, if so, the bump will surely take place in
+     front of the barges. The only question is, before which
+     barge will it happen? When the exciting moment draws near,
+     chatter ceases, a tense stillness holds the crowd in thrall;
+     the relentless pursuers creep on steadily, narrowing the
+     gap between themselves and the first boat, and finally bump
+     it exactly opposite its own barge! A moment's pause. The
+     completeness of the triumph is too impressive to be grasped
+     at once; then--pandemonium! Pistol-shots, rattles, hoots,
+     yells, shrieks of joy, wildly waving parasols, and groans.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The Torpids: A raw cold February day; a leaden sky heavy with
+     snow; dimly seen figures scudding over the frozen meadows
+     of Iffley; the river itself is almost frost-bound, and the
+     men waiting in the boats for the starting gun look blue
+     and pinched. They must find these last ten seconds hard to
+     endure. Nine, eight, seven, six--ugh! will it never go? At
+     last! And, as the signal sounds, the oars strike the water
+     with a splash, and the boats shoot off and begin the long
+     tussle against a head wind and that strong stream which
+     always makes the Torpids a harder matter than the Eights
+     rowed in summer water. It is too late to follow them, so
+     heigh-ho for the King's Arms Hotel at Sandford, and a cup of
+     the good hot tea that the landlady knows so well how to make!
+
+The channel running past the bathing places is equally unsuited
+for navigation, and is moreover guarded by two mills, but it may be
+negotiated with the aforesaid element of good luck. Hinksey Stream
+flows into this backwater, and there are several places, after shoals
+have been avoided or surmounted, where it is extremely pleasant to
+while away an idle hour. By means of the Long Bridges and the lock
+at Iffley it is possible to get across the river from side to side
+diagonally. Passing on down stream we soon come to Iffley. In the
+meantime we can see many of the pinnacles and spires and domes for
+which Oxford is famous, and marvellous is the way in which they appear
+to swing round as we change our position. The part of new Oxford which
+lines the Iffley road behind the meadows is not attractive, but when
+we come in sight of Iffley itself we may well exclaim that it would be
+hard to find a sweeter spot. There are stone walls, thatched cottages
+and farmyards, hay and orchards, elms, alders, and silver-stemmed
+birches; in consequence a quiet, rural atmosphere broods over all.
+The cows feed down to the edge of the river, and swallows dart about
+overhead, while perhaps a man paddling a canoe shoots up and away
+again, his white flannels and the strength and grace of his movement
+irresistibly recalling a swan. The mill, half stone, half wooden cased,
+is very ancient; the massive foundations have become like rock from
+their long immersion in the running water. There is a great quiet pool
+behind the lock island, and here and there a glimpse may be caught of
+the square tower of the famous church, which is not far off, but is
+well hidden by trees.
+
+Iffley Church takes rank with Stewkley as the most beautiful example
+of a Norman church remaining to us out of London. It is, like so
+many Norman churches, very small and very solid. And it must yield
+to Stewkley in the fact that its architecture is not pure. Yet its
+massive central tower and its fine windows place it very high indeed.
+Its date is not certainly known, but is supposed to be between 1160 and
+1170. "The interior seems at first sight curious. There are, in fact,
+two chancels, one behind the other. The further one is early English
+work, and is much lighter in style than the rest of the building, and
+the east end is disappointing. This may have been added to lengthen
+the church. In the bay next to it, where the choir now sit, there are
+fourteenth century windows inserted under Norman arches, showing that
+the walls were of the earlier date. These windows were added by John de
+la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, in the latter half of the sixteenth century.
+There is a groined roof, and the piers are beautifully decorated. The
+arches supporting the tower are richly moulded, almost incongruously
+so in regard to the massive type of the masonry, which points to early
+Norman. The Perpendicular windows inserted in the north and south walls
+are good. It is only at the extreme west end that the Norman windows
+remain untouched. The font is of black marble, and is very curious.
+The triple west-end window, a splendid specimen, is best seen from
+the churchyard. Its moulding is very rich, and this alone would be
+sufficient to make Iffley rank high among ancient churches. Below it is
+a circular window inserted about 1858 on the supposed plan of a former
+one of which traces were found. The impossibility of approaching the
+style of the old work in modern times was never more strikingly shown.
+Below is a fine doorway with beak-head and billet moulding, worthy to
+be classed with the triple window. A very ancient yew stands on the
+south side of the church, and near it is the slender shaft of an old
+cross. The rectory house, dating from Tudor times, is a fine addition
+to the picturesque group."--_Guide to the Thames._
+
+Between Iffley and Sandford the famous Oxford meadows are seen at their
+best. In the summer they are gemmed with countless flowers, so that
+they rival the celebrated Swiss pastures. Prominent among these is the
+fritillary:
+
+     I know what white, what purple fritillaries
+     The grassy harvest of the river-fields,
+     Above by Ensham, down by Sandford yields,
+     And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries.
+                                       --_M. Arnold._
+
+Mr. G. Claridge Druce, the well-known botanist, who has made a special
+study of the Thames Valley and Oxfordshire, says:--"The Thames from
+Oxford to Sandford flows through meadows rich with fritillaries,
+its banks are bordered with the sweet-scented Acorus, and its waters
+are inhabited by Potamogeton prœlongus, flabellatus, and compressus,
+Zannichellia macrostemon, Å’nanthe fluviatilis, &c., and near Sandford
+appears, for the first time in the river's course, the lovely Leucojum
+æstivum." This is the flower better known as the summer snowflake,
+which we shall meet again. The above are only a tithe of the flowers
+which Mr. Druce mentions. Among others which may be recognised are the
+yellow iris, the cuckoo flower, the water villarsia, the purple orchis,
+and the willow weed. In the spring the marsh mallow is the first to
+appear with a vivid glory as of sunshine. The banks are flat and low,
+and, except for the flowers, uninteresting; nevertheless this is a
+useful part of the river, especially for sailing. Some college fours
+are rowed here. Passing under the railway line we see the pink-washed
+walls of the Swan Hotel, which stands on Kennington Island, connected
+with the mainland by a bridge; and then we come to Sandford itself,
+with charms almost as great as, though entirely different from, those
+of Iffley. The approach is disappointing. The tall mill chimney and
+the new brick houses are bare and ugly. The mill is a paper mill, and
+supplies the Clarendon Press. It stands close to the old-fashioned
+and pretty hotel, so completely ivy-covered that even one of the tall
+chimneys is quite overgrown. When close to the lock the mill is not
+noticeable and has the advantage of affording some shelter. As at
+Iffley, one can get right across from bank to bank by means of bridges,
+a most charming method that might well be adopted in other parts of
+the river. Indeed, near Oxford one great delight is the freedom from
+interference. Everyone is allowed full liberty; you may ride your
+bicycle along the tow-path, take it across locks, or even walk it by
+the side of the meadows, without any rebuke. Having put up a notice
+that they are not responsible for the condition of the tow-path and
+that people use it at their own risk, the Conservancy leave the matter
+alone. The islands at Sandford are rather complicated, and there are a
+couple of weirs, beneath which the water frills out over mossy stones
+into deep, shady pools. The fishing here is as good as any on the
+river. The Radley College boat-house and bathing place are near the
+lower pool, the college itself being rather more than a mile away. In
+spring these pools, with their broken banks of brown earth and their
+masses of scented white hawthorn, are most beautiful. The shy white
+violets hide in the grass near the weirs, and are found by only a few
+who know where to seek them.
+
+  [Illustration: RADLEY COLLEGE BOAT-HOUSE]
+
+In the Oxford zone we must include the woods at Nuneham Courtney,
+which, by the courtesy of the owner (Aubrey Harcourt), are open to
+undergraduates all Commemoration week and twice a week in the summer
+term; while the general public, after writing in advance, are allowed
+to picnic at the lock cottages two days a week from May to September.
+The Nuneham woods are on a ridge of greensand, and though they are
+not so high or at such a striking angle as those of Clieveden, they
+certainly have quite as great a charm. Anyone is allowed to walk
+through the park if it be approached from the road, but bicycles are
+not permitted. The lock cottages, which are a popular resort in the
+summer, stand beside a pretty wooden bridge which connects the islands
+with the mainland. Masses of wild roses and flowering clematis add
+their delicate touch to the beauty of the overhanging trees. Close
+by the water is the Carfax monument, a conduit or fountain erected
+by Otho Nicholson, who set it up at the place still called Carfax in
+Oxford, whence it was removed to its present position in 1787. The
+woods contain nothing very striking in the way of trees, though all
+the commoner sorts, the beeches, oaks, horse-chestnuts, and so on, are
+well represented. There are about 400 acres of wood, which surround the
+park, where the oaks show well, standing apart from each other.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE OLD TOWN OF ABINGDON
+
+
+As a headquarters for boating, for those who want to dawdle and
+explore odd corners and have no desire to rush through as many locks
+as possible in a day, Abingdon makes a good centre. It is within
+easy reach of the part lying below the woods at Nuneham, and in the
+other direction is the Sutton Courtney backwater, which, Wargrave
+notwithstanding, is not to be beaten on the Thames. Further down
+again is Clifton Hampden, which attracts many people, and the river
+at Abingdon itself is by no means to be despised. The bridge, called
+Burford Bridge, is a real delight. It is old and irregular, with
+straggling arches, some rounded, some pointed; and all, even the
+highest, comparatively low down over the water, framing cool, dark
+shadows within the embrace of the mighty piers. The bridge cannot be
+seen in the glance of an eye. It is very long, and rests partly on an
+island. Standing on this, the Nag's Head Inn projects from one side
+of the bridge, and from it stretches out a small garden with several
+orchard trees. The red tiles and creamy tint of the hotel walls show
+well in contrast with the grey stone of the bridge, and when the hotel
+is seen from the river above the bridge, with the tall spire of St.
+Helen's Church rising behind it, it is worth noticing.
+
+  [Illustration: ABINGDON]
+
+There are bits of old wall lining the bank on the town side, and ivy
+grows freely over them. Many of the houses stand back from the water;
+a part of the ruined abbey and the long range of the abbot's residence
+can be seen between masses of blossom. The great exterior chimney
+of the abbey buildings should particularly be noticed. The blossom
+at Abingdon is a great feature, and one not to be found everywhere.
+Horse-chestnuts and holm oaks dip their boughs in the water, and
+from the branches arises a perfect chorus of birds. Abingdon has its
+chimneys, of course, as well as hideous buildings suited to modern
+requirements of business, but in the general view these things are lost
+sight of.
+
+Burford is a corruption of Borough-ford, and before the building of the
+bridge in the fifteenth century, the ferry at Culham was the main means
+of communication with the other side of the river.
+
+The range of Nuneham, below which runs the backwater called the Old
+River, can be seen to the south-east. If this ever was the main stream
+it must have been very long ago, for the memory of it is not recorded
+in any document now extant. The Old River is crossed by another bridge,
+and the two are linked by a straight road, made by Geoffrey Barbour
+at the same time as the building of the bridges. There is a picture of
+Barbour in the almshouses, and this shows the bridge being built in the
+background; while an illuminated copy of verses tells us:
+
+     King Herry the Fyft, in his fourthe yere,
+     He hath i-founde for his folke a brige in Berkschire,
+     For cartis with cariage may go and come clere,
+     That many wynters afore were mareed in the myre.
+     Culham hithe [_wharf or landing_] hath caused many a curse,
+     I-blessed be our helpers we have a better waye,
+     Without any peny for cart and for horse.
+
+Below Burford Bridge, the great bur-reeds grow near the islands.
+There is one delightful old house, formerly a malt house, with all
+sorts of odd angles and corners. It encloses a small terraced court,
+from which steps lead down to the water. It stands on the site of St.
+Helen's nunnery, founded about 690. Further on are some of the newer
+almshouses--a blot on the scene; and then a glimpse may be had of the
+wooden cloister of the old almshouses, which, in their way, are as
+pretty as those at Bray.
+
+Christ's Hospital, as the almshouses are called, was founded in the
+reign of Edward VI. out of lands belonging to a dissolved Guild of
+the Holy Cross. The central hall dates, however, from 1400. It has a
+stone mullioned window and panelled walls; in the ceiling is a dome or
+cupola. Once a week eighty loaves of bread are here distributed among
+the poor people of the town, and when the loaves, with their crisp,
+flaky, yellow crust, stand in piles on the polished oak table, and the
+poor old people gather for their share, there is an old-world touch
+in the picture such as one does not often see nowadays. The cloister
+or arcade of dark wood outside is decorated with texts and proverbs
+on its inner wall. The newer almshouses, built in 1797, lack all the
+homeliness and interest of the older ones. The church of St. Helen's,
+which has a very tall spire, is close to the almshouses and the river,
+and is well worthy of its position. It has been much restored, but is
+mainly of sixteenth century work.
+
+  [Illustration: THE MILL AT ABINGDON]
+
+Of course there was an abbey at Abingdon, though whether the name
+of the town arose from that fact or from a proper name Aben or Æbba
+is doubtful. The earliest name of the town was the unpronounceable
+one of Seovechesham, and it was then a royal residence. The abbey
+was founded by Cissa about 675. It was destroyed by the Danes and
+reconstructed long before most places on the river had begun to have
+any history at all. The abbey rose to great importance and wealth. It
+held manors innumerable, and its abbot was a person to reckon with.
+Even at the date of Domesday Book the abbey held no less than thirty
+manors. But its power did not save it, and it suffered the common fate
+at the Dissolution. A gateway of about the fourteenth century and some
+ruins, which show where the dwellings of the monks stood, are all that
+remain, beside the guest-chamber--a large, barn-like building--and
+the almoner's residence. The latter has a magnificent fireplace and
+chimney. The ceiling of the room below is groined, and looks like
+that of a crypt, but this is said to have been the kitchen. The chief
+feature of interest is the huge chimney, which is like a room, and
+has little windows on each side; its size is best appreciated from the
+exterior view. The church has quite disappeared, for the little ancient
+church near the gateway was not the abbey church, but is supposed to
+have been at first a chapel of ease. In this there is some Norman work,
+including the west doorway, and it is probably of quite as ancient
+lineage as anything now remaining of the abbey.
+
+Henry I. was sent by his father, as a lad of twelve, to be educated
+at Abingdon Abbey, and the learning by which he gained the name of
+Beauclerc shows that there must have been some able men here. The town
+hall in the market place at Abingdon is really a fine bit of work. It
+has been attributed to Inigo Jones, and stands over an open arcade,
+according to the style of town halls of the seventeenth century. The
+lock is a good way above Abingdon, and from it the millstream, as usual
+a pleasant backwater, flows right back to the town, enclosing a large
+island.
+
+  [Illustration: SUTTON COURTNEY BACKWATER]
+
+The lock at Culham is one of the least interesting on the river, and of
+the hundreds who pass through it only a few know that they are close
+to the very prettiest backwater on the Thames, namely Sutton Pool.
+There is one backwater at Sutton Courtney which can be reached from
+above Culham Lock. This leads to the mill, now disused, and runs along
+the top of the numerous weirs that pour into Sutton Pool itself. It
+is pretty also, and it is pleasant to see the meadows where the cows
+stand knee-deep in flowering plants, and the little square tower of
+the church peeping through the trees. This backwater is the best for
+landing to go to the village. Along the top of the weirs runs a path--a
+public right-of-way--which leads across the fields to Culham Lock, and
+anyone may land here and look down upon the pool; but to get right into
+it the lock must be passed, and some way further, after going under
+the bridge, we can turn the corner of a large island and retrace our
+way upstream until we come into the great pool, with its miniature
+bays and tumbling water. The weirs are high, and the streams come down
+with force, making a restless heave and swell when the river is full.
+The little tongues of land that divide one bay from another are shaded
+by willows, and the lush green grass grows here and there around tiny
+beaches of white sand. In spring, masses of hawthorn, "all frosted"
+with flowers, bend down from above, and the wild hyacinths break up
+between the blades of grass. Tall reeds form tiny islets, and perhaps a
+little moorhen flaps out. It is in secluded places like this that the
+dainty nest of the reed-warbler may be seen, swinging so lightly upon
+its supports that it is extraordinary to think that so large a bird as
+the cuckoo should dare to deposit its egg there. Yet reed-warblers and
+sedge-warblers are both among the cuckoo's victims. Unfortunately, in
+this little paradise landing is everywhere strictly forbidden, but no
+one can forbid enjoyment of the beauties which appeal to sight.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN FROM THE BRIDGE]
+
+The village of Sutton Courtney is certainly worth visiting. The village
+green, with its tall chestnuts, limes, and elms, is the very picture of
+what a green should be. The church is particularly interesting, for it
+is that rarity an unrestored building, with the old red-tiled floor and
+the rudeness of the original--so often smoothed away behind stencilling
+and paint--still left untouched. There is a shelf of chained books,
+a fine carved screen, and an altar-tomb of some interest. The manor
+house, which is not far off, is in a medley of styles, ranging from
+Norman to Jacobean. Malefactors are said to have been hanged from the
+stout oak beam which is still in good preservation. One wing is of
+perfect Jacobean work, with an overhanging storey decorated with carved
+pendants. A fine old building, half-way up the village, is called the
+Hall of Justice; this, however, may have a meaning less obvious than
+supposed at first sight, as the family of Justice held the manor for
+some generations.
+
+In it there is a fine old Norman doorway. The owner has furnished the
+interior with tapestry hangings, etc., somewhat in accordance with what
+it may have looked like originally when in use. It certainly gives one
+an idea of the old Saxon or Norman style of dwelling before even the
+upper chamber or _solar_ came into fashion.
+
+The river at Clifton Hampden is not a couple of miles from the river
+at Nuneham Courtney, so great is the loop by Abingdon. It may be noted
+that the name Courtney, though spelt differently, is derived from the
+ownership of the Courtenays, Earls of Exeter, in both the instances
+above. Clifton Hampden is a great favourite with artists, for the
+church, with its little, pointed spire, stands on a cliff which has
+in parts broken away, showing the rich yellow ochre of the soil. This
+makes up well in a "composition." The river sweeps round beneath it
+in a sort of little bay, and when white ducks dabble in the water and
+blue-pinafored children play beneath the yellow-ochre cliff, there is
+much to be said for it. The houses, too, are not without points. They
+are mostly thatched, and have their share of plants and creepers. The
+bridge is of red brick, and, with a little toning by weather, will
+make a capital accessory. But to my mind Clifton Hampden lacks that
+indefinable quality of charm found in such abundance elsewhere.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN]
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SINODUN HILL AND DORCHESTER
+
+
+The island near Day's Lock, lying beneath the Wittenham Woods and
+Sinodun Hill, is particularly well kept and neat, and, in summer,
+bright with flowers. Standing on the end of the lock-keeper's island
+you can look straight up the weir, below which the river drifts away on
+each side of the island.
+
+On the right bank, raised slightly above the river, is the church of
+Little Wittenham, with a long, narrow bastion turret adhering to its
+tower. Inside there is a handsome monument, one of those legacies from
+the ages that prove long descent. A warm belt of Scotch firs grows
+near.
+
+Wittenham Woods lie under the shelter of the hill and close to the
+life-giving water. The trees grow well and form a home for countless
+birds of all kinds. "The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild
+pheasant, crow, sparrowhawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ring-dove, brown
+owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded side); in summer the cuckoo and
+turtle-dove are all found there, and, with the exception of the pigeons
+and kestrels, which seek their food at a distance during the day, they
+seldom leave the shelter of its trees."--_C. J. Cornish._
+
+  [Illustration: COTTAGES, DORCHESTER]
+
+Sinodun Hill, and its companion, Harp Hill, which is as like it as
+one twin to another, are sometimes called Wittenham Clumps. They are
+remarkable and conspicuous objects, rising abruptly and evenly from a
+very flat district, and they can be seen from many miles around, and,
+what is more curious, can be recognised. The smooth, rounded cone is so
+symmetrical that, whichever way you look at it, it seems the same, not
+changing its shape in the bewildering way of most hills; and the clump
+of trees placed so exactly on its crown is an unfailing river-mark.
+Sinodun is about 250 feet in height, and on it is a British earthwork,
+a triple line of entrenchment, with vallum and foss all round. The
+circumference of this on the outside is about a mile. Harp Hill has
+on it a tumulus called Brightwell Barrow. Then down below, close to
+Dorchester, is a double line of earthworks, much mutilated, but quite
+noticeable. No one knows the origin of these defences, which date far
+back into unhistorical days. Those on Sinodun are called British, while
+the others are supposed to be Roman. Roman camps were nearly always
+square, while British followed the windings of the hill.
+
+Dorchester, with its cornfields and trees, its vegetable gardens,
+and its old houses bowed this way and that, is a very unsophisticated
+little place. The deep quiet of its village street, where the cottages
+glow all hues in the sunlight, from deep red ochre to egg-colour,
+brooded over by the long-backed abbey church, is a rest-cure in itself.
+The great yew trees, the pretty lych-gate, the old wooden porch,
+are all just what one would expect to find. Dorchester is not on the
+Thames, yet belongs to it certainly, for the Thame, which combines
+with the Isis to form the Thames, flows past it. As its name proclaims,
+Dorchester was once a Roman camp. Numerous Roman coins have been found
+in the neighbourhood, and a Roman altar. It was also the seat of one of
+the first and largest bishoprics in England.
+
+In 634 a monk of the order of St. Benedict, named Birinus, crossed
+to Britain to follow in the steps of St. Augustine and work as a
+missionary among the men of Wessex. He landed safely, and came to this
+part of the country, then in Wessex, which at that time stretched north
+of the Thames, though afterwards, when Mercia's power became great
+under King Offa, Dorchester fell within that kingdom. Birinus preached
+with so much effect that the King conferred upon him the office of
+bishop and gave him Dorchester for his residence. He died in 650 and
+was buried in his own church, though it is said his body was afterwards
+moved to Winchester.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITE HART HOTEL, DORCHESTER]
+
+The early bishopric was vast. It included what in our own day are
+the Sees of Bath and Wells, Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln,
+Salisbury, Worcester, and Winchester. There must have been a church in
+some degree adequate to the importance of such a charge, but it was
+probably of wood; in any case, nothing remains of it, though certain
+indications seem to show that it stood on the same site as the present
+one.
+
+Dorchester was an important city, but its glory did not long remain,
+and the bishopric was ultimately split up into many Sees. In 1085 the
+seat of the See of Mercia was transferred to Lincoln. The abbey was
+founded here in 1140 for Augustinian monks, and it is the monks' church
+which still in great part exists. The long nave, with its red roof,
+is seen easily from the river, but the tower appears rather inadequate
+in height. On approaching, however, it is found to be of massive work.
+The interior of the church is wide and high, and gives that impression
+of bareness which is consistent with Norman work. In the east window
+is a great pier or transom which is supposed to have been originally
+intended as the support for a groined roof. The north chancel window
+is the famous Jesse window, with carved tracery, carrying figures all
+the way up the numerous branches. The lowest is that of Jesse, from
+whom spring all the subsequent ones. Very few figures are missing,
+considering the age of the window, and the carving is remarkably
+interesting. It is supposed that the figures of the Virgin and Child
+were at one time above that of the patriarch, but were removed at the
+Reformation. The rich green glass in the sedilia on the other side of
+the chancel should be noted. It is unusual to see sedilia pierced.
+Two of the nave arches are plain Norman work. A rood door remains,
+and there are one or two handsome altar tombs; also a leaden font,
+well moulded, and, on the east wall of the south aisle, there are some
+remains of frescoes. Close to the porch outside is a graceful shaft
+with a "restored" head.
+
+The Thame we have already spoken of. Its arching trees and corners,
+and deep shady alleys, make it a delightful place for an idler. It runs
+close by the abbey church.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER BACKWATER]
+
+In the river near Dorchester grow the sweet sedge and the amphibious
+yellow cress, and on the banks may be found the blue pimpernel.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CASTLE AND STRONGHOLD
+
+
+Wallingford boasts of having the oldest corporation in England,
+preceding that of London by a hundred years, and its record certainly
+reaches very far back. In 1006 it was destroyed by the Danes. William
+the Conqueror rested here on his way to London after the battle of
+Hastings. The town was then held by Wigod, a noble Saxon, who lived in
+his great fortress-castle. His son-in-law was Robert D'Oyley, who built
+the castle at Oxford, and rebuilt and greatly strengthened that at
+Wallingford. From the part of the river above the bridge a tree-grown
+mound can be seen, and, further back, a comparatively modern house.
+On the mound once stood the strong castle, and the modern house is its
+present-day representative. The grounds are famous for their trees, and
+particularly for their evergreens, which grow thickly on the slopes
+of what was once the inner castle moat, for there were no less than
+three. No wonder Queen Maud felt that in reaching Wallingford in safety
+after her terrible escape over the frozen meadows of Oxford, she once
+more held the lead in the game she and Stephen played for the crown.
+Stephen, however, was not daunted. He settled down at Crowmarsh across
+the river, and made strenuous attempts to take the fortress. After a
+long time, when the garrison were beginning to despair, the Queen's
+son Henry came to the rescue with a force sufficient to afford relief.
+It was at Wallingford the treaty was made which eventually secured
+Henry's succession. The castle was given to Piers Gaveston by Edward
+II., but after the fall of Gaveston it reverted to the Crown. Joan,
+the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of the Black Prince, died here in 1385, and
+later, in the Civil Wars between King and Parliament, Wallingford held
+stoutly to the Stuarts. The town was the last place in Berkshire which
+remained to the King, and it was taken in July, 1646, after a siege of
+sixty-five days. Cromwell, therefore, cherished a grudge against it,
+and when he came into power he ordered the castle to be destroyed, an
+order which was unfortunately carried out. Not far away in the same
+grounds is a fragment of a ruined and ivy-grown tower. This is part of
+an ancient college of St. Nicholas founded by Edmund, second Earl of
+Cornwall, who died in 1300.
+
+  [Illustration: WALLINGFORD]
+
+In some ways Wallingford reminds one of Abingdon. They are both homely,
+pleasant, brick-built market-towns, rather sleepy, but self-respecting.
+There are several islands beside the bridge; but Wallingford has
+not made the most of its islands. They are bare, and disfigured by
+boat-building works. The bridge is fair, and, seen from below, where
+a weeping willow falls softly over one bank, the view is pretty. A
+conspicuous feature is the steeple of the church near, looking as if
+it had been joined on to the body without any thought of continuity
+of style. There are three churches in Wallingford, which once owned
+fourteen! There is rather a good seventeenth century Town Hall in
+the market-place and a Corn Exchange. Friday is the market-day.
+Both above and below the town the river is pleasant, though without
+original features; there are well-kept parks and fine-grown trees to
+be seen frequently. The only interesting place in the stretch below is
+Mongewell, where a large piece of artificial water joins the river,
+and near it is a small church quaintly built. Shute Barrington, the
+well-known Bishop of Durham, married for his second wife the heiress
+of Mongewell, and lived here before his death. Below Mongewell is a
+long, dull stretch, good for boating, but too unshaded and open to be
+pleasant for loiterers. The Trial Eights take place here in December.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY MILL]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+TWIN VILLAGES
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+When two villages stand facing one another across a bridge, it is
+inevitable that comparisons, however impertinent, will be made. And it
+may be said at once that Streatley, for all its old church, its pretty
+hotel, and its mill, cannot dispute the palm with Goring, which has
+an older church and a more charming mill, and many other advantages.
+Streatley church is singularly vivid in colouring. Rarely is there
+to be seen a deeper green-gold than that made by the lichen on the
+red roof, and when the sunshine flashes out upon it the effect is
+positively startling.
+
+Not less attractive in its way is the red-roofed hotel with its backing
+of thick, green foliage, its tiny grass plots on the river's edge, and
+its gay flowers. The flour mill would be a valuable asset in the beauty
+items of any place not eclipsed by so near a neighbour.
+
+There are islands in the stream, and the bridge which runs across them
+is singularly picturesque. This is one of the few old wooden bridges
+remaining, and it is doubtless destined soon to be replaced by one of
+iron, as has been done at Pangbourne. At this one can hardly cavil,
+for delightful as are the long slender wooden piles to look at, they do
+seem as if they might give way unexpectedly at any minute.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY]
+
+If we stand down by the lock there are numberless views in all
+directions, each good in itself. It is a hot day in summer, and the
+vivid scarlet and the deep carmine of the lock-keeper's geraniums
+literally strike one's eyeballs with their colour. We do not, alas!
+hear the wash of the water tumbling over the weir, for weirs in summer
+often run dry, or give only a small trickle, though it is just the
+time when their gay music would most appeal to the heart of man. The
+lock-keeper has stories to tell of the days before the "pound" locks,
+as they used to be called, were made. What we call the weirs were then
+the "locks." The great barges had to be towed up the weirs by means
+of rope and capstan; and sometimes, when the water ran low, they had
+to wait for weeks for a freshet that would enable them to get up. The
+lock here is only five-eighths of a mile below that at Cleeve, and
+these two are the nearest together on the river, except those of Temple
+and Hurley. Beyond Cleeve there is a long stretch of six and a-half
+miles before the next, Benson Lock. It almost seems as if the powers
+that deal with locks had in their justice tried to make things even by
+multiplying them in the beauty spots, so that those who want only the
+best have to pay for it by the worry of passing locks; while those who
+are content with something less can have it without bother. Some locks,
+however, have been done away with as unnecessary. There used to be
+one between those of Cleeve and Benson, and another at Hartslock Wood,
+below Goring; but these have disappeared.
+
+The ancient road known as the Icknield Street crosses the river at
+Streatley; it was used by the Romans, but made long before their time.
+
+High beyond the bridge, and, rising above it, as we stand at the lock,
+is the grand sweep of hill locally known as Greenhill, in distinction
+from Whitehill on the Goring side.
+
+To the right, on the top of the heights, are the golf links, and
+the small white road winds steeply up, carrying with it a touch of
+melancholy, which the sight of a far-away and steep road always gives,
+a suggestion of a journey that winds "uphill all the way."
+
+Reading has now established a regatta to keep its own folk in its
+own neighbourhood on the August Bank-Holiday; and a great boon this
+has been to the quiet up-river places, for they are not now invaded
+by launches full of rollicking, bottle-shying crowds, such as are
+characteristic of the neighbourhood of all great towns, and on these
+occasions apt to become remarkably prominent.
+
+  [Illustration: GORING CHURCH]
+
+Goring stands high among Thames villages, literally and figuratively.
+Its main street runs winding up-hill to the station, and though there
+are few of the genuine old cottages left, the small houses which have
+replaced them have been mostly built in the best modern river style,
+with exterior beams, porches, projecting windows and ornamental gables.
+Creepers flourish abundantly. From the river the church is easily seen.
+A small and narrow backwater leads under a bridge to within fifty yards
+of the tower.
+
+The building is very old, and was originally the church of the
+Augustinian priory. It is partly covered with rough stucco, which
+is peeling off untidily in patches. The tower is Norman, and has a
+bastion turret, which greatly adds to its appearance, and, what is more
+uncommon, the east end is an apse, though we are bound in honesty to
+say an apse rebuilt.
+
+Close by the church is the mill, which eclipses that at Streatley in
+appearance, and shows adaptability in applying its power as an electric
+generating station, while Streatley remains conservative, and still
+grinds the sweet-scented white flour. But the electric charging has
+not spoilt the mossy roof, gleaming green and russet alternately, or
+the pretty pigeon-house from which flocks of white pigeons often sweep
+round over the glistening water and the low islands. A very large and
+neat boat-house lies below the bridge on the Goring side.
+
+Between this and Pangbourne we have at first rich well-covered heights
+on the one side, and high, open chalky hills on the other, dotted with
+the neat circular clumps usually associated with chalk uplands. But
+after a while these are replaced by the famous Hartslock Woods.
+
+Speaking of the valley of the Thames between Goring and Henley, in his
+introduction to the _Flora of Oxfordshire_, Mr. G. Claridge Druce says:
+
+"We may wander for miles through verdant alleys whose groundwork begins
+in early spring with the glossy gold of the smaller celandine, followed
+by the pale stars of the wood anemones and myriads of primroses, these
+giving place to sheets of hyacinths, 'that seem the heavens upbreaking
+through the earth,' the blue being here and there relieved by the
+yellow archangel or brightened with stitchwort; still later on the
+bluebells are replaced by masses of the fragrant woodruff, and these
+by the more sombre colouring of the bugle. Then come the creamy-white
+flowers of the helleborine, the dull, livid spikes of the bird's nest
+orchis and the blue forget-me-nots, giving place to a galaxy of summer
+flowers, brightening in later months into the brilliant yellow of the
+ragworts and the purple of the foxgloves. The grassy downs, too, in
+spring are resplendent with the milkwort in all its purity of colour,
+whether of that typical blue which rivals the Swiss gentian in beauty,
+or fading into white or blushing to pink; while mixed with it are
+brilliant patches of rich orange yellow hippocrepis. Later on appear
+the rosy crimson spikes of the pyramidal orchis and the pale lemon
+flowers of lady's fingers, and the drooping blue-flowered campanula. If
+perchance the land have remained fallow, the bright flowers of iberis,
+sometimes suffused with rich purple, the glaucous foliage of rare
+fumarias, the deep crimson petals of the hybrid poppy, the bright rosy
+pink spikes of sainfoin and yellow toad flax, combine to form a varied
+show."
+
+  [Illustration: GORING]
+
+Before reaching Pangbourne we pass acres of osier beds on the right.
+Pangbourne and Whitchurch stand to each other in the same relation as
+do Goring and Streatley, but in this case it is the southern side to
+which the palm must be awarded. At Pangbourne the old wooden bridge
+has given place to an iron one, but the deed has been carried out in a
+manner that reflects credit on the doer, for the new bridge runs in a
+graceful curve, and its sides of latticed ironwork are painted white.
+Seen in glimpses between the islands, the new bridge does not detract
+from the charms of Pangbourne, but rather adds to them.
+
+There are numbers of islands at Pangbourne, and they lie in a great
+basin between and beneath the weirs, which are small and frequent. The
+pool is full of beauty. The trees grow freshly and well, and throw
+a veil of tender green over the water, which is, on a summer day,
+brilliant in hues of blue and green, cobalt, sea-green, pale apple,
+indigo; these can all be traced lying in strips and sections where
+the riotous torrent from the weirs frays out its inquietude and loses
+itself. In one corner by a pretty cottage is a splash of vivid crimson,
+an arcade of roses. Near the bridge great launch works are a blot
+and an eyesore, but it is so seldom we find our ointment without the
+proverbial fly.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE FROM THE SWAN HOTEL]
+
+Pangbourne village is quaint and pleasing enough, but it is not so
+beautiful as some of the villages along the Thames side. No village
+built haphazard, with a little river bridged over in its main street,
+with a brick-towered church, with dark evergreens, and a fair amount
+of creepers, could fail to be attractive in some sense. But there is
+too much new brick in Pangbourne. The river Pang is a tiny streamlet,
+and the winding ways do not hold that charm which can be felt even as
+one races by in a motor. Further up the river a row of neatly-built,
+red-brick and white-balconied houses stands up against a high chalk
+bank overlooking the river; behind this, in a deep cutting, runs the
+railway line. Above the bridge there is a landing on the Whitchurch
+side close to the church, which is a well-kept flint building. In the
+chancel there is a monument to the Lybbe family, dated 1599. Whitchurch
+is mostly built of red brick, and is neat and clean, but without any
+very great attractions. Before reaching Mapledurham a fine old house,
+Hardwicke, is passed. Charles I. stayed here and played bowls. The
+house itself is well protected by trees, but it stands in rather open
+country, amid bare chalk uplands, where sometimes may be seen a curious
+opaline glow in pale sunshine.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITCHURCH LOCK]
+
+Mapledurham is greatly spoilt by the churlishness of its main landlord.
+The lock-keeper is strictly forbidden to ferry anyone across the
+river, and though the crossing would be but short, and would involve
+only a walk of a few seconds along the bank to the mill, it is not
+permitted. As the nearest bridges on each side are those of Pangbourne
+and Caversham, it is necessary for anyone going by road to keep to
+the north side of the river between these points if he wants to see
+Mapledurham. The place certainly is worth some trouble, but it is
+small, and the restrictions are tiresome. The fine old Elizabethan
+house is a real mansion of the good old sort; one could imagine endless
+stories of romance connected with it. It was fortified during the civil
+wars by Sir Arthur Blount, governor of Reading, and is still held by
+the same family. The principal entrance is by an avenue of elms nearly
+a mile long, but the house is perhaps best seen through the gates from
+the churchyard. The church is small, and Perpendicular in style, with
+the exception of the tower, a modern addition in flint and brick. There
+is within a Blount chapel with many family memorials, including an
+altar-tomb.
+
+  [Illustration: MAPLEDURHAM MILL]
+
+The mill at Mapledurham is also a great delight to look upon, and
+numbers of artists sketch it from every point of view. The islands
+lying in the swirl of the weir-pool afford many a quiet nook in which
+to anchor, though landing is forbidden. From this it may be judged that
+if Mapledurham is a Paradise, it is sternly guarded with notices, which
+meet one on every side with the persistence of the flaming sword.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A MITRED ABBOT
+
+
+The Abbot of Reading was, like the Abbot of Abingdon, mitred, and bore
+powerful rule. Reading ranked third among the abbeys of England, and
+held the great privilege of coining. It was founded in 1121 by King
+Henry I. himself, who was afterwards buried here. It was for long
+supposed that Adeliza his queen lay here also, but the evidence goes to
+show she was buried in Flanders. The Empress Maud lies at Reading. The
+great church was dedicated by Thomas à Becket, and in it took place the
+marriage of John of Gaunt.
+
+Fuller, who is always worth quoting, says that though Ely "bare away
+the bell for bountefull feast making," Reading "spurred up close" to
+it, and continues: "The mention of Reading minds me of a pleasant and
+true story, which, to refresh my wearied self and reader, after long
+pains, I here intend to relate":
+
+"King Henry VIII. as he was hunting in Windsor forest lost himself,
+and struck down about dinner-time to the Abbey of Reading, where,
+disguising himself, he was invited to the abbot's table and passed for
+one of the king's guard. A sirloin of beef was set before him on which
+the king laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for whom he
+was mistaken. 'Well fare thy heart,' quoth the abbot, 'and here in a
+cup of sack, I remember the health of his Grace your master. I would
+give a hundred pounds on the condition I could feed so heartily on beef
+as you do. Alas, my weak and squeasy stomach will hardly digest the
+wing of a small rabbit or chicken.' The king pleasantly pledged him,
+and heartily thanking him for his good cheer, after dinner departed as
+undiscovered as he came thither. Some weeks after the abbot was sent
+for by a pursuivant, brought up to London, clapped in the Tower, kept
+close prisoner, fed for a short time with bread and water. Yet not so
+empty his body of food as his mind was filled with fears, creating
+many suspicions to himself, when and how he had incurred the king's
+displeasure. At last a sirloin of beef was set before him, on which the
+abbot fed as the farmer of his grange, and verified the proverb that
+'Two hungry meals make the third a glutton.' In springs King Henry out
+of a private lobby where he had placed himself, the invisible spectator
+of the abbot's behaviour. 'My lord,' quoth the king, 'presently deposit
+your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of
+your life. I have been your physician to cure you of your squeasy
+stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand my fee for the same.' The
+abbot down with his dust, and glad he had escaped so, returned to
+Reading, as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more merrier in heart
+than when he came thence."
+
+When the Dissolution came, the abbot, full of belief in his own
+strength, defied the king, though he saw the whirlwind around him
+which had devastated other monasteries no less powerful than his own.
+There was no over-tenderness in Henry's methods, and Hugh Faringford,
+thirty-first was abbot, hanged, drawn and quartered in front of his own
+gateway in 1539.
+
+There is very little left of this famous abbey now, and the gateway has
+been so carefully "restored" that there is more restoration about it
+than anything else; in fact, it is simply a reconstruction. Nearly all
+the remains lie within a very few acres, and the Forbury public garden
+is on the site of one of the courts of the abbey. The ruins at the east
+end are heavily covered with masses of ivy, but preserve the outlines
+of the chapter house and church, which was over five hundred feet in
+length.
+
+Reading possessed a castle as well as an abbey, and the castle has
+vanished still more completely, leaving even its exact site unknown,
+though it is supposed to have been at the west end of the present
+Castle Street, or at the place where the prison now stands.
+
+  [Illustration: CAVERSHAM]
+
+In 871 the Danes got as far up the river as Reading, and seized both
+town and castle. Many times has parliament been held in the ancient
+town, and many sovereigns have visited Reading, including Queen
+Elizabeth, who stayed there no less than six times. In the civil wars
+Reading was a stronghold for the king until, after a severe siege, in
+1653 the garrison capitulated on condition of being allowed to walk out
+free with arms and baggage, a boon which was granted. After this the
+place was held by the Parliamentarians, but was again occupied for the
+king, only to become once again the headquarters of the Parliamentary
+army, and so it had many changes of fortune. St. Giles's church still
+bears the marks of the artillery from which it suffered during those
+uncertain times. There are other churches in Reading, but this is not
+a guide book, so there is no need to enumerate them. Archbishop Laud
+was born in Reading, and educated at the Free School. Reading is not
+actually on the river, and Caversham may be called its river-suburb.
+It is not a place which much attracts boating men. From its size,
+its manufactories, its chimneys, it is necessarily in many aspects
+unpleasant to those who have come to seek their rest and pleasure far
+from smoke and toil. The most important industries are Messrs. Sutton's
+seed emporium, and Messrs. Huntley and Palmer's biscuit factory, which
+employs more than five thousand persons; there are also breweries
+and many lesser works. Did it not lie between two such pre-eminently
+charming places as Sonning and Mapledurham, boating people would avoid
+it altogether.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Sonning and its Roses
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+There are certain notable details of the river-side which stand out in
+the mind after the rest have been merged in mere general remembrance
+of lazy happiness. In these we may include the backwater at Sutton
+Courtney, the woods at Clieveden, the Mill at Mapledurham, and the Rose
+Garden at Sonning. Roses grow well all along by the river, but nowhere
+so well as they do at Sonning, and the rose garden forms an attraction
+which draws hundreds to the place. Yet Sonning has other attractions
+too; it is very varied and very pretty. When one arrives at it first,
+perhaps coming upstream, one is rather perplexed to discover the exact
+topography. We round a great curve which encloses an osier bed; here,
+in early spring, the osiers may be seen lying in great bundles, shaded
+from olive-green to brown madder. Then we see some green lawns and
+landing places beneath the shadow of a fine clump of elms, and catch
+sight of the lovable old red-brick bridge, with its high centre arch,
+spanning the stream. But there is another bridge, a wooden foot-bridge,
+which also spans the stream, at right angles to the other, and peering
+through beneath this, we can see the continuation of the red brick one
+in a new iron structure, which stretches on right up to the neat flower
+beds of the French Horn Hotel. The truth is, the river suddenly widens
+out here into a great bulge, and in the bulge are several islands, on
+one of which are a mill and a house and several other things, not to
+forget a charming garden. It is the river channel between this island
+and the bank that the first bridge, the old one, spans. And what a
+view it is! Above the bridge can be seen rising the little grey church
+tower. On one side is the White Hart Hotel, with its warm tone of
+yellow wash, its red tiles and its creepers, and above all its famous
+rose garden. In the foreground is a willow-covered ait placed in
+exactly the right position. It is a perfect picture. But yet this is
+not the best side of the bridge. The other side is better; for here,
+to resist the flow of the current, the builders placed the buttresses
+which emphasise the height of that centre arch; buttresses now capped
+with tufty grass and emerald moss, and from the crevices of which
+spring clumps of yellow daisies, candytuft, wallflower, hart's-tongue
+fern, and other things. In the bricks all colours may be seen, after
+the manner of worn bricks, not even excluding blue. The mill is, as
+it should be, wooden, and with Sandford Mill, is mentioned in Domesday
+Book. From the dark shadow beneath its wheel, the largest on the river,
+gurgles away the water in cool green streams, passing beneath the
+overhanging boughs of planes and horse-chestnuts. From the mighty sweep
+of the wheel, as it may be seen in its house, the drops rise glittering
+in cascades to varying heights like the sprays of diamonds on a tiara.
+The mill-house, called Aberlash, stands not far off on the same island,
+with a delightful garden.
+
+  [Illustration: THE ROSE GARDEN AT SONNING]
+
+This island spreads onward with green lawns in a sweeping semicircle to
+the lock and cottage, and from two small weirs the water dances down,
+adding variety to a beautiful pool where stand many irregular pollard
+willows on tiny aits. Over the smaller weir, framed in a setting of
+evergreens, is a bit of far distant blue landscape. There is a bank
+here too, an embankment, which might be covered with flowers according
+to its owner's design, but that the water nymphs, intolerant of
+flowers, except those of their own choosing, take a wicked delight in
+sweeping down over the weir, and sending the water flowing like a lace
+shawl all over the embankment to carry back all the roots and bulbs
+and other things that may have been planted there to use as playthings;
+their gurgle of delight at their own unending joke may be heard all day
+long.
+
+The shy kingfishers love the big pool below the weir, but it is not
+often they are seen unless the watcher has the faculty for making
+himself invisible against his background and is able to remain
+motionless.
+
+The woods of the Holme Park, rising high close by, throw a deep-toned
+shadow on the picture, particularly refreshing on a baking summer's
+day. Many birds find their refuge in these woods, and at night the
+weird cries of the owls sound hauntingly over the flats. A ghost is
+supposed to inhabit the park, and the owl's cry might very well serve
+for a ghost's moan on occasion.
+
+Having thus explored the puzzling bit of river, we may land and walk up
+through the Rose Garden, or, according to Mr. Ashby Sterry in his _Lays
+of a Lazy Minstrel_:
+
+     Let's land at the lawn of the cheery White Hart,
+     Now gay with the glamour of June!
+     For here we can lunch to the music of trees,
+       In sight of the swift river running,
+     Off cuts of cold beef and a prime Cheddar cheese,
+       And a tankard of bitter at Sonning.
+
+For the sake of those who have gardens of their own, we give a list of
+the principal roses grown at Sonning:
+
+     Monsieur E. Y. Teas, Madame Marie les Dier, Marie Baumann,
+     Viscountess Folkestone, Duchess of Bedford, Aimée Vibert,
+     Prince Camille de Rohan, W. A. Richardson, Edouard Morren,
+     Queen of Queens, Sultan of Zanzibar, Suzanne M. Rodocanachi,
+     Madame de Watteville, Souvenir d'un Ami, Homer, Duke of Teck,
+     Duke of Edinburgh, Cristal, Jules Margottin, Mavourneen, Rêve
+     d'Or, Clio, Countess of Rosebery, The Bourbon, Souvenir de la
+     Malmaison, Maréchal Niel, Alfred Colombo, Mrs. W. J. Grant,
+     Magna Charta, La France, Prince Arthur, Charles Lefebvre,
+     Dean Hole, Mrs. F. Laing, Maman Cochet, Madame Willinoz,
+     Horace Vernet, Caroline Testout, Gloire de Dijon, Auguste
+     Rigstard, Abel Carrière, Abel Grand, Eclair, Rubens, Bessie
+     Brown, Beauty of Waltham, Boule de Neige, Jeremiah Dickson,
+     Catherine Mermet, Gruss an Teplitz, Lady Battersea.
+
+  [Illustration: SONNING]
+
+With this brilliant mass of colour, the rich dark reds, the glorious
+pinks, the pale yellows, dead whites and the flaming apricot of William
+Allen Richardson, the effect may be imagined; and the entry to all this
+beauty is beneath a trellised arch covered with masses of the Crimson
+Rambler!
+
+Sonning village itself is very irregular, uphill and downhill, with
+roads all ways. There are rights of way through the quiet churchyard,
+where there is a row of magnificent elms, and the villagers are real
+flower lovers. Almost at any season of the year at which flowers will
+flourish out of doors, flowers there are to be seen. Earliest of all,
+the quince, the yellow jasmine, and the dainty almond blossom; then the
+golden bunches of laburnum and the fresh mauve lilac; later on roses
+of all kinds, not always climbing, but in bushes and clumps. Window
+boxes are seen everywhere, and Virginia creeper and ampelopsis cover
+up all bare corners. The houses themselves are charming. There are many
+more cottages in the older style than can be found at Wargrave. Many a
+tiny diamond-paned window is seen high up, almost lost in a straggling
+creeper. The projecting storeys, the brown lathes imbedded deep in the
+brick, making rectangles of broken colour, the yellow wash of a deep
+umber, the high external chimneys, all make up many nooks to be looked
+at again and again with appreciation. Sydney Smith was staying at
+Sonning in 1807, and we can but admire his taste.
+
+There is a tradition, very hazy, that Sonning was once the seat of a
+bishopric. There is no evidence at all as to this, but the fact that
+the See of Salisbury has held the manor since the time when Domesday
+Book was made may have led to the error.
+
+The bishops had a house here, and it was at the bishops' house that
+King John stayed for six days a month before his death. Leland says:
+"And yet remaineth a faire olde House there of stone, even by the
+Tamise Ripe longging to the Bishop of Saresbyri, and thereby is a fine
+Park."
+
+The oldest parts of the church probably date from 1180, but there
+is very little of this date left. The principal bits are the south
+doorway and a small window above it. The south aisle was built about
+1350, the piers of the nave about 1400, at which date the chancel was
+added. The north chancel aisle and the north aisle came about 100 years
+later. The whole church was restored in 1852. There are one or two
+interesting monuments to be seen in it, and it is a good model of what
+a well-preserved, dignified parish church should be.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WARGRAVE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
+
+
+Wargrave is one of the most delightful of Thames-side villages. There
+is not much that is old among the houses that line the village street;
+thatch has almost gone. Wooden beams are not noticeable, except when
+used in the modern architecture that imitates the old; the material
+seen everywhere is red brick. Wind and weather, however, soon tone
+down the asperities of red brick, and from the rich soil creepers
+spring up quickly to cover it with loving tendrils; so the street
+becomes a delightful medley of casement windows, gable ends, and bushy
+foliage. Not the least of the charm is that each small house has its
+own ideas about frontage, and entirely refuses to stand in line with
+the rest. There are houses with their doorsteps in the roadway, and
+houses modestly retiring behind bushes in their strip of garden. Here
+is a wistaria with a stem as thick as a man's arm, and there roses
+and sweetbriar, purple clematis and starry jasmine, succeeding and
+intermingling. Wargrave has learnt to choose the good and refuse the
+evil of the modern spirit; she is clean and self-respecting as some
+villages will never learn to be. Her small shops are good of their
+kind, but self-conscious she is not, or garish, or any other of the
+horrible things associated with modernity.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CHURCH AT WARGRAVE]
+
+The place centres about cross roads, but straggles in many directions,
+and on the high ground surrounding it many a new house has been built
+lately, and stands amid delightful grounds.
+
+The church, which is near the open green, where grow fine trees, is
+of flint, with a red-brick pinnacled tower, half ivy-covered. In the
+church is buried Thomas Day, author of _Sandford and Merton_, who was
+killed by a fall from his horse in 1789. A Norman doorway, a carved oak
+pulpit black with age, and a huge family pew, tell of long survival,
+and give the church the same touch of self-respecting dignity that the
+village has. It can be seen from the water, peeping over greenery near
+a backwater, with its tower overtopped by trees.
+
+The whole of Wargrave is seen to advantage from the water or from the
+meadows opposite. Many green lawns slope down to the brink, and the
+height of the bushy elms is a thing to note. A few Lombardy poplars
+break the fulness of the bosky foliage with their elongated ovals, and
+that most graceful of all trees, the wych elm, curves his beautiful
+lines in soft arches over the velvety lawns or smoothly-flowing water.
+
+     Witch elms that counterchange the floor
+       Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright;
+       And thou, with all thy breadth and height
+     Of foliage, towering sycamore.
+                                   --_Tennyson._
+
+The river turns almost a right angle at Wargrave, and, from running
+eastward, goes due north. The little village, being situated at the
+bend, gets the benefit of both vistas. The George Hotel, indeed, stands
+exactly at the angle, and the sweep of the water catches its wharf
+with full force. It boasts a signboard painted by two R.A.s; this is
+preserved indoors, while another swings as its proxy in the village
+street. Placed as it is in regard to the river channel, and with the
+wide flats of Shiplake meadows opposite, the hotel is exposed, and
+the very openness of its garden, an attraction which draws hundreds of
+summer visitors, makes it a butt for the racing winds of early spring.
+It is a pretty hotel built of brick, with a white painted verandah,
+after the usual river pattern; and a gigantic wistaria embowers all the
+front in its delicate mauve in summer, while roses trained over trellis
+work flash answering colour signals.
+
+The view over the river includes the glowing sunsets, which leave a
+slowly dying splendour behind a distant bank of trees.
+
+     And there was still, where day had set,
+       A flush that spoke him loth to die;
+     A last link of his glory yet
+       Binding together earth and sky.
+                                  --_Moore._
+
+Looking up to the left is the railway bridge, which is not so ugly as
+it might be; below, every hundred yards shows fresh beauties.
+
+Wargrave backwater is one of the most noted on the river, and in
+summer, or early spring, is a fairyland of greenery. The entrance is
+behind the large willow-covered island that lies below the hotel. The
+tiny arched bridge, not far in, is so low that one has to lie full
+length in a boat in order to pass under it. This is called Fiddler's
+bridge, though no local tradition keeps alive the origin of the name.
+The gentle light shimmers down between the spear-leaved willows in a
+veil of glory, and the stream is so narrow, one can almost touch the
+banks with both hands at once. In the main stream meantime, there are
+several islands decorated with the new rough stuccoed houses now so
+popular in river architecture, and, at the end where the backwater
+emerges again, there is a brightly-coloured boat-house. Beyond this,
+again, is a long stretch where there are generally house-boats. In
+winter, a little creek on the left bank is a kind of storehouse for
+them. This is a fine wide reach, and above it rises Wargrave Hill with
+its large white house conspicuously placed.
+
+Further down, the river makes a succession of curves; and facing up
+stream is Bolney Court, in a solid, old-fashioned style, of a dull
+yellow colour, while, behind and around it, the deep blue-green of
+Scotch firs is seen among the lighter foliage, and on the curving
+heights which block the vista to the north, the heights above Henley,
+these trees are conspicuous everywhere. Indeed, evergreens of all kinds
+flourish well in the chalky soil about Wargrave.
+
+The late C. J. Cornish said somewhere that Thames eyots always seem to
+have been put in place by a landscape gardener, and those about Bolney
+recall the words. They are thickly grown over by sedge and osiers, and
+overshadowed by taller trees; between them, the channels of shining
+water, half hidden half revealed, gain all the charm of elusiveness.
+Has anyone ever reflected what a kindly thought it was of Nature's, to
+arrange that trees growing on the water's edge should invariably take
+an outward angle, so as to lean over the water? How much less effective
+the result would have been had they grown inward, may be pictured by
+imagining a river without reflections. In the stillness of a backwater,
+or in the narrowed channel beside a large island, the beautiful effect
+of this outward angle is best seen. If the channel be very narrow, the
+trunks fold one behind the other in perspective, so as to form an arch
+over a shining aisle. In the water, all the many-coloured gnarled stems
+are smoothed by the gentle movement into something softer than the
+rigid reality, with its hard knots of shadow. The different colouring
+on the stems of the same species of tree is a thing to marvel at. From
+the deep mahogany of a joint where the damp has made an open wound, to
+the faint biscuit-colour of the place where a strip of bark has been
+newly peeled off, the stems of pollarded willows furnish every brown
+and yellow on a painter's palette. Many of them are richly crowned by
+a head of ivy, whose satin-smooth leaves fall in garlands like locks,
+and sway with every touch of air. These are reflected in the water as
+a shaded mass of green with no detail.
+
+There are so many varieties of willow that it is difficult for the
+lay mind to remember them all, and numbers of them are to be seen
+about Wargrave. It is the Crack willow and the White willow, with long
+slender leaves, that are commonly pollarded as osiers, though they will
+grow tall enough if they are allowed to. There is a legend that the
+mournful droop of the leaves of the weeping willow is a reminiscence of
+the sad time of the Captivity:
+
+     By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we
+     remembered thee, O Sion;
+     As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the willow trees
+     that grow therein.
+
+Besides the willows, there are their cousins, the poplars, chief among
+which, is the fine Populus tremula, whose leaves whisper perpetual
+secrets, even on the stillest days. This is caused by the broad leaves
+being attached to a slender flattened stalk. They are silky on the
+wrong side, and when the wind blows through the foliage it turns a
+soft greyish white, like a cottony mass. There is a legend that the
+wood of this tree was used for the Cross, and that in consequence it
+has trembled ever since, and so its leaves are in a perpetual state of
+quivering.
+
+The poplar, like the ash, is not kind to neighbouring trees, its
+numerous suckers taking more than their share of nourishment and
+moisture from the ground, and the leaves, when they fall, seem to be as
+destructive as those of the beech, for grass will not grow where they
+lie.
+
+In spring, these trees shed their long catkins, like hairy
+caterpillars, all over the water, and they are swept up in heaps into
+every eddy.
+
+In spite of the delights of summer, there is a time which well bears
+comparison with it; I mean the first fine days of early spring, before
+the rest of the world has awakened to the fact that winter is over.
+And about Wargrave at such times there is to be found great charm by
+those whose senses are alert. It is true that the splendid hedge that
+lines the tow-path shows only the long withes of the creepers and no
+starry flowers; that the graceful sprays of the wild rose now appear
+barbed and polished and ferocious, instead of sweet and enticing. A
+bush of barberry or berberis is not often seen in hedges, for the old
+folk-lore taught that wheat never throve when the barberry was in the
+hedge; therefore the farmers grubbed it up whenever they found it. But
+science has confirmed the empirical wisdom of our fathers, for it was
+discovered that the barberry furnishes the intermediate host for rust
+in wheat. On the green river bank there are quivering blades of tender
+green, but no flowers with their umbrella heads of white, or bunchy
+yellow, or pale mauve. Yet still there are compensations. To begin
+with, the river itself talks in spring as it never does in summer,
+and what is better, one can hear it without the interruption of human
+chatter or noise. One has the whole stretch to one's self, and attuning
+one's ear to the key of that conversation, one can listen to it sucking
+at the bank, flop-flopping under the prow of one's punt, chuckling
+as it races past the pole, and, laughing a little silvery laugh of
+merriment, that we call rippling--a word we have learnt to adapt to our
+poor human attempts in the same direction. The river sprites are with
+us, and very busy they are--ceaselessly busy about nothing at all, and
+so happy in their activity that to hear them is to laugh for right good
+fellowship. The wind is in the water, urging them on faster and faster;
+each wavelet has its crest of foam, and, in the heights and hollows
+ahead there is every shade of green, from emerald to olive. One must be
+very still in order to imbibe the real spirit of the scene, for they
+are shy, these river nymphs, as shy as the birds and beasts that live
+around them, and have learned the fear of tempestuous man. A shy-bold
+wren, with a sudden glint of sunlight on his rich brown back, flies
+to the edge of the water where the punt lies drifting, and then darts
+back in haste to the shelter of that commanding hedge he never likes to
+leave. His pertness is all in his appearance; never did looks so belie
+a timid character! A water-hen, startled by the sudden dip of the pole,
+flies out of the reeds close by, and skims in a swift low line to the
+islet opposite; her smooth dark body, with the elongated neck and scant
+tail, resembles an Eastern water skin.
+
+There is a gentle continuous whispering among the reeds, as if they
+questioned themselves, with quiet disapprobation, why the river was
+always in such a hurry. From the field behind the hedge comes the
+sweet scream of a wheeling peewit, and two large wood-pigeons flap
+noisily from the tall trees on the island, a very picture of contented
+domesticity.
+
+We slide on gently, close by the tow-path, until the tall hedge comes
+to an end, and the green meadows stretch right away from the lip of the
+river, and around them rise the tree-crowned heights in a semicircle,
+like the tiers of a giant amphitheatre.
+
+Flop! A water rat dives furtively. Though called a rat, he is in
+reality a vole, and is almost exclusively graminivorous; in this
+differing from his namesake, the real rat, which also haunts river
+banks, especially near mills. With hoarse squawk, a wild duck rises
+heavily from cover, and after the first difficult spiral, wings off
+like an arrow, his long neck extended. It is a day of cloud and shadow,
+and suddenly the light breaks out on the trees ahead with a wild
+freshness that makes one catch one's breath. It races up stream, and
+the dun is turned to gold at the touch of its breath. The sweetness of
+early spring is in the air and in our blood; the larks feel it as they
+rise:
+
+                   Sounds of vernal showers
+                     On the twinkling grass,
+                   Rain-awaken'd flowers,
+                     All that ever was
+     Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
+                                              --_Shelley._
+
+And there is a stirring of sap and juice in things--small things deep
+down in dark holes and corners, and in all green and growing things.
+
+After this, how cloying the richness of summer, with its still days,
+its glaring reflections, the luscious foliage, and the overpowering
+scents--the thought of it strikes one's senses as the thought of a
+hothouse would strike a child of the moor and the mountain. And when
+we remember Wargrave regatta, with its crowded banks, its lined shores,
+its flags a-flutter, and its noise, we are thankful that August is afar
+off.
+
+Though we have wandered down stream, the bit above Wargrave is equally
+attractive. Just beyond the railway bridge the river Loddon flows into
+the Thames. To pass up it and its tributary, St. Patrick's stream,
+is no easy feat; yet by using this loop the lock may be evaded, and
+it is the only place on the river where such a trick is possible. It
+is, however, far the best to explore this by-way from the other end
+and to come down stream by its means. To reach it, one must go high
+up above the lock, beyond the last of the chain of islands which here
+breaks the channel, and there turn in under a small bridge, into this
+curious tributary, which starts from the river and returns to it again.
+It flows at first through wide flat meadows, and then bifurcates, one
+branch, blocked by a weir, communicating again with the Thames, and the
+other falling into the Loddon, and with it rejoining the main river.
+
+Part of St. Patrick's stream is fringed by well-grown uniform pollard
+willows that hedge it like a wall. In summer, when the meadows are
+rich in buttercups, and the wind hums softly over the clover, bringing
+wafts of scent, and many a quaint weed adds its note of colour to the
+general harmony, it is very charming. But the most delightful feature
+is the growth of the Leucojum æstivum, or summer snowflake, which is so
+numerous that it is popularly known as the Loddon lily. This is like
+a large snowdrop in which several blooms spring from one head. It is
+also to be found on several of the islands in the main river near, but
+is not abundant there. The Loddon itself rises far inland: Twyford gets
+its name from lying near two branches, a twy-ford. The stream is slow,
+and it is only the swift current of St. Patrick that enlivens it lower
+down.
+
+Above the mouth of the Loddon there lies an interesting bit of the
+river. On a large island, owned by the Corporation of London, stands
+the lock-keeper's cottage, and opposite to it, on the mainland, a
+delightful old mill-house with tiled roof, and that weather-worn,
+rather battered appearance, which all self-respecting mill-houses aim
+at as the perfection of ripeness. The long tongue of the lock island
+projects down stream like the nose of a pike. In winter, the little
+moorhens, partly tamed by hunger, and reassured by the absence of those
+noisy humans who come in such numbers in warmer weather, run about
+all over it. Other things run too, all the year round; the lock-keeper
+has a fine stock of hens, but accepts philosophically the fact that he
+can never rear any chickens "because of the rats." The rats, which are
+attracted by the ample stores at the mill-house, and find such variety
+of lodgings along the banks of the stream and in the crevices of the
+much worn woodwork, are the pest of these places.
+
+The island is a popular camping ground, and the pitches are generally
+secured early in the season, having been well prepared beforehand
+by being laid in sand and flints to ensure a dry foundation. There
+are also a tiny bungalow, to be had for two guineas the week, and a
+bathing place available. Altogether a very attractive island. The main
+stream races over the weir, forming a wide tumbling pool below, and on
+the other side of the island there is a pleasant stretch down to the
+lock. These lock channels are among some of the most charming places
+on the river. They are generally very still, with the mass of water
+hardly moving. On some days every twig is reflected, and the view in
+this particular one is well worth looking at, as, with the group of
+the mill buildings rising high on one side, and the cottage with its
+accompaniment of standard roses on the other, there are the elements
+of a most satisfactory composition. The meadows slope down at just
+that angle that shows them off to the best advantage; they are dotted
+with fine trees and are crowned by clumps of wood, from which sounds
+the homely cawing of rooks. The red cows stand knee-deep in the placid
+water, lashing at the flies with their tails; and on the other side is
+a mass of greenery:
+
+             I ...
+     Walked forth to ease my pain
+     Along the shore of silver streaming Thames;
+     Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
+     Was painted all with variable flowers,
+     And all the meads adorned with dainty gems
+     Fit to deck maidens' bowers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Sweet Thames! run softly till I end my song.
+                                     --_Spenser._
+
+Shiplake stands high above the flat meadows by the river bank. The
+little flint church, in which Tennyson was married, has a prettily
+buttressed tower, and around it grow many tall evergreens and waving
+trees. There are also some interesting old frescoes on the walls, two
+representing St. Christopher, who seems particularly appropriate in a
+river church. From the porch, down between two rows of shrubs, one can
+look on to the top of a mass of trees, which shuts out a bend of the
+silver river, and beyond them see the blue distance, miles and miles
+away. Mrs. Climenson, whose book on Shiplake was privately printed,
+suggests that the name originated in schiff-laacken, for the story goes
+that when the Danes got so far, their boats stuck on the shoals, and
+their commander ordered them to be burnt, to prevent a possibility of
+retreat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HENLEY REGATTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Who can ever think of Henley without its regatta? And yet Henley
+is very well worth thinking of at all times of the year. It is a
+pleasantly-built, middle-aged, red-brick town. Its history does not
+reach back so far as that of Abingdon or Reading. It boasts neither
+abbey nor cathedral. Near the esplanade above the bridge, there are
+one or two of the tumble-down, out-of-perpendicular style of cottages,
+which invariably add so much to a river scene; but the main part of
+the town, which is, of course, of red brick, has a homely air of the
+seventeenth century about it. The solid and stately Red Lion Hotel,
+close to the bridge, is one of the most historic houses in the place.
+Charles I. stayed here in 1632, when, after severe dissensions, he
+was trying the method of ruling England without a Parliament, and
+when the terrible fate that was to befall him had not yet "cast its
+shadow before." It is doubtful if he paid his bills, for he was in
+chronic want of money; but he left a memento behind him which has more
+than repaid the hotel, for it forms a perennial source of interest.
+This is a large fresco painting of the royal monogram and coat of
+arms over one of the mantelpieces, and from the date it is evident it
+was done at the time of this visit. It was not discovered till 1889,
+having probably been hastily concealed during the troublous days of
+Cromwell's ascendency. Being on one of the principal coaching roads,
+Henley received more than its share of celebrated visitors. On July the
+12th, 1788, George III., with the Queen and three of his daughters,
+had breakfast at the Red Lion; George IV. once dined here; and the
+celebrated Duke of Marlborough regularly kept a room here that he might
+use it in his journeys from Blenheim; his bed is still preserved. After
+these associations, that of Shenstone, who wrote a poem with a diamond
+on a window-pane, comes as an anticlimax. The poem begins:
+
+     To thee, fair Freedom, I retire,
+       From flattery, cards, and dice, and din;
+     Nor art thou found in mansions higher
+       Than the low cott or humble inn.
+
+And the last verse, which is often quoted, runs:
+
+     Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
+       Whate'er his stages may have been,
+     May sigh to think he still has found
+       The warmest welcome at an inn.
+
+In summer the red brick of the hotel is almost hidden by the creepers
+which embrace it; especially noticeable is the glorious wistaria, most
+lovely of all the climbing plants.
+
+  [Illustration: RED LION HOTEL, HENLEY]
+
+The bridge was built in 1786, and is of stone. The keystones of the
+central arch are adorned with sculptured masks of Thame and Isis.
+They were the work of Mrs. Damer, a cousin of Horace Walpole's, and as
+such falling within the limits of the great man's kindly appreciation.
+Behind the hotel and well seen from the bridge, is the church, with its
+four corner pinnacles.
+
+At the time of the regatta, and for some weeks before, it is impossible
+to get accommodation in the town anywhere. Of all the river regattas
+Henley is by far the greatest, and comes even before the Boat Race in
+the estimation of some people. The races used to end at the bridge,
+and so the lawn of the Red Lion was in the position of a favoured
+grand-stand, but now the winning post is a quarter of a mile short of
+this, opposite the last villa on the left bank. The starting point is
+near Temple or Regatta Island, and the reach certainly makes a fine
+one for the purpose. The course is railed off by piles and booms,
+and all the hundreds of craft which gather to the scene have to cram
+themselves in somehow, so as not to cause obstruction. It is well not
+to select an outrigged boat for such an occasion. The best and most
+commonly seen craft are punts, worked by means of canoe paddles; for
+the punts are too solid to collapse easily in the pressure that may be
+put upon them, and the paddles, requiring little room to work, are less
+dangerous to one's neighbours than poles. But all kinds of skiffs and
+canoes appear, and some are even bold enough to tempt fate in Canadian
+canoes. On a brilliant day, when the light sparkles on the water,
+and there is enough wind to set the pennons and streamers flying, the
+scene is undeniably gay and pretty. All the luncheon tents on the green
+lawns near form a bright adjunct. Salter and Talboys, from Oxford, and
+other boat-builders, have landing-stages for the week, and the various
+clubs entertain largely. Chief among these is the Leander, whose fine
+club-house is on the right bank not far from the bridge; it also has
+a lawn further down. Not far off are the grand-stand, the Grosvenor,
+and the New Oxford and Cambridge Clubs, and one large lawn is taken as
+a clubland _pied-à-terre_ for the use of any members of London clubs
+in general. But beside these there are the Isthmian, Sports, and Bath
+Clubs on the left bank, and Phyllis Court, with smooth lawns; and
+then a long line of house-boats begins, continuing past Fawley Court
+on to Temple Island, with just one break for the lawns of the Court.
+Bands play, luncheons are consumed, flags flutter; everyone is gay and
+lively, and the scene is one that can hardly be described justly in
+mere word painting. At noon the first race is rowed. A bell is rung
+to clear the course. All sorts of boats and canoes have slipped out
+between the openings left for them, and they must hurry back and crush
+into the already tightly wedged mass; in a moment everything else is
+forgotten in the excitement of the special event. On the last evening
+of the regatta there is a grand firework display and a procession of
+illuminated boats; and, as may very well be guessed, the real success
+of Henley depends greatly upon the weather, which, even in the first
+week of July, when it takes place, is not always kind.
+
+  [Illustration: HENLEY REGATTA]
+
+As we have said, the surroundings of Henley are of a sort to attract
+attention, even without the additional glories of the regatta. Above
+the bridge is a long ait, and high on the right bank rise the woods of
+Park Place. Here the brilliant green of the beeches is diversified by
+the dark blue-greens of fir and cedar. The Place was once the residence
+of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the grounds were greatly improved by
+Field-Marshal Conway, a cousin of Horace Walpole. A long glade is cut
+through the wood. It runs under a bridge made of blocks of stone taken
+from Reading Abbey, and over this passes the road. From the river a
+peep of the striking vista can be had. Higher up again is Marsh Lock.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMBLEDEN]
+
+But the influence of Henley extends down as well as up the river.
+Phyllis and Fawley Courts both at one time belonged to Bulstrode
+Whitelocke. Fawley was wrecked very early in the civil wars; but
+Phyllis was strongly fortified, and some of the earthworks may still be
+seen. Henley was a Parliamentarian stronghold, and was annoyed by the
+neighbourhood of plucky little Greenlands at Hambleden, which, "for a
+little fort, was made very strong for the King."
+
+It belonged in the time of the Stuarts to Sir Cope d'Oyley, who was a
+staunch Royalist. When he died his eldest son held Greenlands for the
+King, and his house was battered by the cannon of the Parliamentarians
+from across the water. In the nineteenth century the Rt. Hon. W. H.
+Smith lived here, and his widow took from the village the title he
+himself never lived to enjoy. In Hambleden also there is a fine old
+manor house, and some of the clipped yews in the gardens of private
+houses are very remarkable. High above the place rise the woods
+near Fingest and Stokenchurch. The weirs at Hambleden are the most
+attractive on the river. Long curved bridges run across them from shore
+to shore, and are open to the public as a right-of-way. The curves
+strike off at different angles, and every moment the point of view
+changes. Whether we are passing over tumbling weirs, where the water
+glides across long mossy planes, or over sluice-gates where it bursts
+through, the enchantment is the same. Flags and tall yellow irises and
+the greenest of green tufts grow in the water and about the foundations
+of the bridges. Looking back at the mill, we see it reflected in the
+calm, deep water above the weirs as in a polished looking-glass. There
+are old cedars and red-roofed cottages, and plenty of Scotch firs and
+yew hedges in the background. Away up the river is the white mass of
+Greenlands with its pierced look-out tower.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE ROMANCE OF BISHAM AND HURLEY
+
+
+One of the greatest calumnies I ever heard expressed was the remark,
+"What, writing a book about the river! Why, the river is all alike,
+isn't it?" It is true that many reaches of the river are so exceedingly
+attractive that there is a danger of applying the adjectives "pretty"
+and "beautiful" and "charming" to many of them, but the sameness is
+not in the reaches, it is in the poverty of one's own language. What
+can be more different, for instance, than the river about Maidenhead
+and the river above Marlow? Yet both are delightful. The patrons of
+the Maidenhead part no doubt outnumber those of Bisham and Hurley,
+but that is because Maidenhead is one of the most accessible places on
+the river. The station at Marlow is on a branch, and many a weary hour
+must be spent waiting, if one is dependent on trains. This is the only
+station for Hurley and Bisham, unless we go on equally far in the other
+direction to Henley. However, this is one of the reasons why the Marlow
+section is preferable to the Maidenhead one--when you do get there.
+
+Great Marlow itself is a fairly important place for a riverside
+village. It is like a little country town, and though many new
+red-brick villas are springing up, it could not be called "residential"
+in the way that the word could be applied to Richmond, for instance.
+The ground plan is very simple. One wide street runs straight down to
+the bridge, and another street crosses it at the top. In the latter is
+to be found Marlow's chief literary association, for here still stands
+the cottage where Shelley lived. It is marked by a tablet, and is a
+low, long building, creeper-covered, and is now divided into several
+cottages. Here he wrote _The Revolt of Islam_ and _Alastor, or the
+Spirit of Solitude_.
+
+  [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF MARLOW]
+
+Down by the water side the whole aspect of Marlow is bright and open.
+It must be entirely different from the older Marlow, when the wooden
+bridge--which crossed the river lower down than the present one--and
+the old church were still in existence. At present, in the summer all
+is gay and clean looking. The suspension bridge, which is the best of
+the modern sort of bridges from an artist's point of view, is rather
+low over the water; standing on it one can look right down on to the
+green lawn of the Compleat Angler Hotel, and see the many-coloured
+muslins, the white flannels, the gay cushions, the awnings, and the
+sunshades, as if they were all a gigantic flower bed. The red hotel
+itself is from this point caught against the background of the Quarry
+Woods. Opposite to it is the very green strip of the churchyard
+coming right down to the edge of the river, and only separated from
+it by a low stone parapet: weeping willows fling their green spray
+out over the water, and behind is the church. It is undeniable that
+the materials used in the church are distinctly ugly, but the steeple
+goes some way towards redeeming it, and if it can be seen silhouetted,
+so that the materials are lost in dimness, and only the outlines are
+apparent, it becomes at once more than passable. Spires are not common
+in Thames-side churches, which are far more often capped by rather low
+battlemented towers.
+
+One of the glories of Marlow is its weir. It runs in a great
+semicircular sweep below the hotel; and, from a terrace there, one can
+look right down into the swirling water; or by coming up the backwater
+below in a boat, one can land at the hotel without facing the lock at
+all, a great advantage. The weir is in several planes, and the extended
+flood makes a perpetual wash, rising to a roar in winter, and dwindling
+to the merest tinkle in summer. Marlow is distinctly a summer place:
+its openness, its many trees, its wide reach of water, and the splash
+of the weir are all summer accompaniments; and in winter, when the wind
+sweeps down from the south, the unprotected side, and the water hisses
+and bubbles in its struggle to get down to lower levels, it is weird
+and melancholy.
+
+  [Illustration: QUARRY WOODS]
+
+The lock channel is fringed by several islets, and there is the usual
+mill, and a pretty wooden foot-bridge. Several of the most graceful of
+our trees, the dainty silver birch, stand near the mill. On some of the
+lower islands osiers grow, and there are one or two neat boat-houses.
+Wide meadows fringe the river below; and eastward--the bridge lies
+due north and south--are the famous Quarry Woods, held by many to be
+superior even to the Clieveden Woods. In some points they are, and
+not the least of these is that they are traversed by several roads,
+while those at Clieveden are kept strictly private. The woods are
+composed almost wholly of beech, the tree that loves the chalk, here
+so abundant, and only a few patches of larch may be seen in clumps
+among them. Beginning at the water's edge, rising above the curious
+white castle with harled walls called Quarry Hill, now to let, the
+woods continue in a straight line inland, getting further and further
+from the river as they go. It is difficult to say at what season of
+the year they are the most beautiful. In early spring, before the buds
+burst, if looked at in the mass, there is to be seen a kind of purple
+bloom made by the myriad buds, which is not found in any mixed woods.
+In spring the buds burst out into that tender indescribable green,
+like nothing else in the world, and the new-born leaves, suspended
+from their dark and almost invisible twigs, are for all the world like
+fronds of giant maidenhair. In the autumn the whole ground is one blaze
+of rich burnt-sienna, a carpet of leaves laid so industriously that not
+a speck of the bare brown earth appears; and from this rise the stems
+smooth and straight, lichen-covered every one, and thus transformed to
+brilliant emerald. Where the light strikes through the rapidly thinning
+branches, they have the very glow of the stones themselves. It is an
+enchanted wood, and at any moment a wizard might peep out from behind
+one of those magic trunks.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM CHURCH]
+
+The woods alone would be sufficient to give Marlow a high rank among
+river places. But all this is below the bridge, and above there is
+much to see. Not far off, on the right bank of the river, is Bisham,
+a tiny village with its church and abbey, now a dwelling house. The
+whole of Bisham is well worth lingering over. The cottages stand
+along the road in straggling fashion, old and new, and some of the
+gardens are bright with homely, sweet-scented flowers, among which,
+stocks and sweet-williams seem to be the favourites in the summer.
+One tumble-down row, rather off the road, is a mass of honeysuckle,
+and roses and ivy. The little church stands so near to the margin of
+the river that not a dozen yards separate its tower from the flood.
+A low moss-grown stone parapet edges the churchyard; over this elms
+dip their crooked boughs in a vain endeavour to touch the ripples as
+they spring playfully upward, driven by the wind. The little church
+has a square stone tower, wonderfully softened, so that it looks as if
+it must fray to powder at a touch. The brick battlements are a later
+addition, but the gentle river air has breathed on them so that they
+tone in harmoniously. Some of the windows are transition Norman. For
+ages the little church has stood there looking out across the water
+to the green flat meadows, and though it has been rebuilt and altered,
+there is much of it that is fairly ancient. The Hoby chapel was built
+about 1600, by the disconsolate widow of Sir Thomas Hoby, Ambassador
+to France; in it are several fine tombs, and on that of Sir Thomas, his
+lady, who was learned, as it was the fashion for great ladies to be in
+her time, wrote long inscriptions in Latin and Greek and English; the
+last of which ends up with:
+
+     "Give me, O God, a husband like unto Thomas,
+     Or else restore me to my husband Thomas!"
+
+Eight years later she married again, so that she had presumably found
+a husband "like unto Thomas." The Hoby window in this chapel, with
+its coat of arms, is especially interesting, and when the morning sun
+streams through in tones of purple and gold upon the worn stones, the
+effect is striking.
+
+There are one or two good brasses in the church, and a small monument
+to two children who are traditionally said to have owned Queen
+Elizabeth as mother!
+
+  [Illustration: HURLEY BACKWATER]
+
+From the reign of Edward VI. to 1780 the Hoby family held the abbey,
+and then it was bought by the ancestors of the present owner. It is
+a splendid group of masonry, and stands very effectively near the
+river. The tall tower, the oriel windows, and the red tints against
+the fine mass of greenery, make a very unusual picture. Bisham at one
+time belonged to the Knights Templars, who founded here a preceptory.
+But their Order was dissolved in the reign of Edward II. In 1338 the
+Earl of Salisbury established here a priory for Augustinian monks.
+This was twice surrendered, having been re-established after the first
+time. It is rather curious that the last prior, being permitted by
+the tenets of the Reformed Church to marry, became the father of five
+daughters, each of whom married a bishop; while he himself was Bishop
+of St. Davids. Poor Anne of Cleves was presented with the abbey by
+her sometime husband the King, who, however, died before the gift was
+confirmed. She was allowed to retain it, and from her it passed to
+the Hobys as aforesaid. The house has therefore a long history, and
+much of the fabric is very old. One of the oldest parts is the fine
+entrance gateway, dating from the reign of King Stephen. The great
+hall is supposed to have been at one time the church of the abbey. As
+three Earls of Salisbury, the great "King Maker" Warwick, and Edward
+Plantagenet, unhappy son of an unhappy father, were all buried in the
+abbey church, there is every reason to suppose that their bones lie
+beneath the pavement in the hall.
+
+During Queen Mary's reign Princess Elizabeth was a prisoner at
+Bisham under the charge of Sir Thomas Hoby. No doubt she "took water"
+frequently, and glided gently down with the stream; for people were
+accustomed to use their river when there were no roads to speak of.
+She must often have gazed upon the Quarry Woods in all their flaming
+splendour of autumn, but the Marlow she knew is so different from our
+Marlow we can hardly otherwise picture it. Several alterations were
+made at the abbey while Elizabeth was there, such as the construction
+of a dais, and a large window; small points, which show, however, that
+she was treated with all due respect. And she herself has left it on
+record that she received kindness and courtesy from her enforced hosts.
+These alterations were followed subsequently, in her own reign, by the
+rebuilding of much of the abbey, which was then made as we now see it.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM ABBEY]
+
+It is inevitable that such a historic house should have a tradition or
+two attached to it; and traditions are not lacking. It is said that
+the ghost of someone drowned in the river rises at times in the form
+of a mist, and spreads all across the channel, and woe be to anyone who
+attempts to penetrate it. Another tale is that the house is haunted by
+a certain Lady Hoby, who beat her little boy to death because he could
+not write without blots. She goes about wringing her hands and trying
+to cleanse them from indelible inkstains. The story has probably some
+foundation, for a number of copybooks of the age of Elizabeth were
+discovered behind one of the shutters during some later alterations,
+and one of these was deluged in every line with blots. We all know that
+great severity was exercised by parents with their children at that
+time; even Lady Jane Grey had to undergo "pinches, nips, and bobs,"
+until she thought herself "in hell," while with her parents, and the
+story, if not the ghost, may safely be accepted.
+
+Another tradition tells of an elopement. One of the Earls of Salisbury,
+about to set out for the Holy Land, sent for his daughter, who was a
+nun at the convent of Little Marlow, to bid him farewell. She came to
+him at Bisham, and while there was persuaded by one of the squires to
+elope with him. The pair crossed the water, but were almost immediately
+captured. The girl was presumably returned to her nunnery, where her
+escapade would give her something to think of during all the monotonous
+days that followed, and the man was imprisoned at Bisham. In attempting
+to make his escape he fell from a high window and was badly injured. It
+is said that he afterwards took the vows and became a monk.
+
+Temple Mill and House and Lock, which come next to Bisham up the river,
+recall the possession of the Knights Templars. This and Hurley Lock are
+the two nearest together of all on the river, and experienced oarsmen
+frequently catch the second one by making a dash on high days and
+holidays when there is likely to be a crowd and consequent delay.
+
+Interesting as Bisham is, it is rivalled by Hurley, with its remains of
+the fine old mansion Lady Place.
+
+In order to reach the lock one passes under a high wooden foot-bridge,
+"the marrow" to one further up. On the lock island is a large red-brick
+mill-house, near which stand one or two evergreens; while on an apple
+tree in the lock-keeper's garden is a fine growth of mistletoe, of
+which he is justly proud. Mistletoe grows a good deal in the valley
+of the Thames. It is not as a rule easily seen, owing to the foliage
+of the trees on which it grows; but in the winter, across the frozen
+meadows, against the cold white sky, it may be seen in great tufts that
+look like giant nests.
+
+It is supposed that the seeds of the mistletoe in order to become
+fruitful must pass through the body of the missel thrush, which is
+extremely partial to them, and seems to be almost the only bird that
+will touch them, hence its name; and if, as is conjectured, the seeds
+cannot germinate without this process, we have the phenomenon of an
+animal forming the "host" for a vegetable parasite.
+
+Beyond the lock there is a sheltered channel with the quaintest
+old-world flavour about it, a flavour which grows yearly more and
+more difficult to find as it melts away before the onward sweep of
+the advertising age. A strip of green turf is lined by an old brick
+wall with lichen and moss growing on its coping, so that when the sun
+catches it, it is like a ribbon of gold. Tall gate piers, crowned by
+stone balls, frame a bit of the excellently kept velvet lawns of Lady
+Place. There are many of these old piers and balls, and nearly all are
+overgrown with roses.
+
+     Look to the blowing rose about us--'Lo,
+     Laughing,' she says, 'into the world I blow,
+     At once the silken tassel of my purse
+     Tear, and its treasures on the garden throw.'
+                    --_Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam._
+
+The splendid cedars, themselves a guarantee of age that no modern Midas
+can summon to deck the grounds of his new mansion; the tinkle of a
+cowbell from the meadow near; and the Decorated windows of Lady Place
+peering over the wall; all add to the impression made by the whole.
+The abbey was founded in 1086 for Benedictine monks. It is interesting
+to note what a very great attraction water always held for monks;
+doubtless the necessity for Friday fish was one reason for this; but
+one likes to think that they also loved the river for its own sake,
+and that they found in the current the same sort of fascination which
+it holds for us now. It may be also that it was the constant gliding
+of the water, an emblem of their own smoothly running lives, that drew
+them so strongly:
+
+     Glide gently, thus for ever glide,
+       O Thames! that other bards may see
+     As lovely visions by thy side
+       As now, fair river! come to me.
+     O glide, fair stream, for ever so,
+       Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
+     Till all our minds for ever flow
+       As thy deep waters now are flowing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     How calm! how still! the only sound,
+       The dripping of the oar suspended!
+     The evening darkness gathers round
+       By virtue's holiest powers attended.
+                            --_Wordsworth._
+
+Of this abbey not much remains. The crypt is isolated, standing away
+from the remainder of the buildings, and anyone may penetrate into
+it. The old moat is excellently well preserved, and its circuit shows
+that the abbey premises must have extended over at least five acres of
+ground. The church, which is now the parish church, is an odd little
+building. It has a single aisle, and the original work is Norman,
+though it has been much modernised. It forms part of a courtyard or
+quadrangle, and faces a large, barn-like structure, which was the
+refectory; in parts this is also Norman, and in it are the Decorated
+windows. The materials used in the construction of this refectory
+are most curious--brick, chalk, flint, any sort of rubble, all mixed
+together, and very solid. The stable is built in the same way, and it
+is amazing that such heterogeneous stuff should have stood the test of
+time. Not far off also is a dove-house of a very ancient pattern. The
+interior, with its cavernous gloom and the numerous holes in the chalk
+for the birds to nest in, is well worth looking into. Indeed, the whole
+of this side of the buildings--away from the river--is worth landing to
+see. It is all within a very few yards, and once past the modern house
+we find the little church with its old-fashioned wooden tower, the
+green with its well-grown elms, and the dove-house and stable, which
+combine to form a very unusual scene altogether.
+
+Sir Richard Lovelace, created Baron Lovelace by Charles I., built
+Lady Place on the site of the abbey in 1600. He was a relative of the
+Cavalier poet of the same name.
+
+In Macaulay's history there is an account of Lady Place, given
+graphically as he well knew how. He is speaking of a descendant of the
+founder, and he says:
+
+"His mansion, built by his ancestors out of the spoils of the Spanish
+galleons from the Indies, rose on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in
+that beautiful valley, through which the Thames, not yet defiled by the
+precincts of a great capital, nor rising and falling with the flow and
+ebb of the sea, rolls under woods of beech round the gentle hills of
+Berkshire. Beneath the stately saloon, adorned by Italian pencils, was
+a subterraneous vault in which the bones of ancient monks had sometimes
+been found."
+
+The third Lord Lovelace plotted for the coming of William of Orange,
+and in the crypt many a secret meeting was held to arrange the details.
+It is said that the actual invitation which brought the Dutchman over
+was signed in this low, dark vault.
+
+Lady Place later belonged to a brother of Admiral Kempenfelt, who went
+down with the _Royal George_.
+
+Certain places are frequently associated with certain seasons of the
+year, and to my mind at Hurley it is always summer. The smell of the
+new mown hay on the long island between the lock channel and part of
+the main stream, the faint, delicate scent of dog-roses, and all the
+other scents that load the summer air, seem to linger for ever in this
+sheltered place. The backwater running up on the other side of this
+island to the weir is a very enticing one. Thirsty plants dip their
+pretty heads to drink of the water that comes swirling from the weir
+like frosted glass, and trees of all sorts--ash, elm, horse-chestnut,
+and the ubiquitous willows and poplars--lean over the water in crooked
+elbows, giving a sweet shade and a delicious coolness. The weir is a
+long one, broken by islands into three parts. Another long island is
+parallel to the first one. Indeed, Hurley is a complicated place, and
+one that is ever new. The swans certainly appreciate it. Drayton says
+"Our flood's queen, Thames, with ships and swans is crowned." I don't
+know about the ships; nothing very large can get above Molesey Lock;
+but as for the swans they abound, and especially about here.
+
+The swans on the river belong to the Crown, the Vintners' and the
+Dyers' Companies. The grant of this privilege to the companies goes
+back so far that it is lost in the mists of antiquity. The Crown is
+far the largest holder, but as the numbers of swans, of course, vary
+from year to year, it is difficult to form an estimate of the total.
+The Vintners, who come next, own perhaps 150. They preserve only those
+that live below Marsh Lock, with the exception of a few black ones,
+which, contrary to expectation, have thriven very well, and find a
+happy hunting ground about Goring and Moulsford. The system of marking,
+called swan-upping, has been modified of late years, as a protest was
+made against it on the ground of cruelty. Before that time the Vintners
+marked their swans with a large V right across the upper mandible,
+but now they give only two little nicks, one on each side. From this
+comes the well-known sign of old yards and public-houses, the Swan
+with Two Necks, a corruption of nicks! The Dyers have a nick on one
+side only. The origin and variety of swan marks is a curious subject.
+The process of swan-upping, or as it is often incorrectly called,
+swan-hopping, gives an occasion for a pleasant excursion, as it occurs
+about a fortnight before the August Bank-Holiday, in the very height
+of the summer. Only the birds of the current year are done, as the
+marks generally last for life, and though they are accustomed to see
+too many people to fear mankind, the handling naturally frightens them.
+The swans, as a rule, find their own living, grubbing about in the
+banks and on the river bottom, and they are also occasionally fed from
+house-boats and pleasure boats, but in winter sometimes they are hard
+put to it, and provision has to be made by their owners.
+
+A swan exercises on me something of the same fascination that a camel
+does; though far be it from me to compare the two in grace. They are
+both full of character, and both preserve a strictly critical attitude
+toward the human race. In the case of the swan, nature has perhaps
+dealt unfairly with him, for the curious little black cap, at the
+junction of bill and head, technically known as the "berry," gives
+him a fixed expression which he has no power to alter, even if he
+felt beaming with good humour. As it is, he is condemned to go through
+life as if he momentarily expected an attack upon his dignity and was
+prepared to repel it. When the sun is shining and the swan dips his
+long neck in the water and flings it upon his shoulders, the large,
+glistening drops, running together on the oily surface, lie like a
+necklet of diamonds in the hollow of his back.
+
+The irises and bur-reeds line the low banks above the weir, and a line
+of short black poplars give some shade.
+
+     And on by many a level mead,
+     And shadowing bluffs that made the banks,
+     We glided, winding under ranks
+     Of iris and the golden reed.
+                                --_Tennyson._
+
+I have said that Hurley is a summer place, and so it is; but there is
+one spring beauty which those who know it only in summer must for ever
+miss. On the slopes where the heights on the northern side fold into
+one another there is a little pillared temple, and about and around it
+some lavish and generous person has planted crocuses in big battalions,
+and they lie there in the sun, royal in purple and gold, and quite as
+rich in tint as those lights shining through the stained glass window
+at Bisham we saw a while ago.
+
+Above the next stretch of the river stands the great modern palace of
+Danesfield, which is built of chalk, one would imagine a singularly
+unlasting material. Though hidden by trees from directly beneath,
+from a distance it is very noticeable, and the white walls gleam out
+beneath the red tiles in a way that cannot be overlooked. It is well
+thus to have used local material, for local it is, as can be seen by
+the great chalk cliffs that line the river side; and the idea is daring
+and original. The interior fittings are worthy of any palace, and no
+pains and cost has been spared. It is a worthy object to build a house
+which shall rank with those bygone mansions on which their owners
+so lovingly lavished their thought and time, and which have also so
+frequently disappeared. The name arises from the fact of there having
+been a Danish camp in the neighbourhood, and the place is still pointed
+out. After this there is rather a flat bit of meadow land, fringed
+with sedge and many a gay plant, growing gallantly in blue and mauve.
+We pass two reedy islands opposite a line of little houses called
+Frogmill, and then we see Medmenham Abbey, which looks more imposing
+than it is, being at the best a carefully composed ruin. However,
+sometimes these compositions, if artistically done, are worth having,
+and Medmenham has memories behind it. It was once a real abbey, founded
+for Cistercian monks in 1200. But after the Dissolution the buildings
+fell into ruin. Later they became the headquarters of the daring and
+impious club known as the "Hell Fire" Club, of which one of the leading
+spirits was Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards Lord Le Despencer, the
+same who built the church at West Wycombe, only a few miles away as
+the crow flies. This is a church where the pulpit and reading desk
+are armchairs; the latter stands on a chest of drawers, which, being
+pulled out, serve as steps. On the tower of the church an immense ball
+like a gigantic football is tethered by chains. This can contain twelve
+people, and the mad lord held meetings here with his friends. The motto
+of his club was _Fay ce que voudras_, and the members went as near to
+devil worship as they dared. Once while they were at Medmenham someone
+let a huge ape down the chimney, when the revellers, worked up to a
+frantic pitch of excitement and more than half drunk, thought that his
+Satanic majesty had paid them a visit in good earnest. From such orgies
+Medmenham has long been free, and it is now a respectable dwelling
+house with a nice bit of cloister over which ivy hangs in folds, and to
+which the word "picturesque" may quite fitly be applied.
+
+There is a ferry over the river at Medmenham, and, not far off, the old
+Abbey Hotel, in which numbers of artists stay. Up the green lane is a
+curious old house, once the residence of Sir John Borlase, whom Charles
+II. used to visit, riding here on horseback, accompanied frequently, so
+it is said, by Nell Gwynne. Standing by the high road, which here is
+not half a mile from the river, is a quaint little church with wooden
+porch and shady evergreens, a very model of what a tiny village church
+should be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BOULTER'S LOCK AND MAIDENHEAD
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Human beings are by nature sociable; and to state that a crowd of
+well-dressed people will be at a certain point of the river at a
+particular date, is to ensure that everyone else who possibly can
+will be there too--only better dressed. It would seem to the ordinary
+ungregarious bachelor that Boulter's Lock, the Sunday after Ascot,
+would be a place to avoid, for there will be the necessity of waiting
+for hours on a river--grilling in the sun if the day be fine, or
+shivering if the day be cloudy; for the English climate never lacks
+the spice of uncertainty, and at this season of the year it is more
+capricious than usual. The middle of June is proverbially a time of
+roses, but it is just as likely to be a time for chills, at least so
+says the pessimist. To the optimist and he who "loves his fellow-men,"
+Boulter's Lock, on this one day of the year, reveals itself to memory
+as a day of delight and flashing colour; he has only to shut his
+eyes to recall a scene as brilliant as a flower garden. Here, close
+to him, lies a long, flat-bottomed punt, with gay cushions on which
+lean two fair girls, their faces toned to a pink glow by the sun's
+rays penetrating gently through their rose-pink sunshades. Their
+large flapping hats are tied under their chins with huge bows of
+ribbon as pink as their cheeks; their soft, white muslin dresses lie
+in folds and frills and heaps bewildering to contemplate; they are
+exactly, exasperatingly, absurdly alike. "How can a woman be such an
+idiot as to duplicate her charms?" the onlooker exclaims to himself;
+but he looks again. Dark eyes dancing as merrily as the ripples on
+the breeze-stirred water; chatter and laugh; and babble as soft and
+meaningless as the gurgle of the little tributary stream; textures of
+fabric as delicate as the flowers peeping over the grey stone walls
+from the lock-keeper's garden above; dainty arms bare to the elbow;
+Japanese umbrellas jewelled in the sunlight; striped awnings, as gay
+as Joseph's coat, flapping softly; the long low outlines of craft
+of every kind, skiff and dingey and canoe, from the smoothly gliding
+little electric launch to the heavy clinker-built boat on hire for its
+tenth season; these items make up a scene quite unlike anything else.
+For half a mile below the lock you could step across a solid bridge of
+boats over half the river. Some years ago, the homely serge and sailor
+straw-hat were considered the proper river costume; now, the straw is
+worn only by men, whose severe flannels show little alteration from
+year to year, for men are much more conservative in sartorial matters
+than women. And every tantalising muslin, lace, and flower-decked hat
+is considered suitable for a woman on the river. The more fantastic
+and enormous, the more gauzy and lace-trimmed, the better. And, as her
+grandmother did, the young girl dresses in the thinnest of muslins and
+lawns, wears an open neck in the day time, and elbow sleeves.
+
+  [Illustration: BOULTER'S LOCK, ASCOT SUNDAY]
+
+In pushing forward between the open lock-gates into the lock, a slender
+canoe fits into an almost impossible space between the electric launch
+and the punt. A heavily weighted boatload, where four elderly women
+are rowed by one heated man, falls foul of its neighbour and has to be
+righted. The chatter is silenced for a moment, but rises again when
+the craft are fitted, like the pieces in an old fashioned puzzle,
+inside the green and slimy walls, which throw a deep shadow on one
+side. Then the gates are shut, and a wash and gurgle of water begins,
+delightfully cool to hear. A nervous girl gives a little shriek and
+jumps so that every boat is set a-rocking, as all are touching. Others
+laugh. It is impossible to upset, for there is no room. The whole
+gently swaying mass rises on the breast of the rising water up out of
+the shadow into the sunlight; into the view of the waiting crowds on
+the tow-path. Colours flash out once more; an excited little dog rushes
+yapping from stem to stern of his boat, and finally, with a vigorous
+jump, lands on the lock-keeper's garden, where there is a profusion of
+sweet old-fashioned flowers, and such roses as grow nowhere but by the
+river-side. Then, to the accompaniment of the dog's frantic barks, the
+massive gates creak backward on their hinges, and we ride forward into
+the wide expanse of the sparkling river. Only a few boats await the
+opening of the lock here, for, at this time of day, more are going up
+than coming down. But behind, away below the lock, a chaotic flotilla
+has once more collected, and may have to wait for hours, for it is
+rather like the process of ladling the river up in a tablespoon.
+
+  [Illustration: BELOW BOULTER'S LOCK]
+
+This reach at Maidenhead, is one of the most popular on the river. On
+each side of the wide stone bridge half a mile below the lock, Taplow
+and Maidenhead face one another. But though popular and easy of access,
+being on the Great Western Railway, which runs quick trains at frequent
+intervals, both stations are a little distance from the river. The
+name Maidenhead is derived from Maiden-hithe, or wharf, as a large
+wharf for wood at one time stood near the bridge. The bridge itself,
+though a modern fabric, is of ancient lineage, for we know that in
+1352 a guild was formed for the purpose of keeping it in repair. It
+may be remembered that bridges at that time were considered works of
+charity, and competed with masses and alms as a means of doing good
+posthumously.
+
+     Another blissed besines is brigges to make,
+       That there the pepul may not passe [_die_] after great
+     showres,
+     Dole it is to drawe a deed body oute of a lake,
+       That was fulled in a fount-stoon, and a felow of ours.
+
+And in _Piers Plowman_:
+
+     Therewith to build hospitals, helping the sick,
+     Or roads that are rotten full rightly repair,
+     Or bridges, when broken, to build up anew.
+
+  [Illustration: MAIDENHEAD]
+
+The main road between London and Bath, a well-known coaching road,
+runs this way, and a very good road it is. The railway bridge crosses
+below the road, but it is of brick with wide arches, and is by no
+means unsightly. Between the two is the River-side club, where a band
+plays on the smooth green lawn in the season, and the smartest of
+smart costumes are the rule. Near here also is Bond's boat-house and a
+willow-grown islet. There are numbers of steps and railings and landing
+stages, all painted white, and these give a certain lightness to the
+scene. Close by the bridge are several hotels, of which the oldest
+established is Skindle's, low-lying and creeper-covered, on the Taplow
+side. Boats for hire line the banks everywhere, for many cater for the
+wants of the butterfly visitor, out of whom enough must be taken in the
+season to carry the establishments on through the winter; and the river
+visitor is essentially a butterfly. Few know the charms of the Thames
+in the winter, when, in an east and west stretch, the glowing red ball
+of the sun sinks behind dun banks of mist; when the trees are leafless,
+and the skeleton branches are outlined against a pale clear sky; when
+a touch of frost is in the air, and the river glides so stilly that it
+almost seems asleep.
+
+     A bitter day, that early sank
+     Behind a purple frosty bank
+     Of vapour, leaving night forlorn.
+                         --_Tennyson._
+
+The visitor goes to the river in the summer because of its coolness,
+and though the coolness is ofttimes delusive, being in appearance
+rather than reality, lying in the sight of the sparkles and the sound
+of the ripples, yet it is a fine make-believe. Such river-side hotels
+as cater for the season are content to lie dormant all the chill
+long winter, until, with the breath of early spring, the celandines
+raise their polished golden faces and the lords and ladies stud the
+hedgerows. Then a few adventurous beings come down on the first fine
+days, like the early swallows, a portent that summer is at hand; and
+these lucky people have the river largely to themselves, and do not
+find lovers in every attractive backwater; and if they have to row to
+keep themselves warm, they gain an increase of vigour that no burning
+summer sun can give.
+
+The view from Maidenhead Bridge northwards--for here the river runs due
+south--is spoilt by the gasometers which rise over the willow-covered
+islets. But once past Boulter's Lock, the scenery improves with every
+hundred yards. Close by the lock itself is Ray Mead Hotel, where the
+deep carmine-tinted geraniums grow in quantities. Sometimes as many
+as three hundred people are supplied with tea at the hotel on a fine
+summer afternoon, while over a thousand pass through the lock. Above
+Boulter's is a secluded backwater formed by the stream of a mill, and
+this is one of the pleasantest retreats in the neighbourhood.
+
+     ... In my boat I lie
+     Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer heats.
+                              --_Matthew Arnold._
+
+Above the river, on the east, rise the cliff-like heights of Clieveden,
+wooded to their summits, and seen magnificently by reason of the curve
+at the end of the reach, which gives their full sweep at one glance.
+The cliff rises to a height of 140 feet, but the thickness of the
+trees, and their own height towering above, make it look much higher.
+The trees are of all kinds, oak and beech, chestnut and ash, and many a
+dark evergreen; while here and there a Lombardy poplar shoots up like a
+straight line, and the wild clematis throws its shawls of greenery from
+tree to tree, giving the whole the appearance of a tropical forest.
+Seen in early spring, when the tender green of the beeches and the
+bursting gummy buds of the horse-chestnut are shedding a veil over the
+fretwork of twig and bough, they are glorious enough; but in autumn,
+when orange and russet break out in all directions, they are, perhaps,
+more imposing. River people do not, as a rule, see them at their
+best, for before that touch of frost has come which sends a flame of
+crimson over the maples, and heightens the orange of the beeches, the
+fairweather boatsman has fled to his fireside.
+
+At one point we catch a glimpse of Clieveden itself, standing high and
+facing downstream. Evelyn says in his diary:
+
+     I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood,
+     and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, buildings of
+     extraordinary expense.... The stande, somewhat like Frascati
+     as to its front, and on the platform is a circular view to
+     the utmost verge of the horizon, which, with the serpenting
+     of the Thames, is admirable.... But the land all about
+     wretchedly barren, and producing nothing but fern.
+
+The taste of those days differed from ours; now we should prefer to see
+an expanse of ferns to a field of potatoes.
+
+The first great mansion here was built by "Steenie," the Duke of
+Buckingham, King Charles's favourite. He was a villain, even for a time
+of slack morals, and the chief association connected with his house
+is that he brought here a comrade in every way suited to him, in the
+person of the Countess of Shrewsbury, who stood by, dressed as a page,
+holding his horse, while he killed her husband in a duel. The house was
+twice burnt down; the present one was built about the middle of the
+nineteenth century, and belongs to Mr. Astor. A pleasanter memory is
+that of the poet Thomson, whose masque _Alfred_ was acted here in 1740,
+on the birthday of Princess Augusta. This contained, as a kernel, the
+song "Rule Britannia," destined to survive long after its husk had been
+forgotten.
+
+Opposite Clieveden the ground is low lying, and, to use Evelyn's word,
+the river "serpents" a good deal. There are several islands, on one of
+which, called Formosa, there is a house. There are several side-streams
+crossed by footbridges, and in one of these is the lock. The main
+stream continues in a great sweep, and is guarded by two weirs. The
+fishing here is very popular, and though it belongs to Lord Boston,
+permission to fish may be obtained by writing beforehand. Hedsor Church
+stands well on high ground near; and with its bosky foliage and many
+islets, the river here is not a bad place in which to idle away many an
+hour.
+
+The hotel at Cookham is right down on the water's edge, and from its
+lawn a charming view is gained of the main stream breaking into its
+many channels, with the wooded island of Formosa in the middle. All
+about here is a favourite place for anglers, and many a punt is moored
+across stream with its ridiculous chairs on which sit two or three
+solemn elderly men, content to sit, and sit, and watch the dull brown
+water rush beneath for hour after hour, without once raising their eyes
+to see the green of the witching trees, or listening to the hum of the
+joyous life around them. To an onlooker they appear to be quaffing the
+flattest part of the sport, having missed all its head and froth. How
+different the punt fisher's day from that of the man who starts off
+up-stream, through many a low-lying willow-fringed meadow, who reaches
+over to land his fly in the deep brown pool into which the stream
+falls. Punt fishing, like loch fishing, must have its fascinations, or
+few would do it, but it lacks all the sparkle expressed in such a song
+as that of Walton's, for instance:
+
+     In a morning, up we rise,
+         Ere Aurora's peeping,
+     Drink a cup to wash our eyes,
+     Leave the sluggard sleeping.
+         Then we go
+         To and fro,
+         With our knacks
+         At our backs,
+         To such streams
+         As the Thames,
+       If we have the leisure.
+
+The less said about the rhyme the better, but this has the swing and
+lilt of the true feeling!
+
+From Cookham Bridge we can see the gaily covered lawn of the hotel,
+where a perfect flotilla of craft is anchored, while the owners have
+tea or more cooling drinks; and turning we can view the wide expanse
+of Bourne End, where the races of the Upper Thames Sailing Club are
+held all the summer, and where, about the end of June, when the great
+regatta is held, the surface of the water is dotted with swan-like
+boats.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WINDSOR AND ETON
+
+
+However disappointed a foreign monarch, on his first visit to England,
+may be with the drab hideousness of Buckingham Palace, he cannot but
+confess that in Windsor Castle we have a dwelling meet even for the
+King of England. Both architecturally and by reason of its age, Windsor
+is a truly royal palace. Its history is linked with that of our kings
+until its very stones proclaim the annals of our country. Ages ago,
+Edward the Confessor took a fancy to this quiet place by the Thames,
+and he gave it to his beloved monks of Westminster. William I. saw what
+a splendid shooting lodge might be built in the midst of the wild and
+open country abounding in game, and after having first one shooting
+lodge and then another in the neighbourhood, he acquired the high
+outstanding boss or knob of chalk on which the castle stands, and built
+thereon a residence for himself. His son, Henry I., altered it greatly;
+and succeeding kings and queens have rarely been content to leave it
+without an alteration or addition as their mark. Windsor has ever been
+a favourite with royalty. It has held its own while Westminster and
+Whitehall and Greenwich utterly vanished; while the Tower and Hampton
+have ceased to be royal dwellings; and it is still pre-eminently the
+royal castle. Certain kings, such as William III., have sometimes
+preferred other places for a while, but Windsor has satisfied alike the
+dignity of Edward III. and the homeliness of George III.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE]
+
+The situation is superb. The castle stands high above the river, which
+here curves, so as to show off its irregular outlines to the greatest
+advantage. They rise in a series of rough levels to the mighty Round
+Tower, the crown of the whole, which is massive enough to dominate,
+but not sufficiently high to dwarf the rest. Turrets, battlements,
+and smaller towers serve only to emphasize the dignity of this central
+keep. It was built in the time of Edward III., and strangely enough,
+though altered and heightened in that worst period of architectural
+taste, the reign of George IV., it was not spoiled; and even to a child
+proclaims something of the grandeur one naturally associates with it.
+
+As seen from the bridge the whole of the north range can be followed
+by the eye, from the Prince of Wales's Tower, facing the east terrace,
+to the Curfew Tower on the west. Intermediately there are the State
+apartments, and the Norman gateway, over which is the Library. These
+overlook the north terrace--open to the public at all hours from
+sunrise to sunset.
+
+The view from this terrace is very fine, stretching away to Maidenhead,
+and at times, on days of cloud and shadow, the light-coloured walls of
+Clieveden stand out suddenly, caught by a passing gleam, amid a forest
+of green trees. We can look down on the whole of Eton--the church with
+its tall spire; the buttresses and pinnacles of the chapel standing up
+white against an indigo background; the red and blue roofs piled this
+way and that; and the green playing fields girdled by the swift river.
+It was on the castle terrace that George III. used to walk with all his
+family, except the erring eldest, when he took those tiresome parades
+which Miss Burney describes with so much life-like detail.
+
+The Chapel cannot be seen from the river, as it is in the lower ward
+behind the canons' houses, and is not sufficiently high to rise well
+above them.
+
+It would be of little use to attempt to tell stories of Windsor, for
+its history belongs to the history of England and not to the river
+Thames; yet there is one memory which may be noted. Young James Stuart
+of Scotland had been sent by his father, Robert III., to France after
+the death of his elder brother, the wild Duke of Rothesay, nominally
+for education, but in reality for safe keeping. The boy was captured by
+the English while on the sea and brought as a prisoner to England. He
+was then only about ten or twelve years old. He was treated with every
+consideration, and educated so worthily that he became afterwards one
+of the best of all the Scottish kings. He was at first in the Tower
+and elsewhere, but when he reached young manhood he was brought to
+Windsor, where he had apartments allotted to him. Though he was allowed
+to follow the chase and pursue the amusements of his time, he was yet
+a prisoner, and the sad opening stanzas of his great poem, the _Kingis
+Quair_, speak the melancholy he often felt. This poem was composed at
+Windsor, and its pensiveness changes after the day when, looking down
+from his window in the castle, the youth saw walking in the garden Joan
+Beaufort, whom he afterwards made his wife:
+
+     And therewith cast I down mine eye again,
+     Where as I saw, walking under the tower,
+     The fairest or the freshest young flower
+     That ever I saw methought before that hour.
+
+His visions further on in the poem must have been coloured more or less
+by what he daily saw before him, and we may credit to the Thames the
+flowing lines:
+
+     Where in a lusty plain took I my way,
+     Along a river pleasant to behold,
+     Embroidered all with fresh flowers gay,
+     Where, through the gravel, bright as any gold,
+     The crystal water ran so clear and cold.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR]
+
+Windsor should be seen in sunshine and heat, when black shadows set off
+the towering walls, and all the uneven houses and crooked streets are
+pieced in light and shade. Then it is exceedingly like a foreign town
+in its details; and many people who travel miles to admire Chinon, and
+others of its class, would do well to visit Windsor first.
+
+The town has always been subordinate to the castle, for it was the
+castle that caused the town to spring up, as there were always numbers
+of artificers, attendants, grooms, workmen and others needed for the
+service of the Court. In the fourteenth century it was reckoned that
+the Court employed an army of 20,000 of such people. These would all
+have to be housed somehow, and the nearer the protection of the castle
+the better; hence the town on the slopes.
+
+The Home Park, in which is the mausoleum, borders the river. It is
+separated by a road from the Great Park, made for hunting. Pope's poem
+on "Windsor Forest" is not particularly beautiful; perhaps the best
+descriptive lines are those that follow:
+
+     There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades,
+     Thin trees arise that shun each others shades:
+     Here in full light the russet plains extend;
+     There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills ascend.
+
+Windsor Park is introduced by Shakspeare as the scene of some of
+Falstaff's escapades, an honour shared by the neat, bright village of
+Datchet, opposite. Datchet is a model village grouped about a green,
+and the houses are softened by all the usual creepers and bushes: we
+see roses, jasmine, laurustinus, magnolia, and ampelopsis at every
+turn. Above and below Datchet this clean neatness continues.
+
+The Victoria and Albert bridges are severe, and the weir and the great
+bow of the channel, which is cut by the lock-stream, have no particular
+characteristics. The whole neighbourhood has rather the air of holding
+itself on its best behaviour, as though royalty might any moment appear
+upon the scene. As might be expected, the scenery is rather like the
+poetry it inspired. Here is Sir John Denham's effusion about Coopers
+Hill:
+
+     My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
+     Where Thames, among the wanton valleys strays:
+     Thames, the most loved of all the Ocean's sons
+     By his old sire, to his embraces runs:
+       Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
+       Like mortal life to meet eternity.
+
+There is a pretty reach below Old Windsor, where willows and poplars
+are massed effectively. It is in places like this, where they grow
+abundantly, that the beautiful tawny colour which willows assume in the
+spring, just before bursting into leaf, can be best seen.
+
+The Bells of Ouseley stands at a bend, and with its tinted walls
+and the old elm tree growing close to the entrance, is a typical
+old-English Inn. The road to Staines passes by the water's edge, and
+the guide-post is less reticent than guide-posts are wont to be, for it
+tells us this is the "Way to Staines, except at high-water."
+
+As we pass softly back up the current to Eton, we think how often
+in this reach the incomparable Izaak and his friend Sir Henry Wotton
+fished together.
+
+     I sat down under a willow tree by the water side ... for
+     I could there sit quietly, and, looking on the water, see
+     some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others
+     leaping at flies of several shapes and colours; ... looking
+     down the meadows, could see here a boy gathering lilies
+     and ladysmocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeys and
+     cowslips.
+
+Wotton built a fishing box a mile below the college, from which he and
+Walton often sallied forth during the fifteen years he was provost of
+Eton, and to his rod many a "jealous trout that low did lie, rose at a
+well dissembled fly," as he himself has left on record.
+
+     Ye distant spires, ye antique towers
+       That crown the wat'ry glade,
+     Where grateful Science still adores
+       Her Henry's holy shade;
+     And ye, that from the stately brow
+     Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below
+     Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
+     Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among
+     Wanders the hoary Thames along
+       His silver-winding way.
+                                        --_Gray._
+
+In rounding the great sweep of the river below the London and South
+Western railway bridge, we catch at once the pinnacles of Eton
+chapel--most glorious of chapels--and see the green playing fields.
+
+The long tree-covered island of Romney, on one side of which lies the
+lock, ends in a terrible "snout," strengthened by "camp-shedding." This
+point is locally known as the "Cobbler," and is a source of peril to
+many an inexperienced boatman.
+
+  [Illustration: ETON CHAPEL FROM THE FIELDS]
+
+The bridge over the river can, unfortunately, hardly be called a good
+feature in the landscape--it is as ugly as a railway bridge! Just above
+it is a row of boat-houses, and then follows the Brocas, the famous
+meadow. Above the bridge is a tiny islet which serves as an objective
+in the Fourth of June procession of boats. The boats come down and
+round the island, and once more returning, pass under the bridge to the
+lock, having made a sort of spiral. Nearly all the Eton races are rowed
+in this strip of the river, though, of course, Henley Regatta is the
+greatest event in the boating calendar. A small string of islands faces
+some little public gardens, and away northward winds the Great Western
+Railway on a series of small arches which carry it over the marshy
+ground, no doubt at one time under water.
+
+Beyond the line is a small backwater known as Cuckoo weir, the bathing
+place of the lower boys. Here the swimming trials take place, when
+a set of trembling pink youngsters stand in a punt ready to take a
+graceful header, or, from sheer nervousness, to fall with an ugly flop
+smack upon the water and be disqualified for the time being!
+
+The bathing place of the upper boys, called by the dignified title of
+Athens, is further up in the main river, near the curious island on
+which is Windsor racecourse. The river winds giddily in and out between
+the end of this island and Upper and Lower Hope, which lie between it
+and Cuckoo weir. A mill stands at the end of the long narrow stream
+that separates the racecourse from the mainland, and on the other side
+of the island is Boveney Lock. The quaint old chapel stands amid trees
+further up.
+
+Above the island was once Surley Hall, a favourite resort of the
+Etonians, but it is now pulled down, and Monkey Island is the place
+to go to on half-holidays. Monkey Island is a good way up, and is the
+third of a row of islands. The little one below it, called Queen's
+ait, now belongs to the Eton boys, who have built a small cottage on
+it. Monkey Island itself is a curious and attractive place, except
+when the launches come up from Windsor on Saturdays, bringing hundreds
+of people, who sit about at little tables on the green sward under
+the famous walnut trees, and call for refreshments. There is a large
+pavilion, part boat-house, which belongs to the Eton boys, where they
+can get tea served without mingling with the townspeople. Near it is
+a quaint little temple. This, as well as the house, now the hotel,
+was built by the third Duke of Marlborough, a man of curious taste.
+The hall in the hotel is painted all round with the figures of monkeys
+engaged in various sports and pastimes. There is a broad frieze which
+appears to have been executed in water colours on plaster; the ceiling
+is likewise painted, but in rather a different style. The monkeys
+are a good size, and attract a vast crowd of visitors. The pretty
+verandah round the hotel redeems its appearance externally. Inside it
+has at once all the attractions and disadvantages of an old house--low
+ceilings, very small rooms; but on the other hand there are windings
+and twistings, crooked passages and odd corners, that delight the heart
+of those to whom machine-made houses are an abomination. The duke's
+bedroom is shown, and is as queerly shaped a room as ever mortal man
+conceived. Monkey Island is being embanked with the precious gravel
+dredged from the bed of the Thames, and, though no doubt a necessary
+precaution, as the river insidiously breaks off what it can, the
+operation is not a beautiful one. The island is very proud of its
+walnut trees, and well it may be, for they are a great change after
+the ubiquitous willows, and their gnarled stems and fine shady leaves
+are just the right element in such a scene as a gay lawn covered with
+summer folk in summer dresses.
+
+From Monkey Island the little church tower of Bray can be seen, but
+before reaching it Bray Lock has to be negotiated, and here are a long
+sinuous osier-covered ait and a mill, making, as usual, a convenient
+backwater.
+
+Bray is truly a charming place, and one could find it in one's heart
+to forgive the vicar who turned his coat to keep his vicarage. The
+real man lived in the reign of Henry VIII. and his successors, and
+changed his religious practices in conformity with those of the
+sovereign for the time being, turning from Roman Catholic to Reformed
+Church, Reformed to Roman Catholic, and back once more with ease
+and pliability. In the ballad he is represented as living in the
+seventeenth century, and his gymnastics refer to the varying fortunes
+of the house of Stuart, and the Romish tendencies of the later kings of
+that house. Fuller, with his usual quaintness, remarks of him that he
+had seen some martyrs burnt at Windsor and "found this fire too hot for
+his tender temper." But one would fain believe it was not altogether
+cowardice, but also a love of his delightful village, that made him
+so amenable. The little flint and stone tower of the church peeps
+at the river over a splendid assortment of evergreens--laurels, holm
+oaks, yews, and spruce firs being particularly noticeable--and the old
+vicarage with this growth of sheltering trees and its smooth lawn right
+down to the water's edge, is certainly a place that one would think
+twice about before leaving. The village itself is so irregular that,
+tiny as it is, one may get lost in it. There are endless vistas of
+gable ends, of bowed timbers, of pretty porches, and worn brick softly
+embraced by vine or wistaria; yet even in Bray, new red brick is making
+its way. One of the most interesting features is the almshouses, and
+if one lands by the hotel, they are reached after only a few minutes'
+walk. The exterior is very quaint; large cylindrical yews and hollies,
+like roly-poly puddings on end, stand up in stubborn rank before the
+worn red brick. The statue of the founder, of an immaculate whiteness,
+with the glitter of gilt in the coat-of-arms below, just lightens the
+effect. Through an ancient arch one passes to the quadrangle, which
+is filled with tiny flower-beds, and surrounded by a low range of red
+brick with dormer windows. At the other side is the chapel covered with
+ivy, and this, with the little diamond panes and the brightness of the
+variegated flower-beds, is home-like and cosy. Yet it must be confessed
+that in his well-known picture, "The Harbour of Refuge," admittedly
+taken from Bray, Frederick Walker, the artist, has greatly improved
+the scene with artistic licence. The raised terrace at the side, the
+greater width of the quadrangle, the smooth green lawn and sheltering
+central tree in his picture, are far more harmonious and beautiful than
+the reality.
+
+Bray is a very popular haunt with artists and boating people. In
+summer the George Hotel cannot take in all its visitors, and beds are
+hired all over the village, consequently, anyone wishing to spend some
+weeks in Bray must make arrangements well beforehand. This is not to
+be wondered at, because, as well as its own attractions, it is within
+easy reach of Maidenhead and the delights beyond, and its unspoilt
+quaintness makes it ideal to stay in. Long may Bray remain as it is,
+unaltered and a tiny village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MAGNA CHARTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Magna Charta Island is something of a shock at first sight; it is so
+exceptionally well cared for and so pretty. One pictures a tangle of
+wild trees, a mass of rushes, osiers perhaps, and general grimness.
+The osiers are confined to a fraction of the island; on the remainder
+is a prettily-built house of a fair size, with the very best sort of
+river-lawn, on which grow various fine and regular trees. Many are the
+evergreens; and the bosky holm oak, the dignified stone pine, and the
+flourishing walnut, seen in conjunction with the beautifully kept turf
+and bright flower-beds, are altogether unlike one's conception of the
+place.
+
+It is true that, though the island has the name of it, it is now
+generally supposed that the actual signing of our great charter of
+liberties took place on the mainland. John had delayed, and played
+false, and postponed the issue for long, but he knew now that all was
+up, and he was cornered. A truce was declared, and from Windsor he
+agreed to meet his barons and "concede to them the laws and liberties
+which they asked." The fifteenth of June was fixed for the day, and
+Runney Mead, or Runnymede, for the place. With the barons were almost
+the whole of the English nobility; with John, certain ecclesiastical
+powers, namely, the Archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin, and seven
+bishops, as well as some earls and barons. It is quite obvious that the
+barons could have had no idea of the vast consequences of their act.
+They would have been astonished could they have foreseen that it would
+become the basis of the English constitution. They merely wanted to
+bind down a particular king who had outraged their liberties.
+
+One can hardly imagine a better place for the assembling of a great
+body of armed men than these meadows by the river. The land is as flat
+as a platform, and sheltered to the south by the heights of Cooper's
+Hill, which rise like the tiers in an amphitheatre. The Long Mead, with
+the exception of the road now running across it, must have looked very
+much then as it does now. Runney Mead is more altered, because it is
+shut in by hedges. We know not if the day were fine or overcast when
+the great charter was signed; but when the deed was done John, in a
+rage, retired to Windsor. The barons remained on the meads for about
+ten days, during which the place must have been like a fair.
+
+It is very hot on this part of the river on a sunny day. The trees
+growing on the banks are all on the north side, and consequently give
+little shade. They border Ankerwyke Park, and grow so close to the
+water that many of their roots are in it. The swallows dart to and
+fro, and clouds of gnats dance like thistledown in the air. Near the
+banks grow many flowers. The spotted knotweed or persicaria, with its
+bright flesh-coloured flowers, is sometimes in water, sometimes on
+the land; the common forget-me-not can be seen peeping up with its
+bright blue eyes; the pink willow herb flourishes; and the yellow iris
+and the purple loosestrife are also to be seen. And when there is no
+wind the scent of the meadow-sweet and the dog-roses becomes almost
+overpowering.
+
+Ankerwyke was once a priory. It was appropriated by Henry VIII., who is
+said to have carried on the courtship of Anne Boleyn under the mighty
+chestnuts for which it was even then famous:
+
+     The tyrant Harry felt love's softening flame,
+     And sighing breathed his Anna Boleyn's name.
+
+A bit of doggerel just about worthy of the occasion!
+
+A more interesting association, though one that leads us rather far
+from the river, is Milton's residence at Horton. He lived here with
+his parents for five years after leaving Cambridge, and no doubt his
+rambles over country which would not then be hedged in and cut up as
+it is now, often led him in the direction of the river. It was this
+scenery, noted at those deeply impressionable years, that he could
+still see when earthly sight was gone.
+
+_Lycidas_ and _Comus_ were both written in the next four or five years,
+and in
+
+     The willows and the hazel copses green
+
+we have a touch of real nature breaking through the conventional
+allusions to vines and wild thyme; also:
+
+     Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
+     Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
+     On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks;
+     Throw hither all your quaint, enamell'd eyes
+     That on the green turf suck the honied showers,
+     And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
+     Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
+     The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
+     The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
+     The glowing violet,
+     The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
+     With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
+     And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
+     Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
+     And daffadillies fill their cups with tears.
+                                     --_Lycidas._
+
+     By the rushy-fringed bank
+     Where grows the willow and the osier dank.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Thus I set my printless feet
+     O'er the cowslip's velvet head
+     That bends not as I tread.
+                         --_Comus._
+
+Not very far below Ankerwyke, the river Coln runs into the Thames
+near Bell Weir Lock, and a little bit above Staines is London
+Stone, standing in a meadow close by the water. It marked the former
+jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London over the river, but these
+rights are now vested in the Thames Conservators. Staines does not
+make the most of itself, or sufficiently endeavour to veil those
+unsightlinesses incidental to a town. The large gasometers opposite
+London Stone are not the only blemishes. Standing on the bridge and
+looking up-stream there are many ugly, yellow-brick, manufacturing
+buildings to be seen; while the screen of willows does not hide piles
+of untidy stones, rusty old iron and other uglinesses. Even the very
+passable island in the centre does not atone. Down stream things are
+a little better, though the want of architectural beauty in the new
+church by the river and the "plastered-on" pinnacles of the parish
+church are both eyesores.
+
+From Staines, however, one may pass rapidly to a fascinating corner at
+Penton Hook.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PENTON HOOK
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Penton Hook is quite peculiar. To a select little coterie of people it
+is _the_ place on the river, but to hundreds of others it is not known
+at all. To its own manifest advantage it is off the "hard high road,"
+and the scorchers and the bounders, and the multitude generally, fly by
+within a comparatively short distance, little knowing what they have
+missed. But one or two of the favoured few turn down to quiet little
+Laleham, and wheeling round a corner come right on to the tow-path by
+the river's brink; in a hundred yards they are at Penton Hook. But
+though the Hook is very select and highly favoured, that is not to
+say it lacks population, only--it is a population of the right sort.
+Little camps of charming bungalows dot the banks both above and below
+the lock. Some are built on ground leased from the Conservancy, some on
+that of private owners. To each man is allotted a strip of ground, with
+so much river frontage, whereon he builds to his own taste and fancy a
+little one-storeyed white-painted house, and lays out the tiny garden
+from which his own white steps reach down to the water. Think of the
+joy of it! The leader in an important case has been in a stuffy court
+all day, burdened with his wig and gown, seeing all the dust and stains
+of unswept corners of human nature; accusing, with upraised finger,
+the brazen witness who has just perjured himself; dragging from that
+yellow-faced man the secret he thought buried. Faugh! But the court
+rises; he is away. The motor takes him down in less than an hour. Gone
+are the stifling garments; the worn and wicked faces. The dull roar of
+Strand traffic is replaced by the splashing of the water as it bounds
+over the weir. The freed man tumbles into flannels and lies full length
+on the green grass, smoking, with the water flowing at his feet, or he
+dawdles in a boat round the Hook, tempting the fish with all the decoys
+he knows. Happy man!
+
+The trees near the bungalows, and those that fringe the meadows near,
+are not pollarded; there is space between their tall stems. The short
+grass, gemmed with pink-tipped daisies, can be seen everywhere, and
+there is air, and freshness, and openness for everyone. The white
+paint of the bungalows and their neat green or pink roofs, the rows
+of geraniums, roses, and other flowers carefully kept and tended, add
+touches of gaiety and brightness.
+
+There are three weirs, for the river here makes the neatest horse-shoe
+in its whole length, and the authorities have cut through the neck
+of land, so that the greater part of the stream goes rioting and
+tumbling in joyous confusion beneath the great new weir, provided with
+a pent-house roof, under which it is always cool on the hottest summer
+day, with transparent reflections dancing on the wall and a ripple
+and splash below. The second weir, a mere tumbling-weir, is only a
+few yards away. The water does not often leap over it unless it is at
+flood time, when it affords a safety outlet. The third and widest is a
+mixture, half sluice gates and half of the tumbling kind. At one time
+there was no weir here, and boats could avoid the lock by navigating
+the Hook, but that is now no longer possible. There is one advantage in
+it; it keeps the Hook more secluded. The little red water-gauge house
+is connected by wires with Staines, and so to all the rest of England.
+By an automatic arrangement, the register shows simultaneously here and
+at the offices of the water company what depth of water there is, so
+that they may know how much they can take.
+
+At Penton it should be always summer, with dog-roses and sweetbriar,
+with placid red cows grazing on the tender grass, with boats tethered
+in the lazy current round the bend of the Hook.
+
+An uncommonly good place for fishing it is, this Hook, as the
+kingfishers have found out, for they are yearly increasing, and
+apparently do not mind the gay tide of summer company that invades
+their haunts. Right down on the banks near the lock one pair nested
+this year. No steamers churn up the waters and frighten the fish; only
+a slow-moving house-boat or two towed to position and there left, or
+those drifting boats belonging to young men and maidens who are content
+to drift metaphorically as well as actually.
