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 THE THAMES BY MORTIMER MENPES, R.I. TEXT BY G. E. MITTON PUBLISHED BY A.&C. BLACK SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. Published July 1906...

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

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

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 t

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 legacie

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 t

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 th

The Abbot of Reading was, like the Abbot of Abingdon, mitred, and bore powerful rule. Reading ranked third among the abbeys of England, and held the great privilege of coining. It was founded in 1121 by King Henry I. himself, who was afterwards buried here. It was for long supposed that Adeliza his queen lay here also, but the evidence goes to show she was buried in Flanders. The Empress Maud lies at Reading. The great church was dedicated by Thomas à Becket, and in it took place the marriage of

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

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 me

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 cour

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 a

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; f

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 i

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 wa

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'

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-maste

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

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. 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 purp

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 a