[Illustration: MAGNA CHARTA ISLAND.]
Just below Windsor the Thames passes between Runnimede, the "Meadow of
Council," where the barons encamped, and Magna Charta Island, where King
John signed the great charter of English liberty. The river sweeps in a
tranquil bend around the wooded isle, where a pretty little cottage has
been built which is said to contain the very stone whereon the charter
was signed. The river Coln falls into the Thames, and "London Stone"
marks the entrance to Middlesex and the domain of the metropolis. We
pass Staines and Chertsey, where the poet Cowley lived, and then on the
right hand the river Wey comes in at Weymouth. Many villages are passed,
and at a bend in the Thames we come to the place where Caesar with his
legions forded the river at Cowey Stakes, defeated Cassivelaunus, and
conquered Britain. In his _Commentaries_ Julius Caesar writes that he
led his army to the Thames, which could be crossed on foot at one place
only, and there with difficulty. On arriving, he perceived great forces
of the enemy drawn up on the opposite bank, which was fortified by sharp
stakes set along the margin, a similar stockade being fixed in the bed
of the river and covered by the stream. These facts being ascertained
from prisoners and deserters, Caesar sent the cavalry in front and
ordered the legions to follow immediately. The soldiers advanced with
such impetuosity, although up to their necks in the water, that the
Britons could not withstand the onset and fled. A couple of miles below,
at Hampton, Garrick lived in a mansion fronted by a rotunda with a
Grecian portico. We pass Hampton Court and Bushey Park, which revive
memories of Wolsey, Cromwell, and William III., and then on the opposite
bank see the two charming Dittons--"Thames" and "Long" Ditton--of which
Theodore Hook has written:
"When sultry suns and dusty streets proclaim town's 'winter season,'
And rural scenes and cool retreats sound something like high treason,
I steal away to shades serene which yet no bard has hit on,
And change the bustling, heartless scene for quietude and Ditton.
"Here, in a placid waking dream, I'm free from worldly troubles,
Calm as the rippling silver stream that in the sunshine bubbles;
And when sweet Eden's blissful bowers some abler bard has writ on,
Despairing to transcend _his_ powers, I'll _ditto_ say for Ditton."
Then we pass Kingston, where several Saxon kings were crowned, and the
coronation-stone, marked with their names, it is said, still remains in
the market-place. Teddington Lock is the last upon the Thames, and a
mile below is Eel-Pie Island, lying off Twickenham, renowned for the
romance that surrounds its ancient ferry. Near here lived the eccentric
Horace Walpole, at Strawberry Hill, while in Twickenham Church is the
monument to the poet Pope, which states in its inscription that he would
not be buried in Westminster Abbey. Pope's villa no longer exists, and
only a relic of his famous grotto remains. The widening Thames, properly
named the Broadwater, now sweeps on to Richmond, and if that far-famed
hill is climbed, it discloses one of the finest river-views in the
world.