+
+The Abbey river starts away on its own account on the far side of the
+Hook, and begins its short course of about a couple of miles, to fall
+into the Thames again at Chertsey. It used to be possible to get up
+it in a boat, but now it is barred. However, visitors have nothing to
+complain of, for the meadows around are singularly open to them, and
+the place is not hedged about with restrictions as are so many river
+resorts. Numbers of people come down to picnic, and it is no uncommon
+sight to see quite a row of motors outside the lock-keeper's house,
+while footman or chauffeur carries across the luncheon hampers to what
+was once a peninsula but is now an island. Tradesmen's carts come round
+too, finding in the swallow-colony quite enough demand to make it worth
+their while; and year by year the bungalows grow. A whole new piece of
+meadow, hitherto osier bed, is even now going to be devoted to them.
+"Why, I get as many as twenty to thirty applications for land every
+week," says the lock-keeper. It is to be hoped Penton Hook will not
+become over-populated, or the delightful freedom from conventionality
+which now characterises it might die away. "Ladies who come down
+here--why, some of them, they never put a hat on their heads the whole
+time, and I was going to say not shoes or stockings either!" The place
+is particularly sought after by theatrical people. Miss Ellen Terry
+still holds the bungalow she has had for many years. It is surprising
+how early the season begins; even at the end of chilly March a few of
+the first of the swallows appear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ABOUT CHERTSEY AND WEYBRIDGE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Between Chertsey and Penton Hook is Laleham, where the tiny ivy-covered
+church is too much hidden away to be seen easily. An old red brick
+moss-grown wall is the chief object near the river, and with the
+bending trees and quiet fields there is a sense of brooding peace which
+only remains in places off the main roads. Matthew Arnold was born at
+Laleham and is buried in the churchyard. His father, Dr. Arnold of
+Rugby, came here in 1819, but he left when Matthew was only six, to
+take the head-mastership of Rugby.
+
+Between Laleham and Chertsey there is some open, rather untidy ground
+on which gypsies are wont to camp. It cannot be said that the river
+looks its best above Chertsey. The country is too flat and open, and on
+a summer day one is too often scorched. Yet there is always some beauty
+to be found, and it is certainly in open spaces like these that we see
+best reflected "heaven's own blue." Away to the west the tiny Abbey
+river flows in past a mill. By Chertsey bridge a triumphant victory in
+regard to right-of-way over the Thames Conservancy in 1902, is recorded
+on two newly built villas. Opposite is the Bridge Hotel, which, with
+its little bay, its Lombardy poplars and green lawn, is a pleasant
+oasis.
+
+Chertsey Abbey, which was of great fame, lay between the town and the
+river. It was founded in 666, and some Saxon tiles from the flooring
+may be seen in the British Museum. The buildings were destroyed by the
+Danes, but it was re-established in 964 as a Benedictine Monastery.
+
+Nothing shows more the immense power of the monks in England than
+these mighty abbeys which studded the country. We have come across so
+many, even in our short journey between Oxford and London, that the
+fact cannot escape notice; though they probably were more thickly set
+beside the river than elsewhere, because, as I have said, flowing water
+attracted these old monks for more than one reason. There is hardly
+anything left of Chertsey Abbey now, yet in its prime it was like a
+small town, giving employment to hundreds of people. There are a few
+ivy-covered steps near the back of the church and an old bit of wall
+doubtfully supposed to have been part of the boundary; this is near
+the Abbey river. Henry VI. was buried at Chertsey, and his funeral is
+referred to in Shakespeare's play of _Richard III._:
+
+     ... after I have solemnly interr'd
+     At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
+     And wet his grave with my repentant tears.
+
+So he makes the hypocritical Duke of Gloucester speak. Cowley, the
+poet, lived in Chertsey for two years before his death. The house
+still stands; it has an overhanging storey and is covered with rough
+stucco. Charles James Fox was born in a house near, and this probably
+decided him in making choice of a residence many years later, for he
+chose St. Anne's Hill, only two miles away, which can be seen far and
+wide around. There he settled to indulge in the delightful hobby of
+improving his grounds.
+
+Below Chertsey Bridge is an excellent punting reach, where the
+championship punting competition is held every year in the beginning
+of August. This is, doubtless, the reason why Chertsey is crowded
+with visitors in the summer, when out of all the innumerable lodgings
+scarcely a room is to be had.
+
+The river about Weybridge and Shepperton is much more varied than
+at Chertsey, and to my mind variety is a direct element of beauty in
+river scenery. We have passed through flat meadows lined with straight
+ranks of Lombardy poplars that might belong to northern France, and
+then suddenly, at Weybridge, we begin once more curves and twists and
+unexpected islands and snug corners. There is a ferry across the river,
+and the place seems to get along wonderfully well without a bridge.
+In the middle of the stream is a well-kept island which belonged to
+the late Mr. D'Oyly Carte; it is hedged about with an exclusive wall,
+enclosing a pretty garden. In the centre is a neat white house with
+projecting tiles.
+
+In every direction there are numerous boat-building establishments.
+The lock island is large and has other buildings on it besides the
+lock-keeper's cottage. It is a favourite camping ground in summer, and
+has rather an untidy appearance. The wide-mouthed Wey flows in beside
+a couple of other islands, and is itself a very attractive place to
+explore, winding away through meadows and beneath overhanging trees.
+It is, however, not free from locks, though of a somewhat simpler kind
+than those on the Thames. Weybridge is a fresh and pleasant place,
+rapidly growing in all directions, and in its gorsy common land and
+masses of pine woods it reminds one of the parts of Surrey about
+Camberley. On the green stands the column which once presented seven
+faces to the seven streets in London, called after it Seven Dials.
+Since then it has risen in life, having been bought and surmounted with
+a coronet instead of the dial stone; this was in honour of the Duchess
+of York, who died in 1820. She lived at Oatlands Park and was very
+popular.
+
+Oatlands Park is the great place of the neighbourhood. It was once
+a hunting ground of King Henry VIII., but now belongs to a large
+residential hotel. Nothing remains of the building, which was used
+by many of our English monarchs. George IV. entertained here the
+Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and all the princes and
+generals who visited England after Waterloo. In 1790 the Duke of
+York, who is commemorated by the column in Waterloo Place, bought and
+rebuilt the house, and still later it was in the possession of the
+Earl of Ellesmere. Remodelled, the house still stands as the hotel. A
+large piece of ornamental water in the grounds is almost as great an
+attraction as Virginia Water. Just where the park touches the river is
+the place known as Cowey Stakes. It is said that here Cæsar crossed the
+river when in pursuit of Cassivelaunus, in 54 B.C. The stakes, which
+are no longer to be seen, are supposed to have been placed there to
+obstruct his use of the ford. They had been so long under water, that
+when found they were like ebony; they were about six feet long and
+shod with iron. They appear to have been too imposing and carefully
+formed to have been put in for the mere purpose of a river weir or for
+fishing; but, on the other hand, instead of running with the axis of
+the river, as would appear reasonable if they were meant to obstruct
+the passage of men, they were planted across it like a weir. They have
+afforded matter for endless discussion among antiquaries.
+
+  [Illustration: WALTON BRIDGE]
+
+What we know is that Cæsar, having landed at Pevensey, marched inland
+and came to the Thames at about eighty miles from the sea. The river
+was fordable only at one place, and here natives were drawn up to
+oppose him, and the ford fortified with sharp stakes. So the evidence
+certainly seems in favour of this place.
+
+Near Cowey Stakes is Walton Bridge, on the far side of which is a large
+pool connected with the river by a channel; here are constantly to be
+found punt fishers. Turner painted Walton Bridge, and certainly, in
+some aspects, the place is worthy of being painted. The present bridge
+is of brick and iron, but the old one was of oak. Walton, like every
+other place on the Thames, depends greatly on the weather. On days
+when the cedars are seen against a vivid blue sky and the songs of a
+thousand birds are heard, when the meadows are lined with flowers, it
+is beautiful.
+
+     Now rings the woodland loud and long,
+       The distance takes a lovelier hue,
+       And drown'd in yonder living blue
+     The lark becomes a sightless song.
+
+There are other days when the whole is curiously like a platinotype
+photograph; when the steel-grey water reflects a white sun, and all the
+countless twigs of the trees are seen in one feathery mass. All colours
+seem drawn out of the picture, even the green of the grass is turned
+to dun. Light is everything in estimating beauty, but it is sometimes
+difficult to realise quite how much one owes to it. We might quote from
+Cowley's _Hymn to the Light_:
+
+     Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay
+       Dost thy bright wood of stars survey,
+       And all the year dost with thee bring
+     Of thousand flow'ry lights thine own nocturnal spring.
+
+     When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy waken'd head
+       Out of the morning's purple bed,
+       Thy quire of birds about thee play,
+     And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.
+
+In Walton Church is a small brass with, _inter alia_, a man riding
+on a stag's back. The story goes that this man, John Selwyn, was an
+under-keeper in Oatlands Park in Queen Elizabeth's time, and that when
+she was present at the "chace," he leapt from his own horse's back
+straight on to that of the driven stag, when "he not only kept his
+seat gracefully in spite of every effort of the affrighted beast, but,
+drawing his sword, with it guided him toward the Queen, and coming near
+her presence plunged it into his throat, so that the animal fell dead
+at her feet."
+
+  [Illustration: SUNBURY]
+
+In the vestry is a Scolds' or Gossips' bridle, designed in the old days
+of witch-hunting and other atrocities to torture poor women.
+
+Admiral Rodney was a native of Walton, and an old and quaintly built
+house which belonged to the regicide Bradshaw is still in existence.
+
+Below Walton is Sunbury with its long, long weirs, and its little
+houses spread beside the edge of the water. But with Hampton we reach
+the Londoner's zone, which is for another chapter. At present Halliford
+and Shepperton, two little places opposite Oatlands, are far too pretty
+to be passed by without remark. The Manor House at Shepperton has one
+of the finest lawns on the river, which is no small thing. Shepperton
+is a scattered place and lies low; the meadows all around are often
+flooded for miles and miles, looking like an inland sea. A tiny river
+called the Exe finds its way into the Thames near Halliford. A glimpse
+of the quaint church of Shepperton should not be missed. The tower is
+very lean and narrow; it looks rather as if bricks had run short. It
+was added later than the rest, which was built in 1614. Tradition says
+that the previous church was destroyed by a Thames flood, though it
+stood on piles to raise it from the marshy ground. The old rectory,
+with its dormer windows and projecting wings, is really built of oak,
+though it has been faced with tiles which look like brick. It is about
+four hundred years old, and is one of the most delightful rectory
+houses imaginable. The list of rectors goes back to before 1330.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE LONDONER'S ZONE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+As far as Hampton the river may be said to lie within the zone of the
+Londoner. By means of the District Railway and the London and South
+Western Railway he can get at any part of it, and trams are yearly
+stretching out further and further, so that he can go above ground, if
+he wishes, all the way to Hampton. At Hampton itself, at Richmond and
+Kew, there are large open spaces once the gardens or parks belonging
+to kings, but now open as public pleasure grounds, ideal places for
+the man who has a small family to take with him, and whose holiday is
+limited to a day. For those who are free from encumbrances, there are
+always boats to be had in abundance, at a much cheaper rate than one
+would have to pay for them at, say, Maidenhead; and the scenery itself,
+though not so fine as some higher up, is pleasant and attractive. If
+the day be wet or uncertain there is the palace at Hampton to explore;
+and accommodation for eating and drinking is amply supplied by numerous
+inns and hotels clustering round its gates.
+
+The gateway to the Palace is imposing, with its brick piers and stone
+heraldic animals, and the long low range of buildings on the left side
+makes a strip of bright colour.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMPTON COURT FROM THE RIVER]
+
+The older part of the palace was built by Wolsey, but by far the
+greater part of it, as it now stands, is due to William III. Some
+parts of the entrance gateway and the great hall are all that remain
+to speak of Wolsey's inconceivable boldness in attempting to build a
+palace which should outshine that of a jealous monarch like Henry VIII.
+Skelton's satire, beginning:
+
+     Why come ye not to courte?
+     To which courte?
+     To the kinge's courte,
+     Or to Hampton Courte?
+
+showed what everyone thought, and doubtless served to concentrate
+attention upon Wolsey's temerity. The irony of the matter lay in the
+fact that the palace was not seized, but that the unfortunate owner was
+forced to make a present of it to the King:
+
+     With turrettes and with toures,
+     With halls and with boures
+     Stretching to the starres,
+     With glass windows and barres;
+     Hanginge about their walles
+     Clothes of gold and palles
+     Fresh as floures in Maye.
+
+Whether he gave the palace as it stood, with its "two hundred and four
+score beds, the furniture of most being of silk," is not recorded; but
+it is probable that when he had been wrought up to the pitch of terror
+necessary for overcoming his reluctance to part with his beautiful new
+possession, he would give all--everything--feeling that so long as his
+life was safe it was all he cared about. As a mark of royal favour,
+Henry allowed him to occupy apartments at Richmond, where he was not
+too far off to observe the doings of the monarch in his palace. The
+king was so pleased with his new establishment that he formed a mighty
+park, embracing all the land for miles around, including East and West
+Molesey, Cobham, Esher, Byfleet, and Thames Ditton, and was sorely
+aggrieved because his loving subjects, whose land and rights had thus
+been confiscated, dared to make an outcry.
+
+Edward VI. was born at Hampton. After his death Queen Mary came here
+with her husband Philip, and the unhappy couple, one full of sullen
+hate, the other sore and bitter in her loneliness, must have strolled
+in the grounds many a time.
+
+For three months King Charles I. was held prisoner here while his fate
+was undecided, and when he was removed it was to go up the river to
+Maidenhead, where he said his last farewell to his children. Oliver
+Cromwell, who, though he dared not take the name of king, had no
+dislike to the royal privileges, lived at Hampton, and one of his
+daughters was married from the palace. But by the time of William
+III., much of the building had fallen into decay. The situation was
+pleasant, and though Henry's park had in great part reverted to its
+rightful owners, there was still much open ground around which made
+the place desirable. William had a passion for building, and loved the
+prim Dutch style, as was natural. The maze and the canal, and the long
+avenues of trees in Bushey, are all evidences of his taste. But in the
+palace he attempted to copy Versailles, as he had already copied it
+at Kensington. Poor Wren must have been as much perplexed as ever he
+was in his life when told to remodel a Tudor building into the copy of
+one of the Renaissance, and that he succeeded at all is greatly to his
+credit. Two out of the five courts which remained of the old palace
+were pulled down, and the state rooms, as we now see them, are the
+work of Wren under William's directions. Since then the interest and
+beauty of the interior has been much added to by the famous collection
+of pictures, which attracts at least as many visitors as the building
+does.
+
+Bushey Park adjoins Hampton, and lies so close to the river that it
+forms part of the river scenery. Its glory is in its great double line
+of chestnuts, with the broad sweep of green grass lining the avenues
+formed by them. Chestnut Sunday, when the trees are in bloom, is a
+well-known date in the Londoner's calendar, and every description of
+conveyance is hired, chartered, or borrowed, to see the great sight.
+Hundreds of people, to whom it is one of the great days in the year,
+walk about or eat refreshments beneath the sombre green masses which
+are lightened by a thousand pyramidal candles. The central avenue is
+one mile and forty yards in length, and the width of it is fifty-six
+yards. A noble conception, worthy of the little man with the wise head.
+On Hampton Green, outside the gates of the palace, Sir Christopher
+Wren passed the last five years of his life, in sight of his greatest
+architectural problem.
+
+Molesey Lock, just above the bridge, is a popular place in summer. All
+those who have come down to enjoy the fresh air, and who want an excuse
+for doing nothing, stand and watch the boats passing through; there
+is always as great a crowd on the tow-path as on the water. A number
+of islands lie above the lock, the largest of which is Tagg's, as well
+known as any island on the river, and much patronised by holiday-makers
+at lunch and tea time. In summer a band plays on the lawn twice a week.
+It is opposite the end of the Hurst Park Racecourse, patronised by
+altogether a different type of people from those who come to Hampton
+Court, and who can only be said to belong to the river accidentally,
+by reason of the position of the course. A wonderful club boat-house
+of polished wood has sprung up of recent years on the Hampton side,
+and above it is Garrick's Villa with portico and columns. This the
+great actor bought in 1754, and kept until his death, after which his
+widow lived in it for another forty years. He was visited here by all
+the celebrated men of his time, including Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson
+and Hogarth, and here he gave a splendid series of river fêtes. The
+little temple on the bank was built by him as a shrine for a statue of
+Shakespeare, which has now been removed. A small public garden on the
+edge of the water makes this a favourite lounging place for the people
+of the neighbourhood. The scenery is rather tame, but has that charm
+always to be found in flowing water and green grass, in the absence of
+chimneys and other horrors of man's making.
+
+The church of Hampton village stands up fairly high above the water.
+It is in a most unlovely style, but ivy has done something to smooth
+down its defects, which are further toned by distance. There is a
+ferry close by, and as this is the nearest point to the station, many
+of those who arrive by train on race-days cross at this point, and the
+ferrymen reap rich harvests.
+
+Not far beyond this loom up the great earthworks and reservoirs of
+the West Middlesex and Grand Junction Water Company, and with that the
+influence of Hampton may be said to cease.
+
+Returning again to the bridge at Hampton, we have the river Mole
+flowing in on the right bank. Molesey Regatta takes place every year
+in July. The trees and red brickwork of the palace are on the left,
+and only a short way down is the pretty little oasis of Thames Ditton,
+which somehow seems as if it ought to belong to the river much higher
+up, and had fallen here by mistake. The Swan Inn is right on the edge
+of the water. It is proud of the fact that Theodore Hook wrote a verse
+on a pane of glass at a time when such things were quite legitimate,
+because the tourist, as we know him, had not then come into existence
+to vulgarise the practice. The pane has been broken, but the verse is
+remembered, and the following lines are a sample:
+
+     The Swan, snug inn, good fare affords
+       As table e'er was put on,
+     And worthier quite of loftier boards,
+       Its poultry, fish and mutton.
+     And while sound wine mine host supplies,
+       With ale of Meux and Tritton,
+     Mine hostess with her bright blue eyes
+       Invites to stay at Ditton.
+
+We wonder how many hostesses since have wished the lines had never been
+written. An old inn near by, with overhanging gable end and clinging
+wistaria, makes a pretty corner, and in the High Street itself there
+are bits so different from the Kingston and Surbiton ideal, that one
+cannot understand how they can be in the same zone with them at all.
+The green lawns of Ditton House and Boyle Farm are quite close, and the
+fine island with its willows hides the flatness of the further bank.
+
+About the end of the eighteenth century this part of the river was
+celebrated for its magnificent fêtes.
+
+One of these, given at Boyle Farm, inspired Moore to write a poem which
+was not published until long after:
+
+     Lamps of all hues, from walks and bowers,
+     Broke on the eye like kindling flowers
+     Till budding into light each tree
+     Bore its full fruit of brilliancy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     And now along the waters fly
+     Swift gondoles of Venetian breed,
+     With knights, and dames, who calm reclined,
+     Lisp out love sonnets as they glide,
+     Astonishing old Thames to find
+     Such doings on his moral tide.
+
+The reach is a favourite one for sailing boats. Below Long Ditton are
+the large waterworks of the Lambeth Company. On fine Saturdays and
+Sundays the Hampton tow-path on the other side is generally alive with
+people. On Raven's Ait is the club-house of the Kingston Rowing Club,
+and beside the water runs a well laid out strip of ground with bushes
+and seats, and a good stout hedge to keep off the dust from the motor
+cars which race by on the road--a section of the Ripley Road beloved of
+scorchers. In summer this little public garden is bright with flowers,
+and it is a great favourite with the inhabitants of Kingston and
+Surbiton. Before arriving at the bridge there are the backs of untidy
+houses, and generally a great medley of barges, laden with hay and
+bricks and coal, lying about by the wharves.
+
+Kingston, as we have said elsewhere, can boast of one of the oldest
+bridges over the river. A bridge of wood stood here in 1225, when
+there was no other in the whole sweep downward as far as London Bridge.
+The present one is very narrow, and its convenience is not increased
+since a double line of tramways has been laid across it. The general
+similarity of position between it and Richmond Bridge may be remarked.
+Both have large boat-building establishments near, and both are about
+the same distance from the railway bridges which cross below them.
+
+As this is not a guide-book, no attempt is made to describe other
+than picturesque effects and ancient survivals such as are likely to
+attract the notice of anyone actually on the river, but an exception
+must be made in favour of Kingston Stone, which anyone ought to land
+to see. It is in the market-place, not five minutes from the river,
+and from it--the King's Stone--the name of the place is derived. It
+is a shapeless block, mounted on a granite base, and round it are
+inscribed the names of seven Saxon kings who were crowned here, and
+a silver penny of each of their reigns has been inserted. There seems
+to be no authentic history of this interesting relic, and no definite
+explanation as to why these kings should have been here crowned; but
+a suggestion there is that at the date of the first of the coronations
+Mercia and Wessex were joined under one king, and while the boundaries
+of Mercia reached to the Thames on the north side, those of Wessex
+marched with them on the south. Kingston was equally accessible to
+both, and as London was at that time in the hands of the Danes, and the
+ford at Kingston the only one above London by which the river could be
+safely crossed, the place was chosen accordingly.
+
+Teddington Lock was for a long time the lowest on the river, but has
+been supplanted by a Benjamin in the shape of a half-tide lock at
+Richmond. The reach about Teddington is in the summer very pretty. The
+banks are dotted with little bungalows, bright with blue and white
+paint and gay with flowers. The long smooth lawns of the riverside
+houses stretch down to the water, and the Crimson Rambler climbs over
+many a rustic bridge and iron trellis. It is a well-cared for part, and
+holds its own against rivals of greater grandeur. There are several
+islands forming cover where one can ship oars and rest, and though
+landing is in most places forbidden, there is no law against a boat's
+drawing inshore beneath the shelter of the overhanging trees, amongst
+which may be noted several weeping willows. This bit recalls Moore's:
+
+           ... where Thames is seen
+     Gliding between his banks of green,
+     While rival villas on each side
+     Peep from their bowers to win his tide.
+
+Beyond Teddington we are in Twickenham Reach:
+
+     Where silver Thames round Twit'nam meads
+     His winding current sweetly leads.
+                                 --_Walpole._
+
+There is a great bend at Twickenham, and in it the chimneys of
+Strawberry Hill may be seen overtopping the high evergreen hedge that
+surrounds it. The house has been altered considerably since Walpole's
+date, but in its essence it is the house he built. He himself describes
+his view thus:
+
+     Directly before it is an open grove through which you see a
+     field, which is bounded by a serpentine wood of all kind of
+     trees, and flowering shrubs, and flowers. The lawn before
+     the house is situated on the top of a small hill from whence
+     to the left you see the town and church of Twickenham,
+     encircling a turn of the river, that looks exactly like a
+     seaport in miniature. The opposite shore is a most delicious
+     meadow, bounded by Richmond Hill, which loses itself in the
+     noble woods of the park to the end of the prospect on the
+     right, where is another turn of the river, and the suburbs
+     of Kingston as luckily placed as Kingston is on the left....
+     You must figure that all this is perpetually enlivened by a
+     navigation of boats and barges.
+
+His architecture was a medley of everything that could by any
+possibility be included under the heading Gothic, and the result was
+more curious than beautiful, though it became the fashion to visit
+the house. Walpole bemoaned the crowds aloud, but secretly delighted
+in them. He published a description of the house, in the beginning of
+which he says he trusts it will be a lesson in taste to all who see
+it! An example of the suave self-belief of an egotist. At Twickenham
+there is another fantastic building called Pope's Villa. This can be
+seen much better from the river than Strawberry Hill can, and it is an
+affected piece of architecture. It has been described as "a combination
+of an Elizabethan half-timber house and a Stuart Renaissance, with the
+addition of Dutch and Swiss, Italian and Chinese features." This is not
+the house occupied by Pope, nor is it even exactly on the same site
+as his. In front of it is a group of weeping willows, a kind of tree
+which shows to particular advantage by the water-side. Pope himself is
+said to have been the first to introduce it into England, having found
+some sticks of it in a bundle sent to him from Spain by the Countess of
+Suffolk.
+
+Pope lived at Twickenham from 1719 to 1744, and produced here most of
+his important works, including the last books of his _Odyssey_, the
+_Dunciad_ and the famous _Essay on Man_. He was here visited by Gay
+and Swift, and many another contemporary whose name is still held in
+estimation. He laid out his grounds in a decorative way, and made a
+curious underground grotto, which lies away from the water, on the
+other side of the road. Among the celebrated men who have, at one time
+or another, lived at Twickenham are numbered Henry Fielding, Dr. Donne,
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, Tennyson, and Turner. The last-named was very fond
+of fishing, and used to fish a good deal in this part of the river.
+
+There is a little esplanade at Twickenham, shaded by small
+horse-chestnuts, and in front lies the famous Eel-pie Island, which
+vies with Tagg's in summer popularity. The hotel has a pleasant garden,
+but the rest of the island is, it must be confessed, rather untidy,
+with several places for building motor launches and many boat-houses.
+At the small wharf opposite the church there are nearly always barges
+unloading bricks or sand and gravel. Yet the place has an air of
+dignity, perhaps given to it by the old Perpendicular stone tower
+of the church, so incongruously welded on to a red-brick pedimented
+Georgian building. The architect was the same who built St. George's,
+Hanover Square; but, as Sir Godfrey Kneller was churchwarden, one
+might have expected something in better taste. Pope is buried inside,
+and a flat slab with his initial letter on it now serves as a base for
+several pews. Not far from the church is York House, and with Orleans
+and Ham House on the other side of the river this is a notable group.
+In the great gardens of Orleans House grow splendid cedars, stone
+pines, and other evergreens. The little Duke of Gloucester, the only
+child who survived babyhood out of Queen Anne's enormous family, was
+brought here for his health in 1694. Six years later this quaint child,
+with a rickety body and an enormous head, died of small-pox at the age
+of eleven. The house was afterwards rebuilt. To it in 1800 came Louis
+Philippe, then Duc d'Orleans, and his two brothers. After his brief
+summer of prosperity in France, he returned to England as an exile in
+1848; that he had a warm remembrance of the house is shown by his then
+purchasing it. He did not, however, live here himself, but placed his
+son, the Duc d'Aumale, in it, and a colony of royal refugees settled
+round. At Mount Lebanon, not far off, was the Prince de Joinville; and
+the Duc d'Aumale, having bought York House, gave it to his nephew the
+Comte de Paris, who lived there for six or seven years. Queen Anne was
+born in York House--it had been given to her mother's father, Lord
+Clarendon--and with her elder sister she spent her earliest years
+at Twickenham. All these notable houses and dignified memories are
+enough to account for the air of sober gravity never wholly absent
+from the river at Twickenham even on the brightest days; and the rows
+of Lombardy poplars, the magnificent cedars, and the fine foliage of
+the other trees enhance the impression. Ham House, on the other side,
+was built in 1611, it is said for Prince Henry, James I.'s eldest son.
+It is screened from the water by a row of tall trees. Around it grow
+Scotch firs and holm oaks.
+
+We have not long left Twickenham before we see the little oblong island
+about which there was so much contention because it formed an item in
+the famous Marble Hill view, seen from the heights of Richmond Park.
+The London County Council are now owners of the Marble Hill estate,
+and have made it into a public park. It lies on the Twickenham side.
+The house was built by George II. for the Countess of Suffolk. Gay,
+Pope, and Swift all took an interest in the building, and voiced their
+opinions as to the style and the laying out of the grounds. A suite of
+rooms in the house was afterwards set aside for Gay, who was a great
+favourite with the countess.
+
+The other side of the river is open, and it must be admitted that on
+a sunny day this bit is a stiff pull if one is unfortunate enough to
+be going against the current. It is often to be described by the word
+"glaring," yet the fine scimitar-like sweep of the tree-crowned heights
+above, capped by the huge mass of the Star and Garter Hotel, toned to
+unoffending mediocrity of colour, is worth seeing.
+
+Richmond, like nearly all the other places on the river, has an
+atmosphere of its own, difficult to put into words. It is less flippant
+than Kingston, and has not a tinge of the gravity of Twickenham. The
+houses rise high and are irregular; those in the main street recede
+from the water as they leave the bridge, and between them and the
+stream are innumerable others, some with gardens, some overshadowed by
+trees. Weeping willows, Scotch firs, and ivy-covered trunks abound,
+and the place is the perfection of a residential quarter. There is
+enough oldness and irregularity to avoid stiffness, enough modernity
+to ensure cleanliness. The bridge has a peculiarly individual curve--a
+real humpback--and its stone balustrade is very fine. At the southern
+end, far too many new red-brick flats are springing up, alas! but on
+the north or east, where lies old Richmond, they are not visible to any
+appreciable extent. The scene below the bridge is distinctly pretty.
+Large boat-building yards, as at Kingston, occupy the foreground, and
+the warm cinnamons and ochres of newly-varnished boats are generally
+to be seen, as well as the more crude and garishly painted craft. The
+islands are tree-covered, and are well placed in the stream. Yet one
+may note that, popular as Richmond is, it is not flooded in the summer
+time with such crowds of boating visitors as Hampton. There are more
+large craft about, and boating people do not care for that.
+
+What remains of Richmond Palace must be sought below the bridge, for it
+will not be seen without a little effort. The old palace stood right
+on the margin of the water, and an engraving of it is still extant,
+showing a pinnacled and many chimneyed building. The angular towers
+are capped by turrets like those of the old palace at Greenwich. Henry
+I. was the first English king to live here, but until Edward III.'s
+time it was hardly a recognised royal palace. It fell before the hand
+of Richard II., who in a fit of frenzy at the death of his wife, which
+occurred here, ordered its destruction. Henry V. restored it, but it
+was burnt down in the end of the fifteenth century, and afterwards
+rebuilt by Henry VII., who changed its name from Sheen to Richmond,
+and who himself died there. The old Tudor gateway of his time remains
+still. It is said, but with doubtful accuracy, that the Countess of
+Nottingham died in the room over the gateway, after having confessed
+to Elizabeth her duplicity about the Earl of Essex and the ring he had
+confided to her charge. We have many records of Richmond from the time
+of the miserable Katherine of Arragon--widow of one boy prince, but
+not yet affianced to the other, a foreigner in a strange land, bitterly
+hating her surroundings--to the time of Charles I., who made the great
+park and hunted in it. A large Carthusian monastery stood near the
+palace. Perkin Warbeck found an asylum in the monastery, and in 1550
+Robert Dudley was here married to Amy Robsart.
+
+There is a half-tide lock at Richmond, with a footbridge. This is
+at present the lowest lock on the river, though there is some talk
+of making a similar one at Wandsworth. It is quite different in
+construction from the usual kind. It has three great sluices, each
+weighing thirty-two tons, and when the tide brings up the water, so
+that it is equal with that above--that is to say, at half-tide--the
+sluices are raised by the addition of a small weight to the massive
+pendules by which they are exactly balanced, and the water is allowed
+free way.
+
+All along this stretch of the river there is on one side a fine row
+of shady trees growing to a great height. Beyond the raised footpath
+is the old Deer Forest, on which stands Kew Observatory, and a minor
+stream, which afterwards forms a moat to Kew Gardens, runs along
+merrily. Isleworth is finely placed at a bend of the river, and though
+it is a manufacturing place, it is not so bad as Brentford. The large
+willow-covered ait in front affords occupation to the osier gatherers.
+The church is ugly; it is placed very like that at Hampton, and, like
+Hampton also, its ugliness is mitigated by a covering of ivy. The
+tower, as so frequently happens, is much older than the rest. Was it
+that church towers were built more solidly than the naves, or that the
+naves would have stood equally well had they been allowed to remain?
+
+Then we come to the great park surrounding Syon House (Duke of
+Northumberland), a park fringed with marshy ground, where reeds and
+rushes flourish, and which is overflowed at every flood. Crows consider
+it a delightful place, if their perpetual presence may be taken to
+indicate opinion. A great clump of cedars stands between the house
+and the river, but we have to go considerably further on before the
+severe line of frontage, with its ground floor arcade and battlemented
+parapet, can be seen at full length. The astonished lion stands clear
+up against the sky, as he did of old at Northumberland House, over the
+site of which now flows a ceaseless stream of traffic. Long years ago
+there stood here at Isleworth a convent for nuns. This was suppressed
+at the Dissolution. Katherine Howard was imprisoned in Syon House
+until three days before her execution, and only five years later the
+corpse of her murderer, the tyrant Henry, stopped here on its way to
+Windsor. Edward VI. granted the place to Lord-Protector Somerset, who,
+with his usual mania for building, began to reconstruct it on a much
+larger scale; but before he had got farther than the mere shell of
+his design, he suffered disgrace, and Syon House passed to the Duke
+of Northumberland. Here came Lady Jane Grey, timid and doubting, to
+receive the offer of the crown, and from here she started on her last
+sad journey to the Tower.
+
+Queen Mary naturally tried to re-establish the nuns, but found it
+difficult, as some had died and others had married! Fuller's comment is
+worth quoting:
+
+     It was some difficulty to stock it with such as had
+     been veiled before, it being now thirty years since the
+     Dissolution, in which time most of the elder nuns were in
+     their graves, and the younger in the arms of their husbands,
+     as afterwards embracing a married life.
+
+In James I.'s reign Syon House was in the hands of the Earl of
+Northumberland, who also fell under his sovereign's displeasure, but
+was allowed to return here to die. Under his successor, the tenth earl,
+Inigo Jones was employed to alter the house; but the architect of the
+present building was Adam (1728-92).
+
+The place is often very quiet, and the hovering crows, and perhaps
+a few men in boats grubbing for sand and gravel from the river-bed
+with long-handled scoops, have it all to themselves. It is not much
+frequented because just below comes Brentford, with all its ugliness,
+a sore blot on the river. Nevertheless, on the Surrey side, to
+counterbalance it, we have the famous Kew Gardens. The very varied
+trees that grow here can be well seen, for the parapet of the wall is
+low, the Gardens being sufficiently protected by the moat. Further on,
+when this comes to an end, the wall is heightened, and only the tops
+of the elms and ashes and horse-chestnuts peep over. Presently a new
+object comes into view--a "palace," in that it was the dwelling-place
+of royalty; but anything less like a palace surely never was seen.
+A stiff, square red-brick house, where Miss Burney served her "sweet
+queen," and the old king cried "What, what, what?" a hundred times a
+day, and the overflowing quiverful of their Royal Highnesses quarrelled
+and played and grew up.
+
+Very few people realise what a large basin there is on the river
+Brent, and what an amount of business is carried on here. From the
+river, one's chief reflection is thankfulness that the trees on the
+large islands have grown so well that they form a screen for the soap
+factories, the cement works, the breweries, etc., which constitute the
+industries of Brentford.
+
+     Brentford, tedious town,
+     For dirty streets and white-legged chickens known,
+
+says Gay. The dirty streets are still there, with the confusion in
+their narrow limits worse confounded by the passing of tramcars, which,
+over the mile along which Brentford spreads itself, take double the
+time spent on any other bit of equal distance on their route. Most
+people have a hazy notion about two kings at Brentford; this is one
+of those curious examples of the persistence of an unimportant detail.
+The allusion was first made in a play called _The Rehearsal_, written
+by the Duke of Buckingham, and Thackeray's ballad on the same subject
+carried it a step further. That there was a battle at Brentford one
+learns in the history books. It was when the Parliamentarians, who had
+rested in the town all night, were surprised by Prince Rupert, under
+the cover of a thick mist, and completely routed.
+
+All along the Kew side, up to the bridge, are tea-gardens sandwiched
+between boat-houses; and the new bridge made of granite, with its
+branching lamps and royal arms, is really an imposing object. Above and
+below the bridge the character of the river is singularly different.
+Above, as we have seen, are the mudflats, and wharves, and chimneys,
+not to omit water towers and gasometers; and below is a bit of
+Chiswick, built along by the waterside, a queer little irregular row of
+red-brick houses and cottages, near which are fastened the boats of men
+who live by fishing; it is a little riverside place of the old sort.
+There are meadows, called Duke's Meadows, opposite Mortlake; these
+afford a fine vantage-ground for spectators who come to see the great
+Boat Race.
+
+The hour of the Boat Race varies according to the tide, for the race
+is rowed at the "top of the tide"--when it is at its fullest. If the
+hour be an easy one--about mid-day--and the weather is promising, and
+especially if the reports of the prowess of the crews give reason to
+believe the race will be a close one, then the crowd is very large
+indeed. Some prefer to watch the start; some enthusiasts keep up with
+the boats on water the whole way; but a great majority there are who
+want to see the last effort between Hammersmith and Barnes Bridges, for
+it is almost a certainty that the crew leading at Barnes Bridge will be
+the winner. Almost, but not quite; for there was an occasion when, by a
+sudden spurt, the positions of the boats were reversed, and Cambridge,
+which had been behind, won the race. The road along by Mortlake is
+lined with crowds; every window is filled, and all available roofs.
+On the railway bridge are closely-packed ranks of people, brought
+there and deposited by trains, which afterwards decorously withdraw
+and wait to pick them up again. The price of this first-rate position
+is included in the fares. Chiswick meadows afford space for many more
+persons, who usually pay a shilling a head to the land-holders. This
+is a very favourite position, because the grassy slopes form such a
+pleasant seat while the inevitable waiting is gone through.
+
+In the river itself lie several steamers packed with passengers,
+and also various small boats. Then down comes the launch of the
+Thames Conservators to clear the course. The long strings of barges,
+which have been taking advantage of the flowing tide to make their
+way up-stream, are seen no more. A gun goes off, and then, an
+extraordinarily short time after, a murmur begins among the crowds on
+the Mortlake side. It grows and grows and swells along the Chiswick
+shore, as first one boat creeps round the corner, and then the other.
+"Cambridge wins; Cambridge, Cambridge!" "Row up, Oxford!"
+
+Then, perhaps--usually--it is seen that one boat is leading by so many
+lengths as to make it impossible for the other to catch up. The leading
+boat goes ahead with a straight, splendid swing into clear water. The
+losing one, getting into its opponent's wash, rocks as it labours on,
+its crew lose heart, and the distance widens.
+
+Close behind are the umpire's launch and a dozen others gliding along,
+keeping just behind the backward crew. And when all have passed, the
+river, so calm before, is churned up into miniature waves that wash and
+beat on the banks. Presently the umpire's boat is seen coming swiftly
+back, bearing the winning flag at the bows over the other.
+
+The trains move slowly forward to pick up the passengers; bicycles,
+motors, and carriages begin to move off; streams of people pour down
+every road; and all is over for another year.
+
+The chief memory of Chiswick is that of Hogarth, who is buried in the
+churchyard close by the water. The house in which he lived is still
+standing, and is a few minutes' walk from the church. Hogarth was
+here for about three years, though when he left to go to Leicester
+Square he did not sell the house, and his widow lived in it after
+his death. For two years Pope also lived in Chiswick; and in Chiswick
+House, which lies away from the river on the other side of the fields,
+two great men, Charles James Fox and George Canning, died in the
+same room, in 1806 and 1827 respectively. And in the Roman Catholic
+Cemetery at Mortlake is the massive sarcophagus--in the form of an Arab
+tent--beneath which lies the dust of the great traveller, Sir Richard
+Burton, and his wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE RIVER AT LONDON
+
+
+There is a subtle difference in the river above and below Hammersmith:
+above, it is a stream of pleasure--below, it is something less
+beautiful, but grander, more crowded with memories, more important.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Though pleasure boats are to be seen in quantities any summer evening
+about Putney; though market gardens still border the banks at Fulham;
+yet the river is for the greater part lined with wharves and piers and
+embankments. It is no wild thing running loose, but a strong worker
+full of earnest purpose. It is the great river without which there
+would have been no London, the river which bears the largest trade the
+world has ever known.
+
+Unfortunately, the habit of using the river at London as a highway
+was lost some time in the eighteenth century and has not yet been
+recovered, notwithstanding the gallant attempt of the London County
+Council to educate the people to it. At one time the river was used
+for every sort of traffic: tilt boats, covered with an awning, ran up
+and down like omnibuses and charged sixpence a passenger; and every man
+of importance kept his private barge, for the smoothly gliding waters
+made an infinitely preferable route to the vile roads. At every set
+of stairs--and the stairs were frequent--numberless wherries awaited
+hire. In the sixteenth century there were two thousand on the water,
+and it was reckoned that nine thousand watermen earned their living
+by transporting people up and down or from shore to shore. When it is
+objected that these men were a pest and a nuisance, so that we are well
+rid of them, that their language was unspeakable and their manners
+filthy, it may be replied, _autres temps autres mœurs_, for there
+are a few watermen still to be had at Westminster, at the Tower, and
+at most of the river stairs, and they are civil and obliging, only,
+alas, the public rarely patronises them. Occasionally, an uncommonly
+adventurous person, probably a visitor staying in London, penetrates to
+the haunt of the watermen, and, upon inquiry, he finds a respectable
+man, duly licensed like a cabman, liable to be reported for rudeness
+or misconduct, strictly limited by law as to the fees he may demand,
+and ready to add greatly to the pleasure of the trip by his genial,
+shrewd humour and his keen observation; qualities found frequently in
+men whose business is upon great waters.
+
+  [Illustration: BEYOND HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE]
+
+Without counting the railways, fourteen bridges now span the Thames
+from Hammersmith downward, and even fourteen we sometimes find
+inadequate to our needs in this hurrying life. Not until the middle of
+the eighteenth century was the historic London Bridge backed up by a
+second. Before that time, all men crossed by boat, or by the ferry at
+Westminster, or even by the ford there, a feat which the embanking of
+the river has long rendered impossible.
+
+We can see it, this great river of ours, as in a vision, gradually
+emerging from its primeval wilderness. First it spread widely between
+the rising ground on each side, a vast area of lagoons, flooded at
+high tide, and at low tide a swampy place full of half-submerged
+islets. Then one or two small settlements for trade were planted on
+its banks, first at Westminster, and others about the site of Cannon
+Street Station, where the Walbrook leapt to meet the larger current.
+There was a gradual extension of houses along the brink. At last an
+attempt was made to bridge the river over, probably by a wooden bridge.
+This succeeded, and when the bridge had stood for some time it was
+replaced by another in the twelfth century. This was built and rebuilt,
+as the turbulent river, feeling the erection of earthworks to curtail
+its flood, fretted to be free, and rushed seaward with force, tearing
+down the obstruction offered by this quaint old London Bridge with its
+double line of houses. Many a picture of this bridge still remains.
+It was a fascinating, a wonderful structure. Numberless children have
+yearned to have lived there, high above the flood. What delight to look
+out from one's nursery window and see the grey-green water hastening
+past. To see it mysteriously stop as if by some command from on High,
+then slowly turn and race inward again. Marvellous feat! Miraculous
+bridge! There was a beautiful chapel, a veritable gem of work, upon
+this bridge. There was a house like a puzzle-house, put together with
+pegs, without an iron nail in it. There were gateways at each end, and
+on the gateways were the grisly remains of the heads of men and women
+who had been executed. There were shops on each side of the road where
+ribbons and laces and other haberdashery might be bought at will.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CUSTOM HOUSE]
+
+There were gaps between the houses, where one could escape for a moment
+from the lumbering, creaking, groaning traffic pent up in the narrow,
+mud-splashed roadway, and see the water itself, and see how the houses
+were built out over it, resting on nothing. Another miracle! A mighty
+tome might be written about Old London Bridge; of all the relics of
+a past London, it is the one I should like most to have seen. Mills
+there were on this bridge, to which the people could bring their corn
+to be ground by the force of the water. Waterworks there were, too,
+and the bridge itself contained a drawbridge to protect London against
+invasion, for, as there was none other crossing, an enemy prevented
+here might well be held in check altogether.
+
+Next to London Bridge, the oldest bridge across the river was at
+Kingston, and it is on record that in 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt, finding
+London Bridge closed against him, marched all the way to Kingston
+in order to cross, but on arrival there, found that he had been
+anticipated, and that the bridge was broken down.
+
+The present London Bridge has been recently widened. At one end of
+it rises the white tower of St. Magnus, a Danish saint, and behind
+it is the pointing finger of the Monument, while down the river are
+the market of Billingsgate, the quay of the Custom House, and beyond,
+rising tall and ghostly, close to the Tower itself, the Tower Bridge,
+the latest addition to the list.
+
+On the south side of London Bridge, over the houses peep the pinnacles
+of St. Saviour's tower, Southwark. Anciently, it was called St. Mary
+Overies, and was once a priory, one of the most ancient houses in
+London. From this there ran a ferry, which was in use long after the
+bridge was built, for the narrowness of the street and the continual
+blocks made a passage by the bridge a process of time. Gower, the poet,
+was a benefactor to the priory, and is buried in the church.
+
+  [Illustration: DUTCH BARGES NEAR THE TOWER]
+
+As the Tower Bridge can swing open, ships of all sizes can get up as
+far as London Bridge, when the tide allows them sufficient water-way,
+and a busy scene, watched by a never-failing crowd of idlers, is always
+to be witnessed in the reach below. Ships there are of all shapes and
+sizes, but mostly hideous, made for merchandise and not for show. Many
+of them are iron, and run between eight and twelve hundred tons. They
+come from Hamburg, Hull, Newcastle, Holland, and many another port.
+There, out in the river, is a dredger working with a hideous grinding
+noise, and beyond it are two or three brilliantly painted green and red
+boats with great wooden flaps, or lee boards, on their sides. They are
+Dutch eel boats, and are allowed to lie in the river free from dues,
+if they keep always in the same place. It is a survival of an ancient
+custom.
+
+As we pass through under London Bridge, and come out on the other side,
+we can see the grey river with its bustling craft, framed like a series
+of pictures in the wide arches.
+
+Some of the oldest theatres in London stood on the part called
+Bankside, about Southwark Bridge; at present the view is dingy
+and uninteresting. The Bishop of Winchester's palace once adjoined
+Bankside, as that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, still
+stands near Westminster Bridge; but it fell into ruins and the bishops
+removed to Chelsea.
+
+It is impossible to enumerate the palaces and fine houses that once
+stood along Thames Street, which, in the fourteenth century, was
+the most fashionable street in London. The part of the foreshore
+now occupied by wharves and great warehouses--where cranes swing and
+lighters await their loads all day long, and every working day--has
+all been reclaimed from the river. Once it was covered at every
+returning tide, but strong piles were driven into the mud, and on this
+unpromising spot houses began to rise and débris accumulated, until
+firm ground was made, and this became one side of a busy street.
+
+On the up-side of Cannon Street, close to the cavernous jaws of the
+station, is a wharf marked in white letters, "Walbrook Wharf." This
+is as near as we can get to the first site of London, where the Briton
+made his modest lake-fort, Llyn-din, and afterwards the Romans pitched
+their strong citadel.
+
+  [Illustration: THE TOWER OF ST. MAGNUS]
+
+Queenhithe was given by King John to his mother, Queen Eleanor.
+Hence arose the name. It was no trifling gift, for this was the most
+important dock on the Thames at that time, and dues were collected from
+all the ships unlading here. Now it is a small area in which the water
+laps at rotting lichened posts as it slowly uncovers and re-covers the
+slimy mud.
+
+The whole of this district lying north of the Thames is the oldest part
+of our ancient city, and it is thick with memories. Down the crooked
+streets Spenser came as a boy from his home beyond the city ditch to
+his school of the Merchant Taylors in Dowgate. Here a fair-haired
+gentle lad, called Chaucer, loitered many a time, for his father's
+house was in Thames Street.
+
+Not far from Puddle dock stood Baynard's Castle with its high
+buttressed walls. In it Edward IV. was proclaimed, and in it, also,
+Richard III. made a feint of refusing the crown belonging to his
+imprisoned nephew. Tower Royal, Montfichet, and many another glorious
+building, have gone utterly, so that their sites can be fixed only
+approximately. The river Fleet, up which large ships could ply once,
+flowed into the Thames where is now Blackfriars Bridge. By its banks
+the great religious houses of the Black and White Friars rose, and the
+boundary cliff hewed by its current may still be traced in the steep
+rise up Ludgate Hill, which tries the patient omnibus horses day by
+day. Over all, as we draw further up the river, towers the great dome
+of St. Paul's.
+
+The Surrey side of the Thames continues unlovely--a medley of browns
+and greys, tall chimneys and tumble-down sheds; it needs the veil which
+the atmosphere of London mercifully throws over it.
+
+The railway bridge and Blackfriars are so close together, they almost
+touch. As we pass underneath there is a hollow reverberation, like
+the beat of the surf in a cave on the shore. Just above the bridge is
+anchored the _Buzzard_, the Naval Volunteer training ship.
+
+  [Illustration: ST. PAUL'S]
+
+Along the northern side now begins the Embankment, with its solid
+granite walls and fringe of young planes. The green lawns and red
+buildings of the Temple can be seen only when the river is very high.
+Further on is Somerset House, followed by a line of hotels, the palaces
+of modern days. Somerset House is the successor of the palace built
+by the arrogant Protector Somerset, from the stones of churches and
+religious buildings; between it and the Temple stood Arundel and Essex
+Houses. The latter had earlier been called Leicester House, and Spenser
+lived there for a time as secretary to the Earl of Leicester.
+
+The tide has turned and is coming in. Little steam tugs, gallantly
+towing six barges, two abreast and each twice as large as themselves,
+pant up stream; while the bargees, with faces the colour of brickdust,
+the colour they are so fond of reproducing in their paint and even in
+their sails, stand by their huge rudders. Some barges are struggling
+along without mechanical aid. The men in charge bend back horizontally
+in their manipulation of the huge sweeps. There must be a knack in it.
+No one could work so hard as they seem to be doing; spine and sinews
+would give way altogether. Their whole strength results in but a slow
+progress, and the barge, responding to the push of the water, makes
+a kind of crab-like movement, sidling up the river broadside on. One,
+laden with yellow straw till it appears like a huge barn, is stranded
+right in mid-stream. The long ends of the straw sweep in the water, and
+there is no moving until the current increases.
+
+Here and there red-brown sails, patched and stained, spring up, and
+others still furled, stand up along the wharves like crooked warning
+fingers. Just before Waterloo Bridge there is, neatly tucked away below
+the Embankment, so that few ever know of its existence, a station of
+the river police, with trim muslin curtains over the windows.
+
+Between Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridges the same sort of thing
+continues. An enormous chimney on the Surrey side mocks the dignity
+of Cleopatra's Needle, now safe in haven after many vicissitudes. The
+sweep of the river makes these two bridges radiate out like the spokes
+of a wheel, so that the southern ends are nearer than the northern. The
+chimneys and wharves and the ubiquitous barges still continue, and as
+we pass beneath the hideous red iron bridge of Charing Cross, we get a
+vision of the many towers and pinnacles of Westminster ahead.
+
+  [Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT]
+
+Besides the great houses of old times already mentioned, there were
+others down this stretch of the river too--the Savoy, home of John
+of Gaunt, and in its time prison and hospital; Durham, Worcester, and
+Salisbury Houses. These were all either flush with the water or hemmed
+in by high walls in which were stairs "to take water at." The only
+relic of these mansions lies in the watergate of York House, now about
+a hundred yards from the river, behind a strip of land which has all
+been reclaimed by the making of the Embankment. But that the Embankment
+does not always suffice to curb the current was proved not so long ago,
+for in March, 1906, there was a combination of circumstances which
+swelled the volume of water abnormally. Sudden floods of rain caused
+every weir far up the river to be opened, and bounding, exulting to
+be free, the huge mass of water, swelled by every brook and tributary
+and swollen to twice its usual size, rushed seaward. But it was met by
+a high spring tide, and the collision was increased by a strong wind,
+so that the water rose higher and higher, and the curious spectacle
+was witnessed of barges floating above the roadway, propelled by
+sweeps braced against the granite walls. The water burst up through
+the pavement and the manholes, and ran in a flood under Charing Cross
+Bridge, but it just did not overtop the Embankment wall by an inch
+or two, and as the tide subsided the tension relaxed. In the higher
+reaches, about Barnes and Chiswick, "tide-boards" were used to fill up
+the crevices below the doors, and by this means alone many a house was
+saved from being swamped.
+
+The scene is lively enough. Seagulls of all ages--big dingy drab ones
+and neat ones in liveries of dove-grey and white--float merrily on the
+ripples, or poise and wheel in the air. Here a County Council steamer
+ploughs past, churning the river into wavelets, there a lad paddles
+a boat from shore to shore with a single oar used rudderwise, a feat
+possible only to a born waterman.
+
+  [Illustration: WESTMINSTER BY NIGHT]
+
+As we pass on we can see the high bastion towers of Scotland Yard.
+Northumberland Avenue stretches over ground which was once the gardens
+of Northumberland House--they came down to the water--and beyond this
+were quadrangles and a medley of buildings, mostly low and mostly
+of brick, which formed the palace of Whitehall, snatched by Henry
+VIII. from Wolsey because the royal palace at Westminster had fallen
+into decay. The Houses of Parliament, standing on the site of the
+latter palace, are the finest work of Barry, who has been abused for
+many things, but who seems to have been touched by a genuine spirit
+of architecture in this instance, and to have realised the right
+characteristics of majesty and delicacy in his work. But he had a
+noble chance, for the position of the building, standing on the edge
+of the water, with the bridge rising beside it, gave room for a fine
+conception.
+
+From Westminster to the Tower or Fleet prison, how many prisoners have
+come and gone--come up against the current full of hope, and returned
+of hope bereft! The ghosts are endless, because the river was the usual
+mode of communication between the Tower and the Court at Westminster,
+as the Strand was full of holes and seamed by watercourses. If this
+reach of water were to tell its tale, much of the history of England
+would be interwoven with it, and it would be tinged with the bitterest
+sorrow human life can know--death with disgrace.
+
+From the time of Edward the Confessor to the time of Henry VIII., our
+kings were housed at Westminster as one of the chief of their royal
+palaces. Luckily the Great Hall, which Rufus built, escaped the fire
+of 1834, and still may be seen, but all else, with the exception of the
+crypt of St. Stephen's, has vanished utterly.
+
+The time to see the Houses of Parliament is undoubtedly at night,
+when Big Ben's illuminated face sheds a sort of ethereal light on the
+architectural fretwork near him.
+
+Wordsworth admired the view most in the early morning, before the first
+waking of the great world of bustle and business:
+
+     The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
+     Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
+     Open unto the fields and to the sky,
+     All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
+     Never did sun more beautifully steep
+     In his first splendour, valley rock or hill;
+     Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep;
+     The river glideth at his own sweet will.
+     Dear God, the very houses seem asleep;
+     And all that mighty heart is lying still.
+
+Westminster Bridge is particularly wide, and has a low parapet. In the
+sudden gusts of wind that come sweeping down the river it is a marvel
+that no one has been caught up and tossed over into the rolling green
+torrent. These peculiarities also are noticeable when the bridge is
+seen from the Embankment, for the traffic looms up very high on it, and
+the omnibuses and cabs look almost as if they were careering along on
+the parapet itself.
+
+From Westminster to Lambeth is but a short way, and what Westminster
+Palace was, while it existed, to the lord temporal, so Lambeth has
+been, and is, to the lord spiritual; from the very earliest times the
+Archbishops of Canterbury have lodged here.
+
+In our peaceful days the holder of the highest dignity of the Church
+has not to fear the Tower and the "sharp medicine of the axe" as some
+of his predecessors did. Laud and Juxon were executed, and for Cranmer
+there was the worse horror of the torturing stake. Lambeth has seen
+much cruelty mingled with the name of religion in the time that it has
+stood above the flood. The Lollards, imprisoned within the tower which
+still bears their name, made deep incisions on the walls to wile away
+the weary hours of suspense, and the groans of prisoners have been
+stifled by these walls as well as by those of the grim Tower.
+
+On the same side as Lambeth, nearer Westminster Bridge, are the curious
+detached buildings of St. Thomas's Hospital, looking like nothing in
+the world less than a hospital.
+
+Where Lambeth Bridge is now, was once the ferry by which King James II.
+passed when he made a hurried exit from the kingdom that repudiated
+him. It was a bitter night, and, attended by only one gentleman, the
+king slipped secretly out of his palace at Whitehall, and crossing the
+Privy Gardens, made his way to the ferry, where he entered a small
+boat with a single pair of oars. In mid-stream he threw the Great
+Seal into the water. A curious and dramatic incident this, that might
+well be made the subject of a picture by some historical painter. The
+Great Seal was afterwards accidentally drawn up in the net of some
+fisherman. But there is another memory further back still, which gives
+to this strip of river an importance which no other part can boast.
+Here lay the first ford, to which all the traffic of the north, on
+its way to the south coast, had to come. In the ages before even the
+oldest London Bridge was built, a string of pack horses, of weary
+men and of travellers, continually wandered down through the marshes
+lying around Thorney Island, on which stands the present Abbey, and,
+guided by stakes placed for the purpose, arrived at the river's bank,
+there to await low tide, when they could cross over to the further
+shore. Through the ages we see them continuing, and when England was
+Christianised, to the procession were added monks and pilgrims bent on
+holy missions. When London Bridge was built, a great majority of the
+age-long procession was diverted that way, but many still continued to
+prefer the ancient ford at Westminster. Of course, since the Embankment
+was made, and the river no longer wanders uncurbed over the lowlands
+and meadows of Westminster, the current runs deep and strong and no
+fording is possible.
+
+  [Illustration: HAY BARGES NEAR WESTMINSTER BRIDGE]
+
+Above Lambeth we pass the Tate Gallery and the new bridge at Vauxhall,
+and then traverse a dreary strip of river, dreary on both sides,
+until we come near to Chelsea Bridge. This is a high-swinging and
+imposing bridge of the same type as the Albert Bridge further up. How
+different the Chelsea we see now from the ancient Chelsea. Ours is a
+Chelsea mainly of red brick, with many tall flats and many beautifully
+designed houses in pseudo-ancient style. A long line of planes runs
+along the embankment, which is one of the prettiest embankments on
+the river. The gardens and green lawns of the Royal Hospital reach to
+the roadway, and away behind them at some distance can be seen the
+comparatively low and long range of buildings dating from the time
+of the Stuarts, and forming an asylum for old soldiers. On the strip
+of ground to the east of them once stood Ranelagh, the gay rotunda
+which played such a part in all London flirtations; where misses met
+their beaux and walked round in stately steps to the sound of music.
+The breakfasts at Ranelagh were at one time almost as popular as the
+evening entertainments:
+
+     A thousand feet rustled on mats,
+       A carpet that had once been green;
+     Men bowed with their outlandish hats,
+       With corners so fearfully keen;
+     Fair maids, who at home in their haste
+       Had left all clothing else but a train,
+     Swept the floor clean as slowly they paced,
+       And then walked round and swept it again.
+
+Thus Bloomfield satirically described the scene. Ranelagh plays a
+large part in _Evelina_ and other romances of that date. The last
+public entertainment was given in 1803, and of the gay rotunda with its
+gorgeous fittings not a vestige now remains.
+
+High red-brick flats which stand at the foot of the Royal Hospital
+gardens by the river, are succeeded by smaller houses, and beyond
+the Albert Bridge the district has not yet been transformed, as it
+assuredly will be.
+
+In the small public gardens that face the river there is a bronze
+statue of Carlyle, the Sage of Chelsea, and not far off rises the
+curious little tower of dark brick that belongs to the old church,
+a very mausoleum of tombs. Chelsea has, perhaps, been more altered
+by the formation of the Embankment than any other part of the river.
+Its very name implies a bank of shingly beach stretching down to the
+water, and so it was in old times, and to this beach the gardens of
+the stately palaces reached. Chelsea has been called a village of
+palaces. A village it was in old times, quite detached from London, and
+considered a country residence by many a famous nobleman and statesman.
+On the site of the row of houses in Cheyne Walk stood the New Manor
+House built by Henry VIII. as part of the jointure of Catherine Parr,
+who afterwards lived here with her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, Lord
+High Admiral. Both Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey spent part
+of their childhood in it. The palace of the Bishops of Winchester, at
+Southwark, having become dilapidated, as we have seen, a new one was
+built at Chelsea in 1663, and was occupied by eight successive bishops.
+Shrewsbury House was another palace built in the reign of Henry VIII.
+The wife of the Earl of Shrewsbury was the founder of Chatsworth,
+Oldcotes and Hardwick. In Lawrence or Monmouth House, near the church,
+lived Smollett the novelist, and further on, somewhere near the end
+of Beaufort Street, was the house once occupied by Sir Thomas More,
+whose memory is still cherished in Chelsea. No garden among all the
+famous gardens of Chelsea was so carefully tended as his. When More had
+been made Lord Chancellor, and had spent his days hearing cases in the
+stuffy precincts of the court, how joyfully must he have stepped into
+his barge in the cool of the evening, to be rowed back up-stream to his
+roses and his children, where he could indulge his kindly humour and
+his playfulness, and unbend without fear. Sometimes the royal barge
+would sweep up after him, and the tyrant Harry himself spring ashore
+and walk up and down the sweet-scented alleys, with his arm round the
+Chancellor's neck, a dangerous fondness that in time resulted in More's
+being cut off altogether from his garden and his peaceful evenings, and
+in his going down that stream never to return. His monument is in the
+church, with an inscription written by himself, but whether his body
+lies here is a question that can never be definitely answered.
+
+  [Illustration: CHELSEA REACH WITH THE OLD CHURCH]
+
+Beyond Battersea Bridge is a little creek, and from a small house on
+the other side of the road Turner used to look out upon the river.
+He came here incognito from his real house in Queen Anne Street, and
+studied the gorgeous sunset effects, which can be seen nowhere better
+than at Chelsea.
+
+     Now in his palace of the west,
+       Sinking to slumber, the bright day,
+     Like a tired monarch fanned to rest,
+       Mid the cool airs of evening lay;
+     While round his couch's golden rim
+       The golden clouds like courtiers crept,
+     Struggling each other's light to dim,
+       And catch his last smile ere he slept.
+                                   --_Moore._
+
+Turner brings us to modern memories. Besides himself and Carlyle, there
+lived in Chelsea, Rossetti and George Eliot, not to mention living men.
+
+Opposite Chelsea is the long wall that bounds Battersea Park, and after
+passing Battersea Bridge, we encounter a very unlovely strip of water,
+with wharves and chimneys and tumble-down buildings. It is utilitarian
+and not beautiful.
+
+The green embankment which hems in the grounds of Hurlingham Club
+gives a touch of relief, and the fine trees which existed long before
+the club, since the time that the house was a private mansion, rise
+towering above it. On the other side the river Wandle, from which
+Wandsworth takes its name, a river known to few, empties itself into
+the Thames. Then we reach Putney Bridge, with its wide, curved white
+arches. On the east is another embankment which bounds Bishop's Park,
+partly turned into pleasure gardens open to all the world. The palace
+itself is not well seen from the river, for it is low and hidden by
+trees.
+
+The manor of Fulham has belonged to the See of London since the end
+of the seventh century. The palace is built round two courtyards, the
+older of which dates from Henry VII.'s reign, and the other from the
+middle of the eighteenth century. The west or river side contains the
+rooms used by Laud while he was bishop.
+
+As we draw away from the bridge we see to advantage the two churches,
+curiously alike, one belonging to Putney and the other to Fulham,
+which stand at two corners of the bridge, diagonally, looking at one
+another. Boat-houses and flats fill up the western shore until they are
+succeeded by the trees of Barn Elms Park, otherwise known as Ranelagh.
+The chief memories of Ranelagh centre about the Kit-Kat Club, which met
+here, and included among the members such men as Walpole, Vanbrugh,
+Congreve, Addison and Steele. Their portraits were all painted by
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, and hung round the club room; consequently,
+this particular size of portrait, 36 inches by 28, became known as a
+kit-kat. The name of the club itself is said to have originated in a
+pastrycook named Christopher Kat, who used to make excellent mutton
+pies, called Kit-Kats, which were always included in the bill of fare
+at club dinners.
+
+Many a visit did Evelyn and Pepys and other notable Londoners make
+to Barn Elms in summer evenings in the seventeenth century. Pepys was
+particularly fond of idling under the well-grown trees. Hear him:
+
+     After dinner, by water, the day being mighty pleasant, and
+     the tide serving finely, I up as high as Barne Elmes and
+     there took one turn alone.
+
+This was in April; and another time:
+
+     I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great pleasure saw
+     some gallant ladies and people come with their bottles and
+     baskets and chairs, to sup under the trees by the water-side,
+     which was mighty pleasant.
+
+On the opposite side of the river from Barn Elms stood Brandenburg
+House, where lived Queen Caroline, unhappy consort of George IV.
+
+Below Hammersmith Bridge there is a very untidy bit of foreshore, with
+factories and chimneys and many dreary objects scattered about it,
+and always a superfluity of clumsy barges. Beyond the fine suspension
+bridge there is another bit of foreshore not quite so untidy, where
+racing boats and other boats lie, and from which many a crew turns out
+to practice. Along this stretch runs the Mall, Upper and Lower. In the
+coffee house near the junction of the two, Thomson wrote "Winter," in
+_The Seasons_.
+
+The Mall is associated with the Kelmscott Press, founded by William
+Morris, who named it after his country house. Turner lived in the Mall
+for six years, and the novelist Marryat was a resident for a short time
+in 1830. Here also was a large house occupied by Catherine of Braganza
+after the death of Charles II. The river at Hammersmith is 750 feet
+wide. The inhabitants make the bridge a favourite lounging place, for
+seats line both sides; the total amount of fresh air thus imbibed no
+man can calculate, for the tide races up bringing ozone straight from
+the sea, and the wind blows freshly over the glittering water. On the
+south bank are the reservoirs of a large water company.
+
+With Hammersmith we must end this chapter, for we have joined the
+account of the stream of pleasure which comes down to London.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OUR NATIONAL POSSESSION
+
+
+The Thames is a great national possession, affording means of
+recreation and delight to thousands yearly. It is difficult to compare
+it with anything else in Great Britain. It stands by itself, and is
+unique. Other rivers there are, which for a small part of their course
+are excellent for boating; but there is nothing in England to equal the
+Thames, where the water is now kept at a high level, and where, for
+the 112 miles between London Bridge and Oxford, there is practically
+continuous beauty and convenience for boating. The reproach has been
+brought against us that we do not make full use of our river at London
+as the Parisians do of the Seine at Paris. But the two things are not
+on the same footing at all. There are many problems in connection with
+the Thames as a tidal river that have not to be solved by the Parisians
+in regard to the Seine. Perhaps if the great barrage at Gravesend,
+which has been discussed, ever comes into existence, we shall be able
+to remove the reproach, to run our steamboats to time, and to use the
+river as a river of pleasure, even so far down as London Bridge. There
+are, however, grave objections to the barrage scheme, which for the
+present has been set aside. Though the tides interfere with pleasure
+boats, they are a source of motive power for innumerable barges;
+the river traffic would be seriously hindered by the elimination of
+the element of tide, and many owners of wharves and quays would be
+injured by the change. There are also other difficulties. At present
+the sewage, after being dealt with by filtration in sewage-beds, is
+returned to the river, and, having been rendered innocuous, floats
+out to sea, and mingles with the pure water satisfactorily. It would,
+however, be another thing to return thousands of gallons of water,
+which, however innocuous, can hardly be called clean, to the great lake
+of fresh water the river would become if dammed up by a barrage.
+
+  [Illustration: FROM BATTERSEA BRIDGE]
+
+Yet the continual increase in the size of ships, and the consequent
+demand for a river ever deeper, is a source of perplexity to the
+Thames Conservancy. This involves constant dredging, which would
+not be necessary were a perpetual high tide to be maintained. It is
+true that this dredging in some parts is a source of profit, not of
+expense. Thames gravel is exceedingly valuable, and it is found to
+be worth while for men not only to buy and maintain large dredgers
+down near the river mouth, but to pay a rent of something like £1500
+to the Conservancy for the privilege of doing so! The dredging,
+however, is not all so profitable. Where the river-bed is slime and
+mud, the channel has to be kept clear by dredgers at the expense of
+the Conservancy, and no delightful rents accrue from the process. This
+dredging is altogether rather an interesting matter. In some places it
+is found remunerative enough for men to do it by hand for the sake of
+what they bring up, and they obtain leave to go dredging.
+
+It is a fact not realised by everyone that the whole river, and all
+the craft upon it are under the strictest surveillance. Everything
+that floats must be licensed and carry its number for purposes of
+ready identification. The barges seen lying about in shoals near
+Westminster or Waterloo Bridges are not lying haphazard, but in certain
+specified places marked by buoys and allotted by the Conservancy,
+much as cabstands are allotted by the police. It is true that quays,
+wharves, landing stages, etc., being on land, are not subject to
+the Conservancy, which is in the somewhat anomalous position of
+dealing with the water, but not with the banks that hem it in. Yet
+the Conservancy manages to have a finger in this too, for suppose
+a man buys a bit of the river's bank, and erects a boat-building
+establishment thereon, he is obviously at a loss without steps down
+to the water or a landing place, and for this he has to pay rent to
+the Conservancy. The amusing part of it is that a man's property is
+sometimes in the air. In the case of a tree growing out of the water,
+it would truly tax the judgment of a Solomon to say what the rights of
+the Conservancy are toward that tree; but it is held that if the tree
+constitutes any danger or obstruction to the river-way the Conservators
+may insist on its being lopped. In connection with this a curious case
+sometimes arises. Man is always cunning where his own interests are
+concerned. It is not only to one man that the idea has occurred of
+propping up his overhanging tree by a stake. And, if the stake remains
+for any length of time, silt and rubbish collect between it and the
+shore, and eventually the island or the land of the cunning man is
+enlarged by a foot or two! More; sometimes stakes have been planted in
+the river bed with the same object without even excuse of the tree. It
+is the duty of the Conservancy officials to deal with all such stakes.
+
+Whatever may be alleged as to our neglect of the river at London,
+no such charge can be brought against us in our appreciation of it
+higher up. Day by day, in the summer, hundreds enjoy the air and the
+brilliance and the interest of the river reaches. House-boats are
+moored, permission and licences having been obtained, and men and women
+practically live in the open air for weeks together. The house-boats
+are not allowed to anchor everywhere, but are allotted certain
+stations, due regard being had to the width of the river. If they plant
+themselves near private ground they must gain the permission of the
+owner, as well as of the Conservancy, which is quite reasonable.
+
+To preserve an unimpeded channel may be taken as one of the great
+duties of the Conservancy. For this reason they have power to remove
+snags; to prevent the egotistical punt-fisher from placing his punt
+broadside in the midmost current; and to regulate the rules for the
+passing of craft. It is rather amusing to see sometimes how the punt
+man edges his craft as far from the bank as he dare before he sits
+down on his cane-bottomed chair and sorts out his tackle; but if a
+Conservancy official come along, and, eyeing him, decides, in spite of
+his extreme innocency and unconsciousness, that he has encroached too
+far, back he has to go. It is a perpetual game.
+
+In regard to the fishing, most of the Thames is free; and the coarse
+fishing--bream, dace, chub, and so on--is good of its kind. Here and
+there, as at Hedsor, there is a bit preserved. For the commonsense
+view is taken that, if both banks belong to the same owner, the river
+bed belongs also to him, and likewise the fishing. He cannot, however,
+prevent boats from passing up and down the stream flowing through his
+property, or the highway would be a highway no more. The fishery in the
+Thames has of late years greatly improved, owing to the disinterested
+action of many clubs and associations in putting in stock which
+they cannot hope subsequently to reclaim, but which, once gone into
+the water, belongs to everyone alike. An instance of this occurred
+recently, when 300 trout (_Salmo fario_), about fourteen inches long,
+were put into the Thames at Shepperton Weir in March by the Weybridge,
+Shepperton, and Halliford Thames Trout Stocking Association. These
+trout cost 2s. 6d. each! There is good coarse fishing in nearly all
+parts of the Thames; bream, dace, chub, perch, and pike can generally
+be caught.
+
+There are many curious and interesting points in regard to the
+river, and none more interesting than those relating to the tow-path.
+This venerable and ancient right-of-way still remains, crossing and
+recrossing from side to side as occasion demands, but traversable from
+end to end. As, however, it passes through private grounds by far the
+greater part of the way, it _is_ private, and yet public. Bicycles
+are frequently forbidden by stern notices put up by owners, who yet
+cannot prevent the pedestrian. The Conservancy has no power over the
+tow-path. What, then, happens when a part of the tow-path gives way and
+requires making up again? In theory it is the owner's duty to do it;
+but it would be expecting rather more than is warranted of human nature
+to expect an owner, who must regard the right-of-way with dislike and
+suspicion, to incur expense by mending it. As a matter of fact, if he
+does not do it, the Conservancy does. It may be remarked here that a
+very simple and effective way of embanking, known as "camp-shedding,"
+is often employed about the river banks and the projecting points of
+lock islands which are liable to be carried away by the current. This
+consists in dropping large bags of dry cement into the water. The water
+itself consolidates and hardens the stuff, which becomes a splendid
+barrier.
+
+There is another point in connection with the breaking away of the
+tow-path which is still more perplexing. Supposing it breaks away
+from a private owner's land in such a way that it cannot be built up
+again, but must be carried inland, what right has the public to say,
+"My right-of-way has fallen into the water, so I am going to take some
+of your land to replace it"? Apparently none at all. Yet the tow-path
+must be carried on. One wonders how, in the beginning, it was allotted
+to one side or the other. How was it that one owner said, "My lawns
+must slope right down to the water's edge; therefore I will not have
+the tow-path on my side; let it go upon the other?" And why has it
+never happened that two owners, equally strong and equally determined,
+have both flatly refused it? Be that as it may, the tow-path runs its
+tortuous but continuous course, and will continue to run as long as the
+river flows.
+
+Such things as locks and weirs are, of course, entirely in the power
+of the Conservancy, who pay the keepers and regulate the fees. The
+half-tide lock at Richmond has answered admirably so far (_see_ p.
+196); but the question is, Where is this sort of thing going to stop?
+There is an idea now of a similar lock at Wandsworth, and then we come
+to the matter of the barrage. We are so greedy of our river, we want it
+to be pent up, and not allowed to flow away to the sea. Weirs of some
+sort, which were at first called locks, are very ancient. In the end of
+the twelfth century we find orders respecting them.
+
+Stow tells us that about the year 1578 or 1579 there were twenty-three
+"locks," sixteen mills, sixteen floodgates and seven weirs on the
+river between Maidenhead and Oxford. In the next six years thirty more
+locks and weirs had been made in spite of complaints that many persons
+had been drowned "by these stoppages of the water." He adds that "the
+going up the locks was so steep that every year cables had been broken
+that cost £400." Especial complaint was made about Marlow lock, where
+one man had had his brains dashed out, and Stow remarks that all the
+compensation the widow received was £5! The barges were not charged
+for going up but only for coming down, and a barge passing from Oxford
+to London in Stow's time paid £12 18_s._ This was in the summer, when
+the water was low. In 1585 a petition was made to Queen Elizabeth
+"in the name of the widows and fatherless children whose parents and
+husbands were by these means slain, against the great mischief done
+to her loving subjects by the great number of dangerous locks, weirs,
+mills and floodgates unlawfully erected in many places on the river."
+Queen Elizabeth must have known something of the subject from her early
+acquaintance with Bisham. (_See_ Chap. XI.)
+
+In an old book of 1770 we find this passage: "The locks were machines
+of wood placed across the river, and so contrived to hold the water as
+long as convenient, that is, till the water rises to such a height as
+to allow of depth enough for the barge to pass over the shallows, which
+being effected, the water is set at liberty, and the loaded vessel
+proceeds on its voyage till another shoal requires the same convenience
+to carry it forward. This arrangement was in the summer when the water
+was low; in other seasons the locks were removed."
+
+When the present locks were made they were called "pound" locks; a
+great many of them were opened between 1770 and 1780.
+
+The members of the Conservancy Board go up in their launch several
+times a year to see that all is in order, and that their officials are
+doing their duty. Once a year they penetrate beyond Oxford, where the
+launch cannot go, and they have to take to rowing boats. They are not
+supposed to preserve the amenities of the river, but only its highway
+properties. They have no power to remove unsightlinesses, such as
+hideous advertisement boards; but only obstructions. Yet, in keeping
+the river free from sewage contamination; by forbidding the casting of
+refuse into the current from house-boats or elsewhere; by exercising
+a general jurisdiction, which makes people realise they are not free
+to amuse themselves to the annoyance of their neighbours--no doubt the
+amenities are very much more preserved than they would otherwise be.
+
+Stow ends up his account of the river: "And thus, as this fine river is
+of great use and profit to the city, so the many neat towns and seats
+on the banks of it make it extraordinary pleasant and delightful. So
+that the citizens and gentlemen, nay kings, have in the summer time
+usually taken the air by water; being carried in boats and barges along
+the Thames, both upward and downward according to their pleasures."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abbey Hotel, Medmenham, 126
+
+  Abbey River, 165, 168
+
+  à Becket, Thomas, 67
+
+  Aberlash, 74
+
+  Abingdon, 37
+
+  Abingdon Abbey, 41
+
+  Adam, 199
+
+  Addison, 228
+
+  Albert Bridge, 223
+
+  Ankerwyke Park, 157
+
+  Archbishop Laud, 71
+
+  Arnold, Dr., of Rugby, 167
+
+  Arnold, Matthew, 5, 167
+
+  Arragon, Katherine of, 196
+
+  Arundel House, 215
+
+  Athens, 149
+
+
+  Bankside, 211
+
+  Barbour, Geoffrey, 39
+
+  Barges, 234
+
+  Barn Elms Park, 228
+
+  Barrage, 232
+
+  Barrington Shute, 56
+
+  Barry, 218
+
+  Battersea Bridge, 226
+
+  Baynard's Castle, 213
+
+  Bell Weir Lock, 159
+
+  Benson Lock, 59
+
+  Billingsgate, 210
+
+  Birds, 17
+
+  Birinus, 50
+
+  Bisham Abbey, 112
+
+  Bisham Church, 111
+
+  Bishop of Winchester's Palace, 212
+
+  Bishop's Park, 227
+
+  Blackfriars Bridge, 213, 214
+
+  Bloomfield, 224
+
+  Blount, Sir Arthur, 66
+
+  Boat Race, 2, 201
+
+  Boleyn, Anne, 158
+
+  Bolney Court, 84
+
+  Borlase, Sir John, 127
+
+  Boulter's Lock, 128
+
+  Bourne End, 139
+
+  Boveney Lock, 150
+
+  Boyle Farm, 185
+
+  Bradshaw, 175
+
+  Braganza, Catherine of, 230
+
+  Brandenburg House, 229
+
+  Bray, 152
+
+  Bray Lock, 151
+
+  Brent River, 200
+
+  Brentford, 200
+
+  Bridges:
+    Battersea, 226
+    Blackfriars, 213, 214
+    Charing Cross, 216
+    Chelsea, 223
+    Folly, 25
+    Hammersmith, 229
+    Lambeth, 221
+    London,210
+    Old London, 208
+    Putney, 227
+    Tower, 210
+    Walton, 173
+    Waterloo, 216
+
+  Brightwell Barrow, 49
+
+  Buckingham, Duke of, 137
+
+  Burford Bridge, 38
+
+  Burney, Miss, 143, 199
+
+  Burton, Sir Richard, 204
+
+  Bushey Park, 181
+
+
+  Cæsar, Julius, 172
+
+  "Camp-shedding," 238
+
+  Canning, George, 204
+
+  Carfax Monument, 36
+
+  Carlyle, 224
+
+  Caversham, 71
+
+  Charing Cross Bridge, 216
+
+  Charles I., 65, 98, 180
+
+  Charles II., 127
+
+  Chaucer, 213
+
+  Chelsea Bridge, 223
+
+  Chelsea Embankment, 224, 225
+
+  Chertsey, 168
+
+  Chertsey Abbey, 168
+
+  Cherwell, 26
+
+  Chestnut Sunday, 181
+
+  Chiswick, 201
+
+  Chiswick House, 204
+
+  Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, 40
+
+  Cleeve Lock, 59
+
+  Cleopatra's Needle, 216
+
+  Clieveden, 136
+
+  Clifton Hampden, 45
+
+  Climenson, Mrs., 96
+
+  Coln River, 159
+
+  Compleat Angler Hotel, Marlow, 107
+
+  Congreve, 228
+
+  Conway, Field-Marshal, 102
+
+  Cookham, 138
+
+  Cooper's Hill, 146, 157
+
+  Cornish, J. C., 85
+
+  Countess of Nottingham, 195
+
+  Countess of Suffolk, 193
+
+  Cowley, 5, 6, 169, 174
+
+  Cowley Stakes, 172
+
+  Cranmer, 221
+
+  Cromwell, 55, 180
+
+  Crowmarsh, 54
+
+  Cuckoo Weir, 149
+
+  Culham, 42
+
+  Custom House, 210
+
+
+  Damer, Mrs., 99
+
+  Danesfield, 124
+
+  Datchet, 146
+
+  Day, Thomas, 82
+
+  Day's Lock, 47
+
+  Denham, 5, 24
+
+  Denham, Sir John, 146
+
+  Despencer, Lord Le, 126
+
+  Ditton House, 185
+
+  Donne, Dr., 190
+
+  Dorchester, 49
+
+  Dorchester Abbey, 51
+
+  Dowgate, 213
+
+  D'Oyley, Robert, 53
+
+  D'Oyley, Sir Cope, 103
+
+  Drayton, 4, 5, 22
+
+  Dredging, 233
+
+  Druce, Claridge G., 32, 62
+
+  Duc d'Aumale, 192
+
+  Duchess of York, 171
+
+  Dudley, Robert, 196
+
+  Duke of Buckingham, 137
+
+  Duke of Gloucester, 192
+
+  Duke of Marlborough, 150
+
+  Duke of York, 172
+
+  Duke's Meadows, 201
+
+  Durham House, 216
+
+  Dyers' Company, 122
+
+
+  Earl of Essex, 196
+
+  Earl of Leicester, 215
+
+  Edward IV., 213
+
+  Edward VI., 180
+
+  Edward Plantagenet, 113
+
+  Edward the Confessor, 140
+
+  Eel-pie Island, 191
+
+  Eights, The, 28
+
+  Eliot, George, 227
+
+  Embankment, The, 214
+
+  Empress Maud, 67
+
+  Essex, Earl of, 196
+
+  Essex House, 215
+
+  Eton, 7, 148
+
+  Evelyn, 229
+
+  Exe River, 175
+
+
+  Fair Maid of Kent, 54
+
+  Faringford, Hugh, 69
+
+  Fawley Court, 101, 102
+
+  Ferry Hotel, Cookham, 138
+
+  Fielding, Henry, 8, 190
+
+  Fingest, 103
+
+  Fishing, 236
+
+  Fleet River, 213
+
+  Floods, 217
+
+  Flora of Oxfordshire, 62
+
+  Folly Bridge, 25
+
+  Forbury Public Garden, Reading, 70
+
+  Fox, Charles James, 169, 204
+
+  Frogmill, 125
+
+  Fulham Palace, 228
+
+  Fuller, 67, 152, 198
+
+
+  Garrick's Villa, 183
+
+  Gaunt, John of, 67, 216
+
+  Gaveston, Piers, 54
+
+  Gay, 190, 193
+
+  General description, 9 ff
+
+  George III., 98
+
+  George IV., 98, 172
+
+  George Hotel, Bray, 154
+
+  George Hotel, Wargrave, 82
+
+  Gloucester, Duke of, 192
+
+  Goring, 57
+
+  Goring Church, 61
+
+  Gray, 5
+
+  Great Hall, Westminster, 219
+
+  Great Marlow, 106
+
+  Great Western Railway, 8
+
+  Greenhill, 60
+
+  Greenlands, 103
+
+  Greenwich Palace, 6
+
+  Grey, Lady Jane, 198
+
+  Gwynne, Nell, 127
+
+
+  Halliford, 175
+
+  Ham House, 191, 193
+
+  Hambleden, 103
+
+  Hammersmith Bridge, 229
+
+  Hampton, 177
+
+  Hampton Court, 6, 178
+
+  Hampton Green, 182
+
+  Hardwicke House, 65
+
+  Harp Hill, 48
+
+  Hartslock Woods, 62
+
+  Hedsor Church, 138
+
+  Henley, 97
+
+  Henley Regatta, 3, 100
+
+  Henry I., 42, 141, 195
+
+  Henry V., 195
+
+  Henry VI., 169
+
+  Henry VII., 195
+
+  Henry VIII., 68, 158, 178
+
+  Hoby, Sir Thomas, 111
+
+  Hogarth, 6, 183, 204
+
+  Holme Park, 75
+
+  Home Park, 145
+
+  Hook, Theodore, 184
+
+  Horton, 158
+
+  Hotels, 18
+
+  House-boats, 235
+
+  Houses of Parliament, 218
+
+  Howard, Katherine, 198
+
+  Hurley, 116
+
+  Hurlingham Club, 227
+
+  Hurst Park Racecourse, 182
+
+
+  Icknield Street, 59
+
+  Iffley, 29
+
+  Isleworth, 197
+
+
+  James II., 221
+
+  James Stuart, 143
+
+  Joan, 54
+
+  John, 78, 156, 213
+
+  Johnson, Dr., 183
+
+  Jones, Inigo, 199
+
+  Juxon, 221
+
+
+  Kelmscott Press, 230
+
+  Kempenfelt, Admiral, 120
+
+  Kew Gardens, 199
+
+  Kew Observatory, 197
+
+  Kew Palace, 6
+
+  _Kingis Quair_, 144
+
+  King's Stone, 187
+
+  Kingston, 186
+
+  Kingston Rowing Club, 186
+
+  Kit-Kat Club, 228
+
+  Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 190, 191, 228
+
+
+  Lady Place, 116
+
+  Laleham, 161, 167
+
+  Lambeth Bridge, 221
+
+  Lambeth Palace, 221
+
+  Laud, Archbishop, 71, 221, 228
+
+  Leicester, Earl of, 215
+
+  Leicester House, 215
+
+  Leland, 78
+
+  Llyn-din, 212
+
+  Locks, 239
+    Bell Weir, 159
+    Benson, 59
+    Boulter's, 128
+    Boveney, 150
+    Bray, 157
+    Cleeve, 59
+    Marsh, 102
+    Teddington, 187
+    Temple, 115
+
+  Loddon River, 92
+
+  London and South Western Railway, 9
+
+  London Bridge, 210
+
+  London Stone, 159
+
+  Long Ditton, 185
+
+  Long Mead, 157
+
+  Louis Philippe, 192
+
+  Lower Hope, 149
+
+  Lower Mall, 230
+
+
+  Macaulay, 120
+
+  Magna Charta Island, 155
+
+  Maidenhead, 132
+
+  Mapledurham House, 65, 66
+
+  Marble Hill, 193
+
+  Marlborough, Duke of, 98, 150
+
+  Marryat, 230
+
+  Marsh Lock, 102
+
+  Medmenham Abbey, 125
+
+  Merchant Taylors' School, 213
+
+  Milton, 5, 7, 158
+
+  Mole River, 184
+
+  Molesey Lock, 182
+
+  Molesey Regatta, 184
+
+  Mongewell, 56
+
+  Monkey Island, 150
+
+  Monmouth House, 225
+
+  Montfichet, 213
+
+  Moore, Thomas, 185, 188
+
+  More, Sir Thomas, 225
+
+  Morris, William, 230
+
+  Mortlake, 202
+
+  Mount Lebanon, 192
+
+
+  Naval Volunteer Training Ship, 214
+
+  New Cut, 27
+
+  Northumberland Avenue, 218
+
+  Northumberland House, 218
+
+  Nottingham, Countess of, 195
+
+  Nuneham Courtney, 35
+
+
+  Oatlands Park, 171, 174
+
+  Obstructions, 234
+
+  Old Deer Forest, 197
+
+  Old London Bridge, 208
+
+  Old Windsor, 146
+
+  Orleans House, 191
+
+  Oxford, 7
+
+  Oxford Meadows, 32
+
+
+  Pang River, 64
+
+  Pangbourne, 63
+
+  Park Place, 102
+
+  Parr, Catherine, 225
+
+  Penton Hook, 161
+
+  Pepys, 229
+
+  Phyllis Court, 101, 102
+
+  Pope, 5, 6, 145, 190, 193, 204
+
+  Pope's Villa, 189
+
+  Prince de Joinville, 192
+
+  Prince Henry, 193
+
+  Princess Elizabeth, 225
+
+  Puddle Dock, 213
+
+  Punting competition, 170
+
+  Putney Bridge, 227
+
+
+  Quarry Woods, 109
+
+  Queen Anne, 192
+
+  Queen Caroline, 229
+
+  Queen Eleanor, 213
+
+  Queen Elizabeth, 70, 113, 240
+
+  Queen Mary, 180
+
+  Queen Maud, 54
+
+  Queenhithe, 213
+
+
+  Radley College Boat-house, 34
+
+  Ranelagh, 223, 228
+
+  Raven's Ait, 186
+
+  Ray Mead Hotel, Maidenhead, 135
+
+  Reading Abbey, 67
+
+  Reading Castle, 70
+
+  Red Lion Hotel, Henley, 98
+
+  Richard II., 195
+
+  Richard III., 213
+
+  Richmond, 194
+
+  Richmond Palace, 6, 195
+
+  Rivers: Abbey, 165, 168
+    Brent, 200
+    Coln, 159
+    Exe, 175
+    Fleet, 213
+    Loddon, 92
+    Mole, 184
+    Pang, 64
+    Thame, 52
+    Wandle, 227
+    Wey, 173
+
+  Robsart, Amy, 196
+
+  Rodney, Admiral, 175
+
+  Romney Island, 148
+
+  Rose Garden, Sonning, 72
+
+  Rossetti, 227
+
+  Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 223
+
+  Runney Mead, 156
+
+  Rupert, Prince, 201
+
+
+  St. Anne's Hill, 170
+
+  St. Helen's Nunnery, Abingdon, 40
+
+  St. Mary Overies, 210
+
+  St. Patrick's Stream, 92
+
+  St. Saviour's, 210
+
+  St. Thomas's Hospital, 221
+
+  Salisbury House, 216
+
+  Sandford, 33
+
+  Savoy, The, 216
+
+  Scotland Yard, 218
+
+  Seagulls, 218
+
+  Seymour, Thomas, 225
+
+  Shelley, 106
+
+  Shenstone, 99
+
+  Shepperton, 170, 175
+
+  Shiplake, 95
+
+  Shrewsbury House, 225
+
+  Sinodun Hill, 48
+
+  Skindle's Hotel, Maidenhead, 133
+
+  Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 103
+
+  Smith, Sydney, 78
+
+  Smollett, 225
+
+  Somerset, Lord-Protector, 198, 215
+
+  Somerset House, 214
+
+  Sonning, 72
+
+  Spenser, 5, 213, 215
+
+  Staines, 159
+
+  Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, 194
+
+  Steele, 228
+
+  Stephen, 54
+
+  Stokenchurch, 103
+
+  Stow, 239
+
+  Strawberry Hill, 188
+
+  Streatley, 57
+
+  Sunbury, 175
+
+  Surbiton, 186
+
+  Surley Hill, 150
+
+  Sutton Courtney, 43
+
+  Sutton Pool, 43
+
+  Swan Hotel, Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Swans, 121
+
+  Swift, 190, 193
+
+  Syon House, 197
+
+
+  Tagg's Island, 182
+
+  Taplow, 132
+
+  Tate Gallery, 223
+
+  Teddington Lock, 187
+
+  Temple, 214
+
+  Temple Island, 101
+
+  Temple Lock, 115
+
+  Temple Mill, 115
+
+  Tennyson, 95, 191
+
+  Terry, Ellen, 166
+
+  Thame, The, 52
+
+  Thames Conservancy, 233
+
+  Thames, derivation of, 4
+
+  Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Thames Gardens, 19
+
+  Thomson, 6, 137, 230
+
+  Thorney Island, 222
+
+  Torpids, The, 29
+
+  Tow-path, 237
+
+  Tower, 210
+
+  Tower Bridge, 210, 211
+
+  Tower Royal, 213
+
+  Turner, 173, 191, 226, 230
+
+  Twickenham, 191
+
+  Twickenham Reach, 188
+
+
+  Upper Hope, 149
+
+  Upper Mall, 230
+
+  Upper Thames Sailing Club, 139
+
+
+  Vanbrugh, 228
+
+  Vauxhall Bridge, 223
+
+  Vintners' Company, 122
+
+
+  Walbrook, 208
+
+  Walbrook Wharf, 212
+
+  Walker, Frederick, 153
+
+  Wallingford, 53
+
+  Walpole, Horace, 6, 183, 189, 228
+
+  Walton Bridge, 173
+
+  Walton Church, 174
+
+  Walton, Izaak, 147
+
+  Wandle River, 227
+
+  Wandsworth, 227
+
+  Warbeck, Perkin, 196
+
+  Wargrave, 80
+
+  Warwick, "King Maker," 113
+
+  Waterloo Bridge, 216
+
+  Watermen, 206
+
+  Weirs, 239
+
+  Westminster Abbey, 222
+
+  Westminster Bridge, 220
+
+  Westminster Palace, 6
+
+  Wey River, 171
+
+  Weybridge, 170, 171
+
+  Whitchurch, 63
+
+  Whitehall, 218
+
+  Whitehall Palace, 6
+
+  White Hart Hotel, Sonning, 74
+
+  Whitehill, 60
+
+  Wigod, 53
+
+  William the Conqueror, 53, 141
+
+  William III., 141, 180
+
+  Winchester House, 225
+
+  Windsor Castle, 140
+
+  Wittenham, Little, 47
+
+  Wittenham Woods, 47
+
+  Wolsey, 178
+
+  Worcester House, 216
+
+  Wordsworth, 220
+
+  Wotton, Sir Henry, 147
+
+  Wren, Sir Christopher, 181, 182
+
+  Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 210
+
+
+  York, Duchess of, 171
+
+  York, Duke of, 172
+
+  York House, 191, 217
+
+
+_Printed by_ Geo. W. Jones, Limited, _Watford_.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE THAMES
+   FROM OXFORD TO LONDON
+
+   MAP ACCOMPANYING "THE THAMES" BY MORTIMER MENPES AND G. E. MITTON.
+   PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON]
+
+
+
+
+BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
+
+ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR
+
+BY MORTIMER MENPES
+
+
+     JAPAN
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
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+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Times.=--"Mr. Menpes's pictures are here given in most perfect
+facsimile, and they form altogether a series of colour impressions of
+Japan which may fairly be called unrivalled. Even without the narrative
+they would show that Mr. Menpes is an enthusiast for Japan, her art and
+her people; and very few European artists have succeeded in giving such
+complete expression to an admiration in which all share."
+
+
+     INDIA
+
+     WITH 75 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
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+
+=The Evening Standard.=--"This sumptuous book is the result of an
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+and atmospheric impressions, such as we find in his famous 'Japan'
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+imagination, but is able by the sympathy and wise knowledge gained by
+a long residence in India to write a text of more than ordinary charm."
+
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+
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+
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+
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+degree all five points of view, and persuades us that at last (and that
+not a day too soon) the stones of Venice have found at once a painter
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+
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+all one to his graceful pencil; and reproduced, as the drawings are, by
+his own colour-process, they make another of those many charming albums
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+
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+     WORLD
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+
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+the East and of the West, and his charming book is a kind of album into
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+of the many countries he has visited and sketched in."
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Thames
+
+Author: G. E. Mitton
+
+Illustrator: Mortimer Menpes
+
+Release Date: January 30, 2014 [EBook #44794]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THAMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
+  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
+  signs=.
+
+
+
+
+THE THAMES
+
+
+
+
+     VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES BY MORTIMER MENPES
+     EACH 20S. NET WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     THE DURBAR
+     JAPAN · WORLD'S CHILDREN
+     WORLD PICTURES · VENICE
+     WAR IMPRESSIONS
+     INDIA · BRITTANY
+
+
+     _Published by_
+     A. & C. BLACK. SOHO SQUARE. LONDON. W.
+
+
+     _AGENTS_
+
+     AMERICA    THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
+                  64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
+
+     CANADA     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
+                  27 RICHMOND STREET, TORONTO
+
+     INDIA      MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
+                  MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
+                  309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: PUNTING]
+
+
+
+
+     THE THAMES
+
+     BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
+     TEXT BY G. E. MITTON
+     PUBLISHED BY A.&C. BLACK
+     SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
+
+
+
+
+     _Published July 1906_
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER I                                        PAGE
+  The Beauty of the River                             1
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  The Oxford Meadows                                 25
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  The Old Town of Abingdon                           37
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  Dorchester and Sinodun Hill                        47
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  Castle and Stronghold                              53
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  Twin Villages                                      57
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  A Mitred Abbot                                     67
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  Sonning and its Roses                              72
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  Wargrave and Neighbourhood                         80
+
+  CHAPTER X
+  Henley                                             97
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+  The Romance of Bisham and Hurley                  105
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+  Boulter's Lock and Maidenhead                     128
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+  Windsor and Eton                                  140
+
+  CHAPTER XIV
+  Magna Charta                                      155
+
+  CHAPTER XV
+  Penton Hook                                       161
+
+  CHAPTER XVI
+  Weybridge and Chertsey                            167
+
+  CHAPTER XVII
+  The Londoner's Zone                               177
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII
+  The River at London                               205
+
+  CHAPTER XIX
+  Our National Possession                           231
+
+  Index                                             243
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  1. Punting                                           _Frontispiece_
+                                                                 PAGE
+  2. Thames Ditton                                                  v
+  3. Sutton Courtney, Culham Bridge                                 1
+  4. Pangbourne                                _Facing_             4
+  5. Dorchester Abbey                          "                    8
+  6. Day's Lock                                "                   12
+  7. Near the Bridge, Sutton Courtney          "                   14
+  8. Streatley Inn                             "                   18
+  9. Sandford Lock                                                 25
+  10. Iffley                                   _Facing_            28
+  11. Radley College Boat-house                "                   34
+  12. Almshouses of Abingdon                                       37
+  13. Abingdon                                 _Facing_            38
+  14. The Mill at Abingdon                     "                   40
+  15. Sutton Courtney Backwater                "                   42
+  16. Clifden Hampden from the Bridge          "                   44
+  17. Clifden Hampden                          "                   46
+  18. Hurley                                                       47
+  19. Cottages, Dorchester                     _Facing_            48
+  20. White Hart Hotel, Dorchester             "                   50
+  21. Dorchester Backwater                     "                   52
+  22. Danesfield                                                   53
+  23. Wallingford                              _Facing_            54
+  24. Streatley Mill                           "                   56
+  25. Goring Bridge                                                57
+  26. Streatley                                _Facing_            58
+  27. Goring Church                            "                   60
+  28. Goring                                   "                   62
+  29. Pangbourne, from the Swan Hotel          "                   64
+  30. Whitchurch Lock                          "                   64
+  31. Mapledurham Mill                         "                   66
+  32. Evening                                                      67
+  33. Caversham                                _Facing_            70
+  34. Paddling                                                     72
+  35. The Rose Garden at Sonning               _Facing_            72
+  36. Sonning                                  "                   76
+  37. St. George and the Dragon, Wargrave                          80
+  38. The Church at Wargrave                   _Facing_            80
+  39. Barges at Oxford                                             97
+  40. Red Lion Hotel, Henley                   _Facing_            98
+  41. Henley Regatta                           "                  100
+  42. Hambleden                                "                  102
+  43. Medmenham Abbey                                             105
+  44. General View of Marlow                   _Facing_           106
+  45. Quarry Woods                             "                  108
+  46. Bisham Church                            "                  110
+  47. Hurley Backwater                         "                  112
+  48. Bisham Abbey                             "                  114
+  49. Cookham, from above                                         128
+  50. Boulter's Lock, Ascot Sunday             _Facing_           128
+  51. Below Boulter's Lock                     "                  130
+  52. Maidenhead                               "                  132
+  53. Eton, from the Brocas                                       140
+  54. Windsor Castle                           _Facing_           140
+  55. Windsor                                  "                  144
+  56. Eton Chapel, from the Fields             "                  148
+  57. Magna Charta Island                                         155
+  58. Hedsor Fishery                                              161
+  59. Temple Lock                                                 167
+  60. Walton Bridge                            _Facing_           172
+  61. Sunbury                                  "                  174
+  62. Hampton Court                                               177
+  63. Hampton Court, from the River            _Facing_           178
+  64. Marlow Church                                               205
+  65. Beyond Hammersmith Bridge                _Facing_           206
+  66. The Custom House                         "                  208
+  67. Dutch Barges near the Tower              "                  210
+  68. The Tower of St. Magnus                  "                  212
+  69. St. Paul's                               _Facing_           214
+  70. The Houses of Parliament                 "                  216
+  71. Westminster by Night                     "                  218
+  72. Hay Barges near Westminster Bridge       "                  222
+  73. Chelsea Reach, with the Old Church       "                  226
+  74. View from Richmond Hill                                     231
+  75. From Battersea Bridge                    _Facing_           232
+  _Sketch Map at end of Volume_
+
+
+_The Illustrations in this volume were engraved and printed at the
+Menpes Press, Watford._
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BEAUTY OF THE RIVER
+
+
+Close your eyes and conjure up a vision of the river Thames; what
+is the picture that you see? If you are a prosaic and commercial
+person, whose business lies by the river side, the vision will be one
+of wharves and docks, of busy cranes loading and unloading; a row of
+bonded warehouses rising from the water's edge; lighters filled with
+tea lying in their shadow, tarpaulined and padlocked; ships of all
+sizes and shapes, worn by water and weather. And up and down, in and
+out, among it all you see river police on their launch, inquisitive
+and determined, watching everything, hearing everything, and turning
+up when least expected. The glories of the high Tower Bridge, and the
+smoky gold of the setting sun will not affect you, for your thoughts
+are fixed on prosaic detail. As for green fields and quiet backwaters,
+such things do not enter into the vision at all.
+
+Yet for one who sees the Thames thus prosaically, a hundred see it in
+a gayer aspect. To many a man it is always summer there, for the river
+knows him not when the chill grey days draw in. He sees gay houseboats
+in new coats of paint, decorated with scarlet geraniums and other
+gaudy plants. He associates the river with "a jolly good time" with a
+carefully chosen house-party, with amateur tea-making and an absence of
+care. Nowhere else is one so free to "laze" without the rebuke even of
+one's own occasionally too zealous conscience.
+
+To another the Thames simply means the Boat Race, nothing more and
+nothing less. Year by year he journeys up to London from his tiny
+vicarage in the heart of the country for that event. If the high
+tide necessitates it, he stands shivering on the brink in the chill
+whiteness of early morning. He sits on the edge of a hard wooden cart
+for an immense time, and, by way of keeping up his strength, eats an
+indigestible penny bun, a thing that it would never enter his head to
+do at any other time. He sees here and there one or the other of those
+school-fellows or university chums who have dropped out of his life for
+all the rest of the year. Then, after a moment's shouting, a moment's
+tense anxiety or bitter disappointment, according to the position of
+the boats, the flutter of a flag, and a thrill of something of the old
+enthusiasm that the unsparing poverty of his life has slowly ground out
+of him, he retires to his vicarage again for another year, elated or
+depressed according to the result of the race.
+
+To others Henley is the embodiment of all that is joyous; the one week
+in the year that is worth counting. But to others, and these a vast
+majority of those who know the river at all, the Thames means fresh
+and life-giving air after a week spent within four walls. It means
+congenial exercise and light, and the refreshment that beauty gives,
+even if but half realised. It means a quiet dream with a favourite pipe
+in a deep backwater so overhung with trees that it resembles a green
+tunnel. The gentle drone of the bees sounds from the banks, there is a
+flash of blue sheen as a kingfisher darts by; a gentle dip and slight
+crackling tell of another favoured individual making his way cautiously
+along to the same sheltered alley; the radiant sunlight falls white
+upon the water through the leaves and sends shimmering reflections of
+dancing ripples on the sides of the punt. Such a position is as near
+Paradise as it is given to mortal to attain.
+
+These are only a few of an inexhaustible variety of aspects of this
+glorious river, and each reader is welcome to add his own favourite to
+the list.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE]
+
+For the purposes of this book we are dealing with the Thames between
+Oxford and London, though as a matter of fact, tradition has it that
+the Thames proper does not begin until below Oxford, where it is formed
+by the junction of the Thame and the Isis. Tamese (Thames) means
+"smooth spreading water." Tam is the same root as occurs in Tamar,
+etc., and the "es" is the perpetually recurring word for water, _e.g._,
+Ouse, ooze, usquebagh. Isis is probably a back formation, from Tamesis.
+In Drayton's _Polyolbion_, we have the pretty allegory of the wedding
+of Thame and Isis, from which union is born the sturdy Thames.
+
+     Now Fame had through this Isle divulged in every ear
+     The long expected day of marriage to be near,
+     That Isis, Cotswold's heir, long woo'd was lastly won,
+     And instantly should wed with Thame, old Chiltern's son.
+
+In Spenser's _Faërie Queene_ the notion is carried one step further,
+and Thames, the son of Thame and Isis, is to wed with Medway, a
+far-fetched conceit, for the rivers do not run into each other in any
+part of their course.
+
+It is strange that a river such as the Thames, which, though by no
+means great as regards size, has played an important part in the
+life of the nation, should not have inspired more writers. There is
+no striking poem on the Thames. The older poets, Denham, Drayton,
+Spenser, Cowley, Milton, and Pope, all refer to the river more or less
+frequently, but they have not taken it as a main theme. It is even more
+neglected by later poets. There are poems to special parts or scenes,
+such as Gray's well-known "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College";
+the river colours one or two of Matthew Arnold's poems; but the great
+poem, which shall take it as a sole theme, is yet to come. Neither
+is there a good book on this river, though it is among rivers what
+London is among the cities of men. Yet the material is abundant, and
+associations are scattered thickly along the banks. No fewer than seven
+royal palaces have stood by the river. And of these one is still the
+principal home of our sovereign. Of the others, Hampton Court, chiefly
+reminiscent of William III., is standing. The neighbouring palace of
+Richmond remains but in a fragment. At London, Westminster, the home of
+our early and mediæval kings, has vanished, except for the great hall
+and a crypt. Whitehall--the old palace--is wholly gone, though one part
+of the new palace projected by James I. remains. As for the old palace
+of Greenwich, so full of memories of the Tudors, that has been replaced
+by a later structure. I hesitate to name Kew in this list, so entirely
+unworthy is it of the name of palace, yet, as the residence of a king
+it should, perhaps, find a place.
+
+From the annals of these palaces English history could be completely
+reconstructed from the time of Edward the Confessor to the present day.
+
+But it is not in historical memories alone that the Thames is so rich.
+Poets, authors, politicians, and artists have crowded thickly on its
+banks from generation to generation. The lower reaches are haunted by
+the names of Hogarth, Cowley, Thomson; further up we come to the homes
+of Walpole, Pope, and Fielding. At Laleham lived Matthew Arnold. Not
+far from Magna Charta Island is Horton, where Milton lived. Though his
+home was not actually on the river, Milton must have often strolled
+along the banks of the Thames, and many of his poems show the impress
+of associations gathered from such scenery as is to be found about
+Ankerwyke and Runneymead:
+
+     Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
+     While the landscape round it measures:
+     Russet lawns and fallows gray,
+     Where the nibbling flocks do stray.
+     Meadows trim with daisies pied;
+     Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
+
+From the records of Eton alone many a book might be compiled of the
+lives of men in the public eye, whose impressions were formed there by
+the Thames side. Indeed, had the river no other claim to notice than
+its connection with Eton and Oxford, through which more men who have
+controlled the destiny of their country and made empire have passed,
+than through any similar foundations in England, this alone would be
+cause enough to make it a worthy subject for any book.
+
+Beside palaces and the homes of great men, castles and religious
+houses once stood thickly along the banks of the river. The notable
+monasteries of Reading, Dorchester, Chertsey, and Abingdon, etc., were
+widely celebrated as seats of learning in their day, and the castles of
+Reading, Wallingford, and Oxford were no less well known.
+
+It is a curious law in rivers that, as a whole, the windings usually
+cover double the length of the direct axis, and the Thames is no
+exception to the rule. It sweeps in and out with a fair amount of
+regularity, the great bend to the south at Thames Ditton and Weybridge
+being reversed higher up in the great bend to the north at Bourne End
+and Hambleden. Naturally the sides of these indentations run north and
+south instead of in the usual course of east and west. From Wargrave
+to Henley the current is almost due north, and likewise from Surbiton
+to Brentford. A more apparent curve, because much smaller in radius, is
+that at Abingdon; here the course by the stream is about nine miles, in
+contrast to the two overland. The Great Western Railway is the chief
+river railway, but as it runs a comparatively straight course between
+London and Didcot, some places on the great curves are considerably
+off the main line, and are served by branches. After Reading it keeps
+very close to the river as far as Moulsford, and is not distant from
+it the rest of the way to Oxford, as it turns almost direct north from
+Didcot Junction. The Great Western Railway is ably supplemented by the
+London and South Western Railway, from which the lesser stations on the
+south of the river near to London can be reached, also the districts
+of Twickenham, Hampton, etc., included in the chapter called "The
+Londoners' Zone." Further up, Weybridge, Chertsey, Egham, and Windsor
+can also be reached by this railway, which cuts a curve and touches the
+river again at Reading.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER ABBEY]
+
+There are many zones on the river, and each has its devotees. It is
+curious to notice how one crowd differs from another crowd on its
+"people-pestered shores." It is difficult to draw hard and fast lines,
+but taking the boundaries of the London County Council as the end of
+London, we can count above it many zones, rich in beauty, divided from
+each other by stretches of dulness; for, beautiful as the river is,
+it must be admitted parts of it are dull, though, like the patches
+on a fair skin, these serve but to emphasise the characteristics
+of the remainder. A rather dreary bit succeeds Hammersmith, though
+this is not without its own attractiveness, and the first real zone
+that we can touch upon is that from Richmond to Hampton, which runs
+Maidenhead hard for first place in popularity; but the Richmond and
+Hampton river people are largely recruited from the inhabitants, while
+those at Maidenhead are mostly visitors. Passing over the waterworks
+and embankments above Hampton, we begin another zone, much less known
+because less accessible, but in its own way more attractive than that
+of Richmond. It is pure country, with green fields, willow trees, cows
+grazing on the banks, many curves and doublings in the channel of the
+main stream, and ever varying vistas, and this continues to beyond
+Weybridge. About Chertsey the scenery is flat, but Laleham and Penton
+Hook are two places that annually delight hundreds of persons.
+
+Between Staines and Windsor there is a fairly attractive stretch, with
+the park and woods of Ankerwyke on one side, and the meadows on the
+other. High on the south rises Cooper's Hill, and beyond Albert Bridge
+we see the smoothly kept turf of the Home Park.
+
+Windsor and Eton, of course, will require a chapter to themselves. In
+this general description it is sufficient to say that the influence
+of Eton is apparent all the way to Bray. Then we start a new zone, the
+most popular one on the river, that from Maidenhead to Bourne End. Of
+the delights of this beautiful and varied section it is unnecessary
+here to speak. But the Maidenhead reach is spoilt for fastidious people
+by its too great popularity. To those who love the river for itself,
+the endless passing and repassing, the impossibility of finding quiet,
+undisturbed corners, the noise and merrymaking, even the sight of too
+many fellow creatures, is a burden. From this the part above Marlow is
+protected by being less accessible. It is too far to be reached easily
+from Maidenhead, and those who come by train have an awkward change at
+a junction; therefore the crowd finds it not. Yet the beauties are no
+less admirable than those of the adored Maidenhead.
+
+At Hambleden the influence of Henley begins to be felt, and above
+Henley we enter on another zone. Nowhere else on the river are to
+be found so many fascinating spots lying in the stream; certainly,
+no other part offers so many tempting backwaters. This is the zone
+for those who love the country pure and simple, and who can put up
+cheerfully with the inconveniences attendant on the procuring of
+supplies, for the sake of the quiet, marshy meadows.
+
+The reach includes Sonning with its two bridges, its islands, and its
+rose-garden; but beyond Sonning dulness is apparent once more, and
+with the neighbourhood of the great and smoky town of Reading, charm
+withers. It is not until Mapledurham that the prettiness of the river
+becomes again apparent, and Mapledurham is rather an oasis, for in
+the reach beyond it, though the great rounded chalk hills grow opal
+in the sunlight, and the larks sing heavenwards, the attractiveness
+cannot be called beauty. From Pangbourne and Whitchurch to Goring and
+Streatley, the river lies beneath the chalk heights, which seem to dip
+underground, reappearing on the other side by Streatley; and the whole
+of the stretch, with its rich and varied woods, its delightful islands
+and weirs, its pretty cottages and churches, is full of charm.
+
+  [Illustration: DAY'S LOCK]
+
+Beyond Cleeve Lock, with the single exception of Mongewell, there is
+again dulness, though for boating pure and simple the reach is very
+good. Wallingford has a trim prettiness of its own, with its clean-cut
+stone bridge and its drooping willow. Park-like grounds and pleasant
+trees succeed, Sinodun Hill looms up ahead, and one may penetrate up
+the Thame to Dorchester, where the willows nearly meet overhead. Day's
+Lock still belongs to the clean prettiness of the Wallingford stretch,
+which, in fact, continues all the way to Culham, notwithstanding that
+we pass the much admired Clifton Hampden, where the church stands high
+on the cliff. Culham itself is dull, but with the pretty backwater of
+Sutton Courtney we begin a new kind of scenery. Abingdon has something
+of its richness and profusion, and Nuneham Courtney woods, though not
+rising so abruptly as those at Clieveden, are glorious. After this
+we begin the famous meadows that continue more or less all the way to
+Oxford, and have a fascination of their own.
+
+The best way to see the river as a whole, for those who can spare the
+time, is to go on Salter's steamers, which run daily, Sundays excepted,
+during the summer. The fare one way is 14s., exclusive of food, and the
+night spent _en route_. The trip takes two days, the steamer leaving
+Kingston at 9 in the morning, and reaching Henley at 7.15 in the
+evening. The reverse way, it leaves Oxford at 9.30, and reaches Henley,
+which is about half-way, at 7 in the evening.
+
+In this rough sketch it has been shown that there is no lack of choice
+for those who seek their pleasure on the river, and the opportunity
+meets with full response. Seen in sunshine on a summer morning,
+especially if it be the end of the week, the river is brilliant. The
+dainty coloured muslins and laces, the Japanese parasols, the painted
+boats, the large shady hats, the sparkle where the oars meet the
+water, and the white sails of the sailing boats bellying in the wind,
+are only a few items in a sparkling picture. Fragile, yellow-white
+butterflies and the richer coloured red admirals hover about the banks;
+purple loose-strife, meadow-sweet, and snapdragon grow on the banks
+with many a tall gaudily coloured weed. Here and there great cedars
+rise among the lighter foliage, showing black against a turquoise sky;
+while on the water, where the wind has ruffled it, there is the "many
+twinkling smile" ascribed by Æschylus to the ocean. But, to those
+who know the Thames, this smiling aspect is not the only lovable one:
+they know it also after rain, when the water comes thundering over the
+weirs in translucent hoops of vivid green, and the boiling foam below
+dances like whipped cream. To walk along the sedgy banks is to leave
+a trail of "squish-squash" with every step. All the yellow and brown
+flat-leaved green things that grow thickly near the edges are barely
+able to keep their heads above the stream, and the long reeds bend with
+the current like curved swords. Every little tributary gushes gurgling
+to join in the mad race, and the sounds that tell of water are in our
+ears like the instruments in an orchestra. There are the rush, the
+dip, and the tinkle, as well as the deep-throated roar. Watching and
+listening, we feel a strange sympathy with the new life brought by
+the increased current; we feel as if it were flooding through our own
+veins, and as if we, like the squirming, wriggling things that live
+in the slime below the flood-curtain, were waking up anew after a long
+torpor.
+
+  [Illustration: NEAR THE BRIDGE, SUTTON COURTNEY]
+
+Even in late autumn, when the slow, white mist rises from the marshy
+ground, and most of the birds are gone; when the eddies are full of
+dead leaves floating away from the wood where all their sheltered
+lives have been spent; when the sparkle and the gaiety and the
+light-heartedness are gone, and the water looks indigo and dun, with
+patches of quicksilver floating on it; when the great webs of the
+spiders that haunt the banks hang like filmy curtains of lace heavy
+with the moisture of the air, and the sun sinks wanly behind a bank of
+cloud--even then the river may be loved.
+
+Assuredly, those who go on the river for the day only, and know it but
+under one aspect--that of lazy heat--lose much. In the evening time, as
+one steps from the long French window into the scented dusk, soft white
+moths flap suddenly across the strip of light, and one's feet fall
+silently on the velvet turf, cool with the freshness that ever is on
+a river margin. Down by the edge the black water hurries swiftly past
+with a continuous soothing gurgle. A sleepy bird moves in a startled
+way in a bush, and all the small things that awake in the night are
+stirring. One can reach down and touch the onyx water slipping between
+one's fingers like dream jewels; and far overhead in the rent and torn
+caverns of the clouds, the stars, bigger and brighter than ever they
+look in London, sail swiftly and silently from shelter to shelter. The
+plaintive cry of an owl sounds softly from the meadow across the water,
+and there is an indescribable sense of motion and poetry, and a thrill
+of expectation that would be wholly lacking in a landscape ever so
+beautiful, without the river.
+
+Then there are the grey days, when sudden sheens of silver drop upon
+the ruffled water as it eddies round a corner, and in a moment the
+surface is peopled with dancing fairies, spangled and brilliant,
+flitting in and out in bewildering movement. Or the same cold, silver
+light catches the side of a ploughed field, a moment before brown,
+but now shot with green as all the long delicate blades are revealed.
+These, and a thousand other delights, cannot be known to the visitor
+of a day only. Under all its aspects, in all its vagaries, the river
+may be loved; and in the swift gliding motion there is an irresistible
+fascination. It gives meaning to idleness, and fills up vacancy. By the
+banks of the river one never can be dull.
+
+The river is one of the greatest of our national possessions. Other
+rivers there are in England where one may boat on a small part, where
+here and there are beauty spots; but the Thames alone gives miles of
+bewildering choice, and can take hundreds and hundreds at once upon
+its flood. Now embanked and weired and locked, its waters are ideal for
+boating, and its fishing, with little exception, is free to all.
+
+Shooting on the banks of the Thames is forbidden, and the birds have
+quickly learned to know their sanctuary. Lie still for a while in the
+lee of an osier-covered ait, or beneath the shelter of an overhanging
+willow, and that cheeky little reed-bunting will hop about so near,
+that, were you endowed by nature with the quickness of movement granted
+to a cat, you could seize it in one hand. White-throats, robins,
+thrushes, blackbirds, all haunt the stream, and reed warblers and sedge
+warblers have their haunts by the banks. The kingfisher is rapidly
+increasing, and makes his home quite close to the locks and weirs; the
+russet brown of his breast, as he sits motionless on a twig waiting his
+time for a dart, may now be seen by a noiseless and sharp-eyed watcher.
+The soft coo of the wood pigeons sounds from tall trees, and the cawing
+of the rooks, softened by distance into a melodious conversation, is
+wafted from many a rookery. The chatter of an impudent magpie may worry
+you, or the hoarse squawk of a jay break your rest, but they are only
+the discords that the great musician, Nature, knows how to introduce
+into her river symphony.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY INN]
+
+Hotels on the river have, in the last few years, awakened to the cry
+of the middle classes for air and light, and yet more air. Some of
+the hotels are pretty with verandahs and creeper covered walls, but
+others are old-fashioned--with low rooms. Yet every proprietor who can
+by hook or crook manage it, now runs a lawn of exquisite turf down to
+the water's edge, decorates it with flowers far more vivid than can
+be seen elsewhere, and knocks up a bungalow-like building, terribly
+desolate in the winter when the green mould creeps insidiously over
+the wooden posts, and the sail-cloth rots in the damp; but airy and
+commodious in the summer, when relays of fifty people or more may be
+seated at a time, and yet there is no satiating smell of cooked food.
+The boat owners have also seen fit to accommodate their convenience to
+the demand, and at any large builder's landing-stage, boats may now be
+hired to be left almost anywhere on the river, to be fetched back by
+the owner.
+
+Pessimists say that the river is losing its charm, that the advent of
+motor cars, stirring in people a hitherto dormant love of speed, makes
+the slow progress of punting a weariness instead of a relaxation. But
+this is not greatly to be feared. The charm of a motor is one thing,
+the charm of the river another; and we cannot spare either. Crowds may
+slightly diminish, but this is no loss, rather a gain to the real river
+lover.
+
+Thames gardens are peculiar. By the nature of the case they must be far
+more public than ordinary gardens, for the owner's reason for buying
+the house was that he wanted to sit on his own green turf and see the
+river flow endlessly past. Therefore, though he may hedge around the
+three land sides with high walls and impenetrable thorns, he leaves
+the fourth side open so that all the world may look. No one has yet
+been clever enough to invent a screen that shall be transparent on
+one side and opaque on the other, and until they do, the owners of
+these beautiful river lawns must sit in the full light that beats upon
+the river banks, and allow every passing stranger who has raked up a
+shilling to hire a boat, to enjoy the beauties of a garden he has not
+paid for. Thames lawns are celebrated, and rightly so. Not even the
+turf of college quads, grown for hundreds of years, can beat their
+turf. Thick, smooth, closely woven they are, and above all, of a pure
+rich green that is a delight to see, and, by way of enhancing this
+marvellous green, the colour which is most often to be seen with it is
+its complementary colour, red. Whether the effect is obtained merely
+by contrast I do not know, but certainly it seems as if nowhere else
+could be found geraniums of so rich a vermilion, roses of so glorious
+a crimson. In many of these river gardens, too, especially where a
+little stream trickles down, a light trellis arch is thrown up and
+covered with Rambler roses, old rose in colour, and only second to the
+vermilion as a complement to the green lawn.
+
+Two of these gloriously green lawns I have particularly in mind, one at
+Shepperton, and one near Thames Ditton, but where they are to be seen
+so frequently it is invidious to particularise.
+
+These are the private gardens of a grand sort, and no whit less
+beautiful, though without the same expanse of lawn, are the gardens of
+the lock-keepers, in which the owners take a particular pride.
+
+     Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,
+     Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,
+     Sweet-william with his homely cottage smell,
+     And stocks in fragrant blow;
+     Roses, that down the alleys shine afar,
+     And open, jasmine-muffled lattices.
+                                   --_M. Arnold._
+
+But in taking count of Thames's decorations we are not confined to
+gardens. Among the flowers growing wild on the river banks we have
+no lack of choice. It is a pretty conceit of Drayton's, to make his
+bridal pair, Thame and Isis, travel to meet one another along paths
+flower-decked by willing nymphs. Old Thame, as the man, was to have
+only wild flowers, not those "to gardens that belong":
+
+     The primrose placing first because that in the spring
+     It is the first appears, then only flourishing,
+     The azured harebell next, with them they neatly mix'd,
+     T'allay whose luscious smell, they woodbind plac'd betwixt.
+     Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in the lily;
+     And near to that again her sister daffodilly.
+     To sort these flowers of show with th' other that were sweet
+     The cowslip then they couch, and th' oxlip, for her meet,
+     The columbine amongst they sparingly do set,
+     The yellow king-cup wrought in many a curious fret,
+     And now and then among, of eglantine a spray,
+     By which again a course of lady smocks they lay
+     The crow flower, and thereby the clover-flower they stick.
+     The daisie over all those sundry sweets so thick;
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The crimson darnel flowers, the blue-bottle and gold
+     Which, though esteemed but weeds, yet for their dainty hues
+     And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose choose.
+
+The "luscious smell" cannot refer to the harebell, which has a very
+faint perfume; besides, it is difficult to think of the harebell in
+this connection, for it is a full summer flower, while all the rest
+belong to spring: Drayton must, therefore, mean the wild hyacinth,
+which is still often called the bluebell by people in England, though
+in Scotland this name is correctly reserved for the harebell. The
+"luscious smell" exactly describes the rich, rather cloying scent of
+the hyacinth. There has been some discussion as to what is meant by the
+eglantine, which the old poets are so fond of mentioning. In Milton it
+means the honeysuckle, but in the others probably the sweetbriar; while
+woodbine is either the twining clematis, the "traveller's joy"--rather
+a misnomer, by-the-way, as it is an insignificant and disappointing
+flower--or the honeysuckle.
+
+Isis was gay with garden flowers:
+
+                 ... The brave carnation then,
+     With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the pale,
+     Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale
+     Of sweetness, yet in scents as various as in sorts.
+     The purple violet then, the pansy there supports
+     The marygold above t' adorn the arched bar;
+     The double daisie, thrift, the button bachelor,
+     Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion, and to these
+     Some lavender they put with rosemary and bays.
+
+To make a catalogue of the flowers which may be found on the Thames
+banks at the present day would be out of place here, yet there are
+one or two plants so frequently seen that they may be mentioned.
+Among these are the purple loose-strife, with its tapering, richly
+coloured spikes, standing sometimes as high as four feet, and
+occasionally mistaken for a foxglove; the pink-flowered willow-herb;
+the wild mustard or cherlock, with its sulphur yellow blossoms, and
+creeping-jenny. The bog-bean, or buck-bean, with white lace-like
+flowers may be seen occasionally in stagnant swamps. The water-violet,
+which, however, is not in the least like a violet, is also to be
+found in the tributary ditches, as well as the tall yellow iris;
+the flowering rush and the bur-reeds often form details in a river
+picture. In the lock gardens herbaceous borders, full of phlox,
+sweet-william, stocks, valerian, big white lilies, and, later, red hot
+pokers, sunflowers, and hollyhocks, are ordinary sights. In the meadows
+near Oxford fritillaries, otherwise called snakes'-heads, are seen
+abundantly in spring, but these and other flowers shall be mentioned
+more particularly in connection with the places where they grow.
+
+It remains but to end with the aspiration of Denham:
+
+     O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
+     My great example as it is my theme!
+     Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
+     Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing full.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OXFORD MEADOWS
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+This account of the river may well begin at Folly Bridge, seeing it
+is folly in any case to attempt to cut off a section of a river, and,
+as before explained, our course from Oxford to London is peculiarly
+arbitrary, for the Thames proper does not begin till below Dorchester,
+and at Oxford the river is the Isis. Having thus disarmed criticism,
+without further explanation or apology, we stand upon Folly Bridge,
+which is a little way above the end of the course for both Torpids and
+Eights.
+
+To the left are the college barges, resplendent in many colours, with
+their slender flagstaffs rising against a background of the shady trees
+that border Christchurch meadows. The reach of water beside them is
+alive with boats, and the oars rise and dip with the regularity of the
+legs of a monster centipede. The barges should be seen in Eights week,
+when they are in their glory, occupied by the mothers, sisters, and
+aunts of the undergraduates, dressed in costumes that in mass look like
+brilliant flower-beds.
+
+To see the bridge properly, however, it is necessary to go down to
+the tow-path and look back at it, when its quaint, foreign appearance
+can be better estimated. It stands across an island on which is the
+renowned Salter's boat-house, and its solidity and the tall houses near
+it, which throw black shadows in the yellow sunlight, make it look not
+unlike a corner in Venice.
+
+Following the river down, we see on the Oxford side the narrow mouth
+of the meandering Cherwell under a white arched bridge. The most
+delightful place for "lazing" in a boat is the Cherwell, shady and not
+too wide; deliciously cool in the height of the summer, so rich is the
+foliage of the over-arching trees. Lower down is the New Cut, destined
+to relieve the Cherwell of its superfluous water in flood time and so
+prevent the flooding of the Christchurch meadows. Opposite the mouth
+of the New Cut is the University Boat-house, and further down, where
+a branch of the river runs off to the right, are the bathing places.
+This branch is crossed by a bridge, and it makes the next strip of land
+an island. The place is known as the Long Bridges. The river narrows
+at the point, and the narrowed part is called The Gut; just below a
+tributary from the Cherwell, known as the Freshman's river, dribbles
+into the Thames. It is at The Gut that the most exciting scenes in the
+races generally happen. As everyone knows, Torpids are in the fourth
+and fifth weeks after the beginning of the Lent term, and as they
+are not of so much importance as the Eights, and as the weather does
+not lend itself to open-air festivities, they are generally watched
+only by a shivering handful of spectators who have a more or less
+personal interest in them. The Eights, which take place in the middle
+of the summer term, are the event of the year to Oxford, and intensely
+exciting they may be. The lowest boat starts from the lasher above
+Iffley, and the course ends at Salter's Barge. But the crux of the
+whole matter often lies in The Gut, and much depends on the ability of
+the cox to steer a clean course, as to whether his boat is bumped or
+bumps. As the boats in cutting the curve below this crucial point come
+diagonally at it, disaster here often overtakes a crew which has before
+been doing well. The aforesaid narrow channel from the Cherwell is
+navigable only in a canoe and by good luck; but the tale is told that
+one cox, in his first year, being excited beyond reason, mistook it for
+the main channel, and, steering right ahead, landed his crew high and
+dry on the shoals. Hence the name, the Freshman's river.
+
+  [Illustration: IFFLEY]
+
+Here are two pictures, taken from life, which express the difference
+between the two occasions:
+
+     The Eights: Brilliant blue sky above, glinting blue water
+     beneath. Down across Christchurch meadow troops a butterfly
+     crowd, flaunting brilliant parasols and chattering gaily
+     to the "flannelled fools" who form the escort. Despite
+     the laughter it is a solemn occasion, for the college boat
+     that is head of the river may be going to be bumped this
+     afternoon, and, if so, the bump will surely take place in
+     front of the barges. The only question is, before which
+     barge will it happen? When the exciting moment draws near,
+     chatter ceases, a tense stillness holds the crowd in thrall;
+     the relentless pursuers creep on steadily, narrowing the
+     gap between themselves and the first boat, and finally bump
+     it exactly opposite its own barge! A moment's pause. The
+     completeness of the triumph is too impressive to be grasped
+     at once; then--pandemonium! Pistol-shots, rattles, hoots,
+     yells, shrieks of joy, wildly waving parasols, and groans.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The Torpids: A raw cold February day; a leaden sky heavy with
+     snow; dimly seen figures scudding over the frozen meadows
+     of Iffley; the river itself is almost frost-bound, and the
+     men waiting in the boats for the starting gun look blue
+     and pinched. They must find these last ten seconds hard to
+     endure. Nine, eight, seven, six--ugh! will it never go? At
+     last! And, as the signal sounds, the oars strike the water
+     with a splash, and the boats shoot off and begin the long
+     tussle against a head wind and that strong stream which
+     always makes the Torpids a harder matter than the Eights
+     rowed in summer water. It is too late to follow them, so
+     heigh-ho for the King's Arms Hotel at Sandford, and a cup of
+     the good hot tea that the landlady knows so well how to make!
