The old building has seen the Thames flow by to the sea for eight centuries and more, and still it remains, one of the most attractive of all the famous houses that have arisen upon the banks of the great river. It is a short mile across the bridge from Great Marlow, that restful riverside town on one of the most pleasing reaches of the Thames. Here the river is at its best, bordered by peaceful shady lawns, where you may idle away a hot summer afternoon amid refreshing scenery that only England can show.
Down stream, seven miles past Cookham, you come to busy Maidenhead. Upstream eight miles and you are at Henley Bridge. Cookham lock they call the most beautifully situated of all on the river. Wild flowers grow in profusion on the banks of the tow-path side, and the famous woods of Cliveden look down upon the gently flowing river.
Yet, if you be wise, sometimes you will leave the fascination of the river and wander a mile or two inland and see the queer, quiet little villages that stand away from the river bank; or adventure, perhaps, from Bourne End up the Wye valley towards High Wycombe and find picturesque Penn—not the home of the family of the founder of Pennsylvania, but of one with which it was connected—and see in the church the memorials to some of the grandchildren of the famous William Penn.
To find Penn’s grave you must go a little further afield, through Beaconsfield to Jordans, where in the little Quaker burial ground that one of the greatest of the founders of the United States lies buried in a simple grave.
In all this fascinating country you are seldom more than thirty miles from London, and always within touch of a station from which you can reach Paddington in about an hour’s journey.
Bisham Abbey.
THE EVIL WEDDING OF STANTON DREW.
