nS RIVERSIDE LETTERS xv 



When one viewed these mighty volumes of 

 water it seemed a little ridiculous that, only 

 quite recently, the sufficiency of the Thames 

 supply of water for London had been a 

 subject of debate. If only a part of the 

 superfluous water, which comes to us nearly 

 every autumn, could be stored in a large lake 

 above Oxford, in the water-meadow district 

 between Eynsham and Lechlade, it seems to 

 me that the water question for the metropolis 

 would be settled. It would be far wiser, I 

 believe, to make a new lake than to spoil a 

 beautiful old one in Wales ; neither would 

 it be so expensive, as the labour em- 

 ployed would be chiefly that of the spade, 

 which is the cheapest of all, it can be 

 done by any sort of men, even by the 

 unemployed. 



As far as I have been concerned with the 

 flood I have rather enjoyed it than other- 

 wise, the weather, ever since the I5th, 

 having been warm and lovely, with bright 

 sun and moonshine, the sunrises and sun- 