+
+The channel running past the bathing places is equally unsuited
+for navigation, and is moreover guarded by two mills, but it may be
+negotiated with the aforesaid element of good luck. Hinksey Stream
+flows into this backwater, and there are several places, after shoals
+have been avoided or surmounted, where it is extremely pleasant to
+while away an idle hour. By means of the Long Bridges and the lock
+at Iffley it is possible to get across the river from side to side
+diagonally. Passing on down stream we soon come to Iffley. In the
+meantime we can see many of the pinnacles and spires and domes for
+which Oxford is famous, and marvellous is the way in which they appear
+to swing round as we change our position. The part of new Oxford which
+lines the Iffley road behind the meadows is not attractive, but when
+we come in sight of Iffley itself we may well exclaim that it would be
+hard to find a sweeter spot. There are stone walls, thatched cottages
+and farmyards, hay and orchards, elms, alders, and silver-stemmed
+birches; in consequence a quiet, rural atmosphere broods over all.
+The cows feed down to the edge of the river, and swallows dart about
+overhead, while perhaps a man paddling a canoe shoots up and away
+again, his white flannels and the strength and grace of his movement
+irresistibly recalling a swan. The mill, half stone, half wooden cased,
+is very ancient; the massive foundations have become like rock from
+their long immersion in the running water. There is a great quiet pool
+behind the lock island, and here and there a glimpse may be caught of
+the square tower of the famous church, which is not far off, but is
+well hidden by trees.
+
+Iffley Church takes rank with Stewkley as the most beautiful example
+of a Norman church remaining to us out of London. It is, like so
+many Norman churches, very small and very solid. And it must yield
+to Stewkley in the fact that its architecture is not pure. Yet its
+massive central tower and its fine windows place it very high indeed.
+Its date is not certainly known, but is supposed to be between 1160 and
+1170. "The interior seems at first sight curious. There are, in fact,
+two chancels, one behind the other. The further one is early English
+work, and is much lighter in style than the rest of the building, and
+the east end is disappointing. This may have been added to lengthen
+the church. In the bay next to it, where the choir now sit, there are
+fourteenth century windows inserted under Norman arches, showing that
+the walls were of the earlier date. These windows were added by John de
+la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, in the latter half of the sixteenth century.
+There is a groined roof, and the piers are beautifully decorated. The
+arches supporting the tower are richly moulded, almost incongruously
+so in regard to the massive type of the masonry, which points to early
+Norman. The Perpendicular windows inserted in the north and south walls
+are good. It is only at the extreme west end that the Norman windows
+remain untouched. The font is of black marble, and is very curious.
+The triple west-end window, a splendid specimen, is best seen from
+the churchyard. Its moulding is very rich, and this alone would be
+sufficient to make Iffley rank high among ancient churches. Below it is
+a circular window inserted about 1858 on the supposed plan of a former
+one of which traces were found. The impossibility of approaching the
+style of the old work in modern times was never more strikingly shown.
+Below is a fine doorway with beak-head and billet moulding, worthy to
+be classed with the triple window. A very ancient yew stands on the
+south side of the church, and near it is the slender shaft of an old
+cross. The rectory house, dating from Tudor times, is a fine addition
+to the picturesque group."--_Guide to the Thames._
+
+Between Iffley and Sandford the famous Oxford meadows are seen at their
+best. In the summer they are gemmed with countless flowers, so that
+they rival the celebrated Swiss pastures. Prominent among these is the
+fritillary:
+
+     I know what white, what purple fritillaries
+     The grassy harvest of the river-fields,
+     Above by Ensham, down by Sandford yields,
+     And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries.
+                                       --_M. Arnold._
+
+Mr. G. Claridge Druce, the well-known botanist, who has made a special
+study of the Thames Valley and Oxfordshire, says:--"The Thames from
+Oxford to Sandford flows through meadows rich with fritillaries,
+its banks are bordered with the sweet-scented Acorus, and its waters
+are inhabited by Potamogeton proelongus, flabellatus, and compressus,
+Zannichellia macrostemon, OEnanthe fluviatilis, &c., and near Sandford
+appears, for the first time in the river's course, the lovely Leucojum
+æstivum." This is the flower better known as the summer snowflake,
+which we shall meet again. The above are only a tithe of the flowers
+which Mr. Druce mentions. Among others which may be recognised are the
+yellow iris, the cuckoo flower, the water villarsia, the purple orchis,
+and the willow weed. In the spring the marsh mallow is the first to
+appear with a vivid glory as of sunshine. The banks are flat and low,
+and, except for the flowers, uninteresting; nevertheless this is a
+useful part of the river, especially for sailing. Some college fours
+are rowed here. Passing under the railway line we see the pink-washed
+walls of the Swan Hotel, which stands on Kennington Island, connected
+with the mainland by a bridge; and then we come to Sandford itself,
+with charms almost as great as, though entirely different from, those
+of Iffley. The approach is disappointing. The tall mill chimney and
+the new brick houses are bare and ugly. The mill is a paper mill, and
+supplies the Clarendon Press. It stands close to the old-fashioned
+and pretty hotel, so completely ivy-covered that even one of the tall
+chimneys is quite overgrown. When close to the lock the mill is not
+noticeable and has the advantage of affording some shelter. As at
+Iffley, one can get right across from bank to bank by means of bridges,
+a most charming method that might well be adopted in other parts of
+the river. Indeed, near Oxford one great delight is the freedom from
+interference. Everyone is allowed full liberty; you may ride your
+bicycle along the tow-path, take it across locks, or even walk it by
+the side of the meadows, without any rebuke. Having put up a notice
+that they are not responsible for the condition of the tow-path and
+that people use it at their own risk, the Conservancy leave the matter
+alone. The islands at Sandford are rather complicated, and there are a
+couple of weirs, beneath which the water frills out over mossy stones
+into deep, shady pools. The fishing here is as good as any on the
+river. The Radley College boat-house and bathing place are near the
+lower pool, the college itself being rather more than a mile away. In
+spring these pools, with their broken banks of brown earth and their
+masses of scented white hawthorn, are most beautiful. The shy white
+violets hide in the grass near the weirs, and are found by only a few
+who know where to seek them.
+
+  [Illustration: RADLEY COLLEGE BOAT-HOUSE]
+
+In the Oxford zone we must include the woods at Nuneham Courtney,
+which, by the courtesy of the owner (Aubrey Harcourt), are open to
+undergraduates all Commemoration week and twice a week in the summer
+term; while the general public, after writing in advance, are allowed
+to picnic at the lock cottages two days a week from May to September.
+The Nuneham woods are on a ridge of greensand, and though they are
+not so high or at such a striking angle as those of Clieveden, they
+certainly have quite as great a charm. Anyone is allowed to walk
+through the park if it be approached from the road, but bicycles are
+not permitted. The lock cottages, which are a popular resort in the
+summer, stand beside a pretty wooden bridge which connects the islands
+with the mainland. Masses of wild roses and flowering clematis add
+their delicate touch to the beauty of the overhanging trees. Close
+by the water is the Carfax monument, a conduit or fountain erected
+by Otho Nicholson, who set it up at the place still called Carfax in
+Oxford, whence it was removed to its present position in 1787. The
+woods contain nothing very striking in the way of trees, though all
+the commoner sorts, the beeches, oaks, horse-chestnuts, and so on, are
+well represented. There are about 400 acres of wood, which surround the
+park, where the oaks show well, standing apart from each other.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE OLD TOWN OF ABINGDON
+
+
+As a headquarters for boating, for those who want to dawdle and
+explore odd corners and have no desire to rush through as many locks
+as possible in a day, Abingdon makes a good centre. It is within
+easy reach of the part lying below the woods at Nuneham, and in the
+other direction is the Sutton Courtney backwater, which, Wargrave
+notwithstanding, is not to be beaten on the Thames. Further down
+again is Clifton Hampden, which attracts many people, and the river
+at Abingdon itself is by no means to be despised. The bridge, called
+Burford Bridge, is a real delight. It is old and irregular, with
+straggling arches, some rounded, some pointed; and all, even the
+highest, comparatively low down over the water, framing cool, dark
+shadows within the embrace of the mighty piers. The bridge cannot be
+seen in the glance of an eye. It is very long, and rests partly on an
+island. Standing on this, the Nag's Head Inn projects from one side
+of the bridge, and from it stretches out a small garden with several
+orchard trees. The red tiles and creamy tint of the hotel walls show
+well in contrast with the grey stone of the bridge, and when the hotel
+is seen from the river above the bridge, with the tall spire of St.
+Helen's Church rising behind it, it is worth noticing.
+
+  [Illustration: ABINGDON]
+
+There are bits of old wall lining the bank on the town side, and ivy
+grows freely over them. Many of the houses stand back from the water;
+a part of the ruined abbey and the long range of the abbot's residence
+can be seen between masses of blossom. The great exterior chimney
+of the abbey buildings should particularly be noticed. The blossom
+at Abingdon is a great feature, and one not to be found everywhere.
+Horse-chestnuts and holm oaks dip their boughs in the water, and
+from the branches arises a perfect chorus of birds. Abingdon has its
+chimneys, of course, as well as hideous buildings suited to modern
+requirements of business, but in the general view these things are lost
+sight of.
+
+Burford is a corruption of Borough-ford, and before the building of the
+bridge in the fifteenth century, the ferry at Culham was the main means
+of communication with the other side of the river.
+
+The range of Nuneham, below which runs the backwater called the Old
+River, can be seen to the south-east. If this ever was the main stream
+it must have been very long ago, for the memory of it is not recorded
+in any document now extant. The Old River is crossed by another bridge,
+and the two are linked by a straight road, made by Geoffrey Barbour
+at the same time as the building of the bridges. There is a picture of
+Barbour in the almshouses, and this shows the bridge being built in the
+background; while an illuminated copy of verses tells us:
+
+     King Herry the Fyft, in his fourthe yere,
+     He hath i-founde for his folke a brige in Berkschire,
+     For cartis with cariage may go and come clere,
+     That many wynters afore were mareed in the myre.
+     Culham hithe [_wharf or landing_] hath caused many a curse,
+     I-blessed be our helpers we have a better waye,
+     Without any peny for cart and for horse.
+
+Below Burford Bridge, the great bur-reeds grow near the islands.
+There is one delightful old house, formerly a malt house, with all
+sorts of odd angles and corners. It encloses a small terraced court,
+from which steps lead down to the water. It stands on the site of St.
+Helen's nunnery, founded about 690. Further on are some of the newer
+almshouses--a blot on the scene; and then a glimpse may be had of the
+wooden cloister of the old almshouses, which, in their way, are as
+pretty as those at Bray.
+
+Christ's Hospital, as the almshouses are called, was founded in the
+reign of Edward VI. out of lands belonging to a dissolved Guild of
+the Holy Cross. The central hall dates, however, from 1400. It has a
+stone mullioned window and panelled walls; in the ceiling is a dome or
+cupola. Once a week eighty loaves of bread are here distributed among
+the poor people of the town, and when the loaves, with their crisp,
+flaky, yellow crust, stand in piles on the polished oak table, and the
+poor old people gather for their share, there is an old-world touch
+in the picture such as one does not often see nowadays. The cloister
+or arcade of dark wood outside is decorated with texts and proverbs
+on its inner wall. The newer almshouses, built in 1797, lack all the
+homeliness and interest of the older ones. The church of St. Helen's,
+which has a very tall spire, is close to the almshouses and the river,
+and is well worthy of its position. It has been much restored, but is
+mainly of sixteenth century work.
+
+  [Illustration: THE MILL AT ABINGDON]
+
+Of course there was an abbey at Abingdon, though whether the name
+of the town arose from that fact or from a proper name Aben or Æbba
+is doubtful. The earliest name of the town was the unpronounceable
+one of Seovechesham, and it was then a royal residence. The abbey
+was founded by Cissa about 675. It was destroyed by the Danes and
+reconstructed long before most places on the river had begun to have
+any history at all. The abbey rose to great importance and wealth. It
+held manors innumerable, and its abbot was a person to reckon with.
+Even at the date of Domesday Book the abbey held no less than thirty
+manors. But its power did not save it, and it suffered the common fate
+at the Dissolution. A gateway of about the fourteenth century and some
+ruins, which show where the dwellings of the monks stood, are all that
+remain, beside the guest-chamber--a large, barn-like building--and
+the almoner's residence. The latter has a magnificent fireplace and
+chimney. The ceiling of the room below is groined, and looks like
+that of a crypt, but this is said to have been the kitchen. The chief
+feature of interest is the huge chimney, which is like a room, and
+has little windows on each side; its size is best appreciated from the
+exterior view. The church has quite disappeared, for the little ancient
+church near the gateway was not the abbey church, but is supposed to
+have been at first a chapel of ease. In this there is some Norman work,
+including the west doorway, and it is probably of quite as ancient
+lineage as anything now remaining of the abbey.
+
+Henry I. was sent by his father, as a lad of twelve, to be educated
+at Abingdon Abbey, and the learning by which he gained the name of
+Beauclerc shows that there must have been some able men here. The town
+hall in the market place at Abingdon is really a fine bit of work. It
+has been attributed to Inigo Jones, and stands over an open arcade,
+according to the style of town halls of the seventeenth century. The
+lock is a good way above Abingdon, and from it the millstream, as usual
+a pleasant backwater, flows right back to the town, enclosing a large
+island.
+
+  [Illustration: SUTTON COURTNEY BACKWATER]
+
+The lock at Culham is one of the least interesting on the river, and of
+the hundreds who pass through it only a few know that they are close
+to the very prettiest backwater on the Thames, namely Sutton Pool.
+There is one backwater at Sutton Courtney which can be reached from
+above Culham Lock. This leads to the mill, now disused, and runs along
+the top of the numerous weirs that pour into Sutton Pool itself. It
+is pretty also, and it is pleasant to see the meadows where the cows
+stand knee-deep in flowering plants, and the little square tower of
+the church peeping through the trees. This backwater is the best for
+landing to go to the village. Along the top of the weirs runs a path--a
+public right-of-way--which leads across the fields to Culham Lock, and
+anyone may land here and look down upon the pool; but to get right into
+it the lock must be passed, and some way further, after going under
+the bridge, we can turn the corner of a large island and retrace our
+way upstream until we come into the great pool, with its miniature
+bays and tumbling water. The weirs are high, and the streams come down
+with force, making a restless heave and swell when the river is full.
+The little tongues of land that divide one bay from another are shaded
+by willows, and the lush green grass grows here and there around tiny
+beaches of white sand. In spring, masses of hawthorn, "all frosted"
+with flowers, bend down from above, and the wild hyacinths break up
+between the blades of grass. Tall reeds form tiny islets, and perhaps a
+little moorhen flaps out. It is in secluded places like this that the
+dainty nest of the reed-warbler may be seen, swinging so lightly upon
+its supports that it is extraordinary to think that so large a bird as
+the cuckoo should dare to deposit its egg there. Yet reed-warblers and
+sedge-warblers are both among the cuckoo's victims. Unfortunately, in
+this little paradise landing is everywhere strictly forbidden, but no
+one can forbid enjoyment of the beauties which appeal to sight.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN FROM THE BRIDGE]
+
+The village of Sutton Courtney is certainly worth visiting. The village
+green, with its tall chestnuts, limes, and elms, is the very picture of
+what a green should be. The church is particularly interesting, for it
+is that rarity an unrestored building, with the old red-tiled floor and
+the rudeness of the original--so often smoothed away behind stencilling
+and paint--still left untouched. There is a shelf of chained books,
+a fine carved screen, and an altar-tomb of some interest. The manor
+house, which is not far off, is in a medley of styles, ranging from
+Norman to Jacobean. Malefactors are said to have been hanged from the
+stout oak beam which is still in good preservation. One wing is of
+perfect Jacobean work, with an overhanging storey decorated with carved
+pendants. A fine old building, half-way up the village, is called the
+Hall of Justice; this, however, may have a meaning less obvious than
+supposed at first sight, as the family of Justice held the manor for
+some generations.
+
+In it there is a fine old Norman doorway. The owner has furnished the
+interior with tapestry hangings, etc., somewhat in accordance with what
+it may have looked like originally when in use. It certainly gives one
+an idea of the old Saxon or Norman style of dwelling before even the
+upper chamber or _solar_ came into fashion.
+
+The river at Clifton Hampden is not a couple of miles from the river
+at Nuneham Courtney, so great is the loop by Abingdon. It may be noted
+that the name Courtney, though spelt differently, is derived from the
+ownership of the Courtenays, Earls of Exeter, in both the instances
+above. Clifton Hampden is a great favourite with artists, for the
+church, with its little, pointed spire, stands on a cliff which has
+in parts broken away, showing the rich yellow ochre of the soil. This
+makes up well in a "composition." The river sweeps round beneath it
+in a sort of little bay, and when white ducks dabble in the water and
+blue-pinafored children play beneath the yellow-ochre cliff, there is
+much to be said for it. The houses, too, are not without points. They
+are mostly thatched, and have their share of plants and creepers. The
+bridge is of red brick, and, with a little toning by weather, will
+make a capital accessory. But to my mind Clifton Hampden lacks that
+indefinable quality of charm found in such abundance elsewhere.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN]
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SINODUN HILL AND DORCHESTER
+
+
+The island near Day's Lock, lying beneath the Wittenham Woods and
+Sinodun Hill, is particularly well kept and neat, and, in summer,
+bright with flowers. Standing on the end of the lock-keeper's island
+you can look straight up the weir, below which the river drifts away on
+each side of the island.
+
+On the right bank, raised slightly above the river, is the church of
+Little Wittenham, with a long, narrow bastion turret adhering to its
+tower. Inside there is a handsome monument, one of those legacies from
+the ages that prove long descent. A warm belt of Scotch firs grows
+near.
+
+Wittenham Woods lie under the shelter of the hill and close to the
+life-giving water. The trees grow well and form a home for countless
+birds of all kinds. "The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild
+pheasant, crow, sparrowhawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ring-dove, brown
+owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded side); in summer the cuckoo and
+turtle-dove are all found there, and, with the exception of the pigeons
+and kestrels, which seek their food at a distance during the day, they
+seldom leave the shelter of its trees."--_C. J. Cornish._
+
+  [Illustration: COTTAGES, DORCHESTER]
+
+Sinodun Hill, and its companion, Harp Hill, which is as like it as
+one twin to another, are sometimes called Wittenham Clumps. They are
+remarkable and conspicuous objects, rising abruptly and evenly from a
+very flat district, and they can be seen from many miles around, and,
+what is more curious, can be recognised. The smooth, rounded cone is so
+symmetrical that, whichever way you look at it, it seems the same, not
+changing its shape in the bewildering way of most hills; and the clump
+of trees placed so exactly on its crown is an unfailing river-mark.
+Sinodun is about 250 feet in height, and on it is a British earthwork,
+a triple line of entrenchment, with vallum and foss all round. The
+circumference of this on the outside is about a mile. Harp Hill has
+on it a tumulus called Brightwell Barrow. Then down below, close to
+Dorchester, is a double line of earthworks, much mutilated, but quite
+noticeable. No one knows the origin of these defences, which date far
+back into unhistorical days. Those on Sinodun are called British, while
+the others are supposed to be Roman. Roman camps were nearly always
+square, while British followed the windings of the hill.
+
+Dorchester, with its cornfields and trees, its vegetable gardens,
+and its old houses bowed this way and that, is a very unsophisticated
+little place. The deep quiet of its village street, where the cottages
+glow all hues in the sunlight, from deep red ochre to egg-colour,
+brooded over by the long-backed abbey church, is a rest-cure in itself.
+The great yew trees, the pretty lych-gate, the old wooden porch,
+are all just what one would expect to find. Dorchester is not on the
+Thames, yet belongs to it certainly, for the Thame, which combines
+with the Isis to form the Thames, flows past it. As its name proclaims,
+Dorchester was once a Roman camp. Numerous Roman coins have been found
+in the neighbourhood, and a Roman altar. It was also the seat of one of
+the first and largest bishoprics in England.
+
+In 634 a monk of the order of St. Benedict, named Birinus, crossed
+to Britain to follow in the steps of St. Augustine and work as a
+missionary among the men of Wessex. He landed safely, and came to this
+part of the country, then in Wessex, which at that time stretched north
+of the Thames, though afterwards, when Mercia's power became great
+under King Offa, Dorchester fell within that kingdom. Birinus preached
+with so much effect that the King conferred upon him the office of
+bishop and gave him Dorchester for his residence. He died in 650 and
+was buried in his own church, though it is said his body was afterwards
+moved to Winchester.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITE HART HOTEL, DORCHESTER]
+
+The early bishopric was vast. It included what in our own day are
+the Sees of Bath and Wells, Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln,
+Salisbury, Worcester, and Winchester. There must have been a church in
+some degree adequate to the importance of such a charge, but it was
+probably of wood; in any case, nothing remains of it, though certain
+indications seem to show that it stood on the same site as the present
+one.
+
+Dorchester was an important city, but its glory did not long remain,
+and the bishopric was ultimately split up into many Sees. In 1085 the
+seat of the See of Mercia was transferred to Lincoln. The abbey was
+founded here in 1140 for Augustinian monks, and it is the monks' church
+which still in great part exists. The long nave, with its red roof,
+is seen easily from the river, but the tower appears rather inadequate
+in height. On approaching, however, it is found to be of massive work.
+The interior of the church is wide and high, and gives that impression
+of bareness which is consistent with Norman work. In the east window
+is a great pier or transom which is supposed to have been originally
+intended as the support for a groined roof. The north chancel window
+is the famous Jesse window, with carved tracery, carrying figures all
+the way up the numerous branches. The lowest is that of Jesse, from
+whom spring all the subsequent ones. Very few figures are missing,
+considering the age of the window, and the carving is remarkably
+interesting. It is supposed that the figures of the Virgin and Child
+were at one time above that of the patriarch, but were removed at the
+Reformation. The rich green glass in the sedilia on the other side of
+the chancel should be noted. It is unusual to see sedilia pierced.
+Two of the nave arches are plain Norman work. A rood door remains,
+and there are one or two handsome altar tombs; also a leaden font,
+well moulded, and, on the east wall of the south aisle, there are some
+remains of frescoes. Close to the porch outside is a graceful shaft
+with a "restored" head.
+
+The Thame we have already spoken of. Its arching trees and corners,
+and deep shady alleys, make it a delightful place for an idler. It runs
+close by the abbey church.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER BACKWATER]
+
+In the river near Dorchester grow the sweet sedge and the amphibious
+yellow cress, and on the banks may be found the blue pimpernel.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CASTLE AND STRONGHOLD
+
+
+Wallingford boasts of having the oldest corporation in England,
+preceding that of London by a hundred years, and its record certainly
+reaches very far back. In 1006 it was destroyed by the Danes. William
+the Conqueror rested here on his way to London after the battle of
+Hastings. The town was then held by Wigod, a noble Saxon, who lived in
+his great fortress-castle. His son-in-law was Robert D'Oyley, who built
+the castle at Oxford, and rebuilt and greatly strengthened that at
+Wallingford. From the part of the river above the bridge a tree-grown
+mound can be seen, and, further back, a comparatively modern house.
+On the mound once stood the strong castle, and the modern house is its
+present-day representative. The grounds are famous for their trees, and
+particularly for their evergreens, which grow thickly on the slopes
+of what was once the inner castle moat, for there were no less than
+three. No wonder Queen Maud felt that in reaching Wallingford in safety
+after her terrible escape over the frozen meadows of Oxford, she once
+more held the lead in the game she and Stephen played for the crown.
+Stephen, however, was not daunted. He settled down at Crowmarsh across
+the river, and made strenuous attempts to take the fortress. After a
+long time, when the garrison were beginning to despair, the Queen's
+son Henry came to the rescue with a force sufficient to afford relief.
+It was at Wallingford the treaty was made which eventually secured
+Henry's succession. The castle was given to Piers Gaveston by Edward
+II., but after the fall of Gaveston it reverted to the Crown. Joan,
+the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of the Black Prince, died here in 1385, and
+later, in the Civil Wars between King and Parliament, Wallingford held
+stoutly to the Stuarts. The town was the last place in Berkshire which
+remained to the King, and it was taken in July, 1646, after a siege of
+sixty-five days. Cromwell, therefore, cherished a grudge against it,
+and when he came into power he ordered the castle to be destroyed, an
+order which was unfortunately carried out. Not far away in the same
+grounds is a fragment of a ruined and ivy-grown tower. This is part of
+an ancient college of St. Nicholas founded by Edmund, second Earl of
+Cornwall, who died in 1300.
+
+  [Illustration: WALLINGFORD]
+
+In some ways Wallingford reminds one of Abingdon. They are both homely,
+pleasant, brick-built market-towns, rather sleepy, but self-respecting.
+There are several islands beside the bridge; but Wallingford has
+not made the most of its islands. They are bare, and disfigured by
+boat-building works. The bridge is fair, and, seen from below, where
+a weeping willow falls softly over one bank, the view is pretty. A
+conspicuous feature is the steeple of the church near, looking as if
+it had been joined on to the body without any thought of continuity
+of style. There are three churches in Wallingford, which once owned
+fourteen! There is rather a good seventeenth century Town Hall in
+the market-place and a Corn Exchange. Friday is the market-day.
+Both above and below the town the river is pleasant, though without
+original features; there are well-kept parks and fine-grown trees to
+be seen frequently. The only interesting place in the stretch below is
+Mongewell, where a large piece of artificial water joins the river,
+and near it is a small church quaintly built. Shute Barrington, the
+well-known Bishop of Durham, married for his second wife the heiress
+of Mongewell, and lived here before his death. Below Mongewell is a
+long, dull stretch, good for boating, but too unshaded and open to be
+pleasant for loiterers. The Trial Eights take place here in December.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY MILL]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+TWIN VILLAGES
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+When two villages stand facing one another across a bridge, it is
+inevitable that comparisons, however impertinent, will be made. And it
+may be said at once that Streatley, for all its old church, its pretty
+hotel, and its mill, cannot dispute the palm with Goring, which has
+an older church and a more charming mill, and many other advantages.
+Streatley church is singularly vivid in colouring. Rarely is there
+to be seen a deeper green-gold than that made by the lichen on the
+red roof, and when the sunshine flashes out upon it the effect is
+positively startling.
+
+Not less attractive in its way is the red-roofed hotel with its backing
+of thick, green foliage, its tiny grass plots on the river's edge, and
+its gay flowers. The flour mill would be a valuable asset in the beauty
+items of any place not eclipsed by so near a neighbour.
+
+There are islands in the stream, and the bridge which runs across them
+is singularly picturesque. This is one of the few old wooden bridges
+remaining, and it is doubtless destined soon to be replaced by one of
+iron, as has been done at Pangbourne. At this one can hardly cavil,
+for delightful as are the long slender wooden piles to look at, they do
+seem as if they might give way unexpectedly at any minute.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY]
+
+If we stand down by the lock there are numberless views in all
+directions, each good in itself. It is a hot day in summer, and the
+vivid scarlet and the deep carmine of the lock-keeper's geraniums
+literally strike one's eyeballs with their colour. We do not, alas!
+hear the wash of the water tumbling over the weir, for weirs in summer
+often run dry, or give only a small trickle, though it is just the
+time when their gay music would most appeal to the heart of man. The
+lock-keeper has stories to tell of the days before the "pound" locks,
+as they used to be called, were made. What we call the weirs were then
+the "locks." The great barges had to be towed up the weirs by means
+of rope and capstan; and sometimes, when the water ran low, they had
+to wait for weeks for a freshet that would enable them to get up. The
+lock here is only five-eighths of a mile below that at Cleeve, and
+these two are the nearest together on the river, except those of Temple
+and Hurley. Beyond Cleeve there is a long stretch of six and a-half
+miles before the next, Benson Lock. It almost seems as if the powers
+that deal with locks had in their justice tried to make things even by
+multiplying them in the beauty spots, so that those who want only the
+best have to pay for it by the worry of passing locks; while those who
+are content with something less can have it without bother. Some locks,
+however, have been done away with as unnecessary. There used to be
+one between those of Cleeve and Benson, and another at Hartslock Wood,
+below Goring; but these have disappeared.
+
+The ancient road known as the Icknield Street crosses the river at
+Streatley; it was used by the Romans, but made long before their time.
+
+High beyond the bridge, and, rising above it, as we stand at the lock,
+is the grand sweep of hill locally known as Greenhill, in distinction
+from Whitehill on the Goring side.
+
+To the right, on the top of the heights, are the golf links, and
+the small white road winds steeply up, carrying with it a touch of
+melancholy, which the sight of a far-away and steep road always gives,
+a suggestion of a journey that winds "uphill all the way."
+
+Reading has now established a regatta to keep its own folk in its
+own neighbourhood on the August Bank-Holiday; and a great boon this
+has been to the quiet up-river places, for they are not now invaded
+by launches full of rollicking, bottle-shying crowds, such as are
+characteristic of the neighbourhood of all great towns, and on these
+occasions apt to become remarkably prominent.
+
+  [Illustration: GORING CHURCH]
+
+Goring stands high among Thames villages, literally and figuratively.
+Its main street runs winding up-hill to the station, and though there
+are few of the genuine old cottages left, the small houses which have
+replaced them have been mostly built in the best modern river style,
+with exterior beams, porches, projecting windows and ornamental gables.
+Creepers flourish abundantly. From the river the church is easily seen.
+A small and narrow backwater leads under a bridge to within fifty yards
+of the tower.
+
+The building is very old, and was originally the church of the
+Augustinian priory. It is partly covered with rough stucco, which
+is peeling off untidily in patches. The tower is Norman, and has a
+bastion turret, which greatly adds to its appearance, and, what is more
+uncommon, the east end is an apse, though we are bound in honesty to
+say an apse rebuilt.
+
+Close by the church is the mill, which eclipses that at Streatley in
+appearance, and shows adaptability in applying its power as an electric
+generating station, while Streatley remains conservative, and still
+grinds the sweet-scented white flour. But the electric charging has
+not spoilt the mossy roof, gleaming green and russet alternately, or
+the pretty pigeon-house from which flocks of white pigeons often sweep
+round over the glistening water and the low islands. A very large and
+neat boat-house lies below the bridge on the Goring side.
+
+Between this and Pangbourne we have at first rich well-covered heights
+on the one side, and high, open chalky hills on the other, dotted with
+the neat circular clumps usually associated with chalk uplands. But
+after a while these are replaced by the famous Hartslock Woods.
+
+Speaking of the valley of the Thames between Goring and Henley, in his
+introduction to the _Flora of Oxfordshire_, Mr. G. Claridge Druce says:
+
+"We may wander for miles through verdant alleys whose groundwork begins
+in early spring with the glossy gold of the smaller celandine, followed
+by the pale stars of the wood anemones and myriads of primroses, these
+giving place to sheets of hyacinths, 'that seem the heavens upbreaking
+through the earth,' the blue being here and there relieved by the
+yellow archangel or brightened with stitchwort; still later on the
+bluebells are replaced by masses of the fragrant woodruff, and these
+by the more sombre colouring of the bugle. Then come the creamy-white
+flowers of the helleborine, the dull, livid spikes of the bird's nest
+orchis and the blue forget-me-nots, giving place to a galaxy of summer
+flowers, brightening in later months into the brilliant yellow of the
+ragworts and the purple of the foxgloves. The grassy downs, too, in
+spring are resplendent with the milkwort in all its purity of colour,
+whether of that typical blue which rivals the Swiss gentian in beauty,
+or fading into white or blushing to pink; while mixed with it are
+brilliant patches of rich orange yellow hippocrepis. Later on appear
+the rosy crimson spikes of the pyramidal orchis and the pale lemon
+flowers of lady's fingers, and the drooping blue-flowered campanula. If
+perchance the land have remained fallow, the bright flowers of iberis,
+sometimes suffused with rich purple, the glaucous foliage of rare
+fumarias, the deep crimson petals of the hybrid poppy, the bright rosy
+pink spikes of sainfoin and yellow toad flax, combine to form a varied
+show."
+
+  [Illustration: GORING]
+
+Before reaching Pangbourne we pass acres of osier beds on the right.
+Pangbourne and Whitchurch stand to each other in the same relation as
+do Goring and Streatley, but in this case it is the southern side to
+which the palm must be awarded. At Pangbourne the old wooden bridge
+has given place to an iron one, but the deed has been carried out in a
+manner that reflects credit on the doer, for the new bridge runs in a
+graceful curve, and its sides of latticed ironwork are painted white.
+Seen in glimpses between the islands, the new bridge does not detract
+from the charms of Pangbourne, but rather adds to them.
+
+There are numbers of islands at Pangbourne, and they lie in a great
+basin between and beneath the weirs, which are small and frequent. The
+pool is full of beauty. The trees grow freshly and well, and throw
+a veil of tender green over the water, which is, on a summer day,
+brilliant in hues of blue and green, cobalt, sea-green, pale apple,
+indigo; these can all be traced lying in strips and sections where
+the riotous torrent from the weirs frays out its inquietude and loses
+itself. In one corner by a pretty cottage is a splash of vivid crimson,
+an arcade of roses. Near the bridge great launch works are a blot
+and an eyesore, but it is so seldom we find our ointment without the
+proverbial fly.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE FROM THE SWAN HOTEL]
+
+Pangbourne village is quaint and pleasing enough, but it is not so
+beautiful as some of the villages along the Thames side. No village
+built haphazard, with a little river bridged over in its main street,
+with a brick-towered church, with dark evergreens, and a fair amount
+of creepers, could fail to be attractive in some sense. But there is
+too much new brick in Pangbourne. The river Pang is a tiny streamlet,
+and the winding ways do not hold that charm which can be felt even as
+one races by in a motor. Further up the river a row of neatly-built,
+red-brick and white-balconied houses stands up against a high chalk
+bank overlooking the river; behind this, in a deep cutting, runs the
+railway line. Above the bridge there is a landing on the Whitchurch
+side close to the church, which is a well-kept flint building. In the
+chancel there is a monument to the Lybbe family, dated 1599. Whitchurch
+is mostly built of red brick, and is neat and clean, but without any
+very great attractions. Before reaching Mapledurham a fine old house,
+Hardwicke, is passed. Charles I. stayed here and played bowls. The
+house itself is well protected by trees, but it stands in rather open
+country, amid bare chalk uplands, where sometimes may be seen a curious
+opaline glow in pale sunshine.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITCHURCH LOCK]
+
+Mapledurham is greatly spoilt by the churlishness of its main landlord.
+The lock-keeper is strictly forbidden to ferry anyone across the
+river, and though the crossing would be but short, and would involve
+only a walk of a few seconds along the bank to the mill, it is not
+permitted. As the nearest bridges on each side are those of Pangbourne
+and Caversham, it is necessary for anyone going by road to keep to
+the north side of the river between these points if he wants to see
+Mapledurham. The place certainly is worth some trouble, but it is
+small, and the restrictions are tiresome. The fine old Elizabethan
+house is a real mansion of the good old sort; one could imagine endless
+stories of romance connected with it. It was fortified during the civil
+wars by Sir Arthur Blount, governor of Reading, and is still held by
+the same family. The principal entrance is by an avenue of elms nearly
+a mile long, but the house is perhaps best seen through the gates from
+the churchyard. The church is small, and Perpendicular in style, with
+the exception of the tower, a modern addition in flint and brick. There
+is within a Blount chapel with many family memorials, including an
+altar-tomb.
+
+  [Illustration: MAPLEDURHAM MILL]
+
+The mill at Mapledurham is also a great delight to look upon, and
+numbers of artists sketch it from every point of view. The islands
+lying in the swirl of the weir-pool afford many a quiet nook in which
+to anchor, though landing is forbidden. From this it may be judged that
+if Mapledurham is a Paradise, it is sternly guarded with notices, which
+meet one on every side with the persistence of the flaming sword.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A MITRED ABBOT
+
+
+The Abbot of Reading was, like the Abbot of Abingdon, mitred, and bore
+powerful rule. Reading ranked third among the abbeys of England, and
+held the great privilege of coining. It was founded in 1121 by King
+Henry I. himself, who was afterwards buried here. It was for long
+supposed that Adeliza his queen lay here also, but the evidence goes to
+show she was buried in Flanders. The Empress Maud lies at Reading. The
+great church was dedicated by Thomas à Becket, and in it took place the
+marriage of John of Gaunt.
+
+Fuller, who is always worth quoting, says that though Ely "bare away
+the bell for bountefull feast making," Reading "spurred up close" to
+it, and continues: "The mention of Reading minds me of a pleasant and
+true story, which, to refresh my wearied self and reader, after long
+pains, I here intend to relate":
+
+"King Henry VIII. as he was hunting in Windsor forest lost himself,
+and struck down about dinner-time to the Abbey of Reading, where,
+disguising himself, he was invited to the abbot's table and passed for
+one of the king's guard. A sirloin of beef was set before him on which
+the king laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for whom he
+was mistaken. 'Well fare thy heart,' quoth the abbot, 'and here in a
+cup of sack, I remember the health of his Grace your master. I would
+give a hundred pounds on the condition I could feed so heartily on beef
+as you do. Alas, my weak and squeasy stomach will hardly digest the
+wing of a small rabbit or chicken.' The king pleasantly pledged him,
+and heartily thanking him for his good cheer, after dinner departed as
+undiscovered as he came thither. Some weeks after the abbot was sent
+for by a pursuivant, brought up to London, clapped in the Tower, kept
+close prisoner, fed for a short time with bread and water. Yet not so
+empty his body of food as his mind was filled with fears, creating
+many suspicions to himself, when and how he had incurred the king's
+displeasure. At last a sirloin of beef was set before him, on which the
+abbot fed as the farmer of his grange, and verified the proverb that
+'Two hungry meals make the third a glutton.' In springs King Henry out
+of a private lobby where he had placed himself, the invisible spectator
+of the abbot's behaviour. 'My lord,' quoth the king, 'presently deposit
+your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of
+your life. I have been your physician to cure you of your squeasy
+stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand my fee for the same.' The
+abbot down with his dust, and glad he had escaped so, returned to
+Reading, as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more merrier in heart
+than when he came thence."
+
+When the Dissolution came, the abbot, full of belief in his own
+strength, defied the king, though he saw the whirlwind around him
+which had devastated other monasteries no less powerful than his own.
+There was no over-tenderness in Henry's methods, and Hugh Faringford,
+thirty-first was abbot, hanged, drawn and quartered in front of his own
+gateway in 1539.
+
+There is very little left of this famous abbey now, and the gateway has
+been so carefully "restored" that there is more restoration about it
+than anything else; in fact, it is simply a reconstruction. Nearly all
+the remains lie within a very few acres, and the Forbury public garden
+is on the site of one of the courts of the abbey. The ruins at the east
+end are heavily covered with masses of ivy, but preserve the outlines
+of the chapter house and church, which was over five hundred feet in
+length.
+
+Reading possessed a castle as well as an abbey, and the castle has
+vanished still more completely, leaving even its exact site unknown,
+though it is supposed to have been at the west end of the present
+Castle Street, or at the place where the prison now stands.
+
+  [Illustration: CAVERSHAM]
+
+In 871 the Danes got as far up the river as Reading, and seized both
+town and castle. Many times has parliament been held in the ancient
+town, and many sovereigns have visited Reading, including Queen
+Elizabeth, who stayed there no less than six times. In the civil wars
+Reading was a stronghold for the king until, after a severe siege, in
+1653 the garrison capitulated on condition of being allowed to walk out
+free with arms and baggage, a boon which was granted. After this the
+place was held by the Parliamentarians, but was again occupied for the
+king, only to become once again the headquarters of the Parliamentary
+army, and so it had many changes of fortune. St. Giles's church still
+bears the marks of the artillery from which it suffered during those
+uncertain times. There are other churches in Reading, but this is not
+a guide book, so there is no need to enumerate them. Archbishop Laud
+was born in Reading, and educated at the Free School. Reading is not
+actually on the river, and Caversham may be called its river-suburb.
+It is not a place which much attracts boating men. From its size,
+its manufactories, its chimneys, it is necessarily in many aspects
+unpleasant to those who have come to seek their rest and pleasure far
+from smoke and toil. The most important industries are Messrs. Sutton's
+seed emporium, and Messrs. Huntley and Palmer's biscuit factory, which
+employs more than five thousand persons; there are also breweries
+and many lesser works. Did it not lie between two such pre-eminently
+charming places as Sonning and Mapledurham, boating people would avoid
+it altogether.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Sonning and its Roses
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+There are certain notable details of the river-side which stand out in
+the mind after the rest have been merged in mere general remembrance
+of lazy happiness. In these we may include the backwater at Sutton
+Courtney, the woods at Clieveden, the Mill at Mapledurham, and the Rose
+Garden at Sonning. Roses grow well all along by the river, but nowhere
+so well as they do at Sonning, and the rose garden forms an attraction
+which draws hundreds to the place. Yet Sonning has other attractions
+too; it is very varied and very pretty. When one arrives at it first,
+perhaps coming upstream, one is rather perplexed to discover the exact
+topography. We round a great curve which encloses an osier bed; here,
+in early spring, the osiers may be seen lying in great bundles, shaded
+from olive-green to brown madder. Then we see some green lawns and
+landing places beneath the shadow of a fine clump of elms, and catch
+sight of the lovable old red-brick bridge, with its high centre arch,
+spanning the stream. But there is another bridge, a wooden foot-bridge,
+which also spans the stream, at right angles to the other, and peering
+through beneath this, we can see the continuation of the red brick one
+in a new iron structure, which stretches on right up to the neat flower
+beds of the French Horn Hotel. The truth is, the river suddenly widens
+out here into a great bulge, and in the bulge are several islands, on
+one of which are a mill and a house and several other things, not to
+forget a charming garden. It is the river channel between this island
+and the bank that the first bridge, the old one, spans. And what a
+view it is! Above the bridge can be seen rising the little grey church
+tower. On one side is the White Hart Hotel, with its warm tone of
+yellow wash, its red tiles and its creepers, and above all its famous
+rose garden. In the foreground is a willow-covered ait placed in
+exactly the right position. It is a perfect picture. But yet this is
+not the best side of the bridge. The other side is better; for here,
+to resist the flow of the current, the builders placed the buttresses
+which emphasise the height of that centre arch; buttresses now capped
+with tufty grass and emerald moss, and from the crevices of which
+spring clumps of yellow daisies, candytuft, wallflower, hart's-tongue
+fern, and other things. In the bricks all colours may be seen, after
+the manner of worn bricks, not even excluding blue. The mill is, as
+it should be, wooden, and with Sandford Mill, is mentioned in Domesday
+Book. From the dark shadow beneath its wheel, the largest on the river,
+gurgles away the water in cool green streams, passing beneath the
+overhanging boughs of planes and horse-chestnuts. From the mighty sweep
+of the wheel, as it may be seen in its house, the drops rise glittering
+in cascades to varying heights like the sprays of diamonds on a tiara.
+The mill-house, called Aberlash, stands not far off on the same island,
+with a delightful garden.
+
+  [Illustration: THE ROSE GARDEN AT SONNING]
+
+This island spreads onward with green lawns in a sweeping semicircle to
+the lock and cottage, and from two small weirs the water dances down,
+adding variety to a beautiful pool where stand many irregular pollard
+willows on tiny aits. Over the smaller weir, framed in a setting of
+evergreens, is a bit of far distant blue landscape. There is a bank
+here too, an embankment, which might be covered with flowers according
+to its owner's design, but that the water nymphs, intolerant of
+flowers, except those of their own choosing, take a wicked delight in
+sweeping down over the weir, and sending the water flowing like a lace
+shawl all over the embankment to carry back all the roots and bulbs
+and other things that may have been planted there to use as playthings;
+their gurgle of delight at their own unending joke may be heard all day
+long.
+
+The shy kingfishers love the big pool below the weir, but it is not
+often they are seen unless the watcher has the faculty for making
+himself invisible against his background and is able to remain
+motionless.
+
+The woods of the Holme Park, rising high close by, throw a deep-toned
+shadow on the picture, particularly refreshing on a baking summer's
+day. Many birds find their refuge in these woods, and at night the
+weird cries of the owls sound hauntingly over the flats. A ghost is
+supposed to inhabit the park, and the owl's cry might very well serve
+for a ghost's moan on occasion.
+
+Having thus explored the puzzling bit of river, we may land and walk up
+through the Rose Garden, or, according to Mr. Ashby Sterry in his _Lays
+of a Lazy Minstrel_:
+
+     Let's land at the lawn of the cheery White Hart,
+     Now gay with the glamour of June!
+     For here we can lunch to the music of trees,
+       In sight of the swift river running,
+     Off cuts of cold beef and a prime Cheddar cheese,
+       And a tankard of bitter at Sonning.
+
+For the sake of those who have gardens of their own, we give a list of
+the principal roses grown at Sonning:
+
+     Monsieur E. Y. Teas, Madame Marie les Dier, Marie Baumann,
+     Viscountess Folkestone, Duchess of Bedford, Aimée Vibert,
+     Prince Camille de Rohan, W. A. Richardson, Edouard Morren,
+     Queen of Queens, Sultan of Zanzibar, Suzanne M. Rodocanachi,
+     Madame de Watteville, Souvenir d'un Ami, Homer, Duke of Teck,
+     Duke of Edinburgh, Cristal, Jules Margottin, Mavourneen, Rêve
+     d'Or, Clio, Countess of Rosebery, The Bourbon, Souvenir de la
+     Malmaison, Maréchal Niel, Alfred Colombo, Mrs. W. J. Grant,
+     Magna Charta, La France, Prince Arthur, Charles Lefebvre,
+     Dean Hole, Mrs. F. Laing, Maman Cochet, Madame Willinoz,
+     Horace Vernet, Caroline Testout, Gloire de Dijon, Auguste
+     Rigstard, Abel Carrière, Abel Grand, Eclair, Rubens, Bessie
+     Brown, Beauty of Waltham, Boule de Neige, Jeremiah Dickson,
+     Catherine Mermet, Gruss an Teplitz, Lady Battersea.
+
+  [Illustration: SONNING]
+
+With this brilliant mass of colour, the rich dark reds, the glorious
+pinks, the pale yellows, dead whites and the flaming apricot of William
+Allen Richardson, the effect may be imagined; and the entry to all this
+beauty is beneath a trellised arch covered with masses of the Crimson
+Rambler!
+
+Sonning village itself is very irregular, uphill and downhill, with
+roads all ways. There are rights of way through the quiet churchyard,
+where there is a row of magnificent elms, and the villagers are real
+flower lovers. Almost at any season of the year at which flowers will
+flourish out of doors, flowers there are to be seen. Earliest of all,
+the quince, the yellow jasmine, and the dainty almond blossom; then the
+golden bunches of laburnum and the fresh mauve lilac; later on roses
+of all kinds, not always climbing, but in bushes and clumps. Window
+boxes are seen everywhere, and Virginia creeper and ampelopsis cover
+up all bare corners. The houses themselves are charming. There are many
+more cottages in the older style than can be found at Wargrave. Many a
+tiny diamond-paned window is seen high up, almost lost in a straggling
+creeper. The projecting storeys, the brown lathes imbedded deep in the
+brick, making rectangles of broken colour, the yellow wash of a deep
+umber, the high external chimneys, all make up many nooks to be looked
+at again and again with appreciation. Sydney Smith was staying at
+Sonning in 1807, and we can but admire his taste.
+
+There is a tradition, very hazy, that Sonning was once the seat of a
+bishopric. There is no evidence at all as to this, but the fact that
+the See of Salisbury has held the manor since the time when Domesday
+Book was made may have led to the error.
+
+The bishops had a house here, and it was at the bishops' house that
+King John stayed for six days a month before his death. Leland says:
+"And yet remaineth a faire olde House there of stone, even by the
+Tamise Ripe longging to the Bishop of Saresbyri, and thereby is a fine
+Park."
+
+The oldest parts of the church probably date from 1180, but there
+is very little of this date left. The principal bits are the south
+doorway and a small window above it. The south aisle was built about
+1350, the piers of the nave about 1400, at which date the chancel was
+added. The north chancel aisle and the north aisle came about 100 years
+later. The whole church was restored in 1852. There are one or two
+interesting monuments to be seen in it, and it is a good model of what
+a well-preserved, dignified parish church should be.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WARGRAVE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
+
+
+Wargrave is one of the most delightful of Thames-side villages. There
+is not much that is old among the houses that line the village street;
+thatch has almost gone. Wooden beams are not noticeable, except when
+used in the modern architecture that imitates the old; the material
+seen everywhere is red brick. Wind and weather, however, soon tone
+down the asperities of red brick, and from the rich soil creepers
+spring up quickly to cover it with loving tendrils; so the street
+becomes a delightful medley of casement windows, gable ends, and bushy
+foliage. Not the least of the charm is that each small house has its
+own ideas about frontage, and entirely refuses to stand in line with
+the rest. There are houses with their doorsteps in the roadway, and
+houses modestly retiring behind bushes in their strip of garden. Here
+is a wistaria with a stem as thick as a man's arm, and there roses
+and sweetbriar, purple clematis and starry jasmine, succeeding and
+intermingling. Wargrave has learnt to choose the good and refuse the
+evil of the modern spirit; she is clean and self-respecting as some
+villages will never learn to be. Her small shops are good of their
+kind, but self-conscious she is not, or garish, or any other of the
+horrible things associated with modernity.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CHURCH AT WARGRAVE]
+
+The place centres about cross roads, but straggles in many directions,
+and on the high ground surrounding it many a new house has been built
+lately, and stands amid delightful grounds.
+
+The church, which is near the open green, where grow fine trees, is
+of flint, with a red-brick pinnacled tower, half ivy-covered. In the
+church is buried Thomas Day, author of _Sandford and Merton_, who was
+killed by a fall from his horse in 1789. A Norman doorway, a carved oak
+pulpit black with age, and a huge family pew, tell of long survival,
+and give the church the same touch of self-respecting dignity that the
+village has. It can be seen from the water, peeping over greenery near
+a backwater, with its tower overtopped by trees.
+
+The whole of Wargrave is seen to advantage from the water or from the
+meadows opposite. Many green lawns slope down to the brink, and the
+height of the bushy elms is a thing to note. A few Lombardy poplars
+break the fulness of the bosky foliage with their elongated ovals, and
+that most graceful of all trees, the wych elm, curves his beautiful
+lines in soft arches over the velvety lawns or smoothly-flowing water.
+
+     Witch elms that counterchange the floor
+       Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright;
+       And thou, with all thy breadth and height
+     Of foliage, towering sycamore.
+                                   --_Tennyson._
+
+The river turns almost a right angle at Wargrave, and, from running
+eastward, goes due north. The little village, being situated at the
+bend, gets the benefit of both vistas. The George Hotel, indeed, stands
+exactly at the angle, and the sweep of the water catches its wharf
+with full force. It boasts a signboard painted by two R.A.s; this is
+preserved indoors, while another swings as its proxy in the village
+street. Placed as it is in regard to the river channel, and with the
+wide flats of Shiplake meadows opposite, the hotel is exposed, and
+the very openness of its garden, an attraction which draws hundreds of
+summer visitors, makes it a butt for the racing winds of early spring.
+It is a pretty hotel built of brick, with a white painted verandah,
+after the usual river pattern; and a gigantic wistaria embowers all the
+front in its delicate mauve in summer, while roses trained over trellis
+work flash answering colour signals.
+
+The view over the river includes the glowing sunsets, which leave a
+slowly dying splendour behind a distant bank of trees.
+
+     And there was still, where day had set,
+       A flush that spoke him loth to die;
+     A last link of his glory yet
+       Binding together earth and sky.
+                                  --_Moore._
+
+Looking up to the left is the railway bridge, which is not so ugly as
+it might be; below, every hundred yards shows fresh beauties.
+
+Wargrave backwater is one of the most noted on the river, and in
+summer, or early spring, is a fairyland of greenery. The entrance is
+behind the large willow-covered island that lies below the hotel. The
+tiny arched bridge, not far in, is so low that one has to lie full
+length in a boat in order to pass under it. This is called Fiddler's
+bridge, though no local tradition keeps alive the origin of the name.
+The gentle light shimmers down between the spear-leaved willows in a
+veil of glory, and the stream is so narrow, one can almost touch the
+banks with both hands at once. In the main stream meantime, there are
+several islands decorated with the new rough stuccoed houses now so
+popular in river architecture, and, at the end where the backwater
+emerges again, there is a brightly-coloured boat-house. Beyond this,
+again, is a long stretch where there are generally house-boats. In
+winter, a little creek on the left bank is a kind of storehouse for
+them. This is a fine wide reach, and above it rises Wargrave Hill with
+its large white house conspicuously placed.
+
+Further down, the river makes a succession of curves; and facing up
+stream is Bolney Court, in a solid, old-fashioned style, of a dull
+yellow colour, while, behind and around it, the deep blue-green of
+Scotch firs is seen among the lighter foliage, and on the curving
+heights which block the vista to the north, the heights above Henley,
+these trees are conspicuous everywhere. Indeed, evergreens of all kinds
+flourish well in the chalky soil about Wargrave.
+
+The late C. J. Cornish said somewhere that Thames eyots always seem to
+have been put in place by a landscape gardener, and those about Bolney
+recall the words. They are thickly grown over by sedge and osiers, and
+overshadowed by taller trees; between them, the channels of shining
+water, half hidden half revealed, gain all the charm of elusiveness.
+Has anyone ever reflected what a kindly thought it was of Nature's, to
+arrange that trees growing on the water's edge should invariably take
+an outward angle, so as to lean over the water? How much less effective
+the result would have been had they grown inward, may be pictured by
+imagining a river without reflections. In the stillness of a backwater,
+or in the narrowed channel beside a large island, the beautiful effect
+of this outward angle is best seen. If the channel be very narrow, the
+trunks fold one behind the other in perspective, so as to form an arch
+over a shining aisle. In the water, all the many-coloured gnarled stems
+are smoothed by the gentle movement into something softer than the
+rigid reality, with its hard knots of shadow. The different colouring
+on the stems of the same species of tree is a thing to marvel at. From
+the deep mahogany of a joint where the damp has made an open wound, to
+the faint biscuit-colour of the place where a strip of bark has been
+newly peeled off, the stems of pollarded willows furnish every brown
+and yellow on a painter's palette. Many of them are richly crowned by
+a head of ivy, whose satin-smooth leaves fall in garlands like locks,
+and sway with every touch of air. These are reflected in the water as
+a shaded mass of green with no detail.
+
+There are so many varieties of willow that it is difficult for the
+lay mind to remember them all, and numbers of them are to be seen
+about Wargrave. It is the Crack willow and the White willow, with long
+slender leaves, that are commonly pollarded as osiers, though they will
+grow tall enough if they are allowed to. There is a legend that the
+mournful droop of the leaves of the weeping willow is a reminiscence of
+the sad time of the Captivity:
+
+     By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we
+     remembered thee, O Sion;
+     As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the willow trees
+     that grow therein.
+
+Besides the willows, there are their cousins, the poplars, chief among
+which, is the fine Populus tremula, whose leaves whisper perpetual
+secrets, even on the stillest days. This is caused by the broad leaves
+being attached to a slender flattened stalk. They are silky on the
+wrong side, and when the wind blows through the foliage it turns a
+soft greyish white, like a cottony mass. There is a legend that the
+wood of this tree was used for the Cross, and that in consequence it
+has trembled ever since, and so its leaves are in a perpetual state of
+quivering.
+
+The poplar, like the ash, is not kind to neighbouring trees, its
+numerous suckers taking more than their share of nourishment and
+moisture from the ground, and the leaves, when they fall, seem to be as
+destructive as those of the beech, for grass will not grow where they
+lie.
+
+In spring, these trees shed their long catkins, like hairy
+caterpillars, all over the water, and they are swept up in heaps into
+every eddy.
+
+In spite of the delights of summer, there is a time which well bears
+comparison with it; I mean the first fine days of early spring, before
+the rest of the world has awakened to the fact that winter is over.
+And about Wargrave at such times there is to be found great charm by
+those whose senses are alert. It is true that the splendid hedge that
+lines the tow-path shows only the long withes of the creepers and no
+starry flowers; that the graceful sprays of the wild rose now appear
+barbed and polished and ferocious, instead of sweet and enticing. A
+bush of barberry or berberis is not often seen in hedges, for the old
+folk-lore taught that wheat never throve when the barberry was in the
+hedge; therefore the farmers grubbed it up whenever they found it. But
+science has confirmed the empirical wisdom of our fathers, for it was
+discovered that the barberry furnishes the intermediate host for rust
+in wheat. On the green river bank there are quivering blades of tender
+green, but no flowers with their umbrella heads of white, or bunchy
+yellow, or pale mauve. Yet still there are compensations. To begin
+with, the river itself talks in spring as it never does in summer,
+and what is better, one can hear it without the interruption of human
+chatter or noise. One has the whole stretch to one's self, and attuning
+one's ear to the key of that conversation, one can listen to it sucking
+at the bank, flop-flopping under the prow of one's punt, chuckling
+as it races past the pole, and, laughing a little silvery laugh of
+merriment, that we call rippling--a word we have learnt to adapt to our
+poor human attempts in the same direction. The river sprites are with
+us, and very busy they are--ceaselessly busy about nothing at all, and
+so happy in their activity that to hear them is to laugh for right good
+fellowship. The wind is in the water, urging them on faster and faster;
+each wavelet has its crest of foam, and, in the heights and hollows
+ahead there is every shade of green, from emerald to olive. One must be
+very still in order to imbibe the real spirit of the scene, for they
+are shy, these river nymphs, as shy as the birds and beasts that live
+around them, and have learned the fear of tempestuous man. A shy-bold
+wren, with a sudden glint of sunlight on his rich brown back, flies
+to the edge of the water where the punt lies drifting, and then darts
+back in haste to the shelter of that commanding hedge he never likes to
+leave. His pertness is all in his appearance; never did looks so belie
+a timid character! A water-hen, startled by the sudden dip of the pole,
+flies out of the reeds close by, and skims in a swift low line to the
+islet opposite; her smooth dark body, with the elongated neck and scant
+tail, resembles an Eastern water skin.
+
+There is a gentle continuous whispering among the reeds, as if they
+questioned themselves, with quiet disapprobation, why the river was
+always in such a hurry. From the field behind the hedge comes the
+sweet scream of a wheeling peewit, and two large wood-pigeons flap
+noisily from the tall trees on the island, a very picture of contented
+domesticity.
+
+We slide on gently, close by the tow-path, until the tall hedge comes
+to an end, and the green meadows stretch right away from the lip of the
+river, and around them rise the tree-crowned heights in a semicircle,
+like the tiers of a giant amphitheatre.
+
+Flop! A water rat dives furtively. Though called a rat, he is in
+reality a vole, and is almost exclusively graminivorous; in this
+differing from his namesake, the real rat, which also haunts river
+banks, especially near mills. With hoarse squawk, a wild duck rises
+heavily from cover, and after the first difficult spiral, wings off
+like an arrow, his long neck extended. It is a day of cloud and shadow,
+and suddenly the light breaks out on the trees ahead with a wild
+freshness that makes one catch one's breath. It races up stream, and
+the dun is turned to gold at the touch of its breath. The sweetness of
+early spring is in the air and in our blood; the larks feel it as they
+rise:
+
+                   Sounds of vernal showers
+                     On the twinkling grass,
+                   Rain-awaken'd flowers,
+                     All that ever was
+     Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
+                                              --_Shelley._
+
+And there is a stirring of sap and juice in things--small things deep
+down in dark holes and corners, and in all green and growing things.
+
+After this, how cloying the richness of summer, with its still days,
+its glaring reflections, the luscious foliage, and the overpowering
+scents--the thought of it strikes one's senses as the thought of a
+hothouse would strike a child of the moor and the mountain. And when
+we remember Wargrave regatta, with its crowded banks, its lined shores,
+its flags a-flutter, and its noise, we are thankful that August is afar
+off.
+
+Though we have wandered down stream, the bit above Wargrave is equally
+attractive. Just beyond the railway bridge the river Loddon flows into
+the Thames. To pass up it and its tributary, St. Patrick's stream,
+is no easy feat; yet by using this loop the lock may be evaded, and
+it is the only place on the river where such a trick is possible. It
+is, however, far the best to explore this by-way from the other end
+and to come down stream by its means. To reach it, one must go high
+up above the lock, beyond the last of the chain of islands which here
+breaks the channel, and there turn in under a small bridge, into this
+curious tributary, which starts from the river and returns to it again.
+It flows at first through wide flat meadows, and then bifurcates, one
+branch, blocked by a weir, communicating again with the Thames, and the
+other falling into the Loddon, and with it rejoining the main river.
+
+Part of St. Patrick's stream is fringed by well-grown uniform pollard
+willows that hedge it like a wall. In summer, when the meadows are
+rich in buttercups, and the wind hums softly over the clover, bringing
+wafts of scent, and many a quaint weed adds its note of colour to the
+general harmony, it is very charming. But the most delightful feature
+is the growth of the Leucojum æstivum, or summer snowflake, which is so
+numerous that it is popularly known as the Loddon lily. This is like
+a large snowdrop in which several blooms spring from one head. It is
+also to be found on several of the islands in the main river near, but
+is not abundant there. The Loddon itself rises far inland: Twyford gets
+its name from lying near two branches, a twy-ford. The stream is slow,
+and it is only the swift current of St. Patrick that enlivens it lower
+down.
+
+Above the mouth of the Loddon there lies an interesting bit of the
+river. On a large island, owned by the Corporation of London, stands
+the lock-keeper's cottage, and opposite to it, on the mainland, a
+delightful old mill-house with tiled roof, and that weather-worn,
+rather battered appearance, which all self-respecting mill-houses aim
+at as the perfection of ripeness. The long tongue of the lock island
+projects down stream like the nose of a pike. In winter, the little
+moorhens, partly tamed by hunger, and reassured by the absence of those
+noisy humans who come in such numbers in warmer weather, run about
+all over it. Other things run too, all the year round; the lock-keeper
+has a fine stock of hens, but accepts philosophically the fact that he
+can never rear any chickens "because of the rats." The rats, which are
+attracted by the ample stores at the mill-house, and find such variety
+of lodgings along the banks of the stream and in the crevices of the
+much worn woodwork, are the pest of these places.
+
+The island is a popular camping ground, and the pitches are generally
+secured early in the season, having been well prepared beforehand
+by being laid in sand and flints to ensure a dry foundation. There
+are also a tiny bungalow, to be had for two guineas the week, and a
+bathing place available. Altogether a very attractive island. The main
+stream races over the weir, forming a wide tumbling pool below, and on
+the other side of the island there is a pleasant stretch down to the
+lock. These lock channels are among some of the most charming places
+on the river. They are generally very still, with the mass of water
+hardly moving. On some days every twig is reflected, and the view in
+this particular one is well worth looking at, as, with the group of
+the mill buildings rising high on one side, and the cottage with its
+accompaniment of standard roses on the other, there are the elements
+of a most satisfactory composition. The meadows slope down at just
+that angle that shows them off to the best advantage; they are dotted
+with fine trees and are crowned by clumps of wood, from which sounds
+the homely cawing of rooks. The red cows stand knee-deep in the placid
+water, lashing at the flies with their tails; and on the other side is
+a mass of greenery:
+
+             I ...
+     Walked forth to ease my pain
+     Along the shore of silver streaming Thames;
+     Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
+     Was painted all with variable flowers,
+     And all the meads adorned with dainty gems
+     Fit to deck maidens' bowers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Sweet Thames! run softly till I end my song.
+                                     --_Spenser._
+
+Shiplake stands high above the flat meadows by the river bank. The
+little flint church, in which Tennyson was married, has a prettily
+buttressed tower, and around it grow many tall evergreens and waving
+trees. There are also some interesting old frescoes on the walls, two
+representing St. Christopher, who seems particularly appropriate in a
+river church. From the porch, down between two rows of shrubs, one can
+look on to the top of a mass of trees, which shuts out a bend of the
+silver river, and beyond them see the blue distance, miles and miles
+away. Mrs. Climenson, whose book on Shiplake was privately printed,
+suggests that the name originated in schiff-laacken, for the story goes
+that when the Danes got so far, their boats stuck on the shoals, and
+their commander ordered them to be burnt, to prevent a possibility of
+retreat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HENLEY REGATTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Who can ever think of Henley without its regatta? And yet Henley
+is very well worth thinking of at all times of the year. It is a
+pleasantly-built, middle-aged, red-brick town. Its history does not
+reach back so far as that of Abingdon or Reading. It boasts neither
+abbey nor cathedral. Near the esplanade above the bridge, there are
+one or two of the tumble-down, out-of-perpendicular style of cottages,
+which invariably add so much to a river scene; but the main part of
+the town, which is, of course, of red brick, has a homely air of the
+seventeenth century about it. The solid and stately Red Lion Hotel,
+close to the bridge, is one of the most historic houses in the place.
+Charles I. stayed here in 1632, when, after severe dissensions, he
+was trying the method of ruling England without a Parliament, and
+when the terrible fate that was to befall him had not yet "cast its
+shadow before." It is doubtful if he paid his bills, for he was in
+chronic want of money; but he left a memento behind him which has more
+than repaid the hotel, for it forms a perennial source of interest.
+This is a large fresco painting of the royal monogram and coat of
+arms over one of the mantelpieces, and from the date it is evident it
+was done at the time of this visit. It was not discovered till 1889,
+having probably been hastily concealed during the troublous days of
+Cromwell's ascendency. Being on one of the principal coaching roads,
+Henley received more than its share of celebrated visitors. On July the
+12th, 1788, George III., with the Queen and three of his daughters,
+had breakfast at the Red Lion; George IV. once dined here; and the
+celebrated Duke of Marlborough regularly kept a room here that he might
+use it in his journeys from Blenheim; his bed is still preserved. After
+these associations, that of Shenstone, who wrote a poem with a diamond
+on a window-pane, comes as an anticlimax. The poem begins:
+
+     To thee, fair Freedom, I retire,
+       From flattery, cards, and dice, and din;
+     Nor art thou found in mansions higher
+       Than the low cott or humble inn.
+
+And the last verse, which is often quoted, runs:
+
+     Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
+       Whate'er his stages may have been,
+     May sigh to think he still has found
+       The warmest welcome at an inn.
+
+In summer the red brick of the hotel is almost hidden by the creepers
+which embrace it; especially noticeable is the glorious wistaria, most
+lovely of all the climbing plants.
+
+  [Illustration: RED LION HOTEL, HENLEY]
+
+The bridge was built in 1786, and is of stone. The keystones of the
+central arch are adorned with sculptured masks of Thame and Isis.
+They were the work of Mrs. Damer, a cousin of Horace Walpole's, and as
+such falling within the limits of the great man's kindly appreciation.
+Behind the hotel and well seen from the bridge, is the church, with its
+four corner pinnacles.
+
+At the time of the regatta, and for some weeks before, it is impossible
+to get accommodation in the town anywhere. Of all the river regattas
+Henley is by far the greatest, and comes even before the Boat Race in
+the estimation of some people. The races used to end at the bridge,
+and so the lawn of the Red Lion was in the position of a favoured
+grand-stand, but now the winning post is a quarter of a mile short of
+this, opposite the last villa on the left bank. The starting point is
+near Temple or Regatta Island, and the reach certainly makes a fine
+one for the purpose. The course is railed off by piles and booms,
+and all the hundreds of craft which gather to the scene have to cram
+themselves in somehow, so as not to cause obstruction. It is well not
+to select an outrigged boat for such an occasion. The best and most
+commonly seen craft are punts, worked by means of canoe paddles; for
+the punts are too solid to collapse easily in the pressure that may be
+put upon them, and the paddles, requiring little room to work, are less
+dangerous to one's neighbours than poles. But all kinds of skiffs and
+canoes appear, and some are even bold enough to tempt fate in Canadian
+canoes. On a brilliant day, when the light sparkles on the water,
+and there is enough wind to set the pennons and streamers flying, the
+scene is undeniably gay and pretty. All the luncheon tents on the green
+lawns near form a bright adjunct. Salter and Talboys, from Oxford, and
+other boat-builders, have landing-stages for the week, and the various
+clubs entertain largely. Chief among these is the Leander, whose fine
+club-house is on the right bank not far from the bridge; it also has
+a lawn further down. Not far off are the grand-stand, the Grosvenor,
+and the New Oxford and Cambridge Clubs, and one large lawn is taken as
+a clubland _pied-à-terre_ for the use of any members of London clubs
+in general. But beside these there are the Isthmian, Sports, and Bath
+Clubs on the left bank, and Phyllis Court, with smooth lawns; and
+then a long line of house-boats begins, continuing past Fawley Court
+on to Temple Island, with just one break for the lawns of the Court.
+Bands play, luncheons are consumed, flags flutter; everyone is gay and
+lively, and the scene is one that can hardly be described justly in
+mere word painting. At noon the first race is rowed. A bell is rung
+to clear the course. All sorts of boats and canoes have slipped out
+between the openings left for them, and they must hurry back and crush
+into the already tightly wedged mass; in a moment everything else is
+forgotten in the excitement of the special event. On the last evening
+of the regatta there is a grand firework display and a procession of
+illuminated boats; and, as may very well be guessed, the real success
+of Henley depends greatly upon the weather, which, even in the first
+week of July, when it takes place, is not always kind.
+
+  [Illustration: HENLEY REGATTA]
+
+As we have said, the surroundings of Henley are of a sort to attract
+attention, even without the additional glories of the regatta. Above
+the bridge is a long ait, and high on the right bank rise the woods of
+Park Place. Here the brilliant green of the beeches is diversified by
+the dark blue-greens of fir and cedar. The Place was once the residence
+of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the grounds were greatly improved by
+Field-Marshal Conway, a cousin of Horace Walpole. A long glade is cut
+through the wood. It runs under a bridge made of blocks of stone taken
+from Reading Abbey, and over this passes the road. From the river a
+peep of the striking vista can be had. Higher up again is Marsh Lock.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMBLEDEN]
+
+But the influence of Henley extends down as well as up the river.
+Phyllis and Fawley Courts both at one time belonged to Bulstrode
+Whitelocke. Fawley was wrecked very early in the civil wars; but
+Phyllis was strongly fortified, and some of the earthworks may still be
+seen. Henley was a Parliamentarian stronghold, and was annoyed by the
+neighbourhood of plucky little Greenlands at Hambleden, which, "for a
+little fort, was made very strong for the King."
+
+It belonged in the time of the Stuarts to Sir Cope d'Oyley, who was a
+staunch Royalist. When he died his eldest son held Greenlands for the
+King, and his house was battered by the cannon of the Parliamentarians
+from across the water. In the nineteenth century the Rt. Hon. W. H.
+Smith lived here, and his widow took from the village the title he
+himself never lived to enjoy. In Hambleden also there is a fine old
+manor house, and some of the clipped yews in the gardens of private
+houses are very remarkable. High above the place rise the woods
+near Fingest and Stokenchurch. The weirs at Hambleden are the most
+attractive on the river. Long curved bridges run across them from shore
+to shore, and are open to the public as a right-of-way. The curves
+strike off at different angles, and every moment the point of view
+changes. Whether we are passing over tumbling weirs, where the water
+glides across long mossy planes, or over sluice-gates where it bursts
+through, the enchantment is the same. Flags and tall yellow irises and
+the greenest of green tufts grow in the water and about the foundations
+of the bridges. Looking back at the mill, we see it reflected in the
+calm, deep water above the weirs as in a polished looking-glass. There
+are old cedars and red-roofed cottages, and plenty of Scotch firs and
+yew hedges in the background. Away up the river is the white mass of
+Greenlands with its pierced look-out tower.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE ROMANCE OF BISHAM AND HURLEY
+
+
+One of the greatest calumnies I ever heard expressed was the remark,
+"What, writing a book about the river! Why, the river is all alike,
+isn't it?" It is true that many reaches of the river are so exceedingly
+attractive that there is a danger of applying the adjectives "pretty"
+and "beautiful" and "charming" to many of them, but the sameness is
+not in the reaches, it is in the poverty of one's own language. What
+can be more different, for instance, than the river about Maidenhead
+and the river above Marlow? Yet both are delightful. The patrons of
+the Maidenhead part no doubt outnumber those of Bisham and Hurley,
+but that is because Maidenhead is one of the most accessible places on
+the river. The station at Marlow is on a branch, and many a weary hour
+must be spent waiting, if one is dependent on trains. This is the only
+station for Hurley and Bisham, unless we go on equally far in the other
+direction to Henley. However, this is one of the reasons why the Marlow
+section is preferable to the Maidenhead one--when you do get there.
+
+Great Marlow itself is a fairly important place for a riverside
+village. It is like a little country town, and though many new
+red-brick villas are springing up, it could not be called "residential"
+in the way that the word could be applied to Richmond, for instance.
+The ground plan is very simple. One wide street runs straight down to
+the bridge, and another street crosses it at the top. In the latter is
+to be found Marlow's chief literary association, for here still stands
+the cottage where Shelley lived. It is marked by a tablet, and is a
+low, long building, creeper-covered, and is now divided into several
+cottages. Here he wrote _The Revolt of Islam_ and _Alastor, or the
+Spirit of Solitude_.
+
+  [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF MARLOW]
+
+Down by the water side the whole aspect of Marlow is bright and open.
+It must be entirely different from the older Marlow, when the wooden
+bridge--which crossed the river lower down than the present one--and
+the old church were still in existence. At present, in the summer all
+is gay and clean looking. The suspension bridge, which is the best of
+the modern sort of bridges from an artist's point of view, is rather
+low over the water; standing on it one can look right down on to the
+green lawn of the Compleat Angler Hotel, and see the many-coloured
+muslins, the white flannels, the gay cushions, the awnings, and the
+sunshades, as if they were all a gigantic flower bed. The red hotel
+itself is from this point caught against the background of the Quarry
+Woods. Opposite to it is the very green strip of the churchyard
+coming right down to the edge of the river, and only separated from
+it by a low stone parapet: weeping willows fling their green spray
+out over the water, and behind is the church. It is undeniable that
+the materials used in the church are distinctly ugly, but the steeple
+goes some way towards redeeming it, and if it can be seen silhouetted,
+so that the materials are lost in dimness, and only the outlines are
+apparent, it becomes at once more than passable. Spires are not common
+in Thames-side churches, which are far more often capped by rather low
+battlemented towers.
+
+One of the glories of Marlow is its weir. It runs in a great
+semicircular sweep below the hotel; and, from a terrace there, one can
+look right down into the swirling water; or by coming up the backwater
+below in a boat, one can land at the hotel without facing the lock at
+all, a great advantage. The weir is in several planes, and the extended
+flood makes a perpetual wash, rising to a roar in winter, and dwindling
+to the merest tinkle in summer. Marlow is distinctly a summer place:
+its openness, its many trees, its wide reach of water, and the splash
+of the weir are all summer accompaniments; and in winter, when the wind
+sweeps down from the south, the unprotected side, and the water hisses
+and bubbles in its struggle to get down to lower levels, it is weird
+and melancholy.
+
+  [Illustration: QUARRY WOODS]
+
+The lock channel is fringed by several islets, and there is the usual
+mill, and a pretty wooden foot-bridge. Several of the most graceful of
+our trees, the dainty silver birch, stand near the mill. On some of the
+lower islands osiers grow, and there are one or two neat boat-houses.
+Wide meadows fringe the river below; and eastward--the bridge lies
+due north and south--are the famous Quarry Woods, held by many to be
+superior even to the Clieveden Woods. In some points they are, and
+not the least of these is that they are traversed by several roads,
+while those at Clieveden are kept strictly private. The woods are
+composed almost wholly of beech, the tree that loves the chalk, here
+so abundant, and only a few patches of larch may be seen in clumps
+among them. Beginning at the water's edge, rising above the curious
+white castle with harled walls called Quarry Hill, now to let, the
+woods continue in a straight line inland, getting further and further
+from the river as they go. It is difficult to say at what season of
+the year they are the most beautiful. In early spring, before the buds
+burst, if looked at in the mass, there is to be seen a kind of purple
+bloom made by the myriad buds, which is not found in any mixed woods.
+In spring the buds burst out into that tender indescribable green,
+like nothing else in the world, and the new-born leaves, suspended
+from their dark and almost invisible twigs, are for all the world like
+fronds of giant maidenhair. In the autumn the whole ground is one blaze
+of rich burnt-sienna, a carpet of leaves laid so industriously that not
+a speck of the bare brown earth appears; and from this rise the stems
+smooth and straight, lichen-covered every one, and thus transformed to
+brilliant emerald. Where the light strikes through the rapidly thinning
+branches, they have the very glow of the stones themselves. It is an
+enchanted wood, and at any moment a wizard might peep out from behind
+one of those magic trunks.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM CHURCH]
+
+The woods alone would be sufficient to give Marlow a high rank among
+river places. But all this is below the bridge, and above there is
+much to see. Not far off, on the right bank of the river, is Bisham,
+a tiny village with its church and abbey, now a dwelling house. The
+whole of Bisham is well worth lingering over. The cottages stand
+along the road in straggling fashion, old and new, and some of the
+gardens are bright with homely, sweet-scented flowers, among which,
+stocks and sweet-williams seem to be the favourites in the summer.
+One tumble-down row, rather off the road, is a mass of honeysuckle,
+and roses and ivy. The little church stands so near to the margin of
+the river that not a dozen yards separate its tower from the flood.
+A low moss-grown stone parapet edges the churchyard; over this elms
+dip their crooked boughs in a vain endeavour to touch the ripples as
+they spring playfully upward, driven by the wind. The little church
+has a square stone tower, wonderfully softened, so that it looks as if
+it must fray to powder at a touch. The brick battlements are a later
+addition, but the gentle river air has breathed on them so that they
+tone in harmoniously. Some of the windows are transition Norman. For
+ages the little church has stood there looking out across the water
+to the green flat meadows, and though it has been rebuilt and altered,
+there is much of it that is fairly ancient. The Hoby chapel was built
+about 1600, by the disconsolate widow of Sir Thomas Hoby, Ambassador
+to France; in it are several fine tombs, and on that of Sir Thomas, his
+lady, who was learned, as it was the fashion for great ladies to be in
+her time, wrote long inscriptions in Latin and Greek and English; the
+last of which ends up with:
+
+     "Give me, O God, a husband like unto Thomas,
+     Or else restore me to my husband Thomas!"
+
+Eight years later she married again, so that she had presumably found
+a husband "like unto Thomas." The Hoby window in this chapel, with
+its coat of arms, is especially interesting, and when the morning sun
+streams through in tones of purple and gold upon the worn stones, the
+effect is striking.
+
+There are one or two good brasses in the church, and a small monument
+to two children who are traditionally said to have owned Queen
+Elizabeth as mother!
+
+  [Illustration: HURLEY BACKWATER]
+
+From the reign of Edward VI. to 1780 the Hoby family held the abbey,
+and then it was bought by the ancestors of the present owner. It is
+a splendid group of masonry, and stands very effectively near the
+river. The tall tower, the oriel windows, and the red tints against
+the fine mass of greenery, make a very unusual picture. Bisham at one
+time belonged to the Knights Templars, who founded here a preceptory.
+But their Order was dissolved in the reign of Edward II. In 1338 the
+Earl of Salisbury established here a priory for Augustinian monks.
+This was twice surrendered, having been re-established after the first
+time. It is rather curious that the last prior, being permitted by
+the tenets of the Reformed Church to marry, became the father of five
+daughters, each of whom married a bishop; while he himself was Bishop
+of St. Davids. Poor Anne of Cleves was presented with the abbey by
+her sometime husband the King, who, however, died before the gift was
+confirmed. She was allowed to retain it, and from her it passed to
+the Hobys as aforesaid. The house has therefore a long history, and
+much of the fabric is very old. One of the oldest parts is the fine
+entrance gateway, dating from the reign of King Stephen. The great
+hall is supposed to have been at one time the church of the abbey. As
+three Earls of Salisbury, the great "King Maker" Warwick, and Edward
+Plantagenet, unhappy son of an unhappy father, were all buried in the
+abbey church, there is every reason to suppose that their bones lie
+beneath the pavement in the hall.
+
+During Queen Mary's reign Princess Elizabeth was a prisoner at
+Bisham under the charge of Sir Thomas Hoby. No doubt she "took water"
+frequently, and glided gently down with the stream; for people were
+accustomed to use their river when there were no roads to speak of.
+She must often have gazed upon the Quarry Woods in all their flaming
+splendour of autumn, but the Marlow she knew is so different from our
+Marlow we can hardly otherwise picture it. Several alterations were
+made at the abbey while Elizabeth was there, such as the construction
+of a dais, and a large window; small points, which show, however, that
+she was treated with all due respect. And she herself has left it on
+record that she received kindness and courtesy from her enforced hosts.
+These alterations were followed subsequently, in her own reign, by the
+rebuilding of much of the abbey, which was then made as we now see it.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM ABBEY]
+
+It is inevitable that such a historic house should have a tradition or
+two attached to it; and traditions are not lacking. It is said that
+the ghost of someone drowned in the river rises at times in the form
+of a mist, and spreads all across the channel, and woe be to anyone who
+attempts to penetrate it. Another tale is that the house is haunted by
+a certain Lady Hoby, who beat her little boy to death because he could
+not write without blots. She goes about wringing her hands and trying
+to cleanse them from indelible inkstains. The story has probably some
+foundation, for a number of copybooks of the age of Elizabeth were
+discovered behind one of the shutters during some later alterations,
+and one of these was deluged in every line with blots. We all know that
+great severity was exercised by parents with their children at that
+time; even Lady Jane Grey had to undergo "pinches, nips, and bobs,"
+until she thought herself "in hell," while with her parents, and the
+story, if not the ghost, may safely be accepted.
+
+Another tradition tells of an elopement. One of the Earls of Salisbury,
+about to set out for the Holy Land, sent for his daughter, who was a
+nun at the convent of Little Marlow, to bid him farewell. She came to
+him at Bisham, and while there was persuaded by one of the squires to
+elope with him. The pair crossed the water, but were almost immediately
+captured. The girl was presumably returned to her nunnery, where her
+escapade would give her something to think of during all the monotonous
+days that followed, and the man was imprisoned at Bisham. In attempting
+to make his escape he fell from a high window and was badly injured. It
+is said that he afterwards took the vows and became a monk.
+
+Temple Mill and House and Lock, which come next to Bisham up the river,
+recall the possession of the Knights Templars. This and Hurley Lock are
+the two nearest together of all on the river, and experienced oarsmen
+frequently catch the second one by making a dash on high days and
+holidays when there is likely to be a crowd and consequent delay.
+
+Interesting as Bisham is, it is rivalled by Hurley, with its remains of
+the fine old mansion Lady Place.
+
+In order to reach the lock one passes under a high wooden foot-bridge,
+"the marrow" to one further up. On the lock island is a large red-brick
+mill-house, near which stand one or two evergreens; while on an apple
+tree in the lock-keeper's garden is a fine growth of mistletoe, of
+which he is justly proud. Mistletoe grows a good deal in the valley
+of the Thames. It is not as a rule easily seen, owing to the foliage
+of the trees on which it grows; but in the winter, across the frozen
+meadows, against the cold white sky, it may be seen in great tufts that
+look like giant nests.
+
+It is supposed that the seeds of the mistletoe in order to become
+fruitful must pass through the body of the missel thrush, which is
+extremely partial to them, and seems to be almost the only bird that
+will touch them, hence its name; and if, as is conjectured, the seeds
+cannot germinate without this process, we have the phenomenon of an
+animal forming the "host" for a vegetable parasite.
+
+Beyond the lock there is a sheltered channel with the quaintest
+old-world flavour about it, a flavour which grows yearly more and
+more difficult to find as it melts away before the onward sweep of
+the advertising age. A strip of green turf is lined by an old brick
+wall with lichen and moss growing on its coping, so that when the sun
+catches it, it is like a ribbon of gold. Tall gate piers, crowned by
+stone balls, frame a bit of the excellently kept velvet lawns of Lady
+Place. There are many of these old piers and balls, and nearly all are
+overgrown with roses.
+
+     Look to the blowing rose about us--'Lo,
+     Laughing,' she says, 'into the world I blow,
+     At once the silken tassel of my purse
+     Tear, and its treasures on the garden throw.'
+                    --_Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam._
+
+The splendid cedars, themselves a guarantee of age that no modern Midas
+can summon to deck the grounds of his new mansion; the tinkle of a
+cowbell from the meadow near; and the Decorated windows of Lady Place
+peering over the wall; all add to the impression made by the whole.
+The abbey was founded in 1086 for Benedictine monks. It is interesting
+to note what a very great attraction water always held for monks;
+doubtless the necessity for Friday fish was one reason for this; but
+one likes to think that they also loved the river for its own sake,
+and that they found in the current the same sort of fascination which
+it holds for us now. It may be also that it was the constant gliding
+of the water, an emblem of their own smoothly running lives, that drew
+them so strongly:
+
+     Glide gently, thus for ever glide,
+       O Thames! that other bards may see
+     As lovely visions by thy side
+       As now, fair river! come to me.
+     O glide, fair stream, for ever so,
+       Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
+     Till all our minds for ever flow
+       As thy deep waters now are flowing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     How calm! how still! the only sound,
+       The dripping of the oar suspended!
+     The evening darkness gathers round
+       By virtue's holiest powers attended.
+                            --_Wordsworth._
+
+Of this abbey not much remains. The crypt is isolated, standing away
+from the remainder of the buildings, and anyone may penetrate into
+it. The old moat is excellently well preserved, and its circuit shows
+that the abbey premises must have extended over at least five acres of
+ground. The church, which is now the parish church, is an odd little
+building. It has a single aisle, and the original work is Norman,
+though it has been much modernised. It forms part of a courtyard or
+quadrangle, and faces a large, barn-like structure, which was the
+refectory; in parts this is also Norman, and in it are the Decorated
+windows. The materials used in the construction of this refectory
+are most curious--brick, chalk, flint, any sort of rubble, all mixed
+together, and very solid. The stable is built in the same way, and it
+is amazing that such heterogeneous stuff should have stood the test of
+time. Not far off also is a dove-house of a very ancient pattern. The
+interior, with its cavernous gloom and the numerous holes in the chalk
+for the birds to nest in, is well worth looking into. Indeed, the whole
+of this side of the buildings--away from the river--is worth landing to
+see. It is all within a very few yards, and once past the modern house
+we find the little church with its old-fashioned wooden tower, the
+green with its well-grown elms, and the dove-house and stable, which
+combine to form a very unusual scene altogether.
+
+Sir Richard Lovelace, created Baron Lovelace by Charles I., built
+Lady Place on the site of the abbey in 1600. He was a relative of the
+Cavalier poet of the same name.
+
+In Macaulay's history there is an account of Lady Place, given
+graphically as he well knew how. He is speaking of a descendant of the
+founder, and he says:
+
+"His mansion, built by his ancestors out of the spoils of the Spanish
+galleons from the Indies, rose on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in
+that beautiful valley, through which the Thames, not yet defiled by the
+precincts of a great capital, nor rising and falling with the flow and
+ebb of the sea, rolls under woods of beech round the gentle hills of
+Berkshire. Beneath the stately saloon, adorned by Italian pencils, was
+a subterraneous vault in which the bones of ancient monks had sometimes
+been found."
+
+The third Lord Lovelace plotted for the coming of William of Orange,
+and in the crypt many a secret meeting was held to arrange the details.
+It is said that the actual invitation which brought the Dutchman over
+was signed in this low, dark vault.
+
+Lady Place later belonged to a brother of Admiral Kempenfelt, who went
+down with the _Royal George_.
+
+Certain places are frequently associated with certain seasons of the
+year, and to my mind at Hurley it is always summer. The smell of the
+new mown hay on the long island between the lock channel and part of
+the main stream, the faint, delicate scent of dog-roses, and all the
+other scents that load the summer air, seem to linger for ever in this
+sheltered place. The backwater running up on the other side of this
+island to the weir is a very enticing one. Thirsty plants dip their
+pretty heads to drink of the water that comes swirling from the weir
+like frosted glass, and trees of all sorts--ash, elm, horse-chestnut,
+and the ubiquitous willows and poplars--lean over the water in crooked
+elbows, giving a sweet shade and a delicious coolness. The weir is a
+long one, broken by islands into three parts. Another long island is
+parallel to the first one. Indeed, Hurley is a complicated place, and
+one that is ever new. The swans certainly appreciate it. Drayton says
+"Our flood's queen, Thames, with ships and swans is crowned." I don't
+know about the ships; nothing very large can get above Molesey Lock;
+but as for the swans they abound, and especially about here.
+
+The swans on the river belong to the Crown, the Vintners' and the
+Dyers' Companies. The grant of this privilege to the companies goes
+back so far that it is lost in the mists of antiquity. The Crown is
+far the largest holder, but as the numbers of swans, of course, vary
+from year to year, it is difficult to form an estimate of the total.
+The Vintners, who come next, own perhaps 150. They preserve only those
+that live below Marsh Lock, with the exception of a few black ones,
+which, contrary to expectation, have thriven very well, and find a
+happy hunting ground about Goring and Moulsford. The system of marking,
+called swan-upping, has been modified of late years, as a protest was
+made against it on the ground of cruelty. Before that time the Vintners
+marked their swans with a large V right across the upper mandible,
+but now they give only two little nicks, one on each side. From this
+comes the well-known sign of old yards and public-houses, the Swan
+with Two Necks, a corruption of nicks! The Dyers have a nick on one
+side only. The origin and variety of swan marks is a curious subject.
+The process of swan-upping, or as it is often incorrectly called,
+swan-hopping, gives an occasion for a pleasant excursion, as it occurs
+about a fortnight before the August Bank-Holiday, in the very height
+of the summer. Only the birds of the current year are done, as the
+marks generally last for life, and though they are accustomed to see
+too many people to fear mankind, the handling naturally frightens them.
+The swans, as a rule, find their own living, grubbing about in the
+banks and on the river bottom, and they are also occasionally fed from
+house-boats and pleasure boats, but in winter sometimes they are hard
+put to it, and provision has to be made by their owners.
+
+A swan exercises on me something of the same fascination that a camel
+does; though far be it from me to compare the two in grace. They are
+both full of character, and both preserve a strictly critical attitude
+toward the human race. In the case of the swan, nature has perhaps
+dealt unfairly with him, for the curious little black cap, at the
+junction of bill and head, technically known as the "berry," gives
+him a fixed expression which he has no power to alter, even if he
+felt beaming with good humour. As it is, he is condemned to go through
+life as if he momentarily expected an attack upon his dignity and was
+prepared to repel it. When the sun is shining and the swan dips his
+long neck in the water and flings it upon his shoulders, the large,
+glistening drops, running together on the oily surface, lie like a
+necklet of diamonds in the hollow of his back.
+
+The irises and bur-reeds line the low banks above the weir, and a line
+of short black poplars give some shade.
+
+     And on by many a level mead,
+     And shadowing bluffs that made the banks,
+     We glided, winding under ranks
+     Of iris and the golden reed.
+                                --_Tennyson._
+
+I have said that Hurley is a summer place, and so it is; but there is
+one spring beauty which those who know it only in summer must for ever
+miss. On the slopes where the heights on the northern side fold into
+one another there is a little pillared temple, and about and around it
+some lavish and generous person has planted crocuses in big battalions,
+and they lie there in the sun, royal in purple and gold, and quite as
+rich in tint as those lights shining through the stained glass window
+at Bisham we saw a while ago.
+
+Above the next stretch of the river stands the great modern palace of
+Danesfield, which is built of chalk, one would imagine a singularly
+unlasting material. Though hidden by trees from directly beneath,
+from a distance it is very noticeable, and the white walls gleam out
+beneath the red tiles in a way that cannot be overlooked. It is well
+thus to have used local material, for local it is, as can be seen by
+the great chalk cliffs that line the river side; and the idea is daring
+and original. The interior fittings are worthy of any palace, and no
+pains and cost has been spared. It is a worthy object to build a house
+which shall rank with those bygone mansions on which their owners
+so lovingly lavished their thought and time, and which have also so
+frequently disappeared. The name arises from the fact of there having
+been a Danish camp in the neighbourhood, and the place is still pointed
+out. After this there is rather a flat bit of meadow land, fringed
+with sedge and many a gay plant, growing gallantly in blue and mauve.
+We pass two reedy islands opposite a line of little houses called
+Frogmill, and then we see Medmenham Abbey, which looks more imposing
+than it is, being at the best a carefully composed ruin. However,
+sometimes these compositions, if artistically done, are worth having,
+and Medmenham has memories behind it. It was once a real abbey, founded
+for Cistercian monks in 1200. But after the Dissolution the buildings
+fell into ruin. Later they became the headquarters of the daring and
+impious club known as the "Hell Fire" Club, of which one of the leading
+spirits was Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards Lord Le Despencer, the
+same who built the church at West Wycombe, only a few miles away as
+the crow flies. This is a church where the pulpit and reading desk
+are armchairs; the latter stands on a chest of drawers, which, being
+pulled out, serve as steps. On the tower of the church an immense ball
+like a gigantic football is tethered by chains. This can contain twelve
+people, and the mad lord held meetings here with his friends. The motto
+of his club was _Fay ce que voudras_, and the members went as near to
+devil worship as they dared. Once while they were at Medmenham someone
+let a huge ape down the chimney, when the revellers, worked up to a
+frantic pitch of excitement and more than half drunk, thought that his
+Satanic majesty had paid them a visit in good earnest. From such orgies
+Medmenham has long been free, and it is now a respectable dwelling
+house with a nice bit of cloister over which ivy hangs in folds, and to
+which the word "picturesque" may quite fitly be applied.
+
+There is a ferry over the river at Medmenham, and, not far off, the old
+Abbey Hotel, in which numbers of artists stay. Up the green lane is a
+curious old house, once the residence of Sir John Borlase, whom Charles
+II. used to visit, riding here on horseback, accompanied frequently, so
+it is said, by Nell Gwynne. Standing by the high road, which here is
+not half a mile from the river, is a quaint little church with wooden
+porch and shady evergreens, a very model of what a tiny village church
+should be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BOULTER'S LOCK AND MAIDENHEAD
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Human beings are by nature sociable; and to state that a crowd of
+well-dressed people will be at a certain point of the river at a
+particular date, is to ensure that everyone else who possibly can
+will be there too--only better dressed. It would seem to the ordinary
+ungregarious bachelor that Boulter's Lock, the Sunday after Ascot,
+would be a place to avoid, for there will be the necessity of waiting
+for hours on a river--grilling in the sun if the day be fine, or
+shivering if the day be cloudy; for the English climate never lacks
+the spice of uncertainty, and at this season of the year it is more
+capricious than usual. The middle of June is proverbially a time of
+roses, but it is just as likely to be a time for chills, at least so
+says the pessimist. To the optimist and he who "loves his fellow-men,"
+Boulter's Lock, on this one day of the year, reveals itself to memory
+as a day of delight and flashing colour; he has only to shut his
+eyes to recall a scene as brilliant as a flower garden. Here, close
+to him, lies a long, flat-bottomed punt, with gay cushions on which
+lean two fair girls, their faces toned to a pink glow by the sun's
+rays penetrating gently through their rose-pink sunshades. Their
+large flapping hats are tied under their chins with huge bows of
+ribbon as pink as their cheeks; their soft, white muslin dresses lie
+in folds and frills and heaps bewildering to contemplate; they are
+exactly, exasperatingly, absurdly alike. "How can a woman be such an
+idiot as to duplicate her charms?" the onlooker exclaims to himself;
+but he looks again. Dark eyes dancing as merrily as the ripples on
+the breeze-stirred water; chatter and laugh; and babble as soft and
+meaningless as the gurgle of the little tributary stream; textures of
+fabric as delicate as the flowers peeping over the grey stone walls
+from the lock-keeper's garden above; dainty arms bare to the elbow;
+Japanese umbrellas jewelled in the sunlight; striped awnings, as gay
+as Joseph's coat, flapping softly; the long low outlines of craft
+of every kind, skiff and dingey and canoe, from the smoothly gliding
+little electric launch to the heavy clinker-built boat on hire for its
+tenth season; these items make up a scene quite unlike anything else.
+For half a mile below the lock you could step across a solid bridge of
+boats over half the river. Some years ago, the homely serge and sailor
+straw-hat were considered the proper river costume; now, the straw is
+worn only by men, whose severe flannels show little alteration from
+year to year, for men are much more conservative in sartorial matters
+than women. And every tantalising muslin, lace, and flower-decked hat
+is considered suitable for a woman on the river. The more fantastic
+and enormous, the more gauzy and lace-trimmed, the better. And, as her
+grandmother did, the young girl dresses in the thinnest of muslins and
+lawns, wears an open neck in the day time, and elbow sleeves.
+
+  [Illustration: BOULTER'S LOCK, ASCOT SUNDAY]
+
+In pushing forward between the open lock-gates into the lock, a slender
+canoe fits into an almost impossible space between the electric launch
+and the punt. A heavily weighted boatload, where four elderly women
+are rowed by one heated man, falls foul of its neighbour and has to be
+righted. The chatter is silenced for a moment, but rises again when
+the craft are fitted, like the pieces in an old fashioned puzzle,
+inside the green and slimy walls, which throw a deep shadow on one
+side. Then the gates are shut, and a wash and gurgle of water begins,
+delightfully cool to hear. A nervous girl gives a little shriek and
+jumps so that every boat is set a-rocking, as all are touching. Others
+laugh. It is impossible to upset, for there is no room. The whole
+gently swaying mass rises on the breast of the rising water up out of
+the shadow into the sunlight; into the view of the waiting crowds on
+the tow-path. Colours flash out once more; an excited little dog rushes
+yapping from stem to stern of his boat, and finally, with a vigorous
+jump, lands on the lock-keeper's garden, where there is a profusion of
+sweet old-fashioned flowers, and such roses as grow nowhere but by the
+river-side. Then, to the accompaniment of the dog's frantic barks, the
+massive gates creak backward on their hinges, and we ride forward into
+the wide expanse of the sparkling river. Only a few boats await the
+opening of the lock here, for, at this time of day, more are going up
+than coming down. But behind, away below the lock, a chaotic flotilla
+has once more collected, and may have to wait for hours, for it is
+rather like the process of ladling the river up in a tablespoon.
+
+  [Illustration: BELOW BOULTER'S LOCK]
+
+This reach at Maidenhead, is one of the most popular on the river. On
+each side of the wide stone bridge half a mile below the lock, Taplow
+and Maidenhead face one another. But though popular and easy of access,
+being on the Great Western Railway, which runs quick trains at frequent
+intervals, both stations are a little distance from the river. The
+name Maidenhead is derived from Maiden-hithe, or wharf, as a large
+wharf for wood at one time stood near the bridge. The bridge itself,
+though a modern fabric, is of ancient lineage, for we know that in
+1352 a guild was formed for the purpose of keeping it in repair. It
+may be remembered that bridges at that time were considered works of
+charity, and competed with masses and alms as a means of doing good
+posthumously.
+
+     Another blissed besines is brigges to make,
+       That there the pepul may not passe [_die_] after great
+     showres,
+     Dole it is to drawe a deed body oute of a lake,
+       That was fulled in a fount-stoon, and a felow of ours.
+
+And in _Piers Plowman_:
+
+     Therewith to build hospitals, helping the sick,
+     Or roads that are rotten full rightly repair,
+     Or bridges, when broken, to build up anew.
+
+  [Illustration: MAIDENHEAD]
+
+The main road between London and Bath, a well-known coaching road,
+runs this way, and a very good road it is. The railway bridge crosses
+below the road, but it is of brick with wide arches, and is by no
+means unsightly. Between the two is the River-side club, where a band
+plays on the smooth green lawn in the season, and the smartest of
+smart costumes are the rule. Near here also is Bond's boat-house and a
+willow-grown islet. There are numbers of steps and railings and landing
+stages, all painted white, and these give a certain lightness to the
+scene. Close by the bridge are several hotels, of which the oldest
+established is Skindle's, low-lying and creeper-covered, on the Taplow
+side. Boats for hire line the banks everywhere, for many cater for the
+wants of the butterfly visitor, out of whom enough must be taken in the
+season to carry the establishments on through the winter; and the river
+visitor is essentially a butterfly. Few know the charms of the Thames
+in the winter, when, in an east and west stretch, the glowing red ball
+of the sun sinks behind dun banks of mist; when the trees are leafless,
+and the skeleton branches are outlined against a pale clear sky; when
+a touch of frost is in the air, and the river glides so stilly that it
+almost seems asleep.
+
+     A bitter day, that early sank
+     Behind a purple frosty bank
+     Of vapour, leaving night forlorn.
+                         --_Tennyson._
+
+The visitor goes to the river in the summer because of its coolness,
+and though the coolness is ofttimes delusive, being in appearance
+rather than reality, lying in the sight of the sparkles and the sound
+of the ripples, yet it is a fine make-believe. Such river-side hotels
+as cater for the season are content to lie dormant all the chill
+long winter, until, with the breath of early spring, the celandines
+raise their polished golden faces and the lords and ladies stud the
+hedgerows. Then a few adventurous beings come down on the first fine
+days, like the early swallows, a portent that summer is at hand; and
+these lucky people have the river largely to themselves, and do not
+find lovers in every attractive backwater; and if they have to row to
+keep themselves warm, they gain an increase of vigour that no burning
+summer sun can give.
+
+The view from Maidenhead Bridge northwards--for here the river runs due
+south--is spoilt by the gasometers which rise over the willow-covered
+islets. But once past Boulter's Lock, the scenery improves with every
+hundred yards. Close by the lock itself is Ray Mead Hotel, where the
+deep carmine-tinted geraniums grow in quantities. Sometimes as many
+as three hundred people are supplied with tea at the hotel on a fine
+summer afternoon, while over a thousand pass through the lock. Above
+Boulter's is a secluded backwater formed by the stream of a mill, and
+this is one of the pleasantest retreats in the neighbourhood.
+
+     ... In my boat I lie
+     Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer heats.
+                              --_Matthew Arnold._
+
+Above the river, on the east, rise the cliff-like heights of Clieveden,
+wooded to their summits, and seen magnificently by reason of the curve
+at the end of the reach, which gives their full sweep at one glance.
+The cliff rises to a height of 140 feet, but the thickness of the
+trees, and their own height towering above, make it look much higher.
+The trees are of all kinds, oak and beech, chestnut and ash, and many a
+dark evergreen; while here and there a Lombardy poplar shoots up like a
+straight line, and the wild clematis throws its shawls of greenery from
+tree to tree, giving the whole the appearance of a tropical forest.
+Seen in early spring, when the tender green of the beeches and the
+bursting gummy buds of the horse-chestnut are shedding a veil over the
+fretwork of twig and bough, they are glorious enough; but in autumn,
+when orange and russet break out in all directions, they are, perhaps,
+more imposing. River people do not, as a rule, see them at their
+best, for before that touch of frost has come which sends a flame of
+crimson over the maples, and heightens the orange of the beeches, the
+fairweather boatsman has fled to his fireside.
+
+At one point we catch a glimpse of Clieveden itself, standing high and
+facing downstream. Evelyn says in his diary:
+
+     I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood,
+     and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, buildings of
+     extraordinary expense.... The stande, somewhat like Frascati
+     as to its front, and on the platform is a circular view to
+     the utmost verge of the horizon, which, with the serpenting
+     of the Thames, is admirable.... But the land all about
+     wretchedly barren, and producing nothing but fern.
+
+The taste of those days differed from ours; now we should prefer to see
+an expanse of ferns to a field of potatoes.
+
+The first great mansion here was built by "Steenie," the Duke of
+Buckingham, King Charles's favourite. He was a villain, even for a time
+of slack morals, and the chief association connected with his house
+is that he brought here a comrade in every way suited to him, in the
+person of the Countess of Shrewsbury, who stood by, dressed as a page,
+holding his horse, while he killed her husband in a duel. The house was
+twice burnt down; the present one was built about the middle of the
+nineteenth century, and belongs to Mr. Astor. A pleasanter memory is
+that of the poet Thomson, whose masque _Alfred_ was acted here in 1740,
+on the birthday of Princess Augusta. This contained, as a kernel, the
+song "Rule Britannia," destined to survive long after its husk had been
+forgotten.
+
+Opposite Clieveden the ground is low lying, and, to use Evelyn's word,
+the river "serpents" a good deal. There are several islands, on one of
+which, called Formosa, there is a house. There are several side-streams
+crossed by footbridges, and in one of these is the lock. The main
+stream continues in a great sweep, and is guarded by two weirs. The
+fishing here is very popular, and though it belongs to Lord Boston,
+permission to fish may be obtained by writing beforehand. Hedsor Church
+stands well on high ground near; and with its bosky foliage and many
+islets, the river here is not a bad place in which to idle away many an
+hour.
+
+The hotel at Cookham is right down on the water's edge, and from its
+lawn a charming view is gained of the main stream breaking into its
+many channels, with the wooded island of Formosa in the middle. All
+about here is a favourite place for anglers, and many a punt is moored
+across stream with its ridiculous chairs on which sit two or three
+solemn elderly men, content to sit, and sit, and watch the dull brown
+water rush beneath for hour after hour, without once raising their eyes
+to see the green of the witching trees, or listening to the hum of the
+joyous life around them. To an onlooker they appear to be quaffing the
+flattest part of the sport, having missed all its head and froth. How
+different the punt fisher's day from that of the man who starts off
+up-stream, through many a low-lying willow-fringed meadow, who reaches
+over to land his fly in the deep brown pool into which the stream
+falls. Punt fishing, like loch fishing, must have its fascinations, or
+few would do it, but it lacks all the sparkle expressed in such a song
+as that of Walton's, for instance:
+
+     In a morning, up we rise,
+         Ere Aurora's peeping,
+     Drink a cup to wash our eyes,
+     Leave the sluggard sleeping.
+         Then we go
+         To and fro,
+         With our knacks
+         At our backs,
+         To such streams
+         As the Thames,
+       If we have the leisure.
+
+The less said about the rhyme the better, but this has the swing and
+lilt of the true feeling!
+
+From Cookham Bridge we can see the gaily covered lawn of the hotel,
+where a perfect flotilla of craft is anchored, while the owners have
+tea or more cooling drinks; and turning we can view the wide expanse
+of Bourne End, where the races of the Upper Thames Sailing Club are
+held all the summer, and where, about the end of June, when the great
+regatta is held, the surface of the water is dotted with swan-like
+boats.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WINDSOR AND ETON
+
+
+However disappointed a foreign monarch, on his first visit to England,
+may be with the drab hideousness of Buckingham Palace, he cannot but
+confess that in Windsor Castle we have a dwelling meet even for the
+King of England. Both architecturally and by reason of its age, Windsor
+is a truly royal palace. Its history is linked with that of our kings
+until its very stones proclaim the annals of our country. Ages ago,
+Edward the Confessor took a fancy to this quiet place by the Thames,
+and he gave it to his beloved monks of Westminster. William I. saw what
+a splendid shooting lodge might be built in the midst of the wild and
+open country abounding in game, and after having first one shooting
+lodge and then another in the neighbourhood, he acquired the high
+outstanding boss or knob of chalk on which the castle stands, and built
+thereon a residence for himself. His son, Henry I., altered it greatly;
+and succeeding kings and queens have rarely been content to leave it
+without an alteration or addition as their mark. Windsor has ever been
+a favourite with royalty. It has held its own while Westminster and
+Whitehall and Greenwich utterly vanished; while the Tower and Hampton
+have ceased to be royal dwellings; and it is still pre-eminently the
+royal castle. Certain kings, such as William III., have sometimes
+preferred other places for a while, but Windsor has satisfied alike the
+dignity of Edward III. and the homeliness of George III.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE]
+
+The situation is superb. The castle stands high above the river, which
+here curves, so as to show off its irregular outlines to the greatest
+advantage. They rise in a series of rough levels to the mighty Round
+Tower, the crown of the whole, which is massive enough to dominate,
+but not sufficiently high to dwarf the rest. Turrets, battlements,
+and smaller towers serve only to emphasize the dignity of this central
+keep. It was built in the time of Edward III., and strangely enough,
+though altered and heightened in that worst period of architectural
+taste, the reign of George IV., it was not spoiled; and even to a child
+proclaims something of the grandeur one naturally associates with it.
+
+As seen from the bridge the whole of the north range can be followed
+by the eye, from the Prince of Wales's Tower, facing the east terrace,
+to the Curfew Tower on the west. Intermediately there are the State
+apartments, and the Norman gateway, over which is the Library. These
+overlook the north terrace--open to the public at all hours from
+sunrise to sunset.
+
+The view from this terrace is very fine, stretching away to Maidenhead,
+and at times, on days of cloud and shadow, the light-coloured walls of
+Clieveden stand out suddenly, caught by a passing gleam, amid a forest
+of green trees. We can look down on the whole of Eton--the church with
+its tall spire; the buttresses and pinnacles of the chapel standing up
+white against an indigo background; the red and blue roofs piled this
+way and that; and the green playing fields girdled by the swift river.
+It was on the castle terrace that George III. used to walk with all his
+family, except the erring eldest, when he took those tiresome parades
+which Miss Burney describes with so much life-like detail.
+
+The Chapel cannot be seen from the river, as it is in the lower ward
+behind the canons' houses, and is not sufficiently high to rise well
+above them.
+
+It would be of little use to attempt to tell stories of Windsor, for
+its history belongs to the history of England and not to the river
+Thames; yet there is one memory which may be noted. Young James Stuart
+of Scotland had been sent by his father, Robert III., to France after
+the death of his elder brother, the wild Duke of Rothesay, nominally
+for education, but in reality for safe keeping. The boy was captured by
+the English while on the sea and brought as a prisoner to England. He
+was then only about ten or twelve years old. He was treated with every
+consideration, and educated so worthily that he became afterwards one
+of the best of all the Scottish kings. He was at first in the Tower
+and elsewhere, but when he reached young manhood he was brought to
+Windsor, where he had apartments allotted to him. Though he was allowed
+to follow the chase and pursue the amusements of his time, he was yet
+a prisoner, and the sad opening stanzas of his great poem, the _Kingis
+Quair_, speak the melancholy he often felt. This poem was composed at
+Windsor, and its pensiveness changes after the day when, looking down
+from his window in the castle, the youth saw walking in the garden Joan
+Beaufort, whom he afterwards made his wife:
+
+     And therewith cast I down mine eye again,
+     Where as I saw, walking under the tower,
+     The fairest or the freshest young flower
+     That ever I saw methought before that hour.
+
+His visions further on in the poem must have been coloured more or less
+by what he daily saw before him, and we may credit to the Thames the
+flowing lines:
+
+     Where in a lusty plain took I my way,
+     Along a river pleasant to behold,
+     Embroidered all with fresh flowers gay,
+     Where, through the gravel, bright as any gold,
+     The crystal water ran so clear and cold.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR]
+
+Windsor should be seen in sunshine and heat, when black shadows set off
+the towering walls, and all the uneven houses and crooked streets are
+pieced in light and shade. Then it is exceedingly like a foreign town
+in its details; and many people who travel miles to admire Chinon, and
+others of its class, would do well to visit Windsor first.
+
+The town has always been subordinate to the castle, for it was the
+castle that caused the town to spring up, as there were always numbers
+of artificers, attendants, grooms, workmen and others needed for the
+service of the Court. In the fourteenth century it was reckoned that
+the Court employed an army of 20,000 of such people. These would all
+have to be housed somehow, and the nearer the protection of the castle
+the better; hence the town on the slopes.
+
+The Home Park, in which is the mausoleum, borders the river. It is
+separated by a road from the Great Park, made for hunting. Pope's poem
+on "Windsor Forest" is not particularly beautiful; perhaps the best
+descriptive lines are those that follow:
+
+     There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades,
+     Thin trees arise that shun each others shades:
+     Here in full light the russet plains extend;
+     There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills ascend.
+
+Windsor Park is introduced by Shakspeare as the scene of some of
+Falstaff's escapades, an honour shared by the neat, bright village of
+Datchet, opposite. Datchet is a model village grouped about a green,
+and the houses are softened by all the usual creepers and bushes: we
+see roses, jasmine, laurustinus, magnolia, and ampelopsis at every
+turn. Above and below Datchet this clean neatness continues.
+
+The Victoria and Albert bridges are severe, and the weir and the great
+bow of the channel, which is cut by the lock-stream, have no particular
+characteristics. The whole neighbourhood has rather the air of holding
+itself on its best behaviour, as though royalty might any moment appear
+upon the scene. As might be expected, the scenery is rather like the
+poetry it inspired. Here is Sir John Denham's effusion about Coopers
+Hill:
+
+     My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
+     Where Thames, among the wanton valleys strays:
+     Thames, the most loved of all the Ocean's sons
+     By his old sire, to his embraces runs:
+       Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
+       Like mortal life to meet eternity.
+
+There is a pretty reach below Old Windsor, where willows and poplars
+are massed effectively. It is in places like this, where they grow
+abundantly, that the beautiful tawny colour which willows assume in the
+spring, just before bursting into leaf, can be best seen.
+
+The Bells of Ouseley stands at a bend, and with its tinted walls
+and the old elm tree growing close to the entrance, is a typical
+old-English Inn. The road to Staines passes by the water's edge, and
+the guide-post is less reticent than guide-posts are wont to be, for it
+tells us this is the "Way to Staines, except at high-water."
+
+As we pass softly back up the current to Eton, we think how often
+in this reach the incomparable Izaak and his friend Sir Henry Wotton
+fished together.
+
+     I sat down under a willow tree by the water side ... for
+     I could there sit quietly, and, looking on the water, see
+     some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others
+     leaping at flies of several shapes and colours; ... looking
+     down the meadows, could see here a boy gathering lilies
+     and ladysmocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeys and
+     cowslips.
+
+Wotton built a fishing box a mile below the college, from which he and
+Walton often sallied forth during the fifteen years he was provost of
+Eton, and to his rod many a "jealous trout that low did lie, rose at a
+well dissembled fly," as he himself has left on record.
+
+     Ye distant spires, ye antique towers
+       That crown the wat'ry glade,
+     Where grateful Science still adores
+       Her Henry's holy shade;
+     And ye, that from the stately brow
+     Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below
+     Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
+     Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among
+     Wanders the hoary Thames along
+       His silver-winding way.
+                                        --_Gray._
+
+In rounding the great sweep of the river below the London and South
+Western railway bridge, we catch at once the pinnacles of Eton
+chapel--most glorious of chapels--and see the green playing fields.
+
+The long tree-covered island of Romney, on one side of which lies the
+lock, ends in a terrible "snout," strengthened by "camp-shedding." This
+point is locally known as the "Cobbler," and is a source of peril to
+many an inexperienced boatman.
+
+  [Illustration: ETON CHAPEL FROM THE FIELDS]
+
+The bridge over the river can, unfortunately, hardly be called a good
+feature in the landscape--it is as ugly as a railway bridge! Just above
+it is a row of boat-houses, and then follows the Brocas, the famous
+meadow. Above the bridge is a tiny islet which serves as an objective
+in the Fourth of June procession of boats. The boats come down and
+round the island, and once more returning, pass under the bridge to the
+lock, having made a sort of spiral. Nearly all the Eton races are rowed
+in this strip of the river, though, of course, Henley Regatta is the
+greatest event in the boating calendar. A small string of islands faces
+some little public gardens, and away northward winds the Great Western
+Railway on a series of small arches which carry it over the marshy
+ground, no doubt at one time under water.
+
+Beyond the line is a small backwater known as Cuckoo weir, the bathing
+place of the lower boys. Here the swimming trials take place, when
+a set of trembling pink youngsters stand in a punt ready to take a
+graceful header, or, from sheer nervousness, to fall with an ugly flop
+smack upon the water and be disqualified for the time being!
+
+The bathing place of the upper boys, called by the dignified title of
+Athens, is further up in the main river, near the curious island on
+which is Windsor racecourse. The river winds giddily in and out between
+the end of this island and Upper and Lower Hope, which lie between it
+and Cuckoo weir. A mill stands at the end of the long narrow stream
+that separates the racecourse from the mainland, and on the other side
+of the island is Boveney Lock. The quaint old chapel stands amid trees
+further up.
+
+Above the island was once Surley Hall, a favourite resort of the
+Etonians, but it is now pulled down, and Monkey Island is the place
+to go to on half-holidays. Monkey Island is a good way up, and is the
+third of a row of islands. The little one below it, called Queen's
+ait, now belongs to the Eton boys, who have built a small cottage on
+it. Monkey Island itself is a curious and attractive place, except
+when the launches come up from Windsor on Saturdays, bringing hundreds
+of people, who sit about at little tables on the green sward under
+the famous walnut trees, and call for refreshments. There is a large
+pavilion, part boat-house, which belongs to the Eton boys, where they
+can get tea served without mingling with the townspeople. Near it is
+a quaint little temple. This, as well as the house, now the hotel,
+was built by the third Duke of Marlborough, a man of curious taste.
+The hall in the hotel is painted all round with the figures of monkeys
+engaged in various sports and pastimes. There is a broad frieze which
+appears to have been executed in water colours on plaster; the ceiling
+is likewise painted, but in rather a different style. The monkeys
+are a good size, and attract a vast crowd of visitors. The pretty
+verandah round the hotel redeems its appearance externally. Inside it
+has at once all the attractions and disadvantages of an old house--low
+ceilings, very small rooms; but on the other hand there are windings
+and twistings, crooked passages and odd corners, that delight the heart
+of those to whom machine-made houses are an abomination. The duke's
+bedroom is shown, and is as queerly shaped a room as ever mortal man
+conceived. Monkey Island is being embanked with the precious gravel
+dredged from the bed of the Thames, and, though no doubt a necessary
+precaution, as the river insidiously breaks off what it can, the
+operation is not a beautiful one. The island is very proud of its
+walnut trees, and well it may be, for they are a great change after
+the ubiquitous willows, and their gnarled stems and fine shady leaves
+are just the right element in such a scene as a gay lawn covered with
+summer folk in summer dresses.
+
+From Monkey Island the little church tower of Bray can be seen, but
+before reaching it Bray Lock has to be negotiated, and here are a long
+sinuous osier-covered ait and a mill, making, as usual, a convenient
+backwater.
+
+Bray is truly a charming place, and one could find it in one's heart
+to forgive the vicar who turned his coat to keep his vicarage. The
+real man lived in the reign of Henry VIII. and his successors, and
+changed his religious practices in conformity with those of the
+sovereign for the time being, turning from Roman Catholic to Reformed
+Church, Reformed to Roman Catholic, and back once more with ease
+and pliability. In the ballad he is represented as living in the
+seventeenth century, and his gymnastics refer to the varying fortunes
+of the house of Stuart, and the Romish tendencies of the later kings of
+that house. Fuller, with his usual quaintness, remarks of him that he
+had seen some martyrs burnt at Windsor and "found this fire too hot for
+his tender temper." But one would fain believe it was not altogether
+cowardice, but also a love of his delightful village, that made him
+so amenable. The little flint and stone tower of the church peeps
+at the river over a splendid assortment of evergreens--laurels, holm
+oaks, yews, and spruce firs being particularly noticeable--and the old
+vicarage with this growth of sheltering trees and its smooth lawn right
+down to the water's edge, is certainly a place that one would think
+twice about before leaving. The village itself is so irregular that,
+tiny as it is, one may get lost in it. There are endless vistas of
+gable ends, of bowed timbers, of pretty porches, and worn brick softly
+embraced by vine or wistaria; yet even in Bray, new red brick is making
+its way. One of the most interesting features is the almshouses, and
+if one lands by the hotel, they are reached after only a few minutes'
+walk. The exterior is very quaint; large cylindrical yews and hollies,
+like roly-poly puddings on end, stand up in stubborn rank before the
+worn red brick. The statue of the founder, of an immaculate whiteness,
+with the glitter of gilt in the coat-of-arms below, just lightens the
+effect. Through an ancient arch one passes to the quadrangle, which
+is filled with tiny flower-beds, and surrounded by a low range of red
+brick with dormer windows. At the other side is the chapel covered with
+ivy, and this, with the little diamond panes and the brightness of the
+variegated flower-beds, is home-like and cosy. Yet it must be confessed
+that in his well-known picture, "The Harbour of Refuge," admittedly
+taken from Bray, Frederick Walker, the artist, has greatly improved
+the scene with artistic licence. The raised terrace at the side, the
+greater width of the quadrangle, the smooth green lawn and sheltering
+central tree in his picture, are far more harmonious and beautiful than
+the reality.
+
+Bray is a very popular haunt with artists and boating people. In
+summer the George Hotel cannot take in all its visitors, and beds are
+hired all over the village, consequently, anyone wishing to spend some
+weeks in Bray must make arrangements well beforehand. This is not to
+be wondered at, because, as well as its own attractions, it is within
+easy reach of Maidenhead and the delights beyond, and its unspoilt
+quaintness makes it ideal to stay in. Long may Bray remain as it is,
+unaltered and a tiny village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MAGNA CHARTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Magna Charta Island is something of a shock at first sight; it is so
+exceptionally well cared for and so pretty. One pictures a tangle of
+wild trees, a mass of rushes, osiers perhaps, and general grimness.
+The osiers are confined to a fraction of the island; on the remainder
+is a prettily-built house of a fair size, with the very best sort of
+river-lawn, on which grow various fine and regular trees. Many are the
+evergreens; and the bosky holm oak, the dignified stone pine, and the
+flourishing walnut, seen in conjunction with the beautifully kept turf
+and bright flower-beds, are altogether unlike one's conception of the
+place.
+
+It is true that, though the island has the name of it, it is now
+generally supposed that the actual signing of our great charter of
+liberties took place on the mainland. John had delayed, and played
+false, and postponed the issue for long, but he knew now that all was
+up, and he was cornered. A truce was declared, and from Windsor he
+agreed to meet his barons and "concede to them the laws and liberties
+which they asked." The fifteenth of June was fixed for the day, and
+Runney Mead, or Runnymede, for the place. With the barons were almost
+the whole of the English nobility; with John, certain ecclesiastical
+powers, namely, the Archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin, and seven
+bishops, as well as some earls and barons. It is quite obvious that the
+barons could have had no idea of the vast consequences of their act.
+They would have been astonished could they have foreseen that it would
+become the basis of the English constitution. They merely wanted to
+bind down a particular king who had outraged their liberties.
+
+One can hardly imagine a better place for the assembling of a great
+body of armed men than these meadows by the river. The land is as flat
+as a platform, and sheltered to the south by the heights of Cooper's
+Hill, which rise like the tiers in an amphitheatre. The Long Mead, with
+the exception of the road now running across it, must have looked very
+much then as it does now. Runney Mead is more altered, because it is
+shut in by hedges. We know not if the day were fine or overcast when
+the great charter was signed; but when the deed was done John, in a
+rage, retired to Windsor. The barons remained on the meads for about
+ten days, during which the place must have been like a fair.
+
+It is very hot on this part of the river on a sunny day. The trees
+growing on the banks are all on the north side, and consequently give
+little shade. They border Ankerwyke Park, and grow so close to the
+water that many of their roots are in it. The swallows dart to and
+fro, and clouds of gnats dance like thistledown in the air. Near the
+banks grow many flowers. The spotted knotweed or persicaria, with its
+bright flesh-coloured flowers, is sometimes in water, sometimes on
+the land; the common forget-me-not can be seen peeping up with its
+bright blue eyes; the pink willow herb flourishes; and the yellow iris
+and the purple loosestrife are also to be seen. And when there is no
+wind the scent of the meadow-sweet and the dog-roses becomes almost
+overpowering.
+
+Ankerwyke was once a priory. It was appropriated by Henry VIII., who is
+said to have carried on the courtship of Anne Boleyn under the mighty
+chestnuts for which it was even then famous:
+
+     The tyrant Harry felt love's softening flame,
+     And sighing breathed his Anna Boleyn's name.
+
+A bit of doggerel just about worthy of the occasion!
+
+A more interesting association, though one that leads us rather far
+from the river, is Milton's residence at Horton. He lived here with
+his parents for five years after leaving Cambridge, and no doubt his
+rambles over country which would not then be hedged in and cut up as
+it is now, often led him in the direction of the river. It was this
+scenery, noted at those deeply impressionable years, that he could
+still see when earthly sight was gone.
+
+_Lycidas_ and _Comus_ were both written in the next four or five years,
+and in
+
+     The willows and the hazel copses green
+
+we have a touch of real nature breaking through the conventional
+allusions to vines and wild thyme; also:
+
+     Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
+     Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
+     On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks;
+     Throw hither all your quaint, enamell'd eyes
+     That on the green turf suck the honied showers,
+     And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
+     Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
+     The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
+     The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
+     The glowing violet,
+     The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
+     With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
+     And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
+     Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
+     And daffadillies fill their cups with tears.
+                                     --_Lycidas._
+
+     By the rushy-fringed bank
+     Where grows the willow and the osier dank.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Thus I set my printless feet
+     O'er the cowslip's velvet head
+     That bends not as I tread.
+                         --_Comus._
+
+Not very far below Ankerwyke, the river Coln runs into the Thames
+near Bell Weir Lock, and a little bit above Staines is London
+Stone, standing in a meadow close by the water. It marked the former
+jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London over the river, but these
+rights are now vested in the Thames Conservators. Staines does not
+make the most of itself, or sufficiently endeavour to veil those
+unsightlinesses incidental to a town. The large gasometers opposite
+London Stone are not the only blemishes. Standing on the bridge and
+looking up-stream there are many ugly, yellow-brick, manufacturing
+buildings to be seen; while the screen of willows does not hide piles
+of untidy stones, rusty old iron and other uglinesses. Even the very
+passable island in the centre does not atone. Down stream things are
+a little better, though the want of architectural beauty in the new
+church by the river and the "plastered-on" pinnacles of the parish
+church are both eyesores.
+
+From Staines, however, one may pass rapidly to a fascinating corner at
+Penton Hook.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PENTON HOOK
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Penton Hook is quite peculiar. To a select little coterie of people it
+is _the_ place on the river, but to hundreds of others it is not known
+at all. To its own manifest advantage it is off the "hard high road,"
+and the scorchers and the bounders, and the multitude generally, fly by
+within a comparatively short distance, little knowing what they have
+missed. But one or two of the favoured few turn down to quiet little
+Laleham, and wheeling round a corner come right on to the tow-path by
+the river's brink; in a hundred yards they are at Penton Hook. But
+though the Hook is very select and highly favoured, that is not to
+say it lacks population, only--it is a population of the right sort.
+Little camps of charming bungalows dot the banks both above and below
+the lock. Some are built on ground leased from the Conservancy, some on
+that of private owners. To each man is allotted a strip of ground, with
+so much river frontage, whereon he builds to his own taste and fancy a
+little one-storeyed white-painted house, and lays out the tiny garden
+from which his own white steps reach down to the water. Think of the
+joy of it! The leader in an important case has been in a stuffy court
+all day, burdened with his wig and gown, seeing all the dust and stains
+of unswept corners of human nature; accusing, with upraised finger,
+the brazen witness who has just perjured himself; dragging from that
+yellow-faced man the secret he thought buried. Faugh! But the court
+rises; he is away. The motor takes him down in less than an hour. Gone
+are the stifling garments; the worn and wicked faces. The dull roar of
+Strand traffic is replaced by the splashing of the water as it bounds
+over the weir. The freed man tumbles into flannels and lies full length
+on the green grass, smoking, with the water flowing at his feet, or he
+dawdles in a boat round the Hook, tempting the fish with all the decoys
+he knows. Happy man!
+
+The trees near the bungalows, and those that fringe the meadows near,
+are not pollarded; there is space between their tall stems. The short
+grass, gemmed with pink-tipped daisies, can be seen everywhere, and
+there is air, and freshness, and openness for everyone. The white
+paint of the bungalows and their neat green or pink roofs, the rows
+of geraniums, roses, and other flowers carefully kept and tended, add
+touches of gaiety and brightness.
+
+There are three weirs, for the river here makes the neatest horse-shoe
+in its whole length, and the authorities have cut through the neck
+of land, so that the greater part of the stream goes rioting and
+tumbling in joyous confusion beneath the great new weir, provided with
+a pent-house roof, under which it is always cool on the hottest summer
+day, with transparent reflections dancing on the wall and a ripple
+and splash below. The second weir, a mere tumbling-weir, is only a
+few yards away. The water does not often leap over it unless it is at
+flood time, when it affords a safety outlet. The third and widest is a
+mixture, half sluice gates and half of the tumbling kind. At one time
+there was no weir here, and boats could avoid the lock by navigating
+the Hook, but that is now no longer possible. There is one advantage in
+it; it keeps the Hook more secluded. The little red water-gauge house
+is connected by wires with Staines, and so to all the rest of England.
+By an automatic arrangement, the register shows simultaneously here and
+at the offices of the water company what depth of water there is, so
+that they may know how much they can take.
+
+At Penton it should be always summer, with dog-roses and sweetbriar,
+with placid red cows grazing on the tender grass, with boats tethered
+in the lazy current round the bend of the Hook.
+
+An uncommonly good place for fishing it is, this Hook, as the
+kingfishers have found out, for they are yearly increasing, and
+apparently do not mind the gay tide of summer company that invades
+their haunts. Right down on the banks near the lock one pair nested
+this year. No steamers churn up the waters and frighten the fish; only
+a slow-moving house-boat or two towed to position and there left, or
+those drifting boats belonging to young men and maidens who are content
+to drift metaphorically as well as actually.
+
+The Abbey river starts away on its own account on the far side of the
+Hook, and begins its short course of about a couple of miles, to fall
+into the Thames again at Chertsey. It used to be possible to get up
+it in a boat, but now it is barred. However, visitors have nothing to
+complain of, for the meadows around are singularly open to them, and
+the place is not hedged about with restrictions as are so many river
+resorts. Numbers of people come down to picnic, and it is no uncommon
+sight to see quite a row of motors outside the lock-keeper's house,
+while footman or chauffeur carries across the luncheon hampers to what
+was once a peninsula but is now an island. Tradesmen's carts come round
+too, finding in the swallow-colony quite enough demand to make it worth
+their while; and year by year the bungalows grow. A whole new piece of
+meadow, hitherto osier bed, is even now going to be devoted to them.
