Walton s River. 105 



best scenery. Scott, the Quaker poet, laid on his colours 

 rather heavily when he spoke of overhanging grey castles 

 and romantic farms ; he came much nearer nature in these 

 lines : 



"The pleased eye, which o'er the prospect wide 

 Has wandered round, and various objects mark'd, 

 On Amwell rests at last, its favourite scene. 

 How picturesque the view ! Where up the side 

 Of that steep bank her roofs of russet thatch 

 Rise mix'd with trees, above whose swelling tops 

 Ascends the tall church tower, and loftier still 

 The hill's extended ridge." 



Walton's river runs through various scenes of history as 

 interesting as its physical landscapes. King Alfred is said 

 to have diverted the waters of the Lea with the benevolent 

 intention of bringing the Danish fleet, which had proceeded 

 in triumph as far as Ware, hard aground in the tideway, and 

 at Temple Mills certain channels are pointed out as the 

 artificial courses formed by the Saxon king. The Lea has 

 associations also with Luton Hoo, Whethamstead, Brocket 

 Hall, Hatfield Park, Panshanger, Hertford, famous from 

 early Saxon times ; Chadswell Springs, where an unpre- 

 tending stone commemorates the opening of the New River 

 Scheme in 1608; Ware, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross and 

 Abbey, Enfield, Edmonton, and Tottenham. 



Thome tells an amusing story of Charles Lamb's tomb- 

 stone, prefacing it with the remark that Lamb himself would 

 have enjoyed it. Lamb was buried in Edmonton church- 

 yard, in a spot which, only a fortnight before his death, 

 he had pointed out to his sister as that which he would 

 desire as his place of burial. Dr. Carey wrote the following 

 epitaph on the stone : 



" Farewell, dear friend ! That smile, that harmless mirth, 

 No more shall gladden our domestic hearth ; 



