ments, upon the mind and genius of a people, is sacredly bound to speak with reverential gratitude of the authors of the Great Charter. To have produced it, to have preserved it, to have matured it, constitute the immortal claim of England on the esteem of mankind. Her Bacons and Shaksperes, her Miltons and Newtons, with all the truth which they have revealed, and all the generous virtue which they have inspired, are of inferior value when compared with the subjection of men and their rulers to the principles of justice; if, indeed, if be not more true that these mighty spirits could not have been formed except under equal laws, nor roused into full activity without the influence of that spirit which the Great Charter breathed over their forefathers." (Hist. of Eng. i. 221.)

Runnemede is now used for a somewhat less important purpose than of old, though one not entered upon with less seriousness-the Egham races are annually run upon it. Some, indeed, affirm that it received its name from having been used for a similar purpose in Saxon times, Runnemede being a corruption of Running Mead, instead of meaning the Mead of Council.

According to the popular tradition the Charter was signed on Magna Charta Island-whence its name. The little stone building we see peeping out from among the willows was erected some fourteen or fifteen years ago, in commemoration thereof, by S. Harcourt, Esq., the owner of the island and of the manor. It is prettily fitted up, has windows of stained glass with appropriate emblems; and contains the very stone upon which, as an inscription testifies, the Charter was there signed. Traditions in such matters generally have

some truth in them. Recent investigations have brought to light the treaty by which Louis of France agreed to evacuate the country with his foreign followers, after John had made peace with the barons; and that treaty was signed on this island, as the attestation records: from which circumstance, no doubt, arose the tradition that the Great Charter was signed here.

From the island there used to be a ferry to Wraysbury, but now, if credence may be given to a board which is placed by the path that leads from the village to the river, communication is only allowed on that side with the island twice a week, "in consequence of the increasing annoyance experienced from visitors straying into the private walks" of Ankerwyke House. Wraysbury (or, as it used to be spelled, Wyrardisbury) is a quiet, straggling, and remarkably secluded little village. The church, which is a very respectable sample of a small village church, has been recently carefully repaired and restored. It is worth examining.

Ankerwyke House stands on the site of a priory of Benedictine nuns founded by Sir Gilbert Montfichet, the owner of the manor in the reign of Henry II. Soon after the suppression of religious houses, a mansion was built where the nunnery stood, but, with the exception of the hall, which still remains, it has given place to a more modern edifice. A yew tree of vast size and great fame stands near the house. It stood there when the Barons met in the neighbouring mead, and it is still vigorous. At three feet from the ground the trunk is twenty-eight feet in girth, and the branches overshadow a circle of above two hundred feet in circumference.

CHAPTER XVII.

A TRIBUTARY.

HERE the good reader must pardon a digression. At starting it was proposed neither to diverge far from the banks of our river nor to indulge in digressions, however we might be tempted thereto. But that, it soon became apparent, was a rule which would be " more honoured in the breach than the observance ;" and in the hope that the reader is of opinion, with Beroaldus and old Burton, that "however some mislike them as frivolous and impertinent, such digressions do mightily delight and refresh a weary reader "—and such I fear my reader too often iswith those good authorities to support me, "I do therefore the more willingly use them."

A short distance below Ankerwyke we come upon one of the arms by which the Colne unites with the Thames. The Colne-Milton's Colneis a stream of such singular interest, that I must depart a little from my usual practice when noticing the tributaries of the Thames, in order to trace it somewhat in detail, and just indicate its more memorable points.

That branch of the Colne whose source is farthest from the mouth, rises by a village called Market Street, about five miles south-east of Dunstable; but the branch which bears the name of the Colne to its head, has its source near Hatfield in Hertford

shire. The former, which is called the Verlam or Muse, passes by Redburn and some other villages, and by Gorhambury, where was the famous residence of Lord Bacon; it then runs between the site of the Roman city of Verulamium, and the Saxon city of St. Alban's, both places of more than ordinary interest to the antiquary, and which no one can visit without pleasure. Some five or six miles below St. Alban's, and not far from Colney Street, the Verlam is joined by the Colne, which is a much smaller stream, although it has been swelled by the addition of a brook that rises between Elstree and Barnet, and which some topographers have erroneously called the main branch of the Colne.* After the confluence of these streams, the next town that is passed is Watford; near which is Cashiobury, the seat of the Earl of Essex, one of the most celebrated among the "show" mansions of the country. The grounds, which are very beautiful, are watered by the Gade, a feeder of the Colne. The river next flows by Moor Park, which has been the residence of a succession of celebrated men: among others, Cardinal Wolsey, the unfortunate James Duke of Monmouth, and Lord Anson have been its occupants. At Rickmansworth the Colne it swelled by the Chess, a stream that rises near Chesham, in Buckinghamshire, a pretty little town in a pleasant situation. The only place worth noticing on the Chess is Cheneys, once a seat of the Duke

*The carelessness with which such matters are treated in topographical works is remarkable. I have noticed no less than four different and widely separated places mentioned as the source of the Colne, viz., Market Street, Hatfield, Elstree, and Chesham; and in each instance no other place was referred to.

of Buckingham. A few miles more bring us to Harefield, where stood a mansion that had been honoured by our two greatest bards. On the last day of July, in 1602, Queen Elizabeth, in the course of one of her progresses, visited Harefield, the residence of the Lord Keeper Egerton. Many were the entertainments provided for the occasion, but the most memorable was the new play of 'Othello,' performed by Shakspere's own company, and perhaps for the first time. Some thirty years later, when Egerton's widow, the Countess Dowager of Derby, was the owner of Harefield, Milton wrote his 'Arcades,' as the poetic part of an entertainment to be presented before the Countess "at Harefield, by some noble persons of her family." The fortune of the Countess was remarkable in thus having performed before her, in her own house, the works of the two greatest of English poets, under their own direction and we may suppose she was worthy of such an honour, if it be true, as is said, that Milton was a frequent visitor at Harefield during his residence at Horton. The mansion was burnt down about 1660 according to a tradition preserved by Lysons, "the fire was occasioned by the carelessness of the witty Sir Charles Sedley, who was amusing himself by reading in bed."

;

A few miles below Harefield the Colne receives a considerable tributary, the Mishbourne, which rises in the vicinity of Amersham in Buckinghamshire, and flows past the Chalfonts and Denham. At Chalfont St. Giles still remains the cottage which the quaker Ellwood hired for the retreat of Milton in the year of the great plague 1665. It was in this house that the blind bard wrote the greater part, if not the whole, of Paradise Regained.'

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