+"Why, I get as many as twenty to thirty applications for land every
+week," says the lock-keeper. It is to be hoped Penton Hook will not
+become over-populated, or the delightful freedom from conventionality
+which now characterises it might die away. "Ladies who come down
+here--why, some of them, they never put a hat on their heads the whole
+time, and I was going to say not shoes or stockings either!" The place
+is particularly sought after by theatrical people. Miss Ellen Terry
+still holds the bungalow she has had for many years. It is surprising
+how early the season begins; even at the end of chilly March a few of
+the first of the swallows appear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ABOUT CHERTSEY AND WEYBRIDGE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Between Chertsey and Penton Hook is Laleham, where the tiny ivy-covered
+church is too much hidden away to be seen easily. An old red brick
+moss-grown wall is the chief object near the river, and with the
+bending trees and quiet fields there is a sense of brooding peace which
+only remains in places off the main roads. Matthew Arnold was born at
+Laleham and is buried in the churchyard. His father, Dr. Arnold of
+Rugby, came here in 1819, but he left when Matthew was only six, to
+take the head-mastership of Rugby.
+
+Between Laleham and Chertsey there is some open, rather untidy ground
+on which gypsies are wont to camp. It cannot be said that the river
+looks its best above Chertsey. The country is too flat and open, and on
+a summer day one is too often scorched. Yet there is always some beauty
+to be found, and it is certainly in open spaces like these that we see
+best reflected "heaven's own blue." Away to the west the tiny Abbey
+river flows in past a mill. By Chertsey bridge a triumphant victory in
+regard to right-of-way over the Thames Conservancy in 1902, is recorded
+on two newly built villas. Opposite is the Bridge Hotel, which, with
+its little bay, its Lombardy poplars and green lawn, is a pleasant
+oasis.
+
+Chertsey Abbey, which was of great fame, lay between the town and the
+river. It was founded in 666, and some Saxon tiles from the flooring
+may be seen in the British Museum. The buildings were destroyed by the
+Danes, but it was re-established in 964 as a Benedictine Monastery.
+
+Nothing shows more the immense power of the monks in England than
+these mighty abbeys which studded the country. We have come across so
+many, even in our short journey between Oxford and London, that the
+fact cannot escape notice; though they probably were more thickly set
+beside the river than elsewhere, because, as I have said, flowing water
+attracted these old monks for more than one reason. There is hardly
+anything left of Chertsey Abbey now, yet in its prime it was like a
+small town, giving employment to hundreds of people. There are a few
+ivy-covered steps near the back of the church and an old bit of wall
+doubtfully supposed to have been part of the boundary; this is near
+the Abbey river. Henry VI. was buried at Chertsey, and his funeral is
+referred to in Shakespeare's play of _Richard III._:
+
+     ... after I have solemnly interr'd
+     At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
+     And wet his grave with my repentant tears.
+
+So he makes the hypocritical Duke of Gloucester speak. Cowley, the
+poet, lived in Chertsey for two years before his death. The house
+still stands; it has an overhanging storey and is covered with rough
+stucco. Charles James Fox was born in a house near, and this probably
+decided him in making choice of a residence many years later, for he
+chose St. Anne's Hill, only two miles away, which can be seen far and
+wide around. There he settled to indulge in the delightful hobby of
+improving his grounds.
+
+Below Chertsey Bridge is an excellent punting reach, where the
+championship punting competition is held every year in the beginning
+of August. This is, doubtless, the reason why Chertsey is crowded
+with visitors in the summer, when out of all the innumerable lodgings
+scarcely a room is to be had.
+
+The river about Weybridge and Shepperton is much more varied than
+at Chertsey, and to my mind variety is a direct element of beauty in
+river scenery. We have passed through flat meadows lined with straight
+ranks of Lombardy poplars that might belong to northern France, and
+then suddenly, at Weybridge, we begin once more curves and twists and
+unexpected islands and snug corners. There is a ferry across the river,
+and the place seems to get along wonderfully well without a bridge.
+In the middle of the stream is a well-kept island which belonged to
+the late Mr. D'Oyly Carte; it is hedged about with an exclusive wall,
+enclosing a pretty garden. In the centre is a neat white house with
+projecting tiles.
+
+In every direction there are numerous boat-building establishments.
+The lock island is large and has other buildings on it besides the
+lock-keeper's cottage. It is a favourite camping ground in summer, and
+has rather an untidy appearance. The wide-mouthed Wey flows in beside
+a couple of other islands, and is itself a very attractive place to
+explore, winding away through meadows and beneath overhanging trees.
+It is, however, not free from locks, though of a somewhat simpler kind
+than those on the Thames. Weybridge is a fresh and pleasant place,
+rapidly growing in all directions, and in its gorsy common land and
+masses of pine woods it reminds one of the parts of Surrey about
+Camberley. On the green stands the column which once presented seven
+faces to the seven streets in London, called after it Seven Dials.
+Since then it has risen in life, having been bought and surmounted with
+a coronet instead of the dial stone; this was in honour of the Duchess
+of York, who died in 1820. She lived at Oatlands Park and was very
+popular.
+
+Oatlands Park is the great place of the neighbourhood. It was once
+a hunting ground of King Henry VIII., but now belongs to a large
+residential hotel. Nothing remains of the building, which was used
+by many of our English monarchs. George IV. entertained here the
+Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and all the princes and
+generals who visited England after Waterloo. In 1790 the Duke of
+York, who is commemorated by the column in Waterloo Place, bought and
+rebuilt the house, and still later it was in the possession of the
+Earl of Ellesmere. Remodelled, the house still stands as the hotel. A
+large piece of ornamental water in the grounds is almost as great an
+attraction as Virginia Water. Just where the park touches the river is
+the place known as Cowey Stakes. It is said that here Cæsar crossed the
+river when in pursuit of Cassivelaunus, in 54 B.C. The stakes, which
+are no longer to be seen, are supposed to have been placed there to
+obstruct his use of the ford. They had been so long under water, that
+when found they were like ebony; they were about six feet long and
+shod with iron. They appear to have been too imposing and carefully
+formed to have been put in for the mere purpose of a river weir or for
+fishing; but, on the other hand, instead of running with the axis of
+the river, as would appear reasonable if they were meant to obstruct
+the passage of men, they were planted across it like a weir. They have
+afforded matter for endless discussion among antiquaries.
+
+  [Illustration: WALTON BRIDGE]
+
+What we know is that Cæsar, having landed at Pevensey, marched inland
+and came to the Thames at about eighty miles from the sea. The river
+was fordable only at one place, and here natives were drawn up to
+oppose him, and the ford fortified with sharp stakes. So the evidence
+certainly seems in favour of this place.
+
+Near Cowey Stakes is Walton Bridge, on the far side of which is a large
+pool connected with the river by a channel; here are constantly to be
+found punt fishers. Turner painted Walton Bridge, and certainly, in
+some aspects, the place is worthy of being painted. The present bridge
+is of brick and iron, but the old one was of oak. Walton, like every
+other place on the Thames, depends greatly on the weather. On days
+when the cedars are seen against a vivid blue sky and the songs of a
+thousand birds are heard, when the meadows are lined with flowers, it
+is beautiful.
+
+     Now rings the woodland loud and long,
+       The distance takes a lovelier hue,
+       And drown'd in yonder living blue
+     The lark becomes a sightless song.
+
+There are other days when the whole is curiously like a platinotype
+photograph; when the steel-grey water reflects a white sun, and all the
+countless twigs of the trees are seen in one feathery mass. All colours
+seem drawn out of the picture, even the green of the grass is turned
+to dun. Light is everything in estimating beauty, but it is sometimes
+difficult to realise quite how much one owes to it. We might quote from
+Cowley's _Hymn to the Light_:
+
+     Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay
+       Dost thy bright wood of stars survey,
+       And all the year dost with thee bring
+     Of thousand flow'ry lights thine own nocturnal spring.
+
+     When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy waken'd head
+       Out of the morning's purple bed,
+       Thy quire of birds about thee play,
+     And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.
+
+In Walton Church is a small brass with, _inter alia_, a man riding
+on a stag's back. The story goes that this man, John Selwyn, was an
+under-keeper in Oatlands Park in Queen Elizabeth's time, and that when
+she was present at the "chace," he leapt from his own horse's back
+straight on to that of the driven stag, when "he not only kept his
+seat gracefully in spite of every effort of the affrighted beast, but,
+drawing his sword, with it guided him toward the Queen, and coming near
+her presence plunged it into his throat, so that the animal fell dead
+at her feet."
+
+  [Illustration: SUNBURY]
+
+In the vestry is a Scolds' or Gossips' bridle, designed in the old days
+of witch-hunting and other atrocities to torture poor women.
+
+Admiral Rodney was a native of Walton, and an old and quaintly built
+house which belonged to the regicide Bradshaw is still in existence.
+
+Below Walton is Sunbury with its long, long weirs, and its little
+houses spread beside the edge of the water. But with Hampton we reach
+the Londoner's zone, which is for another chapter. At present Halliford
+and Shepperton, two little places opposite Oatlands, are far too pretty
+to be passed by without remark. The Manor House at Shepperton has one
+of the finest lawns on the river, which is no small thing. Shepperton
+is a scattered place and lies low; the meadows all around are often
+flooded for miles and miles, looking like an inland sea. A tiny river
+called the Exe finds its way into the Thames near Halliford. A glimpse
+of the quaint church of Shepperton should not be missed. The tower is
+very lean and narrow; it looks rather as if bricks had run short. It
+was added later than the rest, which was built in 1614. Tradition says
+that the previous church was destroyed by a Thames flood, though it
+stood on piles to raise it from the marshy ground. The old rectory,
+with its dormer windows and projecting wings, is really built of oak,
+though it has been faced with tiles which look like brick. It is about
+four hundred years old, and is one of the most delightful rectory
+houses imaginable. The list of rectors goes back to before 1330.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE LONDONER'S ZONE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+As far as Hampton the river may be said to lie within the zone of the
+Londoner. By means of the District Railway and the London and South
+Western Railway he can get at any part of it, and trams are yearly
+stretching out further and further, so that he can go above ground, if
+he wishes, all the way to Hampton. At Hampton itself, at Richmond and
+Kew, there are large open spaces once the gardens or parks belonging
+to kings, but now open as public pleasure grounds, ideal places for
+the man who has a small family to take with him, and whose holiday is
+limited to a day. For those who are free from encumbrances, there are
+always boats to be had in abundance, at a much cheaper rate than one
+would have to pay for them at, say, Maidenhead; and the scenery itself,
+though not so fine as some higher up, is pleasant and attractive. If
+the day be wet or uncertain there is the palace at Hampton to explore;
+and accommodation for eating and drinking is amply supplied by numerous
+inns and hotels clustering round its gates.
+
+The gateway to the Palace is imposing, with its brick piers and stone
+heraldic animals, and the long low range of buildings on the left side
+makes a strip of bright colour.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMPTON COURT FROM THE RIVER]
+
+The older part of the palace was built by Wolsey, but by far the
+greater part of it, as it now stands, is due to William III. Some
+parts of the entrance gateway and the great hall are all that remain
+to speak of Wolsey's inconceivable boldness in attempting to build a
+palace which should outshine that of a jealous monarch like Henry VIII.
+Skelton's satire, beginning:
+
+     Why come ye not to courte?
+     To which courte?
+     To the kinge's courte,
+     Or to Hampton Courte?
+
+showed what everyone thought, and doubtless served to concentrate
+attention upon Wolsey's temerity. The irony of the matter lay in the
+fact that the palace was not seized, but that the unfortunate owner was
+forced to make a present of it to the King:
+
+     With turrettes and with toures,
+     With halls and with boures
+     Stretching to the starres,
+     With glass windows and barres;
+     Hanginge about their walles
+     Clothes of gold and palles
+     Fresh as floures in Maye.
+
+Whether he gave the palace as it stood, with its "two hundred and four
+score beds, the furniture of most being of silk," is not recorded; but
+it is probable that when he had been wrought up to the pitch of terror
+necessary for overcoming his reluctance to part with his beautiful new
+possession, he would give all--everything--feeling that so long as his
+life was safe it was all he cared about. As a mark of royal favour,
+Henry allowed him to occupy apartments at Richmond, where he was not
+too far off to observe the doings of the monarch in his palace. The
+king was so pleased with his new establishment that he formed a mighty
+park, embracing all the land for miles around, including East and West
+Molesey, Cobham, Esher, Byfleet, and Thames Ditton, and was sorely
+aggrieved because his loving subjects, whose land and rights had thus
+been confiscated, dared to make an outcry.
+
+Edward VI. was born at Hampton. After his death Queen Mary came here
+with her husband Philip, and the unhappy couple, one full of sullen
+hate, the other sore and bitter in her loneliness, must have strolled
+in the grounds many a time.
+
+For three months King Charles I. was held prisoner here while his fate
+was undecided, and when he was removed it was to go up the river to
+Maidenhead, where he said his last farewell to his children. Oliver
+Cromwell, who, though he dared not take the name of king, had no
+dislike to the royal privileges, lived at Hampton, and one of his
+daughters was married from the palace. But by the time of William
+III., much of the building had fallen into decay. The situation was
+pleasant, and though Henry's park had in great part reverted to its
+rightful owners, there was still much open ground around which made
+the place desirable. William had a passion for building, and loved the
+prim Dutch style, as was natural. The maze and the canal, and the long
+avenues of trees in Bushey, are all evidences of his taste. But in the
+palace he attempted to copy Versailles, as he had already copied it
+at Kensington. Poor Wren must have been as much perplexed as ever he
+was in his life when told to remodel a Tudor building into the copy of
+one of the Renaissance, and that he succeeded at all is greatly to his
+credit. Two out of the five courts which remained of the old palace
+were pulled down, and the state rooms, as we now see them, are the
+work of Wren under William's directions. Since then the interest and
+beauty of the interior has been much added to by the famous collection
+of pictures, which attracts at least as many visitors as the building
+does.
+
+Bushey Park adjoins Hampton, and lies so close to the river that it
+forms part of the river scenery. Its glory is in its great double line
+of chestnuts, with the broad sweep of green grass lining the avenues
+formed by them. Chestnut Sunday, when the trees are in bloom, is a
+well-known date in the Londoner's calendar, and every description of
+conveyance is hired, chartered, or borrowed, to see the great sight.
+Hundreds of people, to whom it is one of the great days in the year,
+walk about or eat refreshments beneath the sombre green masses which
+are lightened by a thousand pyramidal candles. The central avenue is
+one mile and forty yards in length, and the width of it is fifty-six
+yards. A noble conception, worthy of the little man with the wise head.
+On Hampton Green, outside the gates of the palace, Sir Christopher
+Wren passed the last five years of his life, in sight of his greatest
+architectural problem.
+
+Molesey Lock, just above the bridge, is a popular place in summer. All
+those who have come down to enjoy the fresh air, and who want an excuse
+for doing nothing, stand and watch the boats passing through; there
+is always as great a crowd on the tow-path as on the water. A number
+of islands lie above the lock, the largest of which is Tagg's, as well
+known as any island on the river, and much patronised by holiday-makers
+at lunch and tea time. In summer a band plays on the lawn twice a week.
+It is opposite the end of the Hurst Park Racecourse, patronised by
+altogether a different type of people from those who come to Hampton
+Court, and who can only be said to belong to the river accidentally,
+by reason of the position of the course. A wonderful club boat-house
+of polished wood has sprung up of recent years on the Hampton side,
+and above it is Garrick's Villa with portico and columns. This the
+great actor bought in 1754, and kept until his death, after which his
+widow lived in it for another forty years. He was visited here by all
+the celebrated men of his time, including Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson
+and Hogarth, and here he gave a splendid series of river fêtes. The
+little temple on the bank was built by him as a shrine for a statue of
+Shakespeare, which has now been removed. A small public garden on the
+edge of the water makes this a favourite lounging place for the people
+of the neighbourhood. The scenery is rather tame, but has that charm
+always to be found in flowing water and green grass, in the absence of
+chimneys and other horrors of man's making.
+
+The church of Hampton village stands up fairly high above the water.
+It is in a most unlovely style, but ivy has done something to smooth
+down its defects, which are further toned by distance. There is a
+ferry close by, and as this is the nearest point to the station, many
+of those who arrive by train on race-days cross at this point, and the
+ferrymen reap rich harvests.
+
+Not far beyond this loom up the great earthworks and reservoirs of
+the West Middlesex and Grand Junction Water Company, and with that the
+influence of Hampton may be said to cease.
+
+Returning again to the bridge at Hampton, we have the river Mole
+flowing in on the right bank. Molesey Regatta takes place every year
+in July. The trees and red brickwork of the palace are on the left,
+and only a short way down is the pretty little oasis of Thames Ditton,
+which somehow seems as if it ought to belong to the river much higher
+up, and had fallen here by mistake. The Swan Inn is right on the edge
+of the water. It is proud of the fact that Theodore Hook wrote a verse
+on a pane of glass at a time when such things were quite legitimate,
+because the tourist, as we know him, had not then come into existence
+to vulgarise the practice. The pane has been broken, but the verse is
+remembered, and the following lines are a sample:
+
+     The Swan, snug inn, good fare affords
+       As table e'er was put on,
+     And worthier quite of loftier boards,
+       Its poultry, fish and mutton.
+     And while sound wine mine host supplies,
+       With ale of Meux and Tritton,
+     Mine hostess with her bright blue eyes
+       Invites to stay at Ditton.
+
+We wonder how many hostesses since have wished the lines had never been
+written. An old inn near by, with overhanging gable end and clinging
+wistaria, makes a pretty corner, and in the High Street itself there
+are bits so different from the Kingston and Surbiton ideal, that one
+cannot understand how they can be in the same zone with them at all.
+The green lawns of Ditton House and Boyle Farm are quite close, and the
+fine island with its willows hides the flatness of the further bank.
+
+About the end of the eighteenth century this part of the river was
+celebrated for its magnificent fêtes.
+
+One of these, given at Boyle Farm, inspired Moore to write a poem which
+was not published until long after:
+
+     Lamps of all hues, from walks and bowers,
+     Broke on the eye like kindling flowers
+     Till budding into light each tree
+     Bore its full fruit of brilliancy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     And now along the waters fly
+     Swift gondoles of Venetian breed,
+     With knights, and dames, who calm reclined,
+     Lisp out love sonnets as they glide,
+     Astonishing old Thames to find
+     Such doings on his moral tide.
+
+The reach is a favourite one for sailing boats. Below Long Ditton are
+the large waterworks of the Lambeth Company. On fine Saturdays and
+Sundays the Hampton tow-path on the other side is generally alive with
+people. On Raven's Ait is the club-house of the Kingston Rowing Club,
+and beside the water runs a well laid out strip of ground with bushes
+and seats, and a good stout hedge to keep off the dust from the motor
+cars which race by on the road--a section of the Ripley Road beloved of
+scorchers. In summer this little public garden is bright with flowers,
+and it is a great favourite with the inhabitants of Kingston and
+Surbiton. Before arriving at the bridge there are the backs of untidy
+houses, and generally a great medley of barges, laden with hay and
+bricks and coal, lying about by the wharves.
+
+Kingston, as we have said elsewhere, can boast of one of the oldest
+bridges over the river. A bridge of wood stood here in 1225, when
+there was no other in the whole sweep downward as far as London Bridge.
+The present one is very narrow, and its convenience is not increased
+since a double line of tramways has been laid across it. The general
+similarity of position between it and Richmond Bridge may be remarked.
+Both have large boat-building establishments near, and both are about
+the same distance from the railway bridges which cross below them.
+
+As this is not a guide-book, no attempt is made to describe other
+than picturesque effects and ancient survivals such as are likely to
+attract the notice of anyone actually on the river, but an exception
+must be made in favour of Kingston Stone, which anyone ought to land
+to see. It is in the market-place, not five minutes from the river,
+and from it--the King's Stone--the name of the place is derived. It
+is a shapeless block, mounted on a granite base, and round it are
+inscribed the names of seven Saxon kings who were crowned here, and
+a silver penny of each of their reigns has been inserted. There seems
+to be no authentic history of this interesting relic, and no definite
+explanation as to why these kings should have been here crowned; but
+a suggestion there is that at the date of the first of the coronations
+Mercia and Wessex were joined under one king, and while the boundaries
+of Mercia reached to the Thames on the north side, those of Wessex
+marched with them on the south. Kingston was equally accessible to
+both, and as London was at that time in the hands of the Danes, and the
+ford at Kingston the only one above London by which the river could be
+safely crossed, the place was chosen accordingly.
+
+Teddington Lock was for a long time the lowest on the river, but has
+been supplanted by a Benjamin in the shape of a half-tide lock at
+Richmond. The reach about Teddington is in the summer very pretty. The
+banks are dotted with little bungalows, bright with blue and white
+paint and gay with flowers. The long smooth lawns of the riverside
+houses stretch down to the water, and the Crimson Rambler climbs over
+many a rustic bridge and iron trellis. It is a well-cared for part, and
+holds its own against rivals of greater grandeur. There are several
+islands forming cover where one can ship oars and rest, and though
+landing is in most places forbidden, there is no law against a boat's
+drawing inshore beneath the shelter of the overhanging trees, amongst
+which may be noted several weeping willows. This bit recalls Moore's:
+
+           ... where Thames is seen
+     Gliding between his banks of green,
+     While rival villas on each side
+     Peep from their bowers to win his tide.
+
+Beyond Teddington we are in Twickenham Reach:
+
+     Where silver Thames round Twit'nam meads
+     His winding current sweetly leads.
+                                 --_Walpole._
+
+There is a great bend at Twickenham, and in it the chimneys of
+Strawberry Hill may be seen overtopping the high evergreen hedge that
+surrounds it. The house has been altered considerably since Walpole's
+date, but in its essence it is the house he built. He himself describes
+his view thus:
+
+     Directly before it is an open grove through which you see a
+     field, which is bounded by a serpentine wood of all kind of
+     trees, and flowering shrubs, and flowers. The lawn before
+     the house is situated on the top of a small hill from whence
+     to the left you see the town and church of Twickenham,
+     encircling a turn of the river, that looks exactly like a
+     seaport in miniature. The opposite shore is a most delicious
+     meadow, bounded by Richmond Hill, which loses itself in the
+     noble woods of the park to the end of the prospect on the
+     right, where is another turn of the river, and the suburbs
+     of Kingston as luckily placed as Kingston is on the left....
+     You must figure that all this is perpetually enlivened by a
+     navigation of boats and barges.
+
+His architecture was a medley of everything that could by any
+possibility be included under the heading Gothic, and the result was
+more curious than beautiful, though it became the fashion to visit
+the house. Walpole bemoaned the crowds aloud, but secretly delighted
+in them. He published a description of the house, in the beginning of
+which he says he trusts it will be a lesson in taste to all who see
+it! An example of the suave self-belief of an egotist. At Twickenham
+there is another fantastic building called Pope's Villa. This can be
+seen much better from the river than Strawberry Hill can, and it is an
+affected piece of architecture. It has been described as "a combination
+of an Elizabethan half-timber house and a Stuart Renaissance, with the
+addition of Dutch and Swiss, Italian and Chinese features." This is not
+the house occupied by Pope, nor is it even exactly on the same site
+as his. In front of it is a group of weeping willows, a kind of tree
+which shows to particular advantage by the water-side. Pope himself is
+said to have been the first to introduce it into England, having found
+some sticks of it in a bundle sent to him from Spain by the Countess of
+Suffolk.
+
+Pope lived at Twickenham from 1719 to 1744, and produced here most of
+his important works, including the last books of his _Odyssey_, the
+_Dunciad_ and the famous _Essay on Man_. He was here visited by Gay
+and Swift, and many another contemporary whose name is still held in
+estimation. He laid out his grounds in a decorative way, and made a
+curious underground grotto, which lies away from the water, on the
+other side of the road. Among the celebrated men who have, at one time
+or another, lived at Twickenham are numbered Henry Fielding, Dr. Donne,
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, Tennyson, and Turner. The last-named was very fond
+of fishing, and used to fish a good deal in this part of the river.
+
+There is a little esplanade at Twickenham, shaded by small
+horse-chestnuts, and in front lies the famous Eel-pie Island, which
+vies with Tagg's in summer popularity. The hotel has a pleasant garden,
+but the rest of the island is, it must be confessed, rather untidy,
+with several places for building motor launches and many boat-houses.
+At the small wharf opposite the church there are nearly always barges
+unloading bricks or sand and gravel. Yet the place has an air of
+dignity, perhaps given to it by the old Perpendicular stone tower
+of the church, so incongruously welded on to a red-brick pedimented
+Georgian building. The architect was the same who built St. George's,
+Hanover Square; but, as Sir Godfrey Kneller was churchwarden, one
+might have expected something in better taste. Pope is buried inside,
+and a flat slab with his initial letter on it now serves as a base for
+several pews. Not far from the church is York House, and with Orleans
+and Ham House on the other side of the river this is a notable group.
+In the great gardens of Orleans House grow splendid cedars, stone
+pines, and other evergreens. The little Duke of Gloucester, the only
+child who survived babyhood out of Queen Anne's enormous family, was
+brought here for his health in 1694. Six years later this quaint child,
+with a rickety body and an enormous head, died of small-pox at the age
+of eleven. The house was afterwards rebuilt. To it in 1800 came Louis
+Philippe, then Duc d'Orleans, and his two brothers. After his brief
+summer of prosperity in France, he returned to England as an exile in
+1848; that he had a warm remembrance of the house is shown by his then
+purchasing it. He did not, however, live here himself, but placed his
+son, the Duc d'Aumale, in it, and a colony of royal refugees settled
+round. At Mount Lebanon, not far off, was the Prince de Joinville; and
+the Duc d'Aumale, having bought York House, gave it to his nephew the
+Comte de Paris, who lived there for six or seven years. Queen Anne was
+born in York House--it had been given to her mother's father, Lord
+Clarendon--and with her elder sister she spent her earliest years
+at Twickenham. All these notable houses and dignified memories are
+enough to account for the air of sober gravity never wholly absent
+from the river at Twickenham even on the brightest days; and the rows
+of Lombardy poplars, the magnificent cedars, and the fine foliage of
+the other trees enhance the impression. Ham House, on the other side,
+was built in 1611, it is said for Prince Henry, James I.'s eldest son.
+It is screened from the water by a row of tall trees. Around it grow
+Scotch firs and holm oaks.
+
+We have not long left Twickenham before we see the little oblong island
+about which there was so much contention because it formed an item in
+the famous Marble Hill view, seen from the heights of Richmond Park.
+The London County Council are now owners of the Marble Hill estate,
+and have made it into a public park. It lies on the Twickenham side.
+The house was built by George II. for the Countess of Suffolk. Gay,
+Pope, and Swift all took an interest in the building, and voiced their
+opinions as to the style and the laying out of the grounds. A suite of
+rooms in the house was afterwards set aside for Gay, who was a great
+favourite with the countess.
+
+The other side of the river is open, and it must be admitted that on
+a sunny day this bit is a stiff pull if one is unfortunate enough to
+be going against the current. It is often to be described by the word
+"glaring," yet the fine scimitar-like sweep of the tree-crowned heights
+above, capped by the huge mass of the Star and Garter Hotel, toned to
+unoffending mediocrity of colour, is worth seeing.
+
+Richmond, like nearly all the other places on the river, has an
+atmosphere of its own, difficult to put into words. It is less flippant
+than Kingston, and has not a tinge of the gravity of Twickenham. The
+houses rise high and are irregular; those in the main street recede
+from the water as they leave the bridge, and between them and the
+stream are innumerable others, some with gardens, some overshadowed by
+trees. Weeping willows, Scotch firs, and ivy-covered trunks abound,
+and the place is the perfection of a residential quarter. There is
+enough oldness and irregularity to avoid stiffness, enough modernity
+to ensure cleanliness. The bridge has a peculiarly individual curve--a
+real humpback--and its stone balustrade is very fine. At the southern
+end, far too many new red-brick flats are springing up, alas! but on
+the north or east, where lies old Richmond, they are not visible to any
+appreciable extent. The scene below the bridge is distinctly pretty.
+Large boat-building yards, as at Kingston, occupy the foreground, and
+the warm cinnamons and ochres of newly-varnished boats are generally
+to be seen, as well as the more crude and garishly painted craft. The
+islands are tree-covered, and are well placed in the stream. Yet one
+may note that, popular as Richmond is, it is not flooded in the summer
+time with such crowds of boating visitors as Hampton. There are more
+large craft about, and boating people do not care for that.
+
+What remains of Richmond Palace must be sought below the bridge, for it
+will not be seen without a little effort. The old palace stood right
+on the margin of the water, and an engraving of it is still extant,
+showing a pinnacled and many chimneyed building. The angular towers
+are capped by turrets like those of the old palace at Greenwich. Henry
+I. was the first English king to live here, but until Edward III.'s
+time it was hardly a recognised royal palace. It fell before the hand
+of Richard II., who in a fit of frenzy at the death of his wife, which
+occurred here, ordered its destruction. Henry V. restored it, but it
+was burnt down in the end of the fifteenth century, and afterwards
+rebuilt by Henry VII., who changed its name from Sheen to Richmond,
+and who himself died there. The old Tudor gateway of his time remains
+still. It is said, but with doubtful accuracy, that the Countess of
+Nottingham died in the room over the gateway, after having confessed
+to Elizabeth her duplicity about the Earl of Essex and the ring he had
+confided to her charge. We have many records of Richmond from the time
+of the miserable Katherine of Arragon--widow of one boy prince, but
+not yet affianced to the other, a foreigner in a strange land, bitterly
+hating her surroundings--to the time of Charles I., who made the great
+park and hunted in it. A large Carthusian monastery stood near the
+palace. Perkin Warbeck found an asylum in the monastery, and in 1550
+Robert Dudley was here married to Amy Robsart.
+
+There is a half-tide lock at Richmond, with a footbridge. This is
+at present the lowest lock on the river, though there is some talk
+of making a similar one at Wandsworth. It is quite different in
+construction from the usual kind. It has three great sluices, each
+weighing thirty-two tons, and when the tide brings up the water, so
+that it is equal with that above--that is to say, at half-tide--the
+sluices are raised by the addition of a small weight to the massive
+pendules by which they are exactly balanced, and the water is allowed
+free way.
+
+All along this stretch of the river there is on one side a fine row
+of shady trees growing to a great height. Beyond the raised footpath
+is the old Deer Forest, on which stands Kew Observatory, and a minor
+stream, which afterwards forms a moat to Kew Gardens, runs along
+merrily. Isleworth is finely placed at a bend of the river, and though
+it is a manufacturing place, it is not so bad as Brentford. The large
+willow-covered ait in front affords occupation to the osier gatherers.
+The church is ugly; it is placed very like that at Hampton, and, like
+Hampton also, its ugliness is mitigated by a covering of ivy. The
+tower, as so frequently happens, is much older than the rest. Was it
+that church towers were built more solidly than the naves, or that the
+naves would have stood equally well had they been allowed to remain?
+
+Then we come to the great park surrounding Syon House (Duke of
+Northumberland), a park fringed with marshy ground, where reeds and
+rushes flourish, and which is overflowed at every flood. Crows consider
+it a delightful place, if their perpetual presence may be taken to
+indicate opinion. A great clump of cedars stands between the house
+and the river, but we have to go considerably further on before the
+severe line of frontage, with its ground floor arcade and battlemented
+parapet, can be seen at full length. The astonished lion stands clear
+up against the sky, as he did of old at Northumberland House, over the
+site of which now flows a ceaseless stream of traffic. Long years ago
+there stood here at Isleworth a convent for nuns. This was suppressed
+at the Dissolution. Katherine Howard was imprisoned in Syon House
+until three days before her execution, and only five years later the
+corpse of her murderer, the tyrant Henry, stopped here on its way to
+Windsor. Edward VI. granted the place to Lord-Protector Somerset, who,
+with his usual mania for building, began to reconstruct it on a much
+larger scale; but before he had got farther than the mere shell of
+his design, he suffered disgrace, and Syon House passed to the Duke
+of Northumberland. Here came Lady Jane Grey, timid and doubting, to
+receive the offer of the crown, and from here she started on her last
+sad journey to the Tower.
+
+Queen Mary naturally tried to re-establish the nuns, but found it
+difficult, as some had died and others had married! Fuller's comment is
+worth quoting:
+
+     It was some difficulty to stock it with such as had
+     been veiled before, it being now thirty years since the
+     Dissolution, in which time most of the elder nuns were in
+     their graves, and the younger in the arms of their husbands,
+     as afterwards embracing a married life.
+
+In James I.'s reign Syon House was in the hands of the Earl of
+Northumberland, who also fell under his sovereign's displeasure, but
+was allowed to return here to die. Under his successor, the tenth earl,
+Inigo Jones was employed to alter the house; but the architect of the
+present building was Adam (1728-92).
+
+The place is often very quiet, and the hovering crows, and perhaps
+a few men in boats grubbing for sand and gravel from the river-bed
+with long-handled scoops, have it all to themselves. It is not much
+frequented because just below comes Brentford, with all its ugliness,
+a sore blot on the river. Nevertheless, on the Surrey side, to
+counterbalance it, we have the famous Kew Gardens. The very varied
+trees that grow here can be well seen, for the parapet of the wall is
+low, the Gardens being sufficiently protected by the moat. Further on,
+when this comes to an end, the wall is heightened, and only the tops
+of the elms and ashes and horse-chestnuts peep over. Presently a new
+object comes into view--a "palace," in that it was the dwelling-place
+of royalty; but anything less like a palace surely never was seen.
+A stiff, square red-brick house, where Miss Burney served her "sweet
+queen," and the old king cried "What, what, what?" a hundred times a
+day, and the overflowing quiverful of their Royal Highnesses quarrelled
+and played and grew up.
+
+Very few people realise what a large basin there is on the river
+Brent, and what an amount of business is carried on here. From the
+river, one's chief reflection is thankfulness that the trees on the
+large islands have grown so well that they form a screen for the soap
+factories, the cement works, the breweries, etc., which constitute the
+industries of Brentford.
+
+     Brentford, tedious town,
+     For dirty streets and white-legged chickens known,
+
+says Gay. The dirty streets are still there, with the confusion in
+their narrow limits worse confounded by the passing of tramcars, which,
+over the mile along which Brentford spreads itself, take double the
+time spent on any other bit of equal distance on their route. Most
+people have a hazy notion about two kings at Brentford; this is one
+of those curious examples of the persistence of an unimportant detail.
+The allusion was first made in a play called _The Rehearsal_, written
+by the Duke of Buckingham, and Thackeray's ballad on the same subject
+carried it a step further. That there was a battle at Brentford one
+learns in the history books. It was when the Parliamentarians, who had
+rested in the town all night, were surprised by Prince Rupert, under
+the cover of a thick mist, and completely routed.
+
+All along the Kew side, up to the bridge, are tea-gardens sandwiched
+between boat-houses; and the new bridge made of granite, with its
+branching lamps and royal arms, is really an imposing object. Above and
+below the bridge the character of the river is singularly different.
+Above, as we have seen, are the mudflats, and wharves, and chimneys,
+not to omit water towers and gasometers; and below is a bit of
+Chiswick, built along by the waterside, a queer little irregular row of
+red-brick houses and cottages, near which are fastened the boats of men
+who live by fishing; it is a little riverside place of the old sort.
+There are meadows, called Duke's Meadows, opposite Mortlake; these
+afford a fine vantage-ground for spectators who come to see the great
+Boat Race.
+
+The hour of the Boat Race varies according to the tide, for the race
+is rowed at the "top of the tide"--when it is at its fullest. If the
+hour be an easy one--about mid-day--and the weather is promising, and
+especially if the reports of the prowess of the crews give reason to
+believe the race will be a close one, then the crowd is very large
+indeed. Some prefer to watch the start; some enthusiasts keep up with
+the boats on water the whole way; but a great majority there are who
+want to see the last effort between Hammersmith and Barnes Bridges, for
+it is almost a certainty that the crew leading at Barnes Bridge will be
+the winner. Almost, but not quite; for there was an occasion when, by a
+sudden spurt, the positions of the boats were reversed, and Cambridge,
+which had been behind, won the race. The road along by Mortlake is
+lined with crowds; every window is filled, and all available roofs.
+On the railway bridge are closely-packed ranks of people, brought
+there and deposited by trains, which afterwards decorously withdraw
+and wait to pick them up again. The price of this first-rate position
+is included in the fares. Chiswick meadows afford space for many more
+persons, who usually pay a shilling a head to the land-holders. This
+is a very favourite position, because the grassy slopes form such a
+pleasant seat while the inevitable waiting is gone through.
+
+In the river itself lie several steamers packed with passengers,
+and also various small boats. Then down comes the launch of the
+Thames Conservators to clear the course. The long strings of barges,
+which have been taking advantage of the flowing tide to make their
+way up-stream, are seen no more. A gun goes off, and then, an
+extraordinarily short time after, a murmur begins among the crowds on
+the Mortlake side. It grows and grows and swells along the Chiswick
+shore, as first one boat creeps round the corner, and then the other.
+"Cambridge wins; Cambridge, Cambridge!" "Row up, Oxford!"
+
+Then, perhaps--usually--it is seen that one boat is leading by so many
+lengths as to make it impossible for the other to catch up. The leading
+boat goes ahead with a straight, splendid swing into clear water. The
+losing one, getting into its opponent's wash, rocks as it labours on,
+its crew lose heart, and the distance widens.
+
+Close behind are the umpire's launch and a dozen others gliding along,
+keeping just behind the backward crew. And when all have passed, the
+river, so calm before, is churned up into miniature waves that wash and
+beat on the banks. Presently the umpire's boat is seen coming swiftly
+back, bearing the winning flag at the bows over the other.
+
+The trains move slowly forward to pick up the passengers; bicycles,
+motors, and carriages begin to move off; streams of people pour down
+every road; and all is over for another year.
+
+The chief memory of Chiswick is that of Hogarth, who is buried in the
+churchyard close by the water. The house in which he lived is still
+standing, and is a few minutes' walk from the church. Hogarth was
+here for about three years, though when he left to go to Leicester
+Square he did not sell the house, and his widow lived in it after
+his death. For two years Pope also lived in Chiswick; and in Chiswick
+House, which lies away from the river on the other side of the fields,
+two great men, Charles James Fox and George Canning, died in the
+same room, in 1806 and 1827 respectively. And in the Roman Catholic
+Cemetery at Mortlake is the massive sarcophagus--in the form of an Arab
+tent--beneath which lies the dust of the great traveller, Sir Richard
+Burton, and his wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE RIVER AT LONDON
+
+
+There is a subtle difference in the river above and below Hammersmith:
+above, it is a stream of pleasure--below, it is something less
+beautiful, but grander, more crowded with memories, more important.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Though pleasure boats are to be seen in quantities any summer evening
+about Putney; though market gardens still border the banks at Fulham;
+yet the river is for the greater part lined with wharves and piers and
+embankments. It is no wild thing running loose, but a strong worker
+full of earnest purpose. It is the great river without which there
+would have been no London, the river which bears the largest trade the
+world has ever known.
+
+Unfortunately, the habit of using the river at London as a highway
+was lost some time in the eighteenth century and has not yet been
+recovered, notwithstanding the gallant attempt of the London County
+Council to educate the people to it. At one time the river was used
+for every sort of traffic: tilt boats, covered with an awning, ran up
+and down like omnibuses and charged sixpence a passenger; and every man
+of importance kept his private barge, for the smoothly gliding waters
+made an infinitely preferable route to the vile roads. At every set
+of stairs--and the stairs were frequent--numberless wherries awaited
+hire. In the sixteenth century there were two thousand on the water,
+and it was reckoned that nine thousand watermen earned their living
+by transporting people up and down or from shore to shore. When it is
+objected that these men were a pest and a nuisance, so that we are well
+rid of them, that their language was unspeakable and their manners
+filthy, it may be replied, _autres temps autres moeurs_, for there
+are a few watermen still to be had at Westminster, at the Tower, and
+at most of the river stairs, and they are civil and obliging, only,
+alas, the public rarely patronises them. Occasionally, an uncommonly
+adventurous person, probably a visitor staying in London, penetrates to
+the haunt of the watermen, and, upon inquiry, he finds a respectable
+man, duly licensed like a cabman, liable to be reported for rudeness
+or misconduct, strictly limited by law as to the fees he may demand,
+and ready to add greatly to the pleasure of the trip by his genial,
+shrewd humour and his keen observation; qualities found frequently in
+men whose business is upon great waters.
+
+  [Illustration: BEYOND HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE]
+
+Without counting the railways, fourteen bridges now span the Thames
+from Hammersmith downward, and even fourteen we sometimes find
+inadequate to our needs in this hurrying life. Not until the middle of
+the eighteenth century was the historic London Bridge backed up by a
+second. Before that time, all men crossed by boat, or by the ferry at
+Westminster, or even by the ford there, a feat which the embanking of
+the river has long rendered impossible.
+
+We can see it, this great river of ours, as in a vision, gradually
+emerging from its primeval wilderness. First it spread widely between
+the rising ground on each side, a vast area of lagoons, flooded at
+high tide, and at low tide a swampy place full of half-submerged
+islets. Then one or two small settlements for trade were planted on
+its banks, first at Westminster, and others about the site of Cannon
+Street Station, where the Walbrook leapt to meet the larger current.
+There was a gradual extension of houses along the brink. At last an
+attempt was made to bridge the river over, probably by a wooden bridge.
+This succeeded, and when the bridge had stood for some time it was
+replaced by another in the twelfth century. This was built and rebuilt,
+as the turbulent river, feeling the erection of earthworks to curtail
+its flood, fretted to be free, and rushed seaward with force, tearing
+down the obstruction offered by this quaint old London Bridge with its
+double line of houses. Many a picture of this bridge still remains.
+It was a fascinating, a wonderful structure. Numberless children have
+yearned to have lived there, high above the flood. What delight to look
+out from one's nursery window and see the grey-green water hastening
+past. To see it mysteriously stop as if by some command from on High,
+then slowly turn and race inward again. Marvellous feat! Miraculous
+bridge! There was a beautiful chapel, a veritable gem of work, upon
+this bridge. There was a house like a puzzle-house, put together with
+pegs, without an iron nail in it. There were gateways at each end, and
+on the gateways were the grisly remains of the heads of men and women
+who had been executed. There were shops on each side of the road where
+ribbons and laces and other haberdashery might be bought at will.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CUSTOM HOUSE]
+
+There were gaps between the houses, where one could escape for a moment
+from the lumbering, creaking, groaning traffic pent up in the narrow,
+mud-splashed roadway, and see the water itself, and see how the houses
+were built out over it, resting on nothing. Another miracle! A mighty
+tome might be written about Old London Bridge; of all the relics of
+a past London, it is the one I should like most to have seen. Mills
+there were on this bridge, to which the people could bring their corn
+to be ground by the force of the water. Waterworks there were, too,
+and the bridge itself contained a drawbridge to protect London against
+invasion, for, as there was none other crossing, an enemy prevented
+here might well be held in check altogether.
+
+Next to London Bridge, the oldest bridge across the river was at
+Kingston, and it is on record that in 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt, finding
+London Bridge closed against him, marched all the way to Kingston
+in order to cross, but on arrival there, found that he had been
+anticipated, and that the bridge was broken down.
+
+The present London Bridge has been recently widened. At one end of
+it rises the white tower of St. Magnus, a Danish saint, and behind
+it is the pointing finger of the Monument, while down the river are
+the market of Billingsgate, the quay of the Custom House, and beyond,
+rising tall and ghostly, close to the Tower itself, the Tower Bridge,
+the latest addition to the list.
+
+On the south side of London Bridge, over the houses peep the pinnacles
+of St. Saviour's tower, Southwark. Anciently, it was called St. Mary
+Overies, and was once a priory, one of the most ancient houses in
+London. From this there ran a ferry, which was in use long after the
+bridge was built, for the narrowness of the street and the continual
+blocks made a passage by the bridge a process of time. Gower, the poet,
+was a benefactor to the priory, and is buried in the church.
+
+  [Illustration: DUTCH BARGES NEAR THE TOWER]
+
+As the Tower Bridge can swing open, ships of all sizes can get up as
+far as London Bridge, when the tide allows them sufficient water-way,
+and a busy scene, watched by a never-failing crowd of idlers, is always
+to be witnessed in the reach below. Ships there are of all shapes and
+sizes, but mostly hideous, made for merchandise and not for show. Many
+of them are iron, and run between eight and twelve hundred tons. They
+come from Hamburg, Hull, Newcastle, Holland, and many another port.
+There, out in the river, is a dredger working with a hideous grinding
+noise, and beyond it are two or three brilliantly painted green and red
+boats with great wooden flaps, or lee boards, on their sides. They are
+Dutch eel boats, and are allowed to lie in the river free from dues,
+if they keep always in the same place. It is a survival of an ancient
+custom.
+
+As we pass through under London Bridge, and come out on the other side,
+we can see the grey river with its bustling craft, framed like a series
+of pictures in the wide arches.
+
+Some of the oldest theatres in London stood on the part called
+Bankside, about Southwark Bridge; at present the view is dingy
+and uninteresting. The Bishop of Winchester's palace once adjoined
+Bankside, as that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, still
+stands near Westminster Bridge; but it fell into ruins and the bishops
+removed to Chelsea.
+
+It is impossible to enumerate the palaces and fine houses that once
+stood along Thames Street, which, in the fourteenth century, was
+the most fashionable street in London. The part of the foreshore
+now occupied by wharves and great warehouses--where cranes swing and
+lighters await their loads all day long, and every working day--has
+all been reclaimed from the river. Once it was covered at every
+returning tide, but strong piles were driven into the mud, and on this
+unpromising spot houses began to rise and débris accumulated, until
+firm ground was made, and this became one side of a busy street.
+
+On the up-side of Cannon Street, close to the cavernous jaws of the
+station, is a wharf marked in white letters, "Walbrook Wharf." This
+is as near as we can get to the first site of London, where the Briton
+made his modest lake-fort, Llyn-din, and afterwards the Romans pitched
+their strong citadel.
+
+  [Illustration: THE TOWER OF ST. MAGNUS]
+
+Queenhithe was given by King John to his mother, Queen Eleanor.
+Hence arose the name. It was no trifling gift, for this was the most
+important dock on the Thames at that time, and dues were collected from
+all the ships unlading here. Now it is a small area in which the water
+laps at rotting lichened posts as it slowly uncovers and re-covers the
+slimy mud.
+
+The whole of this district lying north of the Thames is the oldest part
+of our ancient city, and it is thick with memories. Down the crooked
+streets Spenser came as a boy from his home beyond the city ditch to
+his school of the Merchant Taylors in Dowgate. Here a fair-haired
+gentle lad, called Chaucer, loitered many a time, for his father's
+house was in Thames Street.
+
+Not far from Puddle dock stood Baynard's Castle with its high
+buttressed walls. In it Edward IV. was proclaimed, and in it, also,
+Richard III. made a feint of refusing the crown belonging to his
+imprisoned nephew. Tower Royal, Montfichet, and many another glorious
+building, have gone utterly, so that their sites can be fixed only
+approximately. The river Fleet, up which large ships could ply once,
+flowed into the Thames where is now Blackfriars Bridge. By its banks
+the great religious houses of the Black and White Friars rose, and the
+boundary cliff hewed by its current may still be traced in the steep
+rise up Ludgate Hill, which tries the patient omnibus horses day by
+day. Over all, as we draw further up the river, towers the great dome
+of St. Paul's.
+
+The Surrey side of the Thames continues unlovely--a medley of browns
+and greys, tall chimneys and tumble-down sheds; it needs the veil which
+the atmosphere of London mercifully throws over it.
+
+The railway bridge and Blackfriars are so close together, they almost
+touch. As we pass underneath there is a hollow reverberation, like
+the beat of the surf in a cave on the shore. Just above the bridge is
+anchored the _Buzzard_, the Naval Volunteer training ship.
+
+  [Illustration: ST. PAUL'S]
+
+Along the northern side now begins the Embankment, with its solid
+granite walls and fringe of young planes. The green lawns and red
+buildings of the Temple can be seen only when the river is very high.
+Further on is Somerset House, followed by a line of hotels, the palaces
+of modern days. Somerset House is the successor of the palace built
+by the arrogant Protector Somerset, from the stones of churches and
+religious buildings; between it and the Temple stood Arundel and Essex
+Houses. The latter had earlier been called Leicester House, and Spenser
+lived there for a time as secretary to the Earl of Leicester.
+
+The tide has turned and is coming in. Little steam tugs, gallantly
+towing six barges, two abreast and each twice as large as themselves,
+pant up stream; while the bargees, with faces the colour of brickdust,
+the colour they are so fond of reproducing in their paint and even in
+their sails, stand by their huge rudders. Some barges are struggling
+along without mechanical aid. The men in charge bend back horizontally
+in their manipulation of the huge sweeps. There must be a knack in it.
+No one could work so hard as they seem to be doing; spine and sinews
+would give way altogether. Their whole strength results in but a slow
+progress, and the barge, responding to the push of the water, makes
+a kind of crab-like movement, sidling up the river broadside on. One,
+laden with yellow straw till it appears like a huge barn, is stranded
+right in mid-stream. The long ends of the straw sweep in the water, and
+there is no moving until the current increases.
+
+Here and there red-brown sails, patched and stained, spring up, and
+others still furled, stand up along the wharves like crooked warning
+fingers. Just before Waterloo Bridge there is, neatly tucked away below
+the Embankment, so that few ever know of its existence, a station of
+the river police, with trim muslin curtains over the windows.
+
+Between Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridges the same sort of thing
+continues. An enormous chimney on the Surrey side mocks the dignity
+of Cleopatra's Needle, now safe in haven after many vicissitudes. The
+sweep of the river makes these two bridges radiate out like the spokes
+of a wheel, so that the southern ends are nearer than the northern. The
+chimneys and wharves and the ubiquitous barges still continue, and as
+we pass beneath the hideous red iron bridge of Charing Cross, we get a
+vision of the many towers and pinnacles of Westminster ahead.
+
+  [Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT]
+
+Besides the great houses of old times already mentioned, there were
+others down this stretch of the river too--the Savoy, home of John
+of Gaunt, and in its time prison and hospital; Durham, Worcester, and
+Salisbury Houses. These were all either flush with the water or hemmed
+in by high walls in which were stairs "to take water at." The only
+relic of these mansions lies in the watergate of York House, now about
+a hundred yards from the river, behind a strip of land which has all
+been reclaimed by the making of the Embankment. But that the Embankment
+does not always suffice to curb the current was proved not so long ago,
+for in March, 1906, there was a combination of circumstances which
+swelled the volume of water abnormally. Sudden floods of rain caused
+every weir far up the river to be opened, and bounding, exulting to
+be free, the huge mass of water, swelled by every brook and tributary
+and swollen to twice its usual size, rushed seaward. But it was met by
+a high spring tide, and the collision was increased by a strong wind,
+so that the water rose higher and higher, and the curious spectacle
+was witnessed of barges floating above the roadway, propelled by
+sweeps braced against the granite walls. The water burst up through
+the pavement and the manholes, and ran in a flood under Charing Cross
+Bridge, but it just did not overtop the Embankment wall by an inch
+or two, and as the tide subsided the tension relaxed. In the higher
+reaches, about Barnes and Chiswick, "tide-boards" were used to fill up
+the crevices below the doors, and by this means alone many a house was
+saved from being swamped.
+
+The scene is lively enough. Seagulls of all ages--big dingy drab ones
+and neat ones in liveries of dove-grey and white--float merrily on the
+ripples, or poise and wheel in the air. Here a County Council steamer
+ploughs past, churning the river into wavelets, there a lad paddles
+a boat from shore to shore with a single oar used rudderwise, a feat
+possible only to a born waterman.
+
+  [Illustration: WESTMINSTER BY NIGHT]
+
+As we pass on we can see the high bastion towers of Scotland Yard.
+Northumberland Avenue stretches over ground which was once the gardens
+of Northumberland House--they came down to the water--and beyond this
+were quadrangles and a medley of buildings, mostly low and mostly
+of brick, which formed the palace of Whitehall, snatched by Henry
+VIII. from Wolsey because the royal palace at Westminster had fallen
+into decay. The Houses of Parliament, standing on the site of the
+latter palace, are the finest work of Barry, who has been abused for
+many things, but who seems to have been touched by a genuine spirit
+of architecture in this instance, and to have realised the right
+characteristics of majesty and delicacy in his work. But he had a
+noble chance, for the position of the building, standing on the edge
+of the water, with the bridge rising beside it, gave room for a fine
+conception.
+
+From Westminster to the Tower or Fleet prison, how many prisoners have
+come and gone--come up against the current full of hope, and returned
+of hope bereft! The ghosts are endless, because the river was the usual
+mode of communication between the Tower and the Court at Westminster,
+as the Strand was full of holes and seamed by watercourses. If this
+reach of water were to tell its tale, much of the history of England
+would be interwoven with it, and it would be tinged with the bitterest
+sorrow human life can know--death with disgrace.
+
+From the time of Edward the Confessor to the time of Henry VIII., our
+kings were housed at Westminster as one of the chief of their royal
+palaces. Luckily the Great Hall, which Rufus built, escaped the fire
+of 1834, and still may be seen, but all else, with the exception of the
+crypt of St. Stephen's, has vanished utterly.
+
+The time to see the Houses of Parliament is undoubtedly at night,
+when Big Ben's illuminated face sheds a sort of ethereal light on the
+architectural fretwork near him.
+
+Wordsworth admired the view most in the early morning, before the first
+waking of the great world of bustle and business:
+
+     The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
+     Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
+     Open unto the fields and to the sky,
+     All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
+     Never did sun more beautifully steep
+     In his first splendour, valley rock or hill;
+     Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep;
+     The river glideth at his own sweet will.
+     Dear God, the very houses seem asleep;
+     And all that mighty heart is lying still.
+
+Westminster Bridge is particularly wide, and has a low parapet. In the
+sudden gusts of wind that come sweeping down the river it is a marvel
+that no one has been caught up and tossed over into the rolling green
+torrent. These peculiarities also are noticeable when the bridge is
+seen from the Embankment, for the traffic looms up very high on it, and
+the omnibuses and cabs look almost as if they were careering along on
+the parapet itself.
+
+From Westminster to Lambeth is but a short way, and what Westminster
+Palace was, while it existed, to the lord temporal, so Lambeth has
+been, and is, to the lord spiritual; from the very earliest times the
+Archbishops of Canterbury have lodged here.
+
+In our peaceful days the holder of the highest dignity of the Church
+has not to fear the Tower and the "sharp medicine of the axe" as some
+of his predecessors did. Laud and Juxon were executed, and for Cranmer
+there was the worse horror of the torturing stake. Lambeth has seen
+much cruelty mingled with the name of religion in the time that it has
+stood above the flood. The Lollards, imprisoned within the tower which
+still bears their name, made deep incisions on the walls to wile away
+the weary hours of suspense, and the groans of prisoners have been
+stifled by these walls as well as by those of the grim Tower.
+
+On the same side as Lambeth, nearer Westminster Bridge, are the curious
+detached buildings of St. Thomas's Hospital, looking like nothing in
+the world less than a hospital.
+
+Where Lambeth Bridge is now, was once the ferry by which King James II.
+passed when he made a hurried exit from the kingdom that repudiated
+him. It was a bitter night, and, attended by only one gentleman, the
+king slipped secretly out of his palace at Whitehall, and crossing the
+Privy Gardens, made his way to the ferry, where he entered a small
+boat with a single pair of oars. In mid-stream he threw the Great
+Seal into the water. A curious and dramatic incident this, that might
+well be made the subject of a picture by some historical painter. The
+Great Seal was afterwards accidentally drawn up in the net of some
+fisherman. But there is another memory further back still, which gives
+to this strip of river an importance which no other part can boast.
+Here lay the first ford, to which all the traffic of the north, on
+its way to the south coast, had to come. In the ages before even the
+oldest London Bridge was built, a string of pack horses, of weary
+men and of travellers, continually wandered down through the marshes
+lying around Thorney Island, on which stands the present Abbey, and,
+guided by stakes placed for the purpose, arrived at the river's bank,
+there to await low tide, when they could cross over to the further
+shore. Through the ages we see them continuing, and when England was
+Christianised, to the procession were added monks and pilgrims bent on
+holy missions. When London Bridge was built, a great majority of the
+age-long procession was diverted that way, but many still continued to
+prefer the ancient ford at Westminster. Of course, since the Embankment
+was made, and the river no longer wanders uncurbed over the lowlands
+and meadows of Westminster, the current runs deep and strong and no
+fording is possible.
+
+  [Illustration: HAY BARGES NEAR WESTMINSTER BRIDGE]
+
+Above Lambeth we pass the Tate Gallery and the new bridge at Vauxhall,
+and then traverse a dreary strip of river, dreary on both sides,
+until we come near to Chelsea Bridge. This is a high-swinging and
+imposing bridge of the same type as the Albert Bridge further up. How
+different the Chelsea we see now from the ancient Chelsea. Ours is a
+Chelsea mainly of red brick, with many tall flats and many beautifully
+designed houses in pseudo-ancient style. A long line of planes runs
+along the embankment, which is one of the prettiest embankments on
+the river. The gardens and green lawns of the Royal Hospital reach to
+the roadway, and away behind them at some distance can be seen the
+comparatively low and long range of buildings dating from the time
+of the Stuarts, and forming an asylum for old soldiers. On the strip
+of ground to the east of them once stood Ranelagh, the gay rotunda
+which played such a part in all London flirtations; where misses met
+their beaux and walked round in stately steps to the sound of music.
+The breakfasts at Ranelagh were at one time almost as popular as the
+evening entertainments:
+
+     A thousand feet rustled on mats,
+       A carpet that had once been green;
+     Men bowed with their outlandish hats,
+       With corners so fearfully keen;
+     Fair maids, who at home in their haste
+       Had left all clothing else but a train,
+     Swept the floor clean as slowly they paced,
+       And then walked round and swept it again.
+
+Thus Bloomfield satirically described the scene. Ranelagh plays a
+large part in _Evelina_ and other romances of that date. The last
+public entertainment was given in 1803, and of the gay rotunda with its
+gorgeous fittings not a vestige now remains.
+
+High red-brick flats which stand at the foot of the Royal Hospital
+gardens by the river, are succeeded by smaller houses, and beyond
+the Albert Bridge the district has not yet been transformed, as it
+assuredly will be.
+
+In the small public gardens that face the river there is a bronze
+statue of Carlyle, the Sage of Chelsea, and not far off rises the
+curious little tower of dark brick that belongs to the old church,
+a very mausoleum of tombs. Chelsea has, perhaps, been more altered
+by the formation of the Embankment than any other part of the river.
+Its very name implies a bank of shingly beach stretching down to the
+water, and so it was in old times, and to this beach the gardens of
+the stately palaces reached. Chelsea has been called a village of
+palaces. A village it was in old times, quite detached from London, and
+considered a country residence by many a famous nobleman and statesman.
+On the site of the row of houses in Cheyne Walk stood the New Manor
+House built by Henry VIII. as part of the jointure of Catherine Parr,
+who afterwards lived here with her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, Lord
+High Admiral. Both Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey spent part
+of their childhood in it. The palace of the Bishops of Winchester, at
+Southwark, having become dilapidated, as we have seen, a new one was
+built at Chelsea in 1663, and was occupied by eight successive bishops.
+Shrewsbury House was another palace built in the reign of Henry VIII.
+The wife of the Earl of Shrewsbury was the founder of Chatsworth,
+Oldcotes and Hardwick. In Lawrence or Monmouth House, near the church,
+lived Smollett the novelist, and further on, somewhere near the end
+of Beaufort Street, was the house once occupied by Sir Thomas More,
+whose memory is still cherished in Chelsea. No garden among all the
+famous gardens of Chelsea was so carefully tended as his. When More had
+been made Lord Chancellor, and had spent his days hearing cases in the
+stuffy precincts of the court, how joyfully must he have stepped into
+his barge in the cool of the evening, to be rowed back up-stream to his
+roses and his children, where he could indulge his kindly humour and
+his playfulness, and unbend without fear. Sometimes the royal barge
+would sweep up after him, and the tyrant Harry himself spring ashore
+and walk up and down the sweet-scented alleys, with his arm round the
+Chancellor's neck, a dangerous fondness that in time resulted in More's
+being cut off altogether from his garden and his peaceful evenings, and
+in his going down that stream never to return. His monument is in the
+church, with an inscription written by himself, but whether his body
+lies here is a question that can never be definitely answered.
+
+  [Illustration: CHELSEA REACH WITH THE OLD CHURCH]
+
+Beyond Battersea Bridge is a little creek, and from a small house on
+the other side of the road Turner used to look out upon the river.
+He came here incognito from his real house in Queen Anne Street, and
+studied the gorgeous sunset effects, which can be seen nowhere better
+than at Chelsea.
+
+     Now in his palace of the west,
+       Sinking to slumber, the bright day,
+     Like a tired monarch fanned to rest,
+       Mid the cool airs of evening lay;
+     While round his couch's golden rim
+       The golden clouds like courtiers crept,
+     Struggling each other's light to dim,
+       And catch his last smile ere he slept.
+                                   --_Moore._
+
+Turner brings us to modern memories. Besides himself and Carlyle, there
+lived in Chelsea, Rossetti and George Eliot, not to mention living men.
+
+Opposite Chelsea is the long wall that bounds Battersea Park, and after
+passing Battersea Bridge, we encounter a very unlovely strip of water,
+with wharves and chimneys and tumble-down buildings. It is utilitarian
+and not beautiful.
+
+The green embankment which hems in the grounds of Hurlingham Club
+gives a touch of relief, and the fine trees which existed long before
+the club, since the time that the house was a private mansion, rise
+towering above it. On the other side the river Wandle, from which
+Wandsworth takes its name, a river known to few, empties itself into
+the Thames. Then we reach Putney Bridge, with its wide, curved white
+arches. On the east is another embankment which bounds Bishop's Park,
+partly turned into pleasure gardens open to all the world. The palace
+itself is not well seen from the river, for it is low and hidden by
+trees.
+
+The manor of Fulham has belonged to the See of London since the end
+of the seventh century. The palace is built round two courtyards, the
+older of which dates from Henry VII.'s reign, and the other from the
+middle of the eighteenth century. The west or river side contains the
+rooms used by Laud while he was bishop.
+
+As we draw away from the bridge we see to advantage the two churches,
+curiously alike, one belonging to Putney and the other to Fulham,
+which stand at two corners of the bridge, diagonally, looking at one
+another. Boat-houses and flats fill up the western shore until they are
+succeeded by the trees of Barn Elms Park, otherwise known as Ranelagh.
+The chief memories of Ranelagh centre about the Kit-Kat Club, which met
+here, and included among the members such men as Walpole, Vanbrugh,
+Congreve, Addison and Steele. Their portraits were all painted by
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, and hung round the club room; consequently,
+this particular size of portrait, 36 inches by 28, became known as a
+kit-kat. The name of the club itself is said to have originated in a
+pastrycook named Christopher Kat, who used to make excellent mutton
+pies, called Kit-Kats, which were always included in the bill of fare
+at club dinners.
+
+Many a visit did Evelyn and Pepys and other notable Londoners make
+to Barn Elms in summer evenings in the seventeenth century. Pepys was
+particularly fond of idling under the well-grown trees. Hear him:
+
+     After dinner, by water, the day being mighty pleasant, and
+     the tide serving finely, I up as high as Barne Elmes and
+     there took one turn alone.
+
+This was in April; and another time:
+
+     I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great pleasure saw
+     some gallant ladies and people come with their bottles and
+     baskets and chairs, to sup under the trees by the water-side,
+     which was mighty pleasant.
+
+On the opposite side of the river from Barn Elms stood Brandenburg
+House, where lived Queen Caroline, unhappy consort of George IV.
+
+Below Hammersmith Bridge there is a very untidy bit of foreshore, with
+factories and chimneys and many dreary objects scattered about it,
+and always a superfluity of clumsy barges. Beyond the fine suspension
+bridge there is another bit of foreshore not quite so untidy, where
+racing boats and other boats lie, and from which many a crew turns out
+to practice. Along this stretch runs the Mall, Upper and Lower. In the
+coffee house near the junction of the two, Thomson wrote "Winter," in
+_The Seasons_.
+
+The Mall is associated with the Kelmscott Press, founded by William
+Morris, who named it after his country house. Turner lived in the Mall
+for six years, and the novelist Marryat was a resident for a short time
+in 1830. Here also was a large house occupied by Catherine of Braganza
+after the death of Charles II. The river at Hammersmith is 750 feet
+wide. The inhabitants make the bridge a favourite lounging place, for
+seats line both sides; the total amount of fresh air thus imbibed no
+man can calculate, for the tide races up bringing ozone straight from
+the sea, and the wind blows freshly over the glittering water. On the
+south bank are the reservoirs of a large water company.
+
+With Hammersmith we must end this chapter, for we have joined the
+account of the stream of pleasure which comes down to London.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OUR NATIONAL POSSESSION
+
+
+The Thames is a great national possession, affording means of
+recreation and delight to thousands yearly. It is difficult to compare
+it with anything else in Great Britain. It stands by itself, and is
+unique. Other rivers there are, which for a small part of their course
+are excellent for boating; but there is nothing in England to equal the
+Thames, where the water is now kept at a high level, and where, for
+the 112 miles between London Bridge and Oxford, there is practically
+continuous beauty and convenience for boating. The reproach has been
+brought against us that we do not make full use of our river at London
+as the Parisians do of the Seine at Paris. But the two things are not
+on the same footing at all. There are many problems in connection with
+the Thames as a tidal river that have not to be solved by the Parisians
+in regard to the Seine. Perhaps if the great barrage at Gravesend,
+which has been discussed, ever comes into existence, we shall be able
+to remove the reproach, to run our steamboats to time, and to use the
+river as a river of pleasure, even so far down as London Bridge. There
+are, however, grave objections to the barrage scheme, which for the
+present has been set aside. Though the tides interfere with pleasure
+boats, they are a source of motive power for innumerable barges;
+the river traffic would be seriously hindered by the elimination of
+the element of tide, and many owners of wharves and quays would be
+injured by the change. There are also other difficulties. At present
+the sewage, after being dealt with by filtration in sewage-beds, is
+returned to the river, and, having been rendered innocuous, floats
+out to sea, and mingles with the pure water satisfactorily. It would,
+however, be another thing to return thousands of gallons of water,
+which, however innocuous, can hardly be called clean, to the great lake
+of fresh water the river would become if dammed up by a barrage.
+
+  [Illustration: FROM BATTERSEA BRIDGE]
+
+Yet the continual increase in the size of ships, and the consequent
+demand for a river ever deeper, is a source of perplexity to the
+Thames Conservancy. This involves constant dredging, which would
+not be necessary were a perpetual high tide to be maintained. It is
+true that this dredging in some parts is a source of profit, not of
+expense. Thames gravel is exceedingly valuable, and it is found to
+be worth while for men not only to buy and maintain large dredgers
+down near the river mouth, but to pay a rent of something like £1500
+to the Conservancy for the privilege of doing so! The dredging,
+however, is not all so profitable. Where the river-bed is slime and
+mud, the channel has to be kept clear by dredgers at the expense of
+the Conservancy, and no delightful rents accrue from the process. This
+dredging is altogether rather an interesting matter. In some places it
+is found remunerative enough for men to do it by hand for the sake of
+what they bring up, and they obtain leave to go dredging.
+
+It is a fact not realised by everyone that the whole river, and all
+the craft upon it are under the strictest surveillance. Everything
+that floats must be licensed and carry its number for purposes of
+ready identification. The barges seen lying about in shoals near
+Westminster or Waterloo Bridges are not lying haphazard, but in certain
+specified places marked by buoys and allotted by the Conservancy,
+much as cabstands are allotted by the police. It is true that quays,
+wharves, landing stages, etc., being on land, are not subject to
+the Conservancy, which is in the somewhat anomalous position of
+dealing with the water, but not with the banks that hem it in. Yet
+the Conservancy manages to have a finger in this too, for suppose
+a man buys a bit of the river's bank, and erects a boat-building
+establishment thereon, he is obviously at a loss without steps down
+to the water or a landing place, and for this he has to pay rent to
+the Conservancy. The amusing part of it is that a man's property is
+sometimes in the air. In the case of a tree growing out of the water,
+it would truly tax the judgment of a Solomon to say what the rights of
+the Conservancy are toward that tree; but it is held that if the tree
+constitutes any danger or obstruction to the river-way the Conservators
+may insist on its being lopped. In connection with this a curious case
+sometimes arises. Man is always cunning where his own interests are
+concerned. It is not only to one man that the idea has occurred of
+propping up his overhanging tree by a stake. And, if the stake remains
+for any length of time, silt and rubbish collect between it and the
+shore, and eventually the island or the land of the cunning man is
+enlarged by a foot or two! More; sometimes stakes have been planted in
+the river bed with the same object without even excuse of the tree. It
+is the duty of the Conservancy officials to deal with all such stakes.
+
+Whatever may be alleged as to our neglect of the river at London,
+no such charge can be brought against us in our appreciation of it
+higher up. Day by day, in the summer, hundreds enjoy the air and the
+brilliance and the interest of the river reaches. House-boats are
+moored, permission and licences having been obtained, and men and women
+practically live in the open air for weeks together. The house-boats
+are not allowed to anchor everywhere, but are allotted certain
+stations, due regard being had to the width of the river. If they plant
+themselves near private ground they must gain the permission of the
+owner, as well as of the Conservancy, which is quite reasonable.
+
+To preserve an unimpeded channel may be taken as one of the great
+duties of the Conservancy. For this reason they have power to remove
+snags; to prevent the egotistical punt-fisher from placing his punt
+broadside in the midmost current; and to regulate the rules for the
+passing of craft. It is rather amusing to see sometimes how the punt
+man edges his craft as far from the bank as he dare before he sits
+down on his cane-bottomed chair and sorts out his tackle; but if a
+Conservancy official come along, and, eyeing him, decides, in spite of
+his extreme innocency and unconsciousness, that he has encroached too
+far, back he has to go. It is a perpetual game.
+
+In regard to the fishing, most of the Thames is free; and the coarse
+fishing--bream, dace, chub, and so on--is good of its kind. Here and
+there, as at Hedsor, there is a bit preserved. For the commonsense
+view is taken that, if both banks belong to the same owner, the river
+bed belongs also to him, and likewise the fishing. He cannot, however,
+prevent boats from passing up and down the stream flowing through his
+property, or the highway would be a highway no more. The fishery in the
+Thames has of late years greatly improved, owing to the disinterested
+action of many clubs and associations in putting in stock which
+they cannot hope subsequently to reclaim, but which, once gone into
+the water, belongs to everyone alike. An instance of this occurred
+recently, when 300 trout (_Salmo fario_), about fourteen inches long,
+were put into the Thames at Shepperton Weir in March by the Weybridge,
+Shepperton, and Halliford Thames Trout Stocking Association. These
+trout cost 2s. 6d. each! There is good coarse fishing in nearly all
+parts of the Thames; bream, dace, chub, perch, and pike can generally
+be caught.
+
+There are many curious and interesting points in regard to the
+river, and none more interesting than those relating to the tow-path.
+This venerable and ancient right-of-way still remains, crossing and
+recrossing from side to side as occasion demands, but traversable from
+end to end. As, however, it passes through private grounds by far the
+greater part of the way, it _is_ private, and yet public. Bicycles
+are frequently forbidden by stern notices put up by owners, who yet
+cannot prevent the pedestrian. The Conservancy has no power over the
+tow-path. What, then, happens when a part of the tow-path gives way and
+requires making up again? In theory it is the owner's duty to do it;
+but it would be expecting rather more than is warranted of human nature
+to expect an owner, who must regard the right-of-way with dislike and
+suspicion, to incur expense by mending it. As a matter of fact, if he
+does not do it, the Conservancy does. It may be remarked here that a
+very simple and effective way of embanking, known as "camp-shedding,"
+is often employed about the river banks and the projecting points of
+lock islands which are liable to be carried away by the current. This
+consists in dropping large bags of dry cement into the water. The water
+itself consolidates and hardens the stuff, which becomes a splendid
+barrier.
+
+There is another point in connection with the breaking away of the
+tow-path which is still more perplexing. Supposing it breaks away
+from a private owner's land in such a way that it cannot be built up
+again, but must be carried inland, what right has the public to say,
+"My right-of-way has fallen into the water, so I am going to take some
+of your land to replace it"? Apparently none at all. Yet the tow-path
+must be carried on. One wonders how, in the beginning, it was allotted
+to one side or the other. How was it that one owner said, "My lawns
+must slope right down to the water's edge; therefore I will not have
+the tow-path on my side; let it go upon the other?" And why has it
+never happened that two owners, equally strong and equally determined,
+have both flatly refused it? Be that as it may, the tow-path runs its
+tortuous but continuous course, and will continue to run as long as the
+river flows.
+
+Such things as locks and weirs are, of course, entirely in the power
+of the Conservancy, who pay the keepers and regulate the fees. The
+half-tide lock at Richmond has answered admirably so far (_see_ p.
+196); but the question is, Where is this sort of thing going to stop?
+There is an idea now of a similar lock at Wandsworth, and then we come
+to the matter of the barrage. We are so greedy of our river, we want it
+to be pent up, and not allowed to flow away to the sea. Weirs of some
+sort, which were at first called locks, are very ancient. In the end of
+the twelfth century we find orders respecting them.
+
+Stow tells us that about the year 1578 or 1579 there were twenty-three
+"locks," sixteen mills, sixteen floodgates and seven weirs on the
+river between Maidenhead and Oxford. In the next six years thirty more
+locks and weirs had been made in spite of complaints that many persons
+had been drowned "by these stoppages of the water." He adds that "the
+going up the locks was so steep that every year cables had been broken
+that cost £400." Especial complaint was made about Marlow lock, where
+one man had had his brains dashed out, and Stow remarks that all the
+compensation the widow received was £5! The barges were not charged
+for going up but only for coming down, and a barge passing from Oxford
+to London in Stow's time paid £12 18_s._ This was in the summer, when
+the water was low. In 1585 a petition was made to Queen Elizabeth
+"in the name of the widows and fatherless children whose parents and
+husbands were by these means slain, against the great mischief done
+to her loving subjects by the great number of dangerous locks, weirs,
+mills and floodgates unlawfully erected in many places on the river."
+Queen Elizabeth must have known something of the subject from her early
+acquaintance with Bisham. (_See_ Chap. XI.)
+
+In an old book of 1770 we find this passage: "The locks were machines
+of wood placed across the river, and so contrived to hold the water as
+long as convenient, that is, till the water rises to such a height as
+to allow of depth enough for the barge to pass over the shallows, which
+being effected, the water is set at liberty, and the loaded vessel
+proceeds on its voyage till another shoal requires the same convenience
+to carry it forward. This arrangement was in the summer when the water
+was low; in other seasons the locks were removed."
+
+When the present locks were made they were called "pound" locks; a
+great many of them were opened between 1770 and 1780.
+
+The members of the Conservancy Board go up in their launch several
+times a year to see that all is in order, and that their officials are
+doing their duty. Once a year they penetrate beyond Oxford, where the
+launch cannot go, and they have to take to rowing boats. They are not
+supposed to preserve the amenities of the river, but only its highway
+properties. They have no power to remove unsightlinesses, such as
+hideous advertisement boards; but only obstructions. Yet, in keeping
+the river free from sewage contamination; by forbidding the casting of
+refuse into the current from house-boats or elsewhere; by exercising
+a general jurisdiction, which makes people realise they are not free
+to amuse themselves to the annoyance of their neighbours--no doubt the
+amenities are very much more preserved than they would otherwise be.
+
+Stow ends up his account of the river: "And thus, as this fine river is
+of great use and profit to the city, so the many neat towns and seats
+on the banks of it make it extraordinary pleasant and delightful. So
+that the citizens and gentlemen, nay kings, have in the summer time
+usually taken the air by water; being carried in boats and barges along
+the Thames, both upward and downward according to their pleasures."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abbey Hotel, Medmenham, 126
+
+  Abbey River, 165, 168
+
+  à Becket, Thomas, 67
+
+  Aberlash, 74
+
+  Abingdon, 37
+
+  Abingdon Abbey, 41
+
+  Adam, 199
+
+  Addison, 228
+
+  Albert Bridge, 223
+
+  Ankerwyke Park, 157
+
+  Archbishop Laud, 71
+
+  Arnold, Dr., of Rugby, 167
+
+  Arnold, Matthew, 5, 167
+
+  Arragon, Katherine of, 196
+
+  Arundel House, 215
+
+  Athens, 149
+
+
+  Bankside, 211
+
+  Barbour, Geoffrey, 39
+
+  Barges, 234
+
+  Barn Elms Park, 228
+
+  Barrage, 232
+
+  Barrington Shute, 56
+
+  Barry, 218
+
+  Battersea Bridge, 226
+
+  Baynard's Castle, 213
+
+  Bell Weir Lock, 159
+
+  Benson Lock, 59
+
+  Billingsgate, 210
+
+  Birds, 17
+
+  Birinus, 50
+
+  Bisham Abbey, 112
+
+  Bisham Church, 111
+
+  Bishop of Winchester's Palace, 212
+
+  Bishop's Park, 227
+
+  Blackfriars Bridge, 213, 214
+
+  Bloomfield, 224
+
+  Blount, Sir Arthur, 66
+
+  Boat Race, 2, 201
+
+  Boleyn, Anne, 158
+
+  Bolney Court, 84
+
+  Borlase, Sir John, 127
+
+  Boulter's Lock, 128
+
+  Bourne End, 139
+
+  Boveney Lock, 150
+
+  Boyle Farm, 185
+
+  Bradshaw, 175
+
+  Braganza, Catherine of, 230
+
+  Brandenburg House, 229
+
+  Bray, 152
+
+  Bray Lock, 151
+
+  Brent River, 200
+
+  Brentford, 200
+
+  Bridges:
+    Battersea, 226
+    Blackfriars, 213, 214
+    Charing Cross, 216
+    Chelsea, 223
+    Folly, 25
+    Hammersmith, 229
+    Lambeth, 221
+    London,210
+    Old London, 208
+    Putney, 227
+    Tower, 210
+    Walton, 173
+    Waterloo, 216
+
+  Brightwell Barrow, 49
+
+  Buckingham, Duke of, 137
+
+  Burford Bridge, 38
+
+  Burney, Miss, 143, 199
+
+  Burton, Sir Richard, 204
+
+  Bushey Park, 181
+
+
+  Cæsar, Julius, 172
+
+  "Camp-shedding," 238
+
+  Canning, George, 204
+
+  Carfax Monument, 36
+
+  Carlyle, 224
+
+  Caversham, 71
+
+  Charing Cross Bridge, 216
+
+  Charles I., 65, 98, 180
+
+  Charles II., 127
+
+  Chaucer, 213
+
+  Chelsea Bridge, 223
+
+  Chelsea Embankment, 224, 225
+
+  Chertsey, 168
+
+  Chertsey Abbey, 168
+
+  Cherwell, 26
+
+  Chestnut Sunday, 181
+
+  Chiswick, 201
+
+  Chiswick House, 204
+
+  Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, 40
+
+  Cleeve Lock, 59
+
+  Cleopatra's Needle, 216
+
+  Clieveden, 136
+
+  Clifton Hampden, 45
+
+  Climenson, Mrs., 96
+
+  Coln River, 159
+
+  Compleat Angler Hotel, Marlow, 107
+
+  Congreve, 228
+
+  Conway, Field-Marshal, 102
+
+  Cookham, 138
+
+  Cooper's Hill, 146, 157
+
+  Cornish, J. C., 85
+
+  Countess of Nottingham, 195
+
+  Countess of Suffolk, 193
+
+  Cowley, 5, 6, 169, 174
+
+  Cowley Stakes, 172
+
+  Cranmer, 221
+
+  Cromwell, 55, 180
+
+  Crowmarsh, 54
+
+  Cuckoo Weir, 149
+
+  Culham, 42
+
+  Custom House, 210
+
+
+  Damer, Mrs., 99
+
+  Danesfield, 124
+
+  Datchet, 146
+
+  Day, Thomas, 82
+
+  Day's Lock, 47
+
+  Denham, 5, 24
+
+  Denham, Sir John, 146
+
+  Despencer, Lord Le, 126
+
+  Ditton House, 185
+
+  Donne, Dr., 190
+
+  Dorchester, 49
+
+  Dorchester Abbey, 51
+
+  Dowgate, 213
+
+  D'Oyley, Robert, 53
+
+  D'Oyley, Sir Cope, 103
+
+  Drayton, 4, 5, 22
+
+  Dredging, 233
+
+  Druce, Claridge G., 32, 62
+
+  Duc d'Aumale, 192
+
+  Duchess of York, 171
+
+  Dudley, Robert, 196
+
+  Duke of Buckingham, 137
+
+  Duke of Gloucester, 192
+
+  Duke of Marlborough, 150
+
+  Duke of York, 172
+
+  Duke's Meadows, 201
+
+  Durham House, 216
+
+  Dyers' Company, 122
+
+
+  Earl of Essex, 196
+
+  Earl of Leicester, 215
+
+  Edward IV., 213
+
+  Edward VI., 180
+
+  Edward Plantagenet, 113
+
+  Edward the Confessor, 140
+
+  Eel-pie Island, 191
+
+  Eights, The, 28
+
+  Eliot, George, 227
+
+  Embankment, The, 214
+
+  Empress Maud, 67
+
+  Essex, Earl of, 196
+
+  Essex House, 215
+
+  Eton, 7, 148
+
+  Evelyn, 229
+
+  Exe River, 175
+
+
+  Fair Maid of Kent, 54
+
+  Faringford, Hugh, 69
+
+  Fawley Court, 101, 102
+
+  Ferry Hotel, Cookham, 138
+
+  Fielding, Henry, 8, 190
+
+  Fingest, 103
+
+  Fishing, 236
+
+  Fleet River, 213
+
+  Floods, 217
+
+  Flora of Oxfordshire, 62
+
+  Folly Bridge, 25
+
+  Forbury Public Garden, Reading, 70
+
+  Fox, Charles James, 169, 204
+
+  Frogmill, 125
+
+  Fulham Palace, 228
+
+  Fuller, 67, 152, 198
+
+
+  Garrick's Villa, 183
+
+  Gaunt, John of, 67, 216
+
+  Gaveston, Piers, 54
+
+  Gay, 190, 193
+
+  General description, 9 ff
+
+  George III., 98
+
+  George IV., 98, 172
+
+  George Hotel, Bray, 154
+
+  George Hotel, Wargrave, 82
+
+  Gloucester, Duke of, 192
+
+  Goring, 57
+
+  Goring Church, 61
+
+  Gray, 5
+
+  Great Hall, Westminster, 219
+
+  Great Marlow, 106
+
+  Great Western Railway, 8
+
+  Greenhill, 60
+
+  Greenlands, 103
+
+  Greenwich Palace, 6
+
+  Grey, Lady Jane, 198
+
+  Gwynne, Nell, 127
+
+
+  Halliford, 175
+
+  Ham House, 191, 193
+
+  Hambleden, 103
+
+  Hammersmith Bridge, 229
+
+  Hampton, 177
+
+  Hampton Court, 6, 178
+
+  Hampton Green, 182
+
+  Hardwicke House, 65
+
+  Harp Hill, 48
+
+  Hartslock Woods, 62
+
+  Hedsor Church, 138
+
+  Henley, 97
+
+  Henley Regatta, 3, 100
+
+  Henry I., 42, 141, 195
+
+  Henry V., 195
+
+  Henry VI., 169
+
+  Henry VII., 195
+
+  Henry VIII., 68, 158, 178
+
+  Hoby, Sir Thomas, 111
+
+  Hogarth, 6, 183, 204
+
+  Holme Park, 75
+
+  Home Park, 145
+
+  Hook, Theodore, 184
+
+  Horton, 158
+
+  Hotels, 18
+
+  House-boats, 235
+
+  Houses of Parliament, 218
+
+  Howard, Katherine, 198
+
+  Hurley, 116
+
+  Hurlingham Club, 227
+
+  Hurst Park Racecourse, 182
+
+
+  Icknield Street, 59
+
+  Iffley, 29
+
+  Isleworth, 197
+
+
+  James II., 221
+
+  James Stuart, 143
+
+  Joan, 54
+
+  John, 78, 156, 213
+
+  Johnson, Dr., 183
+
+  Jones, Inigo, 199
+
+  Juxon, 221
+
+
+  Kelmscott Press, 230
+
+  Kempenfelt, Admiral, 120
+
+  Kew Gardens, 199
+
+  Kew Observatory, 197
+
+  Kew Palace, 6
+
+  _Kingis Quair_, 144
+
+  King's Stone, 187
+
+  Kingston, 186
+
+  Kingston Rowing Club, 186
+
+  Kit-Kat Club, 228
+
+  Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 190, 191, 228
+
+
+  Lady Place, 116
+
+  Laleham, 161, 167
+
+  Lambeth Bridge, 221
+
+  Lambeth Palace, 221
+
+  Laud, Archbishop, 71, 221, 228
+
+  Leicester, Earl of, 215
+
+  Leicester House, 215
+
+  Leland, 78
+
+  Llyn-din, 212
+
+  Locks, 239
+    Bell Weir, 159
+    Benson, 59
+    Boulter's, 128
+    Boveney, 150
+    Bray, 157
+    Cleeve, 59
+    Marsh, 102
+    Teddington, 187
+    Temple, 115
+
+  Loddon River, 92
+
+  London and South Western Railway, 9
+
+  London Bridge, 210
+
+  London Stone, 159
+
+  Long Ditton, 185
+
+  Long Mead, 157
+
+  Louis Philippe, 192
+
+  Lower Hope, 149
+
+  Lower Mall, 230
+
+
+  Macaulay, 120
+
+  Magna Charta Island, 155
+
+  Maidenhead, 132
+
+  Mapledurham House, 65, 66
+
+  Marble Hill, 193
+
+  Marlborough, Duke of, 98, 150
+
+  Marryat, 230
+
+  Marsh Lock, 102
+
+  Medmenham Abbey, 125
+
+  Merchant Taylors' School, 213
+
+  Milton, 5, 7, 158
+
+  Mole River, 184
+
+  Molesey Lock, 182
+
+  Molesey Regatta, 184
+
+  Mongewell, 56
+
+  Monkey Island, 150
+
+  Monmouth House, 225
+
+  Montfichet, 213
+
+  Moore, Thomas, 185, 188
+
+  More, Sir Thomas, 225
+
+  Morris, William, 230
+
+  Mortlake, 202
+
+  Mount Lebanon, 192
+
+
+  Naval Volunteer Training Ship, 214
+
+  New Cut, 27
+
+  Northumberland Avenue, 218
+
+  Northumberland House, 218
+
+  Nottingham, Countess of, 195
+
+  Nuneham Courtney, 35
+
+
+  Oatlands Park, 171, 174
+
+  Obstructions, 234
+
+  Old Deer Forest, 197
+
+  Old London Bridge, 208
+
+  Old Windsor, 146
+
+  Orleans House, 191
+
+  Oxford, 7
+
+  Oxford Meadows, 32
+
+
+  Pang River, 64
+
+  Pangbourne, 63
+
+  Park Place, 102
+
+  Parr, Catherine, 225
+
+  Penton Hook, 161
+
+  Pepys, 229
+
+  Phyllis Court, 101, 102
+
+  Pope, 5, 6, 145, 190, 193, 204
+
+  Pope's Villa, 189
+
+  Prince de Joinville, 192
+
+  Prince Henry, 193
+
+  Princess Elizabeth, 225
+
+  Puddle Dock, 213
+
+  Punting competition, 170
+
+  Putney Bridge, 227
+
+
+  Quarry Woods, 109
+
+  Queen Anne, 192
+
+  Queen Caroline, 229
+
+  Queen Eleanor, 213
+
+  Queen Elizabeth, 70, 113, 240
+
+  Queen Mary, 180
+
+  Queen Maud, 54
+
+  Queenhithe, 213
+
+
+  Radley College Boat-house, 34
+
+  Ranelagh, 223, 228
+
+  Raven's Ait, 186
+
+  Ray Mead Hotel, Maidenhead, 135
+
+  Reading Abbey, 67
+
+  Reading Castle, 70
+
+  Red Lion Hotel, Henley, 98
+
+  Richard II., 195
+
+  Richard III., 213
+
+  Richmond, 194
+
+  Richmond Palace, 6, 195
+
+  Rivers: Abbey, 165, 168
+    Brent, 200
+    Coln, 159
+    Exe, 175
+    Fleet, 213
+    Loddon, 92
+    Mole, 184
+    Pang, 64
+    Thame, 52
+    Wandle, 227
+    Wey, 173
+
+  Robsart, Amy, 196
+
+  Rodney, Admiral, 175
+
+  Romney Island, 148
+
+  Rose Garden, Sonning, 72
+
+  Rossetti, 227
+
+  Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 223
+
+  Runney Mead, 156
+
+  Rupert, Prince, 201
+
+
+  St. Anne's Hill, 170
+
+  St. Helen's Nunnery, Abingdon, 40
+
+  St. Mary Overies, 210
+
+  St. Patrick's Stream, 92
+
+  St. Saviour's, 210
+
+  St. Thomas's Hospital, 221
+
+  Salisbury House, 216
+
+  Sandford, 33
+
+  Savoy, The, 216
+
+  Scotland Yard, 218
+
+  Seagulls, 218
+
+  Seymour, Thomas, 225
+
+  Shelley, 106
+
+  Shenstone, 99
+
+  Shepperton, 170, 175
+
+  Shiplake, 95
+
+  Shrewsbury House, 225
+
+  Sinodun Hill, 48
+
+  Skindle's Hotel, Maidenhead, 133
+
+  Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 103
+
+  Smith, Sydney, 78
+
+  Smollett, 225
+
+  Somerset, Lord-Protector, 198, 215
+
+  Somerset House, 214
+
+  Sonning, 72
+
+  Spenser, 5, 213, 215
+
+  Staines, 159
+
+  Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, 194
+
+  Steele, 228
+
+  Stephen, 54
+
+  Stokenchurch, 103
+
+  Stow, 239
+
+  Strawberry Hill, 188
+
+  Streatley, 57
+
+  Sunbury, 175
+
+  Surbiton, 186
+
+  Surley Hill, 150
+
+  Sutton Courtney, 43
+
+  Sutton Pool, 43
+
+  Swan Hotel, Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Swans, 121
+
+  Swift, 190, 193
+
+  Syon House, 197
+
+
+  Tagg's Island, 182
+
+  Taplow, 132
+
+  Tate Gallery, 223
+
+  Teddington Lock, 187
+
+  Temple, 214
+
+  Temple Island, 101
+
+  Temple Lock, 115
+
+  Temple Mill, 115
+
+  Tennyson, 95, 191
+
+  Terry, Ellen, 166
+
+  Thame, The, 52
+
+  Thames Conservancy, 233
+
+  Thames, derivation of, 4
+
+  Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Thames Gardens, 19
+
+  Thomson, 6, 137, 230
+
+  Thorney Island, 222
+
+  Torpids, The, 29
+
+  Tow-path, 237
+
+  Tower, 210
+
+  Tower Bridge, 210, 211
+
+  Tower Royal, 213
+
+  Turner, 173, 191, 226, 230
+
+  Twickenham, 191
+
+  Twickenham Reach, 188
+
+
+  Upper Hope, 149
+
+  Upper Mall, 230
+
+  Upper Thames Sailing Club, 139
+
+
+  Vanbrugh, 228
+
+  Vauxhall Bridge, 223
+
+  Vintners' Company, 122
+
+
+  Walbrook, 208
+
+  Walbrook Wharf, 212
+
+  Walker, Frederick, 153
+
+  Wallingford, 53
+
+  Walpole, Horace, 6, 183, 189, 228
+
+  Walton Bridge, 173
+
+  Walton Church, 174
+
+  Walton, Izaak, 147
+
+  Wandle River, 227
+
+  Wandsworth, 227
+
+  Warbeck, Perkin, 196
+
+  Wargrave, 80
+
+  Warwick, "King Maker," 113
+
+  Waterloo Bridge, 216
+
+  Watermen, 206
+
+  Weirs, 239
+
+  Westminster Abbey, 222
+
+  Westminster Bridge, 220
+
+  Westminster Palace, 6
+
+  Wey River, 171
+
+  Weybridge, 170, 171
+
+  Whitchurch, 63
+
+  Whitehall, 218
+
+  Whitehall Palace, 6
+
+  White Hart Hotel, Sonning, 74
+
+  Whitehill, 60
+
+  Wigod, 53
+
+  William the Conqueror, 53, 141
+
+  William III., 141, 180
+
+  Winchester House, 225
+
+  Windsor Castle, 140
+
+  Wittenham, Little, 47
+
+  Wittenham Woods, 47
+
+  Wolsey, 178
+
+  Worcester House, 216
+
+  Wordsworth, 220
+
+  Wotton, Sir Henry, 147
+
+  Wren, Sir Christopher, 181, 182
+
+  Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 210
+
+
+  York, Duchess of, 171
+
+  York, Duke of, 172
+
+  York House, 191, 217
+
+
+_Printed by_ Geo. W. Jones, Limited, _Watford_.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE THAMES
+   FROM OXFORD TO LONDON
+
+   MAP ACCOMPANYING "THE THAMES" BY MORTIMER MENPES AND G. E. MITTON.
+   PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON]
+
+
+
+
+BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
+
+ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR
+
+BY MORTIMER MENPES
+
+
+     JAPAN
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Times.=--"Mr. Menpes's pictures are here given in most perfect
+facsimile, and they form altogether a series of colour impressions of
+Japan which may fairly be called unrivalled. Even without the narrative
+they would show that Mr. Menpes is an enthusiast for Japan, her art and
+her people; and very few European artists have succeeded in giving such
+complete expression to an admiration in which all share."
+
+
+     INDIA
+
+     WITH 75 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Evening Standard.=--"This sumptuous book is the result of an
+ideal collaboration, for the artist is at his best with colour schemes
+and atmospheric impressions, such as we find in his famous 'Japan'
+and 'Durbar' books; while Mrs. Steel has not only the saving grace of
+imagination, but is able by the sympathy and wise knowledge gained by
+a long residence in India to write a text of more than ordinary charm."
+
+
+     THE DURBAR
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Morning Post.=--"This splendid book will be accepted by all as the
+best realisation of an epoch-making ceremony that we are ever likely to
+get."
+
+=The Academy.=--"Unquestionably the best pictorial representation of
+the Durbar which has appeared."
+
+=The Globe.=--"Likely to be the most brilliant and lasting record of
+the historical occasion."
+
+
+     VENICE
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The King.=--"Within the last few years the industry of contemporary
+writers, some with and others without a genuine sympathy for their
+subject, has helped us to glimpses of the Queen of the Adriatic,
+through the spectacles of art, history, archæology, poetry, and
+romance; but the _Magnum Opus_ of Mortimer Menpes embraces to a great
+degree all five points of view, and persuades us that at last (and that
+not a day too soon) the stones of Venice have found at once a painter
+and a writer equally worthy of the vanished glories, the memories of
+which still cling to every church, palace, or bridge drawn or described
+in this charming work."
+
+
+     BRITTANY
+
+     WITH 75 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Pall Mall Gazette.=--"It is of course the picturesque aspects of
+Brittany that appeal to Mr. Menpes.... Whether he paints cottage
+interiors or peasant types, straggling village streets and coast-town
+alleys, or a market-place bustling and baking in the sunshine, it is
+all one to his graceful pencil; and reproduced, as the drawings are, by
+his own colour-process, they make another of those many charming albums
+of travel which Messrs. Black have made a special province of their
+own."
+
+
+     WORLD
+     PICTURES
+
+     WITH 500 ILLUSTRATIONS
+     (50 IN COLOUR)
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Scotsman.=--"Mr. Menpes has been a wanderer over the face of the
+earth armed with brush and pencil, and he has brought back with him
+portfolios filled with samples of the colour and sunshine, and of the
+life and form, quaint or beautiful, of the most famous countries of
+the East and of the West, and his charming book is a kind of album into
+which he has gathered the cream of an artist's memories and impressions
+of the many countries he has visited and sketched in."
+
+
+     THE WORLD'S
+     CHILDREN
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Times.=--"Of the cleverness, both of the pictures and letterpress,
+there can be no doubt. Miss Menpes's short papers on the children
+of different lands are full of insight, human and fresh experience;
+and Mr. Menpes's 100 pictures ... are above all remarkable for their
+extraordinary variety of treatment, both in colour scheme and in the
+pose and surroundings of the subject."
+
+
+     WAR
+     IMPRESSIONS
+
+     WITH 99 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Daily Telegraph.=--"One hardly knows which to admire the more--the
+skill of the artist or the skill with which his studies have been
+reproduced, for the colours of the originals are shown with marvellous
+fidelity, and the delicate art of the impressionist loses nothing
+in the process. The book, therefore, is a double triumph, and will
+therefore be prized by collectors."
+
+
+     WHISTLER AS
+     I KNEW HIM
+
+     WITH 125 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+     AND TINT
+
+     PRICE 40s. NET
+
+Haldane Macfall in =The Academy=.--"No one who loves the Art of
+Whistler should be without this handsome book; it contains works of Art
+of exquisite beauty; it contains a delightful picture of the outward
+Whistler that the man himself wished to be mistaken for the real
+thing--half butterfly, half wasp, wholly laughing enigma."
+
+=The Observer.=--"A singularly illuminating and intimate monograph."
+
+
+     REMBRANDT
+
+     WITH 16 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 12s. 6d. NET
+
+=Aberdeen Free Press.=--"The illustrations are magnificent examples
+of the perfection to which reproduction in colour is carried by Mr.
+Menpes, and the book as a whole is of very special interest."
+
+=British Weekly.=--"An invaluable collection of superb reproductions of
+Rembrandt's work. The book is a most desirable possession."
+
+
+PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK · SOHO SQUARE · LONDON · W.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Thames
+
+Author: G. E. Mitton
+
+Illustrator: Mortimer Menpes
+
+Release Date: January 30, 2014 [EBook #44794]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THAMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="tnbox">
+<p class="center"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b></p>
+<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original
+document have been preserved.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="421" height="600" alt="Cover" />
+</div>
+
+<h1>
+THE THAMES
+</h1>
+
+<div class="bbox p6">
+<div class="ibox">
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">Volumes in this Series by</span><br />
+<span class="smcap">Mortimer Menpes</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+<div class="ibox">
+<p class="center">
+EACH <b>20s.</b> NET<br />
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+</p>
+
+<hr class="l05" />
+
+<p class="center">
+THE DURBAR<br />
+JAPAN · WORLD'S CHILDREN<br />
+WORLD PICTURES · VENICE<br />
+WAR IMPRESSIONS<br />
+INDIA · BRITTANY<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+<div class="ibox">
+<p class="center">
+<i>Published by</i><br />
+<span class='smcap'>A. &amp; C. Black. Soho Square. London. W.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center p4">
+<i>AGENTS</i>
+</p>
+
+<table summary="Publishers">
+<tr>
+<td>AMERICA</td>
+<td class="tdh">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>64 &amp; 66 Fifth Avenue</span>, NEW YORK</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>CANADA</td>
+<td class="tdh">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>27 Richmond Street</span>, TORONTO</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td>INDIA</td>
+<td class="tdh">MACMILLAN &amp; COMPANY, LTD.<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>Macmillan Building</span>, BOMBAY<br />
+             <span class='smcap'>309 Bow Bazaar Street</span>, CALCUTTA</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i004" id="i004"></a>
+<img src="images/i-004.jpg" width="423" height="550" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="blockquot p6">
+<p class="center b20">
+THE THAMES</p>
+
+<p class="center b13">BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.<br />
+TEXT BY G. E. MITTON<br />
+PUBLISHED BY A.&amp;C. BLACK<br />
+SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.</p>
+<div class="figright p2"><a name="i007" id="i007"></a>
+<img src="images/i-007.jpg" width="55" height="55" alt="" />
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center p6 s08">
+<i>Published July 1906</i>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_v' name='Page_v'>[v]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i009" id="i009"></a>
+<img src="images/i-009.jpg" width="550" height="353" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CONTENTS
+</h2>
+
+<table summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER I</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><span class="s08">PAGE</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Beauty of the River</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER II</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Oxford Meadows</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER III</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Old Town of Abingdon</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IV</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Dorchester and Sinodun Hill</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_vi' name='Page_vi'>[vi]</a></span></td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER V</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Castle and Stronghold</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VI</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Twin Villages</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>A Mitred Abbot</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER VIII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Sonning and its Roses</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER IX</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Wargrave and Neighbourhood</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER X</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Henley</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XI</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Romance of Bisham and Hurley</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Boulter's Lock and Maidenhead</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Windsor and Eton</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_vii' name='Page_vii'>[vii]</a></span></td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIV</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Magna Charta</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XV</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Penton Hook</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVI</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Weybridge and Chertsey</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The Londoner's Zone</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XVIII</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>The River at London</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdchap" colspan="2">CHAPTER XIX</td>
+      </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Our National Possession</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td>
+  </tr>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td><span class='smcap'>Index</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_ix' name='Page_ix'>[ix]</a></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_viii' name='Page_viii'></a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+</h2>
+
+<table summary="List of Illustrations">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">1. </td>
+    <td colspan="2">Punting</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><i><a href="#i004">Frontispiece</a></i></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr" colspan="4"><span class="s08">PAGE</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">2. </td>
+    <td>Thames Ditton</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i009">v</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">3. </td>
+    <td>Sutton Courtney, Culham Bridge</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i017">1</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">4. </td>
+    <td>Pangbourne</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i023">4</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">5. </td>
+    <td>Dorchester Abbey</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i031">8</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">6. </td>
+    <td>Day's Lock</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i039">12</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">7. </td>
+    <td>Near the Bridge, Sutton Courtney</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i045">14</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">8. </td>
+    <td>Streatley Inn</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i053">18</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">9. </td>
+    <td>Sandford Lock</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i061">25</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">10. </td>
+    <td>Iffley</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i067">28</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">11. </td>
+    <td>Radley College Boat-house</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i077">34</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">12. </td>
+    <td>Almshouses of Abingdon</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i081">37</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">13. </td>
+    <td>Abingdon</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i085">38</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">14. </td>
+    <td>The Mill at Abingdon</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i091">40</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">15. </td>
+    <td>Sutton Courtney Backwater</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i097">42</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">16. </td>
+    <td>Clifden Hampden from the Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i103">44</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">17. </td>
+    <td>Clifden Hampden</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i109">46</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">18. </td>
+    <td>Hurley</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i111">47</a><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_x' name='Page_x'>[x]</a></span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">19. </td>
+    <td>Cottages, Dorchester</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i115">48</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">20. </td>
+    <td>White Hart Hotel, Dorchester</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i121">50</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">21. </td>
+    <td>Dorchester Backwater</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i127">52</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">22. </td>
+    <td>Danesfield</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i129">53</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">23. </td>
+    <td>Wallingford</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i133">54</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">24. </td>
+    <td>Streatley Mill</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i139">56</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">25. </td>
+    <td>Goring Bridge</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i141">57</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">26. </td>
+    <td>Streatley</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i145">58</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">27. </td>
+    <td>Goring Church</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i151">60</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">28. </td>
+    <td>Goring</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i157">62</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">29. </td>
+    <td>Pangbourne, from the Swan Hotel</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i163">64</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">30. </td>
+    <td>Whitchurch Lock</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i165">64</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">31. </td>
+    <td>Mapledurham Mill</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i171">66</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">32. </td>
+    <td>Evening</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i173">67</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">33. </td>
+    <td>Caversham</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i179">70</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">34. </td>
+    <td>Paddling</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i182">72</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">35. </td>
+    <td>The Rose Garden at Sonning</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i185">72</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">36. </td>
+    <td>Sonning</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i193">76</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">37. </td>
+    <td>St. George and the Dragon, Wargrave</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i198">80</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">38. </td>
+    <td>The Church at Wargrave</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i201">80</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">39. </td>
+    <td>Barges at Oxford</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i219">97</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">40. </td>
+    <td>Red Lion Hotel, Henley</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i223">98</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">41. </td>
+    <td>Henley Regatta</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i229">100</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">42. </td>
+    <td>Hambleden</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i235">102</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">43. </td>
+    <td>Medmenham Abbey</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i239">105</a><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_xi' name='Page_xi'>[xi]</a></span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">44. </td>
+    <td>General View of Marlow</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i243">106</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">45. </td>
+    <td>Quarry Woods</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i249">108</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">46. </td>
+    <td>Bisham Church</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i255">110</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">47. </td>
+    <td>Hurley Backwater</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i261">112</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">48. </td>
+    <td>Bisham Abbey</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i267">114</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">49. </td>
+    <td>Cookham, from above</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i282">128</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">50. </td>
+    <td>Boulter's Lock, Ascot Sunday</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i285">128</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">51. </td>
+    <td>Below Boulter's Lock</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i291">130</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">52. </td>
+    <td>Maidenhead</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i297">132</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">53. </td>
+    <td>Eton, from the Brocas</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i306">140</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">54. </td>
+    <td>Windsor Castle</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i309">140</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">55. </td>
+    <td>Windsor</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i317">144</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">56. </td>
+    <td>Eton Chapel, from the Fields</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i325">148</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">57. </td>
+    <td>Magna Charta Island</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i333">155</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">58. </td>
+    <td>Hedsor Fishery</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i339">161</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">59. </td>
+    <td>Temple Lock</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i345">167</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">60. </td>
+    <td>Walton Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i353">172</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">61. </td>
+    <td>Sunbury</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i359">174</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">62. </td>
+    <td>Hampton Court</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i363">177</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">63. </td>
+    <td>Hampton Court, from the River</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i367">178</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">64. </td>
+    <td>Marlow Church</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i395">205</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">65. </td>
+    <td>Beyond Hammersmith Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i399">206</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">66. </td>
+    <td>The Custom House</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i405">208</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">67. </td>
+    <td>Dutch Barges near the Tower</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i411">210</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">68. </td>
+    <td>The Tower of St. Magnus</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i417">212</a><span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_xii' name='Page_xii'>[xii]</a></span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">69. </td>
+    <td>St. Paul's</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i423">214</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">70. </td>
+    <td>The Houses of Parliament</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i429">216</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">71. </td>
+    <td>Westminster by Night</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i435">218</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">72. </td>
+    <td>Hay Barges near Westminster Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i443">222</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">73. </td>
+    <td>Chelsea Reach, with the Old Church</td>
+    <td class="tdc">"</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i451">226</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">74. </td>
+    <td>View from Richmond Hill</td>
+    <td></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i457">231</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdr">75. </td>
+    <td>From Battersea Bridge</td>
+    <td class="tdc"><i>Facing</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#i461">232</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td colspan="3" class="tdc"><i><a href="#i479">Sketch Map at end of Volume</a></i></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="center p4">
+<i>The Illustrations in this volume were engraved and printed at
+the Menpes Press, Watford.</i>
+</p>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_1' name='Page_1'>[1]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i017" id="i017"></a>
+<img src="images/i-017.jpg" width="550" height="354" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER I<br /><br /><span class="s08">
+THE BEAUTY OF THE RIVER
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+Close your eyes and conjure up a vision of the
+river Thames; what is the picture that you see? If
+you are a prosaic and commercial person, whose
+business lies by the river side, the vision will be
+one of wharves and docks, of busy cranes loading
+and unloading; a row of bonded warehouses
+rising from the water's edge; lighters filled with
+tea lying in their shadow, tarpaulined and padlocked;
+ships of all sizes and shapes, worn by
+water and weather. And up and down, in and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_2' name='Page_2'>[2]</a></span>
+out, among it all you see river police on their
+launch, inquisitive and determined, watching everything,
+hearing everything, and turning up when
+least expected. The glories of the high Tower
+Bridge, and the smoky gold of the setting sun
+will not affect you, for your thoughts are fixed
+on prosaic detail. As for green fields and quiet
+backwaters, such things do not enter into the
+vision at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet for one who sees the Thames thus prosaically,
+a hundred see it in a gayer aspect. To
+many a man it is always summer there, for the
+river knows him not when the chill grey days
+draw in. He sees gay houseboats in new coats
+of paint, decorated with scarlet geraniums and
+other gaudy plants. He associates the river with
+"a jolly good time" with a carefully chosen house-party,
+with amateur tea-making and an absence
+of care. Nowhere else is one so free to "laze"
+without the rebuke even of one's own occasionally
+too zealous conscience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To another the Thames simply means the Boat
+Race, nothing more and nothing less. Year by year
+he journeys up to London from his tiny vicarage
+in the heart of the country for that event. If the
+high tide necessitates it, he stands shivering on the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_3' name='Page_3'>[3]</a></span>
+brink in the chill whiteness of early morning. He
+sits on the edge of a hard wooden cart for an
+immense time, and, by way of keeping up his
+strength, eats an indigestible penny bun, a thing
+that it would never enter his head to do at any other
+time. He sees here and there one or the other of
+those school-fellows or university chums who have
+dropped out of his life for all the rest of the year.
+Then, after a moment's shouting, a moment's
+tense anxiety or bitter disappointment, according
+to the position of the boats, the flutter of a
+flag, and a thrill of something of the old enthusiasm
+that the unsparing poverty of his life has
+slowly ground out of him, he retires to his vicarage
+again for another year, elated or depressed according
+to the result of the race.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To others Henley is the embodiment of all
+that is joyous; the one week in the year that is
+worth counting. But to others, and these a vast
+majority of those who know the river at all, the
+Thames means fresh and life-giving air after a
+week spent within four walls. It means congenial
+exercise and light, and the refreshment that
+beauty gives, even if but half realised. It means a
+quiet dream with a favourite pipe in a deep backwater
+so overhung with trees that it resembles a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_4' name='Page_4'>[4]</a></span>
+green tunnel. The gentle drone of the bees
+sounds from the banks, there is a flash of blue
+sheen as a kingfisher darts by; a gentle dip and
+slight crackling tell of another favoured individual
+making his way cautiously along to the same sheltered
+alley; the radiant sunlight falls white upon the
+water through the leaves and sends shimmering
+reflections of dancing ripples on the sides of the
+punt. Such a position is as near Paradise as it
+is given to mortal to attain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are only a few of an inexhaustible variety
+of aspects of this glorious river, and each reader
+is welcome to add his own favourite to the list.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i023" id="i023"></a>
+<img src="images/i-023.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">PANGBOURNE</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+For the purposes of this book we are dealing
+with the Thames between Oxford and London,
+though as a matter of fact, tradition has it that
+the Thames proper does not begin until below
+Oxford, where it is formed by the junction of the
+Thame and the Isis. Tamese (Thames) means
+"smooth spreading water." Tam is the same root
+as occurs in Tamar, etc., and the "es" is the perpetually
+recurring word for water, <i>e.g.</i>, Ouse, ooze,
+usquebagh. Isis is probably a back formation, from
+Tamesis. In Drayton's <i>Polyolbion</i>, we have the
+pretty allegory of the wedding of Thame and Isis,
+from which union is born the sturdy Thames.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_5' name='Page_5'>[5]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Now Fame had through this Isle divulged in every ear
+</p>
+<p>
+The long expected day of marriage to be near,
+</p>
+<p>
+That Isis, Cotswold's heir, long woo'd was lastly won,
+</p>
+<p>
+And instantly should wed with Thame, old Chiltern's son.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In Spenser's <i>Faërie Queene</i> the notion is
+carried one step further, and Thames, the son of
+Thame and Isis, is to wed with Medway, a far-fetched
+conceit, for the rivers do not run into each
+other in any part of their course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is strange that a river such as the Thames,
+which, though by no means great as regards size,
+has played an important part in the life of the
+nation, should not have inspired more writers.
+There is no striking poem on the Thames. The
+older poets, Denham, Drayton, Spenser, Cowley,
+Milton, and Pope, all refer to the river more or
+less frequently, but they have not taken it as a
+main theme. It is even more neglected by later
+poets. There are poems to special parts or scenes,
+such as Gray's well-known "Ode on a Distant
+Prospect of Eton College"; the river colours one
+or two of Matthew Arnold's poems; but the great
+poem, which shall take it as a sole theme, is yet
+to come. Neither is there a good book on this
+river, though it is among rivers what London is
+among the cities of men. Yet the material is
+abundant, and associations are scattered thickly
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_6' name='Page_6'>[6]</a></span>
+along the banks. No fewer than seven royal
+palaces have stood by the river. And of these one
+is still the principal home of our sovereign. Of
+the others, Hampton Court, chiefly reminiscent
+of William III., is standing. The neighbouring
+palace of Richmond remains but in a fragment.
+At London, Westminster, the home of our early and
+mediæval kings, has vanished, except for the great
+hall and a crypt. Whitehall&mdash;the old palace&mdash;is
+wholly gone, though one part of the new palace
+projected by James I. remains. As for the old
+palace of Greenwich, so full of memories of the
+Tudors, that has been replaced by a later structure.
+I hesitate to name Kew in this list, so entirely
+unworthy is it of the name of palace, yet, as the
+residence of a king it should, perhaps, find a place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the annals of these palaces English history
+could be completely reconstructed from the time
+of Edward the Confessor to the present day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it is not in historical memories alone that
+the Thames is so rich. Poets, authors, politicians,
+and artists have crowded thickly on its banks
+from generation to generation. The lower reaches
+are haunted by the names of Hogarth, Cowley,
+Thomson; further up we come to the homes of
+Walpole, Pope, and Fielding. At Laleham lived
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_7' name='Page_7'>[7]</a></span>
+Matthew Arnold. Not far from Magna Charta
+Island is Horton, where Milton lived. Though
+his home was not actually on the river, Milton
+must have often strolled along the banks of the
+Thames, and many of his poems show the impress
+of associations gathered from such scenery as is to
+be found about Ankerwyke and Runneymead:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
+</p>
+<p>
+While the landscape round it measures:
+</p>
+<p>
+Russet lawns and fallows gray,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where the nibbling flocks do stray.
+</p>
+<p>
+Meadows trim with daisies pied;
+</p>
+<p>
+Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+From the records of Eton alone many a book
+might be compiled of the lives of men in the public
+eye, whose impressions were formed there by the
+Thames side. Indeed, had the river no other
+claim to notice than its connection with Eton
+and Oxford, through which more men who have
+controlled the destiny of their country and made
+empire have passed, than through any similar
+foundations in England, this alone would be cause
+enough to make it a worthy subject for any book.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beside palaces and the homes of great men,
+castles and religious houses once stood thickly
+along the banks of the river. The notable monasteries
+of Reading, Dorchester, Chertsey, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_8' name='Page_8'>[8]</a></span>
+Abingdon, etc., were widely celebrated as seats
+of learning in their day, and the castles of Reading,
+Wallingford, and Oxford were no less well
+known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a curious law in rivers that, as a whole, the
+windings usually cover double the length of the
+direct axis, and the Thames is no exception to the
+rule. It sweeps in and out with a fair amount of
+regularity, the great bend to the south at Thames
+Ditton and Weybridge being reversed higher up in
+the great bend to the north at Bourne End and
+Hambleden. Naturally the sides of these indentations
+run north and south instead of in the usual
+course of east and west. From Wargrave to
+Henley the current is almost due north, and
+likewise from Surbiton to Brentford. A more
+apparent curve, because much smaller in radius, is
+that at Abingdon; here the course by the stream
+is about nine miles, in contrast to the two overland.
+The Great Western Railway is the chief river
+railway, but as it runs a comparatively straight
+course between London and Didcot, some places
+on the great curves are considerably off the
+main line, and are served by branches. After
+Reading it keeps very close to the river as far
+as Moulsford, and is not distant from it the rest
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_9' name='Page_9'>[9]</a></span>
+of the way to Oxford, as it turns almost direct
+north from Didcot Junction. The Great Western
+Railway is ably supplemented by the London and
+South Western Railway, from which the lesser
+stations on the south of the river near to London
+can be reached, also the districts of Twickenham,
+Hampton, etc., included in the chapter called
+"The Londoners' Zone." Further up, Weybridge,
+Chertsey, Egham, and Windsor can also be
+reached by this railway, which cuts a curve and
+touches the river again at Reading.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i031" id="i031"></a>
+<img src="images/i-031.jpg" width="550" height="441" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DORCHESTER ABBEY
+</p>
+
+</div>
+<p>
+There are many zones on the river, and each has
+its devotees. It is curious to notice how one
+crowd differs from another crowd on its "people-pestered
+shores." It is difficult to draw hard and
+fast lines, but taking the boundaries of the London
+County Council as the end of London, we can
+count above it many zones, rich in beauty, divided
+from each other by stretches of dulness; for,
+beautiful as the river is, it must be admitted parts
+of it are dull, though, like the patches on a fair
+skin, these serve but to emphasise the characteristics
+of the remainder. A rather dreary bit
+succeeds Hammersmith, though this is not without
+its own attractiveness, and the first real zone that
+we can touch upon is that from Richmond to
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_10' name='Page_10'>[10]</a></span>
+Hampton, which runs Maidenhead hard for first
+place in popularity; but the Richmond and
+Hampton river people are largely recruited from
+the inhabitants, while those at Maidenhead are
+mostly visitors. Passing over the waterworks and
+embankments above Hampton, we begin another
+zone, much less known because less accessible, but
+in its own way more attractive than that of
+Richmond. It is pure country, with green
+fields, willow trees, cows grazing on the banks,
+many curves and doublings in the channel of the
+main stream, and ever varying vistas, and this
+continues to beyond Weybridge. About Chertsey
+the scenery is flat, but Laleham and Penton Hook
+are two places that annually delight hundreds of
+persons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Staines and Windsor there is a fairly
+attractive stretch, with the park and woods of
+Ankerwyke on one side, and the meadows on the
+other. High on the south rises Cooper's Hill, and
+beyond Albert Bridge we see the smoothly kept
+turf of the Home Park.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Windsor and Eton, of course, will require a
+chapter to themselves. In this general description
+it is sufficient to say that the influence of Eton is
+apparent all the way to Bray. Then we start a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_11' name='Page_11'>[11]</a></span>
+new zone, the most popular one on the river,
+that from Maidenhead to Bourne End. Of the
+delights of this beautiful and varied section it is
+unnecessary here to speak. But the Maidenhead
+reach is spoilt for fastidious people by its too
+great popularity. To those who love the river for
+itself, the endless passing and repassing, the
+impossibility of finding quiet, undisturbed corners,
+the noise and merrymaking, even the sight of too
+many fellow creatures, is a burden. From this the
+part above Marlow is protected by being less
+accessible. It is too far to be reached easily from
+Maidenhead, and those who come by train have
+an awkward change at a junction; therefore the
+crowd finds it not. Yet the beauties are no less
+admirable than those of the adored Maidenhead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Hambleden the influence of Henley begins
+to be felt, and above Henley we enter on another
+zone. Nowhere else on the river are to be found
+so many fascinating spots lying in the stream;
+certainly, no other part offers so many tempting
+backwaters. This is the zone for those who
+love the country pure and simple, and who can
+put up cheerfully with the inconveniences attendant
+on the procuring of supplies, for the sake of the
+quiet, marshy meadows.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_12' name='Page_12'>[12]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reach includes Sonning with its two bridges,
+its islands, and its rose-garden; but beyond Sonning
+dulness is apparent once more, and with the neighbourhood
+of the great and smoky town of Reading,
+charm withers. It is not until Mapledurham that
+the prettiness of the river becomes again apparent,
+and Mapledurham is rather an oasis, for in the
+reach beyond it, though the great rounded chalk
+hills grow opal in the sunlight, and the larks sing
+heavenwards, the attractiveness cannot be called
+beauty. From Pangbourne and Whitchurch to
+Goring and Streatley, the river lies beneath the
+chalk heights, which seem to dip underground,
+reappearing on the other side by Streatley; and the
+whole of the stretch, with its rich and varied woods,
+its delightful islands and weirs, its pretty cottages
+and churches, is full of charm.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i039" id="i039"></a>
+<img src="images/i-039.jpg" width="550" height="434" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DAY'S LOCK
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Beyond Cleeve Lock, with the single exception
+of Mongewell, there is again dulness, though for
+boating pure and simple the reach is very good.
+Wallingford has a trim prettiness of its own, with
+its clean-cut stone bridge and its drooping willow.
+Park-like grounds and pleasant trees succeed,
+Sinodun Hill looms up ahead, and one may
+penetrate up the Thame to Dorchester, where the
+willows nearly meet overhead. Day's Lock still
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_13' name='Page_13'>[13]</a></span>
+belongs to the clean prettiness of the Wallingford
+stretch, which, in fact, continues all the way to
+Culham, notwithstanding that we pass the much
+admired Clifton Hampden, where the church
+stands high on the cliff. Culham itself is dull, but
+with the pretty backwater of Sutton Courtney
+we begin a new kind of scenery. Abingdon has
+something of its richness and profusion, and
+Nuneham Courtney woods, though not rising
+so abruptly as those at Clieveden, are glorious.
+After this we begin the famous meadows that
+continue more or less all the way to Oxford, and
+have a fascination of their own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The best way to see the river as a whole, for
+those who can spare the time, is to go on Salter's
+steamers, which run daily, Sundays excepted,
+during the summer. The fare one way is 14s.,
+exclusive of food, and the night spent <i>en route</i>.
+The trip takes two days, the steamer leaving
+Kingston at 9 in the morning, and reaching Henley
+at 7.15 in the evening. The reverse way, it leaves
+Oxford at 9.30, and reaches Henley, which is
+about half-way, at 7 in the evening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this rough sketch it has been shown that
+there is no lack of choice for those who seek their
+pleasure on the river, and the opportunity meets
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_14' name='Page_14'>[14]</a></span>
+with full response. Seen in sunshine on a summer
+morning, especially if it be the end of the week,
+the river is brilliant. The dainty coloured muslins
+and laces, the Japanese parasols, the painted boats,
+the large shady hats, the sparkle where the oars
+meet the water, and the white sails of the sailing
+boats bellying in the wind, are only a few items in
+a sparkling picture. Fragile, yellow-white butterflies
+and the richer coloured red admirals hover
+about the banks; purple loose-strife, meadow-sweet,
+and snapdragon grow on the banks with
+many a tall gaudily coloured weed. Here and
+there great cedars rise among the lighter foliage,
+showing black against a turquoise sky; while on
+the water, where the wind has ruffled it, there is
+the "many twinkling smile" ascribed by Æschylus
+to the ocean. But, to those who know the Thames,
+this smiling aspect is not the only lovable one:
+they know it also after rain, when the water comes
+thundering over the weirs in translucent hoops
+of vivid green, and the boiling foam below dances
+like whipped cream. To walk along the sedgy
+banks is to leave a trail of "squish-squash" with
+every step. All the yellow and brown flat-leaved
+green things that grow thickly near the
+edges are barely able to keep their heads above
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_15' name='Page_15'>[15]</a></span>
+the stream, and the long reeds bend with the
+current like curved swords. Every little tributary
+gushes gurgling to join in the mad race, and
+the sounds that tell of water are in our ears like
+the instruments in an orchestra. There are the
+rush, the dip, and the tinkle, as well as the deep-throated
+roar. Watching and listening, we feel a
+strange sympathy with the new life brought by the
+increased current; we feel as if it were flooding
+through our own veins, and as if we, like the
+squirming, wriggling things that live in the slime
+below the flood-curtain, were waking up anew
+after a long torpor.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i045" id="i045"></a>
+<img src="images/i-045.jpg" width="550" height="448" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">NEAR THE BRIDGE, SUTTON COURTNEY</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Even in late autumn, when the slow, white
+mist rises from the marshy ground, and most of
+the birds are gone; when the eddies are full of
+dead leaves floating away from the wood where
+all their sheltered lives have been spent; when the
+sparkle and the gaiety and the light-heartedness
+are gone, and the water looks indigo and dun, with
+patches of quicksilver floating on it; when the
+great webs of the spiders that haunt the banks
+hang like filmy curtains of lace heavy with the
+moisture of the air, and the sun sinks wanly
+behind a bank of cloud&mdash;even then the river may
+be loved.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_16' name='Page_16'>[16]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Assuredly, those who go on the river for the day
+only, and know it but under one aspect&mdash;that of
+lazy heat&mdash;lose much. In the evening time,
+as one steps from the long French window
+into the scented dusk, soft white moths flap
+suddenly across the strip of light, and one's
+feet fall silently on the velvet turf, cool with
+the freshness that ever is on a river margin.
+Down by the edge the black water hurries swiftly
+past with a continuous soothing gurgle. A sleepy
+bird moves in a startled way in a bush, and all the
+small things that awake in the night are stirring.
+One can reach down and touch the onyx water
+slipping between one's fingers like dream jewels;
+and far overhead in the rent and torn caverns of
+the clouds, the stars, bigger and brighter than ever
+they look in London, sail swiftly and silently from
+shelter to shelter. The plaintive cry of an owl
+sounds softly from the meadow across the water,
+and there is an indescribable sense of motion
+and poetry, and a thrill of expectation that
+would be wholly lacking in a landscape ever so
+beautiful, without the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then there are the grey days, when sudden
+sheens of silver drop upon the ruffled water as it
+eddies round a corner, and in a moment the surface
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_17' name='Page_17'>[17]</a></span>
+is peopled with dancing fairies, spangled and
+brilliant, flitting in and out in bewildering movement.
+Or the same cold, silver light catches the
+side of a ploughed field, a moment before brown,
+but now shot with green as all the long delicate
+blades are revealed. These, and a thousand other
+delights, cannot be known to the visitor of a day
+only. Under all its aspects, in all its vagaries,
+the river may be loved; and in the swift gliding
+motion there is an irresistible fascination. It
+gives meaning to idleness, and fills up vacancy.
+By the banks of the river one never can be dull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The river is one of the greatest of our national
+possessions. Other rivers there are in England
+where one may boat on a small part, where here
+and there are beauty spots; but the Thames alone
+gives miles of bewildering choice, and can take
+hundreds and hundreds at once upon its flood.
+Now embanked and weired and locked, its waters
+are ideal for boating, and its fishing, with little
+exception, is free to all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shooting on the banks of the Thames is forbidden,
+and the birds have quickly learned to know
+their sanctuary. Lie still for a while in the lee of
+an osier-covered ait, or beneath the shelter of an
+overhanging willow, and that cheeky little reed-bunting
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_18' name='Page_18'>[18]</a></span>
+will hop about so near, that, were you
+endowed by nature with the quickness of movement
+granted to a cat, you could seize it in
+one hand. White-throats, robins, thrushes, blackbirds,
+all haunt the stream, and reed warblers
+and sedge warblers have their haunts by the
+banks. The kingfisher is rapidly increasing, and
+makes his home quite close to the locks and weirs;
+the russet brown of his breast, as he sits motionless
+on a twig waiting his time for a dart, may now
+be seen by a noiseless and sharp-eyed watcher.
+The soft coo of the wood pigeons sounds from
+tall trees, and the cawing of the rooks, softened by
+distance into a melodious conversation, is wafted
+from many a rookery. The chatter of an impudent
+magpie may worry you, or the hoarse squawk
+of a jay break your rest, but they are only the
+discords that the great musician, Nature, knows
+how to introduce into her river symphony.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i053" id="i053"></a>
+<img src="images/i-053.jpg" width="442" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">STREATLEY INN
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Hotels on the river have, in the last few years,
+awakened to the cry of the middle classes for air
+and light, and yet more air. Some of the hotels
+are pretty with verandahs and creeper covered
+walls, but others are old-fashioned&mdash;with low
+rooms. Yet every proprietor who can by hook or
+crook manage it, now runs a lawn of exquisite
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_19' name='Page_19'>[19]</a></span>
+turf down to the water's edge, decorates it with
+flowers far more vivid than can be seen elsewhere,
+and knocks up a bungalow-like building, terribly
+desolate in the winter when the green mould
+creeps insidiously over the wooden posts, and
+the sail-cloth rots in the damp; but airy and
+commodious in the summer, when relays of fifty
+people or more may be seated at a time, and yet
+there is no satiating smell of cooked food. The
+boat owners have also seen fit to accommodate
+their convenience to the demand, and at any large
+builder's landing-stage, boats may now be hired
+to be left almost anywhere on the river, to be
+fetched back by the owner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pessimists say that the river is losing its charm,
+that the advent of motor cars, stirring in people a
+hitherto dormant love of speed, makes the slow
+progress of punting a weariness instead of a relaxation.
+But this is not greatly to be feared. The
+charm of a motor is one thing, the charm of
+the river another; and we cannot spare either.
+Crowds may slightly diminish, but this is no loss,
+rather a gain to the real river lover.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thames gardens are peculiar. By the nature of
+the case they must be far more public than
+ordinary gardens, for the owner's reason for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_20' name='Page_20'>[20]</a></span>
+buying the house was that he wanted to sit on his
+own green turf and see the river flow endlessly
+past. Therefore, though he may hedge around
+the three land sides with high walls and impenetrable
+thorns, he leaves the fourth side open
+so that all the world may look. No one has
+yet been clever enough to invent a screen that
+shall be transparent on one side and opaque on
+the other, and until they do, the owners of these
+beautiful river lawns must sit in the full light
+that beats upon the river banks, and allow every
+passing stranger who has raked up a shilling to
+hire a boat, to enjoy the beauties of a garden he
+has not paid for. Thames lawns are celebrated,
+and rightly so. Not even the turf of college quads,
+grown for hundreds of years, can beat their turf.
