200 OXFORD: THE UPPER RIVER 



the conditions of its life. It has two distinct forms of 

 leaves. On the top of the water it bears stout, flat, 

 ovate leaves, which serve the double purpose of buoy- 

 ing it up and of presenting a wide surface to the action 

 of the air and sun ; but those which are swaying in the 

 current underneath are modified to simple bunches of 

 ( hair-like filaments. Over these the current has little 

 ■> power, since they yield to every impulse of the stream. 

 /5//v6.'>:- And here at last is Godstow Abbey, beautiful even 



now in its decay. Not so very long ago, when the 

 navvies were making the new cut to let the floods off", 

 they dug up some stone coffins and many mouldering 

 bones ; and before authority had time to intervene, 

 hese bones were hawked about for sale by the loafers 

 ^- of the bridge. Were some of those Fair Rosamond's ? 

 I cannot tell ; but the old chroniclers have it that she 

 was laid to rest at first within the chapel walls, till, in 

 obedience to Hugh of Lincoln's stern command, the 

 remains were removed elsewhere — perhaps just outside 

 the walls. But, wherever the place, we may be sure 

 the good nuns laid her lovingly, for until that fatal day 

 when her peace of mind was broken by the glitter of a 

 Court, she had been ever welcome within the abbey 

 walls, where all were the brighter for her fairness and 

 her wit. 



