122 
Berkeley Arms, and a not unnatural wish was felt that the 
cheerful payment of the rents within might make up for the 
gloominess of the weather without. Thus ended the first excur- 
sion, which, if not all that could be wished, was not unpleasant. 
Excursion to Seven Springs and Birdlip—The excursion of the 
Club to the Seven Springs, the supposed source of the River 
Thames, took place on Tuesday, May 23rd, when a party of 17 
members started per Midland Railway to Cheltenham, which they 
reached at 11.42 am. Here they were met by a break and drove 
for nearly five miles through a beautiful vale, which as you ascend 
the high ground of the Cotteswold Hills, looks back upon 
Cheltenham and the Severn Valley, bordered by the Malvern and 
by the Hills of South Wales. The day was a lovely warm May 
day, and the party had leisure to examine and sketch the source of 
the great English river, while a paper (vide p. 68) was read by the 
Vice-President (the Rev. Prebendary Scarth),in which he examined 
the opinions that had been expressed by earlier writers as to the 
source of the river and the origin of the name. He also gave an 
account of the ancient worship of streams, the remains often found 
at their source, both in Britain and on the Continent, but stated 
that no such remains had been found at the Thames head, nor yet 
at the head of the Tiber, of which he also gave a brief account, 
A single stone alone marked the rise of the Thames, and no coins 
are recorded to have been discovered. 
Many springs rise on the basin surrounded by hills, where the 
seven springs take their rise, but these have been drained by the 
construction of the Thames and Severn Canal, into which the 
water of that district is now pumped, and hence has arisen the 
difficulty of clearly ascertaining which of the many springs has the 
best title to be considered the source of the great river. 
As the party proceeded on the way to Birdlip, through a 
beautifully picturesque country, heavy thunder clouds came rolling 
towards them from the north, and before reaching the inn a 
deluging rain came on, which, notwithstanding great coats and 