+Thick, smooth, closely woven they are, and above
+all, of a pure rich green that is a delight to see,
+and, by way of enhancing this marvellous green,
+the colour which is most often to be seen with
+it is its complementary colour, red. Whether
+the effect is obtained merely by contrast I do
+not know, but certainly it seems as if nowhere
+else could be found geraniums of so rich a vermilion,
+roses of so glorious a crimson. In many of these
+river gardens, too, especially where a little stream
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_21' name='Page_21'>[21]</a></span>
+trickles down, a light trellis arch is thrown up
+and covered with Rambler roses, old rose in colour,
+and only second to the vermilion as a complement
+to the green lawn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two of these gloriously green lawns I have
+particularly in mind, one at Shepperton, and
+one near Thames Ditton, but where they are
+to be seen so frequently it is invidious to particularise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are the private gardens of a grand sort,
+and no whit less beautiful, though without the
+same expanse of lawn, are the gardens of the
+lock-keepers, in which the owners take a particular
+pride.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,
+</p>
+<p>
+Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,
+</p>
+<p>
+Sweet-william with his homely cottage smell,
+</p>
+<p>
+And stocks in fragrant blow;
+</p>
+<p>
+Roses, that down the alleys shine afar,
+</p>
+<p>
+And open, jasmine-muffled lattices.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>M. Arnold.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+But in taking count of Thames's decorations
+we are not confined to gardens. Among the
+flowers growing wild on the river banks we
+have no lack of choice. It is a pretty conceit
+of Drayton's, to make his bridal pair, Thame
+and Isis, travel to meet one another along paths
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_22' name='Page_22'>[22]</a></span>
+flower-decked by willing nymphs. Old Thame,
+as the man, was to have only wild flowers, not
+those "to gardens that belong":
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The primrose placing first because that in the spring
+</p>
+<p>
+It is the first appears, then only flourishing,
+</p>
+<p>
+The azured harebell next, with them they neatly mix'd,
+</p>
+<p>
+T'allay whose luscious smell, they woodbind plac'd betwixt.
+</p>
+<p>
+Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in the lily;
+</p>
+<p>
+And near to that again her sister daffodilly.
+</p>
+<p>
+To sort these flowers of show with th' other that were sweet
+</p>
+<p>
+The cowslip then they couch, and th' oxlip, for her meet,
+</p>
+<p>
+The columbine amongst they sparingly do set,
+</p>
+<p>
+The yellow king-cup wrought in many a curious fret,
+</p>
+<p>
+And now and then among, of eglantine a spray,
+</p>
+<p>
+By which again a course of lady smocks they lay
+</p>
+<p>
+The crow flower, and thereby the clover-flower they stick.
+</p>
+<p>
+The daisie over all those sundry sweets so thick;
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The crimson darnel flowers, the blue-bottle and gold
+</p>
+<p>
+Which, though esteemed but weeds, yet for their dainty hues
+</p>
+<p>
+And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose choose.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The "luscious smell" cannot refer to the harebell,
+which has a very faint perfume; besides,
+it is difficult to think of the harebell in this
+connection, for it is a full summer flower, while
+all the rest belong to spring: Drayton must,
+therefore, mean the wild hyacinth, which is still
+often called the bluebell by people in England,
+though in Scotland this name is correctly reserved
+for the harebell. The "luscious smell" exactly
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_23' name='Page_23'>[23]</a></span>
+describes the rich, rather cloying scent of the
+hyacinth. There has been some discussion as
+to what is meant by the eglantine, which the
+old poets are so fond of mentioning. In Milton it
+means the honeysuckle, but in the others probably
+the sweetbriar; while woodbine is either the twining
+clematis, the "traveller's joy"&mdash;rather a misnomer,
+by-the-way, as it is an insignificant and disappointing
+flower&mdash;or the honeysuckle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Isis was gay with garden flowers:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i6">
+            ... The brave carnation then,
+</p>
+<p>
+With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the pale,
+</p>
+<p>
+Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale
+</p>
+<p>
+Of sweetness, yet in scents as various as in sorts.
+</p>
+<p>
+The purple violet then, the pansy there supports
+</p>
+<p>
+The marygold above t' adorn the arched bar;
+</p>
+<p>
+The double daisie, thrift, the button bachelor,
+</p>
+<p>
+Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion, and to these
+</p>
+<p>
+Some lavender they put with rosemary and bays.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+To make a catalogue of the flowers which may
+be found on the Thames banks at the present
+day would be out of place here, yet there are
+one or two plants so frequently seen that they
+may be mentioned. Among these are the purple
+loose-strife, with its tapering, richly coloured
+spikes, standing sometimes as high as four feet,
+and occasionally mistaken for a foxglove; the
+pink-flowered willow-herb; the wild mustard or
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_24' name='Page_24'>[24]</a></span>
+cherlock, with its sulphur yellow blossoms, and
+creeping-jenny. The bog-bean, or buck-bean, with
+white lace-like flowers may be seen occasionally
+in stagnant swamps. The water-violet, which,
+however, is not in the least like a violet, is also
+to be found in the tributary ditches, as well as the
+tall yellow iris; the flowering rush and the bur-reeds
+often form details in a river picture. In the
+lock gardens herbaceous borders, full of phlox,
+sweet-william, stocks, valerian, big white lilies,
+and, later, red hot pokers, sunflowers, and hollyhocks,
+are ordinary sights. In the meadows near
+Oxford fritillaries, otherwise called snakes'-heads,
+are seen abundantly in spring, but these and other
+flowers shall be mentioned more particularly in
+connection with the places where they grow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It remains but to end with the aspiration of
+Denham:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
+</p>
+<p>
+My great example as it is my theme!
+</p>
+<p>
+Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
+</p>
+<p>
+Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing full.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_25' name='Page_25'>[25]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER II<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE OXFORD MEADOWS
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i061" id="i061"></a>
+<img src="images/i-061.jpg" width="274" height="340" alt="" />
+</div>
+<p>
+This account of
+the river may well
+begin at Folly
+Bridge, seeing it
+is folly in any case
+to attempt to cut
+off a section of a
+river, and, as before
+explained,
+our course from
+Oxford to London
+is peculiarly arbitrary,
+for the
+Thames proper
+does not begin till below Dorchester, and at
+Oxford the river is the Isis. Having thus
+disarmed criticism, without further explanation
+or apology, we stand upon Folly Bridge, which
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_26' name='Page_26'>[26]</a></span>
+is a little way above the end of the course for
+both Torpids and Eights.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the left are the college barges, resplendent
+in many colours, with their slender flagstaffs
+rising against a background of the shady trees
+that border Christchurch meadows. The reach
+of water beside them is alive with boats, and the
+oars rise and dip with the regularity of the legs
+of a monster centipede. The barges should be
+seen in Eights week, when they are in their
+glory, occupied by the mothers, sisters, and aunts
+of the undergraduates, dressed in costumes that
+in mass look like brilliant flower-beds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To see the bridge properly, however, it is
+necessary to go down to the tow-path and look
+back at it, when its quaint, foreign appearance
+can be better estimated. It stands across an
+island on which is the renowned Salter's boat-house,
+and its solidity and the tall houses near it,
+which throw black shadows in the yellow sunlight,
+make it look not unlike a corner in Venice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Following the river down, we see on the Oxford
+side the narrow mouth of the meandering Cherwell
+under a white arched bridge. The most delightful
+place for "lazing" in a boat is the Cherwell,
+shady and not too wide; deliciously cool in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_27' name='Page_27'>[27]</a></span>
+height of the summer, so rich is the foliage of
+the over-arching trees. Lower down is the
+New Cut, destined to relieve the Cherwell of
+its superfluous water in flood time and so prevent
+the flooding of the Christchurch meadows.
+Opposite the mouth of the New Cut is the
+University Boat-house, and further down, where
+a branch of the river runs off to the right, are
+the bathing places. This branch is crossed by
+a bridge, and it makes the next strip of land an
+island. The place is known as the Long Bridges.
+The river narrows at the point, and the narrowed part
+is called The Gut; just below a tributary from the
+Cherwell, known as the Freshman's river, dribbles
+into the Thames. It is at The Gut that the most
+exciting scenes in the races generally happen. As
+everyone knows, Torpids are in the fourth and
+fifth weeks after the beginning of the Lent term,
+and as they are not of so much importance as the
+Eights, and as the weather does not lend itself to
+open-air festivities, they are generally watched only
+by a shivering handful of spectators who have a
+more or less personal interest in them. The Eights,
+which take place in the middle of the summer term,
+are the event of the year to Oxford, and intensely
+exciting they may be. The lowest boat starts
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_28' name='Page_28'>[28]</a></span>
+from the lasher above Iffley, and the course ends
+at Salter's Barge. But the crux of the whole
+matter often lies in The Gut, and much depends on
+the ability of the cox to steer a clean course, as to
+whether his boat is bumped or bumps. As the
+boats in cutting the curve below this crucial point
+come diagonally at it, disaster here often overtakes
+a crew which has before been doing well. The
+aforesaid narrow channel from the Cherwell is
+navigable only in a canoe and by good luck; but
+the tale is told that one cox, in his first year, being
+excited beyond reason, mistook it for the main
+channel, and, steering right ahead, landed his crew
+high and dry on the shoals. Hence the name, the
+Freshman's river.<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_29' name='Page_29'></a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i067" id="i067"></a>
+<img src="images/i-067.jpg" width="550" height="435" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">IFFLEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Here are two pictures, taken from life, which
+express the difference between the two occasions:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+The Eights: Brilliant blue sky above, glinting blue
+water beneath. Down across Christchurch meadow troops
+a butterfly crowd, flaunting brilliant parasols and chattering
+gaily to the "flannelled fools" who form the escort. Despite
+the laughter it is a solemn occasion, for the college boat
+that is head of the river may be going to be bumped this
+afternoon, and, if so, the bump will surely take place in
+front of the barges. The only question is, before which
+barge will it happen? When the exciting moment draws
+near, chatter ceases, a tense stillness holds the crowd in
+thrall; the relentless pursuers creep on steadily, narrowing
+the gap between themselves and the first boat, and finally
+bump it exactly opposite its own barge! A moment's pause.
+The completeness of the triumph is too impressive to be
+grasped at once; then&mdash;pandemonium! Pistol-shots, rattles,
+hoots, yells, shrieks of joy, wildly waving parasols, and groans.
+</p>
+
+<p class="p2">
+The Torpids: A raw cold February day; a leaden sky
+heavy with snow; dimly seen figures scudding over the
+frozen meadows of Iffley; the river itself is almost frost-bound,
+and the men waiting in the boats for the starting
+gun look blue and pinched. They must find these last ten
+seconds hard to endure. Nine, eight, seven, six&mdash;ugh!
+will it never go? At last! And, as the signal sounds, the
+oars strike the water with a splash, and the boats shoot off
+and begin the long tussle against a head wind and that
+strong stream which always makes the Torpids a harder
+matter than the Eights rowed in summer water. It is too
+late to follow them, so heigh-ho for the King's Arms
+Hotel at Sandford, and a cup of the good hot tea that the
+landlady knows so well how to make!
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The channel running past the bathing places is
+equally unsuited for navigation, and is moreover
+guarded by two mills, but it may be negotiated
+with the aforesaid element of good luck. Hinksey
+Stream flows into this backwater, and there are
+several places, after shoals have been avoided or
+surmounted, where it is extremely pleasant to
+while away an idle hour. By means of the Long
+Bridges and the lock at Iffley it is possible to
+get across the river from side to side diagonally.
+Passing on down stream we soon come to Iffley.
+In the meantime we can see many of the pinnacles
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_30' name='Page_30'>[30]</a></span>
+and spires and domes for which Oxford is famous,
+and marvellous is the way in which they appear to
+swing round as we change our position. The part
+of new Oxford which lines the Iffley road behind
+the meadows is not attractive, but when we come
+in sight of Iffley itself we may well exclaim that
+it would be hard to find a sweeter spot. There are
+stone walls, thatched cottages and farmyards, hay
+and orchards, elms, alders, and silver-stemmed
+birches; in consequence a quiet, rural atmosphere
+broods over all. The cows feed down to the edge of
+the river, and swallows dart about overhead, while
+perhaps a man paddling a canoe shoots up and away
+again, his white flannels and the strength and grace
+of his movement irresistibly recalling a swan. The
+mill, half stone, half wooden cased, is very ancient;
+the massive foundations have become like rock
+from their long immersion in the running water.
+There is a great quiet pool behind the lock island,
+and here and there a glimpse may be caught of the
+square tower of the famous church, which is not
+far off, but is well hidden by trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Iffley Church takes rank with Stewkley as the
+most beautiful example of a Norman church
+remaining to us out of London. It is, like so
+many Norman churches, very small and very solid.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_31' name='Page_31'>[31]</a></span>
+And it must yield to Stewkley in the fact that its
+architecture is not pure. Yet its massive central
+tower and its fine windows place it very high
+indeed. Its date is not certainly known, but is
+supposed to be between 1160 and 1170. "The
+interior seems at first sight curious. There are,
+in fact, two chancels, one behind the other. The
+further one is early English work, and is much
+lighter in style than the rest of the building, and
+the east end is disappointing. This may have been
+added to lengthen the church. In the bay next
+to it, where the choir now sit, there are fourteenth
+century windows inserted under Norman arches,
+showing that the walls were of the earlier date.
+These windows were added by John de la Pole,
+Duke of Suffolk, in the latter half of the sixteenth
+century. There is a groined roof, and the piers are
+beautifully decorated. The arches supporting the
+tower are richly moulded, almost incongruously so
+in regard to the massive type of the masonry,
+which points to early Norman. The Perpendicular
+windows inserted in the north and south walls are
+good. It is only at the extreme west end that the
+Norman windows remain untouched. The font
+is of black marble, and is very curious. The triple
+west-end window, a splendid specimen, is best seen
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_32' name='Page_32'>[32]</a></span>
+from the churchyard. Its moulding is very rich,
+and this alone would be sufficient to make Iffley
+rank high among ancient churches. Below it is
+a circular window inserted about 1858 on the
+supposed plan of a former one of which traces were
+found. The impossibility of approaching the style
+of the old work in modern times was never more
+strikingly shown. Below is a fine doorway with
+beak-head and billet moulding, worthy to be
+classed with the triple window. A very ancient
+yew stands on the south side of the church, and
+near it is the slender shaft of an old cross. The
+rectory house, dating from Tudor times, is a fine
+addition to the picturesque group."&mdash;<i>Guide to the
+Thames.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Iffley and Sandford the famous Oxford
+meadows are seen at their best. In the summer
+they are gemmed with countless flowers, so that
+they rival the celebrated Swiss pastures. Prominent
+among these is the fritillary:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+I know what white, what purple fritillaries
+</p>
+<p>
+The grassy harvest of the river-fields,
+</p>
+<p>
+Above by Ensham, down by Sandford yields,
+</p>
+<p>
+And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>M. Arnold.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Mr. G. Claridge Druce, the well-known botanist,
+who has made a special study of the Thames
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_33' name='Page_33'>[33]</a></span>
+Valley and Oxfordshire, says:&mdash;"The Thames
+from Oxford to Sandford flows through meadows
+rich with fritillaries, its banks are bordered with
+the sweet-scented Acorus, and its waters are
+inhabited by Potamogeton prœlongus, flabellatus,
+and compressus, Zannichellia macrostemon,
+Å’nanthe fluviatilis, &amp;c., and near Sandford appears,
+for the first time in the river's course, the lovely
+Leucojum æstivum." This is the flower better
+known as the summer snowflake, which we shall
+meet again. The above are only a tithe of the
+flowers which Mr. Druce mentions. Among others
+which may be recognised are the yellow iris,
+the cuckoo flower, the water villarsia, the purple
+orchis, and the willow weed. In the spring the
+marsh mallow is the first to appear with a
+vivid glory as of sunshine. The banks are
+flat and low, and, except for the flowers,
+uninteresting; nevertheless this is a useful part of
+the river, especially for sailing. Some college fours
+are rowed here. Passing under the railway line
+we see the pink-washed walls of the Swan Hotel,
+which stands on Kennington Island, connected with
+the mainland by a bridge; and then we come to
+Sandford itself, with charms almost as great as,
+though entirely different from, those of Iffley.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_34' name='Page_34'>[34]</a></span>
+The approach is disappointing. The tall mill
+chimney and the new brick houses are bare and
+ugly. The mill is a paper mill, and supplies
+the Clarendon Press. It stands close to the
+old-fashioned and pretty hotel, so completely
+ivy-covered that even one of the tall chimneys
+is quite overgrown. When close to the lock
+the mill is not noticeable and has the advantage
+of affording some shelter. As at Iffley, one can
+get right across from bank to bank by means of
+bridges, a most charming method that might well
+be adopted in other parts of the river. Indeed,
+near Oxford one great delight is the freedom from
+interference. Everyone is allowed full liberty;
+you may ride your bicycle along the tow-path,
+take it across locks, or even walk it by the side of
+the meadows, without any rebuke. Having put up
+a notice that they are not responsible for the condition
+of the tow-path and that people use it at
+their own risk, the Conservancy leave the matter
+alone. The islands at Sandford are rather complicated,
+and there are a couple of weirs, beneath
+which the water frills out over mossy stones into
+deep, shady pools. The fishing here is as good as
+any on the river. The Radley College boat-house
+and bathing place are near the lower pool, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_35' name='Page_35'>[35]</a></span>
+college itself being rather more than a mile away.
+In spring these pools, with their broken banks of
+brown earth and their masses of scented white
+hawthorn, are most beautiful. The shy white
+violets hide in the grass near the weirs, and are
+found by only a few who know where to seek
+them.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i077" id="i077"></a>
+<img src="images/i-077.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">RADLEY COLLEGE BOAT-HOUSE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In the Oxford zone we must include the woods
+at Nuneham Courtney, which, by the courtesy of
+the owner (Aubrey Harcourt), are open to undergraduates
+all Commemoration week and twice a
+week in the summer term; while the general
+public, after writing in advance, are allowed to
+picnic at the lock cottages two days a week from
+May to September. The Nuneham woods are on
+a ridge of greensand, and though they are not so
+high or at such a striking angle as those of
+Clieveden, they certainly have quite as great a
+charm. Anyone is allowed to walk through the
+park if it be approached from the road, but
+bicycles are not permitted. The lock cottages,
+which are a popular resort in the summer, stand
+beside a pretty wooden bridge which connects the
+islands with the mainland. Masses of wild roses
+and flowering clematis add their delicate touch
+to the beauty of the overhanging trees. Close
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_36' name='Page_36'>[36]</a></span>
+by the water is the Carfax monument, a conduit
+or fountain erected by Otho Nicholson, who set it
+up at the place still called Carfax in Oxford,
+whence it was removed to its present position in
+1787. The woods contain nothing very striking
+in the way of trees, though all the commoner
+sorts, the beeches, oaks, horse-chestnuts, and so
+on, are well represented. There are about 400 acres
+of wood, which surround the park, where the oaks
+show well, standing apart from each other.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_37' name='Page_37'>[37]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i081" id="i081"></a>
+<img src="images/i-081.jpg" width="550" height="428" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<h2>
+CHAPTER III<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE OLD TOWN OF ABINGDON
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+As a headquarters for boating, for those who want
+to dawdle and explore odd corners and have no
+desire to rush through as many locks as possible
+in a day, Abingdon makes a good centre. It
+is within easy reach of the part lying below the
+woods at Nuneham, and in the other direction is
+the Sutton Courtney backwater, which, Wargrave
+notwithstanding, is not to be beaten on the Thames.
+Further down again is Clifton Hampden, which
+attracts many people, and the river at Abingdon
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_38' name='Page_38'>[38]</a></span>
+itself is by no means to be despised. The bridge,
+called Burford Bridge, is a real delight. It is old
+and irregular, with straggling arches, some rounded,
+some pointed; and all, even the highest, comparatively
+low down over the water, framing cool, dark
+shadows within the embrace of the mighty piers.
+The bridge cannot be seen in the glance of an eye.
+It is very long, and rests partly on an island.
+Standing on this, the Nag's Head Inn projects
+from one side of the bridge, and from it stretches
+out a small garden with several orchard trees.
+The red tiles and creamy tint of the hotel walls
+show well in contrast with the grey stone of the
+bridge, and when the hotel is seen from the river
+above the bridge, with the tall spire of St. Helen's
+Church rising behind it, it is worth noticing.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i085" id="i085"></a>
+<img src="images/i-085.jpg" width="440" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">ABINGDON
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+There are bits of old wall lining the bank on the
+town side, and ivy grows freely over them. Many
+of the houses stand back from the water; a part
+of the ruined abbey and the long range of the
+abbot's residence can be seen between masses of
+blossom. The great exterior chimney of the abbey
+buildings should particularly be noticed. The
+blossom at Abingdon is a great feature, and one
+not to be found everywhere. Horse-chestnuts and
+holm oaks dip their boughs in the water, and from
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_39' name='Page_39'>[39]</a></span>
+the branches arises a perfect chorus of birds. Abingdon
+has its chimneys, of course, as well as hideous
+buildings suited to modern requirements of business,
+but in the general view these things are lost sight of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Burford is a corruption of Borough-ford, and
+before the building of the bridge in the fifteenth
+century, the ferry at Culham was the main means
+of communication with the other side of the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The range of Nuneham, below which runs the
+backwater called the Old River, can be seen to the
+south-east. If this ever was the main stream it
+must have been very long ago, for the memory of
+it is not recorded in any document now extant.
+The Old River is crossed by another bridge, and
+the two are linked by a straight road, made by
+Geoffrey Barbour at the same time as the building
+of the bridges. There is a picture of Barbour
+in the almshouses, and this shows the bridge being
+built in the background; while an illuminated copy
+of verses tells us:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+King Herry the Fyft, in his fourthe yere,
+</p>
+<p>
+He hath i-founde for his folke a brige in Berkschire,
+</p>
+<p>
+For cartis with cariage may go and come clere,
+</p>
+<p>
+That many wynters afore were mareed in the myre.
+</p>
+<p>
+Culham hithe [<i>wharf or landing</i>] hath caused many a curse,
+</p>
+<p>
+I-blessed be our helpers we have a better waye,
+</p>
+<p>
+Without any peny for cart and for horse.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_40' name='Page_40'>[40]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Burford Bridge, the great bur-reeds
+grow near the islands. There is one delightful old
+house, formerly a malt house, with all sorts of odd
+angles and corners. It encloses a small terraced
+court, from which steps lead down to the water.
+It stands on the site of St. Helen's nunnery,
+founded about 690. Further on are some of the
+newer almshouses&mdash;a blot on the scene; and then
+a glimpse may be had of the wooden cloister of
+the old almshouses, which, in their way, are as
+pretty as those at Bray.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Christ's Hospital, as the almshouses are called,
+was founded in the reign of Edward VI. out of
+lands belonging to a dissolved Guild of the Holy
+Cross. The central hall dates, however, from 1400.
+It has a stone mullioned window and panelled
+walls; in the ceiling is a dome or cupola. Once a
+week eighty loaves of bread are here distributed
+among the poor people of the town, and when the
+loaves, with their crisp, flaky, yellow crust, stand
+in piles on the polished oak table, and the poor old
+people gather for their share, there is an old-world
+touch in the picture such as one does not often see
+nowadays. The cloister or arcade of dark wood
+outside is decorated with texts and proverbs on its
+inner wall. The newer almshouses, built in 1797,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_41' name='Page_41'>[41]</a></span>
+lack all the homeliness and interest of the older
+ones. The church of St. Helen's, which has a very
+tall spire, is close to the almshouses and the river,
+and is well worthy of its position. It has been
+much restored, but is mainly of sixteenth century
+work.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i091" id="i091"></a>
+<img src="images/i-091.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE MILL AT ABINGDON
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Of course there was an abbey at Abingdon, though
+whether the name of the town arose from that fact
+or from a proper name Aben or Æbba is doubtful.
+The earliest name of the town was the unpronounceable
+one of Seovechesham, and it was then a
+royal residence. The abbey was founded by Cissa
+about 675. It was destroyed by the Danes and
+reconstructed long before most places on the river
+had begun to have any history at all. The abbey
+rose to great importance and wealth. It held
+manors innumerable, and its abbot was a person
+to reckon with. Even at the date of Domesday
+Book the abbey held no less than thirty manors.
+But its power did not save it, and it suffered the
+common fate at the Dissolution. A gateway of
+about the fourteenth century and some ruins,
+which show where the dwellings of the monks
+stood, are all that remain, beside the guest-chamber&mdash;a
+large, barn-like building&mdash;and the almoner's residence.
+The latter has a magnificent fireplace and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_42' name='Page_42'>[42]</a></span>
+chimney. The ceiling of the room below is groined,
+and looks like that of a crypt, but this is said to
+have been the kitchen. The chief feature of
+interest is the huge chimney, which is like a room,
+and has little windows on each side; its size is best
+appreciated from the exterior view. The church
+has quite disappeared, for the little ancient church
+near the gateway was not the abbey church, but is
+supposed to have been at first a chapel of ease.
+In this there is some Norman work, including the
+west doorway, and it is probably of quite as
+ancient lineage as anything now remaining of the
+abbey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Henry I. was sent by his father, as a lad of
+twelve, to be educated at Abingdon Abbey, and the
+learning by which he gained the name of Beauclerc
+shows that there must have been some able men
+here. The town hall in the market place at
+Abingdon is really a fine bit of work. It has been
+attributed to Inigo Jones, and stands over an open
+arcade, according to the style of town halls of the
+seventeenth century. The lock is a good way above
+Abingdon, and from it the millstream, as usual
+a pleasant backwater, flows right back to the town,
+enclosing a large island.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i097" id="i097"></a>
+<img src="images/i-097.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">SUTTON COURTNEY BACKWATER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The lock at Culham is one of the least interesting
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_43' name='Page_43'>[43]</a></span>
+on the river, and of the hundreds who pass
+through it only a few know that they are close to
+the very prettiest backwater on the Thames,
+namely Sutton Pool. There is one backwater at
+Sutton Courtney which can be reached from above
+Culham Lock. This leads to the mill, now disused,
+and runs along the top of the numerous weirs that
+pour into Sutton Pool itself. It is pretty also, and
+it is pleasant to see the meadows where the cows
+stand knee-deep in flowering plants, and the little
+square tower of the church peeping through the
+trees. This backwater is the best for landing to
+go to the village. Along the top of the weirs runs
+a path&mdash;a public right-of-way&mdash;which leads across
+the fields to Culham Lock, and anyone may land
+here and look down upon the pool; but to get
+right into it the lock must be passed, and some
+way further, after going under the bridge, we can
+turn the corner of a large island and retrace our
+way upstream until we come into the great pool,
+with its miniature bays and tumbling water. The
+weirs are high, and the streams come down with
+force, making a restless heave and swell when the
+river is full. The little tongues of land that divide
+one bay from another are shaded by willows, and
+the lush green grass grows here and there around
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_44' name='Page_44'>[44]</a></span>
+tiny beaches of white sand. In spring, masses of
+hawthorn, "all frosted" with flowers, bend down
+from above, and the wild hyacinths break up
+between the blades of grass. Tall reeds form tiny
+islets, and perhaps a little moorhen flaps out. It is
+in secluded places like this that the dainty nest
+of the reed-warbler may be seen, swinging so
+lightly upon its supports that it is extraordinary
+to think that so large a bird as the cuckoo should
+dare to deposit its egg there. Yet reed-warblers
+and sedge-warblers are both among the cuckoo's
+victims. Unfortunately, in this little paradise landing
+is everywhere strictly forbidden, but no one can
+forbid enjoyment of the beauties which appeal to
+sight.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i103" id="i103"></a>
+<img src="images/i-103.jpg" width="447" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CLIFTON HAMPDEN FROM THE BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The village of Sutton Courtney is certainly
+worth visiting. The village green, with its tall
+chestnuts, limes, and elms, is the very picture of
+what a green should be. The church is particularly
+interesting, for it is that rarity an unrestored building,
+with the old red-tiled floor and the rudeness
+of the original&mdash;so often smoothed away behind
+stencilling and paint&mdash;still left untouched. There
+is a shelf of chained books, a fine carved screen,
+and an altar-tomb of some interest. The manor
+house, which is not far off, is in a medley of styles,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_45' name='Page_45'>[45]</a></span>
+ranging from Norman to Jacobean. Malefactors
+are said to have been hanged from the stout oak
+beam which is still in good preservation. One
+wing is of perfect Jacobean work, with an overhanging
+storey decorated with carved pendants. A
+fine old building, half-way up the village, is called
+the Hall of Justice; this, however, may have a
+meaning less obvious than supposed at first sight,
+as the family of Justice held the manor for some
+generations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In it there is a fine old Norman doorway.
+The owner has furnished the interior with tapestry
+hangings, etc., somewhat in accordance with what
+it may have looked like originally when in use.
+It certainly gives one an idea of the old Saxon
+or Norman style of dwelling before even the upper
+chamber or <i>solar</i> came into fashion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The river at Clifton Hampden is not a couple
+of miles from the river at Nuneham Courtney,
+so great is the loop by Abingdon. It may be noted
+that the name Courtney, though spelt differently,
+is derived from the ownership of the Courtenays,
+Earls of Exeter, in both the instances above.
+Clifton Hampden is a great favourite with artists,
+for the church, with its little, pointed spire, stands
+on a cliff which has in parts broken away, showing
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_46' name='Page_46'>[46]</a></span>
+the rich yellow ochre of the soil. This makes
+up well in a "composition." The river sweeps
+round beneath it in a sort of little bay, and when
+white ducks dabble in the water and blue-pinafored
+children play beneath the yellow-ochre cliff, there
+is much to be said for it. The houses, too, are
+not without points. They are mostly thatched,
+and have their share of plants and creepers. The
+bridge is of red brick, and, with a little toning by
+weather, will make a capital accessory. But to
+my mind Clifton Hampden lacks that indefinable
+quality of charm found in such abundance
+elsewhere.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_47' name='Page_47'>[47]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i109" id="i109"></a>
+<img src="images/i-109.jpg" width="550" height="438" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CLIFTON HAMPDEN
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i111" id="i111"></a>
+<img src="images/i-111.jpg" width="550" height="386" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER IV<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+SINODUN HILL AND DORCHESTER
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+The island near Day's Lock, lying beneath the
+Wittenham Woods and Sinodun Hill, is particularly
+well kept and neat, and, in summer, bright
+with flowers. Standing on the end of the lock-keeper's
+island you can look straight up the weir,
+below which the river drifts away on each side
+of the island.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the right bank, raised slightly above the
+river, is the church of Little Wittenham, with
+a long, narrow bastion turret adhering to its tower.
+Inside there is a handsome monument, one of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_48' name='Page_48'>[48]</a></span>
+those legacies from the ages that prove long
+descent. A warm belt of Scotch firs grows near.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wittenham Woods lie under the shelter of the
+hill and close to the life-giving water. The trees
+grow well and form a home for countless birds of
+all kinds. "The hobby breeds there yearly. The
+wild pheasant, crow, sparrowhawk, kestrel, magpie,
+jay, ring-dove, brown owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded
+side); in summer the cuckoo and turtle-dove
+are all found there, and, with the exception
+of the pigeons and kestrels, which seek their food
+at a distance during the day, they seldom leave the
+shelter of its trees."&mdash;<i>C. J. Cornish.</i>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i115" id="i115"></a>
+<img src="images/i-115.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">COTTAGES, DORCHESTER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Sinodun Hill, and its companion, Harp Hill,
+which is as like it as one twin to another,
+are sometimes called Wittenham Clumps. They
+are remarkable and conspicuous objects, rising
+abruptly and evenly from a very flat district, and
+they can be seen from many miles around, and,
+what is more curious, can be recognised. The
+smooth, rounded cone is so symmetrical that,
+whichever way you look at it, it seems the same,
+not changing its shape in the bewildering way of
+most hills; and the clump of trees placed so
+exactly on its crown is an unfailing river-mark.
+Sinodun is about 250 feet in height, and on it is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_49' name='Page_49'>[49]</a></span>
+a British earthwork, a triple line of entrenchment,
+with vallum and foss all round. The circumference
+of this on the outside is about a mile.
+Harp Hill has on it a tumulus called Brightwell
+Barrow. Then down below, close to Dorchester,
+is a double line of earthworks, much mutilated,
+but quite noticeable. No one knows the origin
+of these defences, which date far back into
+unhistorical days. Those on Sinodun are called
+British, while the others are supposed to be Roman.
+Roman camps were nearly always square, while
+British followed the windings of the hill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dorchester, with its cornfields and trees, its
+vegetable gardens, and its old houses bowed this
+way and that, is a very unsophisticated little place.
+The deep quiet of its village street, where the
+cottages glow all hues in the sunlight, from deep
+red ochre to egg-colour, brooded over by the long-backed
+abbey church, is a rest-cure in itself. The
+great yew trees, the pretty lych-gate, the old
+wooden porch, are all just what one would expect
+to find. Dorchester is not on the Thames, yet
+belongs to it certainly, for the Thame, which
+combines with the Isis to form the Thames, flows
+past it. As its name proclaims, Dorchester was
+once a Roman camp. Numerous Roman coins
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_50' name='Page_50'>[50]</a></span>
+have been found in the neighbourhood, and a
+Roman altar. It was also the seat of one of the
+first and largest bishoprics in England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 634 a monk of the order of St. Benedict, named
+Birinus, crossed to Britain to follow in the steps of
+St. Augustine and work as a missionary among
+the men of Wessex. He landed safely, and came
+to this part of the country, then in Wessex, which
+at that time stretched north of the Thames, though
+afterwards, when Mercia's power became great
+under King Offa, Dorchester fell within that
+kingdom. Birinus preached with so much effect
+that the King conferred upon him the office of
+bishop and gave him Dorchester for his residence.
+He died in 650 and was buried in his own church,
+though it is said his body was afterwards moved
+to Winchester.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i121" id="i121"></a>
+<img src="images/i-121.jpg" width="550" height="447" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WHITE HART HOTEL, DORCHESTER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The early bishopric was vast. It included what
+in our own day are the Sees of Bath and Wells,
+Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Salisbury,
+Worcester, and Winchester. There must have
+been a church in some degree adequate to the
+importance of such a charge, but it was probably
+of wood; in any case, nothing remains of it,
+though certain indications seem to show that it
+stood on the same site as the present one.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_51' name='Page_51'>[51]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dorchester was an important city, but its glory
+did not long remain, and the bishopric was ultimately
+split up into many Sees. In 1085 the seat
+of the See of Mercia was transferred to Lincoln.
+The abbey was founded here in 1140 for Augustinian
+monks, and it is the monks' church which
+still in great part exists. The long nave, with its
+red roof, is seen easily from the river, but the
+tower appears rather inadequate in height. On
+approaching, however, it is found to be of massive
+work. The interior of the church is wide and
+high, and gives that impression of bareness which
+is consistent with Norman work. In the east
+window is a great pier or transom which is supposed
+to have been originally intended as the
+support for a groined roof. The north chancel
+window is the famous Jesse window, with carved
+tracery, carrying figures all the way up the
+numerous branches. The lowest is that of Jesse,
+from whom spring all the subsequent ones.
+Very few figures are missing, considering the age
+of the window, and the carving is remarkably
+interesting. It is supposed that the figures of the
+Virgin and Child were at one time above that of
+the patriarch, but were removed at the Reformation.
+The rich green glass in the sedilia on the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_52' name='Page_52'>[52]</a></span>
+other side of the chancel should be noted. It
+is unusual to see sedilia pierced. Two of the nave
+arches are plain Norman work. A rood door
+remains, and there are one or two handsome altar
+tombs; also a leaden font, well moulded, and,
+on the east wall of the south aisle, there are
+some remains of frescoes. Close to the porch
+outside is a graceful shaft with a "restored" head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Thame we have already spoken of. Its
+arching trees and corners, and deep shady alleys,
+make it a delightful place for an idler. It runs
+close by the abbey church.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i127" id="i127"></a>
+<img src="images/i-127.jpg" width="550" height="448" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DORCHESTER BACKWATER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In the river near Dorchester grow the sweet
+sedge and the amphibious yellow cress, and on the
+banks may be found the blue pimpernel.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_53' name='Page_53'>[53]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i129" id="i129"></a>
+<img src="images/i-129.jpg" width="550" height="390" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER V<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+CASTLE AND STRONGHOLD
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+Wallingford boasts of having the oldest corporation
+in England, preceding that of London
+by a hundred years, and its record certainly
+reaches very far back. In 1006 it was destroyed
+by the Danes. William the Conqueror rested
+here on his way to London after the battle of
+Hastings. The town was then held by Wigod,
+a noble Saxon, who lived in his great fortress-castle.
+His son-in-law was Robert D'Oyley,
+who built the castle at Oxford, and rebuilt and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_54' name='Page_54'>[54]</a></span>
+greatly strengthened that at Wallingford. From
+the part of the river above the bridge a tree-grown
+mound can be seen, and, further back, a comparatively
+modern house. On the mound once stood
+the strong castle, and the modern house is its
+present-day representative. The grounds are
+famous for their trees, and particularly for their
+evergreens, which grow thickly on the slopes of
+what was once the inner castle moat, for there were
+no less than three. No wonder Queen Maud felt
+that in reaching Wallingford in safety after her
+terrible escape over the frozen meadows of Oxford,
+she once more held the lead in the game she and
+Stephen played for the crown. Stephen, however,
+was not daunted. He settled down at Crowmarsh
+across the river, and made strenuous attempts to
+take the fortress. After a long time, when the
+garrison were beginning to despair, the Queen's
+son Henry came to the rescue with a force sufficient
+to afford relief. It was at Wallingford the
+treaty was made which eventually secured Henry's
+succession. The castle was given to Piers Gaveston
+by Edward II., but after the fall of Gaveston it
+reverted to the Crown. Joan, the Fair Maid of
+Kent, wife of the Black Prince, died here in 1385,
+and later, in the Civil Wars between King and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_55' name='Page_55'>[55]</a></span>
+Parliament, Wallingford held stoutly to the
+Stuarts. The town was the last place in Berkshire
+which remained to the King, and it was
+taken in July, 1646, after a siege of sixty-five days.
+Cromwell, therefore, cherished a grudge against it,
+and when he came into power he ordered the castle
+to be destroyed, an order which was unfortunately
+carried out. Not far away in the same grounds is
+a fragment of a ruined and ivy-grown tower. This
+is part of an ancient college of St. Nicholas founded
+by Edmund, second Earl of Cornwall, who died
+in 1300.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i133" id="i133"></a>
+<img src="images/i-133.jpg" width="550" height="441" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WALLINGFORD
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In some ways Wallingford reminds one of
+Abingdon. They are both homely, pleasant,
+brick-built market-towns, rather sleepy, but self-respecting.
+There are several islands beside the
+bridge; but Wallingford has not made the most
+of its islands. They are bare, and disfigured by
+boat-building works. The bridge is fair, and, seen
+from below, where a weeping willow falls softly
+over one bank, the view is pretty. A conspicuous
+feature is the steeple of the church near, looking
+as if it had been joined on to the body without
+any thought of continuity of style. There are
+three churches in Wallingford, which once owned
+fourteen! There is rather a good seventeenth
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_56' name='Page_56'>[56]</a></span>
+century Town Hall in the market-place and a Corn
+Exchange. Friday is the market-day. Both above
+and below the town the river is pleasant, though
+without original features; there are well-kept parks
+and fine-grown trees to be seen frequently. The
+only interesting place in the stretch below is
+Mongewell, where a large piece of artificial water
+joins the river, and near it is a small church
+quaintly built. Shute Barrington, the well-known
+Bishop of Durham, married for his second wife
+the heiress of Mongewell, and lived here before
+his death. Below Mongewell is a long, dull stretch,
+good for boating, but too unshaded and open to
+be pleasant for loiterers. The Trial Eights take
+place here in December.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i139" id="i139"></a>
+<img src="images/i-139.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">STREATLEY MILL
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_57' name='Page_57'>[57]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER VI
+<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">TWIN VILLAGES</span>
+</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i141" id="i141"></a>
+<img src="images/i-141.jpg" width="325" height="401" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+When two villages
+stand facing
+one another across
+a bridge, it is inevitable
+that comparisons,
+however
+impertinent, will
+be made. And
+it may be said at
+once that Streatley,
+for all its old
+church, its pretty
+hotel, and its mill,
+cannot dispute
+the palm with Goring, which has an older church
+and a more charming mill, and many other
+advantages. Streatley church is singularly vivid in
+colouring. Rarely is there to be seen a deeper
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_58' name='Page_58'>[58]</a></span>
+green-gold than that made by the lichen on the red
+roof, and when the sunshine flashes out upon it
+the effect is positively startling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not less attractive in its way is the red-roofed
+hotel with its backing of thick, green foliage, its
+tiny grass plots on the river's edge, and its gay
+flowers. The flour mill would be a valuable asset
+in the beauty items of any place not eclipsed by
+so near a neighbour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are islands in the stream, and the bridge
+which runs across them is singularly picturesque.
+This is one of the few old wooden bridges remaining,
+and it is doubtless destined soon to be replaced
+by one of iron, as has been done at Pangbourne.
+At this one can hardly cavil, for delightful as are
+the long slender wooden piles to look at, they do
+seem as if they might give way unexpectedly at
+any minute.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i145" id="i145"></a>
+<img src="images/i-145.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">STREATLEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+If we stand down by the lock there are numberless
+views in all directions, each good in itself. It
+is a hot day in summer, and the vivid scarlet and
+the deep carmine of the lock-keeper's geraniums
+literally strike one's eyeballs with their colour.
+We do not, alas! hear the wash of the water
+tumbling over the weir, for weirs in summer often
+run dry, or give only a small trickle, though it is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_59' name='Page_59'>[59]</a></span>
+just the time when their gay music would most
+appeal to the heart of man. The lock-keeper has
+stories to tell of the days before the "pound"
+locks, as they used to be called, were made. What
+we call the weirs were then the "locks." The great
+barges had to be towed up the weirs by means of
+rope and capstan; and sometimes, when the water
+ran low, they had to wait for weeks for a freshet
+that would enable them to get up. The lock here
+is only five-eighths of a mile below that at Cleeve,
+and these two are the nearest together on the river,
+except those of Temple and Hurley. Beyond
+Cleeve there is a long stretch of six and a-half
+miles before the next, Benson Lock. It almost
+seems as if the powers that deal with locks had
+in their justice tried to make things even by
+multiplying them in the beauty spots, so that those
+who want only the best have to pay for it by the
+worry of passing locks; while those who are
+content with something less can have it without
+bother. Some locks, however, have been done
+away with as unnecessary. There used to be one
+between those of Cleeve and Benson, and another
+at Hartslock Wood, below Goring; but these have
+disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ancient road known as the Icknield Street
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_60' name='Page_60'>[60]</a></span>
+crosses the river at Streatley; it was used by the
+Romans, but made long before their time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+High beyond the bridge, and, rising above it,
+as we stand at the lock, is the grand sweep of hill
+locally known as Greenhill, in distinction from
+Whitehill on the Goring side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the right, on the top of the heights, are the
+golf links, and the small white road winds steeply
+up, carrying with it a touch of melancholy, which
+the sight of a far-away and steep road always gives,
+a suggestion of a journey that winds "uphill all
+the way."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reading has now established a regatta to keep
+its own folk in its own neighbourhood on the
+August Bank-Holiday; and a great boon this
+has been to the quiet up-river places, for they are
+not now invaded by launches full of rollicking,
+bottle-shying crowds, such as are characteristic of
+the neighbourhood of all great towns, and on these
+occasions apt to become remarkably prominent.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i151" id="i151"></a>
+<img src="images/i-151.jpg" width="437" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">GORING CHURCH
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Goring stands high among Thames villages,
+literally and figuratively. Its main street runs
+winding up-hill to the station, and though there
+are few of the genuine old cottages left, the small
+houses which have replaced them have been mostly
+built in the best modern river style, with exterior
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_61' name='Page_61'>[61]</a></span>
+beams, porches, projecting windows and ornamental
+gables. Creepers flourish abundantly. From the
+river the church is easily seen. A small and narrow
+backwater leads under a bridge to within fifty yards
+of the tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The building is very old, and was originally the
+church of the Augustinian priory. It is partly
+covered with rough stucco, which is peeling off
+untidily in patches. The tower is Norman, and
+has a bastion turret, which greatly adds to its
+appearance, and, what is more uncommon, the east
+end is an apse, though we are bound in honesty
+to say an apse rebuilt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Close by the church is the mill, which eclipses that
+at Streatley in appearance, and shows adaptability
+in applying its power as an electric generating
+station, while Streatley remains conservative, and
+still grinds the sweet-scented white flour. But the
+electric charging has not spoilt the mossy roof,
+gleaming green and russet alternately, or the pretty
+pigeon-house from which flocks of white pigeons
+often sweep round over the glistening water and
+the low islands. A very large and neat boat-house
+lies below the bridge on the Goring side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between this and Pangbourne we have at first
+rich well-covered heights on the one side, and high,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_62' name='Page_62'>[62]</a></span>
+open chalky hills on the other, dotted with the
+neat circular clumps usually associated with chalk
+uplands. But after a while these are replaced
+by the famous Hartslock Woods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Speaking of the valley of the Thames between
+Goring and Henley, in his introduction to the <i>Flora
+of Oxfordshire</i>, Mr. G. Claridge Druce says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"We may wander for miles through verdant
+alleys whose groundwork begins in early spring
+with the glossy gold of the smaller celandine, followed
+by the pale stars of the wood anemones and
+myriads of primroses, these giving place to sheets
+of hyacinths, 'that seem the heavens upbreaking
+through the earth,' the blue being here and there
+relieved by the yellow archangel or brightened
+with stitchwort; still later on the bluebells are
+replaced by masses of the fragrant woodruff, and
+these by the more sombre colouring of the bugle.
+Then come the creamy-white flowers of the helleborine,
+the dull, livid spikes of the bird's nest
+orchis and the blue forget-me-nots, giving place
+to a galaxy of summer flowers, brightening in later
+months into the brilliant yellow of the ragworts and
+the purple of the foxgloves. The grassy downs, too,
+in spring are resplendent with the milkwort in all
+its purity of colour, whether of that typical blue
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_63' name='Page_63'>[63]</a></span>
+which rivals the Swiss gentian in beauty, or fading
+into white or blushing to pink; while mixed with
+it are brilliant patches of rich orange yellow hippocrepis.
+Later on appear the rosy crimson spikes of
+the pyramidal orchis and the pale lemon flowers
+of lady's fingers, and the drooping blue-flowered
+campanula. If perchance the land have remained
+fallow, the bright flowers of iberis, sometimes suffused
+with rich purple, the glaucous foliage of rare
+fumarias, the deep crimson petals of the hybrid
+poppy, the bright rosy pink spikes of sainfoin and
+yellow toad flax, combine to form a varied show."
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i157" id="i157"></a>
+<img src="images/i-157.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">GORING
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Before reaching Pangbourne we pass acres of
+osier beds on the right. Pangbourne and Whitchurch
+stand to each other in the same relation
+as do Goring and Streatley, but in this case it is
+the southern side to which the palm must be
+awarded. At Pangbourne the old wooden bridge has
+given place to an iron one, but the deed has been
+carried out in a manner that reflects credit on the
+doer, for the new bridge runs in a graceful curve,
+and its sides of latticed ironwork are painted white.
+Seen in glimpses between the islands, the new
+bridge does not detract from the charms of Pangbourne,
+but rather adds to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are numbers of islands at Pangbourne,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_64' name='Page_64'>[64]</a></span>
+and they lie in a great basin between and beneath
+the weirs, which are small and frequent. The pool
+is full of beauty. The trees grow freshly and well,
+and throw a veil of tender green over the water,
+which is, on a summer day, brilliant in hues
+of blue and green, cobalt, sea-green, pale apple,
+indigo; these can all be traced lying in strips and
+sections where the riotous torrent from the weirs
+frays out its inquietude and loses itself. In one
+corner by a pretty cottage is a splash of vivid
+crimson, an arcade of roses. Near the bridge
+great launch works are a blot and an eyesore, but
+it is so seldom we find our ointment without the
+proverbial fly.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i163" id="i163"></a>
+<img src="images/i-163.jpg" width="550" height="449" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">PANGBOURNE FROM THE SWAN HOTEL
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Pangbourne village is quaint and pleasing enough,
+but it is not so beautiful as some of the villages
+along the Thames side. No village built haphazard,
+with a little river bridged over in its main
+street, with a brick-towered church, with dark
+evergreens, and a fair amount of creepers, could
+fail to be attractive in some sense. But there is
+too much new brick in Pangbourne. The river
+Pang is a tiny streamlet, and the winding ways do
+not hold that charm which can be felt even as one
+races by in a motor. Further up the river a row
+of neatly-built, red-brick and white-balconied
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_65' name='Page_65'>[65]</a></span>
+houses stands up against a high chalk bank overlooking
+the river; behind this, in a deep cutting,
+runs the railway line. Above the bridge there is
+a landing on the Whitchurch side close to the
+church, which is a well-kept flint building. In the
+chancel there is a monument to the Lybbe family,
+dated 1599. Whitchurch is mostly built of red
+brick, and is neat and clean, but without any very
+great attractions. Before reaching Mapledurham
+a fine old house, Hardwicke, is passed. Charles I.
+stayed here and played bowls. The house itself
+is well protected by trees, but it stands in rather
+open country, amid bare chalk uplands, where
+sometimes may be seen a curious opaline glow in
+pale sunshine.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i165" id="i165"></a>
+<img src="images/i-165.jpg" width="550" height="446" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WHITCHURCH LOCK
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Mapledurham is greatly spoilt by the churlishness
+of its main landlord. The lock-keeper is strictly forbidden
+to ferry anyone across the river, and though
+the crossing would be but short, and would involve
+only a walk of a few seconds along the bank to the
+mill, it is not permitted. As the nearest bridges
+on each side are those of Pangbourne and Caversham,
+it is necessary for anyone going by road to
+keep to the north side of the river between these
+points if he wants to see Mapledurham. The
+place certainly is worth some trouble, but it is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_66' name='Page_66'>[66]</a></span>
+small, and the restrictions are tiresome. The fine
+old Elizabethan house is a real mansion of the
+good old sort; one could imagine endless stories
+of romance connected with it. It was fortified
+during the civil wars by Sir Arthur Blount,
+governor of Reading, and is still held by the same
+family. The principal entrance is by an avenue
+of elms nearly a mile long, but the house is perhaps
+best seen through the gates from the churchyard.
+The church is small, and Perpendicular in style,
+with the exception of the tower, a modern addition
+in flint and brick. There is within a Blount chapel
+with many family memorials, including an altar-tomb.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i171" id="i171"></a>
+<img src="images/i-171.jpg" width="550" height="448" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">MAPLEDURHAM MILL
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The mill at Mapledurham is also a great delight
+to look upon, and numbers of artists sketch it from
+every point of view. The islands lying in the
+swirl of the weir-pool afford many a quiet nook
+in which to anchor, though landing is forbidden.
+From this it may be judged that if Mapledurham
+is a Paradise, it is sternly guarded with notices,
+which meet one on every side with the persistence
+of the flaming sword.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_67' name='Page_67'>[67]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i173" id="i173"></a>
+<img src="images/i-173.jpg" width="550" height="338" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER VII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+A MITRED ABBOT
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+The Abbot of Reading was, like the Abbot of
+Abingdon, mitred, and bore powerful rule. Reading
+ranked third among the abbeys of England,
+and held the great privilege of coining. It was
+founded in 1121 by King Henry I. himself, who
+was afterwards buried here. It was for long supposed
+that Adeliza his queen lay here also, but the
+evidence goes to show she was buried in Flanders.
+The Empress Maud lies at Reading. The great
+church was dedicated by Thomas à Becket, and
+in it took place the marriage of John of Gaunt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fuller, who is always worth quoting, says that
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_68' name='Page_68'>[68]</a></span>
+though Ely "bare away the bell for bountefull
+feast making," Reading "spurred up close" to it,
+and continues: "The mention of Reading minds
+me of a pleasant and true story, which, to refresh
+my wearied self and reader, after long pains, I here
+intend to relate":
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"King Henry VIII. as he was hunting in
+Windsor forest lost himself, and struck down about
+dinner-time to the Abbey of Reading, where,
+disguising himself, he was invited to the abbot's
+table and passed for one of the king's guard. A
+sirloin of beef was set before him on which the king
+laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for
+whom he was mistaken. 'Well fare thy heart,'
+quoth the abbot, 'and here in a cup of sack, I
+remember the health of his Grace your master.
+I would give a hundred pounds on the condition I
+could feed so heartily on beef as you do. Alas, my
+weak and squeasy stomach will hardly digest the
+wing of a small rabbit or chicken.' The king
+pleasantly pledged him, and heartily thanking him
+for his good cheer, after dinner departed as undiscovered
+as he came thither. Some weeks after the
+abbot was sent for by a pursuivant, brought up to
+London, clapped in the Tower, kept close prisoner,
+fed for a short time with bread and water. Yet
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_69' name='Page_69'>[69]</a></span>
+not so empty his body of food as his mind was filled
+with fears, creating many suspicions to himself,
+when and how he had incurred the king's displeasure.
+At last a sirloin of beef was set before
+him, on which the abbot fed as the farmer of his
+grange, and verified the proverb that 'Two hungry
+meals make the third a glutton.' In springs
+King Henry out of a private lobby where he
+had placed himself, the invisible spectator of the
+abbot's behaviour. 'My lord,' quoth the king,
+'presently deposit your hundred pounds in gold,
+or else no going hence all the days of your life.
+I have been your physician to cure you of your
+squeasy stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand
+my fee for the same.' The abbot down with his dust,
+and glad he had escaped so, returned to Reading,
+as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more
+merrier in heart than when he came thence."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Dissolution came, the abbot, full of
+belief in his own strength, defied the king,
+though he saw the whirlwind around him which
+had devastated other monasteries no less powerful
+than his own. There was no over-tenderness in
+Henry's methods, and Hugh Faringford, thirty-first
+was abbot, hanged, drawn and quartered in front
+of his own gateway in 1539.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_70' name='Page_70'>[70]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is very little left of this famous abbey now,
+and the gateway has been so carefully "restored"
+that there is more restoration about it than anything
+else; in fact, it is simply a reconstruction.
+Nearly all the remains lie within a very few acres,
+and the Forbury public garden is on the site of one
+of the courts of the abbey. The ruins at the east
+end are heavily covered with masses of ivy, but
+preserve the outlines of the chapter house and
+church, which was over five hundred feet in length.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reading possessed a castle as well as an abbey,
+and the castle has vanished still more completely,
+leaving even its exact site unknown, though it is
+supposed to have been at the west end of the
+present Castle Street, or at the place where the
+prison now stands.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i179" id="i179"></a>
+<img src="images/i-179.jpg" width="442" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CAVERSHAM
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In 871 the Danes got as far up the river as
+Reading, and seized both town and castle. Many
+times has parliament been held in the ancient
+town, and many sovereigns have visited Reading,
+including Queen Elizabeth, who stayed there no
+less than six times. In the civil wars Reading was
+a stronghold for the king until, after a severe siege,
+in 1653 the garrison capitulated on condition of
+being allowed to walk out free with arms and baggage,
+a boon which was granted. After this the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_71' name='Page_71'>[71]</a></span>
+place was held by the Parliamentarians, but was
+again occupied for the king, only to become once
+again the headquarters of the Parliamentary army,
+and so it had many changes of fortune. St. Giles's
+church still bears the marks of the artillery from
+which it suffered during those uncertain times.
+There are other churches in Reading, but this is
+not a guide book, so there is no need to enumerate
+them. Archbishop Laud was born in Reading,
+and educated at the Free School. Reading is not
+actually on the river, and Caversham may be called
+its river-suburb. It is not a place which much
+attracts boating men. From its size, its manufactories,
+its chimneys, it is necessarily in many
+aspects unpleasant to those who have come to seek
+their rest and pleasure far from smoke and toil.
+The most important industries are Messrs. Sutton's
+seed emporium, and Messrs. Huntley and Palmer's
+biscuit factory, which employs more than five
+thousand persons; there are also breweries and
+many lesser works. Did it not lie between two
+such pre-eminently charming places as Sonning
+and Mapledurham, boating people would avoid it
+altogether.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_72' name='Page_72'>[72]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER VIII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+<span class='smcap'>Sonning and its Roses</span>
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i182" id="i182"></a>
+<img src="images/i-182.jpg" width="327" height="411" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<p>
+There are certain
+notable details of
+the river-side
+which stand out
+in the mind after
+the rest have been
+merged in mere
+general remembrance
+of lazy
+happiness. In
+these we may include
+the backwater
+at Sutton
+Courtney, the
+woods at Clieveden, the Mill at Mapledurham,
+and the Rose Garden at Sonning. Roses grow
+well all along by the river, but nowhere so
+well as they do at Sonning, and the rose
+garden forms an attraction which draws hundreds
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_73' name='Page_73'>[73]</a></span>
+to the place. Yet Sonning has other attractions
+too; it is very varied and very pretty.
+When one arrives at it first, perhaps coming
+upstream, one is rather perplexed to discover the
+exact topography. We round a great curve which
+encloses an osier bed; here, in early spring, the
+osiers may be seen lying in great bundles, shaded
+from olive-green to brown madder. Then we see
+some green lawns and landing places beneath the
+shadow of a fine clump of elms, and catch sight of
+the lovable old red-brick bridge, with its high centre
+arch, spanning the stream. But there is another
+bridge, a wooden foot-bridge, which also spans the
+stream, at right angles to the other, and peering
+through beneath this, we can see the continuation
+of the red brick one in a new iron structure, which
+stretches on right up to the neat flower beds of the
+French Horn Hotel. The truth is, the river suddenly
+widens out here into a great bulge, and in
+the bulge are several islands, on one of which are
+a mill and a house and several other things, not to
+forget a charming garden. It is the river channel
+between this island and the bank that the first
+bridge, the old one, spans. And what a view it is!
+Above the bridge can be seen rising the little grey
+church tower. On one side is the White Hart
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_74' name='Page_74'>[74]</a></span>
+Hotel, with its warm tone of yellow wash, its red
+tiles and its creepers, and above all its famous rose
+garden. In the foreground is a willow-covered ait
+placed in exactly the right position. It is a perfect
+picture. But yet this is not the best side of the
+bridge. The other side is better; for here, to resist
+the flow of the current, the builders placed the
+buttresses which emphasise the height of that
+centre arch; buttresses now capped with tufty
+grass and emerald moss, and from the crevices of
+which spring clumps of yellow daisies, candytuft,
+wallflower, hart's-tongue fern, and other things. In
+the bricks all colours may be seen, after the manner
+of worn bricks, not even excluding blue. The
+mill is, as it should be, wooden, and with Sandford
+Mill, is mentioned in Domesday Book. From the
+dark shadow beneath its wheel, the largest on the
+river, gurgles away the water in cool green streams,
+passing beneath the overhanging boughs of planes
+and horse-chestnuts. From the mighty sweep of
+the wheel, as it may be seen in its house, the drops
+rise glittering in cascades to varying heights like
+the sprays of diamonds on a tiara. The mill-house,
+called Aberlash, stands not far off on the same
+island, with a delightful garden.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i185" id="i185"></a>
+<img src="images/i-185.jpg" width="550" height="446" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE ROSE GARDEN AT SONNING
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This island spreads onward with green lawns in a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_75' name='Page_75'>[75]</a></span>
+sweeping semicircle to the lock and cottage, and
+from two small weirs the water dances down,
+adding variety to a beautiful pool where stand
+many irregular pollard willows on tiny aits. Over
+the smaller weir, framed in a setting of evergreens,
+is a bit of far distant blue landscape. There is a
+bank here too, an embankment, which might be
+covered with flowers according to its owner's design,
+but that the water nymphs, intolerant of flowers,
+except those of their own choosing, take a wicked
+delight in sweeping down over the weir, and
+sending the water flowing like a lace shawl all over
+the embankment to carry back all the roots and
+bulbs and other things that may have been planted
+there to use as playthings; their gurgle of delight
+at their own unending joke may be heard all day
+long.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shy kingfishers love the big pool below
+the weir, but it is not often they are seen unless
+the watcher has the faculty for making himself
+invisible against his background and is able to
+remain motionless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The woods of the Holme Park, rising high close
+by, throw a deep-toned shadow on the picture,
+particularly refreshing on a baking summer's day.
+Many birds find their refuge in these woods, and at
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_76' name='Page_76'>[76]</a></span>
+night the weird cries of the owls sound hauntingly
+over the flats. A ghost is supposed to inhabit the
+park, and the owl's cry might very well serve for a
+ghost's moan on occasion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having thus explored the puzzling bit of river,
+we may land and walk up through the Rose
+Garden, or, according to Mr. Ashby Sterry in his
+<i>Lays of a Lazy Minstrel</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Let's land at the lawn of the cheery White Hart,
+</p>
+<p>
+Now gay with the glamour of June!
+</p>
+<p>
+For here we can lunch to the music of trees,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  In sight of the swift river running,
+</p>
+<p>
+Off cuts of cold beef and a prime Cheddar cheese,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And a tankard of bitter at Sonning.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+For the sake of those who have gardens of their
+own, we give a list of the principal roses grown at
+Sonning:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+Monsieur E. Y. Teas, Madame Marie les Dier, Marie
+Baumann, Viscountess Folkestone, Duchess of Bedford,
+Aimée Vibert, Prince Camille de Rohan, W. A. Richardson,
+Edouard Morren, Queen of Queens, Sultan of Zanzibar,
+Suzanne M. Rodocanachi, Madame de Watteville, Souvenir
+d'un Ami, Homer, Duke of Teck, Duke of Edinburgh,
+Cristal, Jules Margottin, Mavourneen, Rêve d'Or, Clio,
+Countess of Rosebery, The Bourbon, Souvenir de la
+Malmaison, Maréchal Niel, Alfred Colombo, Mrs. W. J.
+Grant, Magna Charta, La France, Prince Arthur, Charles
+Lefebvre, Dean Hole, Mrs. F. Laing, Maman Cochet,
+Madame Willinoz, Horace Vernet, Caroline Testout, Gloire
+de Dijon, Auguste Rigstard, Abel Carrière, Abel Grand,
+Eclair, Rubens, Bessie Brown, Beauty of Waltham, Boule de
+Neige, Jeremiah Dickson, Catherine Mermet, Gruss an
+Teplitz, Lady Battersea.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i193" id="i193"></a>
+<img src="images/i-193.jpg" width="550" height="438" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">SONNING
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+With this brilliant mass of colour, the rich dark
+reds, the glorious pinks, the pale yellows, dead
+whites and the flaming apricot of William Allen
+Richardson, the effect may be imagined; and the
+entry to all this beauty is beneath a trellised arch
+covered with masses of the Crimson Rambler!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sonning village itself is very irregular, uphill and
+downhill, with roads all ways. There are rights of
+way through the quiet churchyard, where there is
+a row of magnificent elms, and the villagers are
+real flower lovers. Almost at any season of the
+year at which flowers will flourish out of doors,
+flowers there are to be seen. Earliest of all, the
+quince, the yellow jasmine, and the dainty almond
+blossom; then the golden bunches of laburnum
+and the fresh mauve lilac; later on roses of all
+kinds, not always climbing, but in bushes and
+clumps. Window boxes are seen everywhere, and
+Virginia creeper and ampelopsis cover up all bare
+corners. The houses themselves are charming.
+There are many more cottages in the older style
+than can be found at Wargrave. Many a tiny
+diamond-paned window is seen high up, almost lost
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_78' name='Page_78'>[78]</a></span>
+in a straggling creeper. The projecting storeys,
+the brown lathes imbedded deep in the brick,
+making rectangles of broken colour, the yellow
+wash of a deep umber, the high external chimneys,
+all make up many nooks to be looked at again and
+again with appreciation. Sydney Smith was staying
+at Sonning in 1807, and we can but admire his
+taste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a tradition, very hazy, that Sonning was
+once the seat of a bishopric. There is no evidence
+at all as to this, but the fact that the See of Salisbury
+has held the manor since the time when
+Domesday Book was made may have led to the
+error.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bishops had a house here, and it was at the
+bishops' house that King John stayed for six days
+a month before his death. Leland says: "And
+yet remaineth a faire olde House there of stone,
+even by the Tamise Ripe longging to the Bishop
+of Saresbyri, and thereby is a fine Park."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The oldest parts of the church probably date
+from 1180, but there is very little of this date left.
+The principal bits are the south doorway and a
+small window above it. The south aisle was built
+about 1350, the piers of the nave about 1400, at
+which date the chancel was added. The north
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_79' name='Page_79'>[79]</a></span>
+chancel aisle and the north aisle came about 100
+years later. The whole church was restored in
+1852. There are one or two interesting monuments
+to be seen in it, and it is a good model of
+what a well-preserved, dignified parish church
+should be.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_80' name='Page_80'>[80]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i198" id="i198"></a>
+<img src="images/i-198.jpg" width="550" height="460" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER IX<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+WARGRAVE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+Wargrave is one of the most delightful of
+Thames-side villages. There is not much that is
+old among the houses that line the village street;
+thatch has almost gone. Wooden beams are not
+noticeable, except when used in the modern
+architecture that imitates the old; the material
+seen everywhere is red brick. Wind and weather,
+however, soon tone down the asperities of red brick,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_81' name='Page_81'>[81]</a></span>
+and from the rich soil creepers spring up quickly
+to cover it with loving tendrils; so the street
+becomes a delightful medley of casement windows,
+gable ends, and bushy foliage. Not the least of
+the charm is that each small house has its own
+ideas about frontage, and entirely refuses to stand
+in line with the rest. There are houses with their
+doorsteps in the roadway, and houses modestly
+retiring behind bushes in their strip of garden.
+Here is a wistaria with a stem as thick as a
+man's arm, and there roses and sweetbriar, purple
+clematis and starry jasmine, succeeding and intermingling.
+Wargrave has learnt to choose the
+good and refuse the evil of the modern spirit;
+she is clean and self-respecting as some villages
+will never learn to be. Her small shops are good
+of their kind, but self-conscious she is not, or
+garish, or any other of the horrible things associated
+with modernity.
+</p>
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i201" id="i201"></a>
+<img src="images/i-201.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE CHURCH AT WARGRAVE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The place centres about cross roads, but straggles
+in many directions, and on the high ground
+surrounding it many a new house has been built
+lately, and stands amid delightful grounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The church, which is near the open green,
+where grow fine trees, is of flint, with a red-brick
+pinnacled tower, half ivy-covered. In the church
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_82' name='Page_82'>[82]</a></span>
+is buried Thomas Day, author of <i>Sandford and
+Merton</i>, who was killed by a fall from his horse
+in 1789. A Norman doorway, a carved oak
+pulpit black with age, and a huge family pew, tell
+of long survival, and give the church the same
+touch of self-respecting dignity that the village
+has. It can be seen from the water, peeping over
+greenery near a backwater, with its tower overtopped
+by trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole of Wargrave is seen to advantage
+from the water or from the meadows opposite.
+Many green lawns slope down to the brink, and
+the height of the bushy elms is a thing to note.
+A few Lombardy poplars break the fulness of
+the bosky foliage with their elongated ovals, and
+that most graceful of all trees, the wych elm,
+curves his beautiful lines in soft arches over the
+velvety lawns or smoothly-flowing water.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Witch elms that counterchange the floor
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright;
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And thou, with all thy breadth and height
+</p>
+<p>
+Of foliage, towering sycamore.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Tennyson.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The river turns almost a right angle at Wargrave,
+and, from running eastward, goes due north.
+The little village, being situated at the bend, gets
+the benefit of both vistas. The George Hotel,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_83' name='Page_83'>[83]</a></span>
+indeed, stands exactly at the angle, and the
+sweep of the water catches its wharf with full
+force. It boasts a signboard painted by two
+R.A.s; this is preserved indoors, while another
+swings as its proxy in the village street. Placed
+as it is in regard to the river channel, and with
+the wide flats of Shiplake meadows opposite,
+the hotel is exposed, and the very openness of
+its garden, an attraction which draws hundreds
+of summer visitors, makes it a butt for the racing
+winds of early spring. It is a pretty hotel built
+of brick, with a white painted verandah, after
+the usual river pattern; and a gigantic wistaria
+embowers all the front in its delicate mauve in
+summer, while roses trained over trellis work
+flash answering colour signals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The view over the river includes the glowing
+sunsets, which leave a slowly dying splendour
+behind a distant bank of trees.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And there was still, where day had set,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  A flush that spoke him loth to die;
+</p>
+<p>
+A last link of his glory yet
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Binding together earth and sky.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Moore.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Looking up to the left is the railway bridge,
+which is not so ugly as it might be; below, every
+hundred yards shows fresh beauties.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_84' name='Page_84'>[84]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wargrave backwater is one of the most noted
+on the river, and in summer, or early spring, is
+a fairyland of greenery. The entrance is behind
+the large willow-covered island that lies below
+the hotel. The tiny arched bridge, not far in,
+is so low that one has to lie full length in a
+boat in order to pass under it. This is called
+Fiddler's bridge, though no local tradition keeps
+alive the origin of the name. The gentle light
+shimmers down between the spear-leaved willows
+in a veil of glory, and the stream is so narrow,
+one can almost touch the banks with both hands
+at once. In the main stream meantime, there are
+several islands decorated with the new rough
+stuccoed houses now so popular in river architecture,
+and, at the end where the backwater
+emerges again, there is a brightly-coloured boat-house.
+Beyond this, again, is a long stretch where
+there are generally house-boats. In winter, a little
+creek on the left bank is a kind of storehouse for
+them. This is a fine wide reach, and above it
+rises Wargrave Hill with its large white house
+conspicuously placed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Further down, the river makes a succession of
+curves; and facing up stream is Bolney Court, in
+a solid, old-fashioned style, of a dull yellow colour,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_85' name='Page_85'>[85]</a></span>
+while, behind and around it, the deep blue-green
+of Scotch firs is seen among the lighter foliage,
+and on the curving heights which block the vista
+to the north, the heights above Henley, these
+trees are conspicuous everywhere. Indeed, evergreens
+of all kinds flourish well in the chalky
+soil about Wargrave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The late C. J. Cornish said somewhere that
+Thames eyots always seem to have been put in
+place by a landscape gardener, and those about
+Bolney recall the words. They are thickly grown
+over by sedge and osiers, and overshadowed by taller
+trees; between them, the channels of shining water,
+half hidden half revealed, gain all the charm of
+elusiveness. Has anyone ever reflected what a
+kindly thought it was of Nature's, to arrange
+that trees growing on the water's edge should
+invariably take an outward angle, so as to lean
+over the water? How much less effective the
+result would have been had they grown inward,
+may be pictured by imagining a river without
+reflections. In the stillness of a backwater, or
+in the narrowed channel beside a large island,
+the beautiful effect of this outward angle is
+best seen. If the channel be very narrow, the
+trunks fold one behind the other in perspective,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_86' name='Page_86'>[86]</a></span>
+so as to form an arch over a shining aisle. In
+the water, all the many-coloured gnarled stems
+are smoothed by the gentle movement into something
+softer than the rigid reality, with its hard
+knots of shadow. The different colouring on
+the stems of the same species of tree is a thing
+to marvel at. From the deep mahogany of a joint
+where the damp has made an open wound, to
+the faint biscuit-colour of the place where a strip
+of bark has been newly peeled off, the stems of
+pollarded willows furnish every brown and yellow
+on a painter's palette. Many of them are richly
+crowned by a head of ivy, whose satin-smooth leaves
+fall in garlands like locks, and sway with every
+touch of air. These are reflected in the water
+as a shaded mass of green with no detail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are so many varieties of willow that it
+is difficult for the lay mind to remember them
+all, and numbers of them are to be seen about
+Wargrave. It is the Crack willow and the White
+willow, with long slender leaves, that are commonly
+pollarded as osiers, though they will grow tall
+enough if they are allowed to. There is a legend
+that the mournful droop of the leaves of the
+weeping willow is a reminiscence of the sad time
+of the Captivity:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_87' name='Page_87'>[87]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion;
+</p>
+<p>
+As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the willow trees that grow therein.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Besides the willows, there are their cousins, the
+poplars, chief among which, is the fine Populus
+tremula, whose leaves whisper perpetual secrets,
+even on the stillest days. This is caused by the
+broad leaves being attached to a slender flattened
+stalk. They are silky on the wrong side, and when
+the wind blows through the foliage it turns a soft
+greyish white, like a cottony mass. There is a
+legend that the wood of this tree was used for
+the Cross, and that in consequence it has trembled
+ever since, and so its leaves are in a perpetual state
+of quivering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The poplar, like the ash, is not kind to
+neighbouring trees, its numerous suckers taking
+more than their share of nourishment and moisture
+from the ground, and the leaves, when they fall,
+seem to be as destructive as those of the beech,
+for grass will not grow where they lie.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In spring, these trees shed their long catkins,
+like hairy caterpillars, all over the water, and
+they are swept up in heaps into every eddy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In spite of the delights of summer, there is a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_88' name='Page_88'>[88]</a></span>
+time which well bears comparison with it; I mean
+the first fine days of early spring, before the rest
+of the world has awakened to the fact that winter
+is over. And about Wargrave at such times there
+is to be found great charm by those whose senses
+are alert. It is true that the splendid hedge
+that lines the tow-path shows only the long
+withes of the creepers and no starry flowers; that
+the graceful sprays of the wild rose now appear
+barbed and polished and ferocious, instead of
+sweet and enticing. A bush of barberry or
+berberis is not often seen in hedges, for the old
+folk-lore taught that wheat never throve when
+the barberry was in the hedge; therefore the
+farmers grubbed it up whenever they found it.
+But science has confirmed the empirical wisdom
+of our fathers, for it was discovered that the
+barberry furnishes the intermediate host for rust
+in wheat. On the green river bank there are
+quivering blades of tender green, but no flowers
+with their umbrella heads of white, or bunchy
+yellow, or pale mauve. Yet still there are
+compensations. To begin with, the river itself
+talks in spring as it never does in summer, and
+what is better, one can hear it without the
+interruption of human chatter or noise. One has
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_89' name='Page_89'>[89]</a></span>
+the whole stretch to one's self, and attuning one's
+ear to the key of that conversation, one can
+listen to it sucking at the bank, flop-flopping
+under the prow of one's punt, chuckling as it races
+past the pole, and, laughing a little silvery laugh
+of merriment, that we call rippling&mdash;a word we
+have learnt to adapt to our poor human attempts
+in the same direction. The river sprites are with
+us, and very busy they are&mdash;ceaselessly busy about
+nothing at all, and so happy in their activity that
+to hear them is to laugh for right good fellowship.
+The wind is in the water, urging them on faster
+and faster; each wavelet has its crest of foam,
+and, in the heights and hollows ahead there is
+every shade of green, from emerald to olive. One
+must be very still in order to imbibe the real
+spirit of the scene, for they are shy, these river
+nymphs, as shy as the birds and beasts that live
+around them, and have learned the fear of tempestuous
+man. A shy-bold wren, with a sudden
+glint of sunlight on his rich brown back, flies
+to the edge of the water where the punt lies
+drifting, and then darts back in haste to the
+shelter of that commanding hedge he never
+likes to leave. His pertness is all in his appearance;
+never did looks so belie a timid character!
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_90' name='Page_90'>[90]</a></span>
+A water-hen, startled by the sudden dip of the
+pole, flies out of the reeds close by, and skims
+in a swift low line to the islet opposite; her
+smooth dark body, with the elongated neck and
+scant tail, resembles an Eastern water skin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a gentle continuous whispering among
+the reeds, as if they questioned themselves, with
+quiet disapprobation, why the river was always
+in such a hurry. From the field behind the hedge
+comes the sweet scream of a wheeling peewit, and
+two large wood-pigeons flap noisily from the tall
+trees on the island, a very picture of contented
+domesticity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We slide on gently, close by the tow-path, until
+the tall hedge comes to an end, and the green
+meadows stretch right away from the lip of the
+river, and around them rise the tree-crowned
+heights in a semicircle, like the tiers of a giant
+amphitheatre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Flop! A water rat dives furtively. Though
+called a rat, he is in reality a vole, and is almost
+exclusively graminivorous; in this differing from
+his namesake, the real rat, which also haunts river
+banks, especially near mills. With hoarse squawk,
+a wild duck rises heavily from cover, and after
+the first difficult spiral, wings off like an arrow,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_91' name='Page_91'>[91]</a></span>
+his long neck extended. It is a day of cloud
+and shadow, and suddenly the light breaks out
+on the trees ahead with a wild freshness that
+makes one catch one's breath. It races up
+stream, and the dun is turned to gold at the
+touch of its breath. The sweetness of early
+spring is in the air and in our blood; the larks
+feel it as they rise:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i7">
+              Sounds of vernal showers
+</p>
+<p class="i8">
+                On the twinkling grass,
+</p>
+<p class="i7">
+              Rain-awaken'd flowers,
+</p>
+<p class="i8">
+                All that ever was
+</p>
+<p>
+Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Shelley.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+And there is a stirring of sap and juice in things&mdash;small
+things deep down in dark holes and corners,
+and in all green and growing things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this, how cloying the richness of summer,
+with its still days, its glaring reflections, the
+luscious foliage, and the overpowering scents&mdash;the
+thought of it strikes one's senses as the
+thought of a hothouse would strike a child of the
+moor and the mountain. And when we remember
+Wargrave regatta, with its crowded banks, its
+lined shores, its flags a-flutter, and its noise, we
+are thankful that August is afar off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though we have wandered down stream, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_92' name='Page_92'>[92]</a></span>
+bit above Wargrave is equally attractive. Just
+beyond the railway bridge the river Loddon flows
+into the Thames. To pass up it and its tributary,
+St. Patrick's stream, is no easy feat; yet by using
+this loop the lock may be evaded, and it is the
+only place on the river where such a trick is
+possible. It is, however, far the best to explore
+this by-way from the other end and to come
+down stream by its means. To reach it, one must
+go high up above the lock, beyond the last of
+the chain of islands which here breaks the channel,
+and there turn in under a small bridge, into this
+curious tributary, which starts from the river and
+returns to it again. It flows at first through
+wide flat meadows, and then bifurcates, one
+branch, blocked by a weir, communicating again
+with the Thames, and the other falling into the
+Loddon, and with it rejoining the main river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Part of St. Patrick's stream is fringed by
+well-grown uniform pollard willows that hedge
+it like a wall. In summer, when the meadows
+are rich in buttercups, and the wind hums softly
+over the clover, bringing wafts of scent, and
+many a quaint weed adds its note of colour to
+the general harmony, it is very charming. But
+the most delightful feature is the growth of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_93' name='Page_93'>[93]</a></span>
+Leucojum æstivum, or summer snowflake, which
+is so numerous that it is popularly known as the
+Loddon lily. This is like a large snowdrop in
+which several blooms spring from one head. It is
+also to be found on several of the islands in the
+main river near, but is not abundant there. The
+Loddon itself rises far inland: Twyford gets its
+name from lying near two branches, a twy-ford.
+The stream is slow, and it is only the swift current
+of St. Patrick that enlivens it lower down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Above the mouth of the Loddon there lies an
+interesting bit of the river. On a large island,
+owned by the Corporation of London, stands the
+lock-keeper's cottage, and opposite to it, on the
+mainland, a delightful old mill-house with tiled
+roof, and that weather-worn, rather battered
+appearance, which all self-respecting mill-houses
+aim at as the perfection of ripeness. The long
+tongue of the lock island projects down stream
+like the nose of a pike. In winter, the little
+moorhens, partly tamed by hunger, and reassured
+by the absence of those noisy humans who come
+in such numbers in warmer weather, run about
+all over it. Other things run too, all the year
+round; the lock-keeper has a fine stock of hens,
+but accepts philosophically the fact that he can
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_94' name='Page_94'>[94]</a></span>
+never rear any chickens "because of the rats."
+The rats, which are attracted by the ample stores
+at the mill-house, and find such variety of
+lodgings along the banks of the stream and in
+the crevices of the much worn woodwork, are the
+pest of these places.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The island is a popular camping ground, and
+the pitches are generally secured early in the
+season, having been well prepared beforehand by
+being laid in sand and flints to ensure a dry
+foundation. There are also a tiny bungalow, to
+be had for two guineas the week, and a bathing
+place available. Altogether a very attractive
+island. The main stream races over the weir,
+forming a wide tumbling pool below, and on the
+other side of the island there is a pleasant stretch
+down to the lock. These lock channels are
+among some of the most charming places on
+the river. They are generally very still, with the
+mass of water hardly moving. On some days
+every twig is reflected, and the view in this
+particular one is well worth looking at, as, with
+the group of the mill buildings rising high on
+one side, and the cottage with its accompaniment
+of standard roses on the other, there are the
+elements of a most satisfactory composition.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_95' name='Page_95'>[95]</a></span>
+The meadows slope down at just that angle that
+shows them off to the best advantage; they are
+dotted with fine trees and are crowned by clumps
+of wood, from which sounds the homely cawing
+of rooks. The red cows stand knee-deep in the
+placid water, lashing at the flies with their tails;
+and on the other side is a mass of greenery:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i4">
+        I ...
+</p>
+<p>
+Walked forth to ease my pain
+</p>
+<p>
+Along the shore of silver streaming Thames;
+</p>
+<p>
+Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
+</p>
+<p>
+Was painted all with variable flowers,
+</p>
+<p>
+And all the meads adorned with dainty gems
+</p>
+<p>
+Fit to deck maidens' bowers.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Sweet Thames! run softly till I end my song.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Spenser.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Shiplake stands high above the flat meadows
+by the river bank. The little flint church, in which
+Tennyson was married, has a prettily buttressed
+tower, and around it grow many tall evergreens
+and waving trees. There are also some interesting
+old frescoes on the walls, two representing
+St. Christopher, who seems particularly appropriate
+in a river church. From the porch, down between
+two rows of shrubs, one can look on to the top
+of a mass of trees, which shuts out a bend of
+the silver river, and beyond them see the blue
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_96' name='Page_96'>[96]</a></span>
+distance, miles and miles away. Mrs. Climenson,
+whose book on Shiplake was privately printed,
+suggests that the name originated in schiff-laacken,
+for the story goes that when the Danes got so
+far, their boats stuck on the shoals, and their commander
+ordered them to be burnt, to prevent a
+possibility of retreat.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_97' name='Page_97'>[97]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER X<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+HENLEY REGATTA
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i219" id="i219"></a>
+<img src="images/i-219.jpg" width="323" height="407" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<p>
+Who can ever
+think of Henley
+without its regatta?
+And yet
+Henley is very
+well worth thinking
+of at all times
+of the year. It is
+a pleasantly-built,
+middle-aged, red-brick
+town. Its
+history does not
+reach back so far
+as that of Abingdon
+or Reading. It boasts neither abbey nor
+cathedral. Near the esplanade above the bridge,
+there are one or two of the tumble-down, out-of-perpendicular
+style of cottages, which invariably
+add so much to a river scene; but the main
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_98' name='Page_98'>[98]</a></span>
+part of the town, which is, of course, of red
+brick, has a homely air of the seventeenth
+century about it. The solid and stately Red
+Lion Hotel, close to the bridge, is one of the
+most historic houses in the place. Charles I.
+stayed here in 1632, when, after severe dissensions,
+he was trying the method of ruling England without
+a Parliament, and when the terrible fate that
+was to befall him had not yet "cast its shadow
+before." It is doubtful if he paid his bills, for
+he was in chronic want of money; but he left
+a memento behind him which has more than
+repaid the hotel, for it forms a perennial source of
+interest. This is a large fresco painting of the
+royal monogram and coat of arms over one of
+the mantelpieces, and from the date it is evident it
+was done at the time of this visit. It was not
+discovered till 1889, having probably been hastily
+concealed during the troublous days of Cromwell's
+ascendency. Being on one of the principal coaching
+roads, Henley received more than its share of
+celebrated visitors. On July the 12th, 1788,
+George III., with the Queen and three of
+his daughters, had breakfast at the Red Lion;
+George IV. once dined here; and the celebrated
+Duke of Marlborough regularly kept a room here
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_99' name='Page_99'>[99]</a></span>
+that he might use it in his journeys from Blenheim;
+his bed is still preserved. After these associations,
+that of Shenstone, who wrote a poem with a
+diamond on a window-pane, comes as an anticlimax.
+The poem begins:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+To thee, fair Freedom, I retire,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  From flattery, cards, and dice, and din;
+</p>
+<p>
+Nor art thou found in mansions higher
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Than the low cott or humble inn.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+And the last verse, which is often quoted, runs:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Whate'er his stages may have been,
+</p>
+<p>
+May sigh to think he still has found
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The warmest welcome at an inn.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In summer the red brick of the hotel is almost
+hidden by the creepers which embrace it; especially
+noticeable is the glorious wistaria, most lovely of
+all the climbing plants.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i223" id="i223"></a>
+<img src="images/i-223.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">RED LION HOTEL, HENLEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The bridge was built in 1786, and is of stone.
+The keystones of the central arch are adorned with
+sculptured masks of Thame and Isis. They were
+the work of Mrs. Damer, a cousin of Horace
+Walpole's, and as such falling within the limits of
+the great man's kindly appreciation. Behind the
+hotel and well seen from the bridge, is the church,
+with its four corner pinnacles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time of the regatta, and for some weeks
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_100' name='Page_100'>[100]</a></span>
+before, it is impossible to get accommodation in
+the town anywhere. Of all the river regattas
+Henley is by far the greatest, and comes even
+before the Boat Race in the estimation of some
+people. The races used to end at the bridge, and
+so the lawn of the Red Lion was in the position of
+a favoured grand-stand, but now the winning post
+is a quarter of a mile short of this, opposite the
+last villa on the left bank. The starting point is
+near Temple or Regatta Island, and the reach
+certainly makes a fine one for the purpose. The
+course is railed off by piles and booms, and all the
+hundreds of craft which gather to the scene have
+to cram themselves in somehow, so as not to cause
+obstruction. It is well not to select an outrigged
+boat for such an occasion. The best and most
+commonly seen craft are punts, worked by means
+of canoe paddles; for the punts are too solid to
+collapse easily in the pressure that may be put
+upon them, and the paddles, requiring little room
+to work, are less dangerous to one's neighbours than
+poles. But all kinds of skiffs and canoes appear, and
+some are even bold enough to tempt fate in Canadian
+canoes. On a brilliant day, when the light
+sparkles on the water, and there is enough wind
+to set the pennons and streamers flying, the scene
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_101' name='Page_101'>[101]</a></span>
+is undeniably gay and pretty. All the luncheon
+tents on the green lawns near form a bright
+adjunct. Salter and Talboys, from Oxford, and
+other boat-builders, have landing-stages for the
+week, and the various clubs entertain largely.
+Chief among these is the Leander, whose fine
+club-house is on the right bank not far from the
+bridge; it also has a lawn further down. Not
+far off are the grand-stand, the Grosvenor, and
+the New Oxford and Cambridge Clubs, and one
+large lawn is taken as a clubland <i>pied-à-terre</i>
+for the use of any members of London clubs in
+general. But beside these there are the Isthmian,
+Sports, and Bath Clubs on the left bank, and
+Phyllis Court, with smooth lawns; and then a long
+line of house-boats begins, continuing past Fawley
+Court on to Temple Island, with just one break for
+the lawns of the Court. Bands play, luncheons are
+consumed, flags flutter; everyone is gay and lively,
+and the scene is one that can hardly be described
+justly in mere word painting. At noon the first
+race is rowed. A bell is rung to clear the course.
+All sorts of boats and canoes have slipped out
+between the openings left for them, and they must
+hurry back and crush into the already tightly
+wedged mass; in a moment everything else is
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_102' name='Page_102'>[102]</a></span>
+forgotten in the excitement of the special event.
+On the last evening of the regatta there is a grand
+firework display and a procession of illuminated
+boats; and, as may very well be guessed, the real
+success of Henley depends greatly upon the
+weather, which, even in the first week of July,
+when it takes place, is not always kind.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i229" id="i229"></a>
+<img src="images/i-229.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HENLEY REGATTA
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As we have said, the surroundings of Henley
+are of a sort to attract attention, even without the
+additional glories of the regatta. Above the bridge
+is a long ait, and high on the right bank rise the
+woods of Park Place. Here the brilliant green of
+the beeches is diversified by the dark blue-greens
+of fir and cedar. The Place was once the residence
+of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the grounds
+were greatly improved by Field-Marshal Conway,
+a cousin of Horace Walpole. A long glade is cut
+through the wood. It runs under a bridge made
+of blocks of stone taken from Reading Abbey,
+and over this passes the road. From the river a
+peep of the striking vista can be had. Higher
+up again is Marsh Lock.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i235" id="i235"></a>
+<img src="images/i-235.jpg" width="550" height="445" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HAMBLEDEN
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+But the influence of Henley extends down as
+well as up the river. Phyllis and Fawley Courts
+both at one time belonged to Bulstrode Whitelocke.
+Fawley was wrecked very early in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_103' name='Page_103'>[103]</a></span>
+civil wars; but Phyllis was strongly fortified, and
+some of the earthworks may still be seen. Henley
+was a Parliamentarian stronghold, and was annoyed
+by the neighbourhood of plucky little Greenlands
+at Hambleden, which, "for a little fort, was made
+very strong for the King."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It belonged in the time of the Stuarts to Sir
+Cope d'Oyley, who was a staunch Royalist. When
+he died his eldest son held Greenlands for the
+King, and his house was battered by the cannon
+of the Parliamentarians from across the water. In
+the nineteenth century the Rt. Hon. W. H. Smith
+lived here, and his widow took from the village the
+title he himself never lived to enjoy. In Hambleden
+also there is a fine old manor house, and
+some of the clipped yews in the gardens of
+private houses are very remarkable. High above
+the place rise the woods near Fingest and Stokenchurch.
+The weirs at Hambleden are the most
+attractive on the river. Long curved bridges run
+across them from shore to shore, and are open
+to the public as a right-of-way. The curves strike
+off at different angles, and every moment the point
+of view changes. Whether we are passing over
+tumbling weirs, where the water glides across long
+mossy planes, or over sluice-gates where it bursts
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_104' name='Page_104'>[104]</a></span>
+through, the enchantment is the same. Flags and
+tall yellow irises and the greenest of green tufts
+grow in the water and about the foundations of
+the bridges. Looking back at the mill, we see it
+reflected in the calm, deep water above the weirs
+as in a polished looking-glass. There are old cedars
+and red-roofed cottages, and plenty of Scotch firs
+and yew hedges in the background. Away up the
+river is the white mass of Greenlands with its
+pierced look-out tower.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_105' name='Page_105'>[105]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i239" id="i239"></a>
+<img src="images/i-239.jpg" width="550" height="424" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XI<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE ROMANCE OF BISHAM AND HURLEY
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+One of the greatest calumnies I ever heard
+expressed was the remark, "What, writing a
+book about the river! Why, the river is all alike,
+isn't it?" It is true that many reaches of the river
+are so exceedingly attractive that there is a danger
+of applying the adjectives "pretty" and "beautiful"
+and "charming" to many of them, but the sameness
+is not in the reaches, it is in the poverty of
+one's own language. What can be more different,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_106' name='Page_106'>[106]</a></span>
+for instance, than the river about Maidenhead and
+the river above Marlow? Yet both are delightful.
+The patrons of the Maidenhead part no doubt
+outnumber those of Bisham and Hurley, but that
+is because Maidenhead is one of the most accessible
+places on the river. The station at Marlow is
+on a branch, and many a weary hour must be
+spent waiting, if one is dependent on trains. This
+is the only station for Hurley and Bisham, unless
+we go on equally far in the other direction to
+Henley. However, this is one of the reasons why
+the Marlow section is preferable to the Maidenhead
+one&mdash;when you do get there.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great Marlow itself is a fairly important place
+for a riverside village. It is like a little country
+town, and though many new red-brick villas are
+springing up, it could not be called "residential"
+in the way that the word could be applied to
+Richmond, for instance. The ground plan is very
+simple. One wide street runs straight down to the
+bridge, and another street crosses it at the top.
+In the latter is to be found Marlow's chief literary
+association, for here still stands the cottage where
+Shelley lived. It is marked by a tablet, and is a
+low, long building, creeper-covered, and is now
+divided into several cottages. Here he wrote
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_107' name='Page_107'>[107]</a></span>
+<i>The Revolt of Islam</i> and <i>Alastor, or the Spirit of
+Solitude</i>.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i243" id="i243"></a>
+<img src="images/i-243.jpg" width="550" height="435" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">GENERAL VIEW OF MARLOW
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Down by the water side the whole aspect of
+Marlow is bright and open. It must be entirely
+different from the older Marlow, when the wooden
+bridge&mdash;which crossed the river lower down than
+the present one&mdash;and the old church were still
+in existence. At present, in the summer all is
+gay and clean looking. The suspension bridge,
+which is the best of the modern sort of bridges
+from an artist's point of view, is rather low over
+the water; standing on it one can look right down
+on to the green lawn of the Compleat Angler
+Hotel, and see the many-coloured muslins, the
+white flannels, the gay cushions, the awnings,
+and the sunshades, as if they were all a gigantic
+flower bed. The red hotel itself is from this
+point caught against the background of the
+Quarry Woods. Opposite to it is the very green
+strip of the churchyard coming right down to
+the edge of the river, and only separated from
+it by a low stone parapet: weeping willows fling
+their green spray out over the water, and behind
+is the church. It is undeniable that the materials
+used in the church are distinctly ugly, but the
+steeple goes some way towards redeeming it,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_108' name='Page_108'>[108]</a></span>
+and if it can be seen silhouetted, so that the
+materials are lost in dimness, and only the outlines
+are apparent, it becomes at once more than
+passable. Spires are not common in Thames-side
+churches, which are far more often capped by
+rather low battlemented towers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the glories of Marlow is its weir. It
+runs in a great semicircular sweep below the
+hotel; and, from a terrace there, one can look
+right down into the swirling water; or by coming
+up the backwater below in a boat, one can land
+at the hotel without facing the lock at all, a great
+advantage. The weir is in several planes, and
+the extended flood makes a perpetual wash,
+rising to a roar in winter, and dwindling to
+the merest tinkle in summer. Marlow is distinctly
+a summer place: its openness, its many trees, its
+wide reach of water, and the splash of the weir
+are all summer accompaniments; and in winter,
+when the wind sweeps down from the south,
+the unprotected side, and the water hisses and
+bubbles in its struggle to get down to lower
+levels, it is weird and melancholy.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i249" id="i249"></a>
+<img src="images/i-249.jpg" width="550" height="451" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">QUARRY WOODS
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The lock channel is fringed by several islets,
+and there is the usual mill, and a pretty wooden
+foot-bridge. Several of the most graceful of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_109' name='Page_109'>[109]</a></span>
+our trees, the dainty silver birch, stand near the
+mill. On some of the lower islands osiers grow,
+and there are one or two neat boat-houses. Wide
+meadows fringe the river below; and eastward&mdash;the
+bridge lies due north and south&mdash;are the
+famous Quarry Woods, held by many to be
+superior even to the Clieveden Woods. In some
+points they are, and not the least of these is
+that they are traversed by several roads, while
+those at Clieveden are kept strictly private. The
+woods are composed almost wholly of beech, the
+tree that loves the chalk, here so abundant, and
+only a few patches of larch may be seen in
+clumps among them. Beginning at the water's
+edge, rising above the curious white castle with
+harled walls called Quarry Hill, now to let, the
+woods continue in a straight line inland, getting
+further and further from the river as they go.
+It is difficult to say at what season of the year
+they are the most beautiful. In early spring,
+before the buds burst, if looked at in the mass,
+there is to be seen a kind of purple bloom made
+by the myriad buds, which is not found in any
+mixed woods. In spring the buds burst out into
+that tender indescribable green, like nothing
+else in the world, and the new-born leaves,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_110' name='Page_110'>[110]</a></span>
+suspended from their dark and almost invisible
+twigs, are for all the world like fronds of giant
+maidenhair. In the autumn the whole ground is
+one blaze of rich burnt-sienna, a carpet of leaves
+laid so industriously that not a speck of the
+bare brown earth appears; and from this rise
+the stems smooth and straight, lichen-covered
+every one, and thus transformed to brilliant
+emerald. Where the light strikes through the
+rapidly thinning branches, they have the very
+glow of the stones themselves. It is an enchanted
+wood, and at any moment a wizard might peep
+out from behind one of those magic trunks.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i255" id="i255"></a>
+<img src="images/i-255.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BISHAM CHURCH
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The woods alone would be sufficient to give
+Marlow a high rank among river places. But all
+this is below the bridge, and above there is much
+to see. Not far off, on the right bank of the
+river, is Bisham, a tiny village with its church
+and abbey, now a dwelling house. The whole
+of Bisham is well worth lingering over. The
+cottages stand along the road in straggling fashion,
+old and new, and some of the gardens are bright
+with homely, sweet-scented flowers, among which,
+stocks and sweet-williams seem to be the
+favourites in the summer. One tumble-down row,
+rather off the road, is a mass of honeysuckle, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_111' name='Page_111'>[111]</a></span>
+roses and ivy. The little church stands so near to
+the margin of the river that not a dozen yards
+separate its tower from the flood. A low moss-grown
+stone parapet edges the churchyard; over
+this elms dip their crooked boughs in a vain
+endeavour to touch the ripples as they spring
+playfully upward, driven by the wind. The little
+church has a square stone tower, wonderfully
+softened, so that it looks as if it must fray to
+powder at a touch. The brick battlements are a
+later addition, but the gentle river air has breathed
+on them so that they tone in harmoniously. Some
+of the windows are transition Norman. For ages
+the little church has stood there looking out across
+the water to the green flat meadows, and though
+it has been rebuilt and altered, there is much of it
+that is fairly ancient. The Hoby chapel was
+built about 1600, by the disconsolate widow of
+Sir Thomas Hoby, Ambassador to France; in it
+are several fine tombs, and on that of Sir Thomas,
+his lady, who was learned, as it was the fashion
+for great ladies to be in her time, wrote long
+inscriptions in Latin and Greek and English; the
+last of which ends up with:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+"Give me, O God, a husband like unto Thomas,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or else restore me to my husband Thomas!"
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_112' name='Page_112'>[112]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Eight years later she married again, so that
+she had presumably found a husband "like unto
+Thomas." The Hoby window in this chapel, with
+its coat of arms, is especially interesting, and when
+the morning sun streams through in tones of
+purple and gold upon the worn stones, the effect
+is striking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are one or two good brasses in the
+church, and a small monument to two children
+who are traditionally said to have owned Queen
+Elizabeth as mother!
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i261" id="i261"></a>
+<img src="images/i-261.jpg" width="550" height="447" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HURLEY BACKWATER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+From the reign of Edward VI. to 1780 the
+Hoby family held the abbey, and then it was
+bought by the ancestors of the present owner. It
+is a splendid group of masonry, and stands very
+effectively near the river. The tall tower, the oriel
+windows, and the red tints against the fine mass of
+greenery, make a very unusual picture. Bisham
+at one time belonged to the Knights Templars,
+who founded here a preceptory. But their Order
+was dissolved in the reign of Edward II. In
+1338 the Earl of Salisbury established here a
+priory for Augustinian monks. This was twice
+surrendered, having been re-established after the
+first time. It is rather curious that the last prior,
+being permitted by the tenets of the Reformed
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_113' name='Page_113'>[113]</a></span>
+Church to marry, became the father of five
+daughters, each of whom married a bishop;
+while he himself was Bishop of St. Davids.
+Poor Anne of Cleves was presented with the
+abbey by her sometime husband the King, who,
+however, died before the gift was confirmed.
+She was allowed to retain it, and from her it
+passed to the Hobys as aforesaid. The house has
+therefore a long history, and much of the fabric is
+very old. One of the oldest parts is the fine
+entrance gateway, dating from the reign of King
+Stephen. The great hall is supposed to have been
+at one time the church of the abbey. As three
+Earls of Salisbury, the great "King Maker"
+Warwick, and Edward Plantagenet, unhappy
+son of an unhappy father, were all buried in the
+abbey church, there is every reason to suppose
+that their bones lie beneath the pavement in the
+hall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+During Queen Mary's reign Princess Elizabeth
+was a prisoner at Bisham under the charge of
+Sir Thomas Hoby. No doubt she "took water"
+frequently, and glided gently down with the stream;
+for people were accustomed to use their river when
+there were no roads to speak of. She must often
+have gazed upon the Quarry Woods in all their
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_114' name='Page_114'>[114]</a></span>
+flaming splendour of autumn, but the Marlow
+she knew is so different from our Marlow we can
+hardly otherwise picture it. Several alterations
+were made at the abbey while Elizabeth was there,
+such as the construction of a dais, and a large
+window; small points, which show, however, that
+she was treated with all due respect. And she
+herself has left it on record that she received
+kindness and courtesy from her enforced hosts.
+These alterations were followed subsequently, in
+her own reign, by the rebuilding of much of the
+abbey, which was then made as we now see it.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i267" id="i267"></a>
+<img src="images/i-267.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BISHAM ABBEY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+It is inevitable that such a historic house should
+have a tradition or two attached to it; and traditions
+are not lacking. It is said that the ghost
+of someone drowned in the river rises at times in
+the form of a mist, and spreads all across the
+channel, and woe be to anyone who attempts to
+penetrate it. Another tale is that the house is
+haunted by a certain Lady Hoby, who beat her
+little boy to death because he could not write
+without blots. She goes about wringing her hands
+and trying to cleanse them from indelible inkstains.
+The story has probably some foundation, for a
+number of copybooks of the age of Elizabeth were
+discovered behind one of the shutters during some
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_115' name='Page_115'>[115]</a></span>
+later alterations, and one of these was deluged in
+every line with blots. We all know that great
+severity was exercised by parents with their
+children at that time; even Lady Jane Grey had
+to undergo "pinches, nips, and bobs," until she
+thought herself "in hell," while with her parents,
+and the story, if not the ghost, may safely be
+accepted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another tradition tells of an elopement. One
+of the Earls of Salisbury, about to set out for the
+Holy Land, sent for his daughter, who was a nun
+at the convent of Little Marlow, to bid him
+farewell. She came to him at Bisham, and while
+there was persuaded by one of the squires to elope
+with him. The pair crossed the water, but were
+almost immediately captured. The girl was presumably
+returned to her nunnery, where her
+escapade would give her something to think of
+during all the monotonous days that followed, and
+the man was imprisoned at Bisham. In attempting
+to make his escape he fell from a high window and
+was badly injured. It is said that he afterwards
+took the vows and became a monk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Temple Mill and House and Lock, which come
+next to Bisham up the river, recall the possession
+of the Knights Templars. This and Hurley Lock
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_116' name='Page_116'>[116]</a></span>
+are the two nearest together of all on the river, and
+experienced oarsmen frequently catch the second
+one by making a dash on high days and holidays
+when there is likely to be a crowd and consequent
+delay.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Interesting as Bisham is, it is rivalled by Hurley,
+with its remains of the fine old mansion Lady Place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order to reach the lock one passes under a
+high wooden foot-bridge, "the marrow" to one
+further up. On the lock island is a large red-brick
+mill-house, near which stand one or two evergreens;
+while on an apple tree in the lock-keeper's garden
+is a fine growth of mistletoe, of which he is justly
+proud. Mistletoe grows a good deal in the valley
+of the Thames. It is not as a rule easily seen,
+owing to the foliage of the trees on which it
+grows; but in the winter, across the frozen
+meadows, against the cold white sky, it may be
+seen in great tufts that look like giant nests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is supposed that the seeds of the mistletoe
+in order to become fruitful must pass through the
+body of the missel thrush, which is extremely
+partial to them, and seems to be almost the only
+bird that will touch them, hence its name; and
+if, as is conjectured, the seeds cannot germinate
+without this process, we have the phenomenon
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_117' name='Page_117'>[117]</a></span>
+of an animal forming the "host" for a vegetable
+parasite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beyond the lock there is a sheltered channel
+with the quaintest old-world flavour about it, a
+flavour which grows yearly more and more difficult
+to find as it melts away before the onward sweep
+of the advertising age. A strip of green turf is
+lined by an old brick wall with lichen and moss
+growing on its coping, so that when the sun
+catches it, it is like a ribbon of gold. Tall gate
+piers, crowned by stone balls, frame a bit of the
+excellently kept velvet lawns of Lady Place. There
+are many of these old piers and balls, and nearly
+all are overgrown with roses.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Look to the blowing rose about us&mdash;'Lo,
+</p>
+<p>
+Laughing,' she says, 'into the world I blow,
+</p>
+<p>
+At once the silken tassel of my purse
+</p>
+<p>
+Tear, and its treasures on the garden throw.'
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The splendid cedars, themselves a guarantee of
+age that no modern Midas can summon to deck the
+grounds of his new mansion; the tinkle of a cowbell
+from the meadow near; and the Decorated
+windows of Lady Place peering over the wall; all
+add to the impression made by the whole. The
+abbey was founded in 1086 for Benedictine monks.
+It is interesting to note what a very great attraction
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_118' name='Page_118'>[118]</a></span>
+water always held for monks; doubtless the necessity
+for Friday fish was one reason for this; but
+one likes to think that they also loved the river
+for its own sake, and that they found in the
+current the same sort of fascination which it
+holds for us now. It may be also that it was
+the constant gliding of the water, an emblem of
+their own smoothly running lives, that drew them
+so strongly:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Glide gently, thus for ever glide,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  O Thames! that other bards may see
+</p>
+<p>
+As lovely visions by thy side
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  As now, fair river! come to me.
+</p>
+<p>
+O glide, fair stream, for ever so,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
+</p>
+<p>
+Till all our minds for ever flow
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  As thy deep waters now are flowing.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+How calm! how still! the only sound,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The dripping of the oar suspended!
+</p>
+<p>
+The evening darkness gathers round
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  By virtue's holiest powers attended.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Wordsworth.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Of this abbey not much remains. The crypt is
+isolated, standing away from the remainder of the
+buildings, and anyone may penetrate into it. The
+old moat is excellently well preserved, and its circuit
+shows that the abbey premises must have
+extended over at least five acres of ground. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_119' name='Page_119'>[119]</a></span>
+church, which is now the parish church, is an odd
+little building. It has a single aisle, and the original
+work is Norman, though it has been much modernised.
+It forms part of a courtyard or quadrangle,
+and faces a large, barn-like structure, which was the
+refectory; in parts this is also Norman, and in it
+are the Decorated windows. The materials used
+in the construction of this refectory are most
+curious&mdash;brick, chalk, flint, any sort of rubble, all
+mixed together, and very solid. The stable is
+built in the same way, and it is amazing that such
+heterogeneous stuff should have stood the test of
+time. Not far off also is a dove-house of a very
+ancient pattern. The interior, with its cavernous
+gloom and the numerous holes in the chalk for
+the birds to nest in, is well worth looking into.
+Indeed, the whole of this side of the buildings&mdash;away
+from the river&mdash;is worth landing to see. It
+is all within a very few yards, and once past the
+modern house we find the little church with its
+old-fashioned wooden tower, the green with its
+well-grown elms, and the dove-house and stable,
+which combine to form a very unusual scene
+altogether.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sir Richard Lovelace, created Baron Lovelace
+by Charles I., built Lady Place on the site of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_120' name='Page_120'>[120]</a></span>
+abbey in 1600. He was a relative of the Cavalier
+poet of the same name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Macaulay's history there is an account of
+Lady Place, given graphically as he well knew
+how. He is speaking of a descendant of the
+founder, and he says:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+"His mansion, built by his ancestors out of the
+spoils of the Spanish galleons from the Indies, rose
+on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in that beautiful
+valley, through which the Thames, not yet
+defiled by the precincts of a great capital, nor
+rising and falling with the flow and ebb of the
+sea, rolls under woods of beech round the gentle
+hills of Berkshire. Beneath the stately saloon,
+adorned by Italian pencils, was a subterraneous
+vault in which the bones of ancient monks had
+sometimes been found."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The third Lord Lovelace plotted for the
+coming of William of Orange, and in the crypt
+many a secret meeting was held to arrange the
+details. It is said that the actual invitation which
+brought the Dutchman over was signed in this
+low, dark vault.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lady Place later belonged to a brother of
+Admiral Kempenfelt, who went down with the
+<i>Royal George</i>.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_121' name='Page_121'>[121]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Certain places are frequently associated with
+certain seasons of the year, and to my mind at
+Hurley it is always summer. The smell of the
+new mown hay on the long island between the
+lock channel and part of the main stream, the
+faint, delicate scent of dog-roses, and all the other
+scents that load the summer air, seem to linger for
+ever in this sheltered place. The backwater running
+up on the other side of this island to the
+weir is a very enticing one. Thirsty plants dip
+their pretty heads to drink of the water that comes
+swirling from the weir like frosted glass, and trees
+of all sorts&mdash;ash, elm, horse-chestnut, and the
+ubiquitous willows and poplars&mdash;lean over the
+water in crooked elbows, giving a sweet shade
+and a delicious coolness. The weir is a long one,
+broken by islands into three parts. Another
+long island is parallel to the first one. Indeed,
+Hurley is a complicated place, and one that is ever
+new. The swans certainly appreciate it. Drayton
+says "Our flood's queen, Thames, with ships and
+swans is crowned." I don't know about the ships;
+nothing very large can get above Molesey Lock;
+but as for the swans they abound, and especially
+about here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The swans on the river belong to the Crown,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_122' name='Page_122'>[122]</a></span>
+the Vintners' and the Dyers' Companies. The
+grant of this privilege to the companies goes
+back so far that it is lost in the mists of antiquity.
+The Crown is far the largest holder, but as the
+numbers of swans, of course, vary from year to
+year, it is difficult to form an estimate of the total.
+The Vintners, who come next, own perhaps 150.
+They preserve only those that live below Marsh
+Lock, with the exception of a few black ones,
+which, contrary to expectation, have thriven very
+well, and find a happy hunting ground about
+Goring and Moulsford. The system of marking,
+called swan-upping, has been modified of late years,
+as a protest was made against it on the ground of
+cruelty. Before that time the Vintners marked
+their swans with a large V right across the upper
+mandible, but now they give only two little nicks,
+one on each side. From this comes the well-known
+sign of old yards and public-houses, the Swan with
+Two Necks, a corruption of nicks! The Dyers
+have a nick on one side only. The origin and
+variety of swan marks is a curious subject. The
+process of swan-upping, or as it is often incorrectly
+called, swan-hopping, gives an occasion for a
+pleasant excursion, as it occurs about a fortnight
+before the August Bank-Holiday, in the very
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_123' name='Page_123'>[123]</a></span>
+height of the summer. Only the birds of the
+current year are done, as the marks generally last
+for life, and though they are accustomed to see too
+many people to fear mankind, the handling naturally
+frightens them. The swans, as a rule, find
+their own living, grubbing about in the banks and
+on the river bottom, and they are also occasionally
+fed from house-boats and pleasure boats, but in
+winter sometimes they are hard put to it, and provision
+has to be made by their owners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A swan exercises on me something of the same
+fascination that a camel does; though far be it
+from me to compare the two in grace. They are
+both full of character, and both preserve a strictly
+critical attitude toward the human race. In the
+case of the swan, nature has perhaps dealt unfairly
+with him, for the curious little black cap, at the
+junction of bill and head, technically known as the
+"berry," gives him a fixed expression which he has
+no power to alter, even if he felt beaming with
+good humour. As it is, he is condemned to go
+through life as if he momentarily expected an
+attack upon his dignity and was prepared to repel
+it. When the sun is shining and the swan dips
+his long neck in the water and flings it upon his
+shoulders, the large, glistening drops, running
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_124' name='Page_124'>[124]</a></span>
+together on the oily surface, lie like a necklet of
+diamonds in the hollow of his back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The irises and bur-reeds line the low banks
+above the weir, and a line of short black poplars
+give some shade.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And on by many a level mead,
+</p>
+<p>
+And shadowing bluffs that made the banks,
+</p>
+<p>
+We glided, winding under ranks
+</p>
+<p>
+Of iris and the golden reed.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Tennyson.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+I have said that Hurley is a summer place,
+and so it is; but there is one spring beauty
+which those who know it only in summer
+must for ever miss. On the slopes where the
+heights on the northern side fold into one another
+there is a little pillared temple, and about and
+around it some lavish and generous person has
+planted crocuses in big battalions, and they lie
+there in the sun, royal in purple and gold, and
+quite as rich in tint as those lights shining through
+the stained glass window at Bisham we saw a
+while ago.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Above the next stretch of the river stands the
+great modern palace of Danesfield, which is built
+of chalk, one would imagine a singularly unlasting
+material. Though hidden by trees from directly
+beneath, from a distance it is very noticeable, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_125' name='Page_125'>[125]</a></span>
+the white walls gleam out beneath the red tiles in
+a way that cannot be overlooked. It is well thus
+to have used local material, for local it is, as can
+be seen by the great chalk cliffs that line the river
+side; and the idea is daring and original. The
+interior fittings are worthy of any palace, and no
+pains and cost has been spared. It is a worthy
+object to build a house which shall rank with those
+bygone mansions on which their owners so lovingly
+lavished their thought and time, and which have
+also so frequently disappeared. The name arises
+from the fact of there having been a Danish camp
+in the neighbourhood, and the place is still pointed
+out. After this there is rather a flat bit of meadow
+land, fringed with sedge and many a gay plant,
+growing gallantly in blue and mauve. We pass
+two reedy islands opposite a line of little houses
+called Frogmill, and then we see Medmenham
+Abbey, which looks more imposing than it is,
+being at the best a carefully composed ruin. However,
+sometimes these compositions, if artistically
+done, are worth having, and Medmenham has
+memories behind it. It was once a real abbey,
+founded for Cistercian monks in 1200. But after
+the Dissolution the buildings fell into ruin. Later
+they became the headquarters of the daring and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_126' name='Page_126'>[126]</a></span>
+impious club known as the "Hell Fire" Club, of
+which one of the leading spirits was Sir Francis
+Dashwood, afterwards Lord Le Despencer, the
+same who built the church at West Wycombe,
+only a few miles away as the crow flies. This is
+a church where the pulpit and reading desk
+are armchairs; the latter stands on a chest of
+drawers, which, being pulled out, serve as steps.
+On the tower of the church an immense ball like
+a gigantic football is tethered by chains. This can
+contain twelve people, and the mad lord held meetings
+here with his friends. The motto of his club
+was <i>Fay ce que voudras</i>, and the members went as
+near to devil worship as they dared. Once while
+they were at Medmenham someone let a huge ape
+down the chimney, when the revellers, worked up
+to a frantic pitch of excitement and more than half
+drunk, thought that his Satanic majesty had paid
+them a visit in good earnest. From such orgies
+Medmenham has long been free, and it is now a
+respectable dwelling house with a nice bit of
+cloister over which ivy hangs in folds, and to which
+the word "picturesque" may quite fitly be applied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a ferry over the river at Medmenham,
+and, not far off, the old Abbey Hotel, in which
+numbers of artists stay. Up the green lane is a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_127' name='Page_127'>[127]</a></span>
+curious old house, once the residence of Sir John
+Borlase, whom Charles II. used to visit, riding
+here on horseback, accompanied frequently, so it is
+said, by Nell Gwynne. Standing by the high
+road, which here is not half a mile from the river,
+is a quaint little church with wooden porch and
+shady evergreens, a very model of what a tiny
+village church should be.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_128' name='Page_128'>[128]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+BOULTER'S LOCK AND MAIDENHEAD
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i282" id="i282"></a>
+<img src="images/i-282.jpg" width="332" height="413" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Human beings
+are by nature
+sociable; and to
+state that a crowd
+of well-dressed
+people will be at
+a certain point
+of the river at a
+particular date, is
+to ensure that
+everyone else who
+possibly can will
+be there too&mdash;only
+better dressed. It
+would seem to the ordinary ungregarious bachelor
+that Boulter's Lock, the Sunday after Ascot, would
+be a place to avoid, for there will be the necessity of
+waiting for hours on a river&mdash;grilling in the sun if
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_129' name='Page_129'>[129]</a></span>
+the day be fine, or shivering if the day be cloudy;
+for the English climate never lacks the spice of
+uncertainty, and at this season of the year it is more
+capricious than usual. The middle of June is
+proverbially a time of roses, but it is just as likely
+to be a time for chills, at least so says the
+pessimist. To the optimist and he who "loves his
+fellow-men," Boulter's Lock, on this one day of the
+year, reveals itself to memory as a day of delight
+and flashing colour; he has only to shut his eyes
+to recall a scene as brilliant as a flower garden.
+Here, close to him, lies a long, flat-bottomed punt,
+with gay cushions on which lean two fair girls,
+their faces toned to a pink glow by the sun's rays
+penetrating gently through their rose-pink sunshades.
+Their large flapping hats are tied under
+their chins with huge bows of ribbon as pink as
+their cheeks; their soft, white muslin dresses lie in
+folds and frills and heaps bewildering to contemplate;
+they are exactly, exasperatingly, absurdly
+alike. "How can a woman be such an idiot as
+to duplicate her charms?" the onlooker exclaims
+to himself; but he looks again. Dark eyes dancing
+as merrily as the ripples on the breeze-stirred
+water; chatter and laugh; and babble as soft and
+meaningless as the gurgle of the little tributary
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_130' name='Page_130'>[130]</a></span>
+stream; textures of fabric as delicate as the flowers
+peeping over the grey stone walls from the lock-keeper's
+garden above; dainty arms bare to the
+elbow; Japanese umbrellas jewelled in the sunlight;
+striped awnings, as gay as Joseph's coat, flapping
+softly; the long low outlines of craft of every kind,
+skiff and dingey and canoe, from the smoothly
+gliding little electric launch to the heavy clinker-built
+boat on hire for its tenth season; these items
+make up a scene quite unlike anything else. For
+half a mile below the lock you could step across a
+solid bridge of boats over half the river. Some
+years ago, the homely serge and sailor straw-hat
+were considered the proper river costume; now, the
+straw is worn only by men, whose severe flannels
+show little alteration from year to year, for men
+are much more conservative in sartorial matters
+than women. And every tantalising muslin, lace,
+and flower-decked hat is considered suitable for a
+woman on the river. The more fantastic and
+enormous, the more gauzy and lace-trimmed, the
+better. And, as her grandmother did, the young girl
+dresses in the thinnest of muslins and lawns, wears
+an open neck in the day time, and elbow sleeves.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i285" id="i285"></a>
+<img src="images/i-285.jpg" width="444" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BOULTER'S LOCK, ASCOT SUNDAY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In pushing forward between the open lock-gates
+into the lock, a slender canoe fits into an almost
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_131' name='Page_131'>[131]</a></span>
+impossible space between the electric launch and
+the punt. A heavily weighted boatload, where
+four elderly women are rowed by one heated man,
+falls foul of its neighbour and has to be righted.
+The chatter is silenced for a moment, but rises
+again when the craft are fitted, like the pieces in
+an old fashioned puzzle, inside the green and slimy
+walls, which throw a deep shadow on one side.
+Then the gates are shut, and a wash and gurgle
+of water begins, delightfully cool to hear. A
+nervous girl gives a little shriek and jumps so that
+every boat is set a-rocking, as all are touching.
+Others laugh. It is impossible to upset, for there
+is no room. The whole gently swaying mass rises
+on the breast of the rising water up out of the
+shadow into the sunlight; into the view of the
+waiting crowds on the tow-path. Colours flash out
+once more; an excited little dog rushes yapping
+from stem to stern of his boat, and finally, with a
+vigorous jump, lands on the lock-keeper's garden,
+where there is a profusion of sweet old-fashioned
+flowers, and such roses as grow nowhere but by
+the river-side. Then, to the accompaniment of
+the dog's frantic barks, the massive gates creak
+backward on their hinges, and we ride forward
+into the wide expanse of the sparkling river.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_132' name='Page_132'>[132]</a></span>
+Only a few boats await the opening of the lock
+here, for, at this time of day, more are going
+up than coming down. But behind, away below
+the lock, a chaotic flotilla has once more collected,
+and may have to wait for hours, for it is
+rather like the process of ladling the river up in a
+tablespoon.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i291" id="i291"></a>
+<img src="images/i-291.jpg" width="441" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BELOW BOULTER'S LOCK
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This reach at Maidenhead, is one of the most
+popular on the river. On each side of the wide
+stone bridge half a mile below the lock, Taplow and
+Maidenhead face one another. But though popular
+and easy of access, being on the Great Western
+Railway, which runs quick trains at frequent
+intervals, both stations are a little distance from
+the river. The name Maidenhead is derived from
+Maiden-hithe, or wharf, as a large wharf for wood
+at one time stood near the bridge. The bridge
+itself, though a modern fabric, is of ancient lineage,
+for we know that in 1352 a guild was formed for
+the purpose of keeping it in repair. It may be
+remembered that bridges at that time were considered
+works of charity, and competed with masses
+and alms as a means of doing good posthumously.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Another blissed besines is brigges to make,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  That there the pepul may not passe [<i>die</i>] after great showres,
+</p>
+<p>
+Dole it is to drawe a deed body oute of a lake,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  That was fulled in a fount-stoon, and a felow of ours.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_133' name='Page_133'>[133]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And in <i>Piers Plowman</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Therewith to build hospitals, helping the sick,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or roads that are rotten full rightly repair,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or bridges, when broken, to build up anew.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i297" id="i297"></a>
+<img src="images/i-297.jpg" width="550" height="438" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">MAIDENHEAD
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The main road between London and Bath, a
+well-known coaching road, runs this way, and a
+very good road it is. The railway bridge crosses
+below the road, but it is of brick with wide arches,
+and is by no means unsightly. Between the two
+is the River-side club, where a band plays on the
+smooth green lawn in the season, and the smartest
+of smart costumes are the rule. Near here also
+is Bond's boat-house and a willow-grown islet.
+There are numbers of steps and railings and
+landing stages, all painted white, and these give
+a certain lightness to the scene. Close by the
+bridge are several hotels, of which the oldest
+established is Skindle's, low-lying and creeper-covered,
+on the Taplow side. Boats for hire line the
+banks everywhere, for many cater for the wants of
+the butterfly visitor, out of whom enough must
+be taken in the season to carry the establishments
+on through the winter; and the river visitor is
+essentially a butterfly. Few know the charms of
+the Thames in the winter, when, in an east and west
+stretch, the glowing red ball of the sun sinks
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_134' name='Page_134'>[134]</a></span>
+behind dun banks of mist; when the trees are
+leafless, and the skeleton branches are outlined
+against a pale clear sky; when a touch of frost is
+in the air, and the river glides so stilly that it
+almost seems asleep.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+A bitter day, that early sank
+</p>
+<p>
+Behind a purple frosty bank
+</p>
+<p>
+Of vapour, leaving night forlorn.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Tennyson.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The visitor goes to the river in the summer
+because of its coolness, and though the coolness is
+ofttimes delusive, being in appearance rather than
+reality, lying in the sight of the sparkles and the
+sound of the ripples, yet it is a fine make-believe.
+Such river-side hotels as cater for the season are
+content to lie dormant all the chill long winter,
+until, with the breath of early spring, the celandines
+raise their polished golden faces and the lords and
+ladies stud the hedgerows. Then a few adventurous
+beings come down on the first fine days, like the
+early swallows, a portent that summer is at hand;
+and these lucky people have the river largely to
+themselves, and do not find lovers in every
+attractive backwater; and if they have to row to
+keep themselves warm, they gain an increase of
+vigour that no burning summer sun can give.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The view from Maidenhead Bridge northwards&mdash;for
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_135' name='Page_135'>[135]</a></span>
+here the river runs due south&mdash;is spoilt by the
+gasometers which rise over the willow-covered
+islets. But once past Boulter's Lock, the scenery
+improves with every hundred yards. Close by
+the lock itself is Ray Mead Hotel, where the
+deep carmine-tinted geraniums grow in quantities.
+Sometimes as many as three hundred people are
+supplied with tea at the hotel on a fine summer
+afternoon, while over a thousand pass through the
+lock. Above Boulter's is a secluded backwater
+formed by the stream of a mill, and this is one of
+the pleasantest retreats in the neighbourhood.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+... In my boat I lie
+</p>
+<p>
+Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer heats.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Matthew Arnold.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Above the river, on the east, rise the cliff-like
+heights of Clieveden, wooded to their summits, and
+seen magnificently by reason of the curve at the
+end of the reach, which gives their full sweep at
+one glance. The cliff rises to a height of 140 feet,
+but the thickness of the trees, and their own height
+towering above, make it look much higher. The
+trees are of all kinds, oak and beech, chestnut and
+ash, and many a dark evergreen; while here and
+there a Lombardy poplar shoots up like a straight
+line, and the wild clematis throws its shawls of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_136' name='Page_136'>[136]</a></span>
+greenery from tree to tree, giving the whole the
+appearance of a tropical forest. Seen in early
+spring, when the tender green of the beeches and
+the bursting gummy buds of the horse-chestnut are
+shedding a veil over the fretwork of twig and
+bough, they are glorious enough; but in autumn,
+when orange and russet break out in all directions,
+they are, perhaps, more imposing. River people
+do not, as a rule, see them at their best, for before
+that touch of frost has come which sends a flame
+of crimson over the maples, and heightens the
+orange of the beeches, the fairweather boatsman
+has fled to his fireside.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At one point we catch a glimpse of Clieveden
+itself, standing high and facing downstream. Evelyn
+says in his diary:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood,
+and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, buildings of
+extraordinary expense.... The stande, somewhat like
+Frascati as to its front, and on the platform is a circular
+view to the utmost verge of the horizon, which, with the
+serpenting of the Thames, is admirable.... But the
+land all about wretchedly barren, and producing nothing
+but fern.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The taste of those days differed from ours; now
+we should prefer to see an expanse of ferns to a
+field of potatoes.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_137' name='Page_137'>[137]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first great mansion here was built by
+"Steenie," the Duke of Buckingham, King Charles's
+favourite. He was a villain, even for a time of
+slack morals, and the chief association connected
+with his house is that he brought here a comrade
+in every way suited to him, in the person of the
+Countess of Shrewsbury, who stood by, dressed as
+a page, holding his horse, while he killed her
+husband in a duel. The house was twice burnt
+down; the present one was built about the middle
+of the nineteenth century, and belongs to Mr.
+Astor. A pleasanter memory is that of the poet
+Thomson, whose masque <i>Alfred</i> was acted here in
+1740, on the birthday of Princess Augusta. This
+contained, as a kernel, the song "Rule Britannia,"
+destined to survive long after its husk had been
+forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Opposite Clieveden the ground is low lying,
+and, to use Evelyn's word, the river "serpents" a
+good deal. There are several islands, on one of
+which, called Formosa, there is a house. There
+are several side-streams crossed by footbridges,
+and in one of these is the lock. The main stream
+continues in a great sweep, and is guarded by two
+weirs. The fishing here is very popular, and though
+it belongs to Lord Boston, permission to fish may
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_138' name='Page_138'>[138]</a></span>
+be obtained by writing beforehand. Hedsor Church
+stands well on high ground near; and with its
+bosky foliage and many islets, the river here is not
+a bad place in which to idle away many an hour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hotel at Cookham is right down on the
+water's edge, and from its lawn a charming view is
+gained of the main stream breaking into its many
+channels, with the wooded island of Formosa in
+the middle. All about here is a favourite place
+for anglers, and many a punt is moored across
+stream with its ridiculous chairs on which sit two
+or three solemn elderly men, content to sit, and
+sit, and watch the dull brown water rush beneath
+for hour after hour, without once raising their eyes
+to see the green of the witching trees, or listening
+to the hum of the joyous life around them. To an
+onlooker they appear to be quaffing the flattest
+part of the sport, having missed all its head and
+froth. How different the punt fisher's day from
+that of the man who starts off up-stream, through
+many a low-lying willow-fringed meadow, who
+reaches over to land his fly in the deep brown pool
+into which the stream falls. Punt fishing, like loch
+fishing, must have its fascinations, or few would do
+it, but it lacks all the sparkle expressed in such a
+song as that of Walton's, for instance:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_139' name='Page_139'>[139]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+In a morning, up we rise,
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    Ere Aurora's peeping,
+</p>
+<p>
+Drink a cup to wash our eyes,
+</p>
+<p>
+Leave the sluggard sleeping.
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    Then we go
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    To and fro,
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    With our knacks
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    At our backs,
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    To such streams
+</p>
+<p class="i2">
+    As the Thames,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  If we have the leisure.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The less said about the rhyme the better, but
+this has the swing and lilt of the true feeling!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Cookham Bridge we can see the gaily
+covered lawn of the hotel, where a perfect flotilla
+of craft is anchored, while the owners have tea or
+more cooling drinks; and turning we can view the
+wide expanse of Bourne End, where the races of
+the Upper Thames Sailing Club are held all the
+summer, and where, about the end of June, when
+the great regatta is held, the surface of the water
+is dotted with swan-like boats.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_140' name='Page_140'>[140]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i306" id="i306"></a>
+<img src="images/i-306.jpg" width="550" height="392" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XIII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+WINDSOR AND ETON
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+However disappointed a foreign monarch, on his
+first visit to England, may be with the drab
+hideousness of Buckingham Palace, he cannot
+but confess that in Windsor Castle we have a
+dwelling meet even for the King of England.
+Both architecturally and by reason of its age,
+Windsor is a truly royal palace. Its history is
+linked with that of our kings until its very
+stones proclaim the annals of our country. Ages
+ago, Edward the Confessor took a fancy to this
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_141' name='Page_141'>[141]</a></span>
+quiet place by the Thames, and he gave it to
+his beloved monks of Westminster. William I.
+saw what a splendid shooting lodge might be
+built in the midst of the wild and open country
+abounding in game, and after having first one
+shooting lodge and then another in the neighbourhood,
+he acquired the high outstanding boss or
+knob of chalk on which the castle stands, and
+built thereon a residence for himself. His son,
+Henry I., altered it greatly; and succeeding kings
+and queens have rarely been content to leave it
+without an alteration or addition as their mark.
+Windsor has ever been a favourite with royalty.
+It has held its own while Westminster and Whitehall
+and Greenwich utterly vanished; while the
+Tower and Hampton have ceased to be royal
+dwellings; and it is still pre-eminently the royal
+castle. Certain kings, such as William III., have
+sometimes preferred other places for a while,
+but Windsor has satisfied alike the dignity of
+Edward III. and the homeliness of George III.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i309" id="i309"></a>
+<img src="images/i-309.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WINDSOR CASTLE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The situation is superb. The castle stands high
+above the river, which here curves, so as to show
+off its irregular outlines to the greatest advantage.
