28 THE APOTHECARIES' GARDEN 



sea to Lambeth was taken, and many other 

 barges, had eight oars. The river at times 

 would be full of them ; for the Thames was a 

 great highway, like the Strand and Cheapside, 

 with the additional advantage that the highway 

 required no repairs, and was not liable to 

 obstructions. Barges and boats were its cabs 

 and carriages the watermen its cab-drivers 

 and coachmen. A Lord Mayor's procession 

 on the river must have been full of life and 

 colour, and not altogether unlike a festival on 

 the grand canal at Venice. 



Steamboats on the river, and improved 

 roads for coaches, must have put an end to 

 Thames pageants. Happily the procession of 

 the " eights " at Oxford survives. 



The watermen who rowed these barges 

 were a sturdy race, and made good recruits 

 for the navy. Thomas Doggett, Irishman, 

 actor, convinced Whig, founded an annual 

 prize for them, to be rowed for every 

 August, in commemoration of the Accession 

 of George I an orange-coloured coat with the 

 Hanoverian Horse in silver on it, as a badge. 

 The race formerly finished at the old Swan 

 tavern at the corner of the Apothecaries' 

 Garden ; but to-day it is continued some 

 yards further up the river. Swan Walk, 

 which bounds the east side of the Garden, 

 was a footpath leading to the house. 



It was at the Swan Tavern that a jaunt of 

 Pepys' came to an abrupt end. He tells us 

 that in April, 1666, he drove to it with two 

 ladies and two children, " thinking to have 

 been merry," but found the house shut up for 



