Flow on, clear, fresh trout stream, emblem of purity and perfect truth; thou hast accomplished a mighty work, thou hast a mighty work to do.  Who can count the millions of tons of lime that thou hast borne down to the sea in far-off Kent?  Thou hast indeed “strength to remove mountains,” for day by day the soil that thou hast taken from these limestone hills is being piled up at the mouth of the great historic river, and some day perchance it shall become rolling downs again.  Fed by clear springs, thou shalt gradually steal thy way along the Cotswold valleys, draining foul marshes, irrigating the sweet meadows.  Thou shalt turn the wheels and grind many a hundred sacks of corn ere to-morrow’s sun is set.  And then thou shalt change thy name.  No longer silvery Coln, but mighty Thames, shalt thou be called; and many a fair scene shall gladden thy sight as thou slowly passest along towards thy goal.

Smiling meadows and Gloucestershire vales will soon give place to fair Berkshire villages, and, further on, to those glorious spires and courts of Oxford; and here shalt thou make many friends—­friends who will evermore think kindly of thee, ever associate thy placid waters with all that they loved best and held dearest during their brief sojourning in those old walls which tower above thy banks.  A few short miles, and thou shalt pass a quiet and sacred spot—­sacred to me, and dear above all other spots; for close to that little village church of Clifton Hampden, and close to thee, we laid some years ago the mortal body of a noble man.  And when thou stealest gently by, and night mists rise from off thy glassy face, be sure and drop a tear in silvery dew upon the moss-grown stone I know so well.  And then pass on to Eton, fairest spot on earth.  Mark well the playing-fields, the glorious trees, and Windsor towering high.  Here shalt thou be loved by many a generous heart, and youth and hope and smiling faces greet thee, as they long since greeted me.  Ah well! those friendships never could have been made so firm and lasting mid any other scenes save under thy wide-spreading elms, beloved Eton.

But onwards, onwards thou must glide, from scenes of tranquil 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.