+They rise in a series of rough levels to the
+mighty Round Tower, the crown of the whole,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_142' name='Page_142'>[142]</a></span>
+which is massive enough to dominate, but not
+sufficiently high to dwarf the rest. Turrets, battlements,
+and smaller towers serve only to emphasize
+the dignity of this central keep. It was built in
+the time of Edward III., and strangely enough,
+though altered and heightened in that worst period
+of architectural taste, the reign of George IV.,
+it was not spoiled; and even to a child proclaims
+something of the grandeur one naturally associates
+with it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As seen from the bridge the whole of the north
+range can be followed by the eye, from the Prince
+of Wales's Tower, facing the east terrace, to the
+Curfew Tower on the west. Intermediately there
+are the State apartments, and the Norman gateway,
+over which is the Library. These overlook the
+north terrace&mdash;open to the public at all hours
+from sunrise to sunset.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The view from this terrace is very fine, stretching
+away to Maidenhead, and at times, on days of
+cloud and shadow, the light-coloured walls of
+Clieveden stand out suddenly, caught by a passing
+gleam, amid a forest of green trees. We can
+look down on the whole of Eton&mdash;the church
+with its tall spire; the buttresses and pinnacles of
+the chapel standing up white against an indigo
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_143' name='Page_143'>[143]</a></span>
+background; the red and blue roofs piled this way
+and that; and the green playing fields girdled by
+the swift river. It was on the castle terrace that
+George III. used to walk with all his family,
+except the erring eldest, when he took those tiresome
+parades which Miss Burney describes with
+so much life-like detail.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Chapel cannot be seen from the river, as
+it is in the lower ward behind the canons' houses,
+and is not sufficiently high to rise well above them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be of little use to attempt to tell
+stories of Windsor, for its history belongs to the
+history of England and not to the river Thames;
+yet there is one memory which may be noted.
+Young James Stuart of Scotland had been sent
+by his father, Robert III., to France after the
+death of his elder brother, the wild Duke of
+Rothesay, nominally for education, but in reality
+for safe keeping. The boy was captured by
+the English while on the sea and brought as
+a prisoner to England. He was then only about
+ten or twelve years old. He was treated with
+every consideration, and educated so worthily
+that he became afterwards one of the best of
+all the Scottish kings. He was at first in the
+Tower and elsewhere, but when he reached young
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_144' name='Page_144'>[144]</a></span>
+manhood he was brought to Windsor, where he
+had apartments allotted to him. Though he was
+allowed to follow the chase and pursue the amusements
+of his time, he was yet a prisoner, and
+the sad opening stanzas of his great poem, the
+<i>Kingis Quair</i>, speak the melancholy he often
+felt. This poem was composed at Windsor, and
+its pensiveness changes after the day when, looking
+down from his window in the castle, the
+youth saw walking in the garden Joan Beaufort,
+whom he afterwards made his wife:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And therewith cast I down mine eye again,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where as I saw, walking under the tower,
+</p>
+<p>
+The fairest or the freshest young flower
+</p>
+<p>
+That ever I saw methought before that hour.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+His visions further on in the poem must have
+been coloured more or less by what he daily saw
+before him, and we may credit to the Thames the
+flowing lines:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Where in a lusty plain took I my way,
+</p>
+<p>
+Along a river pleasant to behold,
+</p>
+<p>
+Embroidered all with fresh flowers gay,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where, through the gravel, bright as any gold,
+</p>
+<p>
+The crystal water ran so clear and cold.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i317" id="i317"></a>
+<img src="images/i-317.jpg" width="433" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WINDSOR
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Windsor should be seen in sunshine and heat,
+when black shadows set off the towering walls,
+and all the uneven houses and crooked streets
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_145' name='Page_145'>[145]</a></span>
+are pieced in light and shade. Then it is exceedingly
+like a foreign town in its details; and many
+people who travel miles to admire Chinon, and
+others of its class, would do well to visit Windsor
+first.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The town has always been subordinate to the
+castle, for it was the castle that caused the town
+to spring up, as there were always numbers of
+artificers, attendants, grooms, workmen and others
+needed for the service of the Court. In the
+fourteenth century it was reckoned that the
+Court employed an army of 20,000 of such people.
+These would all have to be housed somehow,
+and the nearer the protection of the castle the
+better; hence the town on the slopes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Home Park, in which is the mausoleum,
+borders the river. It is separated by a road from
+the Great Park, made for hunting. Pope's poem
+on "Windsor Forest" is not particularly beautiful;
+perhaps the best descriptive lines are those that
+follow:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades,
+</p>
+<p>
+Thin trees arise that shun each others shades:
+</p>
+<p>
+Here in full light the russet plains extend;
+</p>
+<p>
+There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills ascend.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Windsor Park is introduced by Shakspeare as
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_146' name='Page_146'>[146]</a></span>
+the scene of some of Falstaff's escapades, an
+honour shared by the neat, bright village of
+Datchet, opposite. Datchet is a model village
+grouped about a green, and the houses are softened
+by all the usual creepers and bushes: we see
+roses, jasmine, laurustinus, magnolia, and ampelopsis
+at every turn. Above and below Datchet
+this clean neatness continues.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Victoria and Albert bridges are severe,
+and the weir and the great bow of the channel,
+which is cut by the lock-stream, have no particular
+characteristics. The whole neighbourhood has
+rather the air of holding itself on its best behaviour,
+as though royalty might any moment appear
+upon the scene. As might be expected, the
+scenery is rather like the poetry it inspired. Here
+is Sir John Denham's effusion about Coopers
+Hill:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
+</p>
+<p>
+Where Thames, among the wanton valleys strays:
+</p>
+<p>
+Thames, the most loved of all the Ocean's sons
+</p>
+<p>
+By his old sire, to his embraces runs:
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Like mortal life to meet eternity.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+There is a pretty reach below Old Windsor,
+where willows and poplars are massed effectively.
+It is in places like this, where they grow
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_147' name='Page_147'>[147]</a></span>
+abundantly, that the beautiful tawny colour
+which willows assume in the spring, just before
+bursting into leaf, can be best seen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bells of Ouseley stands at a bend, and with
+its tinted walls and the old elm tree growing close
+to the entrance, is a typical old-English Inn. The
+road to Staines passes by the water's edge, and the
+guide-post is less reticent than guide-posts are
+wont to be, for it tells us this is the "Way to
+Staines, except at high-water."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we pass softly back up the current to Eton,
+we think how often in this reach the incomparable
+Izaak and his friend Sir Henry Wotton fished
+together.
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+I sat down under a willow tree by the water side ...
+for I could there sit quietly, and, looking on the water, see
+some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others
+leaping at flies of several shapes and colours; ...
+looking down the meadows, could see here a boy gathering
+lilies and ladysmocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeys
+and cowslips.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Wotton built a fishing box a mile below the
+college, from which he and Walton often sallied
+forth during the fifteen years he was provost of
+Eton, and to his rod many a "jealous trout that
+low did lie, rose at a well dissembled fly," as he
+himself has left on record.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_148' name='Page_148'>[148]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Ye distant spires, ye antique towers
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  That crown the wat'ry glade,
+</p>
+<p>
+Where grateful Science still adores
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Her Henry's holy shade;
+</p>
+<p>
+And ye, that from the stately brow
+</p>
+<p>
+Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below
+</p>
+<p>
+Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
+</p>
+<p>
+Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among
+</p>
+<p>
+Wanders the hoary Thames along
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  His silver-winding way.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Gray.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In rounding the great sweep of the river below
+the London and South Western railway bridge,
+we catch at once the pinnacles of Eton chapel&mdash;most
+glorious of chapels&mdash;and see the green playing
+fields.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The long tree-covered island of Romney, on
+one side of which lies the lock, ends in a terrible
+"snout," strengthened by "camp-shedding." This
+point is locally known as the "Cobbler," and is a
+source of peril to many an inexperienced boatman.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i325" id="i325"></a>
+<img src="images/i-325.jpg" width="437" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">ETON CHAPEL FROM THE FIELDS
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The bridge over the river can, unfortunately,
+hardly be called a good feature in the landscape&mdash;it
+is as ugly as a railway bridge! Just above it
+is a row of boat-houses, and then follows the
+Brocas, the famous meadow. Above the bridge
+is a tiny islet which serves as an objective in the
+Fourth of June procession of boats. The boats
+come down and round the island, and once more
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_149' name='Page_149'>[149]</a></span>
+returning, pass under the bridge to the lock,
+having made a sort of spiral. Nearly all the
+Eton races are rowed in this strip of the river,
+though, of course, Henley Regatta is the greatest
+event in the boating calendar. A small string of
+islands faces some little public gardens, and away
+northward winds the Great Western Railway
+on a series of small arches which carry it over
+the marshy ground, no doubt at one time under
+water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beyond the line is a small backwater known as
+Cuckoo weir, the bathing place of the lower boys.
+Here the swimming trials take place, when a set
+of trembling pink youngsters stand in a punt
+ready to take a graceful header, or, from sheer
+nervousness, to fall with an ugly flop smack upon
+the water and be disqualified for the time being!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The bathing place of the upper boys, called
+by the dignified title of Athens, is further up in
+the main river, near the curious island on which
+is Windsor racecourse. The river winds giddily
+in and out between the end of this island and
+Upper and Lower Hope, which lie between it
+and Cuckoo weir. A mill stands at the end of the
+long narrow stream that separates the racecourse
+from the mainland, and on the other side of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_150' name='Page_150'>[150]</a></span>
+island is Boveney Lock. The quaint old chapel
+stands amid trees further up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Above the island was once Surley Hall, a
+favourite resort of the Etonians, but it is now
+pulled down, and Monkey Island is the place to
+go to on half-holidays. Monkey Island is a good
+way up, and is the third of a row of islands. The
+little one below it, called Queen's ait, now belongs
+to the Eton boys, who have built a small cottage
+on it. Monkey Island itself is a curious and
+attractive place, except when the launches come
+up from Windsor on Saturdays, bringing hundreds
+of people, who sit about at little tables on the
+green sward under the famous walnut trees, and
+call for refreshments. There is a large pavilion,
+part boat-house, which belongs to the Eton boys,
+where they can get tea served without mingling
+with the townspeople. Near it is a quaint little
+temple. This, as well as the house, now the hotel,
+was built by the third Duke of Marlborough, a
+man of curious taste. The hall in the hotel is
+painted all round with the figures of monkeys
+engaged in various sports and pastimes. There is
+a broad frieze which appears to have been executed
+in water colours on plaster; the ceiling is likewise
+painted, but in rather a different style. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_151' name='Page_151'>[151]</a></span>
+monkeys are a good size, and attract a vast crowd
+of visitors. The pretty verandah round the hotel
+redeems its appearance externally. Inside it has
+at once all the attractions and disadvantages of
+an old house&mdash;low ceilings, very small rooms; but
+on the other hand there are windings and twistings,
+crooked passages and odd corners, that delight
+the heart of those to whom machine-made houses
+are an abomination. The duke's bedroom is shown,
+and is as queerly shaped a room as ever mortal
+man conceived. Monkey Island is being embanked
+with the precious gravel dredged from
+the bed of the Thames, and, though no doubt
+a necessary precaution, as the river insidiously
+breaks off what it can, the operation is not a
+beautiful one. The island is very proud of its
+walnut trees, and well it may be, for they are
+a great change after the ubiquitous willows, and
+their gnarled stems and fine shady leaves are just
+the right element in such a scene as a gay lawn
+covered with summer folk in summer dresses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Monkey Island the little church tower
+of Bray can be seen, but before reaching it Bray
+Lock has to be negotiated, and here are a long
+sinuous osier-covered ait and a mill, making, as
+usual, a convenient backwater.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_152' name='Page_152'>[152]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bray is truly a charming place, and one could
+find it in one's heart to forgive the vicar who
+turned his coat to keep his vicarage. The real
+man lived in the reign of Henry VIII. and
+his successors, and changed his religious practices
+in conformity with those of the sovereign for
+the time being, turning from Roman Catholic to
+Reformed Church, Reformed to Roman Catholic,
+and back once more with ease and pliability. In
+the ballad he is represented as living in the seventeenth
+century, and his gymnastics refer to the
+varying fortunes of the house of Stuart, and the
+Romish tendencies of the later kings of that
+house. Fuller, with his usual quaintness, remarks
+of him that he had seen some martyrs burnt
+at Windsor and "found this fire too hot for
+his tender temper." But one would fain believe
+it was not altogether cowardice, but also a love
+of his delightful village, that made him so amenable.
+The little flint and stone tower of the
+church peeps at the river over a splendid assortment
+of evergreens&mdash;laurels, holm oaks, yews,
+and spruce firs being particularly noticeable&mdash;and
+the old vicarage with this growth of sheltering
+trees and its smooth lawn right down to the
+water's edge, is certainly a place that one would
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_153' name='Page_153'>[153]</a></span>
+think twice about before leaving. The village
+itself is so irregular that, tiny as it is, one may
+get lost in it. There are endless vistas of gable
+ends, of bowed timbers, of pretty porches, and
+worn brick softly embraced by vine or wistaria;
+yet even in Bray, new red brick is making its
+way. One of the most interesting features is the
+almshouses, and if one lands by the hotel, they
+are reached after only a few minutes' walk. The
+exterior is very quaint; large cylindrical yews and
+hollies, like roly-poly puddings on end, stand up in
+stubborn rank before the worn red brick. The
+statue of the founder, of an immaculate whiteness,
+with the glitter of gilt in the coat-of-arms below,
+just lightens the effect. Through an ancient arch
+one passes to the quadrangle, which is filled with
+tiny flower-beds, and surrounded by a low range
+of red brick with dormer windows. At the
+other side is the chapel covered with ivy, and this,
+with the little diamond panes and the brightness
+of the variegated flower-beds, is home-like and cosy.
+Yet it must be confessed that in his well-known
+picture, "The Harbour of Refuge," admittedly
+taken from Bray, Frederick Walker, the artist, has
+greatly improved the scene with artistic licence.
+The raised terrace at the side, the greater width
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_154' name='Page_154'>[154]</a></span>
+of the quadrangle, the smooth green lawn and
+sheltering central tree in his picture, are far more
+harmonious and beautiful than the reality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bray is a very popular haunt with artists and
+boating people. In summer the George Hotel
+cannot take in all its visitors, and beds are hired
+all over the village, consequently, anyone wishing
+to spend some weeks in Bray must make arrangements
+well beforehand. This is not to be
+wondered at, because, as well as its own attractions,
+it is within easy reach of Maidenhead and the
+delights beyond, and its unspoilt quaintness makes
+it ideal to stay in. Long may Bray remain as
+it is, unaltered and a tiny village.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_155' name='Page_155'>[155]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XIV<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+MAGNA CHARTA
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figright"><a name="i333" id="i333"></a>
+<img src="images/i-333.jpg" width="325" height="402" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+<p>
+Magna Charta
+Island is something
+of a shock
+at first sight; it
+is so exceptionally
+well cared for and
+so pretty. One
+pictures a tangle
+of wild trees, a
+mass of rushes,
+osiers perhaps, and
+general grimness.
+The osiers are
+confined to a fraction
+of the island; on the remainder is a prettily-built
+house of a fair size, with the very best sort of
+river-lawn, on which grow various fine and regular
+trees. Many are the evergreens; and the bosky
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_156' name='Page_156'>[156]</a></span>
+holm oak, the dignified stone pine, and the
+flourishing walnut, seen in conjunction with the
+beautifully kept turf and bright flower-beds, are
+altogether unlike one's conception of the place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is true that, though the island has the name
+of it, it is now generally supposed that the actual
+signing of our great charter of liberties took place
+on the mainland. John had delayed, and played
+false, and postponed the issue for long, but he
+knew now that all was up, and he was cornered.
+A truce was declared, and from Windsor he agreed
+to meet his barons and "concede to them the laws
+and liberties which they asked." The fifteenth of
+June was fixed for the day, and Runney Mead, or
+Runnymede, for the place. With the barons were
+almost the whole of the English nobility; with
+John, certain ecclesiastical powers, namely, the
+Archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin, and seven
+bishops, as well as some earls and barons. It is
+quite obvious that the barons could have had no
+idea of the vast consequences of their act. They
+would have been astonished could they have foreseen
+that it would become the basis of the English
+constitution. They merely wanted to bind down
+a particular king who had outraged their liberties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One can hardly imagine a better place for the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_157' name='Page_157'>[157]</a></span>
+assembling of a great body of armed men than
+these meadows by the river. The land is as flat
+as a platform, and sheltered to the south by the
+heights of Cooper's Hill, which rise like the tiers
+in an amphitheatre. The Long Mead, with the
+exception of the road now running across it, must
+have looked very much then as it does now. Runney
+Mead is more altered, because it is shut in by hedges.
+We know not if the day were fine or overcast when
+the great charter was signed; but when the deed was
+done John, in a rage, retired to Windsor. The
+barons remained on the meads for about ten days,
+during which the place must have been like a fair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is very hot on this part of the river on a
+sunny day. The trees growing on the banks are
+all on the north side, and consequently give little
+shade. They border Ankerwyke Park, and grow
+so close to the water that many of their roots are
+in it. The swallows dart to and fro, and clouds of
+gnats dance like thistledown in the air. Near the
+banks grow many flowers. The spotted knotweed
+or persicaria, with its bright flesh-coloured flowers,
+is sometimes in water, sometimes on the land;
+the common forget-me-not can be seen peeping
+up with its bright blue eyes; the pink willow herb
+flourishes; and the yellow iris and the purple
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_158' name='Page_158'>[158]</a></span>
+loosestrife are also to be seen. And when there
+is no wind the scent of the meadow-sweet and
+the dog-roses becomes almost overpowering.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ankerwyke was once a priory. It was appropriated
+by Henry VIII., who is said to have carried
+on the courtship of Anne Boleyn under the mighty
+chestnuts for which it was even then famous:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The tyrant Harry felt love's softening flame,
+</p>
+<p>
+And sighing breathed his Anna Boleyn's name.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+A bit of doggerel just about worthy of the
+occasion!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A more interesting association, though one that
+leads us rather far from the river, is Milton's residence
+at Horton. He lived here with his parents
+for five years after leaving Cambridge, and no
+doubt his rambles over country which would not
+then be hedged in and cut up as it is now, often
+led him in the direction of the river. It was
+this scenery, noted at those deeply impressionable
+years, that he could still see when earthly sight
+was gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Lycidas</i> and <i>Comus</i> were both written in the
+next four or five years, and in
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The willows and the hazel copses green
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+we have a touch of real nature breaking through the
+conventional allusions to vines and wild thyme; also:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_159' name='Page_159'>[159]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
+</p>
+<p>
+Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
+</p>
+<p>
+On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks;
+</p>
+<p>
+Throw hither all your quaint, enamell'd eyes
+</p>
+<p>
+That on the green turf suck the honied showers,
+</p>
+<p>
+And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
+</p>
+<p>
+Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
+</p>
+<p>
+The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
+</p>
+<p>
+The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
+</p>
+<p>
+The glowing violet,
+</p>
+<p>
+The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
+</p>
+<p>
+With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
+</p>
+<p>
+And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
+</p>
+<p>
+Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
+</p>
+<p>
+And daffadillies fill their cups with tears.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Lycidas.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+By the rushy-fringed bank
+</p>
+<p>
+Where grows the willow and the osier dank.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Thus I set my printless feet
+</p>
+<p>
+O'er the cowslip's velvet head
+</p>
+<p>
+That bends not as I tread.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Comus.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Not very far below Ankerwyke, the river Coln
+runs into the Thames near Bell Weir Lock, and
+a little bit above Staines is London Stone, standing
+in a meadow close by the water. It marked the
+former jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London
+over the river, but these rights are now vested
+in the Thames Conservators. Staines does not
+make the most of itself, or sufficiently endeavour to
+veil those unsightlinesses incidental to a town.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_160' name='Page_160'>[160]</a></span>
+The large gasometers opposite London Stone are
+not the only blemishes. Standing on the bridge
+and looking up-stream there are many ugly,
+yellow-brick, manufacturing buildings to be seen;
+while the screen of willows does not hide piles
+of untidy stones, rusty old iron and other uglinesses.
+Even the very passable island in the centre
+does not atone. Down stream things are a little
+better, though the want of architectural beauty in
+the new church by the river and the "plastered-on"
+pinnacles of the parish church are both eyesores.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Staines, however, one may pass rapidly to
+a fascinating corner at Penton Hook.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_161' name='Page_161'>[161]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XV<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+PENTON HOOK
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i339" id="i339"></a>
+<img src="images/i-339.jpg" width="321" height="408" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Penton Hook
+is quite peculiar.
+To a select little
+coterie of people
+it is <i>the</i> place on
+the river, but
+to hundreds of
+others it is not
+known at all. To
+its own manifest
+advantage it is off
+the "hard high
+road," and the
+scorchers and the
+bounders, and the multitude generally, fly by within
+a comparatively short distance, little knowing what
+they have missed. But one or two of the favoured
+few turn down to quiet little Laleham, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_162' name='Page_162'>[162]</a></span>
+wheeling round a corner come right on to the
+tow-path by the river's brink; in a hundred yards
+they are at Penton Hook. But though the Hook
+is very select and highly favoured, that is not to
+say it lacks population, only&mdash;it is a population
+of the right sort. Little camps of charming
+bungalows dot the banks both above and below
+the lock. Some are built on ground leased from
+the Conservancy, some on that of private owners.
+To each man is allotted a strip of ground, with
+so much river frontage, whereon he builds to his
+own taste and fancy a little one-storeyed white-painted
+house, and lays out the tiny garden from
+which his own white steps reach down to the
+water. Think of the joy of it! The leader in
+an important case has been in a stuffy court
+all day, burdened with his wig and gown, seeing
+all the dust and stains of unswept corners of
+human nature; accusing, with upraised finger, the
+brazen witness who has just perjured himself;
+dragging from that yellow-faced man the secret
+he thought buried. Faugh! But the court rises;
+he is away. The motor takes him down in less
+than an hour. Gone are the stifling garments;
+the worn and wicked faces. The dull roar of
+Strand traffic is replaced by the splashing of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_163' name='Page_163'>[163]</a></span>
+water as it bounds over the weir. The freed
+man tumbles into flannels and lies full length
+on the green grass, smoking, with the water
+flowing at his feet, or he dawdles in a boat
+round the Hook, tempting the fish with all the
+decoys he knows. Happy man!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The trees near the bungalows, and those that
+fringe the meadows near, are not pollarded; there
+is space between their tall stems. The short grass,
+gemmed with pink-tipped daisies, can be seen
+everywhere, and there is air, and freshness, and
+openness for everyone. The white paint of the
+bungalows and their neat green or pink roofs,
+the rows of geraniums, roses, and other flowers
+carefully kept and tended, add touches of gaiety
+and brightness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are three weirs, for the river here makes
+the neatest horse-shoe in its whole length, and
+the authorities have cut through the neck of land,
+so that the greater part of the stream goes rioting
+and tumbling in joyous confusion beneath the great
+new weir, provided with a pent-house roof, under
+which it is always cool on the hottest summer day,
+with transparent reflections dancing on the wall
+and a ripple and splash below. The second
+weir, a mere tumbling-weir, is only a few yards
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_164' name='Page_164'>[164]</a></span>
+away. The water does not often leap over it
+unless it is at flood time, when it affords a safety
+outlet. The third and widest is a mixture, half
+sluice gates and half of the tumbling kind. At
+one time there was no weir here, and boats could
+avoid the lock by navigating the Hook, but
+that is now no longer possible. There is one
+advantage in it; it keeps the Hook more secluded.
+The little red water-gauge house is connected
+by wires with Staines, and so to all the rest
+of England. By an automatic arrangement, the
+register shows simultaneously here and at the
+offices of the water company what depth of water
+there is, so that they may know how much they
+can take.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Penton it should be always summer, with
+dog-roses and sweetbriar, with placid red cows
+grazing on the tender grass, with boats tethered
+in the lazy current round the bend of the Hook.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An uncommonly good place for fishing it is,
+this Hook, as the kingfishers have found out, for
+they are yearly increasing, and apparently do not
+mind the gay tide of summer company that
+invades their haunts. Right down on the banks
+near the lock one pair nested this year. No
+steamers churn up the waters and frighten the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_165' name='Page_165'>[165]</a></span>
+fish; only a slow-moving house-boat or two towed
+to position and there left, or those drifting boats
+belonging to young men and maidens who are
+content to drift metaphorically as well as actually.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Abbey river starts away on its own account
+on the far side of the Hook, and begins its short
+course of about a couple of miles, to fall into the
+Thames again at Chertsey. It used to be possible
+to get up it in a boat, but now it is barred.
+However, visitors have nothing to complain of,
+for the meadows around are singularly open to
+them, and the place is not hedged about with
+restrictions as are so many river resorts. Numbers
+of people come down to picnic, and it is no
+uncommon sight to see quite a row of motors
+outside the lock-keeper's house, while footman
+or chauffeur carries across the luncheon hampers
+to what was once a peninsula but is now an
+island. Tradesmen's carts come round too, finding
+in the swallow-colony quite enough demand
+to make it worth their while; and year by year
+the bungalows grow. A whole new piece of
+meadow, hitherto osier bed, is even now going
+to be devoted to them. "Why, I get as many as
+twenty to thirty applications for land every week,"
+says the lock-keeper. It is to be hoped Penton
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_166' name='Page_166'>[166]</a></span>
+Hook will not become over-populated, or the
+delightful freedom from conventionality which
+now characterises it might die away. "Ladies
+who come down here&mdash;why, some of them, they
+never put a hat on their heads the whole time,
+and I was going to say not shoes or stockings
+either!" The place is particularly sought after by
+theatrical people. Miss Ellen Terry still holds
+the bungalow she has had for many years.
+It is surprising how early the season begins; even
+at the end of chilly March a few of the first of
+the swallows appear.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_167' name='Page_167'>[167]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XVI<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+ABOUT CHERTSEY AND WEYBRIDGE
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i345" id="i345"></a>
+<img src="images/i-345.jpg" width="332" height="403" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Between Chertsey
+and Penton
+Hook is Laleham,
+where the tiny ivy-covered
+church is
+too much hidden
+away to be seen
+easily. An old
+red brick moss-grown
+wall is the
+chief object near
+the river, and
+with the bending
+trees and quiet
+fields there is a sense of brooding peace which only
+remains in places off the main roads. Matthew
+Arnold was born at Laleham and is buried in the
+churchyard. His father, Dr. Arnold of Rugby,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_168' name='Page_168'>[168]</a></span>
+came here in 1819, but he left when Matthew was
+only six, to take the head-mastership of Rugby.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Laleham and Chertsey there is some
+open, rather untidy ground on which gypsies
+are wont to camp. It cannot be said that the
+river looks its best above Chertsey. The country
+is too flat and open, and on a summer day one
+is too often scorched. Yet there is always some
+beauty to be found, and it is certainly in open
+spaces like these that we see best reflected
+"heaven's own blue." Away to the west the
+tiny Abbey river flows in past a mill. By
+Chertsey bridge a triumphant victory in regard
+to right-of-way over the Thames Conservancy in
+1902, is recorded on two newly built villas.
+Opposite is the Bridge Hotel, which, with its
+little bay, its Lombardy poplars and green lawn, is
+a pleasant oasis.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Chertsey Abbey, which was of great fame, lay
+between the town and the river. It was founded
+in 666, and some Saxon tiles from the flooring
+may be seen in the British Museum. The
+buildings were destroyed by the Danes, but
+it was re-established in 964 as a Benedictine
+Monastery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing shows more the immense power of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_169' name='Page_169'>[169]</a></span>
+monks in England than these mighty abbeys
+which studded the country. We have come
+across so many, even in our short journey between
+Oxford and London, that the fact cannot escape
+notice; though they probably were more thickly
+set beside the river than elsewhere, because, as
+I have said, flowing water attracted these old
+monks for more than one reason. There is hardly
+anything left of Chertsey Abbey now, yet in its
+prime it was like a small town, giving employment
+to hundreds of people. There are a few ivy-covered
+steps near the back of the church and an
+old bit of wall doubtfully supposed to have been
+part of the boundary; this is near the Abbey
+river. Henry VI. was buried at Chertsey, and
+his funeral is referred to in Shakespeare's play of
+<i>Richard III.</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+... after I have solemnly interr'd
+</p>
+<p>
+At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
+</p>
+<p>
+And wet his grave with my repentant tears.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+So he makes the hypocritical Duke of Gloucester
+speak. Cowley, the poet, lived in Chertsey for
+two years before his death. The house still stands;
+it has an overhanging storey and is covered with
+rough stucco. Charles James Fox was born in
+a house near, and this probably decided him in
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_170' name='Page_170'>[170]</a></span>
+making choice of a residence many years later,
+for he chose St. Anne's Hill, only two miles away,
+which can be seen far and wide around. There
+he settled to indulge in the delightful hobby of
+improving his grounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Chertsey Bridge is an excellent punting
+reach, where the championship punting competition
+is held every year in the beginning of
+August. This is, doubtless, the reason why
+Chertsey is crowded with visitors in the summer,
+when out of all the innumerable lodgings scarcely
+a room is to be had.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The river about Weybridge and Shepperton is
+much more varied than at Chertsey, and to my
+mind variety is a direct element of beauty in
+river scenery. We have passed through flat
+meadows lined with straight ranks of Lombardy
+poplars that might belong to northern France,
+and then suddenly, at Weybridge, we begin
+once more curves and twists and unexpected
+islands and snug corners. There is a ferry across
+the river, and the place seems to get along
+wonderfully well without a bridge. In the
+middle of the stream is a well-kept island which
+belonged to the late Mr. D'Oyly Carte; it is
+hedged about with an exclusive wall, enclosing a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_171' name='Page_171'>[171]</a></span>
+pretty garden. In the centre is a neat white
+house with projecting tiles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In every direction there are numerous boat-building
+establishments. The lock island is large
+and has other buildings on it besides the lock-keeper's
+cottage. It is a favourite camping ground
+in summer, and has rather an untidy appearance.
+The wide-mouthed Wey flows in beside a
+couple of other islands, and is itself a very
+attractive place to explore, winding away through
+meadows and beneath overhanging trees. It is,
+however, not free from locks, though of a somewhat
+simpler kind than those on the Thames.
+Weybridge is a fresh and pleasant place, rapidly
+growing in all directions, and in its gorsy common
+land and masses of pine woods it reminds
+one of the parts of Surrey about Camberley. On
+the green stands the column which once presented
+seven faces to the seven streets in London, called
+after it Seven Dials. Since then it has risen
+in life, having been bought and surmounted with
+a coronet instead of the dial stone; this was in
+honour of the Duchess of York, who died in 1820.
+She lived at Oatlands Park and was very popular.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oatlands Park is the great place of the neighbourhood.
+It was once a hunting ground of King
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_172' name='Page_172'>[172]</a></span>
+Henry VIII., but now belongs to a large residential
+hotel. Nothing remains of the building,
+which was used by many of our English monarchs.
+George IV. entertained here the Emperor of
+Russia, the King of Prussia, and all the princes
+and generals who visited England after Waterloo.
+In 1790 the Duke of York, who is commemorated
+by the column in Waterloo Place, bought and
+rebuilt the house, and still later it was in the
+possession of the Earl of Ellesmere. Remodelled,
+the house still stands as the hotel. A large piece
+of ornamental water in the grounds is almost
+as great an attraction as Virginia Water. Just
+where the park touches the river is the place
+known as Cowey Stakes. It is said that here
+Cæsar crossed the river when in pursuit of
+Cassivelaunus, in 54 <span class='s08'>B.C.</span> The stakes, which are
+no longer to be seen, are supposed to have been
+placed there to obstruct his use of the ford.
+They had been so long under water, that when
+found they were like ebony; they were about
+six feet long and shod with iron. They appear
+to have been too imposing and carefully formed
+to have been put in for the mere purpose of a
+river weir or for fishing; but, on the other hand,
+instead of running with the axis of the river,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_173' name='Page_173'>[173]</a></span>
+as would appear reasonable if they were meant
+to obstruct the passage of men, they were planted
+across it like a weir. They have afforded matter
+for endless discussion among antiquaries.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i353" id="i353"></a>
+<img src="images/i-353.jpg" width="550" height="437" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WALTON BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+What we know is that Cæsar, having landed
+at Pevensey, marched inland and came to the
+Thames at about eighty miles from the sea. The
+river was fordable only at one place, and here
+natives were drawn up to oppose him, and the ford
+fortified with sharp stakes. So the evidence
+certainly seems in favour of this place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Near Cowey Stakes is Walton Bridge, on the
+far side of which is a large pool connected with
+the river by a channel; here are constantly to
+be found punt fishers. Turner painted Walton
+Bridge, and certainly, in some aspects, the place
+is worthy of being painted. The present bridge
+is of brick and iron, but the old one was of oak.
+Walton, like every other place on the Thames,
+depends greatly on the weather. On days when
+the cedars are seen against a vivid blue sky and
+the songs of a thousand birds are heard, when
+the meadows are lined with flowers, it is beautiful.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Now rings the woodland loud and long,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The distance takes a lovelier hue,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And drown'd in yonder living blue
+</p>
+<p>
+The lark becomes a sightless song.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_174' name='Page_174'>[174]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are other days when the whole is
+curiously like a platinotype photograph; when the
+steel-grey water reflects a white sun, and all the
+countless twigs of the trees are seen in one
+feathery mass. All colours seem drawn out of
+the picture, even the green of the grass is turned
+to dun. Light is everything in estimating beauty,
+but it is sometimes difficult to realise quite how
+much one owes to it. We might quote from
+Cowley's <i>Hymn to the Light</i>:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Dost thy bright wood of stars survey,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And all the year dost with thee bring
+</p>
+<p>
+Of thousand flow'ry lights thine own nocturnal spring.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy waken'd head
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Out of the morning's purple bed,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Thy quire of birds about thee play,
+</p>
+<p>
+And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+In Walton Church is a small brass with, <i>inter
+alia</i>, a man riding on a stag's back. The story
+goes that this man, John Selwyn, was an under-keeper
+in Oatlands Park in Queen Elizabeth's
+time, and that when she was present at the
+"chace," he leapt from his own horse's back
+straight on to that of the driven stag, when "he
+not only kept his seat gracefully in spite of every
+effort of the affrighted beast, but, drawing his
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_175' name='Page_175'>[175]</a></span>
+sword, with it guided him toward the Queen,
+and coming near her presence plunged it into
+his throat, so that the animal fell dead at her
+feet."
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i359" id="i359"></a>
+<img src="images/i-359.jpg" width="439" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">SUNBURY
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+In the vestry is a Scolds' or Gossips' bridle,
+designed in the old days of witch-hunting and
+other atrocities to torture poor women.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Admiral Rodney was a native of Walton, and an
+old and quaintly built house which belonged to
+the regicide Bradshaw is still in existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Walton is Sunbury with its long, long
+weirs, and its little houses spread beside the edge
+of the water. But with Hampton we reach
+the Londoner's zone, which is for another chapter.
+At present Halliford and Shepperton, two little
+places opposite Oatlands, are far too pretty to
+be passed by without remark. The Manor House
+at Shepperton has one of the finest lawns on the
+river, which is no small thing. Shepperton is a
+scattered place and lies low; the meadows all
+around are often flooded for miles and miles,
+looking like an inland sea. A tiny river called
+the Exe finds its way into the Thames near
+Halliford. A glimpse of the quaint church of
+Shepperton should not be missed. The tower
+is very lean and narrow; it looks rather as if
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_176' name='Page_176'>[176]</a></span>
+bricks had run short. It was added later than
+the rest, which was built in 1614. Tradition says
+that the previous church was destroyed by a
+Thames flood, though it stood on piles to raise it
+from the marshy ground. The old rectory, with
+its dormer windows and projecting wings, is really
+built of oak, though it has been faced with tiles
+which look like brick. It is about four hundred
+years old, and is one of the most delightful rectory
+houses imaginable. The list of rectors goes back
+to before 1330.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_177' name='Page_177'>[177]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XVII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE LONDONER'S ZONE
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i363" id="i363"></a>
+<img src="images/i-363.jpg" width="322" height="405" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As far as Hampton
+the river may
+be said to lie
+within the zone
+of the Londoner.
+By means of the
+District Railway
+and the London
+and South Western
+Railway he
+can get at any
+part of it, and
+trams are yearly
+stretching out
+further and further, so that he can go above
+ground, if he wishes, all the way to Hampton. At
+Hampton itself, at Richmond and Kew, there are
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_178' name='Page_178'>[178]</a></span>
+large open spaces once the gardens or parks
+belonging to kings, but now open as public
+pleasure grounds, ideal places for the man who has
+a small family to take with him, and whose holiday
+is limited to a day. For those who are free from
+encumbrances, there are always boats to be had in
+abundance, at a much cheaper rate than one would
+have to pay for them at, say, Maidenhead; and the
+scenery itself, though not so fine as some higher
+up, is pleasant and attractive. If the day be wet
+or uncertain there is the palace at Hampton to
+explore; and accommodation for eating and drinking
+is amply supplied by numerous inns and hotels
+clustering round its gates.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gateway to the Palace is imposing, with its
+brick piers and stone heraldic animals, and the long
+low range of buildings on the left side makes a strip
+of bright colour.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="i367" id="i367"></a>
+<img src="images/i-367.jpg" width="550" height="442" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HAMPTON COURT FROM THE RIVER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+The older part of the palace was built by Wolsey,
+but by far the greater part of it, as it now stands, is
+due to William III. Some parts of the entrance
+gateway and the great hall are all that remain
+to speak of Wolsey's inconceivable boldness in
+attempting to build a palace which should outshine
+that of a jealous monarch like Henry VIII.
+Skelton's satire, beginning:
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_179' name='Page_179'>[179]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Why come ye not to courte?
+</p>
+<p>
+To which courte?
+</p>
+<p>
+To the kinge's courte,
+</p>
+<p>
+Or to Hampton Courte?
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+showed what everyone thought, and doubtless
+served to concentrate attention upon Wolsey's
+temerity. The irony of the matter lay in the fact
+that the palace was not seized, but that the unfortunate
+owner was forced to make a present of it to
+the King:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+With turrettes and with toures,
+</p>
+<p>
+With halls and with boures
+</p>
+<p>
+Stretching to the starres,
+</p>
+<p>
+With glass windows and barres;
+</p>
+<p>
+Hanginge about their walles
+</p>
+<p>
+Clothes of gold and palles
+</p>
+<p>
+Fresh as floures in Maye.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Whether he gave the palace as it stood, with its
+"two hundred and four score beds, the furniture of
+most being of silk," is not recorded; but it is probable
+that when he had been wrought up to the
+pitch of terror necessary for overcoming his reluctance
+to part with his beautiful new possession, he
+would give all&mdash;everything&mdash;feeling that so long
+as his life was safe it was all he cared about. As a
+mark of royal favour, Henry allowed him to occupy
+apartments at Richmond, where he was not too
+far off to observe the doings of the monarch in
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_180' name='Page_180'>[180]</a></span>
+his palace. The king was so pleased with his
+new establishment that he formed a mighty park,
+embracing all the land for miles around, including
+East and West Molesey, Cobham, Esher, Byfleet,
+and Thames Ditton, and was sorely aggrieved
+because his loving subjects, whose land and rights
+had thus been confiscated, dared to make an outcry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Edward VI. was born at Hampton. After his
+death Queen Mary came here with her husband
+Philip, and the unhappy couple, one full of sullen
+hate, the other sore and bitter in her loneliness,
+must have strolled in the grounds many a time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For three months King Charles I. was held
+prisoner here while his fate was undecided, and
+when he was removed it was to go up the river to
+Maidenhead, where he said his last farewell to his
+children. Oliver Cromwell, who, though he dared
+not take the name of king, had no dislike to the
+royal privileges, lived at Hampton, and one of his
+daughters was married from the palace. But by
+the time of William III., much of the building
+had fallen into decay. The situation was
+pleasant, and though Henry's park had in great
+part reverted to its rightful owners, there was still
+much open ground around which made the place
+desirable. William had a passion for building, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_181' name='Page_181'>[181]</a></span>
+loved the prim Dutch style, as was natural. The
+maze and the canal, and the long avenues of trees
+in Bushey, are all evidences of his taste. But in
+the palace he attempted to copy Versailles, as he
+had already copied it at Kensington. Poor Wren
+must have been as much perplexed as ever he was
+in his life when told to remodel a Tudor building
+into the copy of one of the Renaissance, and that
+he succeeded at all is greatly to his credit. Two
+out of the five courts which remained of the old
+palace were pulled down, and the state rooms, as
+we now see them, are the work of Wren under
+William's directions. Since then the interest and
+beauty of the interior has been much added to by
+the famous collection of pictures, which attracts at
+least as many visitors as the building does.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Bushey Park adjoins Hampton, and lies so close
+to the river that it forms part of the river scenery.
+Its glory is in its great double line of chestnuts,
+with the broad sweep of green grass lining the
+avenues formed by them. Chestnut Sunday, when
+the trees are in bloom, is a well-known date in the
+Londoner's calendar, and every description of conveyance
+is hired, chartered, or borrowed, to see the
+great sight. Hundreds of people, to whom it is
+one of the great days in the year, walk about or
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_182' name='Page_182'>[182]</a></span>
+eat refreshments beneath the sombre green masses
+which are lightened by a thousand pyramidal
+candles. The central avenue is one mile and forty
+yards in length, and the width of it is fifty-six
+yards. A noble conception, worthy of the little
+man with the wise head. On Hampton Green,
+outside the gates of the palace, Sir Christopher
+Wren passed the last five years of his life, in sight
+of his greatest architectural problem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Molesey Lock, just above the bridge, is a popular
+place in summer. All those who have come down
+to enjoy the fresh air, and who want an excuse for
+doing nothing, stand and watch the boats passing
+through; there is always as great a crowd on the
+tow-path as on the water. A number of islands
+lie above the lock, the largest of which is Tagg's, as
+well known as any island on the river, and much
+patronised by holiday-makers at lunch and tea
+time. In summer a band plays on the lawn twice
+a week. It is opposite the end of the Hurst Park
+Racecourse, patronised by altogether a different type
+of people from those who come to Hampton Court,
+and who can only be said to belong to the river
+accidentally, by reason of the position of the course.
+A wonderful club boat-house of polished wood
+has sprung up of recent years on the Hampton
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_183' name='Page_183'>[183]</a></span>
+side, and above it is Garrick's Villa with portico
+and columns. This the great actor bought in 1754,
+and kept until his death, after which his widow
+lived in it for another forty years. He was visited
+here by all the celebrated men of his time, including
+Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson and Hogarth, and
+here he gave a splendid series of river fêtes. The
+little temple on the bank was built by him as a
+shrine for a statue of Shakespeare, which has now
+been removed. A small public garden on the edge
+of the water makes this a favourite lounging place
+for the people of the neighbourhood. The scenery is
+rather tame, but has that charm always to be found
+in flowing water and green grass, in the absence of
+chimneys and other horrors of man's making.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The church of Hampton village stands up fairly
+high above the water. It is in a most unlovely
+style, but ivy has done something to smooth down
+its defects, which are further toned by distance.
+There is a ferry close by, and as this is the nearest
+point to the station, many of those who arrive by
+train on race-days cross at this point, and the ferrymen
+reap rich harvests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not far beyond this loom up the great earthworks
+and reservoirs of the West Middlesex and
+Grand Junction Water Company, and with that
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_184' name='Page_184'>[184]</a></span>
+the influence of Hampton may be said to cease.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Returning again to the bridge at Hampton, we
+have the river Mole flowing in on the right bank.
+Molesey Regatta takes place every year in July.
+The trees and red brickwork of the palace are on
+the left, and only a short way down is the pretty
+little oasis of Thames Ditton, which somehow seems
+as if it ought to belong to the river much higher
+up, and had fallen here by mistake. The Swan
+Inn is right on the edge of the water. It is proud
+of the fact that Theodore Hook wrote a verse on a
+pane of glass at a time when such things were quite
+legitimate, because the tourist, as we know him,
+had not then come into existence to vulgarise the
+practice. The pane has been broken, but the
+verse is remembered, and the following lines are a
+sample:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The Swan, snug inn, good fare affords
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  As table e'er was put on,
+</p>
+<p>
+And worthier quite of loftier boards,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Its poultry, fish and mutton.
+</p>
+<p>
+And while sound wine mine host supplies,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  With ale of Meux and Tritton,
+</p>
+<p>
+Mine hostess with her bright blue eyes
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Invites to stay at Ditton.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+We wonder how many hostesses since have
+wished the lines had never been written. An old
+inn near by, with overhanging gable end and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_185' name='Page_185'>[185]</a></span>
+clinging wistaria, makes a pretty corner, and in the
+High Street itself there are bits so different from
+the Kingston and Surbiton ideal, that one cannot
+understand how they can be in the same zone with
+them at all. The green lawns of Ditton House
+and Boyle Farm are quite close, and the fine
+island with its willows hides the flatness of the
+further bank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About the end of the eighteenth century this
+part of the river was celebrated for its magnificent
+fêtes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of these, given at Boyle Farm, inspired
+Moore to write a poem which was not published
+until long after:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Lamps of all hues, from walks and bowers,
+</p>
+<p>
+Broke on the eye like kindling flowers
+</p>
+<p>
+Till budding into light each tree
+</p>
+<p>
+Bore its full fruit of brilliancy.
+</p>
+
+<hr /> <!--
+<tb>
+ -->
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+And now along the waters fly
+</p>
+<p>
+Swift gondoles of Venetian breed,
+</p>
+<p>
+With knights, and dames, who calm reclined,
+</p>
+<p>
+Lisp out love sonnets as they glide,
+</p>
+<p>
+Astonishing old Thames to find
+</p>
+<p>
+Such doings on his moral tide.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+The reach is a favourite one for sailing boats.
+Below Long Ditton are the large waterworks of
+the Lambeth Company. On fine Saturdays and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_186' name='Page_186'>[186]</a></span>
+Sundays the Hampton tow-path on the other side
+is generally alive with people. On Raven's Ait is
+the club-house of the Kingston Rowing Club, and
+beside the water runs a well laid out strip of ground
+with bushes and seats, and a good stout hedge to
+keep off the dust from the motor cars which race
+by on the road&mdash;a section of the Ripley Road
+beloved of scorchers. In summer this little public
+garden is bright with flowers, and it is a great
+favourite with the inhabitants of Kingston and
+Surbiton. Before arriving at the bridge there are
+the backs of untidy houses, and generally a great
+medley of barges, laden with hay and bricks and
+coal, lying about by the wharves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Kingston, as we have said elsewhere, can boast
+of one of the oldest bridges over the river. A
+bridge of wood stood here in 1225, when there was
+no other in the whole sweep downward as far as
+London Bridge. The present one is very narrow,
+and its convenience is not increased since a double
+line of tramways has been laid across it. The
+general similarity of position between it and
+Richmond Bridge may be remarked. Both have
+large boat-building establishments near, and both
+are about the same distance from the railway
+bridges which cross below them.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_187' name='Page_187'>[187]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As this is not a guide-book, no attempt is made
+to describe other than picturesque effects and
+ancient survivals such as are likely to attract the
+notice of anyone actually on the river, but an
+exception must be made in favour of Kingston
+Stone, which anyone ought to land to see. It is
+in the market-place, not five minutes from the river,
+and from it&mdash;the King's Stone&mdash;the name of the
+place is derived. It is a shapeless block, mounted
+on a granite base, and round it are inscribed the
+names of seven Saxon kings who were crowned
+here, and a silver penny of each of their reigns has
+been inserted. There seems to be no authentic
+history of this interesting relic, and no definite
+explanation as to why these kings should have been
+here crowned; but a suggestion there is that at the
+date of the first of the coronations Mercia and
+Wessex were joined under one king, and while the
+boundaries of Mercia reached to the Thames on
+the north side, those of Wessex marched with them
+on the south. Kingston was equally accessible to
+both, and as London was at that time in the hands
+of the Danes, and the ford at Kingston the only
+one above London by which the river could be
+safely crossed, the place was chosen accordingly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Teddington Lock was for a long time the lowest
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_188' name='Page_188'>[188]</a></span>
+on the river, but has been supplanted by a Benjamin
+in the shape of a half-tide lock at Richmond. The
+reach about Teddington is in the summer very
+pretty. The banks are dotted with little bungalows,
+bright with blue and white paint and gay
+with flowers. The long smooth lawns of the riverside
+houses stretch down to the water, and the
+Crimson Rambler climbs over many a rustic bridge
+and iron trellis. It is a well-cared for part, and
+holds its own against rivals of greater grandeur.
+There are several islands forming cover where one
+can ship oars and rest, and though landing is in
+most places forbidden, there is no law against a
+boat's drawing inshore beneath the shelter of the
+overhanging trees, amongst which may be noted
+several weeping willows. This bit recalls Moore's:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p class="i3">
+      ... where Thames is seen
+</p>
+<p>
+Gliding between his banks of green,
+</p>
+<p>
+While rival villas on each side
+</p>
+<p>
+Peep from their bowers to win his tide.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Beyond Teddington we are in Twickenham Reach:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Where silver Thames round Twit'nam meads
+</p>
+<p>
+His winding current sweetly leads.
+</p>
+
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Walpole.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+There is a great bend at Twickenham, and in it
+the chimneys of Strawberry Hill may be seen overtopping
+the high evergreen hedge that surrounds it.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_189' name='Page_189'>[189]</a></span>
+The house has been altered considerably since
+Walpole's date, but in its essence it is the house he
+built. He himself describes his view thus:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+Directly before it is an open grove through which you
+see a field, which is bounded by a serpentine wood of all
+kind of trees, and flowering shrubs, and flowers. The
+lawn before the house is situated on the top of a small hill
+from whence to the left you see the town and church of
+Twickenham, encircling a turn of the river, that looks
+exactly like a seaport in miniature. The opposite shore
+is a most delicious meadow, bounded by Richmond Hill,
+which loses itself in the noble woods of the park to the
+end of the prospect on the right, where is another turn of
+the river, and the suburbs of Kingston as luckily placed as
+Kingston is on the left.... You must figure that all
+this is perpetually enlivened by a navigation of boats and
+barges.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+His architecture was a medley of everything that
+could by any possibility be included under the
+heading Gothic, and the result was more curious
+than beautiful, though it became the fashion to
+visit the house. Walpole bemoaned the crowds
+aloud, but secretly delighted in them. He published
+a description of the house, in the beginning
+of which he says he trusts it will be a lesson in
+taste to all who see it! An example of the suave
+self-belief of an egotist. At Twickenham there is
+another fantastic building called Pope's Villa. This
+can be seen much better from the river than Strawberry
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_190' name='Page_190'>[190]</a></span>
+Hill can, and it is an affected piece of architecture.
+It has been described as "a combination
+of an Elizabethan half-timber house and a Stuart
+Renaissance, with the addition of Dutch and Swiss,
+Italian and Chinese features." This is not the
+house occupied by Pope, nor is it even exactly on
+the same site as his. In front of it is a group of
+weeping willows, a kind of tree which shows to
+particular advantage by the water-side. Pope
+himself is said to have been the first to introduce
+it into England, having found some sticks of it
+in a bundle sent to him from Spain by the Countess
+of Suffolk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Pope lived at Twickenham from 1719 to
+1744, and produced here most of his important
+works, including the last books of his <i>Odyssey</i>,
+the <i>Dunciad</i> and the famous <i>Essay on Man</i>.
+He was here visited by Gay and Swift, and
+many another contemporary whose name is still
+held in estimation. He laid out his grounds in
+a decorative way, and made a curious underground
+grotto, which lies away from the water,
+on the other side of the road. Among the
+celebrated men who have, at one time or
+another, lived at Twickenham are numbered
+Henry Fielding, Dr. Donne, Sir Godfrey Kneller,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_191' name='Page_191'>[191]</a></span>
+Tennyson, and Turner. The last-named was very
+fond of fishing, and used to fish a good deal in
+this part of the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a little esplanade at Twickenham, shaded
+by small horse-chestnuts, and in front lies the
+famous Eel-pie Island, which vies with Tagg's in
+summer popularity. The hotel has a pleasant
+garden, but the rest of the island is, it must be
+confessed, rather untidy, with several places for
+building motor launches and many boat-houses.
+At the small wharf opposite the church there are
+nearly always barges unloading bricks or sand and
+gravel. Yet the place has an air of dignity, perhaps
+given to it by the old Perpendicular stone tower of
+the church, so incongruously welded on to a red-brick
+pedimented Georgian building. The architect
+was the same who built St. George's, Hanover
+Square; but, as Sir Godfrey Kneller was churchwarden,
+one might have expected something in
+better taste. Pope is buried inside, and a flat slab
+with his initial letter on it now serves as a base for
+several pews. Not far from the church is York
+House, and with Orleans and Ham House on the
+other side of the river this is a notable group. In
+the great gardens of Orleans House grow splendid
+cedars, stone pines, and other evergreens. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_192' name='Page_192'>[192]</a></span>
+little Duke of Gloucester, the only child who
+survived babyhood out of Queen Anne's enormous
+family, was brought here for his health in 1694.
+Six years later this quaint child, with a rickety
+body and an enormous head, died of small-pox at
+the age of eleven. The house was afterwards
+rebuilt. To it in 1800 came Louis Philippe, then
+Duc d'Orleans, and his two brothers. After his
+brief summer of prosperity in France, he returned
+to England as an exile in 1848; that he had a
+warm remembrance of the house is shown by his
+then purchasing it. He did not, however, live
+here himself, but placed his son, the Duc d'Aumale,
+in it, and a colony of royal refugees settled round.
+At Mount Lebanon, not far off, was the Prince de
+Joinville; and the Duc d'Aumale, having bought
+York House, gave it to his nephew the Comte de
+Paris, who lived there for six or seven years. Queen
+Anne was born in York House&mdash;it had been given
+to her mother's father, Lord Clarendon&mdash;and with
+her elder sister she spent her earliest years at
+Twickenham. All these notable houses and dignified
+memories are enough to account for the air of
+sober gravity never wholly absent from the river at
+Twickenham even on the brightest days; and the
+rows of Lombardy poplars, the magnificent cedars,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_193' name='Page_193'>[193]</a></span>
+and the fine foliage of the other trees enhance
+the impression. Ham House, on the other side,
+was built in 1611, it is said for Prince Henry,
+James I.'s eldest son. It is screened from the
+water by a row of tall trees. Around it grow
+Scotch firs and holm oaks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have not long left Twickenham before we
+see the little oblong island about which there was
+so much contention because it formed an item in
+the famous Marble Hill view, seen from the heights
+of Richmond Park. The London County Council
+are now owners of the Marble Hill estate, and
+have made it into a public park. It lies on the
+Twickenham side. The house was built by
+George II. for the Countess of Suffolk. Gay,
+Pope, and Swift all took an interest in the building,
+and voiced their opinions as to the style and the
+laying out of the grounds. A suite of rooms in
+the house was afterwards set aside for Gay, who
+was a great favourite with the countess.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The other side of the river is open, and it must
+be admitted that on a sunny day this bit is a stiff
+pull if one is unfortunate enough to be going
+against the current. It is often to be described
+by the word "glaring," yet the fine scimitar-like
+sweep of the tree-crowned heights above, capped
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_194' name='Page_194'>[194]</a></span>
+by the huge mass of the Star and Garter Hotel,
+toned to unoffending mediocrity of colour, is worth
+seeing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Richmond, like nearly all the other places on
+the river, has an atmosphere of its own, difficult
+to put into words. It is less flippant than Kingston,
+and has not a tinge of the gravity of
+Twickenham. The houses rise high and are
+irregular; those in the main street recede from
+the water as they leave the bridge, and between
+them and the stream are innumerable others, some
+with gardens, some overshadowed by trees. Weeping
+willows, Scotch firs, and ivy-covered trunks
+abound, and the place is the perfection of a
+residential quarter. There is enough oldness and
+irregularity to avoid stiffness, enough modernity
+to ensure cleanliness. The bridge has a peculiarly
+individual curve&mdash;a real humpback&mdash;and its stone
+balustrade is very fine. At the southern end, far
+too many new red-brick flats are springing up,
+alas! but on the north or east, where lies old
+Richmond, they are not visible to any appreciable
+extent. The scene below the bridge is distinctly
+pretty. Large boat-building yards, as at Kingston,
+occupy the foreground, and the warm cinnamons
+and ochres of newly-varnished boats are generally
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_195' name='Page_195'>[195]</a></span>
+to be seen, as well as the more crude and garishly
+painted craft. The islands are tree-covered, and
+are well placed in the stream. Yet one may note
+that, popular as Richmond is, it is not flooded in
+the summer time with such crowds of boating
+visitors as Hampton. There are more large craft
+about, and boating people do not care for that.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What remains of Richmond Palace must be
+sought below the bridge, for it will not be seen
+without a little effort. The old palace stood right
+on the margin of the water, and an engraving of
+it is still extant, showing a pinnacled and many
+chimneyed building. The angular towers are
+capped by turrets like those of the old palace at
+Greenwich. Henry I. was the first English king
+to live here, but until Edward III.'s time it was
+hardly a recognised royal palace. It fell before
+the hand of Richard II., who in a fit of frenzy at
+the death of his wife, which occurred here, ordered
+its destruction. Henry V. restored it, but it was
+burnt down in the end of the fifteenth century,
+and afterwards rebuilt by Henry VII., who changed
+its name from Sheen to Richmond, and who himself
+died there. The old Tudor gateway of his
+time remains still. It is said, but with doubtful
+accuracy, that the Countess of Nottingham died
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_196' name='Page_196'>[196]</a></span>
+in the room over the gateway, after having
+confessed to Elizabeth her duplicity about the
+Earl of Essex and the ring he had confided to her
+charge. We have many records of Richmond
+from the time of the miserable Katherine of
+Arragon&mdash;widow of one boy prince, but not yet
+affianced to the other, a foreigner in a strange
+land, bitterly hating her surroundings&mdash;to the time
+of Charles I., who made the great park and hunted
+in it. A large Carthusian monastery stood near
+the palace. Perkin Warbeck found an asylum in
+the monastery, and in 1550 Robert Dudley was
+here married to Amy Robsart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a half-tide lock at Richmond, with a
+footbridge. This is at present the lowest lock on
+the river, though there is some talk of making
+a similar one at Wandsworth. It is quite different
+in construction from the usual kind. It has three
+great sluices, each weighing thirty-two tons, and
+when the tide brings up the water, so that it is
+equal with that above&mdash;that is to say, at half-tide&mdash;the
+sluices are raised by the addition of a small
+weight to the massive pendules by which they are
+exactly balanced, and the water is allowed free way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All along this stretch of the river there is on
+one side a fine row of shady trees growing to a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_197' name='Page_197'>[197]</a></span>
+great height. Beyond the raised footpath is the
+old Deer Forest, on which stands Kew Observatory,
+and a minor stream, which afterwards forms
+a moat to Kew Gardens, runs along merrily.
+Isleworth is finely placed at a bend of the river,
+and though it is a manufacturing place, it is not
+so bad as Brentford. The large willow-covered
+ait in front affords occupation to the osier gatherers.
+The church is ugly; it is placed very like that at
+Hampton, and, like Hampton also, its ugliness is
+mitigated by a covering of ivy. The tower, as
+so frequently happens, is much older than the rest.
+Was it that church towers were built more solidly
+than the naves, or that the naves would have stood
+equally well had they been allowed to remain?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we come to the great park surrounding
+Syon House (Duke of Northumberland), a park
+fringed with marshy ground, where reeds and
+rushes flourish, and which is overflowed at every
+flood. Crows consider it a delightful place, if
+their perpetual presence may be taken to indicate
+opinion. A great clump of cedars stands between
+the house and the river, but we have to go
+considerably further on before the severe line of
+frontage, with its ground floor arcade and battlemented
+parapet, can be seen at full length. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_198' name='Page_198'>[198]</a></span>
+astonished lion stands clear up against the sky, as
+he did of old at Northumberland House, over the
+site of which now flows a ceaseless stream of traffic.
+Long years ago there stood here at Isleworth a
+convent for nuns. This was suppressed at the
+Dissolution. Katherine Howard was imprisoned
+in Syon House until three days before her execution,
+and only five years later the corpse of her
+murderer, the tyrant Henry, stopped here on its
+way to Windsor. Edward VI. granted the place
+to Lord-Protector Somerset, who, with his usual
+mania for building, began to reconstruct it on
+a much larger scale; but before he had got farther
+than the mere shell of his design, he suffered
+disgrace, and Syon House passed to the Duke of
+Northumberland. Here came Lady Jane Grey,
+timid and doubting, to receive the offer of the
+crown, and from here she started on her last sad
+journey to the Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Queen Mary naturally tried to re-establish the
+nuns, but found it difficult, as some had died and
+others had married! Fuller's comment is worth
+quoting:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+It was some difficulty to stock it with such as had been
+veiled before, it being now thirty years since the Dissolution,
+in which time most of the elder nuns were in their graves,
+and the younger in the arms of their husbands, as afterwards
+embracing a married life.
+</p>
+</div>
+<p>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_199' name='Page_199'>[199]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In James I.'s reign Syon House was in the hands
+of the Earl of Northumberland, who also fell under
+his sovereign's displeasure, but was allowed to
+return here to die. Under his successor, the tenth
+earl, Inigo Jones was employed to alter the house;
+but the architect of the present building was Adam
+(1728-92).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The place is often very quiet, and the hovering
+crows, and perhaps a few men in boats grubbing
+for sand and gravel from the river-bed with
+long-handled scoops, have it all to themselves.
+It is not much frequented because just below
+comes Brentford, with all its ugliness, a sore blot
+on the river. Nevertheless, on the Surrey side,
+to counterbalance it, we have the famous Kew
+Gardens. The very varied trees that grow here
+can be well seen, for the parapet of the wall is
+low, the Gardens being sufficiently protected by
+the moat. Further on, when this comes to an end,
+the wall is heightened, and only the tops of the
+elms and ashes and horse-chestnuts peep over.
+Presently a new object comes into view&mdash;a
+"palace," in that it was the dwelling-place of
+royalty; but anything less like a palace surely
+never was seen. A stiff, square red-brick house,
+where Miss Burney served her "sweet queen,"
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_200' name='Page_200'>[200]</a></span>
+and the old king cried "What, what, what?" a
+hundred times a day, and the overflowing quiverful
+of their Royal Highnesses quarrelled and played
+and grew up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Very few people realise what a large basin there
+is on the river Brent, and what an amount of
+business is carried on here. From the river, one's
+chief reflection is thankfulness that the trees on
+the large islands have grown so well that they form
+a screen for the soap factories, the cement works,
+the breweries, etc., which constitute the industries
+of Brentford.
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Brentford, tedious town,
+</p>
+<p>
+For dirty streets and white-legged chickens known,
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+says Gay. The dirty streets are still there, with
+the confusion in their narrow limits worse confounded
+by the passing of tramcars, which, over
+the mile along which Brentford spreads itself, take
+double the time spent on any other bit of equal
+distance on their route. Most people have a hazy
+notion about two kings at Brentford; this is one
+of those curious examples of the persistence of an
+unimportant detail. The allusion was first made
+in a play called <i>The Rehearsal</i>, written by the
+Duke of Buckingham, and Thackeray's ballad on
+the same subject carried it a step further. That
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_201' name='Page_201'>[201]</a></span>
+there was a battle at Brentford one learns in the
+history books. It was when the Parliamentarians,
+who had rested in the town all night, were surprised
+by Prince Rupert, under the cover of a thick mist,
+and completely routed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All along the Kew side, up to the bridge, are
+tea-gardens sandwiched between boat-houses; and
+the new bridge made of granite, with its branching
+lamps and royal arms, is really an imposing object.
+Above and below the bridge the character of the
+river is singularly different. Above, as we have
+seen, are the mudflats, and wharves, and chimneys,
+not to omit water towers and gasometers; and
+below is a bit of Chiswick, built along by the
+waterside, a queer little irregular row of red-brick
+houses and cottages, near which are fastened the
+boats of men who live by fishing; it is a little
+riverside place of the old sort. There are meadows,
+called Duke's Meadows, opposite Mortlake; these
+afford a fine vantage-ground for spectators who
+come to see the great Boat Race.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The hour of the Boat Race varies according
+to the tide, for the race is rowed at the "top of
+the tide"&mdash;when it is at its fullest. If the hour
+be an easy one&mdash;about mid-day&mdash;and the weather
+is promising, and especially if the reports of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_202' name='Page_202'>[202]</a></span>
+prowess of the crews give reason to believe the
+race will be a close one, then the crowd is very
+large indeed. Some prefer to watch the start;
+some enthusiasts keep up with the boats on
+water the whole way; but a great majority there
+are who want to see the last effort between
+Hammersmith and Barnes Bridges, for it is almost
+a certainty that the crew leading at Barnes Bridge
+will be the winner. Almost, but not quite; for
+there was an occasion when, by a sudden spurt, the
+positions of the boats were reversed, and Cambridge,
+which had been behind, won the race. The road
+along by Mortlake is lined with crowds; every
+window is filled, and all available roofs. On the
+railway bridge are closely-packed ranks of people,
+brought there and deposited by trains, which afterwards
+decorously withdraw and wait to pick them
+up again. The price of this first-rate position is
+included in the fares. Chiswick meadows afford
+space for many more persons, who usually pay
+a shilling a head to the land-holders. This is a
+very favourite position, because the grassy slopes
+form such a pleasant seat while the inevitable
+waiting is gone through.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the river itself lie several steamers packed
+with passengers, and also various small boats.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_203' name='Page_203'>[203]</a></span>
+Then down comes the launch of the Thames
+Conservators to clear the course. The long strings
+of barges, which have been taking advantage of
+the flowing tide to make their way up-stream,
+are seen no more. A gun goes off, and then, an
+extraordinarily short time after, a murmur begins
+among the crowds on the Mortlake side. It grows
+and grows and swells along the Chiswick shore, as
+first one boat creeps round the corner, and then
+the other. "Cambridge wins; Cambridge, Cambridge!"
+"Row up, Oxford!"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, perhaps&mdash;usually&mdash;it is seen that one boat
+is leading by so many lengths as to make it impossible
+for the other to catch up. The leading boat
+goes ahead with a straight, splendid swing into clear
+water. The losing one, getting into its opponent's
+wash, rocks as it labours on, its crew lose heart, and
+the distance widens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Close behind are the umpire's launch and a
+dozen others gliding along, keeping just behind
+the backward crew. And when all have passed,
+the river, so calm before, is churned up into miniature
+waves that wash and beat on the banks.
+Presently the umpire's boat is seen coming swiftly
+back, bearing the winning flag at the bows over
+the other.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_204' name='Page_204'>[204]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The trains move slowly forward to pick up the
+passengers; bicycles, motors, and carriages begin
+to move off; streams of people pour down every
+road; and all is over for another year.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief memory of Chiswick is that of Hogarth,
+who is buried in the churchyard close by the water.
+The house in which he lived is still standing, and
+is a few minutes' walk from the church. Hogarth
+was here for about three years, though when he
+left to go to Leicester Square he did not sell the
+house, and his widow lived in it after his death.
+For two years Pope also lived in Chiswick; and
+in Chiswick House, which lies away from the river
+on the other side of the fields, two great men,
+Charles James Fox and George Canning, died in
+the same room, in 1806 and 1827 respectively.
+And in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Mortlake
+is the massive sarcophagus&mdash;in the form of an
+Arab tent&mdash;beneath which lies the dust of the
+great traveller, Sir Richard Burton, and his wife.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_205' name='Page_205'>[205]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XVIII<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+THE RIVER AT LONDON
+</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><a name="i395" id="i395"></a>
+<img src="images/i-395.jpg" width="328" height="409" alt="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>
+There is a subtle
+difference in the
+river above and
+below Hammersmith:
+above, it
+is a stream of
+pleasure&mdash;below,
+it is something
+less beautiful, but
+grander, more
+crowded with
+memories, more
+important.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though pleasure
+boats are to be seen in quantities any summer
+evening about Putney; though market gardens
+still border the banks at Fulham; yet the river
+is for the greater part lined with wharves and
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_206' name='Page_206'>[206]</a></span>
+piers and embankments. It is no wild thing
+running loose, but a strong worker full of
+earnest purpose. It is the great river without
+which there would have been no London, the
+river which bears the largest trade the world has
+ever known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unfortunately, the habit of using the river at
+London as a highway was lost some time in the
+eighteenth century and has not yet been recovered,
+notwithstanding the gallant attempt of the London
+County Council to educate the people to it. At
+one time the river was used for every sort of
+traffic: tilt boats, covered with an awning, ran up
+and down like omnibuses and charged sixpence a
+passenger; and every man of importance kept his
+private barge, for the smoothly gliding waters
+made an infinitely preferable route to the vile
+roads. At every set of stairs&mdash;and the stairs
+were frequent&mdash;numberless wherries awaited hire.
+In the sixteenth century there were two thousand
+on the water, and it was reckoned that nine
+thousand watermen earned their living by transporting
+people up and down or from shore to
+shore. When it is objected that these men were a
+pest and a nuisance, so that we are well rid of them,
+that their language was unspeakable and their
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_207' name='Page_207'>[207]</a></span>
+manners filthy, it may be replied, <i>autres temps
+autres mœurs</i>, for there are a few watermen still
+to be had at Westminster, at the Tower, and
+at most of the river stairs, and they are civil
+and obliging, only, alas, the public rarely patronises
+them. Occasionally, an uncommonly adventurous
+person, probably a visitor staying in London,
+penetrates to the haunt of the watermen, and,
+upon inquiry, he finds a respectable man, duly
+licensed like a cabman, liable to be reported for
+rudeness or misconduct, strictly limited by law
+as to the fees he may demand, and ready to add
+greatly to the pleasure of the trip by his genial,
+shrewd humour and his keen observation; qualities
+found frequently in men whose business is upon
+great waters.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i399" id="i399"></a>
+<img src="images/i-399.jpg" width="550" height="447" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">BEYOND HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Without counting the railways, fourteen bridges
+now span the Thames from Hammersmith downward,
+and even fourteen we sometimes find
+inadequate to our needs in this hurrying life. Not
+until the middle of the eighteenth century was
+the historic London Bridge backed up by a second.
+Before that time, all men crossed by boat, or by
+the ferry at Westminster, or even by the ford
+there, a feat which the embanking of the river
+has long rendered impossible.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_208' name='Page_208'>[208]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We can see it, this great river of ours, as in
+a vision, gradually emerging from its primeval
+wilderness. First it spread widely between the
+rising ground on each side, a vast area of lagoons,
+flooded at high tide, and at low tide a swampy
+place full of half-submerged islets. Then one or
+two small settlements for trade were planted on
+its banks, first at Westminster, and others about
+the site of Cannon Street Station, where the
+Walbrook leapt to meet the larger current. There
+was a gradual extension of houses along the
+brink. At last an attempt was made to bridge
+the river over, probably by a wooden bridge.
+This succeeded, and when the bridge had stood
+for some time it was replaced by another in
+the twelfth century. This was built and rebuilt,
+as the turbulent river, feeling the erection of
+earthworks to curtail its flood, fretted to be free,
+and rushed seaward with force, tearing down the
+obstruction offered by this quaint old London
+Bridge with its double line of houses. Many a
+picture of this bridge still remains. It was a
+fascinating, a wonderful structure. Numberless
+children have yearned to have lived there, high
+above the flood. What delight to look out from
+one's nursery window and see the grey-green
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_209' name='Page_209'>[209]</a></span>
+water hastening past. To see it mysteriously
+stop as if by some command from on High, then
+slowly turn and race inward again. Marvellous
+feat! Miraculous bridge! There was a beautiful
+chapel, a veritable gem of work, upon this bridge.
+There was a house like a puzzle-house, put
+together with pegs, without an iron nail in it.
+There were gateways at each end, and on the
+gateways were the grisly remains of the heads of
+men and women who had been executed. There
+were shops on each side of the road where ribbons
+and laces and other haberdashery might be bought
+at will.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i405" id="i405"></a>
+<img src="images/i-405.jpg" width="550" height="434" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE CUSTOM HOUSE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+There were gaps between the houses, where
+one could escape for a moment from the lumbering,
+creaking, groaning traffic pent up in the
+narrow, mud-splashed roadway, and see the water
+itself, and see how the houses were built out
+over it, resting on nothing. Another miracle!
+A mighty tome might be written about Old
+London Bridge; of all the relics of a past London,
+it is the one I should like most to have seen.
+Mills there were on this bridge, to which the
+people could bring their corn to be ground by the
+force of the water. Waterworks there were, too,
+and the bridge itself contained a drawbridge to
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_210' name='Page_210'>[210]</a></span>
+protect London against invasion, for, as there was
+none other crossing, an enemy prevented here
+might well be held in check altogether.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next to London Bridge, the oldest bridge across
+the river was at Kingston, and it is on record that
+in 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt, finding London
+Bridge closed against him, marched all the way
+to Kingston in order to cross, but on arrival
+there, found that he had been anticipated, and
+that the bridge was broken down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The present London Bridge has been recently
+widened. At one end of it rises the white tower
+of St. Magnus, a Danish saint, and behind it is
+the pointing finger of the Monument, while down
+the river are the market of Billingsgate, the quay
+of the Custom House, and beyond, rising tall and
+ghostly, close to the Tower itself, the Tower Bridge,
+the latest addition to the list.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the south side of London Bridge, over the
+houses peep the pinnacles of St. Saviour's tower,
+Southwark. Anciently, it was called St. Mary
+Overies, and was once a priory, one of the most
+ancient houses in London. From this there ran
+a ferry, which was in use long after the bridge
+was built, for the narrowness of the street and the
+continual blocks made a passage by the bridge a
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_211' name='Page_211'>[211]</a></span>
+process of time. Gower, the poet, was a benefactor
+to the priory, and is buried in the church.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i411" id="i411"></a>
+<img src="images/i-411.jpg" width="550" height="451" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">DUTCH BARGES NEAR THE TOWER
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As the Tower Bridge can swing open, ships of
+all sizes can get up as far as London Bridge, when
+the tide allows them sufficient water-way, and
+a busy scene, watched by a never-failing crowd of
+idlers, is always to be witnessed in the reach
+below. Ships there are of all shapes and sizes,
+but mostly hideous, made for merchandise and
+not for show. Many of them are iron, and
+run between eight and twelve hundred tons.
+They come from Hamburg, Hull, Newcastle,
+Holland, and many another port. There, out in
+the river, is a dredger working with a hideous grinding
+noise, and beyond it are two or three brilliantly
+painted green and red boats with great wooden
+flaps, or lee boards, on their sides. They are
+Dutch eel boats, and are allowed to lie in the river
+free from dues, if they keep always in the same
+place. It is a survival of an ancient custom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we pass through under London Bridge, and
+come out on the other side, we can see the grey
+river with its bustling craft, framed like a series
+of pictures in the wide arches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of the oldest theatres in London stood
+on the part called Bankside, about Southwark
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_212' name='Page_212'>[212]</a></span>
+Bridge; at present the view is dingy and uninteresting.
+The Bishop of Winchester's palace once
+adjoined Bankside, as that of the Archbishop of
+Canterbury, at Lambeth, still stands near Westminster
+Bridge; but it fell into ruins and the
+bishops removed to Chelsea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is impossible to enumerate the palaces and
+fine houses that once stood along Thames Street,
+which, in the fourteenth century, was the most
+fashionable street in London. The part of the
+foreshore now occupied by wharves and great
+warehouses&mdash;where cranes swing and lighters await
+their loads all day long, and every working day&mdash;has
+all been reclaimed from the river. Once it
+was covered at every returning tide, but strong
+piles were driven into the mud, and on this
+unpromising spot houses began to rise and débris
+accumulated, until firm ground was made, and
+this became one side of a busy street.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the up-side of Cannon Street, close to the
+cavernous jaws of the station, is a wharf marked
+in white letters, "Walbrook Wharf." This is as
+near as we can get to the first site of London,
+where the Briton made his modest lake-fort,
+Llyn-din, and afterwards the Romans pitched
+their strong citadel.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_213' name='Page_213'>[213]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i417" id="i417"></a>
+<img src="images/i-417.jpg" width="440" height="550" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE TOWER OF ST. MAGNUS
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Queenhithe was given by King John to his
+mother, Queen Eleanor. Hence arose the name.
+It was no trifling gift, for this was the most
+important dock on the Thames at that time, and
+dues were collected from all the ships unlading
+here. Now it is a small area in which the water
+laps at rotting lichened posts as it slowly uncovers
+and re-covers the slimy mud.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole of this district lying north of the
+Thames is the oldest part of our ancient city,
+and it is thick with memories. Down the crooked
+streets Spenser came as a boy from his home
+beyond the city ditch to his school of the Merchant
+Taylors in Dowgate. Here a fair-haired gentle
+lad, called Chaucer, loitered many a time, for his
+father's house was in Thames Street.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not far from Puddle dock stood Baynard's
+Castle with its high buttressed walls. In it
+Edward IV. was proclaimed, and in it, also,
+Richard III. made a feint of refusing the crown
+belonging to his imprisoned nephew. Tower
+Royal, Montfichet, and many another glorious
+building, have gone utterly, so that their sites
+can be fixed only approximately. The river Fleet,
+up which large ships could ply once, flowed into
+the Thames where is now Blackfriars Bridge. By
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_214' name='Page_214'>[214]</a></span>
+its banks the great religious houses of the Black
+and White Friars rose, and the boundary cliff
+hewed by its current may still be traced in the
+steep rise up Ludgate Hill, which tries the patient
+omnibus horses day by day. Over all, as we
+draw further up the river, towers the great dome
+of St. Paul's.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Surrey side of the Thames continues
+unlovely&mdash;a medley of browns and greys, tall
+chimneys and tumble-down sheds; it needs the
+veil which the atmosphere of London mercifully
+throws over it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The railway bridge and Blackfriars are so close
+together, they almost touch. As we pass underneath
+there is a hollow reverberation, like the
+beat of the surf in a cave on the shore. Just
+above the bridge is anchored the <i>Buzzard</i>, the
+Naval Volunteer training ship.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i423" id="i423"></a>
+<img src="images/i-423.jpg" width="550" height="443" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">ST. PAUL'S
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Along the northern side now begins the
+Embankment, with its solid granite walls and
+fringe of young planes. The green lawns and
+red buildings of the Temple can be seen only
+when the river is very high. Further on is
+Somerset House, followed by a line of hotels,
+the palaces of modern days. Somerset House is
+the successor of the palace built by the arrogant
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_215' name='Page_215'>[215]</a></span>
+Protector Somerset, from the stones of churches
+and religious buildings; between it and the Temple
+stood Arundel and Essex Houses. The latter had
+earlier been called Leicester House, and Spenser
+lived there for a time as secretary to the Earl of
+Leicester.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tide has turned and is coming in. Little
+steam tugs, gallantly towing six barges, two
+abreast and each twice as large as themselves, pant
+up stream; while the bargees, with faces the
+colour of brickdust, the colour they are so fond
+of reproducing in their paint and even in their
+sails, stand by their huge rudders. Some barges
+are struggling along without mechanical aid. The
+men in charge bend back horizontally in their
+manipulation of the huge sweeps. There must be
+a knack in it. No one could work so hard as they
+seem to be doing; spine and sinews would give
+way altogether. Their whole strength results in
+but a slow progress, and the barge, responding to
+the push of the water, makes a kind of crab-like
+movement, sidling up the river broadside on. One,
+laden with yellow straw till it appears like a huge
+barn, is stranded right in mid-stream. The long
+ends of the straw sweep in the water, and there
+is no moving until the current increases.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_216' name='Page_216'>[216]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here and there red-brown sails, patched and
+stained, spring up, and others still furled, stand
+up along the wharves like crooked warning fingers.
+Just before Waterloo Bridge there is, neatly
+tucked away below the Embankment, so that
+few ever know of its existence, a station of the
+river police, with trim muslin curtains over the
+windows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridges
+the same sort of thing continues. An enormous
+chimney on the Surrey side mocks the dignity
+of Cleopatra's Needle, now safe in haven after
+many vicissitudes. The sweep of the river makes
+these two bridges radiate out like the spokes of
+a wheel, so that the southern ends are nearer
+than the northern. The chimneys and wharves
+and the ubiquitous barges still continue, and as
+we pass beneath the hideous red iron bridge of
+Charing Cross, we get a vision of the many towers
+and pinnacles of Westminster ahead.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i429" id="i429"></a>
+<img src="images/i-429.jpg" width="550" height="439" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Besides the great houses of old times already
+mentioned, there were others down this stretch
+of the river too&mdash;the Savoy, home of John of
+Gaunt, and in its time prison and hospital;
+Durham, Worcester, and Salisbury Houses. These
+were all either flush with the water or hemmed
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_217' name='Page_217'>[217]</a></span>
+in by high walls in which were stairs "to take
+water at." The only relic of these mansions
+lies in the watergate of York House, now about
+a hundred yards from the river, behind a strip
+of land which has all been reclaimed by the
+making of the Embankment. But that the
+Embankment does not always suffice to curb
+the current was proved not so long ago, for
+in March, 1906, there was a combination of
+circumstances which swelled the volume of water
+abnormally. Sudden floods of rain caused every
+weir far up the river to be opened, and bounding,
+exulting to be free, the huge mass of water,
+swelled by every brook and tributary and swollen
+to twice its usual size, rushed seaward. But it
+was met by a high spring tide, and the collision
+was increased by a strong wind, so that the water
+rose higher and higher, and the curious spectacle
+was witnessed of barges floating above the roadway,
+propelled by sweeps braced against the
+granite walls. The water burst up through the
+pavement and the manholes, and ran in a flood
+under Charing Cross Bridge, but it just did not
+overtop the Embankment wall by an inch or two,
+and as the tide subsided the tension relaxed. In
+the higher reaches, about Barnes and Chiswick,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_218' name='Page_218'>[218]</a></span>
+"tide-boards" were used to fill up the crevices
+below the doors, and by this means alone many
+a house was saved from being swamped.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The scene is lively enough. Seagulls of all
+ages&mdash;big dingy drab ones and neat ones in
+liveries of dove-grey and white&mdash;float merrily on
+the ripples, or poise and wheel in the air. Here
+a County Council steamer ploughs past, churning
+the river into wavelets, there a lad paddles a
+boat from shore to shore with a single oar
+used rudderwise, a feat possible only to a born
+waterman.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i435" id="i435"></a>
+<img src="images/i-435.jpg" width="550" height="440" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">WESTMINSTER BY NIGHT
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+As we pass on we can see the high bastion
+towers of Scotland Yard. Northumberland Avenue
+stretches over ground which was once the gardens
+of Northumberland House&mdash;they came down to
+the water&mdash;and beyond this were quadrangles
+and a medley of buildings, mostly low and
+mostly of brick, which formed the palace of
+Whitehall, snatched by Henry VIII. from
+Wolsey because the royal palace at Westminster
+had fallen into decay. The Houses of Parliament,
+standing on the site of the latter palace, are
+the finest work of Barry, who has been abused
+for many things, but who seems to have been
+touched by a genuine spirit of architecture in
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_219' name='Page_219'>[219]</a></span>
+this instance, and to have realised the right
+characteristics of majesty and delicacy in his
+work. But he had a noble chance, for the
+position of the building, standing on the edge
+of the water, with the bridge rising beside it,
+gave room for a fine conception.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Westminster to the Tower or Fleet
+prison, how many prisoners have come and
+gone&mdash;come up against the current full of hope,
+and returned of hope bereft! The ghosts are
+endless, because the river was the usual mode of
+communication between the Tower and the Court
+at Westminster, as the Strand was full of holes
+and seamed by watercourses. If this reach of
+water were to tell its tale, much of the history
+of England would be interwoven with it, and
+it would be tinged with the bitterest sorrow
+human life can know&mdash;death with disgrace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the time of Edward the Confessor to
+the time of Henry VIII., our kings were housed
+at Westminster as one of the chief of their royal
+palaces. Luckily the Great Hall, which Rufus
+built, escaped the fire of 1834, and still may
+be seen, but all else, with the exception of the
+crypt of St. Stephen's, has vanished utterly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The time to see the Houses of Parliament
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_220' name='Page_220'>[220]</a></span>
+is undoubtedly at night, when Big Ben's
+illuminated face sheds a sort of ethereal light
+on the architectural fretwork near him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wordsworth admired the view most in the
+early morning, before the first waking of the
+great world of bustle and business:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
+</p>
+<p>
+Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
+</p>
+<p>
+Open unto the fields and to the sky,
+</p>
+<p>
+All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
+</p>
+<p>
+Never did sun more beautifully steep
+</p>
+<p>
+In his first splendour, valley rock or hill;
+</p>
+<p>
+Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep;
+</p>
+<p>
+The river glideth at his own sweet will.
+</p>
+<p>
+Dear God, the very houses seem asleep;
+</p>
+<p>
+And all that mighty heart is lying still.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Westminster Bridge is particularly wide, and
+has a low parapet. In the sudden gusts of wind
+that come sweeping down the river it is a marvel
+that no one has been caught up and tossed over
+into the rolling green torrent. These peculiarities
+also are noticeable when the bridge is seen from
+the Embankment, for the traffic looms up very
+high on it, and the omnibuses and cabs look almost
+as if they were careering along on the parapet
+itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From Westminster to Lambeth is but a short
+way, and what Westminster Palace was, while it
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_221' name='Page_221'>[221]</a></span>
+existed, to the lord temporal, so Lambeth has
+been, and is, to the lord spiritual; from the very
+earliest times the Archbishops of Canterbury have
+lodged here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our peaceful days the holder of the highest
+dignity of the Church has not to fear the Tower
+and the "sharp medicine of the axe" as some
+of his predecessors did. Laud and Juxon were
+executed, and for Cranmer there was the worse
+horror of the torturing stake. Lambeth has seen
+much cruelty mingled with the name of religion in
+the time that it has stood above the flood. The
+Lollards, imprisoned within the tower which still
+bears their name, made deep incisions on the walls
+to wile away the weary hours of suspense, and the
+groans of prisoners have been stifled by these walls
+as well as by those of the grim Tower.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the same side as Lambeth, nearer Westminster
+Bridge, are the curious detached buildings
+of St. Thomas's Hospital, looking like nothing in
+the world less than a hospital.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Where Lambeth Bridge is now, was once the
+ferry by which King James II. passed when he
+made a hurried exit from the kingdom that repudiated
+him. It was a bitter night, and, attended
+by only one gentleman, the king slipped secretly
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_222' name='Page_222'>[222]</a></span>
+out of his palace at Whitehall, and crossing the
+Privy Gardens, made his way to the ferry, where
+he entered a small boat with a single pair of oars.
+In mid-stream he threw the Great Seal into the
+water. A curious and dramatic incident this, that
+might well be made the subject of a picture by
+some historical painter. The Great Seal was afterwards
+accidentally drawn up in the net of some
+fisherman. But there is another memory further
+back still, which gives to this strip of river an
+importance which no other part can boast. Here
+lay the first ford, to which all the traffic of the
+north, on its way to the south coast, had to come.
+In the ages before even the oldest London Bridge
+was built, a string of pack horses, of weary men
+and of travellers, continually wandered down through
+the marshes lying around Thorney Island, on which
+stands the present Abbey, and, guided by stakes
+placed for the purpose, arrived at the river's bank,
+there to await low tide, when they could cross over
+to the further shore. Through the ages we see
+them continuing, and when England was Christianised,
+to the procession were added monks and
+pilgrims bent on holy missions. When London
+Bridge was built, a great majority of the age-long
+procession was diverted that way, but many still
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_223' name='Page_223'>[223]</a></span>
+continued to prefer the ancient ford at Westminster.
+Of course, since the Embankment was made,
+and the river no longer wanders uncurbed over the
+lowlands and meadows of Westminster, the current
+runs deep and strong and no fording is possible.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i443" id="i443"></a>
+<img src="images/i-443.jpg" width="550" height="446" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">HAY BARGES NEAR WESTMINSTER BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Above Lambeth we pass the Tate Gallery and
+the new bridge at Vauxhall, and then traverse a
+dreary strip of river, dreary on both sides, until we
+come near to Chelsea Bridge. This is a high-swinging
+and imposing bridge of the same type as
+the Albert Bridge further up. How different the
+Chelsea we see now from the ancient Chelsea.
+Ours is a Chelsea mainly of red brick, with many
+tall flats and many beautifully designed houses in
+pseudo-ancient style. A long line of planes runs
+along the embankment, which is one of the prettiest
+embankments on the river. The gardens and green
+lawns of the Royal Hospital reach to the roadway,
+and away behind them at some distance can be
+seen the comparatively low and long range of
+buildings dating from the time of the Stuarts, and
+forming an asylum for old soldiers. On the strip
+of ground to the east of them once stood Ranelagh,
+the gay rotunda which played such a part in all
+London flirtations; where misses met their beaux
+and walked round in stately steps to the sound of
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_224' name='Page_224'>[224]</a></span>
+music. The breakfasts at Ranelagh were at one
+time almost as popular as the evening entertainments:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+A thousand feet rustled on mats,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  A carpet that had once been green;
+</p>
+<p>
+Men bowed with their outlandish hats,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  With corners so fearfully keen;
+</p>
+<p>
+Fair maids, who at home in their haste
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Had left all clothing else but a train,
+</p>
+<p>
+Swept the floor clean as slowly they paced,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And then walked round and swept it again.
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Thus Bloomfield satirically described the scene.
+Ranelagh plays a large part in <i>Evelina</i> and other
+romances of that date. The last public entertainment
+was given in 1803, and of the gay rotunda
+with its gorgeous fittings not a vestige now remains.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+High red-brick flats which stand at the foot of
+the Royal Hospital gardens by the river, are
+succeeded by smaller houses, and beyond the
+Albert Bridge the district has not yet been transformed,
+as it assuredly will be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the small public gardens that face the river
+there is a bronze statue of Carlyle, the Sage of
+Chelsea, and not far off rises the curious little
+tower of dark brick that belongs to the old church,
+a very mausoleum of tombs. Chelsea has, perhaps,
+been more altered by the formation of the Embankment
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_225' name='Page_225'>[225]</a></span>
+than any other part of the river. Its very
+name implies a bank of shingly beach stretching
+down to the water, and so it was in old times, and
+to this beach the gardens of the stately palaces
+reached. Chelsea has been called a village of
+palaces. A village it was in old times, quite
+detached from London, and considered a country
+residence by many a famous nobleman and statesman.
+On the site of the row of houses in Cheyne
+Walk stood the New Manor House built by Henry
+VIII. as part of the jointure of Catherine Parr,
+who afterwards lived here with her fourth husband,
+Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral. Both
+Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey spent part
+of their childhood in it. The palace of the Bishops
+of Winchester, at Southwark, having become
+dilapidated, as we have seen, a new one was built
+at Chelsea in 1663, and was occupied by eight
+successive bishops. Shrewsbury House was another
+palace built in the reign of Henry VIII. The
+wife of the Earl of Shrewsbury was the founder of
+Chatsworth, Oldcotes and Hardwick. In Lawrence
+or Monmouth House, near the church, lived
+Smollett the novelist, and further on, somewhere
+near the end of Beaufort Street, was the house
+once occupied by Sir Thomas More, whose memory
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_226' name='Page_226'>[226]</a></span>
+is still cherished in Chelsea. No garden among all
+the famous gardens of Chelsea was so carefully
+tended as his. When More had been made Lord
+Chancellor, and had spent his days hearing cases in
+the stuffy precincts of the court, how joyfully must
+he have stepped into his barge in the cool of the
+evening, to be rowed back up-stream to his roses
+and his children, where he could indulge his kindly
+humour and his playfulness, and unbend without
+fear. Sometimes the royal barge would sweep up
+after him, and the tyrant Harry himself spring
+ashore and walk up and down the sweet-scented
+alleys, with his arm round the Chancellor's neck, a
+dangerous fondness that in time resulted in More's
+being cut off altogether from his garden and his
+peaceful evenings, and in his going down that
+stream never to return. His monument is in the
+church, with an inscription written by himself, but
+whether his body lies here is a question that can
+never be definitely answered.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i451" id="i451"></a>
+<img src="images/i-451.jpg" width="550" height="435" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">CHELSEA REACH WITH THE OLD CHURCH
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Beyond Battersea Bridge is a little creek, and
+from a small house on the other side of the road
+Turner used to look out upon the river. He came
+here incognito from his real house in Queen Anne
+Street, and studied the gorgeous sunset effects,
+which can be seen nowhere better than at Chelsea.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_227' name='Page_227'>[227]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<p>
+Now in his palace of the west,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Sinking to slumber, the bright day,
+</p>
+<p>
+Like a tired monarch fanned to rest,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  Mid the cool airs of evening lay;
+</p>
+<p>
+While round his couch's golden rim
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  The golden clouds like courtiers crept,
+</p>
+<p>
+Struggling each other's light to dim,
+</p>
+<p class="i1">
+  And catch his last smile ere he slept.
+</p>
+
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<p class="rjust">
+&mdash;<i>Moore.</i>
+</p>
+</div></div></div>
+
+<p>
+Turner brings us to modern memories. Besides
+himself and Carlyle, there lived in Chelsea, Rossetti
+and George Eliot, not to mention living men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Opposite Chelsea is the long wall that bounds
+Battersea Park, and after passing Battersea Bridge,
+we encounter a very unlovely strip of water, with
+wharves and chimneys and tumble-down buildings.
+It is utilitarian and not beautiful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The green embankment which hems in the
+grounds of Hurlingham Club gives a touch of
+relief, and the fine trees which existed long before
+the club, since the time that the house was a
+private mansion, rise towering above it. On the
+other side the river Wandle, from which Wandsworth
+takes its name, a river known to few, empties
+itself into the Thames. Then we reach Putney
+Bridge, with its wide, curved white arches. On
+the east is another embankment which bounds
+Bishop's Park, partly turned into pleasure gardens
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_228' name='Page_228'>[228]</a></span>
+open to all the world. The palace itself is not well
+seen from the river, for it is low and hidden by
+trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The manor of Fulham has belonged to the See
+of London since the end of the seventh century.
+The palace is built round two courtyards, the
+older of which dates from Henry VII.'s reign,
+and the other from the middle of the eighteenth
+century. The west or river side contains the rooms
+used by Laud while he was bishop.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we draw away from the bridge we see to
+advantage the two churches, curiously alike, one
+belonging to Putney and the other to Fulham,
+which stand at two corners of the bridge, diagonally,
+looking at one another. Boat-houses and flats fill
+up the western shore until they are succeeded by
+the trees of Barn Elms Park, otherwise known as
+Ranelagh. The chief memories of Ranelagh centre
+about the Kit-Kat Club, which met here, and
+included among the members such men as Walpole,
+Vanbrugh, Congreve, Addison and Steele. Their
+portraits were all painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller,
+and hung round the club room; consequently, this
+particular size of portrait, 36 inches by 28, became
+known as a kit-kat. The name of the club itself
+is said to have originated in a pastrycook named
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_229' name='Page_229'>[229]</a></span>
+Christopher Kat, who used to make excellent
+mutton pies, called Kit-Kats, which were always
+included in the bill of fare at club dinners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many a visit did Evelyn and Pepys and other
+notable Londoners make to Barn Elms in summer
+evenings in the seventeenth century. Pepys was
+particularly fond of idling under the well-grown
+trees. Hear him:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+After dinner, by water, the day being mighty pleasant,
+and the tide serving finely, I up as high as Barne Elmes
+and there took one turn alone.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+This was in April; and another time:
+</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>
+I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great
+pleasure saw some gallant ladies and people come with
+their bottles and baskets and chairs, to sup under the trees
+by the water-side, which was mighty pleasant.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+On the opposite side of the river from Barn Elms
+stood Brandenburg House, where lived Queen
+Caroline, unhappy consort of George IV.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Below Hammersmith Bridge there is a very
+untidy bit of foreshore, with factories and chimneys
+and many dreary objects scattered about it, and
+always a superfluity of clumsy barges. Beyond
+the fine suspension bridge there is another bit of
+foreshore not quite so untidy, where racing boats
+and other boats lie, and from which many a crew
+turns out to practice. Along this stretch runs the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_230' name='Page_230'>[230]</a></span>
+Mall, Upper and Lower. In the coffee house
+near the junction of the two, Thomson wrote
+"Winter," in <i>The Seasons</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Mall is associated with the Kelmscott Press,
+founded by William Morris, who named it after his
+country house. Turner lived in the Mall for six
+years, and the novelist Marryat was a resident for
+a short time in 1830. Here also was a large house
+occupied by Catherine of Braganza after the death
+of Charles II. The river at Hammersmith is 750
+feet wide. The inhabitants make the bridge a
+favourite lounging place, for seats line both sides;
+the total amount of fresh air thus imbibed no man
+can calculate, for the tide races up bringing ozone
+straight from the sea, and the wind blows freshly
+over the glittering water. On the south bank are
+the reservoirs of a large water company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With Hammersmith we must end this chapter,
+for we have joined the account of the stream of
+pleasure which comes down to London.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_231' name='Page_231'>[231]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i457" id="i457"></a>
+<img src="images/i-457.jpg" width="513" height="342" alt="" />
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>
+CHAPTER XIX<br /><br />
+<span class="s08">
+OUR NATIONAL POSSESSION
+</span></h2>
+
+<p>
+The Thames is a great national possession,
+affording means of recreation and delight to
+thousands yearly. It is difficult to compare it
+with anything else in Great Britain. It stands
+by itself, and is unique. Other rivers there are,
+which for a small part of their course are
+excellent for boating; but there is nothing
+in England to equal the Thames, where the
+water is now kept at a high level, and where,
+for the 112 miles between London Bridge and
+Oxford, there is practically continuous beauty and
+convenience for boating. The reproach has been
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_232' name='Page_232'>[232]</a></span>
+brought against us that we do not make full use
+of our river at London as the Parisians do of the
+Seine at Paris. But the two things are not on the
+same footing at all. There are many problems in
+connection with the Thames as a tidal river that
+have not to be solved by the Parisians in regard
+to the Seine. Perhaps if the great barrage at
+Gravesend, which has been discussed, ever comes
+into existence, we shall be able to remove the
+reproach, to run our steamboats to time, and to use
+the river as a river of pleasure, even so far down as
+London Bridge. There are, however, grave objections
+to the barrage scheme, which for the present
+has been set aside. Though the tides interfere with
+pleasure boats, they are a source of motive power
+for innumerable barges; the river traffic would
+be seriously hindered by the elimination of the
+element of tide, and many owners of wharves
+and quays would be injured by the change.
+There are also other difficulties. At present the
+sewage, after being dealt with by filtration in
+sewage-beds, is returned to the river, and, having
+been rendered innocuous, floats out to sea, and
+mingles with the pure water satisfactorily. It
+would, however, be another thing to return
+thousands of gallons of water, which, however
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_233' name='Page_233'>[233]</a></span>
+innocuous, can hardly be called clean, to the great
+lake of fresh water the river would become if
+dammed up by a barrage.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter"><a name="i461" id="i461"></a>
+<img src="images/i-461.jpg" width="550" height="441" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">FROM BATTERSEA BRIDGE
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>
+Yet the continual increase in the size of ships,
+and the consequent demand for a river ever deeper,
+is a source of perplexity to the Thames Conservancy.
+This involves constant dredging, which
+would not be necessary were a perpetual high tide
+to be maintained. It is true that this dredging in
+some parts is a source of profit, not of expense.
+Thames gravel is exceedingly valuable, and it is
+found to be worth while for men not only to buy
+and maintain large dredgers down near the river
+mouth, but to pay a rent of something like £1500
+to the Conservancy for the privilege of doing so!
+The dredging, however, is not all so profitable.
+Where the river-bed is slime and mud, the channel
+has to be kept clear by dredgers at the expense of
+the Conservancy, and no delightful rents accrue
+from the process. This dredging is altogether rather
+an interesting matter. In some places it is found
+remunerative enough for men to do it by hand
+for the sake of what they bring up, and they obtain
+leave to go dredging.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is a fact not realised by everyone that the
+whole river, and all the craft upon it are under the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_234' name='Page_234'>[234]</a></span>
+strictest surveillance. Everything that floats must
+be licensed and carry its number for purposes of
+ready identification. The barges seen lying about
+in shoals near Westminster or Waterloo Bridges
+are not lying haphazard, but in certain specified
+places marked by buoys and allotted by the Conservancy,
+much as cabstands are allotted by the
+police. It is true that quays, wharves, landing
+stages, etc., being on land, are not subject to the
+Conservancy, which is in the somewhat anomalous
+position of dealing with the water, but not with
+the banks that hem it in. Yet the Conservancy
+manages to have a finger in this too, for suppose
+a man buys a bit of the river's bank, and erects a
+boat-building establishment thereon, he is obviously
+at a loss without steps down to the water or a
+landing place, and for this he has to pay rent to
+the Conservancy. The amusing part of it is that a
+man's property is sometimes in the air. In the case
+of a tree growing out of the water, it would truly
+tax the judgment of a Solomon to say what the
+rights of the Conservancy are toward that tree; but
+it is held that if the tree constitutes any danger or
+obstruction to the river-way the Conservators may
+insist on its being lopped. In connection with this
+a curious case sometimes arises. Man is always
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_235' name='Page_235'>[235]</a></span>
+cunning where his own interests are concerned. It
+is not only to one man that the idea has occurred
+of propping up his overhanging tree by a stake.
+And, if the stake remains for any length of time,
+silt and rubbish collect between it and the shore,
+and eventually the island or the land of the cunning
+man is enlarged by a foot or two! More; sometimes
+stakes have been planted in the river bed with
+the same object without even excuse of the tree.
+It is the duty of the Conservancy officials to
+deal with all such stakes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever may be alleged as to our neglect of
+the river at London, no such charge can be brought
+against us in our appreciation of it higher up. Day
+by day, in the summer, hundreds enjoy the air and
+the brilliance and the interest of the river reaches.
+House-boats are moored, permission and licences
+having been obtained, and men and women
+practically live in the open air for weeks together.
+The house-boats are not allowed to anchor
+everywhere, but are allotted certain stations, due
+regard being had to the width of the river. If
+they plant themselves near private ground they
+must gain the permission of the owner, as well as
+of the Conservancy, which is quite reasonable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To preserve an unimpeded channel may be taken
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_236' name='Page_236'>[236]</a></span>
+as one of the great duties of the Conservancy. For
+this reason they have power to remove snags; to
+prevent the egotistical punt-fisher from placing his
+punt broadside in the midmost current; and to
+regulate the rules for the passing of craft. It is
+rather amusing to see sometimes how the punt
+man edges his craft as far from the bank as he dare
+before he sits down on his cane-bottomed chair
+and sorts out his tackle; but if a Conservancy
+official come along, and, eyeing him, decides, in
+spite of his extreme innocency and unconsciousness,
+that he has encroached too far, back he has
+to go. It is a perpetual game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In regard to the fishing, most of the Thames
+is free; and the coarse fishing&mdash;bream, dace, chub,
+and so on&mdash;is good of its kind. Here and there,
+as at Hedsor, there is a bit preserved. For the
+commonsense view is taken that, if both banks
+belong to the same owner, the river bed belongs
+also to him, and likewise the fishing. He cannot,
+however, prevent boats from passing up and down
+the stream flowing through his property, or the
+highway would be a highway no more. The fishery
+in the Thames has of late years greatly improved,
+owing to the disinterested action of many clubs
+and associations in putting in stock which they
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_237' name='Page_237'>[237]</a></span>
+cannot hope subsequently to reclaim, but which,
+once gone into the water, belongs to everyone
+alike. An instance of this occurred recently, when
+300 trout (<i>Salmo fario</i>), about fourteen inches
+long, were put into the Thames at Shepperton
+Weir in March by the Weybridge, Shepperton,
+and Halliford Thames Trout Stocking Association.
+These trout cost 2s. 6d. each! There is good coarse
+fishing in nearly all parts of the Thames; bream,
+dace, chub, perch, and pike can generally be
+caught.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are many curious and interesting points
+in regard to the river, and none more interesting
+than those relating to the tow-path. This venerable
+and ancient right-of-way still remains, crossing and
+recrossing from side to side as occasion demands,
+but traversable from end to end. As, however,
+it passes through private grounds by far the greater
+part of the way, it <i>is</i> private, and yet public.
+Bicycles are frequently forbidden by stern notices
+put up by owners, who yet cannot prevent the
+pedestrian. The Conservancy has no power over
+the tow-path. What, then, happens when a part
+of the tow-path gives way and requires making
+up again? In theory it is the owner's duty to
+do it; but it would be expecting rather more
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_238' name='Page_238'>[238]</a></span>
+than is warranted of human nature to expect an
+owner, who must regard the right-of-way with
+dislike and suspicion, to incur expense by mending
+it. As a matter of fact, if he does not do it, the
+Conservancy does. It may be remarked here that
+a very simple and effective way of embanking,
+known as "camp-shedding," is often employed
+about the river banks and the projecting points
+of lock islands which are liable to be carried
+away by the current. This consists in dropping
+large bags of dry cement into the water. The
+water itself consolidates and hardens the stuff,
+which becomes a splendid barrier.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is another point in connection with the
+breaking away of the tow-path which is still
+more perplexing. Supposing it breaks away from
+a private owner's land in such a way that it cannot
+be built up again, but must be carried inland, what
+right has the public to say, "My right-of-way has
+fallen into the water, so I am going to take some
+of your land to replace it"? Apparently none at
+all. Yet the tow-path must be carried on. One
+wonders how, in the beginning, it was allotted to
+one side or the other. How was it that one owner
+said, "My lawns must slope right down to the
+water's edge; therefore I will not have the tow-path
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_239' name='Page_239'>[239]</a></span>
+on my side; let it go upon the other?"
+And why has it never happened that two owners,
+equally strong and equally determined, have both
+flatly refused it? Be that as it may, the tow-path
+runs its tortuous but continuous course, and will
+continue to run as long as the river flows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such things as locks and weirs are, of course,
+entirely in the power of the Conservancy, who pay
+the keepers and regulate the fees. The half-tide
+lock at Richmond has answered admirably so far
+(<i>see</i> <a href="#Page_196">p. 196</a>); but the question is, Where is this
+sort of thing going to stop? There is an idea
+now of a similar lock at Wandsworth, and then
+we come to the matter of the barrage. We are so
+greedy of our river, we want it to be pent up,
+and not allowed to flow away to the sea. Weirs
+of some sort, which were at first called locks, are
+very ancient. In the end of the twelfth century
+we find orders respecting them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stow tells us that about the year 1578 or 1579
+there were twenty-three "locks," sixteen mills,
+sixteen floodgates and seven weirs on the river
+between Maidenhead and Oxford. In the next
+six years thirty more locks and weirs had been
+made in spite of complaints that many persons
+had been drowned "by these stoppages of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_240' name='Page_240'>[240]</a></span>
+water." He adds that "the going up the locks was
+so steep that every year cables had been broken
+that cost £400." Especial complaint was made
+about Marlow lock, where one man had had his
+brains dashed out, and Stow remarks that all the
+compensation the widow received was £5! The
+barges were not charged for going up but only for
+coming down, and a barge passing from Oxford to
+London in Stow's time paid £12 18<i>s.</i> This was
+in the summer, when the water was low. In
+1585 a petition was made to Queen Elizabeth "in
+the name of the widows and fatherless children
+whose parents and husbands were by these means
+slain, against the great mischief done to her
+loving subjects by the great number of dangerous
+locks, weirs, mills and floodgates unlawfully
+erected in many places on the river." Queen
+Elizabeth must have known something of the
+subject from her early acquaintance with Bisham.
+(<i>See</i> <a href="#Page_105">Chap. XI</a>.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In an old book of 1770 we find this passage:
+"The locks were machines of wood placed across
+the river, and so contrived to hold the water as long
+as convenient, that is, till the water rises to such
+a height as to allow of depth enough for the barge
+to pass over the shallows, which being effected,
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_241' name='Page_241'>[241]</a></span>
+the water is set at liberty, and the loaded vessel
+proceeds on its voyage till another shoal requires
+the same convenience to carry it forward. This
+arrangement was in the summer when the water
+was low; in other seasons the locks were removed."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the present locks were made they were
+called "pound" locks; a great many of them were
+opened between 1770 and 1780.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The members of the Conservancy Board go up
+in their launch several times a year to see that
+all is in order, and that their officials are doing
+their duty. Once a year they penetrate beyond
+Oxford, where the launch cannot go, and they
+have to take to rowing boats. They are not
+supposed to preserve the amenities of the river,
+but only its highway properties. They have no
+power to remove unsightlinesses, such as hideous
+advertisement boards; but only obstructions. Yet,
+in keeping the river free from sewage contamination;
+by forbidding the casting of refuse into the
+current from house-boats or elsewhere; by exercising
+a general jurisdiction, which makes people
+realise they are not free to amuse themselves to
+the annoyance of their neighbours&mdash;no doubt the
+amenities are very much more preserved than they
+would otherwise be.
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_242' name='Page_242'>[242]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Stow ends up his account of the river: "And
+thus, as this fine river is of great use and profit to
+the city, so the many neat towns and seats on the
+banks of it make it extraordinary pleasant and
+delightful. So that the citizens and gentlemen,
+nay kings, have in the summer time usually taken
+the air by water; being carried in boats and barges
+along the Thames, both upward and downward
+according to their pleasures."
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_243' name='Page_243'>[243]</a></span>
+</p>
+
+<h2>
+INDEX
+</h2>
+
+<ul class="none">
+<li>
+Abbey Hotel, Medmenham, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Abbey River, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+à Becket, Thomas, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Aberlash, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Abingdon, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Abingdon Abbey, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Adam, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Addison, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Albert Bridge, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ankerwyke Park, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Archbishop Laud, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arnold, Dr., of Rugby, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arnold, Matthew, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arragon, Katherine of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Arundel House, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Athens, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Bankside, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barbour, Geoffrey, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barges, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barn Elms Park, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barrage, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barrington Shute, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Barry, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Battersea Bridge, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Baynard's Castle, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bell Weir Lock, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Benson Lock, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Billingsgate, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Birds, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Birinus, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bisham Abbey, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bisham Church, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bishop of Winchester's Palace, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bishop's Park, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Blackfriars Bridge, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bloomfield, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Blount, Sir Arthur, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boat Race, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boleyn, Anne, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bolney Court, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Borlase, Sir John, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boulter's Lock, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bourne End, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boveney Lock, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Boyle Farm, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bradshaw, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Braganza, Catherine of, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Brandenburg House, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bray, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bray Lock, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Brent River, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Brentford, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bridges:
+<ul class="sub">
+  <li>Battersea, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li>
+  <li>Blackfriars, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li>
+  <li>Charing Cross, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+  <li>Chelsea, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
+  <li>Folly, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+  <li>Hammersmith, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+  <li>Lambeth, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+  <li>London,210</li>
+  <li>Old London, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+  <li>Putney, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+  <li>Tower, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+  <li>Walton, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+  <li>Waterloo, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>
+Brightwell Barrow, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Buckingham, Duke of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_244' name='Page_244'>[244]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Burford Bridge, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Burney, Miss, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Burton, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Bushey Park, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Cæsar, Julius, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+"Camp-shedding," 238
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Canning, George, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Carfax Monument, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Carlyle, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Caversham, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Charing Cross Bridge, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Charles I., <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Charles II., <a href="#Page_127">127</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chaucer, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chelsea Bridge, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chelsea Embankment, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chertsey, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chertsey Abbey, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cherwell, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chestnut Sunday, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chiswick, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Chiswick House, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cleeve Lock, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cleopatra's Needle, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Clieveden, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Clifton Hampden, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Climenson, Mrs., <a href="#Page_96">96</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Coln River, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Compleat Angler Hotel, Marlow, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Congreve, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Conway, Field-Marshal, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cookham, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cooper's Hill, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cornish, J. C., <a href="#Page_85">85</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Countess of Nottingham, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Countess of Suffolk, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cowley, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cowley Stakes, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cranmer, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cromwell, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Crowmarsh, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Cuckoo Weir, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Culham, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Custom House, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Damer, Mrs., <a href="#Page_99">99</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Danesfield, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Datchet, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Day, Thomas, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Day's Lock, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Denham, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Denham, Sir John, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Despencer, Lord Le, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ditton House, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Donne, Dr., <a href="#Page_190">190</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dorchester, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dorchester Abbey, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dowgate, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+D'Oyley, Robert, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+D'Oyley, Sir Cope, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Drayton, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dredging, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Druce, Claridge G., <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duc d'Aumale, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duchess of York, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dudley, Robert, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of Buckingham, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of Gloucester, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of Marlborough, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke of York, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Duke's Meadows, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Durham House, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Dyers' Company, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Earl of Essex, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Earl of Leicester, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward IV., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward VI., <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward Plantagenet, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Edward the Confessor, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eel-pie Island, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eights, The, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eliot, George, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Embankment, The, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Empress Maud, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Essex, Earl of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Essex House, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Eton, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Evelyn, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Exe River, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Fair Maid of Kent, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_245' name='Page_245'>[245]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Faringford, Hugh, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fawley Court, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ferry Hotel, Cookham, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fielding, Henry, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fingest, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fishing, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fleet River, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Floods, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Flora of Oxfordshire, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Folly Bridge, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Forbury Public Garden, Reading, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fox, Charles James, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Frogmill, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fulham Palace, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Fuller, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Garrick's Villa, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gaunt, John of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gaveston, Piers, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gay, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+General description, <a href="#Page_9">9</a> ff
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George III., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George IV., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George Hotel, Bray, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+George Hotel, Wargrave, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gloucester, Duke of, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Goring, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Goring Church, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gray, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Great Hall, Westminster, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Great Marlow, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Great Western Railway, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Greenhill, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Greenlands, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Greenwich Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Grey, Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Gwynne, Nell, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Halliford, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ham House, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hambleden, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hammersmith Bridge, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hampton, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hampton Court, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hampton Green, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hardwicke House, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Harp Hill, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hartslock Woods, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hedsor Church, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henley, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henley Regatta, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry I., <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry V., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry VI., <a href="#Page_169">169</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry VII., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Henry VIII., <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hoby, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hogarth, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Holme Park, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Home Park, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hook, Theodore, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Horton, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hotels, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+House-boats, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Houses of Parliament, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Howard, Katherine, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hurley, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hurlingham Club, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Hurst Park Racecourse, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Icknield Street, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Iffley, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Isleworth, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+James II., <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+James Stuart, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Joan, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+John, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Johnson, Dr., <a href="#Page_183">183</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Jones, Inigo, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Juxon, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Kelmscott Press, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kempenfelt, Admiral, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kew Gardens, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kew Observatory, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kew Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+<i>Kingis Quair</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+King's Stone, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kingston, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kingston Rowing Club, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kit-Kat Club, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_246' name='Page_246'>[246]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Kneller, Sir Godfrey, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Lady Place, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Laleham, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lambeth Bridge, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lambeth Palace, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Laud, Archbishop, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Leicester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Leicester House, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Leland, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Llyn-din, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Locks, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>
+<ul class="sub">
+  <li>Bell Weir, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+  <li>Benson, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+  <li>Boulter's, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+  <li>Boveney, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+  <li>Bray, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+  <li>Cleeve, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+  <li>Marsh, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li>
+  <li>Teddington, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+  <li>Temple, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>
+Loddon River, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+London and South Western Railway, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+London Bridge, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+London Stone, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Long Ditton, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Long Mead, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Louis Philippe, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lower Hope, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Lower Mall, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Macaulay, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Magna Charta Island, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Maidenhead, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mapledurham House, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marble Hill, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marlborough, Duke of, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marryat, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Marsh Lock, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Medmenham Abbey, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Merchant Taylors' School, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Milton, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mole River, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Molesey Lock, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Molesey Regatta, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mongewell, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Monkey Island, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Monmouth House, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Montfichet, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Moore, Thomas, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Morris, William, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mortlake, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Mount Lebanon, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Naval Volunteer Training Ship, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+New Cut, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Northumberland Avenue, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Northumberland House, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Nottingham, Countess of, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Nuneham Courtney, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Oatlands Park, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Obstructions, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Old Deer Forest, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Old London Bridge, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Old Windsor, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Orleans House, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Oxford, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Oxford Meadows, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Pang River, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pangbourne, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Park Place, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Parr, Catherine, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Penton Hook, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pepys, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Phyllis Court, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pope, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Pope's Villa, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Prince de Joinville, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Prince Henry, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Princess Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Puddle Dock, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Punting competition, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Putney Bridge, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Quarry Woods, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Anne, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Caroline, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Eleanor, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_247' name='Page_247'>[247]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Mary, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queen Maud, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Queenhithe, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Radley College Boat-house, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ranelagh, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Raven's Ait, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Ray Mead Hotel, Maidenhead, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Reading Abbey, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Reading Castle, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Red Lion Hotel, Henley, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richard II., <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richard III., <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richmond, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Richmond Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rivers:
+<ul class="sub">
+  <li>Abbey, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+  <li>Brent, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+  <li>Coln, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+  <li>Exe, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
+  <li>Fleet, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
+  <li>Loddon, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
+  <li>Mole, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
+  <li>Pang, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+  <li>Thame, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+  <li>Wandle, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+  <li>Wey, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>
+Robsart, Amy, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rodney, Admiral, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Romney Island, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rose Garden, Sonning, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rossetti, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Royal Hospital, Chelsea, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Runney Mead, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Rupert, Prince, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+St. Anne's Hill, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Helen's Nunnery, Abingdon, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Mary Overies, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Patrick's Stream, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Saviour's, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+St. Thomas's Hospital, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Salisbury House, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sandford, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Savoy, The, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Scotland Yard, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Seagulls, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Seymour, Thomas, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shelley, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shenstone, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shepperton, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shiplake, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Shrewsbury House, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sinodun Hill, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Skindle's Hotel, Maidenhead, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Smith, Sydney, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Smollett, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Somerset, Lord-Protector, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Somerset House, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sonning, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Spenser, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Staines, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Steele, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Stephen, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Stokenchurch, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Stow, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Strawberry Hill, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Streatley, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sunbury, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Surbiton, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Surley Hill, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sutton Courtney, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Sutton Pool, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Swan Hotel, Thames Ditton, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Swans, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Swift, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Syon House, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Tagg's Island, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Taplow, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tate Gallery, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Teddington Lock, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple Island, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple Lock, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Temple Mill, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tennyson, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+<span class='pagenum'><a id='Page_248' name='Page_248'>[248]</a></span>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Terry, Ellen, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thame, The, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames Conservancy, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames, derivation of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames Ditton, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thames Gardens, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thomson, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Thorney Island, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Torpids, The, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tow-path, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tower, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tower Bridge, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Tower Royal, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Turner, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Twickenham, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Twickenham Reach, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Upper Hope, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Upper Mall, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Upper Thames Sailing Club, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Vanbrugh, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Vauxhall Bridge, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Vintners' Company, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+Walbrook, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walbrook Wharf, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walker, Frederick, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wallingford, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walpole, Horace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walton Bridge, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walton Church, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Walton, Izaak, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wandle River, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wandsworth, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Warbeck, Perkin, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wargrave, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Warwick, "King Maker," 113
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Waterloo Bridge, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Watermen, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Weirs, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Westminster Abbey, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Westminster Bridge, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Westminster Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wey River, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Weybridge, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitchurch, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitehall, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitehall Palace, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+White Hart Hotel, Sonning, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Whitehill, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wigod, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+William the Conqueror, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+William III., <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Winchester House, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Windsor Castle, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wittenham, Little, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wittenham Woods, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wolsey, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Worcester House, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wordsworth, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wotton, Sir Henry, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wren, Sir Christopher, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+Wyatt, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>
+</li>
+
+<li class="alpha">
+York, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+York, Duke of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>
+</li>
+
+<li>
+York House, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>
+</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p class="center p4">
+<i>Printed by</i> <span class='smcap'>Geo. W. Jones, Limited</span>, <i>Watford</i>.
+</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter p6"><a name="i479" id="i479"></a>
+<img src="images/i-479.jpg" width="550" height="338" alt="" />
+<p class="caption">
+<i>Sketch Map of the</i>
+THAMES
+<i>from</i> OXFORD <i>to</i> LONDON
+</p>
+
+<p class="caption s08">
+MAP ACCOMPANYING "THE THAMES" BY MORTIMER MENPES AND G. E. MITTON. PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON
+</p>
+<p class="caption"><a href="images/i-479lg.jpg">View larger image</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<table summary="Ads"  class="p6" border="1">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">
+<span class="b13">BEAUTIFUL BOOKS</span><br />
+<span class="b12">ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR</span><br />
+<span class="b12">BY MORTIMER MENPES</span><br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>JAPAN</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Times.</b>&mdash;"Mr. Menpes's pictures are here
+given in most perfect facsimile, and they form altogether
+a series of colour impressions of Japan which
+may fairly be called unrivalled. Even without the
+narrative they would show that Mr. Menpes is an
+enthusiast for Japan, her art and her people; and very
+few European artists have succeeded in giving such
+complete expression to an admiration in which all
+share."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>INDIA</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>75</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Evening Standard.</b>&mdash;"This sumptuous book
+is the result of an ideal collaboration, for the artist is
+at his best with colour schemes and atmospheric
+impressions, such as we find in his famous 'Japan'
+and 'Durbar' books; while Mrs. Steel has not only
+the saving grace of imagination, but is able by the
+sympathy and wise knowledge gained by a long
+residence in India to write a text of more than
+ordinary charm."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>THE DURBAR</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Morning Post.</b>&mdash;"This splendid book will be
+accepted by all as the best realisation of an epoch-making
+ceremony that we are ever likely to get."
+<br />
+<b>The Academy.</b>&mdash;"Unquestionably the best pictorial
+representation of the Durbar which has
+appeared."
+<br />
+<b>The Globe.</b>&mdash;"Likely to be the most brilliant and
+lasting record of the historical occasion."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>VENICE</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The King.</b>&mdash;"Within the last few years the industry
+of contemporary writers, some with and others without
+a genuine sympathy for their subject, has helped us to
+glimpses of the Queen of the Adriatic, through the
+spectacles of art, history, archæology, poetry, and
+romance; but the <i>Magnum Opus</i> of Mortimer Menpes
+embraces to a great degree all five points of view, and
+persuades us that at last (and that not a day too soon)
+the stones of Venice have found at once a painter and
+a writer equally worthy of the vanished glories, the
+memories of which still cling to every church, palace,
+or bridge drawn or described in this charming
+work."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>BRITTANY</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>75</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Pall Mall Gazette.</b>&mdash;"It is of course the picturesque
+aspects of Brittany that appeal to Mr. Menpes....
+Whether he paints cottage interiors or peasant
+types, straggling village streets and coast-town alleys,
+or a market-place bustling and baking in the sunshine,
+it is all one to his graceful pencil; and reproduced, as
+the drawings are, by his own colour-process, they make
+another of those many charming albums of travel
+which Messrs. Black have made a special province of
+their own."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>WORLD
+PICTURES</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>500</b> ILLUSTRATIONS
+(<b>50</b> IN COLOUR)<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Scotsman.</b>&mdash;"Mr. Menpes has been a wanderer
+over the face of the earth armed with brush and
+pencil, and he has brought back with him portfolios
+filled with samples of the colour and sunshine, and of
+the life and form, quaint or beautiful, of the most
+famous countries of the East and of the West, and
+his charming book is a kind of album into which he
+has gathered the cream of an artist's memories and
+impressions of the many countries he has visited and
+sketched in."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>THE WORLD'S
+CHILDREN</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>100</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>The Times.</b>&mdash;"Of the cleverness, both of the
+pictures and letterpress, there can be no doubt. Miss
+Menpes's short papers on the children of different
+lands are full of insight, human and fresh experience;
+and Mr. Menpes's 100 pictures ... are above all
+remarkable for their extraordinary variety of treatment,
+both in colour scheme and in the pose and
+surroundings of the subject."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>WAR
+IMPRESSIONS</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>99</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>20s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Daily Telegraph.</b>&mdash;"One hardly knows which to
+admire the more&mdash;the skill of the artist or the skill
+with which his studies have been reproduced, for the
+colours of the originals are shown with marvellous
+fidelity, and the delicate art of the impressionist loses
+nothing in the process. The book, therefore, is a
+double triumph, and will therefore be prized by
+collectors."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>WHISTLER AS
+I KNEW HIM</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>125</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+AND TINT<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>40s.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<span class='smcap'>Haldane Macfall</span> in <b>The Academy</b>.&mdash;"No one
+who loves the Art of Whistler should be without this
+handsome book; it contains works of Art of exquisite
+beauty; it contains a delightful picture of the outward
+Whistler that the man himself wished to be mistaken
+for the real thing&mdash;half butterfly, half wasp, wholly
+laughing enigma."
+<br />
+<b>The Observer.</b>&mdash;"A singularly illuminating and
+intimate monograph."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td><span class="b11"><b>REMBRANDT</b></span><br />
+WITH <b>16</b> FULL-PAGE
+ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR<br />
+<span class="i1"><span class='smcap'>Price</span> <b>12s. 6d.</b> <span class='smcap'>Net</span></span>
+</td>
+<td>
+<b>Aberdeen Free Press.</b>&mdash;"The illustrations are
+magnificent examples of the perfection to which
+reproduction in colour is carried by Mr. Menpes, and
+the book as a whole is of very special interest."
+<br />
+<b>British Weekly.</b>&mdash;"An invaluable collection of
+superb reproductions of Rembrandt's work. The
+book is a most desirable possession."
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc" colspan="2">
+<span class='smcap'>Published by</span> ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK · SOHO SQUARE · LONDON · W.
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THAMES ***
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+</pre>
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+</body>
+</html>
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Thames
+
+Author: G. E. Mitton
+
+Illustrator: Mortimer Menpes
+
+Release Date: January 30, 2014 [EBook #44794]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE THAMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
+  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
+  signs=.
+
+
+
+
+THE THAMES
+
+
+
+
+     VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES BY MORTIMER MENPES
+     EACH 20S. NET WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     THE DURBAR
+     JAPAN . WORLD'S CHILDREN
+     WORLD PICTURES . VENICE
+     WAR IMPRESSIONS
+     INDIA . BRITTANY
+
+
+     _Published by_
+     A. & C. BLACK. SOHO SQUARE. LONDON. W.
+
+
+     _AGENTS_
+
+     AMERICA    THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
+                  64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
+
+     CANADA     THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.
+                  27 RICHMOND STREET, TORONTO
+
+     INDIA      MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD.
+                  MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY
+                  309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: PUNTING]
+
+
+
+
+     THE THAMES
+
+     BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I.
+     TEXT BY G. E. MITTON
+     PUBLISHED BY A.&C. BLACK
+     SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
+
+
+
+
+     _Published July 1906_
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER I                                        PAGE
+  The Beauty of the River                             1
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  The Oxford Meadows                                 25
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  The Old Town of Abingdon                           37
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  Dorchester and Sinodun Hill                        47
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  Castle and Stronghold                              53
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  Twin Villages                                      57
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  A Mitred Abbot                                     67
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  Sonning and its Roses                              72
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  Wargrave and Neighbourhood                         80
+
+  CHAPTER X
+  Henley                                             97
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+  The Romance of Bisham and Hurley                  105
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+  Boulter's Lock and Maidenhead                     128
+
+  CHAPTER XIII
+  Windsor and Eton                                  140
+
+  CHAPTER XIV
+  Magna Charta                                      155
+
+  CHAPTER XV
+  Penton Hook                                       161
+
+  CHAPTER XVI
+  Weybridge and Chertsey                            167
+
+  CHAPTER XVII
+  The Londoner's Zone                               177
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII
+  The River at London                               205
+
+  CHAPTER XIX
+  Our National Possession                           231
+
+  Index                                             243
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  1. Punting                                           _Frontispiece_
+                                                                 PAGE
+  2. Thames Ditton                                                  v
+  3. Sutton Courtney, Culham Bridge                                 1
+  4. Pangbourne                                _Facing_             4
+  5. Dorchester Abbey                          "                    8
+  6. Day's Lock                                "                   12
+  7. Near the Bridge, Sutton Courtney          "                   14
+  8. Streatley Inn                             "                   18
+  9. Sandford Lock                                                 25
+  10. Iffley                                   _Facing_            28
+  11. Radley College Boat-house                "                   34
+  12. Almshouses of Abingdon                                       37
+  13. Abingdon                                 _Facing_            38
+  14. The Mill at Abingdon                     "                   40
+  15. Sutton Courtney Backwater                "                   42
+  16. Clifden Hampden from the Bridge          "                   44
+  17. Clifden Hampden                          "                   46
+  18. Hurley                                                       47
+  19. Cottages, Dorchester                     _Facing_            48
+  20. White Hart Hotel, Dorchester             "                   50
+  21. Dorchester Backwater                     "                   52
+  22. Danesfield                                                   53
+  23. Wallingford                              _Facing_            54
+  24. Streatley Mill                           "                   56
+  25. Goring Bridge                                                57
+  26. Streatley                                _Facing_            58
+  27. Goring Church                            "                   60
+  28. Goring                                   "                   62
+  29. Pangbourne, from the Swan Hotel          "                   64
+  30. Whitchurch Lock                          "                   64
+  31. Mapledurham Mill                         "                   66
+  32. Evening                                                      67
+  33. Caversham                                _Facing_            70
+  34. Paddling                                                     72
+  35. The Rose Garden at Sonning               _Facing_            72
+  36. Sonning                                  "                   76
+  37. St. George and the Dragon, Wargrave                          80
+  38. The Church at Wargrave                   _Facing_            80
+  39. Barges at Oxford                                             97
+  40. Red Lion Hotel, Henley                   _Facing_            98
+  41. Henley Regatta                           "                  100
+  42. Hambleden                                "                  102
+  43. Medmenham Abbey                                             105
+  44. General View of Marlow                   _Facing_           106
+  45. Quarry Woods                             "                  108
+  46. Bisham Church                            "                  110
+  47. Hurley Backwater                         "                  112
+  48. Bisham Abbey                             "                  114
+  49. Cookham, from above                                         128
+  50. Boulter's Lock, Ascot Sunday             _Facing_           128
+  51. Below Boulter's Lock                     "                  130
+  52. Maidenhead                               "                  132
+  53. Eton, from the Brocas                                       140
+  54. Windsor Castle                           _Facing_           140
+  55. Windsor                                  "                  144
+  56. Eton Chapel, from the Fields             "                  148
+  57. Magna Charta Island                                         155
+  58. Hedsor Fishery                                              161
+  59. Temple Lock                                                 167
+  60. Walton Bridge                            _Facing_           172
+  61. Sunbury                                  "                  174
+  62. Hampton Court                                               177
+  63. Hampton Court, from the River            _Facing_           178
+  64. Marlow Church                                               205
+  65. Beyond Hammersmith Bridge                _Facing_           206
+  66. The Custom House                         "                  208
+  67. Dutch Barges near the Tower              "                  210
+  68. The Tower of St. Magnus                  "                  212
+  69. St. Paul's                               _Facing_           214
+  70. The Houses of Parliament                 "                  216
+  71. Westminster by Night                     "                  218
+  72. Hay Barges near Westminster Bridge       "                  222
+  73. Chelsea Reach, with the Old Church       "                  226
+  74. View from Richmond Hill                                     231
+  75. From Battersea Bridge                    _Facing_           232
+  _Sketch Map at end of Volume_
+
+
+_The Illustrations in this volume were engraved and printed at the
+Menpes Press, Watford._
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BEAUTY OF THE RIVER
+
+
+Close your eyes and conjure up a vision of the river Thames; what
+is the picture that you see? If you are a prosaic and commercial
+person, whose business lies by the river side, the vision will be one
+of wharves and docks, of busy cranes loading and unloading; a row of
+bonded warehouses rising from the water's edge; lighters filled with
+tea lying in their shadow, tarpaulined and padlocked; ships of all
+sizes and shapes, worn by water and weather. And up and down, in and
+out, among it all you see river police on their launch, inquisitive
+and determined, watching everything, hearing everything, and turning
+up when least expected. The glories of the high Tower Bridge, and the
+smoky gold of the setting sun will not affect you, for your thoughts
+are fixed on prosaic detail. As for green fields and quiet backwaters,
+such things do not enter into the vision at all.
