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The Source of the Thames--Early Names of the River--Seven Springs--Thames Head--The Churn and its Course--Thames and Severn Canal--Cricklade--Castle Eaton--Inglesham--Fairford and the Coln--Lechlade--The First Lock--Some Thames Flowers--Old Buscot--Hart's Weir--Bird Life--Radcot Bridge--Eddying Pools and Golden Shallows--Canal-like Reaches--Tadpole Bridge--Bampton--Duxford Ferry--Canute's Country--The Windrush--The Oldest Bridge--Old Father Thames--Disused Weir-pools--Bablock Hythe, Stanton Harcourt, and Cumnor--Skinner's Weir and Pinkhill Lock--Eynsham Weir, Bridge, and Cross--The Evenlode--Witham Hill--Thames Angling--Godstow--King's Weir--Port Meadow--Folly Bridge 1

Oxford, from the Upper River; the New Town--The Courses of the River, from Medley Weir to Folly Bridge--The Houses of the Regulars and Friars--The University and Parish Churches--The Halls and Colleges of the Seculars, from the Thirteenth Century to the Reformation--Jacobean Oxford--Classic Oxford--Convenient Oxford--The Architectural Revival--The Undergraduate Revival--The River below Folly Bridge, and the Invention of Rowing--The Navigation Shape of the River--Floods--The Barges--Iffley--Littlemore--Kennington--Radley--Sandford--Nuneham 33

Abingdon--The Abbey--St. Nicholas' Church--The Market Cross--The Ancient Stone Cross--St. Helen's Church--Christ's Hospital--Culham--First View of Wittenham Clump--Clifton Hampden--The "Barley Mow"--A River-side Solitude--Day's Lock--Union of the Thames and the Isis--Dorchester--The Abbey Church--Sinodun Hill--Shillingford Bridge--Bensington--The Church--Crowmarsh Giffard--Wallingford--Mongewell--Newton Murren--Moulsford--The "Beetle and Wedge"--Cleeve Lock--Streatley 62

Streatley, the Artists' Mecca--Goring versus Streatley--Goring from the Toll-gate--Streatley Mill--Weirs and Backwaters--Antiquity of Streatley and Goring--Goring Church--Common Wood--Basildon Ferry and Hart's Wood--A Thames Osier Farm--Whitchurch Lock--Pangbourne--Hardwicke House and Mapledurham--Caversham Bridge--Reading and its Abbey--A Divergence to the Kennet, with calls at Marlborough, Hungerford, and Newbury--The Charms of Sonning--"The Loddon slow, with verdant alders crowned"--St. Patrick's Stream--Shiplake Weir--Wargrave and Bolney Court--Park Place--Marsh Lock--Remarks on Thames Angling--The Approach to Henley 85

The Best Bit of the River--Henley--The Church--The "Red Lion"--Shenstone's Lines--Henley Regatta--The First University Boat-race--Fawley Court--Remenham--Hambledon Lock--Medmenham Abbey and the Franciscans--Dissolution of the Order--Hurley--Lady Place and its History--A Strange Presentiment--Bisham Abbey and its Ghost--Bisham Church--Great Marlow--The Church and its Curiosities--"Puppy Pie"--Quarry Woods--The Thames Swans and the Vintners' Company--Cookham and Cliefden--Hedsor--Cliefden Woods--The House--Raymead--The Approach to Maidenhead 113

Leaving Windsor--Eton, its History and its Worthies--The College Buildings--Windsor Park--The Long Walk--The Albert Bridge--Datchet and Falstaff--Old Windsor--"Perdita's" Grave--The Tapestry Works--The "Bells of Ouseley"--Riverside Inns--The Loves of Harry and Anne Boleyn--Magna Charter Island--Runnymede--The Poet of Cooper's Hill--Fish at Bell Weir--A Neglected Dainty--Egham and Staines--John Emery--Penton Hook--Laleham--Dr. Arnold--Chertsey--The Lock and Bridge--Albert Smith and his Brother--Chertsey Abbey--Black Cherry Fair--Cowley the Poet--A Scene from "Oliver Twist"--St. Ann's Hill--Weybridge--Oaklands and the Grotto--Shepperton Lock and Ferry--Halliford--Walton--The Scold's Bridle--Sunbury--Hampton--Moulsey Hurst and its Sporting Associations--Hampton Court Bridge 161

