IN THE ISIS VALLEY 



THE ISIS IN JUNE 



ON the margin of a black-letter Herbal and Natural 

 History, published early in the sixteenth century, and 

 now in the library of Hertford College, I find this 

 entry opposite to a quaint woodcut of a swallow : 

 "This day, I did see a sea-swallow on Port 

 Meadow." 



Sea-swallows still find their way from time to time 

 to the streams which border Port Meadow ; and if any 

 one desires a change from the tiring festivities of 

 Commemoration, he may well follow the example set 

 by the sea-swallow 300 years ago, and seek it by the 

 Oxford river. The last time that I was there the 

 backwater at Medley lock was covered by the boats of 

 the rival establishments of Beasly and Bossom, families 

 which have long been at the head of the riverine 

 population of Oxford. A Beasly has for many years 

 stroked the city four and city eight to victory. It was 

 a Beasly " Fighting Beasly " who upheld the honour 



