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diff --git a/old/44794.txt b/old/44794.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..849b949 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44794.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6731 @@ +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 + +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. 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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. 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