Hampton Court--Thames Ditton: The "Swan"--The Church--Surbiton--Kingston: The Coronation Stone--Teddington--Twickenham--Eel Pie Island--Petersham--Richmond Park--Approach to Richmond 201

The River at Richmond--A Spot for a Holiday--The Old Palace of Sheen--The Trumpeters' House--Old Sad Memories--Richmond Green--The Church--Kean's Grave--Water Supply--The Bridge--The Nunnery of Sion and Convent of Sheen--Sir William Temple--Kew Observatory, Isleworth--Sion House and its History--Kew Palace and the Georges--Kew Gardens--Kew Green--Brentford--Mortlake--Barnes--Chiswick--The Boat-race--Hammersmith--Putney--Barn Elms--Putney and Fulham--The Bishops of London--Hurlingham--The Approach to a Great City 229

The Scene Changes--A City River--Battersea--Chelsea--The Old Church--Sir T. More and Sir Hans Sloane--Cheyne Walk--Don Saltero's Coffee-house and Thomas Carlyle--The Botanical Gardens--Chelsea Hospital--The Pensioners--Battersea Park--The Suspension Bridge--Vauxhall--Lambeth--The Church and Palace--Westminster Palace and the Abbey--Its Foundation and History--Westminster Hall--Westminster Bridge--The Victoria Embankment--York Gate--Waterloo Bridge and Somerset House--The Temple--Blackfriars Bridge--St. Paul's--Southwark Bridge--The Old Theatres--Cannon Street Bridge--London Bridge and its Traffic 258

Morning on the Lower Thames--Gravesend--Pilots and Watermen--A Severe Code--Tilbury and its Memories--The Marshes--Wild-fowl Shooting--Eel Boats--Canvey Island--Hadleigh Castle--Leigh, and the Shrimpers--Southend and the Pier--Sailing--Sheerness--The Mouth of the Medway--The Dockyard--The Town and its Divisions--The Nore--A Vision of Wonder--Shoeburyness--Outward Bound 337

/Table of Distances/ 368

/On Title-page, Head of Thames/ . PAGES

The Seven Springs--Thames Head--The Sources of the Thames --The First Bridge over the Thames--Cricklade--Inglesham Round House--Lechlade: the First Lock--Radcot Bridge--The Ferry, Bablock Hythe--Cumnor Churchyard--Stanton Harcourt Church--Eynsham Weir--Cross at Eynsham--Oxford from Godstow--The Thames from Lechlade to Oxford 1-32

The Barges--Oxford, from Headington Hill--New College, from the Gardens--St. Mary's, from the High Street--Magdalen Tower, from the Cherwell--Stone Pulpit, Magdalen--"Tom" Gateway--The Dome of the Radcliffe, from Brasenose--The 'Varsity Barge--A "Bump" at the Barges--Iffley Mill--Iffley Church--Littlemore Church and Kennington Island--Oxford to Abingdon --A Picnic to Nuneham--The Bridge and Cottage, Nuneham--Distant View of Abingdon 33-61

Abingdon, from the River--Abingdon Bridge--Culham Church--Clifton Hampden Church--Dorchester, from Little Wittenham--Sinodun Hill and Day's Lock--Shillingford Bridge--Wallingford Church and Bridge--Moulsford Ferry--Abingdon to Streatley --Streatley Mill 62-84

The Thames at Streatley--Streatley to Henley --Goring, from the Tollgate--Whitchurch Church and Mill--Mapledurham, the Church and the Mill--Flooded Meadows, from Caversham Bridge--The Thames at Reading, from the Old Clappers--Sonning-on-Thames--Sonning Weir--Shiplake--A Camping-out Party--Backwater at Wargrave--A Pool of Water-lilies 85-112

