RAMBLES BY RIVERS. THE THAMES. CHAPTER XVI. THE MEAD OF COUNCIL. BEFORE recommencing his journey, the rambler ought, perhaps, to be reminded that there are a great many places in the vicinity of Windsor and Eton, but at a little distance from the Thames, and consequently not within the limits of this volume, which well deserve a visit, either on account of their interest or their beauty, or of both combined. Although we cannot turn aside to visit them, a few may just be mentioned. On the Windsor side, there is a delightful stroll through the Great Park and Windsor Forest to Binfield, where, in the house of his father, Pope spent his youthful years, and wrote the greater part of his early poetry. The house, his "paternal cell," as he styles it in the well-known lines, VOL. II. "A little house, with trees a row, B 66 has given place to a much larger structure; but a room which tradition has fixed on as Pope's Study" forms a part of the present building. The tree at some distance from the house, under which he is said to have been accustomed to compose, and which bore the inscription " Here Pope sung,' was blown down several years ago. There are other noticeable places and pleasant walks, but they have been already referred to generally, in speaking of Windsor Forest, within the precincts of which they chiefly lie. On the Eton side of the river is Slough, in which is the house that was occupied by Herschel, the eminent astronomer, and after his death by his equally eminent son. Near Slough is Upton, whose venerable and deserted church and quiet churchyard are often said to have suggested the imagery of Gray's famous Elegy: but that honour is more justly claimed for the churchyard of Stoke-Poges, some two or three miles north of Upton. Stoke is altogether intimately associated with the memory of Gray. In early life he spent his College vacations there, and as long as his mother lived he was a frequent resident in the house in which she dwelt with her sister; and there he wrote a good deal of his poetry. The house, known as West-End Cottage, is still standing, but it has been altered from the "6 compact box of red-brick with sash windows," which he describes, into a smart modern-looking villa. Of Stoke ManorHouse, the scene of his Long Story,' only a portion of one of the wings remains. The churchyard, as has been said, is unquestionably the spot that has the fairest claim to the Elegy written in a Country Churchyard :'—and it is the appropriate 6 6 |