anquil beauty
such as these. The flag which sails o'er Windsor's stately towers must
soon be lost to sight. Thy course once more through silent fields is
laid; but not for long; for, Hampton Court's fair palace passed, already
canst thou hear the wondrous roar of unceasing footsteps in the busy
haunts of men.

Courage! thy goal is nearly reached: already thou art great, and greater
still shalt thou become. Thy once transparent waters shall be merged
with salt. Thus shalt thou be given strength to bear great ships upon
thy bosom, and thine eyes shall behold the greatest city of the whole
wide world. Nay, more; thou shalt become the most indispensable part of
that city--its very life-blood, of a value not to be measured by gold.
Thou makest England what it is.

Flow on, historic waters, symbolic of all that is good, all that is
great--flow on, and do thy glorious work until this world shall cease;
bearing thy mighty burden down towards the sea, showing mankind what can
be wrought from small beginnings by slow and patient labour day by day.

* * * * *

Even in winter I do not know any scene more pleasing to the eye than the
sight of a Cotswold hamlet nestling amid the stately trees in the
valley, if you happen to see it on a fine day. And if there has been a
period of rainy, sunless weather for a month past, you are probably all
the more ready to appreciate the changed appearance which everything
wears. If that peaceful, bright aspect had been habitual, you would
never have noticed anything remarkable to-day. It is this very changeful
nature of our English climate which gives it more than half its charm.

But the great attraction of this country lies in its being one of the
few spots now remaining on earth which have not only been made beautiful
by God, but in which the hand of man has erected scarcely a building
which is not in strict conformity and good taste. One cannot walk
through these Cotswold hamlets without noticing that the architecture of
the country in past ages, as well as in the present day to a certain
degree, shows obedience to some of those divine laws which Ruskin has
told us ought to govern all the works of man's hand.

"The spirit of sacrifice," "the lamp of truth" are manifest in the
ancient churches and manor houses, as well as in the humble farmhouses,
cottages, and even the tithe barns of this district. Two thirds of the
buildings are old, and, as Ruskin has beau