Henley Regatta--Henley, from the Towing-path--Regatta Island--Fawley Court--Aston Ferry--Medmenham Abbey--Below Medmenham--Bisham Abbey--Bisham Church--Great Marlow, from Quarry Woods--Henley to Maidenhead --A Picnic at Quarry Woods--A Group of Swans--Cookham--A Crowd in Cookham Lock--The Landing-Stage, Ray Mead--Taplow Woods 113-142

MAIDENHEAD TO WINDSOR:--

Bray Church--Maidenhead to Windsor --Surley--Boveney Lock--Windsor Castle, from Boveney Lock--St. George's Chapel, Windsor 143-160

Several motives have impelled me to give this long account of my authorities; one of which motives was, that often, in reading works on history, I have myself wished that the sources from which facts were derived had been laid open to my examination; but still, my principal view in the detail was, to show the ground on which I had fixed opinions directly opposed to those of several other authors. In many cases, the aspect under which I have seen the events of the Crusades has been entirely different from that under which Mills has regarded them, and I felt myself called upon not to attack any position of a clever writer and a learned man, without justifying myself as completely as possible.

In regard to my own work I shall say nothing, but that I have spared neither labour nor research to make it as correct as if it had appeared under a much more imposing form. In space, I have been confined; and in time, I have been hurried: but I have endeavoured to remedy the one inconvenience, by cutting off all superfluous matter; and to guard against evil consequences from the other, by redoubling my own exertions. Whether I have succeeded or not the world must judge; and if it does judge with the same generous lenity which it has extended to my other productions, I shall have every reason to be both satisfied and grateful.

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A Definition, with Remarks and Evidence--An Inquiry into the Origin of Chivalry--Various Opinions on the Subject--Reasons for doubting the great Antiquity of Chivalry, properly so called--The State of Society which preceded it, and of that which gave it Birth--Its Origin and early Progress. 17

Of Chivalrous Customs--Education--Grades--Services on the Reception of a Knight--On Tournaments--Jousts--Combats at Outrance--Passages of Arms--The Round Table--Privileges of Knighthood--Duties of Knighthood. 31

The Progress of Chivalry in Europe--Exploits--That some great Enterprise was necessary to give Chivalry an extensive and permanent Effect--That Enterprise presented itself in the Crusades--Pilgrimage to Jerusalem--Haroun Al Raschid-- Charlemagne--Cruelties of the Turks--Pilgrimages continued-- Peter the Hermit--Council of Clermont. 53

The Effects of the Council of Clermont--State of France-- Motives of the People for embracing the Crusade--Benefits produced--The Enthusiasm general--Rapid Progress--The first Bodies of Crusaders begin their March--Gautier sans avoir-- His Army--Their Disasters--Reach Constantinople--Peter the Hermit sets out with an immense Multitude--Storms Semlin-- Defeated at Nissa--His Host dispersed--The Remains collected--Joins Gautier--Excesses of the Multitude--The Italians and Germans separate from the French--The Germans exterminated--The French cut to pieces--Conduct of Alexius. 73

The Chivalry of Europe takes the Field--The Leaders--Godfrey of Bouillon--Conducts his Army towards Constantinople--Hugh the Great--Leads his Army through Italy--Embarks for Durazzo--Taken Prisoner--Liberated--Robert, Duke of Normandy--Winters in Italy--Arrives at Constantinople-- Robert, Count of Flanders--Joins the rest--Boemond of Tarentum--Tancred--Their March--Defeat the Greeks--Boemond does Homage--Tancred avoids it--The Count of Toulouse arrives--Refuses to do Homage--Robert of Normandy does Homage. 89

Germ of After-misfortunes already springing up in the Crusade--Siege of Nice--First Engagement with the Turks-- Siege continued--The Lake occupied--Surrender of Nice to the Emissaries of Alexius--Discontent--March towards Antioch--The Army divides into two Bodies--Battle of Doryloeum--Dreadful March through Phrygia--Adventures of Baldwin and Tancred-- Arrival at Antioch--The City invested 109