+
+Yet for one who sees the Thames thus prosaically, a hundred see it in
+a gayer aspect. To many a man it is always summer there, for the river
+knows him not when the chill grey days draw in. He sees gay houseboats
+in new coats of paint, decorated with scarlet geraniums and other
+gaudy plants. He associates the river with "a jolly good time" with a
+carefully chosen house-party, with amateur tea-making and an absence of
+care. Nowhere else is one so free to "laze" without the rebuke even of
+one's own occasionally too zealous conscience.
+
+To another the Thames simply means the Boat Race, nothing more and
+nothing less. Year by year he journeys up to London from his tiny
+vicarage in the heart of the country for that event. If the high
+tide necessitates it, he stands shivering on the brink in the chill
+whiteness of early morning. He sits on the edge of a hard wooden cart
+for an immense time, and, by way of keeping up his strength, eats an
+indigestible penny bun, a thing that it would never enter his head to
+do at any other time. He sees here and there one or the other of those
+school-fellows or university chums who have dropped out of his life for
+all the rest of the year. Then, after a moment's shouting, a moment's
+tense anxiety or bitter disappointment, according to the position of
+the boats, the flutter of a flag, and a thrill of something of the old
+enthusiasm that the unsparing poverty of his life has slowly ground out
+of him, he retires to his vicarage again for another year, elated or
+depressed according to the result of the race.
+
+To others Henley is the embodiment of all that is joyous; the one week
+in the year that is worth counting. But to others, and these a vast
+majority of those who know the river at all, the Thames means fresh
+and life-giving air after a week spent within four walls. It means
+congenial exercise and light, and the refreshment that beauty gives,
+even if but half realised. It means a quiet dream with a favourite pipe
+in a deep backwater so overhung with trees that it resembles a green
+tunnel. The gentle drone of the bees sounds from the banks, there is a
+flash of blue sheen as a kingfisher darts by; a gentle dip and slight
+crackling tell of another favoured individual making his way cautiously
+along to the same sheltered alley; the radiant sunlight falls white
+upon the water through the leaves and sends shimmering reflections of
+dancing ripples on the sides of the punt. Such a position is as near
+Paradise as it is given to mortal to attain.
+
+These are only a few of an inexhaustible variety of aspects of this
+glorious river, and each reader is welcome to add his own favourite to
+the list.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE]
+
+For the purposes of this book we are dealing with the Thames between
+Oxford and London, though as a matter of fact, tradition has it that
+the Thames proper does not begin until below Oxford, where it is formed
+by the junction of the Thame and the Isis. Tamese (Thames) means
+"smooth spreading water." Tam is the same root as occurs in Tamar,
+etc., and the "es" is the perpetually recurring word for water, _e.g._,
+Ouse, ooze, usquebagh. Isis is probably a back formation, from Tamesis.
+In Drayton's _Polyolbion_, we have the pretty allegory of the wedding
+of Thame and Isis, from which union is born the sturdy Thames.
+
+     Now Fame had through this Isle divulged in every ear
+     The long expected day of marriage to be near,
+     That Isis, Cotswold's heir, long woo'd was lastly won,
+     And instantly should wed with Thame, old Chiltern's son.
+
+In Spenser's _Faerie Queene_ the notion is carried one step further,
+and Thames, the son of Thame and Isis, is to wed with Medway, a
+far-fetched conceit, for the rivers do not run into each other in any
+part of their course.
+
+It is strange that a river such as the Thames, which, though by no
+means great as regards size, has played an important part in the
+life of the nation, should not have inspired more writers. There is
+no striking poem on the Thames. The older poets, Denham, Drayton,
+Spenser, Cowley, Milton, and Pope, all refer to the river more or less
+frequently, but they have not taken it as a main theme. It is even more
+neglected by later poets. There are poems to special parts or scenes,
+such as Gray's well-known "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College";
+the river colours one or two of Matthew Arnold's poems; but the great
+poem, which shall take it as a sole theme, is yet to come. Neither
+is there a good book on this river, though it is among rivers what
+London is among the cities of men. Yet the material is abundant, and
+associations are scattered thickly along the banks. No fewer than seven
+royal palaces have stood by the river. And of these one is still the
+principal home of our sovereign. Of the others, Hampton Court, chiefly
+reminiscent of William III., is standing. The neighbouring palace of
+Richmond remains but in a fragment. At London, Westminster, the home of
+our early and mediaeval kings, has vanished, except for the great hall
+and a crypt. Whitehall--the old palace--is wholly gone, though one part
+of the new palace projected by James I. remains. As for the old palace
+of Greenwich, so full of memories of the Tudors, that has been replaced
+by a later structure. I hesitate to name Kew in this list, so entirely
+unworthy is it of the name of palace, yet, as the residence of a king
+it should, perhaps, find a place.
+
+From the annals of these palaces English history could be completely
+reconstructed from the time of Edward the Confessor to the present day.
+
+But it is not in historical memories alone that the Thames is so rich.
+Poets, authors, politicians, and artists have crowded thickly on its
+banks from generation to generation. The lower reaches are haunted by
+the names of Hogarth, Cowley, Thomson; further up we come to the homes
+of Walpole, Pope, and Fielding. At Laleham lived Matthew Arnold. Not
+far from Magna Charta Island is Horton, where Milton lived. Though his
+home was not actually on the river, Milton must have often strolled
+along the banks of the Thames, and many of his poems show the impress
+of associations gathered from such scenery as is to be found about
+Ankerwyke and Runneymead:
+
+     Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures,
+     While the landscape round it measures:
+     Russet lawns and fallows gray,
+     Where the nibbling flocks do stray.
+     Meadows trim with daisies pied;
+     Shallow brooks and rivers wide.
+
+From the records of Eton alone many a book might be compiled of the
+lives of men in the public eye, whose impressions were formed there by
+the Thames side. Indeed, had the river no other claim to notice than
+its connection with Eton and Oxford, through which more men who have
+controlled the destiny of their country and made empire have passed,
+than through any similar foundations in England, this alone would be
+cause enough to make it a worthy subject for any book.
+
+Beside palaces and the homes of great men, castles and religious
+houses once stood thickly along the banks of the river. The notable
+monasteries of Reading, Dorchester, Chertsey, and Abingdon, etc., were
+widely celebrated as seats of learning in their day, and the castles of
+Reading, Wallingford, and Oxford were no less well known.
+
+It is a curious law in rivers that, as a whole, the windings usually
+cover double the length of the direct axis, and the Thames is no
+exception to the rule. It sweeps in and out with a fair amount of
+regularity, the great bend to the south at Thames Ditton and Weybridge
+being reversed higher up in the great bend to the north at Bourne End
+and Hambleden. Naturally the sides of these indentations run north and
+south instead of in the usual course of east and west. From Wargrave
+to Henley the current is almost due north, and likewise from Surbiton
+to Brentford. A more apparent curve, because much smaller in radius, is
+that at Abingdon; here the course by the stream is about nine miles, in
+contrast to the two overland. The Great Western Railway is the chief
+river railway, but as it runs a comparatively straight course between
+London and Didcot, some places on the great curves are considerably
+off the main line, and are served by branches. After Reading it keeps
+very close to the river as far as Moulsford, and is not distant from
+it the rest of the way to Oxford, as it turns almost direct north from
+Didcot Junction. The Great Western Railway is ably supplemented by the
+London and South Western Railway, from which the lesser stations on the
+south of the river near to London can be reached, also the districts
+of Twickenham, Hampton, etc., included in the chapter called "The
+Londoners' Zone." Further up, Weybridge, Chertsey, Egham, and Windsor
+can also be reached by this railway, which cuts a curve and touches the
+river again at Reading.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER ABBEY]
+
+There are many zones on the river, and each has its devotees. It is
+curious to notice how one crowd differs from another crowd on its
+"people-pestered shores." It is difficult to draw hard and fast lines,
+but taking the boundaries of the London County Council as the end of
+London, we can count above it many zones, rich in beauty, divided from
+each other by stretches of dulness; for, beautiful as the river is,
+it must be admitted parts of it are dull, though, like the patches
+on a fair skin, these serve but to emphasise the characteristics
+of the remainder. A rather dreary bit succeeds Hammersmith, though
+this is not without its own attractiveness, and the first real zone
+that we can touch upon is that from Richmond to Hampton, which runs
+Maidenhead hard for first place in popularity; but the Richmond and
+Hampton river people are largely recruited from the inhabitants, while
+those at Maidenhead are mostly visitors. Passing over the waterworks
+and embankments above Hampton, we begin another zone, much less known
+because less accessible, but in its own way more attractive than that
+of Richmond. It is pure country, with green fields, willow trees, cows
+grazing on the banks, many curves and doublings in the channel of the
+main stream, and ever varying vistas, and this continues to beyond
+Weybridge. About Chertsey the scenery is flat, but Laleham and Penton
+Hook are two places that annually delight hundreds of persons.
+
+Between Staines and Windsor there is a fairly attractive stretch, with
+the park and woods of Ankerwyke on one side, and the meadows on the
+other. High on the south rises Cooper's Hill, and beyond Albert Bridge
+we see the smoothly kept turf of the Home Park.
+
+Windsor and Eton, of course, will require a chapter to themselves. In
+this general description it is sufficient to say that the influence
+of Eton is apparent all the way to Bray. Then we start a new zone, the
+most popular one on the river, that from Maidenhead to Bourne End. Of
+the delights of this beautiful and varied section it is unnecessary
+here to speak. But the Maidenhead reach is spoilt for fastidious people
+by its too great popularity. To those who love the river for itself,
+the endless passing and repassing, the impossibility of finding quiet,
+undisturbed corners, the noise and merrymaking, even the sight of too
+many fellow creatures, is a burden. From this the part above Marlow is
+protected by being less accessible. It is too far to be reached easily
+from Maidenhead, and those who come by train have an awkward change at
+a junction; therefore the crowd finds it not. Yet the beauties are no
+less admirable than those of the adored Maidenhead.
+
+At Hambleden the influence of Henley begins to be felt, and above
+Henley we enter on another zone. Nowhere else on the river are to
+be found so many fascinating spots lying in the stream; certainly,
+no other part offers so many tempting backwaters. This is the zone
+for those who love the country pure and simple, and who can put up
+cheerfully with the inconveniences attendant on the procuring of
+supplies, for the sake of the quiet, marshy meadows.
+
+The reach includes Sonning with its two bridges, its islands, and its
+rose-garden; but beyond Sonning dulness is apparent once more, and
+with the neighbourhood of the great and smoky town of Reading, charm
+withers. It is not until Mapledurham that the prettiness of the river
+becomes again apparent, and Mapledurham is rather an oasis, for in
+the reach beyond it, though the great rounded chalk hills grow opal
+in the sunlight, and the larks sing heavenwards, the attractiveness
+cannot be called beauty. From Pangbourne and Whitchurch to Goring and
+Streatley, the river lies beneath the chalk heights, which seem to dip
+underground, reappearing on the other side by Streatley; and the whole
+of the stretch, with its rich and varied woods, its delightful islands
+and weirs, its pretty cottages and churches, is full of charm.
+
+  [Illustration: DAY'S LOCK]
+
+Beyond Cleeve Lock, with the single exception of Mongewell, there is
+again dulness, though for boating pure and simple the reach is very
+good. Wallingford has a trim prettiness of its own, with its clean-cut
+stone bridge and its drooping willow. Park-like grounds and pleasant
+trees succeed, Sinodun Hill looms up ahead, and one may penetrate up
+the Thame to Dorchester, where the willows nearly meet overhead. Day's
+Lock still belongs to the clean prettiness of the Wallingford stretch,
+which, in fact, continues all the way to Culham, notwithstanding that
+we pass the much admired Clifton Hampden, where the church stands high
+on the cliff. Culham itself is dull, but with the pretty backwater of
+Sutton Courtney we begin a new kind of scenery. Abingdon has something
+of its richness and profusion, and Nuneham Courtney woods, though not
+rising so abruptly as those at Clieveden, are glorious. After this
+we begin the famous meadows that continue more or less all the way to
+Oxford, and have a fascination of their own.
+
+The best way to see the river as a whole, for those who can spare the
+time, is to go on Salter's steamers, which run daily, Sundays excepted,
+during the summer. The fare one way is 14s., exclusive of food, and the
+night spent _en route_. The trip takes two days, the steamer leaving
+Kingston at 9 in the morning, and reaching Henley at 7.15 in the
+evening. The reverse way, it leaves Oxford at 9.30, and reaches Henley,
+which is about half-way, at 7 in the evening.
+
+In this rough sketch it has been shown that there is no lack of choice
+for those who seek their pleasure on the river, and the opportunity
+meets with full response. Seen in sunshine on a summer morning,
+especially if it be the end of the week, the river is brilliant. The
+dainty coloured muslins and laces, the Japanese parasols, the painted
+boats, the large shady hats, the sparkle where the oars meet the
+water, and the white sails of the sailing boats bellying in the wind,
+are only a few items in a sparkling picture. Fragile, yellow-white
+butterflies and the richer coloured red admirals hover about the banks;
+purple loose-strife, meadow-sweet, and snapdragon grow on the banks
+with many a tall gaudily coloured weed. Here and there great cedars
+rise among the lighter foliage, showing black against a turquoise sky;
+while on the water, where the wind has ruffled it, there is the "many
+twinkling smile" ascribed by AEschylus to the ocean. But, to those
+who know the Thames, this smiling aspect is not the only lovable one:
+they know it also after rain, when the water comes thundering over the
+weirs in translucent hoops of vivid green, and the boiling foam below
+dances like whipped cream. To walk along the sedgy banks is to leave
+a trail of "squish-squash" with every step. All the yellow and brown
+flat-leaved green things that grow thickly near the edges are barely
+able to keep their heads above the stream, and the long reeds bend with
+the current like curved swords. Every little tributary gushes gurgling
+to join in the mad race, and the sounds that tell of water are in our
+ears like the instruments in an orchestra. There are the rush, the
+dip, and the tinkle, as well as the deep-throated roar. Watching and
+listening, we feel a strange sympathy with the new life brought by
+the increased current; we feel as if it were flooding through our own
+veins, and as if we, like the squirming, wriggling things that live
+in the slime below the flood-curtain, were waking up anew after a long
+torpor.
+
+  [Illustration: NEAR THE BRIDGE, SUTTON COURTNEY]
+
+Even in late autumn, when the slow, white mist rises from the marshy
+ground, and most of the birds are gone; when the eddies are full of
+dead leaves floating away from the wood where all their sheltered
+lives have been spent; when the sparkle and the gaiety and the
+light-heartedness are gone, and the water looks indigo and dun, with
+patches of quicksilver floating on it; when the great webs of the
+spiders that haunt the banks hang like filmy curtains of lace heavy
+with the moisture of the air, and the sun sinks wanly behind a bank of
+cloud--even then the river may be loved.
+
+Assuredly, those who go on the river for the day only, and know it but
+under one aspect--that of lazy heat--lose much. In the evening time, as
+one steps from the long French window into the scented dusk, soft white
+moths flap suddenly across the strip of light, and one's feet fall
+silently on the velvet turf, cool with the freshness that ever is on
+a river margin. Down by the edge the black water hurries swiftly past
+with a continuous soothing gurgle. A sleepy bird moves in a startled
+way in a bush, and all the small things that awake in the night are
+stirring. One can reach down and touch the onyx water slipping between
+one's fingers like dream jewels; and far overhead in the rent and torn
+caverns of the clouds, the stars, bigger and brighter than ever they
+look in London, sail swiftly and silently from shelter to shelter. The
+plaintive cry of an owl sounds softly from the meadow across the water,
+and there is an indescribable sense of motion and poetry, and a thrill
+of expectation that would be wholly lacking in a landscape ever so
+beautiful, without the river.
+
+Then there are the grey days, when sudden sheens of silver drop upon
+the ruffled water as it eddies round a corner, and in a moment the
+surface is peopled with dancing fairies, spangled and brilliant,
+flitting in and out in bewildering movement. Or the same cold, silver
+light catches the side of a ploughed field, a moment before brown,
+but now shot with green as all the long delicate blades are revealed.
+These, and a thousand other delights, cannot be known to the visitor
+of a day only. Under all its aspects, in all its vagaries, the river
+may be loved; and in the swift gliding motion there is an irresistible
+fascination. It gives meaning to idleness, and fills up vacancy. By the
+banks of the river one never can be dull.
+
+The river is one of the greatest of our national possessions. Other
+rivers there are in England where one may boat on a small part, where
+here and there are beauty spots; but the Thames alone gives miles of
+bewildering choice, and can take hundreds and hundreds at once upon
+its flood. Now embanked and weired and locked, its waters are ideal for
+boating, and its fishing, with little exception, is free to all.
+
+Shooting on the banks of the Thames is forbidden, and the birds have
+quickly learned to know their sanctuary. Lie still for a while in the
+lee of an osier-covered ait, or beneath the shelter of an overhanging
+willow, and that cheeky little reed-bunting will hop about so near,
+that, were you endowed by nature with the quickness of movement granted
+to a cat, you could seize it in one hand. White-throats, robins,
+thrushes, blackbirds, all haunt the stream, and reed warblers and sedge
+warblers have their haunts by the banks. The kingfisher is rapidly
+increasing, and makes his home quite close to the locks and weirs; the
+russet brown of his breast, as he sits motionless on a twig waiting his
+time for a dart, may now be seen by a noiseless and sharp-eyed watcher.
+The soft coo of the wood pigeons sounds from tall trees, and the cawing
+of the rooks, softened by distance into a melodious conversation, is
+wafted from many a rookery. The chatter of an impudent magpie may worry
+you, or the hoarse squawk of a jay break your rest, but they are only
+the discords that the great musician, Nature, knows how to introduce
+into her river symphony.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY INN]
+
+Hotels on the river have, in the last few years, awakened to the cry
+of the middle classes for air and light, and yet more air. Some of
+the hotels are pretty with verandahs and creeper covered walls, but
+others are old-fashioned--with low rooms. Yet every proprietor who can
+by hook or crook manage it, now runs a lawn of exquisite turf down to
+the water's edge, decorates it with flowers far more vivid than can
+be seen elsewhere, and knocks up a bungalow-like building, terribly
+desolate in the winter when the green mould creeps insidiously over
+the wooden posts, and the sail-cloth rots in the damp; but airy and
+commodious in the summer, when relays of fifty people or more may be
+seated at a time, and yet there is no satiating smell of cooked food.
+The boat owners have also seen fit to accommodate their convenience to
+the demand, and at any large builder's landing-stage, boats may now be
+hired to be left almost anywhere on the river, to be fetched back by
+the owner.
+
+Pessimists say that the river is losing its charm, that the advent of
+motor cars, stirring in people a hitherto dormant love of speed, makes
+the slow progress of punting a weariness instead of a relaxation. But
+this is not greatly to be feared. The charm of a motor is one thing,
+the charm of the river another; and we cannot spare either. Crowds may
+slightly diminish, but this is no loss, rather a gain to the real river
+lover.
+
+Thames gardens are peculiar. By the nature of the case they must be far
+more public than ordinary gardens, for the owner's reason for buying
+the house was that he wanted to sit on his own green turf and see the
+river flow endlessly past. Therefore, though he may hedge around the
+three land sides with high walls and impenetrable thorns, he leaves
+the fourth side open so that all the world may look. No one has yet
+been clever enough to invent a screen that shall be transparent on
+one side and opaque on the other, and until they do, the owners of
+these beautiful river lawns must sit in the full light that beats upon
+the river banks, and allow every passing stranger who has raked up a
+shilling to hire a boat, to enjoy the beauties of a garden he has not
+paid for. Thames lawns are celebrated, and rightly so. Not even the
+turf of college quads, grown for hundreds of years, can beat their
+turf. Thick, smooth, closely woven they are, and above all, of a pure
+rich green that is a delight to see, and, by way of enhancing this
+marvellous green, the colour which is most often to be seen with it is
+its complementary colour, red. Whether the effect is obtained merely
+by contrast I do not know, but certainly it seems as if nowhere else
+could be found geraniums of so rich a vermilion, roses of so glorious
+a crimson. In many of these river gardens, too, especially where a
+little stream trickles down, a light trellis arch is thrown up and
+covered with Rambler roses, old rose in colour, and only second to the
+vermilion as a complement to the green lawn.
+
+Two of these gloriously green lawns I have particularly in mind, one at
+Shepperton, and one near Thames Ditton, but where they are to be seen
+so frequently it is invidious to particularise.
+
+These are the private gardens of a grand sort, and no whit less
+beautiful, though without the same expanse of lawn, are the gardens of
+the lock-keepers, in which the owners take a particular pride.
+
+     Soon will the musk carnations break and swell,
+     Soon shall we have gold-dusted snapdragon,
+     Sweet-william with his homely cottage smell,
+     And stocks in fragrant blow;
+     Roses, that down the alleys shine afar,
+     And open, jasmine-muffled lattices.
+                                   --_M. Arnold._
+
+But in taking count of Thames's decorations we are not confined to
+gardens. Among the flowers growing wild on the river banks we have
+no lack of choice. It is a pretty conceit of Drayton's, to make his
+bridal pair, Thame and Isis, travel to meet one another along paths
+flower-decked by willing nymphs. Old Thame, as the man, was to have
+only wild flowers, not those "to gardens that belong":
+
+     The primrose placing first because that in the spring
+     It is the first appears, then only flourishing,
+     The azured harebell next, with them they neatly mix'd,
+     T'allay whose luscious smell, they woodbind plac'd betwixt.
+     Amongst those things of scent, there prick they in the lily;
+     And near to that again her sister daffodilly.
+     To sort these flowers of show with th' other that were sweet
+     The cowslip then they couch, and th' oxlip, for her meet,
+     The columbine amongst they sparingly do set,
+     The yellow king-cup wrought in many a curious fret,
+     And now and then among, of eglantine a spray,
+     By which again a course of lady smocks they lay
+     The crow flower, and thereby the clover-flower they stick.
+     The daisie over all those sundry sweets so thick;
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The crimson darnel flowers, the blue-bottle and gold
+     Which, though esteemed but weeds, yet for their dainty hues
+     And for their scent not ill, they for this purpose choose.
+
+The "luscious smell" cannot refer to the harebell, which has a very
+faint perfume; besides, it is difficult to think of the harebell in
+this connection, for it is a full summer flower, while all the rest
+belong to spring: Drayton must, therefore, mean the wild hyacinth,
+which is still often called the bluebell by people in England, though
+in Scotland this name is correctly reserved for the harebell. The
+"luscious smell" exactly describes the rich, rather cloying scent of
+the hyacinth. There has been some discussion as to what is meant by the
+eglantine, which the old poets are so fond of mentioning. In Milton it
+means the honeysuckle, but in the others probably the sweetbriar; while
+woodbine is either the twining clematis, the "traveller's joy"--rather
+a misnomer, by-the-way, as it is an insignificant and disappointing
+flower--or the honeysuckle.
+
+Isis was gay with garden flowers:
+
+                 ... The brave carnation then,
+     With th' other of his kind, the speckled and the pale,
+     Then th' odoriferous pink, that sends forth such a gale
+     Of sweetness, yet in scents as various as in sorts.
+     The purple violet then, the pansy there supports
+     The marygold above t' adorn the arched bar;
+     The double daisie, thrift, the button bachelor,
+     Sweet-william, sops-in-wine, the campion, and to these
+     Some lavender they put with rosemary and bays.
+
+To make a catalogue of the flowers which may be found on the Thames
+banks at the present day would be out of place here, yet there are
+one or two plants so frequently seen that they may be mentioned.
+Among these are the purple loose-strife, with its tapering, richly
+coloured spikes, standing sometimes as high as four feet, and
+occasionally mistaken for a foxglove; the pink-flowered willow-herb;
+the wild mustard or cherlock, with its sulphur yellow blossoms, and
+creeping-jenny. The bog-bean, or buck-bean, with white lace-like
+flowers may be seen occasionally in stagnant swamps. The water-violet,
+which, however, is not in the least like a violet, is also to be
+found in the tributary ditches, as well as the tall yellow iris;
+the flowering rush and the bur-reeds often form details in a river
+picture. In the lock gardens herbaceous borders, full of phlox,
+sweet-william, stocks, valerian, big white lilies, and, later, red hot
+pokers, sunflowers, and hollyhocks, are ordinary sights. In the meadows
+near Oxford fritillaries, otherwise called snakes'-heads, are seen
+abundantly in spring, but these and other flowers shall be mentioned
+more particularly in connection with the places where they grow.
+
+It remains but to end with the aspiration of Denham:
+
+     O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
+     My great example as it is my theme!
+     Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
+     Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing full.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OXFORD MEADOWS
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+This account of the river may well begin at Folly Bridge, seeing it
+is folly in any case to attempt to cut off a section of a river, and,
+as before explained, our course from Oxford to London is peculiarly
+arbitrary, for the Thames proper does not begin till below Dorchester,
+and at Oxford the river is the Isis. Having thus disarmed criticism,
+without further explanation or apology, we stand upon Folly Bridge,
+which is a little way above the end of the course for both Torpids and
+Eights.
+
+To the left are the college barges, resplendent in many colours, with
+their slender flagstaffs rising against a background of the shady trees
+that border Christchurch meadows. The reach of water beside them is
+alive with boats, and the oars rise and dip with the regularity of the
+legs of a monster centipede. The barges should be seen in Eights week,
+when they are in their glory, occupied by the mothers, sisters, and
+aunts of the undergraduates, dressed in costumes that in mass look like
+brilliant flower-beds.
+
+To see the bridge properly, however, it is necessary to go down to
+the tow-path and look back at it, when its quaint, foreign appearance
+can be better estimated. It stands across an island on which is the
+renowned Salter's boat-house, and its solidity and the tall houses near
+it, which throw black shadows in the yellow sunlight, make it look not
+unlike a corner in Venice.
+
+Following the river down, we see on the Oxford side the narrow mouth
+of the meandering Cherwell under a white arched bridge. The most
+delightful place for "lazing" in a boat is the Cherwell, shady and not
+too wide; deliciously cool in the height of the summer, so rich is the
+foliage of the over-arching trees. Lower down is the New Cut, destined
+to relieve the Cherwell of its superfluous water in flood time and so
+prevent the flooding of the Christchurch meadows. Opposite the mouth
+of the New Cut is the University Boat-house, and further down, where
+a branch of the river runs off to the right, are the bathing places.
+This branch is crossed by a bridge, and it makes the next strip of land
+an island. The place is known as the Long Bridges. The river narrows
+at the point, and the narrowed part is called The Gut; just below a
+tributary from the Cherwell, known as the Freshman's river, dribbles
+into the Thames. It is at The Gut that the most exciting scenes in the
+races generally happen. As everyone knows, Torpids are in the fourth
+and fifth weeks after the beginning of the Lent term, and as they
+are not of so much importance as the Eights, and as the weather does
+not lend itself to open-air festivities, they are generally watched
+only by a shivering handful of spectators who have a more or less
+personal interest in them. The Eights, which take place in the middle
+of the summer term, are the event of the year to Oxford, and intensely
+exciting they may be. The lowest boat starts from the lasher above
+Iffley, and the course ends at Salter's Barge. But the crux of the
+whole matter often lies in The Gut, and much depends on the ability of
+the cox to steer a clean course, as to whether his boat is bumped or
+bumps. As the boats in cutting the curve below this crucial point come
+diagonally at it, disaster here often overtakes a crew which has before
+been doing well. The aforesaid narrow channel from the Cherwell is
+navigable only in a canoe and by good luck; but the tale is told that
+one cox, in his first year, being excited beyond reason, mistook it for
+the main channel, and, steering right ahead, landed his crew high and
+dry on the shoals. Hence the name, the Freshman's river.
+
+  [Illustration: IFFLEY]
+
+Here are two pictures, taken from life, which express the difference
+between the two occasions:
+
+     The Eights: Brilliant blue sky above, glinting blue water
+     beneath. Down across Christchurch meadow troops a butterfly
+     crowd, flaunting brilliant parasols and chattering gaily
+     to the "flannelled fools" who form the escort. Despite
+     the laughter it is a solemn occasion, for the college boat
+     that is head of the river may be going to be bumped this
+     afternoon, and, if so, the bump will surely take place in
+     front of the barges. The only question is, before which
+     barge will it happen? When the exciting moment draws near,
+     chatter ceases, a tense stillness holds the crowd in thrall;
+     the relentless pursuers creep on steadily, narrowing the
+     gap between themselves and the first boat, and finally bump
+     it exactly opposite its own barge! A moment's pause. The
+     completeness of the triumph is too impressive to be grasped
+     at once; then--pandemonium! Pistol-shots, rattles, hoots,
+     yells, shrieks of joy, wildly waving parasols, and groans.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     The Torpids: A raw cold February day; a leaden sky heavy with
+     snow; dimly seen figures scudding over the frozen meadows
+     of Iffley; the river itself is almost frost-bound, and the
+     men waiting in the boats for the starting gun look blue
+     and pinched. They must find these last ten seconds hard to
+     endure. Nine, eight, seven, six--ugh! will it never go? At
+     last! And, as the signal sounds, the oars strike the water
+     with a splash, and the boats shoot off and begin the long
+     tussle against a head wind and that strong stream which
+     always makes the Torpids a harder matter than the Eights
+     rowed in summer water. It is too late to follow them, so
+     heigh-ho for the King's Arms Hotel at Sandford, and a cup of
+     the good hot tea that the landlady knows so well how to make!
+
+The channel running past the bathing places is equally unsuited
+for navigation, and is moreover guarded by two mills, but it may be
+negotiated with the aforesaid element of good luck. Hinksey Stream
+flows into this backwater, and there are several places, after shoals
+have been avoided or surmounted, where it is extremely pleasant to
+while away an idle hour. By means of the Long Bridges and the lock
+at Iffley it is possible to get across the river from side to side
+diagonally. Passing on down stream we soon come to Iffley. In the
+meantime we can see many of the pinnacles and spires and domes for
+which Oxford is famous, and marvellous is the way in which they appear
+to swing round as we change our position. The part of new Oxford which
+lines the Iffley road behind the meadows is not attractive, but when
+we come in sight of Iffley itself we may well exclaim that it would be
+hard to find a sweeter spot. There are stone walls, thatched cottages
+and farmyards, hay and orchards, elms, alders, and silver-stemmed
+birches; in consequence a quiet, rural atmosphere broods over all.
+The cows feed down to the edge of the river, and swallows dart about
+overhead, while perhaps a man paddling a canoe shoots up and away
+again, his white flannels and the strength and grace of his movement
+irresistibly recalling a swan. The mill, half stone, half wooden cased,
+is very ancient; the massive foundations have become like rock from
+their long immersion in the running water. There is a great quiet pool
+behind the lock island, and here and there a glimpse may be caught of
+the square tower of the famous church, which is not far off, but is
+well hidden by trees.
+
+Iffley Church takes rank with Stewkley as the most beautiful example
+of a Norman church remaining to us out of London. It is, like so
+many Norman churches, very small and very solid. And it must yield
+to Stewkley in the fact that its architecture is not pure. Yet its
+massive central tower and its fine windows place it very high indeed.
+Its date is not certainly known, but is supposed to be between 1160 and
+1170. "The interior seems at first sight curious. There are, in fact,
+two chancels, one behind the other. The further one is early English
+work, and is much lighter in style than the rest of the building, and
+the east end is disappointing. This may have been added to lengthen
+the church. In the bay next to it, where the choir now sit, there are
+fourteenth century windows inserted under Norman arches, showing that
+the walls were of the earlier date. These windows were added by John de
+la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, in the latter half of the sixteenth century.
+There is a groined roof, and the piers are beautifully decorated. The
+arches supporting the tower are richly moulded, almost incongruously
+so in regard to the massive type of the masonry, which points to early
+Norman. The Perpendicular windows inserted in the north and south walls
+are good. It is only at the extreme west end that the Norman windows
+remain untouched. The font is of black marble, and is very curious.
+The triple west-end window, a splendid specimen, is best seen from
+the churchyard. Its moulding is very rich, and this alone would be
+sufficient to make Iffley rank high among ancient churches. Below it is
+a circular window inserted about 1858 on the supposed plan of a former
+one of which traces were found. The impossibility of approaching the
+style of the old work in modern times was never more strikingly shown.
+Below is a fine doorway with beak-head and billet moulding, worthy to
+be classed with the triple window. A very ancient yew stands on the
+south side of the church, and near it is the slender shaft of an old
+cross. The rectory house, dating from Tudor times, is a fine addition
+to the picturesque group."--_Guide to the Thames._
+
+Between Iffley and Sandford the famous Oxford meadows are seen at their
+best. In the summer they are gemmed with countless flowers, so that
+they rival the celebrated Swiss pastures. Prominent among these is the
+fritillary:
+
+     I know what white, what purple fritillaries
+     The grassy harvest of the river-fields,
+     Above by Ensham, down by Sandford yields,
+     And what sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries.
+                                       --_M. Arnold._
+
+Mr. G. Claridge Druce, the well-known botanist, who has made a special
+study of the Thames Valley and Oxfordshire, says:--"The Thames from
+Oxford to Sandford flows through meadows rich with fritillaries,
+its banks are bordered with the sweet-scented Acorus, and its waters
+are inhabited by Potamogeton proelongus, flabellatus, and compressus,
+Zannichellia macrostemon, OEnanthe fluviatilis, &c., and near Sandford
+appears, for the first time in the river's course, the lovely Leucojum
+aestivum." This is the flower better known as the summer snowflake,
+which we shall meet again. The above are only a tithe of the flowers
+which Mr. Druce mentions. Among others which may be recognised are the
+yellow iris, the cuckoo flower, the water villarsia, the purple orchis,
+and the willow weed. In the spring the marsh mallow is the first to
+appear with a vivid glory as of sunshine. The banks are flat and low,
+and, except for the flowers, uninteresting; nevertheless this is a
+useful part of the river, especially for sailing. Some college fours
+are rowed here. Passing under the railway line we see the pink-washed
+walls of the Swan Hotel, which stands on Kennington Island, connected
+with the mainland by a bridge; and then we come to Sandford itself,
+with charms almost as great as, though entirely different from, those
+of Iffley. The approach is disappointing. The tall mill chimney and
+the new brick houses are bare and ugly. The mill is a paper mill, and
+supplies the Clarendon Press. It stands close to the old-fashioned
+and pretty hotel, so completely ivy-covered that even one of the tall
+chimneys is quite overgrown. When close to the lock the mill is not
+noticeable and has the advantage of affording some shelter. As at
+Iffley, one can get right across from bank to bank by means of bridges,
+a most charming method that might well be adopted in other parts of
+the river. Indeed, near Oxford one great delight is the freedom from
+interference. Everyone is allowed full liberty; you may ride your
+bicycle along the tow-path, take it across locks, or even walk it by
+the side of the meadows, without any rebuke. Having put up a notice
+that they are not responsible for the condition of the tow-path and
+that people use it at their own risk, the Conservancy leave the matter
+alone. The islands at Sandford are rather complicated, and there are a
+couple of weirs, beneath which the water frills out over mossy stones
+into deep, shady pools. The fishing here is as good as any on the
+river. The Radley College boat-house and bathing place are near the
+lower pool, the college itself being rather more than a mile away. In
+spring these pools, with their broken banks of brown earth and their
+masses of scented white hawthorn, are most beautiful. The shy white
+violets hide in the grass near the weirs, and are found by only a few
+who know where to seek them.
+
+  [Illustration: RADLEY COLLEGE BOAT-HOUSE]
+
+In the Oxford zone we must include the woods at Nuneham Courtney,
+which, by the courtesy of the owner (Aubrey Harcourt), are open to
+undergraduates all Commemoration week and twice a week in the summer
+term; while the general public, after writing in advance, are allowed
+to picnic at the lock cottages two days a week from May to September.
+The Nuneham woods are on a ridge of greensand, and though they are
+not so high or at such a striking angle as those of Clieveden, they
+certainly have quite as great a charm. Anyone is allowed to walk
+through the park if it be approached from the road, but bicycles are
+not permitted. The lock cottages, which are a popular resort in the
+summer, stand beside a pretty wooden bridge which connects the islands
+with the mainland. Masses of wild roses and flowering clematis add
+their delicate touch to the beauty of the overhanging trees. Close
+by the water is the Carfax monument, a conduit or fountain erected
+by Otho Nicholson, who set it up at the place still called Carfax in
+Oxford, whence it was removed to its present position in 1787. The
+woods contain nothing very striking in the way of trees, though all
+the commoner sorts, the beeches, oaks, horse-chestnuts, and so on, are
+well represented. There are about 400 acres of wood, which surround the
+park, where the oaks show well, standing apart from each other.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE OLD TOWN OF ABINGDON
+
+
+As a headquarters for boating, for those who want to dawdle and
+explore odd corners and have no desire to rush through as many locks
+as possible in a day, Abingdon makes a good centre. It is within
+easy reach of the part lying below the woods at Nuneham, and in the
+other direction is the Sutton Courtney backwater, which, Wargrave
+notwithstanding, is not to be beaten on the Thames. Further down
+again is Clifton Hampden, which attracts many people, and the river
+at Abingdon itself is by no means to be despised. The bridge, called
+Burford Bridge, is a real delight. It is old and irregular, with
+straggling arches, some rounded, some pointed; and all, even the
+highest, comparatively low down over the water, framing cool, dark
+shadows within the embrace of the mighty piers. The bridge cannot be
+seen in the glance of an eye. It is very long, and rests partly on an
+island. Standing on this, the Nag's Head Inn projects from one side
+of the bridge, and from it stretches out a small garden with several
+orchard trees. The red tiles and creamy tint of the hotel walls show
+well in contrast with the grey stone of the bridge, and when the hotel
+is seen from the river above the bridge, with the tall spire of St.
+Helen's Church rising behind it, it is worth noticing.
+
+  [Illustration: ABINGDON]
+
+There are bits of old wall lining the bank on the town side, and ivy
+grows freely over them. Many of the houses stand back from the water;
+a part of the ruined abbey and the long range of the abbot's residence
+can be seen between masses of blossom. The great exterior chimney
+of the abbey buildings should particularly be noticed. The blossom
+at Abingdon is a great feature, and one not to be found everywhere.
+Horse-chestnuts and holm oaks dip their boughs in the water, and
+from the branches arises a perfect chorus of birds. Abingdon has its
+chimneys, of course, as well as hideous buildings suited to modern
+requirements of business, but in the general view these things are lost
+sight of.
+
+Burford is a corruption of Borough-ford, and before the building of the
+bridge in the fifteenth century, the ferry at Culham was the main means
+of communication with the other side of the river.
+
+The range of Nuneham, below which runs the backwater called the Old
+River, can be seen to the south-east. If this ever was the main stream
+it must have been very long ago, for the memory of it is not recorded
+in any document now extant. The Old River is crossed by another bridge,
+and the two are linked by a straight road, made by Geoffrey Barbour
+at the same time as the building of the bridges. There is a picture of
+Barbour in the almshouses, and this shows the bridge being built in the
+background; while an illuminated copy of verses tells us:
+
+     King Herry the Fyft, in his fourthe yere,
+     He hath i-founde for his folke a brige in Berkschire,
+     For cartis with cariage may go and come clere,
+     That many wynters afore were mareed in the myre.
+     Culham hithe [_wharf or landing_] hath caused many a curse,
+     I-blessed be our helpers we have a better waye,
+     Without any peny for cart and for horse.
+
+Below Burford Bridge, the great bur-reeds grow near the islands.
+There is one delightful old house, formerly a malt house, with all
+sorts of odd angles and corners. It encloses a small terraced court,
+from which steps lead down to the water. It stands on the site of St.
+Helen's nunnery, founded about 690. Further on are some of the newer
+almshouses--a blot on the scene; and then a glimpse may be had of the
+wooden cloister of the old almshouses, which, in their way, are as
+pretty as those at Bray.
+
+Christ's Hospital, as the almshouses are called, was founded in the
+reign of Edward VI. out of lands belonging to a dissolved Guild of
+the Holy Cross. The central hall dates, however, from 1400. It has a
+stone mullioned window and panelled walls; in the ceiling is a dome or
+cupola. Once a week eighty loaves of bread are here distributed among
+the poor people of the town, and when the loaves, with their crisp,
+flaky, yellow crust, stand in piles on the polished oak table, and the
+poor old people gather for their share, there is an old-world touch
+in the picture such as one does not often see nowadays. The cloister
+or arcade of dark wood outside is decorated with texts and proverbs
+on its inner wall. The newer almshouses, built in 1797, lack all the
+homeliness and interest of the older ones. The church of St. Helen's,
+which has a very tall spire, is close to the almshouses and the river,
+and is well worthy of its position. It has been much restored, but is
+mainly of sixteenth century work.
+
+  [Illustration: THE MILL AT ABINGDON]
+
+Of course there was an abbey at Abingdon, though whether the name
+of the town arose from that fact or from a proper name Aben or AEbba
+is doubtful. The earliest name of the town was the unpronounceable
+one of Seovechesham, and it was then a royal residence. The abbey
+was founded by Cissa about 675. It was destroyed by the Danes and
+reconstructed long before most places on the river had begun to have
+any history at all. The abbey rose to great importance and wealth. It
+held manors innumerable, and its abbot was a person to reckon with.
+Even at the date of Domesday Book the abbey held no less than thirty
+manors. But its power did not save it, and it suffered the common fate
+at the Dissolution. A gateway of about the fourteenth century and some
+ruins, which show where the dwellings of the monks stood, are all that
+remain, beside the guest-chamber--a large, barn-like building--and
+the almoner's residence. The latter has a magnificent fireplace and
+chimney. The ceiling of the room below is groined, and looks like
+that of a crypt, but this is said to have been the kitchen. The chief
+feature of interest is the huge chimney, which is like a room, and
+has little windows on each side; its size is best appreciated from the
+exterior view. The church has quite disappeared, for the little ancient
+church near the gateway was not the abbey church, but is supposed to
+have been at first a chapel of ease. In this there is some Norman work,
+including the west doorway, and it is probably of quite as ancient
+lineage as anything now remaining of the abbey.
+
+Henry I. was sent by his father, as a lad of twelve, to be educated
+at Abingdon Abbey, and the learning by which he gained the name of
+Beauclerc shows that there must have been some able men here. The town
+hall in the market place at Abingdon is really a fine bit of work. It
+has been attributed to Inigo Jones, and stands over an open arcade,
+according to the style of town halls of the seventeenth century. The
+lock is a good way above Abingdon, and from it the millstream, as usual
+a pleasant backwater, flows right back to the town, enclosing a large
+island.
+
+  [Illustration: SUTTON COURTNEY BACKWATER]
+
+The lock at Culham is one of the least interesting on the river, and of
+the hundreds who pass through it only a few know that they are close
+to the very prettiest backwater on the Thames, namely Sutton Pool.
+There is one backwater at Sutton Courtney which can be reached from
+above Culham Lock. This leads to the mill, now disused, and runs along
+the top of the numerous weirs that pour into Sutton Pool itself. It
+is pretty also, and it is pleasant to see the meadows where the cows
+stand knee-deep in flowering plants, and the little square tower of
+the church peeping through the trees. This backwater is the best for
+landing to go to the village. Along the top of the weirs runs a path--a
+public right-of-way--which leads across the fields to Culham Lock, and
+anyone may land here and look down upon the pool; but to get right into
+it the lock must be passed, and some way further, after going under
+the bridge, we can turn the corner of a large island and retrace our
+way upstream until we come into the great pool, with its miniature
+bays and tumbling water. The weirs are high, and the streams come down
+with force, making a restless heave and swell when the river is full.
+The little tongues of land that divide one bay from another are shaded
+by willows, and the lush green grass grows here and there around tiny
+beaches of white sand. In spring, masses of hawthorn, "all frosted"
+with flowers, bend down from above, and the wild hyacinths break up
+between the blades of grass. Tall reeds form tiny islets, and perhaps a
+little moorhen flaps out. It is in secluded places like this that the
+dainty nest of the reed-warbler may be seen, swinging so lightly upon
+its supports that it is extraordinary to think that so large a bird as
+the cuckoo should dare to deposit its egg there. Yet reed-warblers and
+sedge-warblers are both among the cuckoo's victims. Unfortunately, in
+this little paradise landing is everywhere strictly forbidden, but no
+one can forbid enjoyment of the beauties which appeal to sight.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN FROM THE BRIDGE]
+
+The village of Sutton Courtney is certainly worth visiting. The village
+green, with its tall chestnuts, limes, and elms, is the very picture of
+what a green should be. The church is particularly interesting, for it
+is that rarity an unrestored building, with the old red-tiled floor and
+the rudeness of the original--so often smoothed away behind stencilling
+and paint--still left untouched. There is a shelf of chained books,
+a fine carved screen, and an altar-tomb of some interest. The manor
+house, which is not far off, is in a medley of styles, ranging from
+Norman to Jacobean. Malefactors are said to have been hanged from the
+stout oak beam which is still in good preservation. One wing is of
+perfect Jacobean work, with an overhanging storey decorated with carved
+pendants. A fine old building, half-way up the village, is called the
+Hall of Justice; this, however, may have a meaning less obvious than
+supposed at first sight, as the family of Justice held the manor for
+some generations.
+
+In it there is a fine old Norman doorway. The owner has furnished the
+interior with tapestry hangings, etc., somewhat in accordance with what
+it may have looked like originally when in use. It certainly gives one
+an idea of the old Saxon or Norman style of dwelling before even the
+upper chamber or _solar_ came into fashion.
+
+The river at Clifton Hampden is not a couple of miles from the river
+at Nuneham Courtney, so great is the loop by Abingdon. It may be noted
+that the name Courtney, though spelt differently, is derived from the
+ownership of the Courtenays, Earls of Exeter, in both the instances
+above. Clifton Hampden is a great favourite with artists, for the
+church, with its little, pointed spire, stands on a cliff which has
+in parts broken away, showing the rich yellow ochre of the soil. This
+makes up well in a "composition." The river sweeps round beneath it
+in a sort of little bay, and when white ducks dabble in the water and
+blue-pinafored children play beneath the yellow-ochre cliff, there is
+much to be said for it. The houses, too, are not without points. They
+are mostly thatched, and have their share of plants and creepers. The
+bridge is of red brick, and, with a little toning by weather, will
+make a capital accessory. But to my mind Clifton Hampden lacks that
+indefinable quality of charm found in such abundance elsewhere.
+
+  [Illustration: CLIFTON HAMPDEN]
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SINODUN HILL AND DORCHESTER
+
+
+The island near Day's Lock, lying beneath the Wittenham Woods and
+Sinodun Hill, is particularly well kept and neat, and, in summer,
+bright with flowers. Standing on the end of the lock-keeper's island
+you can look straight up the weir, below which the river drifts away on
+each side of the island.
+
+On the right bank, raised slightly above the river, is the church of
+Little Wittenham, with a long, narrow bastion turret adhering to its
+tower. Inside there is a handsome monument, one of those legacies from
+the ages that prove long descent. A warm belt of Scotch firs grows
+near.
+
+Wittenham Woods lie under the shelter of the hill and close to the
+life-giving water. The trees grow well and form a home for countless
+birds of all kinds. "The hobby breeds there yearly. The wild
+pheasant, crow, sparrowhawk, kestrel, magpie, jay, ring-dove, brown
+owl, water-hen (on the river-bounded side); in summer the cuckoo and
+turtle-dove are all found there, and, with the exception of the pigeons
+and kestrels, which seek their food at a distance during the day, they
+seldom leave the shelter of its trees."--_C. J. Cornish._
+
+  [Illustration: COTTAGES, DORCHESTER]
+
+Sinodun Hill, and its companion, Harp Hill, which is as like it as
+one twin to another, are sometimes called Wittenham Clumps. They are
+remarkable and conspicuous objects, rising abruptly and evenly from a
+very flat district, and they can be seen from many miles around, and,
+what is more curious, can be recognised. The smooth, rounded cone is so
+symmetrical that, whichever way you look at it, it seems the same, not
+changing its shape in the bewildering way of most hills; and the clump
+of trees placed so exactly on its crown is an unfailing river-mark.
+Sinodun is about 250 feet in height, and on it is a British earthwork,
+a triple line of entrenchment, with vallum and foss all round. The
+circumference of this on the outside is about a mile. Harp Hill has
+on it a tumulus called Brightwell Barrow. Then down below, close to
+Dorchester, is a double line of earthworks, much mutilated, but quite
+noticeable. No one knows the origin of these defences, which date far
+back into unhistorical days. Those on Sinodun are called British, while
+the others are supposed to be Roman. Roman camps were nearly always
+square, while British followed the windings of the hill.
+
+Dorchester, with its cornfields and trees, its vegetable gardens,
+and its old houses bowed this way and that, is a very unsophisticated
+little place. The deep quiet of its village street, where the cottages
+glow all hues in the sunlight, from deep red ochre to egg-colour,
+brooded over by the long-backed abbey church, is a rest-cure in itself.
+The great yew trees, the pretty lych-gate, the old wooden porch,
+are all just what one would expect to find. Dorchester is not on the
+Thames, yet belongs to it certainly, for the Thame, which combines
+with the Isis to form the Thames, flows past it. As its name proclaims,
+Dorchester was once a Roman camp. Numerous Roman coins have been found
+in the neighbourhood, and a Roman altar. It was also the seat of one of
+the first and largest bishoprics in England.
+
+In 634 a monk of the order of St. Benedict, named Birinus, crossed
+to Britain to follow in the steps of St. Augustine and work as a
+missionary among the men of Wessex. He landed safely, and came to this
+part of the country, then in Wessex, which at that time stretched north
+of the Thames, though afterwards, when Mercia's power became great
+under King Offa, Dorchester fell within that kingdom. Birinus preached
+with so much effect that the King conferred upon him the office of
+bishop and gave him Dorchester for his residence. He died in 650 and
+was buried in his own church, though it is said his body was afterwards
+moved to Winchester.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITE HART HOTEL, DORCHESTER]
+
+The early bishopric was vast. It included what in our own day are
+the Sees of Bath and Wells, Exeter, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln,
+Salisbury, Worcester, and Winchester. There must have been a church in
+some degree adequate to the importance of such a charge, but it was
+probably of wood; in any case, nothing remains of it, though certain
+indications seem to show that it stood on the same site as the present
+one.
+
+Dorchester was an important city, but its glory did not long remain,
+and the bishopric was ultimately split up into many Sees. In 1085 the
+seat of the See of Mercia was transferred to Lincoln. The abbey was
+founded here in 1140 for Augustinian monks, and it is the monks' church
+which still in great part exists. The long nave, with its red roof,
+is seen easily from the river, but the tower appears rather inadequate
+in height. On approaching, however, it is found to be of massive work.
+The interior of the church is wide and high, and gives that impression
+of bareness which is consistent with Norman work. In the east window
+is a great pier or transom which is supposed to have been originally
+intended as the support for a groined roof. The north chancel window
+is the famous Jesse window, with carved tracery, carrying figures all
+the way up the numerous branches. The lowest is that of Jesse, from
+whom spring all the subsequent ones. Very few figures are missing,
+considering the age of the window, and the carving is remarkably
+interesting. It is supposed that the figures of the Virgin and Child
+were at one time above that of the patriarch, but were removed at the
+Reformation. The rich green glass in the sedilia on the other side of
+the chancel should be noted. It is unusual to see sedilia pierced.
+Two of the nave arches are plain Norman work. A rood door remains,
+and there are one or two handsome altar tombs; also a leaden font,
+well moulded, and, on the east wall of the south aisle, there are some
+remains of frescoes. Close to the porch outside is a graceful shaft
+with a "restored" head.
+
+The Thame we have already spoken of. Its arching trees and corners,
+and deep shady alleys, make it a delightful place for an idler. It runs
+close by the abbey church.
+
+  [Illustration: DORCHESTER BACKWATER]
+
+In the river near Dorchester grow the sweet sedge and the amphibious
+yellow cress, and on the banks may be found the blue pimpernel.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+CASTLE AND STRONGHOLD
+
+
+Wallingford boasts of having the oldest corporation in England,
+preceding that of London by a hundred years, and its record certainly
+reaches very far back. In 1006 it was destroyed by the Danes. William
+the Conqueror rested here on his way to London after the battle of
+Hastings. The town was then held by Wigod, a noble Saxon, who lived in
+his great fortress-castle. His son-in-law was Robert D'Oyley, who built
+the castle at Oxford, and rebuilt and greatly strengthened that at
+Wallingford. From the part of the river above the bridge a tree-grown
+mound can be seen, and, further back, a comparatively modern house.
+On the mound once stood the strong castle, and the modern house is its
+present-day representative. The grounds are famous for their trees, and
+particularly for their evergreens, which grow thickly on the slopes
+of what was once the inner castle moat, for there were no less than
+three. No wonder Queen Maud felt that in reaching Wallingford in safety
+after her terrible escape over the frozen meadows of Oxford, she once
+more held the lead in the game she and Stephen played for the crown.
+Stephen, however, was not daunted. He settled down at Crowmarsh across
+the river, and made strenuous attempts to take the fortress. After a
+long time, when the garrison were beginning to despair, the Queen's
+son Henry came to the rescue with a force sufficient to afford relief.
+It was at Wallingford the treaty was made which eventually secured
+Henry's succession. The castle was given to Piers Gaveston by Edward
+II., but after the fall of Gaveston it reverted to the Crown. Joan,
+the Fair Maid of Kent, wife of the Black Prince, died here in 1385, and
+later, in the Civil Wars between King and Parliament, Wallingford held
+stoutly to the Stuarts. The town was the last place in Berkshire which
+remained to the King, and it was taken in July, 1646, after a siege of
+sixty-five days. Cromwell, therefore, cherished a grudge against it,
+and when he came into power he ordered the castle to be destroyed, an
+order which was unfortunately carried out. Not far away in the same
+grounds is a fragment of a ruined and ivy-grown tower. This is part of
+an ancient college of St. Nicholas founded by Edmund, second Earl of
+Cornwall, who died in 1300.
+
+  [Illustration: WALLINGFORD]
+
+In some ways Wallingford reminds one of Abingdon. They are both homely,
+pleasant, brick-built market-towns, rather sleepy, but self-respecting.
+There are several islands beside the bridge; but Wallingford has
+not made the most of its islands. They are bare, and disfigured by
+boat-building works. The bridge is fair, and, seen from below, where
+a weeping willow falls softly over one bank, the view is pretty. A
+conspicuous feature is the steeple of the church near, looking as if
+it had been joined on to the body without any thought of continuity
+of style. There are three churches in Wallingford, which once owned
+fourteen! There is rather a good seventeenth century Town Hall in
+the market-place and a Corn Exchange. Friday is the market-day.
+Both above and below the town the river is pleasant, though without
+original features; there are well-kept parks and fine-grown trees to
+be seen frequently. The only interesting place in the stretch below is
+Mongewell, where a large piece of artificial water joins the river,
+and near it is a small church quaintly built. Shute Barrington, the
+well-known Bishop of Durham, married for his second wife the heiress
+of Mongewell, and lived here before his death. Below Mongewell is a
+long, dull stretch, good for boating, but too unshaded and open to be
+pleasant for loiterers. The Trial Eights take place here in December.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY MILL]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+TWIN VILLAGES
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+When two villages stand facing one another across a bridge, it is
+inevitable that comparisons, however impertinent, will be made. And it
+may be said at once that Streatley, for all its old church, its pretty
+hotel, and its mill, cannot dispute the palm with Goring, which has
+an older church and a more charming mill, and many other advantages.
+Streatley church is singularly vivid in colouring. Rarely is there
+to be seen a deeper green-gold than that made by the lichen on the
+red roof, and when the sunshine flashes out upon it the effect is
+positively startling.
+
+Not less attractive in its way is the red-roofed hotel with its backing
+of thick, green foliage, its tiny grass plots on the river's edge, and
+its gay flowers. The flour mill would be a valuable asset in the beauty
+items of any place not eclipsed by so near a neighbour.
+
+There are islands in the stream, and the bridge which runs across them
+is singularly picturesque. This is one of the few old wooden bridges
+remaining, and it is doubtless destined soon to be replaced by one of
+iron, as has been done at Pangbourne. At this one can hardly cavil,
+for delightful as are the long slender wooden piles to look at, they do
+seem as if they might give way unexpectedly at any minute.
+
+  [Illustration: STREATLEY]
+
+If we stand down by the lock there are numberless views in all
+directions, each good in itself. It is a hot day in summer, and the
+vivid scarlet and the deep carmine of the lock-keeper's geraniums
+literally strike one's eyeballs with their colour. We do not, alas!
+hear the wash of the water tumbling over the weir, for weirs in summer
+often run dry, or give only a small trickle, though it is just the
+time when their gay music would most appeal to the heart of man. The
+lock-keeper has stories to tell of the days before the "pound" locks,
+as they used to be called, were made. What we call the weirs were then
+the "locks." The great barges had to be towed up the weirs by means
+of rope and capstan; and sometimes, when the water ran low, they had
+to wait for weeks for a freshet that would enable them to get up. The
+lock here is only five-eighths of a mile below that at Cleeve, and
+these two are the nearest together on the river, except those of Temple
+and Hurley. Beyond Cleeve there is a long stretch of six and a-half
+miles before the next, Benson Lock. It almost seems as if the powers
+that deal with locks had in their justice tried to make things even by
+multiplying them in the beauty spots, so that those who want only the
+best have to pay for it by the worry of passing locks; while those who
+are content with something less can have it without bother. Some locks,
+however, have been done away with as unnecessary. There used to be
+one between those of Cleeve and Benson, and another at Hartslock Wood,
+below Goring; but these have disappeared.
+
+The ancient road known as the Icknield Street crosses the river at
+Streatley; it was used by the Romans, but made long before their time.
+
+High beyond the bridge, and, rising above it, as we stand at the lock,
+is the grand sweep of hill locally known as Greenhill, in distinction
+from Whitehill on the Goring side.
+
+To the right, on the top of the heights, are the golf links, and
+the small white road winds steeply up, carrying with it a touch of
+melancholy, which the sight of a far-away and steep road always gives,
+a suggestion of a journey that winds "uphill all the way."
+
+Reading has now established a regatta to keep its own folk in its
+own neighbourhood on the August Bank-Holiday; and a great boon this
+has been to the quiet up-river places, for they are not now invaded
+by launches full of rollicking, bottle-shying crowds, such as are
+characteristic of the neighbourhood of all great towns, and on these
+occasions apt to become remarkably prominent.
+
+  [Illustration: GORING CHURCH]
+
+Goring stands high among Thames villages, literally and figuratively.
+Its main street runs winding up-hill to the station, and though there
+are few of the genuine old cottages left, the small houses which have
+replaced them have been mostly built in the best modern river style,
+with exterior beams, porches, projecting windows and ornamental gables.
+Creepers flourish abundantly. From the river the church is easily seen.
+A small and narrow backwater leads under a bridge to within fifty yards
+of the tower.
+
+The building is very old, and was originally the church of the
+Augustinian priory. It is partly covered with rough stucco, which
+is peeling off untidily in patches. The tower is Norman, and has a
+bastion turret, which greatly adds to its appearance, and, what is more
+uncommon, the east end is an apse, though we are bound in honesty to
+say an apse rebuilt.
+
+Close by the church is the mill, which eclipses that at Streatley in
+appearance, and shows adaptability in applying its power as an electric
+generating station, while Streatley remains conservative, and still
+grinds the sweet-scented white flour. But the electric charging has
+not spoilt the mossy roof, gleaming green and russet alternately, or
+the pretty pigeon-house from which flocks of white pigeons often sweep
+round over the glistening water and the low islands. A very large and
+neat boat-house lies below the bridge on the Goring side.
+
+Between this and Pangbourne we have at first rich well-covered heights
+on the one side, and high, open chalky hills on the other, dotted with
+the neat circular clumps usually associated with chalk uplands. But
+after a while these are replaced by the famous Hartslock Woods.
+
+Speaking of the valley of the Thames between Goring and Henley, in his
+introduction to the _Flora of Oxfordshire_, Mr. G. Claridge Druce says:
+
+"We may wander for miles through verdant alleys whose groundwork begins
+in early spring with the glossy gold of the smaller celandine, followed
+by the pale stars of the wood anemones and myriads of primroses, these
+giving place to sheets of hyacinths, 'that seem the heavens upbreaking
+through the earth,' the blue being here and there relieved by the
+yellow archangel or brightened with stitchwort; still later on the
+bluebells are replaced by masses of the fragrant woodruff, and these
+by the more sombre colouring of the bugle. Then come the creamy-white
+flowers of the helleborine, the dull, livid spikes of the bird's nest
+orchis and the blue forget-me-nots, giving place to a galaxy of summer
+flowers, brightening in later months into the brilliant yellow of the
+ragworts and the purple of the foxgloves. The grassy downs, too, in
+spring are resplendent with the milkwort in all its purity of colour,
+whether of that typical blue which rivals the Swiss gentian in beauty,
+or fading into white or blushing to pink; while mixed with it are
+brilliant patches of rich orange yellow hippocrepis. Later on appear
+the rosy crimson spikes of the pyramidal orchis and the pale lemon
+flowers of lady's fingers, and the drooping blue-flowered campanula. If
+perchance the land have remained fallow, the bright flowers of iberis,
+sometimes suffused with rich purple, the glaucous foliage of rare
+fumarias, the deep crimson petals of the hybrid poppy, the bright rosy
+pink spikes of sainfoin and yellow toad flax, combine to form a varied
+show."
+
+  [Illustration: GORING]
+
+Before reaching Pangbourne we pass acres of osier beds on the right.
+Pangbourne and Whitchurch stand to each other in the same relation as
+do Goring and Streatley, but in this case it is the southern side to
+which the palm must be awarded. At Pangbourne the old wooden bridge
+has given place to an iron one, but the deed has been carried out in a
+manner that reflects credit on the doer, for the new bridge runs in a
+graceful curve, and its sides of latticed ironwork are painted white.
+Seen in glimpses between the islands, the new bridge does not detract
+from the charms of Pangbourne, but rather adds to them.
+
+There are numbers of islands at Pangbourne, and they lie in a great
+basin between and beneath the weirs, which are small and frequent. The
+pool is full of beauty. The trees grow freshly and well, and throw
+a veil of tender green over the water, which is, on a summer day,
+brilliant in hues of blue and green, cobalt, sea-green, pale apple,
+indigo; these can all be traced lying in strips and sections where
+the riotous torrent from the weirs frays out its inquietude and loses
+itself. In one corner by a pretty cottage is a splash of vivid crimson,
+an arcade of roses. Near the bridge great launch works are a blot
+and an eyesore, but it is so seldom we find our ointment without the
+proverbial fly.
+
+  [Illustration: PANGBOURNE FROM THE SWAN HOTEL]
+
+Pangbourne village is quaint and pleasing enough, but it is not so
+beautiful as some of the villages along the Thames side. No village
+built haphazard, with a little river bridged over in its main street,
+with a brick-towered church, with dark evergreens, and a fair amount
+of creepers, could fail to be attractive in some sense. But there is
+too much new brick in Pangbourne. The river Pang is a tiny streamlet,
+and the winding ways do not hold that charm which can be felt even as
+one races by in a motor. Further up the river a row of neatly-built,
+red-brick and white-balconied houses stands up against a high chalk
+bank overlooking the river; behind this, in a deep cutting, runs the
+railway line. Above the bridge there is a landing on the Whitchurch
+side close to the church, which is a well-kept flint building. In the
+chancel there is a monument to the Lybbe family, dated 1599. Whitchurch
+is mostly built of red brick, and is neat and clean, but without any
+very great attractions. Before reaching Mapledurham a fine old house,
+Hardwicke, is passed. Charles I. stayed here and played bowls. The
+house itself is well protected by trees, but it stands in rather open
+country, amid bare chalk uplands, where sometimes may be seen a curious
+opaline glow in pale sunshine.
+
+  [Illustration: WHITCHURCH LOCK]
+
+Mapledurham is greatly spoilt by the churlishness of its main landlord.
+The lock-keeper is strictly forbidden to ferry anyone across the
+river, and though the crossing would be but short, and would involve
+only a walk of a few seconds along the bank to the mill, it is not
+permitted. As the nearest bridges on each side are those of Pangbourne
+and Caversham, it is necessary for anyone going by road to keep to
+the north side of the river between these points if he wants to see
+Mapledurham. The place certainly is worth some trouble, but it is
+small, and the restrictions are tiresome. The fine old Elizabethan
+house is a real mansion of the good old sort; one could imagine endless
+stories of romance connected with it. It was fortified during the civil
+wars by Sir Arthur Blount, governor of Reading, and is still held by
+the same family. The principal entrance is by an avenue of elms nearly
+a mile long, but the house is perhaps best seen through the gates from
+the churchyard. The church is small, and Perpendicular in style, with
+the exception of the tower, a modern addition in flint and brick. There
+is within a Blount chapel with many family memorials, including an
+altar-tomb.
+
+  [Illustration: MAPLEDURHAM MILL]
+
+The mill at Mapledurham is also a great delight to look upon, and
+numbers of artists sketch it from every point of view. The islands
+lying in the swirl of the weir-pool afford many a quiet nook in which
+to anchor, though landing is forbidden. From this it may be judged that
+if Mapledurham is a Paradise, it is sternly guarded with notices, which
+meet one on every side with the persistence of the flaming sword.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A MITRED ABBOT
+
+
+The Abbot of Reading was, like the Abbot of Abingdon, mitred, and bore
+powerful rule. Reading ranked third among the abbeys of England, and
+held the great privilege of coining. It was founded in 1121 by King
+Henry I. himself, who was afterwards buried here. It was for long
+supposed that Adeliza his queen lay here also, but the evidence goes to
+show she was buried in Flanders. The Empress Maud lies at Reading. The
+great church was dedicated by Thomas a Becket, and in it took place the
+marriage of John of Gaunt.
+
+Fuller, who is always worth quoting, says that though Ely "bare away
+the bell for bountefull feast making," Reading "spurred up close" to
+it, and continues: "The mention of Reading minds me of a pleasant and
+true story, which, to refresh my wearied self and reader, after long
+pains, I here intend to relate":
+
+"King Henry VIII. as he was hunting in Windsor forest lost himself,
+and struck down about dinner-time to the Abbey of Reading, where,
+disguising himself, he was invited to the abbot's table and passed for
+one of the king's guard. A sirloin of beef was set before him on which
+the king laid on lustily, not disgracing one of that place for whom he
+was mistaken. 'Well fare thy heart,' quoth the abbot, 'and here in a
+cup of sack, I remember the health of his Grace your master. I would
+give a hundred pounds on the condition I could feed so heartily on beef
+as you do. Alas, my weak and squeasy stomach will hardly digest the
+wing of a small rabbit or chicken.' The king pleasantly pledged him,
+and heartily thanking him for his good cheer, after dinner departed as
+undiscovered as he came thither. Some weeks after the abbot was sent
+for by a pursuivant, brought up to London, clapped in the Tower, kept
+close prisoner, fed for a short time with bread and water. Yet not so
+empty his body of food as his mind was filled with fears, creating
+many suspicions to himself, when and how he had incurred the king's
+displeasure. At last a sirloin of beef was set before him, on which the
+abbot fed as the farmer of his grange, and verified the proverb that
+'Two hungry meals make the third a glutton.' In springs King Henry out
+of a private lobby where he had placed himself, the invisible spectator
+of the abbot's behaviour. 'My lord,' quoth the king, 'presently deposit
+your hundred pounds in gold, or else no going hence all the days of
+your life. I have been your physician to cure you of your squeasy
+stomach, and here, as I deserve, I demand my fee for the same.' The
+abbot down with his dust, and glad he had escaped so, returned to
+Reading, as somewhat lighter in purse, so much more merrier in heart
+than when he came thence."
+
+When the Dissolution came, the abbot, full of belief in his own
+strength, defied the king, though he saw the whirlwind around him
+which had devastated other monasteries no less powerful than his own.
+There was no over-tenderness in Henry's methods, and Hugh Faringford,
+thirty-first was abbot, hanged, drawn and quartered in front of his own
+gateway in 1539.
+
+There is very little left of this famous abbey now, and the gateway has
+been so carefully "restored" that there is more restoration about it
+than anything else; in fact, it is simply a reconstruction. Nearly all
+the remains lie within a very few acres, and the Forbury public garden
+is on the site of one of the courts of the abbey. The ruins at the east
+end are heavily covered with masses of ivy, but preserve the outlines
+of the chapter house and church, which was over five hundred feet in
+length.
+
+Reading possessed a castle as well as an abbey, and the castle has
+vanished still more completely, leaving even its exact site unknown,
+though it is supposed to have been at the west end of the present
+Castle Street, or at the place where the prison now stands.
+
+  [Illustration: CAVERSHAM]
+
+In 871 the Danes got as far up the river as Reading, and seized both
+town and castle. Many times has parliament been held in the ancient
+town, and many sovereigns have visited Reading, including Queen
+Elizabeth, who stayed there no less than six times. In the civil wars
+Reading was a stronghold for the king until, after a severe siege, in
+1653 the garrison capitulated on condition of being allowed to walk out
+free with arms and baggage, a boon which was granted. After this the
+place was held by the Parliamentarians, but was again occupied for the
+king, only to become once again the headquarters of the Parliamentary
+army, and so it had many changes of fortune. St. Giles's church still
+bears the marks of the artillery from which it suffered during those
+uncertain times. There are other churches in Reading, but this is not
+a guide book, so there is no need to enumerate them. Archbishop Laud
+was born in Reading, and educated at the Free School. Reading is not
+actually on the river, and Caversham may be called its river-suburb.
+It is not a place which much attracts boating men. From its size,
+its manufactories, its chimneys, it is necessarily in many aspects
+unpleasant to those who have come to seek their rest and pleasure far
+from smoke and toil. The most important industries are Messrs. Sutton's
+seed emporium, and Messrs. Huntley and Palmer's biscuit factory, which
+employs more than five thousand persons; there are also breweries
+and many lesser works. Did it not lie between two such pre-eminently
+charming places as Sonning and Mapledurham, boating people would avoid
+it altogether.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Sonning and its Roses
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+There are certain notable details of the river-side which stand out in
+the mind after the rest have been merged in mere general remembrance
+of lazy happiness. In these we may include the backwater at Sutton
+Courtney, the woods at Clieveden, the Mill at Mapledurham, and the Rose
+Garden at Sonning. Roses grow well all along by the river, but nowhere
+so well as they do at Sonning, and the rose garden forms an attraction
+which draws hundreds to the place. Yet Sonning has other attractions
+too; it is very varied and very pretty. When one arrives at it first,
+perhaps coming upstream, one is rather perplexed to discover the exact
+topography. We round a great curve which encloses an osier bed; here,
+in early spring, the osiers may be seen lying in great bundles, shaded
+from olive-green to brown madder. Then we see some green lawns and
+landing places beneath the shadow of a fine clump of elms, and catch
+sight of the lovable old red-brick bridge, with its high centre arch,
+spanning the stream. But there is another bridge, a wooden foot-bridge,
+which also spans the stream, at right angles to the other, and peering
+through beneath this, we can see the continuation of the red brick one
+in a new iron structure, which stretches on right up to the neat flower
+beds of the French Horn Hotel. The truth is, the river suddenly widens
+out here into a great bulge, and in the bulge are several islands, on
+one of which are a mill and a house and several other things, not to
+forget a charming garden. It is the river channel between this island
+and the bank that the first bridge, the old one, spans. And what a
+view it is! Above the bridge can be seen rising the little grey church
+tower. On one side is the White Hart Hotel, with its warm tone of
+yellow wash, its red tiles and its creepers, and above all its famous
+rose garden. In the foreground is a willow-covered ait placed in
+exactly the right position. It is a perfect picture. But yet this is
+not the best side of the bridge. The other side is better; for here,
+to resist the flow of the current, the builders placed the buttresses
+which emphasise the height of that centre arch; buttresses now capped
+with tufty grass and emerald moss, and from the crevices of which
+spring clumps of yellow daisies, candytuft, wallflower, hart's-tongue
+fern, and other things. In the bricks all colours may be seen, after
+the manner of worn bricks, not even excluding blue. The mill is, as
+it should be, wooden, and with Sandford Mill, is mentioned in Domesday
+Book. From the dark shadow beneath its wheel, the largest on the river,
+gurgles away the water in cool green streams, passing beneath the
+overhanging boughs of planes and horse-chestnuts. From the mighty sweep
+of the wheel, as it may be seen in its house, the drops rise glittering
+in cascades to varying heights like the sprays of diamonds on a tiara.
+The mill-house, called Aberlash, stands not far off on the same island,
+with a delightful garden.
+
+  [Illustration: THE ROSE GARDEN AT SONNING]
+
+This island spreads onward with green lawns in a sweeping semicircle to
+the lock and cottage, and from two small weirs the water dances down,
+adding variety to a beautiful pool where stand many irregular pollard
+willows on tiny aits. Over the smaller weir, framed in a setting of
+evergreens, is a bit of far distant blue landscape. There is a bank
+here too, an embankment, which might be covered with flowers according
+to its owner's design, but that the water nymphs, intolerant of
+flowers, except those of their own choosing, take a wicked delight in
+sweeping down over the weir, and sending the water flowing like a lace
+shawl all over the embankment to carry back all the roots and bulbs
+and other things that may have been planted there to use as playthings;
+their gurgle of delight at their own unending joke may be heard all day
+long.
+
+The shy kingfishers love the big pool below the weir, but it is not
+often they are seen unless the watcher has the faculty for making
+himself invisible against his background and is able to remain
+motionless.
+
+The woods of the Holme Park, rising high close by, throw a deep-toned
+shadow on the picture, particularly refreshing on a baking summer's
+day. Many birds find their refuge in these woods, and at night the
+weird cries of the owls sound hauntingly over the flats. A ghost is
+supposed to inhabit the park, and the owl's cry might very well serve
+for a ghost's moan on occasion.
+
+Having thus explored the puzzling bit of river, we may land and walk up
+through the Rose Garden, or, according to Mr. Ashby Sterry in his _Lays
+of a Lazy Minstrel_:
+
+     Let's land at the lawn of the cheery White Hart,
+     Now gay with the glamour of June!
+     For here we can lunch to the music of trees,
+       In sight of the swift river running,
+     Off cuts of cold beef and a prime Cheddar cheese,
+       And a tankard of bitter at Sonning.
+
+For the sake of those who have gardens of their own, we give a list of
+the principal roses grown at Sonning:
+
+     Monsieur E. Y. Teas, Madame Marie les Dier, Marie Baumann,
+     Viscountess Folkestone, Duchess of Bedford, Aimee Vibert,
+     Prince Camille de Rohan, W. A. Richardson, Edouard Morren,
+     Queen of Queens, Sultan of Zanzibar, Suzanne M. Rodocanachi,
+     Madame de Watteville, Souvenir d'un Ami, Homer, Duke of Teck,
+     Duke of Edinburgh, Cristal, Jules Margottin, Mavourneen, Reve
+     d'Or, Clio, Countess of Rosebery, The Bourbon, Souvenir de la
+     Malmaison, Marechal Niel, Alfred Colombo, Mrs. W. J. Grant,
+     Magna Charta, La France, Prince Arthur, Charles Lefebvre,
+     Dean Hole, Mrs. F. Laing, Maman Cochet, Madame Willinoz,
+     Horace Vernet, Caroline Testout, Gloire de Dijon, Auguste
+     Rigstard, Abel Carriere, Abel Grand, Eclair, Rubens, Bessie
+     Brown, Beauty of Waltham, Boule de Neige, Jeremiah Dickson,
+     Catherine Mermet, Gruss an Teplitz, Lady Battersea.
+
+  [Illustration: SONNING]
+
+With this brilliant mass of colour, the rich dark reds, the glorious
+pinks, the pale yellows, dead whites and the flaming apricot of William
+Allen Richardson, the effect may be imagined; and the entry to all this
+beauty is beneath a trellised arch covered with masses of the Crimson
+Rambler!
+
+Sonning village itself is very irregular, uphill and downhill, with
+roads all ways. There are rights of way through the quiet churchyard,
+where there is a row of magnificent elms, and the villagers are real
+flower lovers. Almost at any season of the year at which flowers will
+flourish out of doors, flowers there are to be seen. Earliest of all,
+the quince, the yellow jasmine, and the dainty almond blossom; then the
+golden bunches of laburnum and the fresh mauve lilac; later on roses
+of all kinds, not always climbing, but in bushes and clumps. Window
+boxes are seen everywhere, and Virginia creeper and ampelopsis cover
+up all bare corners. The houses themselves are charming. There are many
+more cottages in the older style than can be found at Wargrave. Many a
+tiny diamond-paned window is seen high up, almost lost in a straggling
+creeper. The projecting storeys, the brown lathes imbedded deep in the
+brick, making rectangles of broken colour, the yellow wash of a deep
+umber, the high external chimneys, all make up many nooks to be looked
+at again and again with appreciation. Sydney Smith was staying at
+Sonning in 1807, and we can but admire his taste.
+
+There is a tradition, very hazy, that Sonning was once the seat of a
+bishopric. There is no evidence at all as to this, but the fact that
+the See of Salisbury has held the manor since the time when Domesday
+Book was made may have led to the error.
+
+The bishops had a house here, and it was at the bishops' house that
+King John stayed for six days a month before his death. Leland says:
+"And yet remaineth a faire olde House there of stone, even by the
+Tamise Ripe longging to the Bishop of Saresbyri, and thereby is a fine
+Park."
+
+The oldest parts of the church probably date from 1180, but there
+is very little of this date left. The principal bits are the south
+doorway and a small window above it. The south aisle was built about
+1350, the piers of the nave about 1400, at which date the chancel was
+added. The north chancel aisle and the north aisle came about 100 years
+later. The whole church was restored in 1852. There are one or two
+interesting monuments to be seen in it, and it is a good model of what
+a well-preserved, dignified parish church should be.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+WARGRAVE AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
+
+
+Wargrave is one of the most delightful of Thames-side villages. There
+is not much that is old among the houses that line the village street;
+thatch has almost gone. Wooden beams are not noticeable, except when
+used in the modern architecture that imitates the old; the material
+seen everywhere is red brick. Wind and weather, however, soon tone
+down the asperities of red brick, and from the rich soil creepers
+spring up quickly to cover it with loving tendrils; so the street
+becomes a delightful medley of casement windows, gable ends, and bushy
+foliage. Not the least of the charm is that each small house has its
+own ideas about frontage, and entirely refuses to stand in line with
+the rest. There are houses with their doorsteps in the roadway, and
+houses modestly retiring behind bushes in their strip of garden. Here
+is a wistaria with a stem as thick as a man's arm, and there roses
+and sweetbriar, purple clematis and starry jasmine, succeeding and
+intermingling. Wargrave has learnt to choose the good and refuse the
+evil of the modern spirit; she is clean and self-respecting as some
+villages will never learn to be. Her small shops are good of their
+kind, but self-conscious she is not, or garish, or any other of the
+horrible things associated with modernity.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CHURCH AT WARGRAVE]
+
+The place centres about cross roads, but straggles in many directions,
+and on the high ground surrounding it many a new house has been built
+lately, and stands amid delightful grounds.
+
+The church, which is near the open green, where grow fine trees, is
+of flint, with a red-brick pinnacled tower, half ivy-covered. In the
+church is buried Thomas Day, author of _Sandford and Merton_, who was
+killed by a fall from his horse in 1789. A Norman doorway, a carved oak
+pulpit black with age, and a huge family pew, tell of long survival,
+and give the church the same touch of self-respecting dignity that the
+village has. It can be seen from the water, peeping over greenery near
+a backwater, with its tower overtopped by trees.
+
+The whole of Wargrave is seen to advantage from the water or from the
+meadows opposite. Many green lawns slope down to the brink, and the
+height of the bushy elms is a thing to note. A few Lombardy poplars
+break the fulness of the bosky foliage with their elongated ovals, and
+that most graceful of all trees, the wych elm, curves his beautiful
+lines in soft arches over the velvety lawns or smoothly-flowing water.
+
+     Witch elms that counterchange the floor
+       Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright;
+       And thou, with all thy breadth and height
+     Of foliage, towering sycamore.
+                                   --_Tennyson._
+
+The river turns almost a right angle at Wargrave, and, from running
+eastward, goes due north. The little village, being situated at the
+bend, gets the benefit of both vistas. The George Hotel, indeed, stands
+exactly at the angle, and the sweep of the water catches its wharf
+with full force. It boasts a signboard painted by two R.A.s; this is
+preserved indoors, while another swings as its proxy in the village
+street. Placed as it is in regard to the river channel, and with the
+wide flats of Shiplake meadows opposite, the hotel is exposed, and
+the very openness of its garden, an attraction which draws hundreds of
+summer visitors, makes it a butt for the racing winds of early spring.
+It is a pretty hotel built of brick, with a white painted verandah,
+after the usual river pattern; and a gigantic wistaria embowers all the
+front in its delicate mauve in summer, while roses trained over trellis
+work flash answering colour signals.
+
+The view over the river includes the glowing sunsets, which leave a
+slowly dying splendour behind a distant bank of trees.
+
+     And there was still, where day had set,
+       A flush that spoke him loth to die;
+     A last link of his glory yet
+       Binding together earth and sky.
+                                  --_Moore._
+
+Looking up to the left is the railway bridge, which is not so ugly as
+it might be; below, every hundred yards shows fresh beauties.
+
+Wargrave backwater is one of the most noted on the river, and in
+summer, or early spring, is a fairyland of greenery. The entrance is
+behind the large willow-covered island that lies below the hotel. The
+tiny arched bridge, not far in, is so low that one has to lie full
+length in a boat in order to pass under it. This is called Fiddler's
+bridge, though no local tradition keeps alive the origin of the name.
+The gentle light shimmers down between the spear-leaved willows in a
+veil of glory, and the stream is so narrow, one can almost touch the
+banks with both hands at once. In the main stream meantime, there are
+several islands decorated with the new rough stuccoed houses now so
+popular in river architecture, and, at the end where the backwater
+emerges again, there is a brightly-coloured boat-house. Beyond this,
+again, is a long stretch where there are generally house-boats. In
+winter, a little creek on the left bank is a kind of storehouse for
+them. This is a fine wide reach, and above it rises Wargrave Hill with
+its large white house conspicuously placed.
+
+Further down, the river makes a succession of curves; and facing up
+stream is Bolney Court, in a solid, old-fashioned style, of a dull
+yellow colour, while, behind and around it, the deep blue-green of
+Scotch firs is seen among the lighter foliage, and on the curving
+heights which block the vista to the north, the heights above Henley,
+these trees are conspicuous everywhere. Indeed, evergreens of all kinds
+flourish well in the chalky soil about Wargrave.
+
+The late C. J. Cornish said somewhere that Thames eyots always seem to
+have been put in place by a landscape gardener, and those about Bolney
+recall the words. They are thickly grown over by sedge and osiers, and
+overshadowed by taller trees; between them, the channels of shining
+water, half hidden half revealed, gain all the charm of elusiveness.
+Has anyone ever reflected what a kindly thought it was of Nature's, to
+arrange that trees growing on the water's edge should invariably take
+an outward angle, so as to lean over the water? How much less effective
+the result would have been had they grown inward, may be pictured by
+imagining a river without reflections. In the stillness of a backwater,
+or in the narrowed channel beside a large island, the beautiful effect
+of this outward angle is best seen. If the channel be very narrow, the
+trunks fold one behind the other in perspective, so as to form an arch
+over a shining aisle. In the water, all the many-coloured gnarled stems
+are smoothed by the gentle movement into something softer than the
+rigid reality, with its hard knots of shadow. The different colouring
+on the stems of the same species of tree is a thing to marvel at. From
+the deep mahogany of a joint where the damp has made an open wound, to
+the faint biscuit-colour of the place where a strip of bark has been
+newly peeled off, the stems of pollarded willows furnish every brown
+and yellow on a painter's palette. Many of them are richly crowned by
+a head of ivy, whose satin-smooth leaves fall in garlands like locks,
+and sway with every touch of air. These are reflected in the water as
+a shaded mass of green with no detail.
+
+There are so many varieties of willow that it is difficult for the
+lay mind to remember them all, and numbers of them are to be seen
+about Wargrave. It is the Crack willow and the White willow, with long
+slender leaves, that are commonly pollarded as osiers, though they will
+grow tall enough if they are allowed to. There is a legend that the
+mournful droop of the leaves of the weeping willow is a reminiscence of
+the sad time of the Captivity:
+
+     By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we
+     remembered thee, O Sion;
+     As for our harps, we hanged them up upon the willow trees
+     that grow therein.
+
+Besides the willows, there are their cousins, the poplars, chief among
+which, is the fine Populus tremula, whose leaves whisper perpetual
+secrets, even on the stillest days. This is caused by the broad leaves
+being attached to a slender flattened stalk. They are silky on the
+wrong side, and when the wind blows through the foliage it turns a
+soft greyish white, like a cottony mass. There is a legend that the
+wood of this tree was used for the Cross, and that in consequence it
+has trembled ever since, and so its leaves are in a perpetual state of
+quivering.
+
+The poplar, like the ash, is not kind to neighbouring trees, its
+numerous suckers taking more than their share of nourishment and
+moisture from the ground, and the leaves, when they fall, seem to be as
+destructive as those of the beech, for grass will not grow where they
+lie.
+
+In spring, these trees shed their long catkins, like hairy
+caterpillars, all over the water, and they are swept up in heaps into
+every eddy.
+
+In spite of the delights of summer, there is a time which well bears
+comparison with it; I mean the first fine days of early spring, before
+the rest of the world has awakened to the fact that winter is over.
+And about Wargrave at such times there is to be found great charm by
+those whose senses are alert. It is true that the splendid hedge that
+lines the tow-path shows only the long withes of the creepers and no
+starry flowers; that the graceful sprays of the wild rose now appear
+barbed and polished and ferocious, instead of sweet and enticing. A
+bush of barberry or berberis is not often seen in hedges, for the old
+folk-lore taught that wheat never throve when the barberry was in the
+hedge; therefore the farmers grubbed it up whenever they found it. But
+science has confirmed the empirical wisdom of our fathers, for it was
+discovered that the barberry furnishes the intermediate host for rust
+in wheat. On the green river bank there are quivering blades of tender
+green, but no flowers with their umbrella heads of white, or bunchy
+yellow, or pale mauve. Yet still there are compensations. To begin
+with, the river itself talks in spring as it never does in summer,
+and what is better, one can hear it without the interruption of human
+chatter or noise. One has the whole stretch to one's self, and attuning
+one's ear to the key of that conversation, one can listen to it sucking
+at the bank, flop-flopping under the prow of one's punt, chuckling
+as it races past the pole, and, laughing a little silvery laugh of
+merriment, that we call rippling--a word we have learnt to adapt to our
+poor human attempts in the same direction. The river sprites are with
+us, and very busy they are--ceaselessly busy about nothing at all, and
+so happy in their activity that to hear them is to laugh for right good
+fellowship. The wind is in the water, urging them on faster and faster;
+each wavelet has its crest of foam, and, in the heights and hollows
+ahead there is every shade of green, from emerald to olive. One must be
+very still in order to imbibe the real spirit of the scene, for they
+are shy, these river nymphs, as shy as the birds and beasts that live
+around them, and have learned the fear of tempestuous man. A shy-bold
+wren, with a sudden glint of sunlight on his rich brown back, flies
+to the edge of the water where the punt lies drifting, and then darts
+back in haste to the shelter of that commanding hedge he never likes to
+leave. His pertness is all in his appearance; never did looks so belie
+a timid character! A water-hen, startled by the sudden dip of the pole,
+flies out of the reeds close by, and skims in a swift low line to the
+islet opposite; her smooth dark body, with the elongated neck and scant
+tail, resembles an Eastern water skin.
+
+There is a gentle continuous whispering among the reeds, as if they
+questioned themselves, with quiet disapprobation, why the river was
+always in such a hurry. From the field behind the hedge comes the
+sweet scream of a wheeling peewit, and two large wood-pigeons flap
+noisily from the tall trees on the island, a very picture of contented
+domesticity.
+
+We slide on gently, close by the tow-path, until the tall hedge comes
+to an end, and the green meadows stretch right away from the lip of the
+river, and around them rise the tree-crowned heights in a semicircle,
+like the tiers of a giant amphitheatre.
+
+Flop! A water rat dives furtively. Though called a rat, he is in
+reality a vole, and is almost exclusively graminivorous; in this
+differing from his namesake, the real rat, which also haunts river
+banks, especially near mills. With hoarse squawk, a wild duck rises
+heavily from cover, and after the first difficult spiral, wings off
+like an arrow, his long neck extended. It is a day of cloud and shadow,
+and suddenly the light breaks out on the trees ahead with a wild
+freshness that makes one catch one's breath. It races up stream, and
+the dun is turned to gold at the touch of its breath. The sweetness of
+early spring is in the air and in our blood; the larks feel it as they
+rise:
+
+                   Sounds of vernal showers
+                     On the twinkling grass,
+                   Rain-awaken'd flowers,
+                     All that ever was
+     Joyous, and clear, and fresh, thy music doth surpass.
+                                              --_Shelley._
+
+And there is a stirring of sap and juice in things--small things deep
+down in dark holes and corners, and in all green and growing things.
+
+After this, how cloying the richness of summer, with its still days,
+its glaring reflections, the luscious foliage, and the overpowering
+scents--the thought of it strikes one's senses as the thought of a
+hothouse would strike a child of the moor and the mountain. And when
+we remember Wargrave regatta, with its crowded banks, its lined shores,
+its flags a-flutter, and its noise, we are thankful that August is afar
+off.
+
+Though we have wandered down stream, the bit above Wargrave is equally
+attractive. Just beyond the railway bridge the river Loddon flows into
+the Thames. To pass up it and its tributary, St. Patrick's stream,
+is no easy feat; yet by using this loop the lock may be evaded, and
+it is the only place on the river where such a trick is possible. It
+is, however, far the best to explore this by-way from the other end
+and to come down stream by its means. To reach it, one must go high
+up above the lock, beyond the last of the chain of islands which here
+breaks the channel, and there turn in under a small bridge, into this
+curious tributary, which starts from the river and returns to it again.
+It flows at first through wide flat meadows, and then bifurcates, one
+branch, blocked by a weir, communicating again with the Thames, and the
+other falling into the Loddon, and with it rejoining the main river.
+
+Part of St. Patrick's stream is fringed by well-grown uniform pollard
+willows that hedge it like a wall. In summer, when the meadows are
+rich in buttercups, and the wind hums softly over the clover, bringing
+wafts of scent, and many a quaint weed adds its note of colour to the
+general harmony, it is very charming. But the most delightful feature
+is the growth of the Leucojum aestivum, or summer snowflake, which is so
+numerous that it is popularly known as the Loddon lily. This is like
+a large snowdrop in which several blooms spring from one head. It is
+also to be found on several of the islands in the main river near, but
+is not abundant there. The Loddon itself rises far inland: Twyford gets
+its name from lying near two branches, a twy-ford. The stream is slow,
+and it is only the swift current of St. Patrick that enlivens it lower
+down.
+
+Above the mouth of the Loddon there lies an interesting bit of the
+river. On a large island, owned by the Corporation of London, stands
+the lock-keeper's cottage, and opposite to it, on the mainland, a
+delightful old mill-house with tiled roof, and that weather-worn,
+rather battered appearance, which all self-respecting mill-houses aim
+at as the perfection of ripeness. The long tongue of the lock island
+projects down stream like the nose of a pike. In winter, the little
+moorhens, partly tamed by hunger, and reassured by the absence of those
+noisy humans who come in such numbers in warmer weather, run about
+all over it. Other things run too, all the year round; the lock-keeper
+has a fine stock of hens, but accepts philosophically the fact that he
+can never rear any chickens "because of the rats." The rats, which are
+attracted by the ample stores at the mill-house, and find such variety
+of lodgings along the banks of the stream and in the crevices of the
+much worn woodwork, are the pest of these places.
+
+The island is a popular camping ground, and the pitches are generally
+secured early in the season, having been well prepared beforehand
+by being laid in sand and flints to ensure a dry foundation. There
+are also a tiny bungalow, to be had for two guineas the week, and a
+bathing place available. Altogether a very attractive island. The main
+stream races over the weir, forming a wide tumbling pool below, and on
+the other side of the island there is a pleasant stretch down to the
+lock. These lock channels are among some of the most charming places
+on the river. They are generally very still, with the mass of water
+hardly moving. On some days every twig is reflected, and the view in
+this particular one is well worth looking at, as, with the group of
+the mill buildings rising high on one side, and the cottage with its
+accompaniment of standard roses on the other, there are the elements
+of a most satisfactory composition. The meadows slope down at just
+that angle that shows them off to the best advantage; they are dotted
+with fine trees and are crowned by clumps of wood, from which sounds
+the homely cawing of rooks. The red cows stand knee-deep in the placid
+water, lashing at the flies with their tails; and on the other side is
+a mass of greenery:
+
+             I ...
+     Walked forth to ease my pain
+     Along the shore of silver streaming Thames;
+     Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,
+     Was painted all with variable flowers,
+     And all the meads adorned with dainty gems
+     Fit to deck maidens' bowers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Sweet Thames! run softly till I end my song.
+                                     --_Spenser._
+
+Shiplake stands high above the flat meadows by the river bank. The
+little flint church, in which Tennyson was married, has a prettily
+buttressed tower, and around it grow many tall evergreens and waving
+trees. There are also some interesting old frescoes on the walls, two
+representing St. Christopher, who seems particularly appropriate in a
+river church. From the porch, down between two rows of shrubs, one can
+look on to the top of a mass of trees, which shuts out a bend of the
+silver river, and beyond them see the blue distance, miles and miles
+away. Mrs. Climenson, whose book on Shiplake was privately printed,
+suggests that the name originated in schiff-laacken, for the story goes
+that when the Danes got so far, their boats stuck on the shoals, and
+their commander ordered them to be burnt, to prevent a possibility of
+retreat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HENLEY REGATTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Who can ever think of Henley without its regatta? And yet Henley
+is very well worth thinking of at all times of the year. It is a
+pleasantly-built, middle-aged, red-brick town. Its history does not
+reach back so far as that of Abingdon or Reading. It boasts neither
+abbey nor cathedral. Near the esplanade above the bridge, there are
+one or two of the tumble-down, out-of-perpendicular style of cottages,
+which invariably add so much to a river scene; but the main part of
+the town, which is, of course, of red brick, has a homely air of the
+seventeenth century about it. The solid and stately Red Lion Hotel,
+close to the bridge, is one of the most historic houses in the place.
+Charles I. stayed here in 1632, when, after severe dissensions, he
+was trying the method of ruling England without a Parliament, and
+when the terrible fate that was to befall him had not yet "cast its
+shadow before." It is doubtful if he paid his bills, for he was in
+chronic want of money; but he left a memento behind him which has more
+than repaid the hotel, for it forms a perennial source of interest.
+This is a large fresco painting of the royal monogram and coat of
+arms over one of the mantelpieces, and from the date it is evident it
+was done at the time of this visit. It was not discovered till 1889,
+having probably been hastily concealed during the troublous days of
+Cromwell's ascendency. Being on one of the principal coaching roads,
+Henley received more than its share of celebrated visitors. On July the
+12th, 1788, George III., with the Queen and three of his daughters,
+had breakfast at the Red Lion; George IV. once dined here; and the
+celebrated Duke of Marlborough regularly kept a room here that he might
+use it in his journeys from Blenheim; his bed is still preserved. After
+these associations, that of Shenstone, who wrote a poem with a diamond
+on a window-pane, comes as an anticlimax. The poem begins:
+
+     To thee, fair Freedom, I retire,
+       From flattery, cards, and dice, and din;
+     Nor art thou found in mansions higher
+       Than the low cott or humble inn.
+
+And the last verse, which is often quoted, runs:
+
+     Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round,
+       Whate'er his stages may have been,
+     May sigh to think he still has found
+       The warmest welcome at an inn.
+
+In summer the red brick of the hotel is almost hidden by the creepers
+which embrace it; especially noticeable is the glorious wistaria, most
+lovely of all the climbing plants.
+
+  [Illustration: RED LION HOTEL, HENLEY]
+
+The bridge was built in 1786, and is of stone. The keystones of the
+central arch are adorned with sculptured masks of Thame and Isis.
+They were the work of Mrs. Damer, a cousin of Horace Walpole's, and as
+such falling within the limits of the great man's kindly appreciation.
+Behind the hotel and well seen from the bridge, is the church, with its
+four corner pinnacles.
+
+At the time of the regatta, and for some weeks before, it is impossible
+to get accommodation in the town anywhere. Of all the river regattas
+Henley is by far the greatest, and comes even before the Boat Race in
+the estimation of some people. The races used to end at the bridge,
+and so the lawn of the Red Lion was in the position of a favoured
+grand-stand, but now the winning post is a quarter of a mile short of
+this, opposite the last villa on the left bank. The starting point is
+near Temple or Regatta Island, and the reach certainly makes a fine
+one for the purpose. The course is railed off by piles and booms,
+and all the hundreds of craft which gather to the scene have to cram
+themselves in somehow, so as not to cause obstruction. It is well not
+to select an outrigged boat for such an occasion. The best and most
+commonly seen craft are punts, worked by means of canoe paddles; for
+the punts are too solid to collapse easily in the pressure that may be
+put upon them, and the paddles, requiring little room to work, are less
+dangerous to one's neighbours than poles. But all kinds of skiffs and
+canoes appear, and some are even bold enough to tempt fate in Canadian
+canoes. On a brilliant day, when the light sparkles on the water,
+and there is enough wind to set the pennons and streamers flying, the
+scene is undeniably gay and pretty. All the luncheon tents on the green
+lawns near form a bright adjunct. Salter and Talboys, from Oxford, and
+other boat-builders, have landing-stages for the week, and the various
+clubs entertain largely. Chief among these is the Leander, whose fine
+club-house is on the right bank not far from the bridge; it also has
+a lawn further down. Not far off are the grand-stand, the Grosvenor,
+and the New Oxford and Cambridge Clubs, and one large lawn is taken as
+a clubland _pied-a-terre_ for the use of any members of London clubs
+in general. But beside these there are the Isthmian, Sports, and Bath
+Clubs on the left bank, and Phyllis Court, with smooth lawns; and
+then a long line of house-boats begins, continuing past Fawley Court
+on to Temple Island, with just one break for the lawns of the Court.
+Bands play, luncheons are consumed, flags flutter; everyone is gay and
+lively, and the scene is one that can hardly be described justly in
+mere word painting. At noon the first race is rowed. A bell is rung
+to clear the course. All sorts of boats and canoes have slipped out
+between the openings left for them, and they must hurry back and crush
+into the already tightly wedged mass; in a moment everything else is
+forgotten in the excitement of the special event. On the last evening
+of the regatta there is a grand firework display and a procession of
+illuminated boats; and, as may very well be guessed, the real success
+of Henley depends greatly upon the weather, which, even in the first
+week of July, when it takes place, is not always kind.
+
+  [Illustration: HENLEY REGATTA]
+
+As we have said, the surroundings of Henley are of a sort to attract
+attention, even without the additional glories of the regatta. Above
+the bridge is a long ait, and high on the right bank rise the woods of
+Park Place. Here the brilliant green of the beeches is diversified by
+the dark blue-greens of fir and cedar. The Place was once the residence
+of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the grounds were greatly improved by
+Field-Marshal Conway, a cousin of Horace Walpole. A long glade is cut
+through the wood. It runs under a bridge made of blocks of stone taken
+from Reading Abbey, and over this passes the road. From the river a
+peep of the striking vista can be had. Higher up again is Marsh Lock.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMBLEDEN]
+
+But the influence of Henley extends down as well as up the river.
+Phyllis and Fawley Courts both at one time belonged to Bulstrode
+Whitelocke. Fawley was wrecked very early in the civil wars; but
+Phyllis was strongly fortified, and some of the earthworks may still be
+seen. Henley was a Parliamentarian stronghold, and was annoyed by the
+neighbourhood of plucky little Greenlands at Hambleden, which, "for a
+little fort, was made very strong for the King."
+
+It belonged in the time of the Stuarts to Sir Cope d'Oyley, who was a
+staunch Royalist. When he died his eldest son held Greenlands for the
+King, and his house was battered by the cannon of the Parliamentarians
+from across the water. In the nineteenth century the Rt. Hon. W. H.
+Smith lived here, and his widow took from the village the title he
+himself never lived to enjoy. In Hambleden also there is a fine old
+manor house, and some of the clipped yews in the gardens of private
+houses are very remarkable. High above the place rise the woods
+near Fingest and Stokenchurch. The weirs at Hambleden are the most
+attractive on the river. Long curved bridges run across them from shore
+to shore, and are open to the public as a right-of-way. The curves
+strike off at different angles, and every moment the point of view
+changes. Whether we are passing over tumbling weirs, where the water
+glides across long mossy planes, or over sluice-gates where it bursts
+through, the enchantment is the same. Flags and tall yellow irises and
+the greenest of green tufts grow in the water and about the foundations
+of the bridges. Looking back at the mill, we see it reflected in the
+calm, deep water above the weirs as in a polished looking-glass. There
+are old cedars and red-roofed cottages, and plenty of Scotch firs and
+yew hedges in the background. Away up the river is the white mass of
+Greenlands with its pierced look-out tower.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE ROMANCE OF BISHAM AND HURLEY
+
+
+One of the greatest calumnies I ever heard expressed was the remark,
+"What, writing a book about the river! Why, the river is all alike,
+isn't it?" It is true that many reaches of the river are so exceedingly
+attractive that there is a danger of applying the adjectives "pretty"
+and "beautiful" and "charming" to many of them, but the sameness is
+not in the reaches, it is in the poverty of one's own language. What
+can be more different, for instance, than the river about Maidenhead
+and the river above Marlow? Yet both are delightful. The patrons of
+the Maidenhead part no doubt outnumber those of Bisham and Hurley,
+but that is because Maidenhead is one of the most accessible places on
+the river. The station at Marlow is on a branch, and many a weary hour
+must be spent waiting, if one is dependent on trains. This is the only
+station for Hurley and Bisham, unless we go on equally far in the other
+direction to Henley. However, this is one of the reasons why the Marlow
+section is preferable to the Maidenhead one--when you do get there.
+
+Great Marlow itself is a fairly important place for a riverside
+village. It is like a little country town, and though many new
+red-brick villas are springing up, it could not be called "residential"
+in the way that the word could be applied to Richmond, for instance.
+The ground plan is very simple. One wide street runs straight down to
+the bridge, and another street crosses it at the top. In the latter is
+to be found Marlow's chief literary association, for here still stands
+the cottage where Shelley lived. It is marked by a tablet, and is a
+low, long building, creeper-covered, and is now divided into several
+cottages. Here he wrote _The Revolt of Islam_ and _Alastor, or the
+Spirit of Solitude_.
+
+  [Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF MARLOW]
+
+Down by the water side the whole aspect of Marlow is bright and open.
+It must be entirely different from the older Marlow, when the wooden
+bridge--which crossed the river lower down than the present one--and
+the old church were still in existence. At present, in the summer all
+is gay and clean looking. The suspension bridge, which is the best of
+the modern sort of bridges from an artist's point of view, is rather
+low over the water; standing on it one can look right down on to the
+green lawn of the Compleat Angler Hotel, and see the many-coloured
+muslins, the white flannels, the gay cushions, the awnings, and the
+sunshades, as if they were all a gigantic flower bed. The red hotel
+itself is from this point caught against the background of the Quarry
+Woods. Opposite to it is the very green strip of the churchyard
+coming right down to the edge of the river, and only separated from
+it by a low stone parapet: weeping willows fling their green spray
+out over the water, and behind is the church. It is undeniable that
+the materials used in the church are distinctly ugly, but the steeple
+goes some way towards redeeming it, and if it can be seen silhouetted,
+so that the materials are lost in dimness, and only the outlines are
+apparent, it becomes at once more than passable. Spires are not common
+in Thames-side churches, which are far more often capped by rather low
+battlemented towers.
+
+One of the glories of Marlow is its weir. It runs in a great
+semicircular sweep below the hotel; and, from a terrace there, one can
+look right down into the swirling water; or by coming up the backwater
+below in a boat, one can land at the hotel without facing the lock at
+all, a great advantage. The weir is in several planes, and the extended
+flood makes a perpetual wash, rising to a roar in winter, and dwindling
+to the merest tinkle in summer. Marlow is distinctly a summer place:
+its openness, its many trees, its wide reach of water, and the splash
+of the weir are all summer accompaniments; and in winter, when the wind
+sweeps down from the south, the unprotected side, and the water hisses
+and bubbles in its struggle to get down to lower levels, it is weird
+and melancholy.
+
+  [Illustration: QUARRY WOODS]
+
+The lock channel is fringed by several islets, and there is the usual
+mill, and a pretty wooden foot-bridge. Several of the most graceful of
+our trees, the dainty silver birch, stand near the mill. On some of the
+lower islands osiers grow, and there are one or two neat boat-houses.
+Wide meadows fringe the river below; and eastward--the bridge lies
+due north and south--are the famous Quarry Woods, held by many to be
+superior even to the Clieveden Woods. In some points they are, and
+not the least of these is that they are traversed by several roads,
+while those at Clieveden are kept strictly private. The woods are
+composed almost wholly of beech, the tree that loves the chalk, here
+so abundant, and only a few patches of larch may be seen in clumps
+among them. Beginning at the water's edge, rising above the curious
+white castle with harled walls called Quarry Hill, now to let, the
+woods continue in a straight line inland, getting further and further
+from the river as they go. It is difficult to say at what season of
+the year they are the most beautiful. In early spring, before the buds
+burst, if looked at in the mass, there is to be seen a kind of purple
+bloom made by the myriad buds, which is not found in any mixed woods.
+In spring the buds burst out into that tender indescribable green,
+like nothing else in the world, and the new-born leaves, suspended
+from their dark and almost invisible twigs, are for all the world like
+fronds of giant maidenhair. In the autumn the whole ground is one blaze
+of rich burnt-sienna, a carpet of leaves laid so industriously that not
+a speck of the bare brown earth appears; and from this rise the stems
+smooth and straight, lichen-covered every one, and thus transformed to
+brilliant emerald. Where the light strikes through the rapidly thinning
+branches, they have the very glow of the stones themselves. It is an
+enchanted wood, and at any moment a wizard might peep out from behind
+one of those magic trunks.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM CHURCH]
+
+The woods alone would be sufficient to give Marlow a high rank among
+river places. But all this is below the bridge, and above there is
+much to see. Not far off, on the right bank of the river, is Bisham,
+a tiny village with its church and abbey, now a dwelling house. The
+whole of Bisham is well worth lingering over. The cottages stand
+along the road in straggling fashion, old and new, and some of the
+gardens are bright with homely, sweet-scented flowers, among which,
+stocks and sweet-williams seem to be the favourites in the summer.
+One tumble-down row, rather off the road, is a mass of honeysuckle,
+and roses and ivy. The little church stands so near to the margin of
+the river that not a dozen yards separate its tower from the flood.
+A low moss-grown stone parapet edges the churchyard; over this elms
+dip their crooked boughs in a vain endeavour to touch the ripples as
+they spring playfully upward, driven by the wind. The little church
+has a square stone tower, wonderfully softened, so that it looks as if
+it must fray to powder at a touch. The brick battlements are a later
+addition, but the gentle river air has breathed on them so that they
+tone in harmoniously. Some of the windows are transition Norman. For
+ages the little church has stood there looking out across the water
+to the green flat meadows, and though it has been rebuilt and altered,
+there is much of it that is fairly ancient. The Hoby chapel was built
+about 1600, by the disconsolate widow of Sir Thomas Hoby, Ambassador
+to France; in it are several fine tombs, and on that of Sir Thomas, his
+lady, who was learned, as it was the fashion for great ladies to be in
+her time, wrote long inscriptions in Latin and Greek and English; the
+last of which ends up with:
+
+     "Give me, O God, a husband like unto Thomas,
+     Or else restore me to my husband Thomas!"
+
+Eight years later she married again, so that she had presumably found
+a husband "like unto Thomas." The Hoby window in this chapel, with
+its coat of arms, is especially interesting, and when the morning sun
+streams through in tones of purple and gold upon the worn stones, the
+effect is striking.
+
+There are one or two good brasses in the church, and a small monument
+to two children who are traditionally said to have owned Queen
+Elizabeth as mother!
+
+  [Illustration: HURLEY BACKWATER]
+
+From the reign of Edward VI. to 1780 the Hoby family held the abbey,
+and then it was bought by the ancestors of the present owner. It is
+a splendid group of masonry, and stands very effectively near the
+river. The tall tower, the oriel windows, and the red tints against
+the fine mass of greenery, make a very unusual picture. Bisham at one
+time belonged to the Knights Templars, who founded here a preceptory.
+But their Order was dissolved in the reign of Edward II. In 1338 the
+Earl of Salisbury established here a priory for Augustinian monks.
+This was twice surrendered, having been re-established after the first
+time. It is rather curious that the last prior, being permitted by
+the tenets of the Reformed Church to marry, became the father of five
+daughters, each of whom married a bishop; while he himself was Bishop
+of St. Davids. Poor Anne of Cleves was presented with the abbey by
+her sometime husband the King, who, however, died before the gift was
+confirmed. She was allowed to retain it, and from her it passed to
+the Hobys as aforesaid. The house has therefore a long history, and
+much of the fabric is very old. One of the oldest parts is the fine
+entrance gateway, dating from the reign of King Stephen. The great
+hall is supposed to have been at one time the church of the abbey. As
+three Earls of Salisbury, the great "King Maker" Warwick, and Edward
+Plantagenet, unhappy son of an unhappy father, were all buried in the
+abbey church, there is every reason to suppose that their bones lie
+beneath the pavement in the hall.
+
+During Queen Mary's reign Princess Elizabeth was a prisoner at
+Bisham under the charge of Sir Thomas Hoby. No doubt she "took water"
+frequently, and glided gently down with the stream; for people were
+accustomed to use their river when there were no roads to speak of.
+She must often have gazed upon the Quarry Woods in all their flaming
+splendour of autumn, but the Marlow she knew is so different from our
+Marlow we can hardly otherwise picture it. Several alterations were
+made at the abbey while Elizabeth was there, such as the construction
+of a dais, and a large window; small points, which show, however, that
+she was treated with all due respect. And she herself has left it on
+record that she received kindness and courtesy from her enforced hosts.
+These alterations were followed subsequently, in her own reign, by the
+rebuilding of much of the abbey, which was then made as we now see it.
+
+  [Illustration: BISHAM ABBEY]
+
+It is inevitable that such a historic house should have a tradition or
+two attached to it; and traditions are not lacking. It is said that
+the ghost of someone drowned in the river rises at times in the form
+of a mist, and spreads all across the channel, and woe be to anyone who
+attempts to penetrate it. Another tale is that the house is haunted by
+a certain Lady Hoby, who beat her little boy to death because he could
+not write without blots. She goes about wringing her hands and trying
+to cleanse them from indelible inkstains. The story has probably some
+foundation, for a number of copybooks of the age of Elizabeth were
+discovered behind one of the shutters during some later alterations,
+and one of these was deluged in every line with blots. We all know that
+great severity was exercised by parents with their children at that
+time; even Lady Jane Grey had to undergo "pinches, nips, and bobs,"
+until she thought herself "in hell," while with her parents, and the
+story, if not the ghost, may safely be accepted.
+
+Another tradition tells of an elopement. One of the Earls of Salisbury,
+about to set out for the Holy Land, sent for his daughter, who was a
+nun at the convent of Little Marlow, to bid him farewell. She came to
+him at Bisham, and while there was persuaded by one of the squires to
+elope with him. The pair crossed the water, but were almost immediately
+captured. The girl was presumably returned to her nunnery, where her
+escapade would give her something to think of during all the monotonous
+days that followed, and the man was imprisoned at Bisham. In attempting
+to make his escape he fell from a high window and was badly injured. It
+is said that he afterwards took the vows and became a monk.
+
+Temple Mill and House and Lock, which come next to Bisham up the river,
+recall the possession of the Knights Templars. This and Hurley Lock are
+the two nearest together of all on the river, and experienced oarsmen
+frequently catch the second one by making a dash on high days and
+holidays when there is likely to be a crowd and consequent delay.
+
+Interesting as Bisham is, it is rivalled by Hurley, with its remains of
+the fine old mansion Lady Place.
+
+In order to reach the lock one passes under a high wooden foot-bridge,
+"the marrow" to one further up. On the lock island is a large red-brick
+mill-house, near which stand one or two evergreens; while on an apple
+tree in the lock-keeper's garden is a fine growth of mistletoe, of
+which he is justly proud. Mistletoe grows a good deal in the valley
+of the Thames. It is not as a rule easily seen, owing to the foliage
+of the trees on which it grows; but in the winter, across the frozen
+meadows, against the cold white sky, it may be seen in great tufts that
+look like giant nests.
+
+It is supposed that the seeds of the mistletoe in order to become
+fruitful must pass through the body of the missel thrush, which is
+extremely partial to them, and seems to be almost the only bird that
+will touch them, hence its name; and if, as is conjectured, the seeds
+cannot germinate without this process, we have the phenomenon of an
+animal forming the "host" for a vegetable parasite.
+
+Beyond the lock there is a sheltered channel with the quaintest
+old-world flavour about it, a flavour which grows yearly more and
+more difficult to find as it melts away before the onward sweep of
+the advertising age. A strip of green turf is lined by an old brick
+wall with lichen and moss growing on its coping, so that when the sun
+catches it, it is like a ribbon of gold. Tall gate piers, crowned by
+stone balls, frame a bit of the excellently kept velvet lawns of Lady
+Place. There are many of these old piers and balls, and nearly all are
+overgrown with roses.
+
+     Look to the blowing rose about us--'Lo,
+     Laughing,' she says, 'into the world I blow,
+     At once the silken tassel of my purse
+     Tear, and its treasures on the garden throw.'
+                    --_Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam._
+
+The splendid cedars, themselves a guarantee of age that no modern Midas
+can summon to deck the grounds of his new mansion; the tinkle of a
+cowbell from the meadow near; and the Decorated windows of Lady Place
+peering over the wall; all add to the impression made by the whole.
+The abbey was founded in 1086 for Benedictine monks. It is interesting
+to note what a very great attraction water always held for monks;
+doubtless the necessity for Friday fish was one reason for this; but
+one likes to think that they also loved the river for its own sake,
+and that they found in the current the same sort of fascination which
+it holds for us now. It may be also that it was the constant gliding
+of the water, an emblem of their own smoothly running lives, that drew
+them so strongly:
+
+     Glide gently, thus for ever glide,
+       O Thames! that other bards may see
+     As lovely visions by thy side
+       As now, fair river! come to me.
+     O glide, fair stream, for ever so,
+       Thy quiet soul on all bestowing,
+     Till all our minds for ever flow
+       As thy deep waters now are flowing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     How calm! how still! the only sound,
+       The dripping of the oar suspended!
+     The evening darkness gathers round
+       By virtue's holiest powers attended.
+                            --_Wordsworth._
+
+Of this abbey not much remains. The crypt is isolated, standing away
+from the remainder of the buildings, and anyone may penetrate into
+it. The old moat is excellently well preserved, and its circuit shows
+that the abbey premises must have extended over at least five acres of
+ground. The church, which is now the parish church, is an odd little
+building. It has a single aisle, and the original work is Norman,
+though it has been much modernised. It forms part of a courtyard or
+quadrangle, and faces a large, barn-like structure, which was the
+refectory; in parts this is also Norman, and in it are the Decorated
+windows. The materials used in the construction of this refectory
+are most curious--brick, chalk, flint, any sort of rubble, all mixed
+together, and very solid. The stable is built in the same way, and it
+is amazing that such heterogeneous stuff should have stood the test of
+time. Not far off also is a dove-house of a very ancient pattern. The
+interior, with its cavernous gloom and the numerous holes in the chalk
+for the birds to nest in, is well worth looking into. Indeed, the whole
+of this side of the buildings--away from the river--is worth landing to
+see. It is all within a very few yards, and once past the modern house
+we find the little church with its old-fashioned wooden tower, the
+green with its well-grown elms, and the dove-house and stable, which
+combine to form a very unusual scene altogether.
+
+Sir Richard Lovelace, created Baron Lovelace by Charles I., built
+Lady Place on the site of the abbey in 1600. He was a relative of the
+Cavalier poet of the same name.
+
+In Macaulay's history there is an account of Lady Place, given
+graphically as he well knew how. He is speaking of a descendant of the
+founder, and he says:
+
+"His mansion, built by his ancestors out of the spoils of the Spanish
+galleons from the Indies, rose on the ruins of a house of Our Lady in
+that beautiful valley, through which the Thames, not yet defiled by the
+precincts of a great capital, nor rising and falling with the flow and
+ebb of the sea, rolls under woods of beech round the gentle hills of
+Berkshire. Beneath the stately saloon, adorned by Italian pencils, was
+a subterraneous vault in which the bones of ancient monks had sometimes
+been found."
+
+The third Lord Lovelace plotted for the coming of William of Orange,
+and in the crypt many a secret meeting was held to arrange the details.
+It is said that the actual invitation which brought the Dutchman over
+was signed in this low, dark vault.
+
+Lady Place later belonged to a brother of Admiral Kempenfelt, who went
+down with the _Royal George_.
+
+Certain places are frequently associated with certain seasons of the
+year, and to my mind at Hurley it is always summer. The smell of the
+new mown hay on the long island between the lock channel and part of
+the main stream, the faint, delicate scent of dog-roses, and all the
+other scents that load the summer air, seem to linger for ever in this
+sheltered place. The backwater running up on the other side of this
+island to the weir is a very enticing one. Thirsty plants dip their
+pretty heads to drink of the water that comes swirling from the weir
+like frosted glass, and trees of all sorts--ash, elm, horse-chestnut,
+and the ubiquitous willows and poplars--lean over the water in crooked
+elbows, giving a sweet shade and a delicious coolness. The weir is a
+long one, broken by islands into three parts. Another long island is
+parallel to the first one. Indeed, Hurley is a complicated place, and
+one that is ever new. The swans certainly appreciate it. Drayton says
+"Our flood's queen, Thames, with ships and swans is crowned." I don't
+know about the ships; nothing very large can get above Molesey Lock;
+but as for the swans they abound, and especially about here.
+
+The swans on the river belong to the Crown, the Vintners' and the
+Dyers' Companies. The grant of this privilege to the companies goes
+back so far that it is lost in the mists of antiquity. The Crown is
+far the largest holder, but as the numbers of swans, of course, vary
+from year to year, it is difficult to form an estimate of the total.
+The Vintners, who come next, own perhaps 150. They preserve only those
+that live below Marsh Lock, with the exception of a few black ones,
+which, contrary to expectation, have thriven very well, and find a
+happy hunting ground about Goring and Moulsford. The system of marking,
+called swan-upping, has been modified of late years, as a protest was
+made against it on the ground of cruelty. Before that time the Vintners
+marked their swans with a large V right across the upper mandible,
+but now they give only two little nicks, one on each side. From this
+comes the well-known sign of old yards and public-houses, the Swan
+with Two Necks, a corruption of nicks! The Dyers have a nick on one
+side only. The origin and variety of swan marks is a curious subject.
+The process of swan-upping, or as it is often incorrectly called,
+swan-hopping, gives an occasion for a pleasant excursion, as it occurs
+about a fortnight before the August Bank-Holiday, in the very height
+of the summer. Only the birds of the current year are done, as the
+marks generally last for life, and though they are accustomed to see
+too many people to fear mankind, the handling naturally frightens them.
+The swans, as a rule, find their own living, grubbing about in the
+banks and on the river bottom, and they are also occasionally fed from
+house-boats and pleasure boats, but in winter sometimes they are hard
+put to it, and provision has to be made by their owners.
+
+A swan exercises on me something of the same fascination that a camel
+does; though far be it from me to compare the two in grace. They are
+both full of character, and both preserve a strictly critical attitude
+toward the human race. In the case of the swan, nature has perhaps
+dealt unfairly with him, for the curious little black cap, at the
+junction of bill and head, technically known as the "berry," gives
+him a fixed expression which he has no power to alter, even if he
+felt beaming with good humour. As it is, he is condemned to go through
+life as if he momentarily expected an attack upon his dignity and was
+prepared to repel it. When the sun is shining and the swan dips his
+long neck in the water and flings it upon his shoulders, the large,
+glistening drops, running together on the oily surface, lie like a
+necklet of diamonds in the hollow of his back.
+
+The irises and bur-reeds line the low banks above the weir, and a line
+of short black poplars give some shade.
+
+     And on by many a level mead,
+     And shadowing bluffs that made the banks,
+     We glided, winding under ranks
+     Of iris and the golden reed.
+                                --_Tennyson._
+
+I have said that Hurley is a summer place, and so it is; but there is
+one spring beauty which those who know it only in summer must for ever
+miss. On the slopes where the heights on the northern side fold into
+one another there is a little pillared temple, and about and around it
+some lavish and generous person has planted crocuses in big battalions,
+and they lie there in the sun, royal in purple and gold, and quite as
+rich in tint as those lights shining through the stained glass window
+at Bisham we saw a while ago.
+
+Above the next stretch of the river stands the great modern palace of
+Danesfield, which is built of chalk, one would imagine a singularly
+unlasting material. Though hidden by trees from directly beneath,
+from a distance it is very noticeable, and the white walls gleam out
+beneath the red tiles in a way that cannot be overlooked. It is well
+thus to have used local material, for local it is, as can be seen by
+the great chalk cliffs that line the river side; and the idea is daring
+and original. The interior fittings are worthy of any palace, and no
+pains and cost has been spared. It is a worthy object to build a house
+which shall rank with those bygone mansions on which their owners
+so lovingly lavished their thought and time, and which have also so
+frequently disappeared. The name arises from the fact of there having
+been a Danish camp in the neighbourhood, and the place is still pointed
+out. After this there is rather a flat bit of meadow land, fringed
+with sedge and many a gay plant, growing gallantly in blue and mauve.
+We pass two reedy islands opposite a line of little houses called
+Frogmill, and then we see Medmenham Abbey, which looks more imposing
+than it is, being at the best a carefully composed ruin. However,
+sometimes these compositions, if artistically done, are worth having,
+and Medmenham has memories behind it. It was once a real abbey, founded
+for Cistercian monks in 1200. But after the Dissolution the buildings
+fell into ruin. Later they became the headquarters of the daring and
+impious club known as the "Hell Fire" Club, of which one of the leading
+spirits was Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards Lord Le Despencer, the
+same who built the church at West Wycombe, only a few miles away as
+the crow flies. This is a church where the pulpit and reading desk
+are armchairs; the latter stands on a chest of drawers, which, being
+pulled out, serve as steps. On the tower of the church an immense ball
+like a gigantic football is tethered by chains. This can contain twelve
+people, and the mad lord held meetings here with his friends. The motto
+of his club was _Fay ce que voudras_, and the members went as near to
+devil worship as they dared. Once while they were at Medmenham someone
+let a huge ape down the chimney, when the revellers, worked up to a
+frantic pitch of excitement and more than half drunk, thought that his
+Satanic majesty had paid them a visit in good earnest. From such orgies
+Medmenham has long been free, and it is now a respectable dwelling
+house with a nice bit of cloister over which ivy hangs in folds, and to
+which the word "picturesque" may quite fitly be applied.
+
+There is a ferry over the river at Medmenham, and, not far off, the old
+Abbey Hotel, in which numbers of artists stay. Up the green lane is a
+curious old house, once the residence of Sir John Borlase, whom Charles
+II. used to visit, riding here on horseback, accompanied frequently, so
+it is said, by Nell Gwynne. Standing by the high road, which here is
+not half a mile from the river, is a quaint little church with wooden
+porch and shady evergreens, a very model of what a tiny village church
+should be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BOULTER'S LOCK AND MAIDENHEAD
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Human beings are by nature sociable; and to state that a crowd of
+well-dressed people will be at a certain point of the river at a
+particular date, is to ensure that everyone else who possibly can
+will be there too--only better dressed. It would seem to the ordinary
+ungregarious bachelor that Boulter's Lock, the Sunday after Ascot,
+would be a place to avoid, for there will be the necessity of waiting
+for hours on a river--grilling in the sun if the day be fine, or
+shivering if the day be cloudy; for the English climate never lacks
+the spice of uncertainty, and at this season of the year it is more
+capricious than usual. The middle of June is proverbially a time of
+roses, but it is just as likely to be a time for chills, at least so
+says the pessimist. To the optimist and he who "loves his fellow-men,"
+Boulter's Lock, on this one day of the year, reveals itself to memory
+as a day of delight and flashing colour; he has only to shut his
+eyes to recall a scene as brilliant as a flower garden. Here, close
+to him, lies a long, flat-bottomed punt, with gay cushions on which
+lean two fair girls, their faces toned to a pink glow by the sun's
+rays penetrating gently through their rose-pink sunshades. Their
+large flapping hats are tied under their chins with huge bows of
+ribbon as pink as their cheeks; their soft, white muslin dresses lie
+in folds and frills and heaps bewildering to contemplate; they are
+exactly, exasperatingly, absurdly alike. "How can a woman be such an
+idiot as to duplicate her charms?" the onlooker exclaims to himself;
+but he looks again. Dark eyes dancing as merrily as the ripples on
+the breeze-stirred water; chatter and laugh; and babble as soft and
+meaningless as the gurgle of the little tributary stream; textures of
+fabric as delicate as the flowers peeping over the grey stone walls
+from the lock-keeper's garden above; dainty arms bare to the elbow;
+Japanese umbrellas jewelled in the sunlight; striped awnings, as gay
+as Joseph's coat, flapping softly; the long low outlines of craft
+of every kind, skiff and dingey and canoe, from the smoothly gliding
+little electric launch to the heavy clinker-built boat on hire for its
+tenth season; these items make up a scene quite unlike anything else.
+For half a mile below the lock you could step across a solid bridge of
+boats over half the river. Some years ago, the homely serge and sailor
+straw-hat were considered the proper river costume; now, the straw is
+worn only by men, whose severe flannels show little alteration from
+year to year, for men are much more conservative in sartorial matters
+than women. And every tantalising muslin, lace, and flower-decked hat
+is considered suitable for a woman on the river. The more fantastic
+and enormous, the more gauzy and lace-trimmed, the better. And, as her
+grandmother did, the young girl dresses in the thinnest of muslins and
+lawns, wears an open neck in the day time, and elbow sleeves.
+
+  [Illustration: BOULTER'S LOCK, ASCOT SUNDAY]
+
+In pushing forward between the open lock-gates into the lock, a slender
+canoe fits into an almost impossible space between the electric launch
+and the punt. A heavily weighted boatload, where four elderly women
+are rowed by one heated man, falls foul of its neighbour and has to be
+righted. The chatter is silenced for a moment, but rises again when
+the craft are fitted, like the pieces in an old fashioned puzzle,
+inside the green and slimy walls, which throw a deep shadow on one
+side. Then the gates are shut, and a wash and gurgle of water begins,
+delightfully cool to hear. A nervous girl gives a little shriek and
+jumps so that every boat is set a-rocking, as all are touching. Others
+laugh. It is impossible to upset, for there is no room. The whole
+gently swaying mass rises on the breast of the rising water up out of
+the shadow into the sunlight; into the view of the waiting crowds on
+the tow-path. Colours flash out once more; an excited little dog rushes
+yapping from stem to stern of his boat, and finally, with a vigorous
+jump, lands on the lock-keeper's garden, where there is a profusion of
+sweet old-fashioned flowers, and such roses as grow nowhere but by the
+river-side. Then, to the accompaniment of the dog's frantic barks, the
+massive gates creak backward on their hinges, and we ride forward into
+the wide expanse of the sparkling river. Only a few boats await the
+opening of the lock here, for, at this time of day, more are going up
+than coming down. But behind, away below the lock, a chaotic flotilla
+has once more collected, and may have to wait for hours, for it is
+rather like the process of ladling the river up in a tablespoon.
+
+  [Illustration: BELOW BOULTER'S LOCK]
+
+This reach at Maidenhead, is one of the most popular on the river. On
+each side of the wide stone bridge half a mile below the lock, Taplow
+and Maidenhead face one another. But though popular and easy of access,
+being on the Great Western Railway, which runs quick trains at frequent
+intervals, both stations are a little distance from the river. The
+name Maidenhead is derived from Maiden-hithe, or wharf, as a large
+wharf for wood at one time stood near the bridge. The bridge itself,
+though a modern fabric, is of ancient lineage, for we know that in
+1352 a guild was formed for the purpose of keeping it in repair. It
+may be remembered that bridges at that time were considered works of
+charity, and competed with masses and alms as a means of doing good
+posthumously.
