Ill] HERTFORD: HOME OF MY BOYHOOD 35 



actually lost consciousness, but I had swallowed a good deal 

 of water, and I lay on the grass for some time before I got 

 strength to dress, and by the time I got home I was quite 

 well. It was, I think, the first year, if not the first time, I 

 had ever bathed, and if my brother had not been there it is 

 quite possible that I might have been drowned. This gave 

 me such a fright that though I often bathed here afterwards, 

 I always went in where the water was shallow, and did not 

 learn to swim, however little, till several years later. 



Few small towns (it had then less than six thousand in- 

 habitants) have a more agreeable public playground than 

 Hartham, with the level valley of the Lea stretching away to 

 Ware on the east, the town itself just over the river on the 

 south, while on the north, just across the river Beane, was a 

 steep slope covered with scattered fir trees, and called the 

 Warren, at the foot of which was a footpath leading to the 

 picturesque little village and old church of Bengeo. This 

 path along the Warren was a favourite walk of mine either 

 alone or with a playmate, where we could scramble up the 

 bank, climb up some of the old trees, or sit comfortably upon 

 one or two old stumpy yews, which had such twisted branches 

 and stiff spreading foliage as to form delightful seats. This 

 place was very little frequented, and our wanderings in it 

 were never interfered with. 



In the other direction the river Beane, as already stated, 

 flows down a picturesque valley from the north, but I do 

 not remember walking much beyond Bengeo. A little way 

 beyond Hartham, toward Ware, another small stream, the 

 Rib, came from the north, with a mill-stream along the west 

 side of Ware Park, but this also was quite unexplored by us. 

 Just out of the town, to the south-west, the river Mimram 

 joined the Lea. This came through the village of Herting- 

 fordbury, about a mile off, and then through the fine park of 

 Panshanger, about two miles long and containing about a 

 thousand acres. This park was open to the public, and we 

 occasionally went there to visit the great oak tree which was, 

 I believe, one of the finest grown large oaks in the kingdom. 

 It was one of the sights of the district. 