The Host of the Crusade invests Antioch--Description of that City--Difficulties and Errors of the Crusaders-- Improvidence--Famine--Spies--Desertions--Embassy from the Calif of Egypt--Succours from the Genoese and Pisans-- Battle--Feats of the Christian Knights--Boemond keeps up a Communication within the Town--The Town betrayed to the Christians--Massacres--Arrival of an Army from Persia--The Christians besieged in Antioch--Famine--Desertions--Visions-- Renewed Enthusiasm--Diminished Forces of the Christians-- Battle of Antioch--The Crusaders victorious--Spoils--Disputes with the Count of Toulouse--The Chiefs determine to repose at Antioch--Ambassadors sent to Alexius--Fate of their Embassy 136

Pestilence in Antioch--Death of the Bishop of Puy--The Chiefs separate--Siege of Marrah--Cannibalism--Disputes between the Count of Toulouse and Boemond--The Count marches towards Jerusalem--Siege of Archas--Godfrey of Bouillon marches-- Siege of Ghibel--Treachery of Raimond--Fraud of the Holy Lance investigated--Ordeal of Fire--Decisive Conduct of the Crusaders towards the Deputies of Alexius, and the Calif of Egypt--Conduct of the Crusaders towards the Emir of Tripoli-- First Sight of Jerusalem--Siege and Taking of the City-- Fanatical Massacres 162

Election of a King--Godfrey of Bouillon--Sketch of the History of Jerusalem--Death of the chief Crusaders--New Bodies of Crusaders set out from Europe--Their Destruction in Asia Minor--Armed Pilgrimages--The Northern Armaments--The Venetians--The Genoese and Pisans--Anecdotes of the Crusaders--Battle of the Children at Antioch--The Thafurs-- Baldwin's Humanity well repaid--Superstitions--Arms of the Crusaders--Of the Turks--Hospitallers--Templars 175

Progress of Society--The Rise of Poetry in modern Europe-- Troubadours--Trouveres--Various Poetical Compositions--Effect of Poetry upon Chivalry--Effect of the Crusades on Society-- State of Palestine after the Second Crusade--Cession of Edessa to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus--Edessa completely subjected by the Turks--Ascalon taken by the Christians-- State of Egypt under the last Califs of the Fatimite Race-- The Latins and the Atabecks both design the Conquest of Egypt--Struggles for that Country--Rise of Saladin--Disputes among the Latins concerning the Succession of the Crown--Guy of Lusignan crowned--Saladin invades Palestine--Battle of Tiberias--Fall of Jerusalem--Conquest of all Palestine--Some Inquiry into the Causes of the Latin Overthrow 219

Fate of the Orders of the Temple and St. John--The Templars abandon all Hopes of recovering Jerusalem--Mingle in European Politics--Offend Philip the Fair--Are persecuted--Charges against them--The Order destroyed--The Knights of St. John pursue the Purpose of defending Christendom--Settle in Rhodes--Siege of Rhodes--Gallant Defence--The Island taken-- The Knights remove to Malta--Siege of Malta--La Valette-- Defence of St. Elmo--Gallantry of the Garrison--The whole Turkish Army attempt to storm the Castle--The Attack repelled--Arrival of Succour--The Siege raised--Conclusion 312

NOTES 331

HISTORY OF CHIVALRY AND THE CRUSADES

The first principles of whatever subject we may attempt to trace in history are ever obscure, but few are so entirely buried in darkness as the origin of Chivalry. This seems the more extraordinary, as we find the institution itself suddenly accompanied by regular and established forms, to which we can assign no precise date, and which appear to have been generally acknowledged before they were reduced to any written code.

Although definitions are dangerous things--inasmuch as the ambiguity of language rarely permits of perfect accuracy, except in matters of abstract science--it is better, as far as possible, on all subjects of discussion, to venture some clear and decided position, that the subsequent reasoning may be fixed upon a distinct and unchanging basis.