+
+     Another blissed besines is brigges to make,
+       That there the pepul may not passe [_die_] after great
+     showres,
+     Dole it is to drawe a deed body oute of a lake,
+       That was fulled in a fount-stoon, and a felow of ours.
+
+And in _Piers Plowman_:
+
+     Therewith to build hospitals, helping the sick,
+     Or roads that are rotten full rightly repair,
+     Or bridges, when broken, to build up anew.
+
+  [Illustration: MAIDENHEAD]
+
+The main road between London and Bath, a well-known coaching road,
+runs this way, and a very good road it is. The railway bridge crosses
+below the road, but it is of brick with wide arches, and is by no
+means unsightly. Between the two is the River-side club, where a band
+plays on the smooth green lawn in the season, and the smartest of
+smart costumes are the rule. Near here also is Bond's boat-house and a
+willow-grown islet. There are numbers of steps and railings and landing
+stages, all painted white, and these give a certain lightness to the
+scene. Close by the bridge are several hotels, of which the oldest
+established is Skindle's, low-lying and creeper-covered, on the Taplow
+side. Boats for hire line the banks everywhere, for many cater for the
+wants of the butterfly visitor, out of whom enough must be taken in the
+season to carry the establishments on through the winter; and the river
+visitor is essentially a butterfly. Few know the charms of the Thames
+in the winter, when, in an east and west stretch, the glowing red ball
+of the sun sinks behind dun banks of mist; when the trees are leafless,
+and the skeleton branches are outlined against a pale clear sky; when
+a touch of frost is in the air, and the river glides so stilly that it
+almost seems asleep.
+
+     A bitter day, that early sank
+     Behind a purple frosty bank
+     Of vapour, leaving night forlorn.
+                         --_Tennyson._
+
+The visitor goes to the river in the summer because of its coolness,
+and though the coolness is ofttimes delusive, being in appearance
+rather than reality, lying in the sight of the sparkles and the sound
+of the ripples, yet it is a fine make-believe. Such river-side hotels
+as cater for the season are content to lie dormant all the chill
+long winter, until, with the breath of early spring, the celandines
+raise their polished golden faces and the lords and ladies stud the
+hedgerows. Then a few adventurous beings come down on the first fine
+days, like the early swallows, a portent that summer is at hand; and
+these lucky people have the river largely to themselves, and do not
+find lovers in every attractive backwater; and if they have to row to
+keep themselves warm, they gain an increase of vigour that no burning
+summer sun can give.
+
+The view from Maidenhead Bridge northwards--for here the river runs due
+south--is spoilt by the gasometers which rise over the willow-covered
+islets. But once past Boulter's Lock, the scenery improves with every
+hundred yards. Close by the lock itself is Ray Mead Hotel, where the
+deep carmine-tinted geraniums grow in quantities. Sometimes as many
+as three hundred people are supplied with tea at the hotel on a fine
+summer afternoon, while over a thousand pass through the lock. Above
+Boulter's is a secluded backwater formed by the stream of a mill, and
+this is one of the pleasantest retreats in the neighbourhood.
+
+     ... In my boat I lie
+     Moor'd to the cool bank in the summer heats.
+                              --_Matthew Arnold._
+
+Above the river, on the east, rise the cliff-like heights of Clieveden,
+wooded to their summits, and seen magnificently by reason of the curve
+at the end of the reach, which gives their full sweep at one glance.
+The cliff rises to a height of 140 feet, but the thickness of the
+trees, and their own height towering above, make it look much higher.
+The trees are of all kinds, oak and beech, chestnut and ash, and many a
+dark evergreen; while here and there a Lombardy poplar shoots up like a
+straight line, and the wild clematis throws its shawls of greenery from
+tree to tree, giving the whole the appearance of a tropical forest.
+Seen in early spring, when the tender green of the beeches and the
+bursting gummy buds of the horse-chestnut are shedding a veil over the
+fretwork of twig and bough, they are glorious enough; but in autumn,
+when orange and russet break out in all directions, they are, perhaps,
+more imposing. River people do not, as a rule, see them at their
+best, for before that touch of frost has come which sends a flame of
+crimson over the maples, and heightens the orange of the beeches, the
+fairweather boatsman has fled to his fireside.
+
+At one point we catch a glimpse of Clieveden itself, standing high and
+facing downstream. Evelyn says in his diary:
+
+     I went to Clifden, that stupendous natural rock, wood,
+     and prospect, of the Duke of Buckingham's, buildings of
+     extraordinary expense.... The stande, somewhat like Frascati
+     as to its front, and on the platform is a circular view to
+     the utmost verge of the horizon, which, with the serpenting
+     of the Thames, is admirable.... But the land all about
+     wretchedly barren, and producing nothing but fern.
+
+The taste of those days differed from ours; now we should prefer to see
+an expanse of ferns to a field of potatoes.
+
+The first great mansion here was built by "Steenie," the Duke of
+Buckingham, King Charles's favourite. He was a villain, even for a time
+of slack morals, and the chief association connected with his house
+is that he brought here a comrade in every way suited to him, in the
+person of the Countess of Shrewsbury, who stood by, dressed as a page,
+holding his horse, while he killed her husband in a duel. The house was
+twice burnt down; the present one was built about the middle of the
+nineteenth century, and belongs to Mr. Astor. A pleasanter memory is
+that of the poet Thomson, whose masque _Alfred_ was acted here in 1740,
+on the birthday of Princess Augusta. This contained, as a kernel, the
+song "Rule Britannia," destined to survive long after its husk had been
+forgotten.
+
+Opposite Clieveden the ground is low lying, and, to use Evelyn's word,
+the river "serpents" a good deal. There are several islands, on one of
+which, called Formosa, there is a house. There are several side-streams
+crossed by footbridges, and in one of these is the lock. The main
+stream continues in a great sweep, and is guarded by two weirs. The
+fishing here is very popular, and though it belongs to Lord Boston,
+permission to fish may be obtained by writing beforehand. Hedsor Church
+stands well on high ground near; and with its bosky foliage and many
+islets, the river here is not a bad place in which to idle away many an
+hour.
+
+The hotel at Cookham is right down on the water's edge, and from its
+lawn a charming view is gained of the main stream breaking into its
+many channels, with the wooded island of Formosa in the middle. All
+about here is a favourite place for anglers, and many a punt is moored
+across stream with its ridiculous chairs on which sit two or three
+solemn elderly men, content to sit, and sit, and watch the dull brown
+water rush beneath for hour after hour, without once raising their eyes
+to see the green of the witching trees, or listening to the hum of the
+joyous life around them. To an onlooker they appear to be quaffing the
+flattest part of the sport, having missed all its head and froth. How
+different the punt fisher's day from that of the man who starts off
+up-stream, through many a low-lying willow-fringed meadow, who reaches
+over to land his fly in the deep brown pool into which the stream
+falls. Punt fishing, like loch fishing, must have its fascinations, or
+few would do it, but it lacks all the sparkle expressed in such a song
+as that of Walton's, for instance:
+
+     In a morning, up we rise,
+         Ere Aurora's peeping,
+     Drink a cup to wash our eyes,
+     Leave the sluggard sleeping.
+         Then we go
+         To and fro,
+         With our knacks
+         At our backs,
+         To such streams
+         As the Thames,
+       If we have the leisure.
+
+The less said about the rhyme the better, but this has the swing and
+lilt of the true feeling!
+
+From Cookham Bridge we can see the gaily covered lawn of the hotel,
+where a perfect flotilla of craft is anchored, while the owners have
+tea or more cooling drinks; and turning we can view the wide expanse
+of Bourne End, where the races of the Upper Thames Sailing Club are
+held all the summer, and where, about the end of June, when the great
+regatta is held, the surface of the water is dotted with swan-like
+boats.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+WINDSOR AND ETON
+
+
+However disappointed a foreign monarch, on his first visit to England,
+may be with the drab hideousness of Buckingham Palace, he cannot but
+confess that in Windsor Castle we have a dwelling meet even for the
+King of England. Both architecturally and by reason of its age, Windsor
+is a truly royal palace. Its history is linked with that of our kings
+until its very stones proclaim the annals of our country. Ages ago,
+Edward the Confessor took a fancy to this quiet place by the Thames,
+and he gave it to his beloved monks of Westminster. William I. saw what
+a splendid shooting lodge might be built in the midst of the wild and
+open country abounding in game, and after having first one shooting
+lodge and then another in the neighbourhood, he acquired the high
+outstanding boss or knob of chalk on which the castle stands, and built
+thereon a residence for himself. His son, Henry I., altered it greatly;
+and succeeding kings and queens have rarely been content to leave it
+without an alteration or addition as their mark. Windsor has ever been
+a favourite with royalty. It has held its own while Westminster and
+Whitehall and Greenwich utterly vanished; while the Tower and Hampton
+have ceased to be royal dwellings; and it is still pre-eminently the
+royal castle. Certain kings, such as William III., have sometimes
+preferred other places for a while, but Windsor has satisfied alike the
+dignity of Edward III. and the homeliness of George III.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE]
+
+The situation is superb. The castle stands high above the river, which
+here curves, so as to show off its irregular outlines to the greatest
+advantage. They rise in a series of rough levels to the mighty Round
+Tower, the crown of the whole, which is massive enough to dominate,
+but not sufficiently high to dwarf the rest. Turrets, battlements,
+and smaller towers serve only to emphasize the dignity of this central
+keep. It was built in the time of Edward III., and strangely enough,
+though altered and heightened in that worst period of architectural
+taste, the reign of George IV., it was not spoiled; and even to a child
+proclaims something of the grandeur one naturally associates with it.
+
+As seen from the bridge the whole of the north range can be followed
+by the eye, from the Prince of Wales's Tower, facing the east terrace,
+to the Curfew Tower on the west. Intermediately there are the State
+apartments, and the Norman gateway, over which is the Library. These
+overlook the north terrace--open to the public at all hours from
+sunrise to sunset.
+
+The view from this terrace is very fine, stretching away to Maidenhead,
+and at times, on days of cloud and shadow, the light-coloured walls of
+Clieveden stand out suddenly, caught by a passing gleam, amid a forest
+of green trees. We can look down on the whole of Eton--the church with
+its tall spire; the buttresses and pinnacles of the chapel standing up
+white against an indigo background; the red and blue roofs piled this
+way and that; and the green playing fields girdled by the swift river.
+It was on the castle terrace that George III. used to walk with all his
+family, except the erring eldest, when he took those tiresome parades
+which Miss Burney describes with so much life-like detail.
+
+The Chapel cannot be seen from the river, as it is in the lower ward
+behind the canons' houses, and is not sufficiently high to rise well
+above them.
+
+It would be of little use to attempt to tell stories of Windsor, for
+its history belongs to the history of England and not to the river
+Thames; yet there is one memory which may be noted. Young James Stuart
+of Scotland had been sent by his father, Robert III., to France after
+the death of his elder brother, the wild Duke of Rothesay, nominally
+for education, but in reality for safe keeping. The boy was captured by
+the English while on the sea and brought as a prisoner to England. He
+was then only about ten or twelve years old. He was treated with every
+consideration, and educated so worthily that he became afterwards one
+of the best of all the Scottish kings. He was at first in the Tower
+and elsewhere, but when he reached young manhood he was brought to
+Windsor, where he had apartments allotted to him. Though he was allowed
+to follow the chase and pursue the amusements of his time, he was yet
+a prisoner, and the sad opening stanzas of his great poem, the _Kingis
+Quair_, speak the melancholy he often felt. This poem was composed at
+Windsor, and its pensiveness changes after the day when, looking down
+from his window in the castle, the youth saw walking in the garden Joan
+Beaufort, whom he afterwards made his wife:
+
+     And therewith cast I down mine eye again,
+     Where as I saw, walking under the tower,
+     The fairest or the freshest young flower
+     That ever I saw methought before that hour.
+
+His visions further on in the poem must have been coloured more or less
+by what he daily saw before him, and we may credit to the Thames the
+flowing lines:
+
+     Where in a lusty plain took I my way,
+     Along a river pleasant to behold,
+     Embroidered all with fresh flowers gay,
+     Where, through the gravel, bright as any gold,
+     The crystal water ran so clear and cold.
+
+  [Illustration: WINDSOR]
+
+Windsor should be seen in sunshine and heat, when black shadows set off
+the towering walls, and all the uneven houses and crooked streets are
+pieced in light and shade. Then it is exceedingly like a foreign town
+in its details; and many people who travel miles to admire Chinon, and
+others of its class, would do well to visit Windsor first.
+
+The town has always been subordinate to the castle, for it was the
+castle that caused the town to spring up, as there were always numbers
+of artificers, attendants, grooms, workmen and others needed for the
+service of the Court. In the fourteenth century it was reckoned that
+the Court employed an army of 20,000 of such people. These would all
+have to be housed somehow, and the nearer the protection of the castle
+the better; hence the town on the slopes.
+
+The Home Park, in which is the mausoleum, borders the river. It is
+separated by a road from the Great Park, made for hunting. Pope's poem
+on "Windsor Forest" is not particularly beautiful; perhaps the best
+descriptive lines are those that follow:
+
+     There, interspersed in lawns and opening glades,
+     Thin trees arise that shun each others shades:
+     Here in full light the russet plains extend;
+     There, wrapt in clouds, the bluish hills ascend.
+
+Windsor Park is introduced by Shakspeare as the scene of some of
+Falstaff's escapades, an honour shared by the neat, bright village of
+Datchet, opposite. Datchet is a model village grouped about a green,
+and the houses are softened by all the usual creepers and bushes: we
+see roses, jasmine, laurustinus, magnolia, and ampelopsis at every
+turn. Above and below Datchet this clean neatness continues.
+
+The Victoria and Albert bridges are severe, and the weir and the great
+bow of the channel, which is cut by the lock-stream, have no particular
+characteristics. The whole neighbourhood has rather the air of holding
+itself on its best behaviour, as though royalty might any moment appear
+upon the scene. As might be expected, the scenery is rather like the
+poetry it inspired. Here is Sir John Denham's effusion about Coopers
+Hill:
+
+     My eye, descending from the hill, surveys
+     Where Thames, among the wanton valleys strays:
+     Thames, the most loved of all the Ocean's sons
+     By his old sire, to his embraces runs:
+       Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea,
+       Like mortal life to meet eternity.
+
+There is a pretty reach below Old Windsor, where willows and poplars
+are massed effectively. It is in places like this, where they grow
+abundantly, that the beautiful tawny colour which willows assume in the
+spring, just before bursting into leaf, can be best seen.
+
+The Bells of Ouseley stands at a bend, and with its tinted walls
+and the old elm tree growing close to the entrance, is a typical
+old-English Inn. The road to Staines passes by the water's edge, and
+the guide-post is less reticent than guide-posts are wont to be, for it
+tells us this is the "Way to Staines, except at high-water."
+
+As we pass softly back up the current to Eton, we think how often
+in this reach the incomparable Izaak and his friend Sir Henry Wotton
+fished together.
+
+     I sat down under a willow tree by the water side ... for
+     I could there sit quietly, and, looking on the water, see
+     some fishes sport themselves in the silver streams, others
+     leaping at flies of several shapes and colours; ... looking
+     down the meadows, could see here a boy gathering lilies
+     and ladysmocks, and there a girl cropping culverkeys and
+     cowslips.
+
+Wotton built a fishing box a mile below the college, from which he and
+Walton often sallied forth during the fifteen years he was provost of
+Eton, and to his rod many a "jealous trout that low did lie, rose at a
+well dissembled fly," as he himself has left on record.
+
+     Ye distant spires, ye antique towers
+       That crown the wat'ry glade,
+     Where grateful Science still adores
+       Her Henry's holy shade;
+     And ye, that from the stately brow
+     Of Windsor's heights th' expanse below
+     Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,
+     Whose turf, whose shade, whose flowers among
+     Wanders the hoary Thames along
+       His silver-winding way.
+                                        --_Gray._
+
+In rounding the great sweep of the river below the London and South
+Western railway bridge, we catch at once the pinnacles of Eton
+chapel--most glorious of chapels--and see the green playing fields.
+
+The long tree-covered island of Romney, on one side of which lies the
+lock, ends in a terrible "snout," strengthened by "camp-shedding." This
+point is locally known as the "Cobbler," and is a source of peril to
+many an inexperienced boatman.
+
+  [Illustration: ETON CHAPEL FROM THE FIELDS]
+
+The bridge over the river can, unfortunately, hardly be called a good
+feature in the landscape--it is as ugly as a railway bridge! Just above
+it is a row of boat-houses, and then follows the Brocas, the famous
+meadow. Above the bridge is a tiny islet which serves as an objective
+in the Fourth of June procession of boats. The boats come down and
+round the island, and once more returning, pass under the bridge to the
+lock, having made a sort of spiral. Nearly all the Eton races are rowed
+in this strip of the river, though, of course, Henley Regatta is the
+greatest event in the boating calendar. A small string of islands faces
+some little public gardens, and away northward winds the Great Western
+Railway on a series of small arches which carry it over the marshy
+ground, no doubt at one time under water.
+
+Beyond the line is a small backwater known as Cuckoo weir, the bathing
+place of the lower boys. Here the swimming trials take place, when
+a set of trembling pink youngsters stand in a punt ready to take a
+graceful header, or, from sheer nervousness, to fall with an ugly flop
+smack upon the water and be disqualified for the time being!
+
+The bathing place of the upper boys, called by the dignified title of
+Athens, is further up in the main river, near the curious island on
+which is Windsor racecourse. The river winds giddily in and out between
+the end of this island and Upper and Lower Hope, which lie between it
+and Cuckoo weir. A mill stands at the end of the long narrow stream
+that separates the racecourse from the mainland, and on the other side
+of the island is Boveney Lock. The quaint old chapel stands amid trees
+further up.
+
+Above the island was once Surley Hall, a favourite resort of the
+Etonians, but it is now pulled down, and Monkey Island is the place
+to go to on half-holidays. Monkey Island is a good way up, and is the
+third of a row of islands. The little one below it, called Queen's
+ait, now belongs to the Eton boys, who have built a small cottage on
+it. Monkey Island itself is a curious and attractive place, except
+when the launches come up from Windsor on Saturdays, bringing hundreds
+of people, who sit about at little tables on the green sward under
+the famous walnut trees, and call for refreshments. There is a large
+pavilion, part boat-house, which belongs to the Eton boys, where they
+can get tea served without mingling with the townspeople. Near it is
+a quaint little temple. This, as well as the house, now the hotel,
+was built by the third Duke of Marlborough, a man of curious taste.
+The hall in the hotel is painted all round with the figures of monkeys
+engaged in various sports and pastimes. There is a broad frieze which
+appears to have been executed in water colours on plaster; the ceiling
+is likewise painted, but in rather a different style. The monkeys
+are a good size, and attract a vast crowd of visitors. The pretty
+verandah round the hotel redeems its appearance externally. Inside it
+has at once all the attractions and disadvantages of an old house--low
+ceilings, very small rooms; but on the other hand there are windings
+and twistings, crooked passages and odd corners, that delight the heart
+of those to whom machine-made houses are an abomination. The duke's
+bedroom is shown, and is as queerly shaped a room as ever mortal man
+conceived. Monkey Island is being embanked with the precious gravel
+dredged from the bed of the Thames, and, though no doubt a necessary
+precaution, as the river insidiously breaks off what it can, the
+operation is not a beautiful one. The island is very proud of its
+walnut trees, and well it may be, for they are a great change after
+the ubiquitous willows, and their gnarled stems and fine shady leaves
+are just the right element in such a scene as a gay lawn covered with
+summer folk in summer dresses.
+
+From Monkey Island the little church tower of Bray can be seen, but
+before reaching it Bray Lock has to be negotiated, and here are a long
+sinuous osier-covered ait and a mill, making, as usual, a convenient
+backwater.
+
+Bray is truly a charming place, and one could find it in one's heart
+to forgive the vicar who turned his coat to keep his vicarage. The
+real man lived in the reign of Henry VIII. and his successors, and
+changed his religious practices in conformity with those of the
+sovereign for the time being, turning from Roman Catholic to Reformed
+Church, Reformed to Roman Catholic, and back once more with ease
+and pliability. In the ballad he is represented as living in the
+seventeenth century, and his gymnastics refer to the varying fortunes
+of the house of Stuart, and the Romish tendencies of the later kings of
+that house. Fuller, with his usual quaintness, remarks of him that he
+had seen some martyrs burnt at Windsor and "found this fire too hot for
+his tender temper." But one would fain believe it was not altogether
+cowardice, but also a love of his delightful village, that made him
+so amenable. The little flint and stone tower of the church peeps
+at the river over a splendid assortment of evergreens--laurels, holm
+oaks, yews, and spruce firs being particularly noticeable--and the old
+vicarage with this growth of sheltering trees and its smooth lawn right
+down to the water's edge, is certainly a place that one would think
+twice about before leaving. The village itself is so irregular that,
+tiny as it is, one may get lost in it. There are endless vistas of
+gable ends, of bowed timbers, of pretty porches, and worn brick softly
+embraced by vine or wistaria; yet even in Bray, new red brick is making
+its way. One of the most interesting features is the almshouses, and
+if one lands by the hotel, they are reached after only a few minutes'
+walk. The exterior is very quaint; large cylindrical yews and hollies,
+like roly-poly puddings on end, stand up in stubborn rank before the
+worn red brick. The statue of the founder, of an immaculate whiteness,
+with the glitter of gilt in the coat-of-arms below, just lightens the
+effect. Through an ancient arch one passes to the quadrangle, which
+is filled with tiny flower-beds, and surrounded by a low range of red
+brick with dormer windows. At the other side is the chapel covered with
+ivy, and this, with the little diamond panes and the brightness of the
+variegated flower-beds, is home-like and cosy. Yet it must be confessed
+that in his well-known picture, "The Harbour of Refuge," admittedly
+taken from Bray, Frederick Walker, the artist, has greatly improved
+the scene with artistic licence. The raised terrace at the side, the
+greater width of the quadrangle, the smooth green lawn and sheltering
+central tree in his picture, are far more harmonious and beautiful than
+the reality.
+
+Bray is a very popular haunt with artists and boating people. In
+summer the George Hotel cannot take in all its visitors, and beds are
+hired all over the village, consequently, anyone wishing to spend some
+weeks in Bray must make arrangements well beforehand. This is not to
+be wondered at, because, as well as its own attractions, it is within
+easy reach of Maidenhead and the delights beyond, and its unspoilt
+quaintness makes it ideal to stay in. Long may Bray remain as it is,
+unaltered and a tiny village.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MAGNA CHARTA
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Magna Charta Island is something of a shock at first sight; it is so
+exceptionally well cared for and so pretty. One pictures a tangle of
+wild trees, a mass of rushes, osiers perhaps, and general grimness.
+The osiers are confined to a fraction of the island; on the remainder
+is a prettily-built house of a fair size, with the very best sort of
+river-lawn, on which grow various fine and regular trees. Many are the
+evergreens; and the bosky holm oak, the dignified stone pine, and the
+flourishing walnut, seen in conjunction with the beautifully kept turf
+and bright flower-beds, are altogether unlike one's conception of the
+place.
+
+It is true that, though the island has the name of it, it is now
+generally supposed that the actual signing of our great charter of
+liberties took place on the mainland. John had delayed, and played
+false, and postponed the issue for long, but he knew now that all was
+up, and he was cornered. A truce was declared, and from Windsor he
+agreed to meet his barons and "concede to them the laws and liberties
+which they asked." The fifteenth of June was fixed for the day, and
+Runney Mead, or Runnymede, for the place. With the barons were almost
+the whole of the English nobility; with John, certain ecclesiastical
+powers, namely, the Archbishops of Canterbury and Dublin, and seven
+bishops, as well as some earls and barons. It is quite obvious that the
+barons could have had no idea of the vast consequences of their act.
+They would have been astonished could they have foreseen that it would
+become the basis of the English constitution. They merely wanted to
+bind down a particular king who had outraged their liberties.
+
+One can hardly imagine a better place for the assembling of a great
+body of armed men than these meadows by the river. The land is as flat
+as a platform, and sheltered to the south by the heights of Cooper's
+Hill, which rise like the tiers in an amphitheatre. The Long Mead, with
+the exception of the road now running across it, must have looked very
+much then as it does now. Runney Mead is more altered, because it is
+shut in by hedges. We know not if the day were fine or overcast when
+the great charter was signed; but when the deed was done John, in a
+rage, retired to Windsor. The barons remained on the meads for about
+ten days, during which the place must have been like a fair.
+
+It is very hot on this part of the river on a sunny day. The trees
+growing on the banks are all on the north side, and consequently give
+little shade. They border Ankerwyke Park, and grow so close to the
+water that many of their roots are in it. The swallows dart to and
+fro, and clouds of gnats dance like thistledown in the air. Near the
+banks grow many flowers. The spotted knotweed or persicaria, with its
+bright flesh-coloured flowers, is sometimes in water, sometimes on
+the land; the common forget-me-not can be seen peeping up with its
+bright blue eyes; the pink willow herb flourishes; and the yellow iris
+and the purple loosestrife are also to be seen. And when there is no
+wind the scent of the meadow-sweet and the dog-roses becomes almost
+overpowering.
+
+Ankerwyke was once a priory. It was appropriated by Henry VIII., who is
+said to have carried on the courtship of Anne Boleyn under the mighty
+chestnuts for which it was even then famous:
+
+     The tyrant Harry felt love's softening flame,
+     And sighing breathed his Anna Boleyn's name.
+
+A bit of doggerel just about worthy of the occasion!
+
+A more interesting association, though one that leads us rather far
+from the river, is Milton's residence at Horton. He lived here with
+his parents for five years after leaving Cambridge, and no doubt his
+rambles over country which would not then be hedged in and cut up as
+it is now, often led him in the direction of the river. It was this
+scenery, noted at those deeply impressionable years, that he could
+still see when earthly sight was gone.
+
+_Lycidas_ and _Comus_ were both written in the next four or five years,
+and in
+
+     The willows and the hazel copses green
+
+we have a touch of real nature breaking through the conventional
+allusions to vines and wild thyme; also:
+
+     Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
+     Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks,
+     On whose fresh lap the swart star sparely looks;
+     Throw hither all your quaint, enamell'd eyes
+     That on the green turf suck the honied showers,
+     And purple all the ground with vernal flowers.
+     Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies,
+     The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine,
+     The white pink, and the pansy freak'd with jet,
+     The glowing violet,
+     The musk-rose, and the well-attir'd woodbine,
+     With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head,
+     And every flower that sad embroidery wears.
+     Bid amaranthus all his beauty shed,
+     And daffadillies fill their cups with tears.
+                                     --_Lycidas._
+
+     By the rushy-fringed bank
+     Where grows the willow and the osier dank.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     Thus I set my printless feet
+     O'er the cowslip's velvet head
+     That bends not as I tread.
+                         --_Comus._
+
+Not very far below Ankerwyke, the river Coln runs into the Thames
+near Bell Weir Lock, and a little bit above Staines is London
+Stone, standing in a meadow close by the water. It marked the former
+jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor of London over the river, but these
+rights are now vested in the Thames Conservators. Staines does not
+make the most of itself, or sufficiently endeavour to veil those
+unsightlinesses incidental to a town. The large gasometers opposite
+London Stone are not the only blemishes. Standing on the bridge and
+looking up-stream there are many ugly, yellow-brick, manufacturing
+buildings to be seen; while the screen of willows does not hide piles
+of untidy stones, rusty old iron and other uglinesses. Even the very
+passable island in the centre does not atone. Down stream things are
+a little better, though the want of architectural beauty in the new
+church by the river and the "plastered-on" pinnacles of the parish
+church are both eyesores.
+
+From Staines, however, one may pass rapidly to a fascinating corner at
+Penton Hook.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+PENTON HOOK
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Penton Hook is quite peculiar. To a select little coterie of people it
+is _the_ place on the river, but to hundreds of others it is not known
+at all. To its own manifest advantage it is off the "hard high road,"
+and the scorchers and the bounders, and the multitude generally, fly by
+within a comparatively short distance, little knowing what they have
+missed. But one or two of the favoured few turn down to quiet little
+Laleham, and wheeling round a corner come right on to the tow-path by
+the river's brink; in a hundred yards they are at Penton Hook. But
+though the Hook is very select and highly favoured, that is not to
+say it lacks population, only--it is a population of the right sort.
+Little camps of charming bungalows dot the banks both above and below
+the lock. Some are built on ground leased from the Conservancy, some on
+that of private owners. To each man is allotted a strip of ground, with
+so much river frontage, whereon he builds to his own taste and fancy a
+little one-storeyed white-painted house, and lays out the tiny garden
+from which his own white steps reach down to the water. Think of the
+joy of it! The leader in an important case has been in a stuffy court
+all day, burdened with his wig and gown, seeing all the dust and stains
+of unswept corners of human nature; accusing, with upraised finger,
+the brazen witness who has just perjured himself; dragging from that
+yellow-faced man the secret he thought buried. Faugh! But the court
+rises; he is away. The motor takes him down in less than an hour. Gone
+are the stifling garments; the worn and wicked faces. The dull roar of
+Strand traffic is replaced by the splashing of the water as it bounds
+over the weir. The freed man tumbles into flannels and lies full length
+on the green grass, smoking, with the water flowing at his feet, or he
+dawdles in a boat round the Hook, tempting the fish with all the decoys
+he knows. Happy man!
+
+The trees near the bungalows, and those that fringe the meadows near,
+are not pollarded; there is space between their tall stems. The short
+grass, gemmed with pink-tipped daisies, can be seen everywhere, and
+there is air, and freshness, and openness for everyone. The white
+paint of the bungalows and their neat green or pink roofs, the rows
+of geraniums, roses, and other flowers carefully kept and tended, add
+touches of gaiety and brightness.
+
+There are three weirs, for the river here makes the neatest horse-shoe
+in its whole length, and the authorities have cut through the neck
+of land, so that the greater part of the stream goes rioting and
+tumbling in joyous confusion beneath the great new weir, provided with
+a pent-house roof, under which it is always cool on the hottest summer
+day, with transparent reflections dancing on the wall and a ripple
+and splash below. The second weir, a mere tumbling-weir, is only a
+few yards away. The water does not often leap over it unless it is at
+flood time, when it affords a safety outlet. The third and widest is a
+mixture, half sluice gates and half of the tumbling kind. At one time
+there was no weir here, and boats could avoid the lock by navigating
+the Hook, but that is now no longer possible. There is one advantage in
+it; it keeps the Hook more secluded. The little red water-gauge house
+is connected by wires with Staines, and so to all the rest of England.
+By an automatic arrangement, the register shows simultaneously here and
+at the offices of the water company what depth of water there is, so
+that they may know how much they can take.
+
+At Penton it should be always summer, with dog-roses and sweetbriar,
+with placid red cows grazing on the tender grass, with boats tethered
+in the lazy current round the bend of the Hook.
+
+An uncommonly good place for fishing it is, this Hook, as the
+kingfishers have found out, for they are yearly increasing, and
+apparently do not mind the gay tide of summer company that invades
+their haunts. Right down on the banks near the lock one pair nested
+this year. No steamers churn up the waters and frighten the fish; only
+a slow-moving house-boat or two towed to position and there left, or
+those drifting boats belonging to young men and maidens who are content
+to drift metaphorically as well as actually.
+
+The Abbey river starts away on its own account on the far side of the
+Hook, and begins its short course of about a couple of miles, to fall
+into the Thames again at Chertsey. It used to be possible to get up
+it in a boat, but now it is barred. However, visitors have nothing to
+complain of, for the meadows around are singularly open to them, and
+the place is not hedged about with restrictions as are so many river
+resorts. Numbers of people come down to picnic, and it is no uncommon
+sight to see quite a row of motors outside the lock-keeper's house,
+while footman or chauffeur carries across the luncheon hampers to what
+was once a peninsula but is now an island. Tradesmen's carts come round
+too, finding in the swallow-colony quite enough demand to make it worth
+their while; and year by year the bungalows grow. A whole new piece of
+meadow, hitherto osier bed, is even now going to be devoted to them.
+"Why, I get as many as twenty to thirty applications for land every
+week," says the lock-keeper. It is to be hoped Penton Hook will not
+become over-populated, or the delightful freedom from conventionality
+which now characterises it might die away. "Ladies who come down
+here--why, some of them, they never put a hat on their heads the whole
+time, and I was going to say not shoes or stockings either!" The place
+is particularly sought after by theatrical people. Miss Ellen Terry
+still holds the bungalow she has had for many years. It is surprising
+how early the season begins; even at the end of chilly March a few of
+the first of the swallows appear.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+ABOUT CHERTSEY AND WEYBRIDGE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Between Chertsey and Penton Hook is Laleham, where the tiny ivy-covered
+church is too much hidden away to be seen easily. An old red brick
+moss-grown wall is the chief object near the river, and with the
+bending trees and quiet fields there is a sense of brooding peace which
+only remains in places off the main roads. Matthew Arnold was born at
+Laleham and is buried in the churchyard. His father, Dr. Arnold of
+Rugby, came here in 1819, but he left when Matthew was only six, to
+take the head-mastership of Rugby.
+
+Between Laleham and Chertsey there is some open, rather untidy ground
+on which gypsies are wont to camp. It cannot be said that the river
+looks its best above Chertsey. The country is too flat and open, and on
+a summer day one is too often scorched. Yet there is always some beauty
+to be found, and it is certainly in open spaces like these that we see
+best reflected "heaven's own blue." Away to the west the tiny Abbey
+river flows in past a mill. By Chertsey bridge a triumphant victory in
+regard to right-of-way over the Thames Conservancy in 1902, is recorded
+on two newly built villas. Opposite is the Bridge Hotel, which, with
+its little bay, its Lombardy poplars and green lawn, is a pleasant
+oasis.
+
+Chertsey Abbey, which was of great fame, lay between the town and the
+river. It was founded in 666, and some Saxon tiles from the flooring
+may be seen in the British Museum. The buildings were destroyed by the
+Danes, but it was re-established in 964 as a Benedictine Monastery.
+
+Nothing shows more the immense power of the monks in England than
+these mighty abbeys which studded the country. We have come across so
+many, even in our short journey between Oxford and London, that the
+fact cannot escape notice; though they probably were more thickly set
+beside the river than elsewhere, because, as I have said, flowing water
+attracted these old monks for more than one reason. There is hardly
+anything left of Chertsey Abbey now, yet in its prime it was like a
+small town, giving employment to hundreds of people. There are a few
+ivy-covered steps near the back of the church and an old bit of wall
+doubtfully supposed to have been part of the boundary; this is near
+the Abbey river. Henry VI. was buried at Chertsey, and his funeral is
+referred to in Shakespeare's play of _Richard III._:
+
+     ... after I have solemnly interr'd
+     At Chertsey monast'ry this noble king,
+     And wet his grave with my repentant tears.
+
+So he makes the hypocritical Duke of Gloucester speak. Cowley, the
+poet, lived in Chertsey for two years before his death. The house
+still stands; it has an overhanging storey and is covered with rough
+stucco. Charles James Fox was born in a house near, and this probably
+decided him in making choice of a residence many years later, for he
+chose St. Anne's Hill, only two miles away, which can be seen far and
+wide around. There he settled to indulge in the delightful hobby of
+improving his grounds.
+
+Below Chertsey Bridge is an excellent punting reach, where the
+championship punting competition is held every year in the beginning
+of August. This is, doubtless, the reason why Chertsey is crowded
+with visitors in the summer, when out of all the innumerable lodgings
+scarcely a room is to be had.
+
+The river about Weybridge and Shepperton is much more varied than
+at Chertsey, and to my mind variety is a direct element of beauty in
+river scenery. We have passed through flat meadows lined with straight
+ranks of Lombardy poplars that might belong to northern France, and
+then suddenly, at Weybridge, we begin once more curves and twists and
+unexpected islands and snug corners. There is a ferry across the river,
+and the place seems to get along wonderfully well without a bridge.
+In the middle of the stream is a well-kept island which belonged to
+the late Mr. D'Oyly Carte; it is hedged about with an exclusive wall,
+enclosing a pretty garden. In the centre is a neat white house with
+projecting tiles.
+
+In every direction there are numerous boat-building establishments.
+The lock island is large and has other buildings on it besides the
+lock-keeper's cottage. It is a favourite camping ground in summer, and
+has rather an untidy appearance. The wide-mouthed Wey flows in beside
+a couple of other islands, and is itself a very attractive place to
+explore, winding away through meadows and beneath overhanging trees.
+It is, however, not free from locks, though of a somewhat simpler kind
+than those on the Thames. Weybridge is a fresh and pleasant place,
+rapidly growing in all directions, and in its gorsy common land and
+masses of pine woods it reminds one of the parts of Surrey about
+Camberley. On the green stands the column which once presented seven
+faces to the seven streets in London, called after it Seven Dials.
+Since then it has risen in life, having been bought and surmounted with
+a coronet instead of the dial stone; this was in honour of the Duchess
+of York, who died in 1820. She lived at Oatlands Park and was very
+popular.
+
+Oatlands Park is the great place of the neighbourhood. It was once
+a hunting ground of King Henry VIII., but now belongs to a large
+residential hotel. Nothing remains of the building, which was used
+by many of our English monarchs. George IV. entertained here the
+Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, and all the princes and
+generals who visited England after Waterloo. In 1790 the Duke of
+York, who is commemorated by the column in Waterloo Place, bought and
+rebuilt the house, and still later it was in the possession of the
+Earl of Ellesmere. Remodelled, the house still stands as the hotel. A
+large piece of ornamental water in the grounds is almost as great an
+attraction as Virginia Water. Just where the park touches the river is
+the place known as Cowey Stakes. It is said that here Caesar crossed the
+river when in pursuit of Cassivelaunus, in 54 B.C. The stakes, which
+are no longer to be seen, are supposed to have been placed there to
+obstruct his use of the ford. They had been so long under water, that
+when found they were like ebony; they were about six feet long and
+shod with iron. They appear to have been too imposing and carefully
+formed to have been put in for the mere purpose of a river weir or for
+fishing; but, on the other hand, instead of running with the axis of
+the river, as would appear reasonable if they were meant to obstruct
+the passage of men, they were planted across it like a weir. They have
+afforded matter for endless discussion among antiquaries.
+
+  [Illustration: WALTON BRIDGE]
+
+What we know is that Caesar, having landed at Pevensey, marched inland
+and came to the Thames at about eighty miles from the sea. The river
+was fordable only at one place, and here natives were drawn up to
+oppose him, and the ford fortified with sharp stakes. So the evidence
+certainly seems in favour of this place.
+
+Near Cowey Stakes is Walton Bridge, on the far side of which is a large
+pool connected with the river by a channel; here are constantly to be
+found punt fishers. Turner painted Walton Bridge, and certainly, in
+some aspects, the place is worthy of being painted. The present bridge
+is of brick and iron, but the old one was of oak. Walton, like every
+other place on the Thames, depends greatly on the weather. On days
+when the cedars are seen against a vivid blue sky and the songs of a
+thousand birds are heard, when the meadows are lined with flowers, it
+is beautiful.
+
+     Now rings the woodland loud and long,
+       The distance takes a lovelier hue,
+       And drown'd in yonder living blue
+     The lark becomes a sightless song.
+
+There are other days when the whole is curiously like a platinotype
+photograph; when the steel-grey water reflects a white sun, and all the
+countless twigs of the trees are seen in one feathery mass. All colours
+seem drawn out of the picture, even the green of the grass is turned
+to dun. Light is everything in estimating beauty, but it is sometimes
+difficult to realise quite how much one owes to it. We might quote from
+Cowley's _Hymn to the Light_:
+
+     Thou in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay
+       Dost thy bright wood of stars survey,
+       And all the year dost with thee bring
+     Of thousand flow'ry lights thine own nocturnal spring.
+
+     When, goddess, thou lift'st up thy waken'd head
+       Out of the morning's purple bed,
+       Thy quire of birds about thee play,
+     And all the joyful world salutes the rising day.
+
+In Walton Church is a small brass with, _inter alia_, a man riding
+on a stag's back. The story goes that this man, John Selwyn, was an
+under-keeper in Oatlands Park in Queen Elizabeth's time, and that when
+she was present at the "chace," he leapt from his own horse's back
+straight on to that of the driven stag, when "he not only kept his
+seat gracefully in spite of every effort of the affrighted beast, but,
+drawing his sword, with it guided him toward the Queen, and coming near
+her presence plunged it into his throat, so that the animal fell dead
+at her feet."
+
+  [Illustration: SUNBURY]
+
+In the vestry is a Scolds' or Gossips' bridle, designed in the old days
+of witch-hunting and other atrocities to torture poor women.
+
+Admiral Rodney was a native of Walton, and an old and quaintly built
+house which belonged to the regicide Bradshaw is still in existence.
+
+Below Walton is Sunbury with its long, long weirs, and its little
+houses spread beside the edge of the water. But with Hampton we reach
+the Londoner's zone, which is for another chapter. At present Halliford
+and Shepperton, two little places opposite Oatlands, are far too pretty
+to be passed by without remark. The Manor House at Shepperton has one
+of the finest lawns on the river, which is no small thing. Shepperton
+is a scattered place and lies low; the meadows all around are often
+flooded for miles and miles, looking like an inland sea. A tiny river
+called the Exe finds its way into the Thames near Halliford. A glimpse
+of the quaint church of Shepperton should not be missed. The tower is
+very lean and narrow; it looks rather as if bricks had run short. It
+was added later than the rest, which was built in 1614. Tradition says
+that the previous church was destroyed by a Thames flood, though it
+stood on piles to raise it from the marshy ground. The old rectory,
+with its dormer windows and projecting wings, is really built of oak,
+though it has been faced with tiles which look like brick. It is about
+four hundred years old, and is one of the most delightful rectory
+houses imaginable. The list of rectors goes back to before 1330.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE LONDONER'S ZONE
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+As far as Hampton the river may be said to lie within the zone of the
+Londoner. By means of the District Railway and the London and South
+Western Railway he can get at any part of it, and trams are yearly
+stretching out further and further, so that he can go above ground, if
+he wishes, all the way to Hampton. At Hampton itself, at Richmond and
+Kew, there are large open spaces once the gardens or parks belonging
+to kings, but now open as public pleasure grounds, ideal places for
+the man who has a small family to take with him, and whose holiday is
+limited to a day. For those who are free from encumbrances, there are
+always boats to be had in abundance, at a much cheaper rate than one
+would have to pay for them at, say, Maidenhead; and the scenery itself,
+though not so fine as some higher up, is pleasant and attractive. If
+the day be wet or uncertain there is the palace at Hampton to explore;
+and accommodation for eating and drinking is amply supplied by numerous
+inns and hotels clustering round its gates.
+
+The gateway to the Palace is imposing, with its brick piers and stone
+heraldic animals, and the long low range of buildings on the left side
+makes a strip of bright colour.
+
+  [Illustration: HAMPTON COURT FROM THE RIVER]
+
+The older part of the palace was built by Wolsey, but by far the
+greater part of it, as it now stands, is due to William III. Some
+parts of the entrance gateway and the great hall are all that remain
+to speak of Wolsey's inconceivable boldness in attempting to build a
+palace which should outshine that of a jealous monarch like Henry VIII.
+Skelton's satire, beginning:
+
+     Why come ye not to courte?
+     To which courte?
+     To the kinge's courte,
+     Or to Hampton Courte?
+
+showed what everyone thought, and doubtless served to concentrate
+attention upon Wolsey's temerity. The irony of the matter lay in the
+fact that the palace was not seized, but that the unfortunate owner was
+forced to make a present of it to the King:
+
+     With turrettes and with toures,
+     With halls and with boures
+     Stretching to the starres,
+     With glass windows and barres;
+     Hanginge about their walles
+     Clothes of gold and palles
+     Fresh as floures in Maye.
+
+Whether he gave the palace as it stood, with its "two hundred and four
+score beds, the furniture of most being of silk," is not recorded; but
+it is probable that when he had been wrought up to the pitch of terror
+necessary for overcoming his reluctance to part with his beautiful new
+possession, he would give all--everything--feeling that so long as his
+life was safe it was all he cared about. As a mark of royal favour,
+Henry allowed him to occupy apartments at Richmond, where he was not
+too far off to observe the doings of the monarch in his palace. The
+king was so pleased with his new establishment that he formed a mighty
+park, embracing all the land for miles around, including East and West
+Molesey, Cobham, Esher, Byfleet, and Thames Ditton, and was sorely
+aggrieved because his loving subjects, whose land and rights had thus
+been confiscated, dared to make an outcry.
+
+Edward VI. was born at Hampton. After his death Queen Mary came here
+with her husband Philip, and the unhappy couple, one full of sullen
+hate, the other sore and bitter in her loneliness, must have strolled
+in the grounds many a time.
+
+For three months King Charles I. was held prisoner here while his fate
+was undecided, and when he was removed it was to go up the river to
+Maidenhead, where he said his last farewell to his children. Oliver
+Cromwell, who, though he dared not take the name of king, had no
+dislike to the royal privileges, lived at Hampton, and one of his
+daughters was married from the palace. But by the time of William
+III., much of the building had fallen into decay. The situation was
+pleasant, and though Henry's park had in great part reverted to its
+rightful owners, there was still much open ground around which made
+the place desirable. William had a passion for building, and loved the
+prim Dutch style, as was natural. The maze and the canal, and the long
+avenues of trees in Bushey, are all evidences of his taste. But in the
+palace he attempted to copy Versailles, as he had already copied it
+at Kensington. Poor Wren must have been as much perplexed as ever he
+was in his life when told to remodel a Tudor building into the copy of
+one of the Renaissance, and that he succeeded at all is greatly to his
+credit. Two out of the five courts which remained of the old palace
+were pulled down, and the state rooms, as we now see them, are the
+work of Wren under William's directions. Since then the interest and
+beauty of the interior has been much added to by the famous collection
+of pictures, which attracts at least as many visitors as the building
+does.
+
+Bushey Park adjoins Hampton, and lies so close to the river that it
+forms part of the river scenery. Its glory is in its great double line
+of chestnuts, with the broad sweep of green grass lining the avenues
+formed by them. Chestnut Sunday, when the trees are in bloom, is a
+well-known date in the Londoner's calendar, and every description of
+conveyance is hired, chartered, or borrowed, to see the great sight.
+Hundreds of people, to whom it is one of the great days in the year,
+walk about or eat refreshments beneath the sombre green masses which
+are lightened by a thousand pyramidal candles. The central avenue is
+one mile and forty yards in length, and the width of it is fifty-six
+yards. A noble conception, worthy of the little man with the wise head.
+On Hampton Green, outside the gates of the palace, Sir Christopher
+Wren passed the last five years of his life, in sight of his greatest
+architectural problem.
+
+Molesey Lock, just above the bridge, is a popular place in summer. All
+those who have come down to enjoy the fresh air, and who want an excuse
+for doing nothing, stand and watch the boats passing through; there
+is always as great a crowd on the tow-path as on the water. A number
+of islands lie above the lock, the largest of which is Tagg's, as well
+known as any island on the river, and much patronised by holiday-makers
+at lunch and tea time. In summer a band plays on the lawn twice a week.
+It is opposite the end of the Hurst Park Racecourse, patronised by
+altogether a different type of people from those who come to Hampton
+Court, and who can only be said to belong to the river accidentally,
+by reason of the position of the course. A wonderful club boat-house
+of polished wood has sprung up of recent years on the Hampton side,
+and above it is Garrick's Villa with portico and columns. This the
+great actor bought in 1754, and kept until his death, after which his
+widow lived in it for another forty years. He was visited here by all
+the celebrated men of his time, including Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson
+and Hogarth, and here he gave a splendid series of river fetes. The
+little temple on the bank was built by him as a shrine for a statue of
+Shakespeare, which has now been removed. A small public garden on the
+edge of the water makes this a favourite lounging place for the people
+of the neighbourhood. The scenery is rather tame, but has that charm
+always to be found in flowing water and green grass, in the absence of
+chimneys and other horrors of man's making.
+
+The church of Hampton village stands up fairly high above the water.
+It is in a most unlovely style, but ivy has done something to smooth
+down its defects, which are further toned by distance. There is a
+ferry close by, and as this is the nearest point to the station, many
+of those who arrive by train on race-days cross at this point, and the
+ferrymen reap rich harvests.
+
+Not far beyond this loom up the great earthworks and reservoirs of
+the West Middlesex and Grand Junction Water Company, and with that the
+influence of Hampton may be said to cease.
+
+Returning again to the bridge at Hampton, we have the river Mole
+flowing in on the right bank. Molesey Regatta takes place every year
+in July. The trees and red brickwork of the palace are on the left,
+and only a short way down is the pretty little oasis of Thames Ditton,
+which somehow seems as if it ought to belong to the river much higher
+up, and had fallen here by mistake. The Swan Inn is right on the edge
+of the water. It is proud of the fact that Theodore Hook wrote a verse
+on a pane of glass at a time when such things were quite legitimate,
+because the tourist, as we know him, had not then come into existence
+to vulgarise the practice. The pane has been broken, but the verse is
+remembered, and the following lines are a sample:
+
+     The Swan, snug inn, good fare affords
+       As table e'er was put on,
+     And worthier quite of loftier boards,
+       Its poultry, fish and mutton.
+     And while sound wine mine host supplies,
+       With ale of Meux and Tritton,
+     Mine hostess with her bright blue eyes
+       Invites to stay at Ditton.
+
+We wonder how many hostesses since have wished the lines had never been
+written. An old inn near by, with overhanging gable end and clinging
+wistaria, makes a pretty corner, and in the High Street itself there
+are bits so different from the Kingston and Surbiton ideal, that one
+cannot understand how they can be in the same zone with them at all.
+The green lawns of Ditton House and Boyle Farm are quite close, and the
+fine island with its willows hides the flatness of the further bank.
+
+About the end of the eighteenth century this part of the river was
+celebrated for its magnificent fetes.
+
+One of these, given at Boyle Farm, inspired Moore to write a poem which
+was not published until long after:
+
+     Lamps of all hues, from walks and bowers,
+     Broke on the eye like kindling flowers
+     Till budding into light each tree
+     Bore its full fruit of brilliancy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+     And now along the waters fly
+     Swift gondoles of Venetian breed,
+     With knights, and dames, who calm reclined,
+     Lisp out love sonnets as they glide,
+     Astonishing old Thames to find
+     Such doings on his moral tide.
+
+The reach is a favourite one for sailing boats. Below Long Ditton are
+the large waterworks of the Lambeth Company. On fine Saturdays and
+Sundays the Hampton tow-path on the other side is generally alive with
+people. On Raven's Ait is the club-house of the Kingston Rowing Club,
+and beside the water runs a well laid out strip of ground with bushes
+and seats, and a good stout hedge to keep off the dust from the motor
+cars which race by on the road--a section of the Ripley Road beloved of
+scorchers. In summer this little public garden is bright with flowers,
+and it is a great favourite with the inhabitants of Kingston and
+Surbiton. Before arriving at the bridge there are the backs of untidy
+houses, and generally a great medley of barges, laden with hay and
+bricks and coal, lying about by the wharves.
+
+Kingston, as we have said elsewhere, can boast of one of the oldest
+bridges over the river. A bridge of wood stood here in 1225, when
+there was no other in the whole sweep downward as far as London Bridge.
+The present one is very narrow, and its convenience is not increased
+since a double line of tramways has been laid across it. The general
+similarity of position between it and Richmond Bridge may be remarked.
+Both have large boat-building establishments near, and both are about
+the same distance from the railway bridges which cross below them.
+
+As this is not a guide-book, no attempt is made to describe other
+than picturesque effects and ancient survivals such as are likely to
+attract the notice of anyone actually on the river, but an exception
+must be made in favour of Kingston Stone, which anyone ought to land
+to see. It is in the market-place, not five minutes from the river,
+and from it--the King's Stone--the name of the place is derived. It
+is a shapeless block, mounted on a granite base, and round it are
+inscribed the names of seven Saxon kings who were crowned here, and
+a silver penny of each of their reigns has been inserted. There seems
+to be no authentic history of this interesting relic, and no definite
+explanation as to why these kings should have been here crowned; but
+a suggestion there is that at the date of the first of the coronations
+Mercia and Wessex were joined under one king, and while the boundaries
+of Mercia reached to the Thames on the north side, those of Wessex
+marched with them on the south. Kingston was equally accessible to
+both, and as London was at that time in the hands of the Danes, and the
+ford at Kingston the only one above London by which the river could be
+safely crossed, the place was chosen accordingly.
+
+Teddington Lock was for a long time the lowest on the river, but has
+been supplanted by a Benjamin in the shape of a half-tide lock at
+Richmond. The reach about Teddington is in the summer very pretty. The
+banks are dotted with little bungalows, bright with blue and white
+paint and gay with flowers. The long smooth lawns of the riverside
+houses stretch down to the water, and the Crimson Rambler climbs over
+many a rustic bridge and iron trellis. It is a well-cared for part, and
+holds its own against rivals of greater grandeur. There are several
+islands forming cover where one can ship oars and rest, and though
+landing is in most places forbidden, there is no law against a boat's
+drawing inshore beneath the shelter of the overhanging trees, amongst
+which may be noted several weeping willows. This bit recalls Moore's:
+
+           ... where Thames is seen
+     Gliding between his banks of green,
+     While rival villas on each side
+     Peep from their bowers to win his tide.
+
+Beyond Teddington we are in Twickenham Reach:
+
+     Where silver Thames round Twit'nam meads
+     His winding current sweetly leads.
+                                 --_Walpole._
+
+There is a great bend at Twickenham, and in it the chimneys of
+Strawberry Hill may be seen overtopping the high evergreen hedge that
+surrounds it. The house has been altered considerably since Walpole's
+date, but in its essence it is the house he built. He himself describes
+his view thus:
+
+     Directly before it is an open grove through which you see a
+     field, which is bounded by a serpentine wood of all kind of
+     trees, and flowering shrubs, and flowers. The lawn before
+     the house is situated on the top of a small hill from whence
+     to the left you see the town and church of Twickenham,
+     encircling a turn of the river, that looks exactly like a
+     seaport in miniature. The opposite shore is a most delicious
+     meadow, bounded by Richmond Hill, which loses itself in the
+     noble woods of the park to the end of the prospect on the
+     right, where is another turn of the river, and the suburbs
+     of Kingston as luckily placed as Kingston is on the left....
+     You must figure that all this is perpetually enlivened by a
+     navigation of boats and barges.
+
+His architecture was a medley of everything that could by any
+possibility be included under the heading Gothic, and the result was
+more curious than beautiful, though it became the fashion to visit
+the house. Walpole bemoaned the crowds aloud, but secretly delighted
+in them. He published a description of the house, in the beginning of
+which he says he trusts it will be a lesson in taste to all who see
+it! An example of the suave self-belief of an egotist. At Twickenham
+there is another fantastic building called Pope's Villa. This can be
+seen much better from the river than Strawberry Hill can, and it is an
+affected piece of architecture. It has been described as "a combination
+of an Elizabethan half-timber house and a Stuart Renaissance, with the
+addition of Dutch and Swiss, Italian and Chinese features." This is not
+the house occupied by Pope, nor is it even exactly on the same site
+as his. In front of it is a group of weeping willows, a kind of tree
+which shows to particular advantage by the water-side. Pope himself is
+said to have been the first to introduce it into England, having found
+some sticks of it in a bundle sent to him from Spain by the Countess of
+Suffolk.
+
+Pope lived at Twickenham from 1719 to 1744, and produced here most of
+his important works, including the last books of his _Odyssey_, the
+_Dunciad_ and the famous _Essay on Man_. He was here visited by Gay
+and Swift, and many another contemporary whose name is still held in
+estimation. He laid out his grounds in a decorative way, and made a
+curious underground grotto, which lies away from the water, on the
+other side of the road. Among the celebrated men who have, at one time
+or another, lived at Twickenham are numbered Henry Fielding, Dr. Donne,
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, Tennyson, and Turner. The last-named was very fond
+of fishing, and used to fish a good deal in this part of the river.
+
+There is a little esplanade at Twickenham, shaded by small
+horse-chestnuts, and in front lies the famous Eel-pie Island, which
+vies with Tagg's in summer popularity. The hotel has a pleasant garden,
+but the rest of the island is, it must be confessed, rather untidy,
+with several places for building motor launches and many boat-houses.
+At the small wharf opposite the church there are nearly always barges
+unloading bricks or sand and gravel. Yet the place has an air of
+dignity, perhaps given to it by the old Perpendicular stone tower
+of the church, so incongruously welded on to a red-brick pedimented
+Georgian building. The architect was the same who built St. George's,
+Hanover Square; but, as Sir Godfrey Kneller was churchwarden, one
+might have expected something in better taste. Pope is buried inside,
+and a flat slab with his initial letter on it now serves as a base for
+several pews. Not far from the church is York House, and with Orleans
+and Ham House on the other side of the river this is a notable group.
+In the great gardens of Orleans House grow splendid cedars, stone
+pines, and other evergreens. The little Duke of Gloucester, the only
+child who survived babyhood out of Queen Anne's enormous family, was
+brought here for his health in 1694. Six years later this quaint child,
+with a rickety body and an enormous head, died of small-pox at the age
+of eleven. The house was afterwards rebuilt. To it in 1800 came Louis
+Philippe, then Duc d'Orleans, and his two brothers. After his brief
+summer of prosperity in France, he returned to England as an exile in
+1848; that he had a warm remembrance of the house is shown by his then
+purchasing it. He did not, however, live here himself, but placed his
+son, the Duc d'Aumale, in it, and a colony of royal refugees settled
+round. At Mount Lebanon, not far off, was the Prince de Joinville; and
+the Duc d'Aumale, having bought York House, gave it to his nephew the
+Comte de Paris, who lived there for six or seven years. Queen Anne was
+born in York House--it had been given to her mother's father, Lord
+Clarendon--and with her elder sister she spent her earliest years
+at Twickenham. All these notable houses and dignified memories are
+enough to account for the air of sober gravity never wholly absent
+from the river at Twickenham even on the brightest days; and the rows
+of Lombardy poplars, the magnificent cedars, and the fine foliage of
+the other trees enhance the impression. Ham House, on the other side,
+was built in 1611, it is said for Prince Henry, James I.'s eldest son.
+It is screened from the water by a row of tall trees. Around it grow
+Scotch firs and holm oaks.
+
+We have not long left Twickenham before we see the little oblong island
+about which there was so much contention because it formed an item in
+the famous Marble Hill view, seen from the heights of Richmond Park.
+The London County Council are now owners of the Marble Hill estate,
+and have made it into a public park. It lies on the Twickenham side.
+The house was built by George II. for the Countess of Suffolk. Gay,
+Pope, and Swift all took an interest in the building, and voiced their
+opinions as to the style and the laying out of the grounds. A suite of
+rooms in the house was afterwards set aside for Gay, who was a great
+favourite with the countess.
+
+The other side of the river is open, and it must be admitted that on
+a sunny day this bit is a stiff pull if one is unfortunate enough to
+be going against the current. It is often to be described by the word
+"glaring," yet the fine scimitar-like sweep of the tree-crowned heights
+above, capped by the huge mass of the Star and Garter Hotel, toned to
+unoffending mediocrity of colour, is worth seeing.
+
+Richmond, like nearly all the other places on the river, has an
+atmosphere of its own, difficult to put into words. It is less flippant
+than Kingston, and has not a tinge of the gravity of Twickenham. The
+houses rise high and are irregular; those in the main street recede
+from the water as they leave the bridge, and between them and the
+stream are innumerable others, some with gardens, some overshadowed by
+trees. Weeping willows, Scotch firs, and ivy-covered trunks abound,
+and the place is the perfection of a residential quarter. There is
+enough oldness and irregularity to avoid stiffness, enough modernity
+to ensure cleanliness. The bridge has a peculiarly individual curve--a
+real humpback--and its stone balustrade is very fine. At the southern
+end, far too many new red-brick flats are springing up, alas! but on
+the north or east, where lies old Richmond, they are not visible to any
+appreciable extent. The scene below the bridge is distinctly pretty.
+Large boat-building yards, as at Kingston, occupy the foreground, and
+the warm cinnamons and ochres of newly-varnished boats are generally
+to be seen, as well as the more crude and garishly painted craft. The
+islands are tree-covered, and are well placed in the stream. Yet one
+may note that, popular as Richmond is, it is not flooded in the summer
+time with such crowds of boating visitors as Hampton. There are more
+large craft about, and boating people do not care for that.
+
+What remains of Richmond Palace must be sought below the bridge, for it
+will not be seen without a little effort. The old palace stood right
+on the margin of the water, and an engraving of it is still extant,
+showing a pinnacled and many chimneyed building. The angular towers
+are capped by turrets like those of the old palace at Greenwich. Henry
+I. was the first English king to live here, but until Edward III.'s
+time it was hardly a recognised royal palace. It fell before the hand
+of Richard II., who in a fit of frenzy at the death of his wife, which
+occurred here, ordered its destruction. Henry V. restored it, but it
+was burnt down in the end of the fifteenth century, and afterwards
+rebuilt by Henry VII., who changed its name from Sheen to Richmond,
+and who himself died there. The old Tudor gateway of his time remains
+still. It is said, but with doubtful accuracy, that the Countess of
+Nottingham died in the room over the gateway, after having confessed
+to Elizabeth her duplicity about the Earl of Essex and the ring he had
+confided to her charge. We have many records of Richmond from the time
+of the miserable Katherine of Arragon--widow of one boy prince, but
+not yet affianced to the other, a foreigner in a strange land, bitterly
+hating her surroundings--to the time of Charles I., who made the great
+park and hunted in it. A large Carthusian monastery stood near the
+palace. Perkin Warbeck found an asylum in the monastery, and in 1550
+Robert Dudley was here married to Amy Robsart.
+
+There is a half-tide lock at Richmond, with a footbridge. This is
+at present the lowest lock on the river, though there is some talk
+of making a similar one at Wandsworth. It is quite different in
+construction from the usual kind. It has three great sluices, each
+weighing thirty-two tons, and when the tide brings up the water, so
+that it is equal with that above--that is to say, at half-tide--the
+sluices are raised by the addition of a small weight to the massive
+pendules by which they are exactly balanced, and the water is allowed
+free way.
+
+All along this stretch of the river there is on one side a fine row
+of shady trees growing to a great height. Beyond the raised footpath
+is the old Deer Forest, on which stands Kew Observatory, and a minor
+stream, which afterwards forms a moat to Kew Gardens, runs along
+merrily. Isleworth is finely placed at a bend of the river, and though
+it is a manufacturing place, it is not so bad as Brentford. The large
+willow-covered ait in front affords occupation to the osier gatherers.
+The church is ugly; it is placed very like that at Hampton, and, like
+Hampton also, its ugliness is mitigated by a covering of ivy. The
+tower, as so frequently happens, is much older than the rest. Was it
+that church towers were built more solidly than the naves, or that the
+naves would have stood equally well had they been allowed to remain?
+
+Then we come to the great park surrounding Syon House (Duke of
+Northumberland), a park fringed with marshy ground, where reeds and
+rushes flourish, and which is overflowed at every flood. Crows consider
+it a delightful place, if their perpetual presence may be taken to
+indicate opinion. A great clump of cedars stands between the house
+and the river, but we have to go considerably further on before the
+severe line of frontage, with its ground floor arcade and battlemented
+parapet, can be seen at full length. The astonished lion stands clear
+up against the sky, as he did of old at Northumberland House, over the
+site of which now flows a ceaseless stream of traffic. Long years ago
+there stood here at Isleworth a convent for nuns. This was suppressed
+at the Dissolution. Katherine Howard was imprisoned in Syon House
+until three days before her execution, and only five years later the
+corpse of her murderer, the tyrant Henry, stopped here on its way to
+Windsor. Edward VI. granted the place to Lord-Protector Somerset, who,
+with his usual mania for building, began to reconstruct it on a much
+larger scale; but before he had got farther than the mere shell of
+his design, he suffered disgrace, and Syon House passed to the Duke
+of Northumberland. Here came Lady Jane Grey, timid and doubting, to
+receive the offer of the crown, and from here she started on her last
+sad journey to the Tower.
+
+Queen Mary naturally tried to re-establish the nuns, but found it
+difficult, as some had died and others had married! Fuller's comment is
+worth quoting:
+
+     It was some difficulty to stock it with such as had
+     been veiled before, it being now thirty years since the
+     Dissolution, in which time most of the elder nuns were in
+     their graves, and the younger in the arms of their husbands,
+     as afterwards embracing a married life.
+
+In James I.'s reign Syon House was in the hands of the Earl of
+Northumberland, who also fell under his sovereign's displeasure, but
+was allowed to return here to die. Under his successor, the tenth earl,
+Inigo Jones was employed to alter the house; but the architect of the
+present building was Adam (1728-92).
+
+The place is often very quiet, and the hovering crows, and perhaps
+a few men in boats grubbing for sand and gravel from the river-bed
+with long-handled scoops, have it all to themselves. It is not much
+frequented because just below comes Brentford, with all its ugliness,
+a sore blot on the river. Nevertheless, on the Surrey side, to
+counterbalance it, we have the famous Kew Gardens. The very varied
+trees that grow here can be well seen, for the parapet of the wall is
+low, the Gardens being sufficiently protected by the moat. Further on,
+when this comes to an end, the wall is heightened, and only the tops
+of the elms and ashes and horse-chestnuts peep over. Presently a new
+object comes into view--a "palace," in that it was the dwelling-place
+of royalty; but anything less like a palace surely never was seen.
+A stiff, square red-brick house, where Miss Burney served her "sweet
+queen," and the old king cried "What, what, what?" a hundred times a
+day, and the overflowing quiverful of their Royal Highnesses quarrelled
+and played and grew up.
+
+Very few people realise what a large basin there is on the river
+Brent, and what an amount of business is carried on here. From the
+river, one's chief reflection is thankfulness that the trees on the
+large islands have grown so well that they form a screen for the soap
+factories, the cement works, the breweries, etc., which constitute the
+industries of Brentford.
+
+     Brentford, tedious town,
+     For dirty streets and white-legged chickens known,
+
+says Gay. The dirty streets are still there, with the confusion in
+their narrow limits worse confounded by the passing of tramcars, which,
+over the mile along which Brentford spreads itself, take double the
+time spent on any other bit of equal distance on their route. Most
+people have a hazy notion about two kings at Brentford; this is one
+of those curious examples of the persistence of an unimportant detail.
+The allusion was first made in a play called _The Rehearsal_, written
+by the Duke of Buckingham, and Thackeray's ballad on the same subject
+carried it a step further. That there was a battle at Brentford one
+learns in the history books. It was when the Parliamentarians, who had
+rested in the town all night, were surprised by Prince Rupert, under
+the cover of a thick mist, and completely routed.
+
+All along the Kew side, up to the bridge, are tea-gardens sandwiched
+between boat-houses; and the new bridge made of granite, with its
+branching lamps and royal arms, is really an imposing object. Above and
+below the bridge the character of the river is singularly different.
+Above, as we have seen, are the mudflats, and wharves, and chimneys,
+not to omit water towers and gasometers; and below is a bit of
+Chiswick, built along by the waterside, a queer little irregular row of
+red-brick houses and cottages, near which are fastened the boats of men
+who live by fishing; it is a little riverside place of the old sort.
+There are meadows, called Duke's Meadows, opposite Mortlake; these
+afford a fine vantage-ground for spectators who come to see the great
+Boat Race.
+
+The hour of the Boat Race varies according to the tide, for the race
+is rowed at the "top of the tide"--when it is at its fullest. If the
+hour be an easy one--about mid-day--and the weather is promising, and
+especially if the reports of the prowess of the crews give reason to
+believe the race will be a close one, then the crowd is very large
+indeed. Some prefer to watch the start; some enthusiasts keep up with
+the boats on water the whole way; but a great majority there are who
+want to see the last effort between Hammersmith and Barnes Bridges, for
+it is almost a certainty that the crew leading at Barnes Bridge will be
+the winner. Almost, but not quite; for there was an occasion when, by a
+sudden spurt, the positions of the boats were reversed, and Cambridge,
+which had been behind, won the race. The road along by Mortlake is
+lined with crowds; every window is filled, and all available roofs.
+On the railway bridge are closely-packed ranks of people, brought
+there and deposited by trains, which afterwards decorously withdraw
+and wait to pick them up again. The price of this first-rate position
+is included in the fares. Chiswick meadows afford space for many more
+persons, who usually pay a shilling a head to the land-holders. This
+is a very favourite position, because the grassy slopes form such a
+pleasant seat while the inevitable waiting is gone through.
+
+In the river itself lie several steamers packed with passengers,
+and also various small boats. Then down comes the launch of the
+Thames Conservators to clear the course. The long strings of barges,
+which have been taking advantage of the flowing tide to make their
+way up-stream, are seen no more. A gun goes off, and then, an
+extraordinarily short time after, a murmur begins among the crowds on
+the Mortlake side. It grows and grows and swells along the Chiswick
+shore, as first one boat creeps round the corner, and then the other.
+"Cambridge wins; Cambridge, Cambridge!" "Row up, Oxford!"
+
+Then, perhaps--usually--it is seen that one boat is leading by so many
+lengths as to make it impossible for the other to catch up. The leading
+boat goes ahead with a straight, splendid swing into clear water. The
+losing one, getting into its opponent's wash, rocks as it labours on,
+its crew lose heart, and the distance widens.
+
+Close behind are the umpire's launch and a dozen others gliding along,
+keeping just behind the backward crew. And when all have passed, the
+river, so calm before, is churned up into miniature waves that wash and
+beat on the banks. Presently the umpire's boat is seen coming swiftly
+back, bearing the winning flag at the bows over the other.
+
+The trains move slowly forward to pick up the passengers; bicycles,
+motors, and carriages begin to move off; streams of people pour down
+every road; and all is over for another year.
+
+The chief memory of Chiswick is that of Hogarth, who is buried in the
+churchyard close by the water. The house in which he lived is still
+standing, and is a few minutes' walk from the church. Hogarth was
+here for about three years, though when he left to go to Leicester
+Square he did not sell the house, and his widow lived in it after
+his death. For two years Pope also lived in Chiswick; and in Chiswick
+House, which lies away from the river on the other side of the fields,
+two great men, Charles James Fox and George Canning, died in the
+same room, in 1806 and 1827 respectively. And in the Roman Catholic
+Cemetery at Mortlake is the massive sarcophagus--in the form of an Arab
+tent--beneath which lies the dust of the great traveller, Sir Richard
+Burton, and his wife.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE RIVER AT LONDON
+
+
+There is a subtle difference in the river above and below Hammersmith:
+above, it is a stream of pleasure--below, it is something less
+beautiful, but grander, more crowded with memories, more important.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+Though pleasure boats are to be seen in quantities any summer evening
+about Putney; though market gardens still border the banks at Fulham;
+yet the river is for the greater part lined with wharves and piers and
+embankments. It is no wild thing running loose, but a strong worker
+full of earnest purpose. It is the great river without which there
+would have been no London, the river which bears the largest trade the
+world has ever known.
+
+Unfortunately, the habit of using the river at London as a highway
+was lost some time in the eighteenth century and has not yet been
+recovered, notwithstanding the gallant attempt of the London County
+Council to educate the people to it. At one time the river was used
+for every sort of traffic: tilt boats, covered with an awning, ran up
+and down like omnibuses and charged sixpence a passenger; and every man
+of importance kept his private barge, for the smoothly gliding waters
+made an infinitely preferable route to the vile roads. At every set
+of stairs--and the stairs were frequent--numberless wherries awaited
+hire. In the sixteenth century there were two thousand on the water,
+and it was reckoned that nine thousand watermen earned their living
+by transporting people up and down or from shore to shore. When it is
+objected that these men were a pest and a nuisance, so that we are well
+rid of them, that their language was unspeakable and their manners
+filthy, it may be replied, _autres temps autres moeurs_, for there
+are a few watermen still to be had at Westminster, at the Tower, and
+at most of the river stairs, and they are civil and obliging, only,
+alas, the public rarely patronises them. Occasionally, an uncommonly
+adventurous person, probably a visitor staying in London, penetrates to
+the haunt of the watermen, and, upon inquiry, he finds a respectable
+man, duly licensed like a cabman, liable to be reported for rudeness
+or misconduct, strictly limited by law as to the fees he may demand,
+and ready to add greatly to the pleasure of the trip by his genial,
+shrewd humour and his keen observation; qualities found frequently in
+men whose business is upon great waters.
+
+  [Illustration: BEYOND HAMMERSMITH BRIDGE]
+
+Without counting the railways, fourteen bridges now span the Thames
+from Hammersmith downward, and even fourteen we sometimes find
+inadequate to our needs in this hurrying life. Not until the middle of
+the eighteenth century was the historic London Bridge backed up by a
+second. Before that time, all men crossed by boat, or by the ferry at
+Westminster, or even by the ford there, a feat which the embanking of
+the river has long rendered impossible.
+
+We can see it, this great river of ours, as in a vision, gradually
+emerging from its primeval wilderness. First it spread widely between
+the rising ground on each side, a vast area of lagoons, flooded at
+high tide, and at low tide a swampy place full of half-submerged
+islets. Then one or two small settlements for trade were planted on
+its banks, first at Westminster, and others about the site of Cannon
+Street Station, where the Walbrook leapt to meet the larger current.
+There was a gradual extension of houses along the brink. At last an
+attempt was made to bridge the river over, probably by a wooden bridge.
+This succeeded, and when the bridge had stood for some time it was
+replaced by another in the twelfth century. This was built and rebuilt,
+as the turbulent river, feeling the erection of earthworks to curtail
+its flood, fretted to be free, and rushed seaward with force, tearing
+down the obstruction offered by this quaint old London Bridge with its
+double line of houses. Many a picture of this bridge still remains.
+It was a fascinating, a wonderful structure. Numberless children have
+yearned to have lived there, high above the flood. What delight to look
+out from one's nursery window and see the grey-green water hastening
+past. To see it mysteriously stop as if by some command from on High,
+then slowly turn and race inward again. Marvellous feat! Miraculous
+bridge! There was a beautiful chapel, a veritable gem of work, upon
+this bridge. There was a house like a puzzle-house, put together with
+pegs, without an iron nail in it. There were gateways at each end, and
+on the gateways were the grisly remains of the heads of men and women
+who had been executed. There were shops on each side of the road where
+ribbons and laces and other haberdashery might be bought at will.
+
+  [Illustration: THE CUSTOM HOUSE]
+
+There were gaps between the houses, where one could escape for a moment
+from the lumbering, creaking, groaning traffic pent up in the narrow,
+mud-splashed roadway, and see the water itself, and see how the houses
+were built out over it, resting on nothing. Another miracle! A mighty
+tome might be written about Old London Bridge; of all the relics of
+a past London, it is the one I should like most to have seen. Mills
+there were on this bridge, to which the people could bring their corn
+to be ground by the force of the water. Waterworks there were, too,
+and the bridge itself contained a drawbridge to protect London against
+invasion, for, as there was none other crossing, an enemy prevented
+here might well be held in check altogether.
+
+Next to London Bridge, the oldest bridge across the river was at
+Kingston, and it is on record that in 1554, Sir Thomas Wyatt, finding
+London Bridge closed against him, marched all the way to Kingston
+in order to cross, but on arrival there, found that he had been
+anticipated, and that the bridge was broken down.
+
+The present London Bridge has been recently widened. At one end of
+it rises the white tower of St. Magnus, a Danish saint, and behind
+it is the pointing finger of the Monument, while down the river are
+the market of Billingsgate, the quay of the Custom House, and beyond,
+rising tall and ghostly, close to the Tower itself, the Tower Bridge,
+the latest addition to the list.
+
+On the south side of London Bridge, over the houses peep the pinnacles
+of St. Saviour's tower, Southwark. Anciently, it was called St. Mary
+Overies, and was once a priory, one of the most ancient houses in
+London. From this there ran a ferry, which was in use long after the
+bridge was built, for the narrowness of the street and the continual
+blocks made a passage by the bridge a process of time. Gower, the poet,
+was a benefactor to the priory, and is buried in the church.
+
+  [Illustration: DUTCH BARGES NEAR THE TOWER]
+
+As the Tower Bridge can swing open, ships of all sizes can get up as
+far as London Bridge, when the tide allows them sufficient water-way,
+and a busy scene, watched by a never-failing crowd of idlers, is always
+to be witnessed in the reach below. Ships there are of all shapes and
+sizes, but mostly hideous, made for merchandise and not for show. Many
+of them are iron, and run between eight and twelve hundred tons. They
+come from Hamburg, Hull, Newcastle, Holland, and many another port.
+There, out in the river, is a dredger working with a hideous grinding
+noise, and beyond it are two or three brilliantly painted green and red
+boats with great wooden flaps, or lee boards, on their sides. They are
+Dutch eel boats, and are allowed to lie in the river free from dues,
+if they keep always in the same place. It is a survival of an ancient
+custom.
+
+As we pass through under London Bridge, and come out on the other side,
+we can see the grey river with its bustling craft, framed like a series
+of pictures in the wide arches.
+
+Some of the oldest theatres in London stood on the part called
+Bankside, about Southwark Bridge; at present the view is dingy
+and uninteresting. The Bishop of Winchester's palace once adjoined
+Bankside, as that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth, still
+stands near Westminster Bridge; but it fell into ruins and the bishops
+removed to Chelsea.
+
+It is impossible to enumerate the palaces and fine houses that once
+stood along Thames Street, which, in the fourteenth century, was
+the most fashionable street in London. The part of the foreshore
+now occupied by wharves and great warehouses--where cranes swing and
+lighters await their loads all day long, and every working day--has
+all been reclaimed from the river. Once it was covered at every
+returning tide, but strong piles were driven into the mud, and on this
+unpromising spot houses began to rise and debris accumulated, until
+firm ground was made, and this became one side of a busy street.
+
+On the up-side of Cannon Street, close to the cavernous jaws of the
+station, is a wharf marked in white letters, "Walbrook Wharf." This
+is as near as we can get to the first site of London, where the Briton
+made his modest lake-fort, Llyn-din, and afterwards the Romans pitched
+their strong citadel.
+
+  [Illustration: THE TOWER OF ST. MAGNUS]
+
+Queenhithe was given by King John to his mother, Queen Eleanor.
+Hence arose the name. It was no trifling gift, for this was the most
+important dock on the Thames at that time, and dues were collected from
+all the ships unlading here. Now it is a small area in which the water
+laps at rotting lichened posts as it slowly uncovers and re-covers the
+slimy mud.
+
+The whole of this district lying north of the Thames is the oldest part
+of our ancient city, and it is thick with memories. Down the crooked
+streets Spenser came as a boy from his home beyond the city ditch to
+his school of the Merchant Taylors in Dowgate. Here a fair-haired
+gentle lad, called Chaucer, loitered many a time, for his father's
+house was in Thames Street.
+
+Not far from Puddle dock stood Baynard's Castle with its high
+buttressed walls. In it Edward IV. was proclaimed, and in it, also,
+Richard III. made a feint of refusing the crown belonging to his
+imprisoned nephew. Tower Royal, Montfichet, and many another glorious
+building, have gone utterly, so that their sites can be fixed only
+approximately. The river Fleet, up which large ships could ply once,
+flowed into the Thames where is now Blackfriars Bridge. By its banks
+the great religious houses of the Black and White Friars rose, and the
+boundary cliff hewed by its current may still be traced in the steep
+rise up Ludgate Hill, which tries the patient omnibus horses day by
+day. Over all, as we draw further up the river, towers the great dome
+of St. Paul's.
+
+The Surrey side of the Thames continues unlovely--a medley of browns
+and greys, tall chimneys and tumble-down sheds; it needs the veil which
+the atmosphere of London mercifully throws over it.
+
+The railway bridge and Blackfriars are so close together, they almost
+touch. As we pass underneath there is a hollow reverberation, like
+the beat of the surf in a cave on the shore. Just above the bridge is
+anchored the _Buzzard_, the Naval Volunteer training ship.
+
+  [Illustration: ST. PAUL'S]
+
+Along the northern side now begins the Embankment, with its solid
+granite walls and fringe of young planes. The green lawns and red
+buildings of the Temple can be seen only when the river is very high.
+Further on is Somerset House, followed by a line of hotels, the palaces
+of modern days. Somerset House is the successor of the palace built
+by the arrogant Protector Somerset, from the stones of churches and
+religious buildings; between it and the Temple stood Arundel and Essex
+Houses. The latter had earlier been called Leicester House, and Spenser
+lived there for a time as secretary to the Earl of Leicester.
+
+The tide has turned and is coming in. Little steam tugs, gallantly
+towing six barges, two abreast and each twice as large as themselves,
+pant up stream; while the bargees, with faces the colour of brickdust,
+the colour they are so fond of reproducing in their paint and even in
+their sails, stand by their huge rudders. Some barges are struggling
+along without mechanical aid. The men in charge bend back horizontally
+in their manipulation of the huge sweeps. There must be a knack in it.
+No one could work so hard as they seem to be doing; spine and sinews
+would give way altogether. Their whole strength results in but a slow
+progress, and the barge, responding to the push of the water, makes
+a kind of crab-like movement, sidling up the river broadside on. One,
+laden with yellow straw till it appears like a huge barn, is stranded
+right in mid-stream. The long ends of the straw sweep in the water, and
+there is no moving until the current increases.
+
+Here and there red-brown sails, patched and stained, spring up, and
+others still furled, stand up along the wharves like crooked warning
+fingers. Just before Waterloo Bridge there is, neatly tucked away below
+the Embankment, so that few ever know of its existence, a station of
+the river police, with trim muslin curtains over the windows.
+
+Between Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridges the same sort of thing
+continues. An enormous chimney on the Surrey side mocks the dignity
+of Cleopatra's Needle, now safe in haven after many vicissitudes. The
+sweep of the river makes these two bridges radiate out like the spokes
+of a wheel, so that the southern ends are nearer than the northern. The
+chimneys and wharves and the ubiquitous barges still continue, and as
+we pass beneath the hideous red iron bridge of Charing Cross, we get a
+vision of the many towers and pinnacles of Westminster ahead.
+
+  [Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT]
+
+Besides the great houses of old times already mentioned, there were
+others down this stretch of the river too--the Savoy, home of John
+of Gaunt, and in its time prison and hospital; Durham, Worcester, and
+Salisbury Houses. These were all either flush with the water or hemmed
+in by high walls in which were stairs "to take water at." The only
+relic of these mansions lies in the watergate of York House, now about
+a hundred yards from the river, behind a strip of land which has all
+been reclaimed by the making of the Embankment. But that the Embankment
+does not always suffice to curb the current was proved not so long ago,
+for in March, 1906, there was a combination of circumstances which
+swelled the volume of water abnormally. Sudden floods of rain caused
+every weir far up the river to be opened, and bounding, exulting to
+be free, the huge mass of water, swelled by every brook and tributary
+and swollen to twice its usual size, rushed seaward. But it was met by
+a high spring tide, and the collision was increased by a strong wind,
+so that the water rose higher and higher, and the curious spectacle
+was witnessed of barges floating above the roadway, propelled by
+sweeps braced against the granite walls. The water burst up through
+the pavement and the manholes, and ran in a flood under Charing Cross
+Bridge, but it just did not overtop the Embankment wall by an inch
+or two, and as the tide subsided the tension relaxed. In the higher
+reaches, about Barnes and Chiswick, "tide-boards" were used to fill up
+the crevices below the doors, and by this means alone many a house was
+saved from being swamped.
+
+The scene is lively enough. Seagulls of all ages--big dingy drab ones
+and neat ones in liveries of dove-grey and white--float merrily on the
+ripples, or poise and wheel in the air. Here a County Council steamer
+ploughs past, churning the river into wavelets, there a lad paddles
+a boat from shore to shore with a single oar used rudderwise, a feat
+possible only to a born waterman.
+
+  [Illustration: WESTMINSTER BY NIGHT]
+
+As we pass on we can see the high bastion towers of Scotland Yard.
+Northumberland Avenue stretches over ground which was once the gardens
+of Northumberland House--they came down to the water--and beyond this
+were quadrangles and a medley of buildings, mostly low and mostly
+of brick, which formed the palace of Whitehall, snatched by Henry
+VIII. from Wolsey because the royal palace at Westminster had fallen
+into decay. The Houses of Parliament, standing on the site of the
+latter palace, are the finest work of Barry, who has been abused for
+many things, but who seems to have been touched by a genuine spirit
+of architecture in this instance, and to have realised the right
+characteristics of majesty and delicacy in his work. But he had a
+noble chance, for the position of the building, standing on the edge
+of the water, with the bridge rising beside it, gave room for a fine
+conception.
+
+From Westminster to the Tower or Fleet prison, how many prisoners have
+come and gone--come up against the current full of hope, and returned
+of hope bereft! The ghosts are endless, because the river was the usual
+mode of communication between the Tower and the Court at Westminster,
+as the Strand was full of holes and seamed by watercourses. If this
+reach of water were to tell its tale, much of the history of England
+would be interwoven with it, and it would be tinged with the bitterest
+sorrow human life can know--death with disgrace.
+
+From the time of Edward the Confessor to the time of Henry VIII., our
+kings were housed at Westminster as one of the chief of their royal
+palaces. Luckily the Great Hall, which Rufus built, escaped the fire
+of 1834, and still may be seen, but all else, with the exception of the
+crypt of St. Stephen's, has vanished utterly.
+
+The time to see the Houses of Parliament is undoubtedly at night,
+when Big Ben's illuminated face sheds a sort of ethereal light on the
+architectural fretwork near him.
+
+Wordsworth admired the view most in the early morning, before the first
+waking of the great world of bustle and business:
+
+     The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
+     Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
+     Open unto the fields and to the sky,
+     All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
+     Never did sun more beautifully steep
+     In his first splendour, valley rock or hill;
+     Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep;
+     The river glideth at his own sweet will.
+     Dear God, the very houses seem asleep;
+     And all that mighty heart is lying still.
+
+Westminster Bridge is particularly wide, and has a low parapet. In the
+sudden gusts of wind that come sweeping down the river it is a marvel
+that no one has been caught up and tossed over into the rolling green
+torrent. These peculiarities also are noticeable when the bridge is
+seen from the Embankment, for the traffic looms up very high on it, and
+the omnibuses and cabs look almost as if they were careering along on
+the parapet itself.
+
+From Westminster to Lambeth is but a short way, and what Westminster
+Palace was, while it existed, to the lord temporal, so Lambeth has
+been, and is, to the lord spiritual; from the very earliest times the
+Archbishops of Canterbury have lodged here.
+
+In our peaceful days the holder of the highest dignity of the Church
+has not to fear the Tower and the "sharp medicine of the axe" as some
+of his predecessors did. Laud and Juxon were executed, and for Cranmer
+there was the worse horror of the torturing stake. Lambeth has seen
+much cruelty mingled with the name of religion in the time that it has
+stood above the flood. The Lollards, imprisoned within the tower which
+still bears their name, made deep incisions on the walls to wile away
+the weary hours of suspense, and the groans of prisoners have been
+stifled by these walls as well as by those of the grim Tower.
+
+On the same side as Lambeth, nearer Westminster Bridge, are the curious
+detached buildings of St. Thomas's Hospital, looking like nothing in
+the world less than a hospital.
+
+Where Lambeth Bridge is now, was once the ferry by which King James II.
+passed when he made a hurried exit from the kingdom that repudiated
+him. It was a bitter night, and, attended by only one gentleman, the
+king slipped secretly out of his palace at Whitehall, and crossing the
+Privy Gardens, made his way to the ferry, where he entered a small
+boat with a single pair of oars. In mid-stream he threw the Great
+Seal into the water. A curious and dramatic incident this, that might
+well be made the subject of a picture by some historical painter. The
+Great Seal was afterwards accidentally drawn up in the net of some
+fisherman. But there is another memory further back still, which gives
+to this strip of river an importance which no other part can boast.
+Here lay the first ford, to which all the traffic of the north, on
+its way to the south coast, had to come. In the ages before even the
+oldest London Bridge was built, a string of pack horses, of weary
+men and of travellers, continually wandered down through the marshes
+lying around Thorney Island, on which stands the present Abbey, and,
+guided by stakes placed for the purpose, arrived at the river's bank,
+there to await low tide, when they could cross over to the further
+shore. Through the ages we see them continuing, and when England was
+Christianised, to the procession were added monks and pilgrims bent on
+holy missions. When London Bridge was built, a great majority of the
+age-long procession was diverted that way, but many still continued to
+prefer the ancient ford at Westminster. Of course, since the Embankment
+was made, and the river no longer wanders uncurbed over the lowlands
+and meadows of Westminster, the current runs deep and strong and no
+fording is possible.
+
+  [Illustration: HAY BARGES NEAR WESTMINSTER BRIDGE]
+
+Above Lambeth we pass the Tate Gallery and the new bridge at Vauxhall,
+and then traverse a dreary strip of river, dreary on both sides,
+until we come near to Chelsea Bridge. This is a high-swinging and
+imposing bridge of the same type as the Albert Bridge further up. How
+different the Chelsea we see now from the ancient Chelsea. Ours is a
+Chelsea mainly of red brick, with many tall flats and many beautifully
+designed houses in pseudo-ancient style. A long line of planes runs
+along the embankment, which is one of the prettiest embankments on
+the river. The gardens and green lawns of the Royal Hospital reach to
+the roadway, and away behind them at some distance can be seen the
+comparatively low and long range of buildings dating from the time
+of the Stuarts, and forming an asylum for old soldiers. On the strip
+of ground to the east of them once stood Ranelagh, the gay rotunda
+which played such a part in all London flirtations; where misses met
+their beaux and walked round in stately steps to the sound of music.
+The breakfasts at Ranelagh were at one time almost as popular as the
+evening entertainments:
+
+     A thousand feet rustled on mats,
+       A carpet that had once been green;
+     Men bowed with their outlandish hats,
+       With corners so fearfully keen;
+     Fair maids, who at home in their haste
+       Had left all clothing else but a train,
+     Swept the floor clean as slowly they paced,
+       And then walked round and swept it again.
+
+Thus Bloomfield satirically described the scene. Ranelagh plays a
+large part in _Evelina_ and other romances of that date. The last
+public entertainment was given in 1803, and of the gay rotunda with its
+gorgeous fittings not a vestige now remains.
+
+High red-brick flats which stand at the foot of the Royal Hospital
+gardens by the river, are succeeded by smaller houses, and beyond
+the Albert Bridge the district has not yet been transformed, as it
+assuredly will be.
+
+In the small public gardens that face the river there is a bronze
+statue of Carlyle, the Sage of Chelsea, and not far off rises the
+curious little tower of dark brick that belongs to the old church,
+a very mausoleum of tombs. Chelsea has, perhaps, been more altered
+by the formation of the Embankment than any other part of the river.
+Its very name implies a bank of shingly beach stretching down to the
+water, and so it was in old times, and to this beach the gardens of
+the stately palaces reached. Chelsea has been called a village of
+palaces. A village it was in old times, quite detached from London, and
+considered a country residence by many a famous nobleman and statesman.
+On the site of the row of houses in Cheyne Walk stood the New Manor
+House built by Henry VIII. as part of the jointure of Catherine Parr,
+who afterwards lived here with her fourth husband, Thomas Seymour, Lord
+High Admiral. Both Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey spent part
+of their childhood in it. The palace of the Bishops of Winchester, at
+Southwark, having become dilapidated, as we have seen, a new one was
+built at Chelsea in 1663, and was occupied by eight successive bishops.
+Shrewsbury House was another palace built in the reign of Henry VIII.
+The wife of the Earl of Shrewsbury was the founder of Chatsworth,
+Oldcotes and Hardwick. In Lawrence or Monmouth House, near the church,
+lived Smollett the novelist, and further on, somewhere near the end
+of Beaufort Street, was the house once occupied by Sir Thomas More,
+whose memory is still cherished in Chelsea. No garden among all the
+famous gardens of Chelsea was so carefully tended as his. When More had
+been made Lord Chancellor, and had spent his days hearing cases in the
+stuffy precincts of the court, how joyfully must he have stepped into
+his barge in the cool of the evening, to be rowed back up-stream to his
+roses and his children, where he could indulge his kindly humour and
+his playfulness, and unbend without fear. Sometimes the royal barge
+would sweep up after him, and the tyrant Harry himself spring ashore
+and walk up and down the sweet-scented alleys, with his arm round the
+Chancellor's neck, a dangerous fondness that in time resulted in More's
+being cut off altogether from his garden and his peaceful evenings, and
+in his going down that stream never to return. His monument is in the
+church, with an inscription written by himself, but whether his body
+lies here is a question that can never be definitely answered.
+
+  [Illustration: CHELSEA REACH WITH THE OLD CHURCH]
+
+Beyond Battersea Bridge is a little creek, and from a small house on
+the other side of the road Turner used to look out upon the river.
+He came here incognito from his real house in Queen Anne Street, and
+studied the gorgeous sunset effects, which can be seen nowhere better
+than at Chelsea.
+
+     Now in his palace of the west,
+       Sinking to slumber, the bright day,
+     Like a tired monarch fanned to rest,
+       Mid the cool airs of evening lay;
+     While round his couch's golden rim
+       The golden clouds like courtiers crept,
+     Struggling each other's light to dim,
+       And catch his last smile ere he slept.
+                                   --_Moore._
+
+Turner brings us to modern memories. Besides himself and Carlyle, there
+lived in Chelsea, Rossetti and George Eliot, not to mention living men.
+
+Opposite Chelsea is the long wall that bounds Battersea Park, and after
+passing Battersea Bridge, we encounter a very unlovely strip of water,
+with wharves and chimneys and tumble-down buildings. It is utilitarian
+and not beautiful.
+
+The green embankment which hems in the grounds of Hurlingham Club
+gives a touch of relief, and the fine trees which existed long before
+the club, since the time that the house was a private mansion, rise
+towering above it. On the other side the river Wandle, from which
+Wandsworth takes its name, a river known to few, empties itself into
+the Thames. Then we reach Putney Bridge, with its wide, curved white
+arches. On the east is another embankment which bounds Bishop's Park,
+partly turned into pleasure gardens open to all the world. The palace
+itself is not well seen from the river, for it is low and hidden by
+trees.
+
+The manor of Fulham has belonged to the See of London since the end
+of the seventh century. The palace is built round two courtyards, the
+older of which dates from Henry VII.'s reign, and the other from the
+middle of the eighteenth century. The west or river side contains the
+rooms used by Laud while he was bishop.
+
+As we draw away from the bridge we see to advantage the two churches,
+curiously alike, one belonging to Putney and the other to Fulham,
+which stand at two corners of the bridge, diagonally, looking at one
+another. Boat-houses and flats fill up the western shore until they are
+succeeded by the trees of Barn Elms Park, otherwise known as Ranelagh.
+The chief memories of Ranelagh centre about the Kit-Kat Club, which met
+here, and included among the members such men as Walpole, Vanbrugh,
+Congreve, Addison and Steele. Their portraits were all painted by
+Sir Godfrey Kneller, and hung round the club room; consequently,
+this particular size of portrait, 36 inches by 28, became known as a
+kit-kat. The name of the club itself is said to have originated in a
+pastrycook named Christopher Kat, who used to make excellent mutton
+pies, called Kit-Kats, which were always included in the bill of fare
+at club dinners.
+
+Many a visit did Evelyn and Pepys and other notable Londoners make
+to Barn Elms in summer evenings in the seventeenth century. Pepys was
+particularly fond of idling under the well-grown trees. Hear him:
+
+     After dinner, by water, the day being mighty pleasant, and
+     the tide serving finely, I up as high as Barne Elmes and
+     there took one turn alone.
+
+This was in April; and another time:
+
+     I walked the length of the Elmes, and with great pleasure saw
+     some gallant ladies and people come with their bottles and
+     baskets and chairs, to sup under the trees by the water-side,
+     which was mighty pleasant.
+
+On the opposite side of the river from Barn Elms stood Brandenburg
+House, where lived Queen Caroline, unhappy consort of George IV.
+
+Below Hammersmith Bridge there is a very untidy bit of foreshore, with
+factories and chimneys and many dreary objects scattered about it,
+and always a superfluity of clumsy barges. Beyond the fine suspension
+bridge there is another bit of foreshore not quite so untidy, where
+racing boats and other boats lie, and from which many a crew turns out
+to practice. Along this stretch runs the Mall, Upper and Lower. In the
+coffee house near the junction of the two, Thomson wrote "Winter," in
+_The Seasons_.
+
+The Mall is associated with the Kelmscott Press, founded by William
+Morris, who named it after his country house. Turner lived in the Mall
+for six years, and the novelist Marryat was a resident for a short time
+in 1830. Here also was a large house occupied by Catherine of Braganza
+after the death of Charles II. The river at Hammersmith is 750 feet
+wide. The inhabitants make the bridge a favourite lounging place, for
+seats line both sides; the total amount of fresh air thus imbibed no
+man can calculate, for the tide races up bringing ozone straight from
+the sea, and the wind blows freshly over the glittering water. On the
+south bank are the reservoirs of a large water company.
+
+With Hammersmith we must end this chapter, for we have joined the
+account of the stream of pleasure which comes down to London.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+OUR NATIONAL POSSESSION
+
+
+The Thames is a great national possession, affording means of
+recreation and delight to thousands yearly. It is difficult to compare
+it with anything else in Great Britain. It stands by itself, and is
+unique. Other rivers there are, which for a small part of their course
+are excellent for boating; but there is nothing in England to equal the
+Thames, where the water is now kept at a high level, and where, for
+the 112 miles between London Bridge and Oxford, there is practically
+continuous beauty and convenience for boating. The reproach has been
+brought against us that we do not make full use of our river at London
+as the Parisians do of the Seine at Paris. But the two things are not
+on the same footing at all. There are many problems in connection with
+the Thames as a tidal river that have not to be solved by the Parisians
+in regard to the Seine. Perhaps if the great barrage at Gravesend,
+which has been discussed, ever comes into existence, we shall be able
+to remove the reproach, to run our steamboats to time, and to use the
+river as a river of pleasure, even so far down as London Bridge. There
+are, however, grave objections to the barrage scheme, which for the
+present has been set aside. Though the tides interfere with pleasure
+boats, they are a source of motive power for innumerable barges;
+the river traffic would be seriously hindered by the elimination of
+the element of tide, and many owners of wharves and quays would be
+injured by the change. There are also other difficulties. At present
+the sewage, after being dealt with by filtration in sewage-beds, is
+returned to the river, and, having been rendered innocuous, floats
+out to sea, and mingles with the pure water satisfactorily. It would,
+however, be another thing to return thousands of gallons of water,
+which, however innocuous, can hardly be called clean, to the great lake
+of fresh water the river would become if dammed up by a barrage.
+
+  [Illustration: FROM BATTERSEA BRIDGE]
+
+Yet the continual increase in the size of ships, and the consequent
+demand for a river ever deeper, is a source of perplexity to the
+Thames Conservancy. This involves constant dredging, which would
+not be necessary were a perpetual high tide to be maintained. It is
+true that this dredging in some parts is a source of profit, not of
+expense. Thames gravel is exceedingly valuable, and it is found to
+be worth while for men not only to buy and maintain large dredgers
+down near the river mouth, but to pay a rent of something like L1500
+to the Conservancy for the privilege of doing so! The dredging,
+however, is not all so profitable. Where the river-bed is slime and
+mud, the channel has to be kept clear by dredgers at the expense of
+the Conservancy, and no delightful rents accrue from the process. This
+dredging is altogether rather an interesting matter. In some places it
+is found remunerative enough for men to do it by hand for the sake of
+what they bring up, and they obtain leave to go dredging.
+
+It is a fact not realised by everyone that the whole river, and all
+the craft upon it are under the strictest surveillance. Everything
+that floats must be licensed and carry its number for purposes of
+ready identification. The barges seen lying about in shoals near
+Westminster or Waterloo Bridges are not lying haphazard, but in certain
+specified places marked by buoys and allotted by the Conservancy,
+much as cabstands are allotted by the police. It is true that quays,
+wharves, landing stages, etc., being on land, are not subject to
+the Conservancy, which is in the somewhat anomalous position of
+dealing with the water, but not with the banks that hem it in. Yet
+the Conservancy manages to have a finger in this too, for suppose
+a man buys a bit of the river's bank, and erects a boat-building
+establishment thereon, he is obviously at a loss without steps down
+to the water or a landing place, and for this he has to pay rent to
+the Conservancy. The amusing part of it is that a man's property is
+sometimes in the air. In the case of a tree growing out of the water,
+it would truly tax the judgment of a Solomon to say what the rights of
+the Conservancy are toward that tree; but it is held that if the tree
+constitutes any danger or obstruction to the river-way the Conservators
+may insist on its being lopped. In connection with this a curious case
+sometimes arises. Man is always cunning where his own interests are
+concerned. It is not only to one man that the idea has occurred of
+propping up his overhanging tree by a stake. And, if the stake remains
+for any length of time, silt and rubbish collect between it and the
+shore, and eventually the island or the land of the cunning man is
+enlarged by a foot or two! More; sometimes stakes have been planted in
+the river bed with the same object without even excuse of the tree. It
+is the duty of the Conservancy officials to deal with all such stakes.
+
+Whatever may be alleged as to our neglect of the river at London,
+no such charge can be brought against us in our appreciation of it
+higher up. Day by day, in the summer, hundreds enjoy the air and the
+brilliance and the interest of the river reaches. House-boats are
+moored, permission and licences having been obtained, and men and women
+practically live in the open air for weeks together. The house-boats
+are not allowed to anchor everywhere, but are allotted certain
+stations, due regard being had to the width of the river. If they plant
+themselves near private ground they must gain the permission of the
+owner, as well as of the Conservancy, which is quite reasonable.
+
+To preserve an unimpeded channel may be taken as one of the great
+duties of the Conservancy. For this reason they have power to remove
+snags; to prevent the egotistical punt-fisher from placing his punt
+broadside in the midmost current; and to regulate the rules for the
+passing of craft. It is rather amusing to see sometimes how the punt
+man edges his craft as far from the bank as he dare before he sits
+down on his cane-bottomed chair and sorts out his tackle; but if a
+Conservancy official come along, and, eyeing him, decides, in spite of
+his extreme innocency and unconsciousness, that he has encroached too
+far, back he has to go. It is a perpetual game.
+
+In regard to the fishing, most of the Thames is free; and the coarse
+fishing--bream, dace, chub, and so on--is good of its kind. Here and
+there, as at Hedsor, there is a bit preserved. For the commonsense
+view is taken that, if both banks belong to the same owner, the river
+bed belongs also to him, and likewise the fishing. He cannot, however,
+prevent boats from passing up and down the stream flowing through his
+property, or the highway would be a highway no more. The fishery in the
+Thames has of late years greatly improved, owing to the disinterested
+action of many clubs and associations in putting in stock which
+they cannot hope subsequently to reclaim, but which, once gone into
+the water, belongs to everyone alike. An instance of this occurred
+recently, when 300 trout (_Salmo fario_), about fourteen inches long,
+were put into the Thames at Shepperton Weir in March by the Weybridge,
+Shepperton, and Halliford Thames Trout Stocking Association. These
+trout cost 2s. 6d. each! There is good coarse fishing in nearly all
+parts of the Thames; bream, dace, chub, perch, and pike can generally
+be caught.
+
+There are many curious and interesting points in regard to the
+river, and none more interesting than those relating to the tow-path.
+This venerable and ancient right-of-way still remains, crossing and
+recrossing from side to side as occasion demands, but traversable from
+end to end. As, however, it passes through private grounds by far the
+greater part of the way, it _is_ private, and yet public. Bicycles
+are frequently forbidden by stern notices put up by owners, who yet
+cannot prevent the pedestrian. The Conservancy has no power over the
+tow-path. What, then, happens when a part of the tow-path gives way and
+requires making up again? In theory it is the owner's duty to do it;
+but it would be expecting rather more than is warranted of human nature
+to expect an owner, who must regard the right-of-way with dislike and
+suspicion, to incur expense by mending it. As a matter of fact, if he
+does not do it, the Conservancy does. It may be remarked here that a
+very simple and effective way of embanking, known as "camp-shedding,"
+is often employed about the river banks and the projecting points of
+lock islands which are liable to be carried away by the current. This
+consists in dropping large bags of dry cement into the water. The water
+itself consolidates and hardens the stuff, which becomes a splendid
+barrier.
+
+There is another point in connection with the breaking away of the
+tow-path which is still more perplexing. Supposing it breaks away
+from a private owner's land in such a way that it cannot be built up
+again, but must be carried inland, what right has the public to say,
+"My right-of-way has fallen into the water, so I am going to take some
+of your land to replace it"? Apparently none at all. Yet the tow-path
+must be carried on. One wonders how, in the beginning, it was allotted
+to one side or the other. How was it that one owner said, "My lawns
+must slope right down to the water's edge; therefore I will not have
+the tow-path on my side; let it go upon the other?" And why has it
+never happened that two owners, equally strong and equally determined,
+have both flatly refused it? Be that as it may, the tow-path runs its
+tortuous but continuous course, and will continue to run as long as the
+river flows.
+
+Such things as locks and weirs are, of course, entirely in the power
+of the Conservancy, who pay the keepers and regulate the fees. The
+half-tide lock at Richmond has answered admirably so far (_see_ p.
+196); but the question is, Where is this sort of thing going to stop?
+There is an idea now of a similar lock at Wandsworth, and then we come
+to the matter of the barrage. We are so greedy of our river, we want it
+to be pent up, and not allowed to flow away to the sea. Weirs of some
+sort, which were at first called locks, are very ancient. In the end of
+the twelfth century we find orders respecting them.
+
+Stow tells us that about the year 1578 or 1579 there were twenty-three
+"locks," sixteen mills, sixteen floodgates and seven weirs on the
+river between Maidenhead and Oxford. In the next six years thirty more
+locks and weirs had been made in spite of complaints that many persons
+had been drowned "by these stoppages of the water." He adds that "the
+going up the locks was so steep that every year cables had been broken
+that cost L400." Especial complaint was made about Marlow lock, where
+one man had had his brains dashed out, and Stow remarks that all the
+compensation the widow received was L5! The barges were not charged
+for going up but only for coming down, and a barge passing from Oxford
+to London in Stow's time paid L12 18_s._ This was in the summer, when
+the water was low. In 1585 a petition was made to Queen Elizabeth
+"in the name of the widows and fatherless children whose parents and
+husbands were by these means slain, against the great mischief done
+to her loving subjects by the great number of dangerous locks, weirs,
+mills and floodgates unlawfully erected in many places on the river."
+Queen Elizabeth must have known something of the subject from her early
+acquaintance with Bisham. (_See_ Chap. XI.)
+
+In an old book of 1770 we find this passage: "The locks were machines
+of wood placed across the river, and so contrived to hold the water as
+long as convenient, that is, till the water rises to such a height as
+to allow of depth enough for the barge to pass over the shallows, which
+being effected, the water is set at liberty, and the loaded vessel
+proceeds on its voyage till another shoal requires the same convenience
+to carry it forward. This arrangement was in the summer when the water
+was low; in other seasons the locks were removed."
+
+When the present locks were made they were called "pound" locks; a
+great many of them were opened between 1770 and 1780.
+
+The members of the Conservancy Board go up in their launch several
+times a year to see that all is in order, and that their officials are
+doing their duty. Once a year they penetrate beyond Oxford, where the
+launch cannot go, and they have to take to rowing boats. They are not
+supposed to preserve the amenities of the river, but only its highway
+properties. They have no power to remove unsightlinesses, such as
+hideous advertisement boards; but only obstructions. Yet, in keeping
+the river free from sewage contamination; by forbidding the casting of
+refuse into the current from house-boats or elsewhere; by exercising
+a general jurisdiction, which makes people realise they are not free
+to amuse themselves to the annoyance of their neighbours--no doubt the
+amenities are very much more preserved than they would otherwise be.
+
+Stow ends up his account of the river: "And thus, as this fine river is
+of great use and profit to the city, so the many neat towns and seats
+on the banks of it make it extraordinary pleasant and delightful. So
+that the citizens and gentlemen, nay kings, have in the summer time
+usually taken the air by water; being carried in boats and barges along
+the Thames, both upward and downward according to their pleasures."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abbey Hotel, Medmenham, 126
+
+  Abbey River, 165, 168
+
+  a Becket, Thomas, 67
+
+  Aberlash, 74
+
+  Abingdon, 37
+
+  Abingdon Abbey, 41
+
+  Adam, 199
+
+  Addison, 228
+
+  Albert Bridge, 223
+
+  Ankerwyke Park, 157
+
+  Archbishop Laud, 71
+
+  Arnold, Dr., of Rugby, 167
+
+  Arnold, Matthew, 5, 167
+
+  Arragon, Katherine of, 196
+
+  Arundel House, 215
+
+  Athens, 149
+
+
+  Bankside, 211
+
+  Barbour, Geoffrey, 39
+
+  Barges, 234
+
+  Barn Elms Park, 228
+
+  Barrage, 232
+
+  Barrington Shute, 56
+
+  Barry, 218
+
+  Battersea Bridge, 226
+
+  Baynard's Castle, 213
+
+  Bell Weir Lock, 159
+
+  Benson Lock, 59
+
+  Billingsgate, 210
+
+  Birds, 17
+
+  Birinus, 50
+
+  Bisham Abbey, 112
+
+  Bisham Church, 111
+
+  Bishop of Winchester's Palace, 212
+
+  Bishop's Park, 227
+
+  Blackfriars Bridge, 213, 214
+
+  Bloomfield, 224
+
+  Blount, Sir Arthur, 66
+
+  Boat Race, 2, 201
+
+  Boleyn, Anne, 158
+
+  Bolney Court, 84
+
+  Borlase, Sir John, 127
+
+  Boulter's Lock, 128
+
+  Bourne End, 139
+
+  Boveney Lock, 150
+
+  Boyle Farm, 185
+
+  Bradshaw, 175
+
+  Braganza, Catherine of, 230
+
+  Brandenburg House, 229
+
+  Bray, 152
+
+  Bray Lock, 151
+
+  Brent River, 200
+
+  Brentford, 200
+
+  Bridges:
+    Battersea, 226
+    Blackfriars, 213, 214
+    Charing Cross, 216
+    Chelsea, 223
+    Folly, 25
+    Hammersmith, 229
+    Lambeth, 221
+    London,210
+    Old London, 208
+    Putney, 227
+    Tower, 210
+    Walton, 173
+    Waterloo, 216
+
+  Brightwell Barrow, 49
+
+  Buckingham, Duke of, 137
+
+  Burford Bridge, 38
+
+  Burney, Miss, 143, 199
+
+  Burton, Sir Richard, 204
+
+  Bushey Park, 181
+
+
+  Caesar, Julius, 172
+
+  "Camp-shedding," 238
+
+  Canning, George, 204
+
+  Carfax Monument, 36
+
+  Carlyle, 224
+
+  Caversham, 71
+
+  Charing Cross Bridge, 216
+
+  Charles I., 65, 98, 180
+
+  Charles II., 127
+
+  Chaucer, 213
+
+  Chelsea Bridge, 223
+
+  Chelsea Embankment, 224, 225
+
+  Chertsey, 168
+
+  Chertsey Abbey, 168
+
+  Cherwell, 26
+
+  Chestnut Sunday, 181
+
+  Chiswick, 201
+
+  Chiswick House, 204
+
+  Christ's Hospital, Abingdon, 40
+
+  Cleeve Lock, 59
+
+  Cleopatra's Needle, 216
+
+  Clieveden, 136
+
+  Clifton Hampden, 45
+
+  Climenson, Mrs., 96
+
+  Coln River, 159
+
+  Compleat Angler Hotel, Marlow, 107
+
+  Congreve, 228
+
+  Conway, Field-Marshal, 102
+
+  Cookham, 138
+
+  Cooper's Hill, 146, 157
+
+  Cornish, J. C., 85
+
+  Countess of Nottingham, 195
+
+  Countess of Suffolk, 193
+
+  Cowley, 5, 6, 169, 174
+
+  Cowley Stakes, 172
+
+  Cranmer, 221
+
+  Cromwell, 55, 180
+
+  Crowmarsh, 54
+
+  Cuckoo Weir, 149
+
+  Culham, 42
+
+  Custom House, 210
+
+
+  Damer, Mrs., 99
+
+  Danesfield, 124
+
+  Datchet, 146
+
+  Day, Thomas, 82
+
+  Day's Lock, 47
+
+  Denham, 5, 24
+
+  Denham, Sir John, 146
+
+  Despencer, Lord Le, 126
+
+  Ditton House, 185
+
+  Donne, Dr., 190
+
+  Dorchester, 49
+
+  Dorchester Abbey, 51
+
+  Dowgate, 213
+
+  D'Oyley, Robert, 53
+
+  D'Oyley, Sir Cope, 103
+
+  Drayton, 4, 5, 22
+
+  Dredging, 233
+
+  Druce, Claridge G., 32, 62
+
+  Duc d'Aumale, 192
+
+  Duchess of York, 171
+
+  Dudley, Robert, 196
+
+  Duke of Buckingham, 137
+
+  Duke of Gloucester, 192
+
+  Duke of Marlborough, 150
+
+  Duke of York, 172
+
+  Duke's Meadows, 201
+
+  Durham House, 216
+
+  Dyers' Company, 122
+
+
+  Earl of Essex, 196
+
+  Earl of Leicester, 215
+
+  Edward IV., 213
+
+  Edward VI., 180
+
+  Edward Plantagenet, 113
+
+  Edward the Confessor, 140
+
+  Eel-pie Island, 191
+
+  Eights, The, 28
+
+  Eliot, George, 227
+
+  Embankment, The, 214
+
+  Empress Maud, 67
+
+  Essex, Earl of, 196
+
+  Essex House, 215
+
+  Eton, 7, 148
+
+  Evelyn, 229
+
+  Exe River, 175
+
+
+  Fair Maid of Kent, 54
+
+  Faringford, Hugh, 69
+
+  Fawley Court, 101, 102
+
+  Ferry Hotel, Cookham, 138
+
+  Fielding, Henry, 8, 190
+
+  Fingest, 103
+
+  Fishing, 236
+
+  Fleet River, 213
+
+  Floods, 217
+
+  Flora of Oxfordshire, 62
+
+  Folly Bridge, 25
+
+  Forbury Public Garden, Reading, 70
+
+  Fox, Charles James, 169, 204
+
+  Frogmill, 125
+
+  Fulham Palace, 228
+
+  Fuller, 67, 152, 198
+
+
+  Garrick's Villa, 183
+
+  Gaunt, John of, 67, 216
+
+  Gaveston, Piers, 54
+
+  Gay, 190, 193
+
+  General description, 9 ff
+
+  George III., 98
+
+  George IV., 98, 172
+
+  George Hotel, Bray, 154
+
+  George Hotel, Wargrave, 82
+
+  Gloucester, Duke of, 192
+
+  Goring, 57
+
+  Goring Church, 61
+
+  Gray, 5
+
+  Great Hall, Westminster, 219
+
+  Great Marlow, 106
+
+  Great Western Railway, 8
+
+  Greenhill, 60
+
+  Greenlands, 103
+
+  Greenwich Palace, 6
+
+  Grey, Lady Jane, 198
+
+  Gwynne, Nell, 127
+
+
+  Halliford, 175
+
+  Ham House, 191, 193
+
+  Hambleden, 103
+
+  Hammersmith Bridge, 229
+
+  Hampton, 177
+
+  Hampton Court, 6, 178
+
+  Hampton Green, 182
+
+  Hardwicke House, 65
+
+  Harp Hill, 48
+
+  Hartslock Woods, 62
+
+  Hedsor Church, 138
+
+  Henley, 97
+
+  Henley Regatta, 3, 100
+
+  Henry I., 42, 141, 195
+
+  Henry V., 195
+
+  Henry VI., 169
+
+  Henry VII., 195
+
+  Henry VIII., 68, 158, 178
+
+  Hoby, Sir Thomas, 111
+
+  Hogarth, 6, 183, 204
+
+  Holme Park, 75
+
+  Home Park, 145
+
+  Hook, Theodore, 184
+
+  Horton, 158
+
+  Hotels, 18
+
+  House-boats, 235
+
+  Houses of Parliament, 218
+
+  Howard, Katherine, 198
+
+  Hurley, 116
+
+  Hurlingham Club, 227
+
+  Hurst Park Racecourse, 182
+
+
+  Icknield Street, 59
+
+  Iffley, 29
+
+  Isleworth, 197
+
+
+  James II., 221
+
+  James Stuart, 143
+
+  Joan, 54
+
+  John, 78, 156, 213
+
+  Johnson, Dr., 183
+
+  Jones, Inigo, 199
+
+  Juxon, 221
+
+
+  Kelmscott Press, 230
+
+  Kempenfelt, Admiral, 120
+
+  Kew Gardens, 199
+
+  Kew Observatory, 197
+
+  Kew Palace, 6
+
+  _Kingis Quair_, 144
+
+  King's Stone, 187
+
+  Kingston, 186
+
+  Kingston Rowing Club, 186
+
+  Kit-Kat Club, 228
+
+  Kneller, Sir Godfrey, 190, 191, 228
+
+
+  Lady Place, 116
+
+  Laleham, 161, 167
+
+  Lambeth Bridge, 221
+
+  Lambeth Palace, 221
+
+  Laud, Archbishop, 71, 221, 228
+
+  Leicester, Earl of, 215
+
+  Leicester House, 215
+
+  Leland, 78
+
+  Llyn-din, 212
+
+  Locks, 239
+    Bell Weir, 159
+    Benson, 59
+    Boulter's, 128
+    Boveney, 150
+    Bray, 157
+    Cleeve, 59
+    Marsh, 102
+    Teddington, 187
+    Temple, 115
+
+  Loddon River, 92
+
+  London and South Western Railway, 9
+
+  London Bridge, 210
+
+  London Stone, 159
+
+  Long Ditton, 185
+
+  Long Mead, 157
+
+  Louis Philippe, 192
+
+  Lower Hope, 149
+
+  Lower Mall, 230
+
+
+  Macaulay, 120
+
+  Magna Charta Island, 155
+
+  Maidenhead, 132
+
+  Mapledurham House, 65, 66
+
+  Marble Hill, 193
+
+  Marlborough, Duke of, 98, 150
+
+  Marryat, 230
+
+  Marsh Lock, 102
+
+  Medmenham Abbey, 125
+
+  Merchant Taylors' School, 213
+
+  Milton, 5, 7, 158
+
+  Mole River, 184
+
+  Molesey Lock, 182
+
+  Molesey Regatta, 184
+
+  Mongewell, 56
+
+  Monkey Island, 150
+
+  Monmouth House, 225
+
+  Montfichet, 213
+
+  Moore, Thomas, 185, 188
+
+  More, Sir Thomas, 225
+
+  Morris, William, 230
+
+  Mortlake, 202
+
+  Mount Lebanon, 192
+
+
+  Naval Volunteer Training Ship, 214
+
+  New Cut, 27
+
+  Northumberland Avenue, 218
+
+  Northumberland House, 218
+
+  Nottingham, Countess of, 195
+
+  Nuneham Courtney, 35
+
+
+  Oatlands Park, 171, 174
+
+  Obstructions, 234
+
+  Old Deer Forest, 197
+
+  Old London Bridge, 208
+
+  Old Windsor, 146
+
+  Orleans House, 191
+
+  Oxford, 7
+
+  Oxford Meadows, 32
+
+
+  Pang River, 64
+
+  Pangbourne, 63
+
+  Park Place, 102
+
+  Parr, Catherine, 225
+
+  Penton Hook, 161
+
+  Pepys, 229
+
+  Phyllis Court, 101, 102
+
+  Pope, 5, 6, 145, 190, 193, 204
+
+  Pope's Villa, 189
+
+  Prince de Joinville, 192
+
+  Prince Henry, 193
+
+  Princess Elizabeth, 225
+
+  Puddle Dock, 213
+
+  Punting competition, 170
+
+  Putney Bridge, 227
+
+
+  Quarry Woods, 109
+
+  Queen Anne, 192
+
+  Queen Caroline, 229
+
+  Queen Eleanor, 213
+
+  Queen Elizabeth, 70, 113, 240
+
+  Queen Mary, 180
+
+  Queen Maud, 54
+
+  Queenhithe, 213
+
+
+  Radley College Boat-house, 34
+
+  Ranelagh, 223, 228
+
+  Raven's Ait, 186
+
+  Ray Mead Hotel, Maidenhead, 135
+
+  Reading Abbey, 67
+
+  Reading Castle, 70
+
+  Red Lion Hotel, Henley, 98
+
+  Richard II., 195
+
+  Richard III., 213
+
+  Richmond, 194
+
+  Richmond Palace, 6, 195
+
+  Rivers: Abbey, 165, 168
+    Brent, 200
+    Coln, 159
+    Exe, 175
+    Fleet, 213
+    Loddon, 92
+    Mole, 184
+    Pang, 64
+    Thame, 52
+    Wandle, 227
+    Wey, 173
+
+  Robsart, Amy, 196
+
+  Rodney, Admiral, 175
+
+  Romney Island, 148
+
+  Rose Garden, Sonning, 72
+
+  Rossetti, 227
+
+  Royal Hospital, Chelsea, 223
+
+  Runney Mead, 156
+
+  Rupert, Prince, 201
+
+
+  St. Anne's Hill, 170
+
+  St. Helen's Nunnery, Abingdon, 40
+
+  St. Mary Overies, 210
+
+  St. Patrick's Stream, 92
+
+  St. Saviour's, 210
+
+  St. Thomas's Hospital, 221
+
+  Salisbury House, 216
+
+  Sandford, 33
+
+  Savoy, The, 216
+
+  Scotland Yard, 218
+
+  Seagulls, 218
+
+  Seymour, Thomas, 225
+
+  Shelley, 106
+
+  Shenstone, 99
+
+  Shepperton, 170, 175
+
+  Shiplake, 95
+
+  Shrewsbury House, 225
+
+  Sinodun Hill, 48
+
+  Skindle's Hotel, Maidenhead, 133
+
+  Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 103
+
+  Smith, Sydney, 78
+
+  Smollett, 225
+
+  Somerset, Lord-Protector, 198, 215
+
+  Somerset House, 214
+
+  Sonning, 72
+
+  Spenser, 5, 213, 215
+
+  Staines, 159
+
+  Star and Garter Hotel, Richmond, 194
+
+  Steele, 228
+
+  Stephen, 54
+
+  Stokenchurch, 103
+
+  Stow, 239
+
+  Strawberry Hill, 188
+
+  Streatley, 57
+
+  Sunbury, 175
+
+  Surbiton, 186
+
+  Surley Hill, 150
+
+  Sutton Courtney, 43
+
+  Sutton Pool, 43
+
+  Swan Hotel, Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Swans, 121
+
+  Swift, 190, 193
+
+  Syon House, 197
+
+
+  Tagg's Island, 182
+
+  Taplow, 132
+
+  Tate Gallery, 223
+
+  Teddington Lock, 187
+
+  Temple, 214
+
+  Temple Island, 101
+
+  Temple Lock, 115
+
+  Temple Mill, 115
+
+  Tennyson, 95, 191
+
+  Terry, Ellen, 166
+
+  Thame, The, 52
+
+  Thames Conservancy, 233
+
+  Thames, derivation of, 4
+
+  Thames Ditton, 184
+
+  Thames Gardens, 19
+
+  Thomson, 6, 137, 230
+
+  Thorney Island, 222
+
+  Torpids, The, 29
+
+  Tow-path, 237
+
+  Tower, 210
+
+  Tower Bridge, 210, 211
+
+  Tower Royal, 213
+
+  Turner, 173, 191, 226, 230
+
+  Twickenham, 191
+
+  Twickenham Reach, 188
+
+
+  Upper Hope, 149
+
+  Upper Mall, 230
+
+  Upper Thames Sailing Club, 139
+
+
+  Vanbrugh, 228
+
+  Vauxhall Bridge, 223
+
+  Vintners' Company, 122
+
+
+  Walbrook, 208
+
+  Walbrook Wharf, 212
+
+  Walker, Frederick, 153
+
+  Wallingford, 53
+
+  Walpole, Horace, 6, 183, 189, 228
+
+  Walton Bridge, 173
+
+  Walton Church, 174
+
+  Walton, Izaak, 147
+
+  Wandle River, 227
+
+  Wandsworth, 227
+
+  Warbeck, Perkin, 196
+
+  Wargrave, 80
+
+  Warwick, "King Maker," 113
+
+  Waterloo Bridge, 216
+
+  Watermen, 206
+
+  Weirs, 239
+
+  Westminster Abbey, 222
+
+  Westminster Bridge, 220
+
+  Westminster Palace, 6
+
+  Wey River, 171
+
+  Weybridge, 170, 171
+
+  Whitchurch, 63
+
+  Whitehall, 218
+
+  Whitehall Palace, 6
+
+  White Hart Hotel, Sonning, 74
+
+  Whitehill, 60
+
+  Wigod, 53
+
+  William the Conqueror, 53, 141
+
+  William III., 141, 180
+
+  Winchester House, 225
+
+  Windsor Castle, 140
+
+  Wittenham, Little, 47
+
+  Wittenham Woods, 47
+
+  Wolsey, 178
+
+  Worcester House, 216
+
+  Wordsworth, 220
+
+  Wotton, Sir Henry, 147
+
+  Wren, Sir Christopher, 181, 182
+
+  Wyatt, Sir Thomas, 210
+
+
+  York, Duchess of, 171
+
+  York, Duke of, 172
+
+  York House, 191, 217
+
+
+_Printed by_ Geo. W. Jones, Limited, _Watford_.
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE THAMES
+   FROM OXFORD TO LONDON
+
+   MAP ACCOMPANYING "THE THAMES" BY MORTIMER MENPES AND G. E. MITTON.
+   PUBLISHED BY A. AND C. BLACK, SOHO SQUARE, LONDON]
+
+
+
+
+BEAUTIFUL BOOKS
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+=The Times.=--"Mr. Menpes's pictures are here given in most perfect
+facsimile, and they form altogether a series of colour impressions of
+Japan which may fairly be called unrivalled. Even without the narrative
+they would show that Mr. Menpes is an enthusiast for Japan, her art and
+her people; and very few European artists have succeeded in giving such
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+
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+and atmospheric impressions, such as we find in his famous 'Japan'
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+imagination, but is able by the sympathy and wise knowledge gained by
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+
+=Morning Post.=--"This splendid book will be accepted by all as the
+best realisation of an epoch-making ceremony that we are ever likely to
+get."
+
+=The Academy.=--"Unquestionably the best pictorial representation of
+the Durbar which has appeared."
+
+=The Globe.=--"Likely to be the most brilliant and lasting record of
+the historical occasion."
+
+
+     VENICE
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+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
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+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The King.=--"Within the last few years the industry of contemporary
+writers, some with and others without a genuine sympathy for their
+subject, has helped us to glimpses of the Queen of the Adriatic,
+through the spectacles of art, history, archaeology, poetry, and
+romance; but the _Magnum Opus_ of Mortimer Menpes embraces to a great
+degree all five points of view, and persuades us that at last (and that
+not a day too soon) the stones of Venice have found at once a painter
+and a writer equally worthy of the vanished glories, the memories of
+which still cling to every church, palace, or bridge drawn or described
+in this charming work."
+
+
+     BRITTANY
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+     WITH 75 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Pall Mall Gazette.=--"It is of course the picturesque aspects of
+Brittany that appeal to Mr. Menpes.... Whether he paints cottage
+interiors or peasant types, straggling village streets and coast-town
+alleys, or a market-place bustling and baking in the sunshine, it is
+all one to his graceful pencil; and reproduced, as the drawings are, by
+his own colour-process, they make another of those many charming albums
+of travel which Messrs. Black have made a special province of their
+own."
+
+
+     WORLD
+     PICTURES
+
+     WITH 500 ILLUSTRATIONS
+     (50 IN COLOUR)
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Scotsman.=--"Mr. Menpes has been a wanderer over the face of the
+earth armed with brush and pencil, and he has brought back with him
+portfolios filled with samples of the colour and sunshine, and of the
+life and form, quaint or beautiful, of the most famous countries of
+the East and of the West, and his charming book is a kind of album into
+which he has gathered the cream of an artist's memories and impressions
+of the many countries he has visited and sketched in."
+
+
+     THE WORLD'S
+     CHILDREN
+
+     WITH 100 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=The Times.=--"Of the cleverness, both of the pictures and letterpress,
+there can be no doubt. Miss Menpes's short papers on the children
+of different lands are full of insight, human and fresh experience;
+and Mr. Menpes's 100 pictures ... are above all remarkable for their
+extraordinary variety of treatment, both in colour scheme and in the
+pose and surroundings of the subject."
+
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+     WAR
+     IMPRESSIONS
+
+     WITH 99 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 20s. NET
+
+=Daily Telegraph.=--"One hardly knows which to admire the more--the
+skill of the artist or the skill with which his studies have been
+reproduced, for the colours of the originals are shown with marvellous
+fidelity, and the delicate art of the impressionist loses nothing
+in the process. The book, therefore, is a double triumph, and will
+therefore be prized by collectors."
+
+
+     WHISTLER AS
+     I KNEW HIM
+
+     WITH 125 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+     AND TINT
+
+     PRICE 40s. NET
+
+Haldane Macfall in =The Academy=.--"No one who loves the Art of
+Whistler should be without this handsome book; it contains works of Art
+of exquisite beauty; it contains a delightful picture of the outward
+Whistler that the man himself wished to be mistaken for the real
+thing--half butterfly, half wasp, wholly laughing enigma."
+
+=The Observer.=--"A singularly illuminating and intimate monograph."
+
+
+     REMBRANDT
+
+     WITH 16 FULL-PAGE
+     ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
+
+     PRICE 12s. 6d. NET
+
+=Aberdeen Free Press.=--"The illustrations are magnificent examples
+of the perfection to which reproduction in colour is carried by Mr.
+Menpes, and the book as a whole is of very special interest."
+
+=British Weekly.=--"An invaluable collection of superb reproductions of
+Rembrandt's work. The book is a most desirable possession."
+
+
+PUBLISHED BY ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK . SOHO SQUARE . LONDON . W.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Thames, by G. E. Mitton
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