If the position itself be wrong, it may be the more speedily proved so from the very circumstance of standing forth singly, uninvolved in a labyrinth of other matter; and if it be right, the arguments that follow may always be more easily traced, and afford greater satisfaction by being deduced from a principle already determined. These considerations lead me to offer a definition of Chivalry, together with some remarks calculated to guard that definition from the consequences of misapprehension on the part of others, or of obscurity on my own.

When I speak of Chivalry I mean a military institution, prompted by enthusiastic benevolence, sanctioned by religion, and combined with religious ceremonies, the purpose of which was to protect the weak from the oppression of the powerful, and to defend the right cause against the wrong.

Its military character requires no proof; but various mistaken opinions, which I shall notice hereafter, render it necessary to establish the fact, that religious ceremonies of some kind were always combined with the institutions of Chivalry.

All those written laws and regulations affecting knighthood, which were composed subsequent to its having taken an acknowledged form, prescribed, in the strictest manner, various points of religious ceremonial, which the aspirant to Chivalry was required to perform before he could be admitted into that high order.

In seeking the source of this order through the dark mazes of the history of modern Europe, it appears to me that many writers have mistaken the track; and, by looking for the mere external signs, have been led into ages infinitely prior to the spirit of Chivalry.

Some have supposed that the institution descended to more modern times, from the equestrian order of the ancient Romans; but the absence of all but mere nominal resemblance between the two, has long placed this theory in the dusty catalogue of historical dreams.

A third opinion supposes the origin of Chivalry to be found among the ancient warlike tribes of Northmen, or Normans, who, towards the ninth century, invaded in large bodies the southern parts of Europe, and established themselves principally in France; and certainly, both in their traditions, and even in their actions, as recorded by Abbon, an eyewitness to their deeds in the siege of Paris, there is to be found an energetic and romantic spirit, not unlike that which animated Chivalry at the rudest period of its existence. Still, there is much wanting. The great object of Chivalry, the defence of the weak, was absent, as well as every form and ceremony. The object of the Northman's courage was plunder; and all that he had in common with the knight was valour, contempt of death, and a touch of savage generosity, that threw but a feint light over his dark and stormy barbarities.

In regard to the tales of King Arthur, I am perfectly inclined to use the energetic words of Menestrier, who, in speaking of the famous knights of the round table, says, without hesitation, "All that they tell of King Arthur and that fictitious Chivalry of which they represent him as the author, is nothing but a lie;" for, though beyond all doubt the romances of Chivalry afford a great insight into the manners of the times wherein they were written, they are, nevertheless, quite worthless as authority concerning the ages which they pretend to display, and which had preceded their composition by nearly three centuries.

After rejecting the evidences of such tales, we find nothing in the authentic records of Charlemagne which gives the slightest reason to suppose that Chivalry was known, even in its most infant state, during his reign. Though his great system of warfare had that in common with Chivalry which all warfare must have--feats of daring courage, heroic valour, bursts of feeling and magnanimity, and as much of the sublime as mighty ambition, guided by mighty genius, and elevated by a noble object can achieve--yet the government of Charlemagne was, in fact, any thing but a chivalrous government. Too powerful a hand held the reins of state for Chivalry either to have been necessary or permitted; and in reading the annals of Eginhard, his life of Charlemagne, or the account, given by the monk of St. Gall, we find a completely different character from that which is visible in every page of the history of the knightly ages. We find, indeed, that Charlemagne, according to the immemorial custom of his German ancestors, solemnly invested his son Lewis with the arms of a man. A thousand years before, in the forests of the North, his predecessors had done the same: and Charlemagne, one of whose great objects ever was, to preserve both the habits and the language of the original country free from amalgamation with those of the conquered nations, not only set the example of publicly receiving his son into the ranks of manhood and warfare, but strictly enjoined that the same should be done by his various governors in the provinces. But this custom of the Franks, as I have before attempted to show, had no earthly relation to knighthood. Were nothing else a proof that Chivalry was perfectly unknown in the days of Charlemagne, it would be sufficient that the famous capitularies of that monarch, which regulate every thing that can fall under the eye of the law, even to the details of private life, make no mention whatever of an institution which afterward exercised so great an influence on the fate of Europe. Nor can we trace in the annals of the surrounding countries, a mark of Chivalry having been known at that period to any other nation more than to the Franks. Alfred, it is true, invested Athelstan with a purple garment and a sword; but the Saxons were from Germany as well as the Franks, and no reason exists for supposing that this ceremony was in any degree connected with the institutions of Chivalry. There have been persons, indeed, who supposed that Pharaoh conferred knighthood upon Joseph, when he bestowed upon him the ring and the golden chain, and probably the Egyptian king had fully as much knowledge of the institution of Chivalry as either Charlemagne or Alfred.

Up to this period, then, I fully believe that Chivalry did not exist; and having attempted to show upon some better ground than mere assertion, that the theories which assign to it an earlier origin are wrong, I will now give my own view of its rise, which possibly may be as erroneous as the rest.

Charlemagne expired like a meteor that, having broken suddenly upon the night of ages, and blazed brilliantly over a whole world for a brief space, fell and left all in darkness, even deeper than before. His dominions divided into petty kingdoms--his successors waging long and inveterate wars against each other--the nations he had subdued shaking off the yoke--the enemies he had conquered avenging themselves upon his descendants--the laws he had established forgotten or annulled--the union he had cemented scattered to the wind--in a lamentably brief space of time, the bright order which his great mind had established throughout Europe was dissolved. Each individual, who, either by corporeal strength, advantageous position, wealth, or habit, could influence the minds of others, snatched at that portion of the divided empire which lay nearest to his means, and claimed that power as a gift which had only been intrusted as a loan. The custom of holding lands by military service had come down to the French from their German ancestors, and the dukes, the marquises, the counts, as well as a whole herd of inferior officers, who in former days had led the armies, or commanded in the provinces as servants of the crown, now arrogated to themselves hereditary rights in the charges to which they had been intrusted; and, in their own behalf, claimed the feudal service of those soldiers to whom lands had been granted, instead of preserving their allegiance for their sovereigns. The weak monarchs, who still retained the name of kings, engaged in ruinous wars with each other and in vain attempts to repel the invasions of the Northmen or Normans, first tolerated these encroachments, because they had at the time no power of resisting, and then gradually recognised them as rights, upon the condition that those who committed them should assist the sovereign in his wars, and acknowledge his title in preference to that of any of his competitors.

Thus gradually rose the feudal system from the wrecks of Charlemagne's great empire. But still all was unstable and unconfirmed; the limits of the different powers in the state undecided and variable, till the war of Paris, the incompetence of the successors of Charlemagne, and the elevation of Hugues Capet, the Count of Paris, to the throne, showed the barons the power they had acquired, and crowned the feudal compact by the creation of a king whose title was found in it alone.

Great confusion, however, existed still. The authority of the sovereign extended but a few leagues round the city of Paris; the Normans ravaged the coast; the powerful and the wicked had no restraint imposed upon their actions, and the weak were every where oppressed and wronged. Bands of plunderers raged through the whole of France and Germany, property was held by the sword, cruelty and injustice reigned alone, and the whole history of that age offers a complete medley of massacre, bloodshed, torture, crime, and misery.

Personal courage, however, had been raised to the highest pitch by the very absence of every thing like security. Valour was a necessity and a habit, and Eudes and his companions, who defended Paris against the Normans, would have come down as demigods to the present day, if they had but possessed a Homer to sing their deeds. The very Normans themselves, with their wild enthusiasm and supernatural daring, their poetical traditions, and magnificent superstitions, seemed to bring a new and extraordinary light into the very lands they desolated. The plains teemed with murder, and the rivers flowed with blood; but the world was weary of barbarity, and a reacting spirit of order was born from the very bosom of confusion.

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