it makes upon the traveller. On a dull and wet day when visibility is low the prospect is exceedingly depressing; but in sunny clear airs, especially under conditions of wind and weather that make for fine skies, there is a great charm about it. The moving barge sails and silhouettes of liners and ships appearing over the sea-wall in the distance give a certain character to the flat, green landscape. Thames Haven, with its oil reservoirs appearing in some lights like an eastern city, and the green pasture around the village of Mucking are pleasing notes. The hardening of the h into k in Mucking is unfortunate. Mucking should be Much-ing

i.e. much pasture and has no reference to mud although there is plenty of it about.

The derivation of Mucking is fairly clear, but that of

MUCH PASTURE, HENCE THE NAME MUCKING.

Stanford-le-Hope has been said to contain as much controversy as the birthplace of Homer. Stanford is simple-the stone ford or the stepping-stones across the water. Not a few rash antiquaries have imagined that this ford must have been across the Thames.

A moment's consideration of the nature of the Thames at this point will show that this is absurd. At present the river is some forty feet deep in the centre at dead low water. Allowing for all sorts of changes, dredging, etc., it could never have been fordable.

Before the present sea-walls on either side were in existence the width of the estuary must have been some seven or eight miles from shore to shore. It is just possible that there was a made causeway, like the Broom Road at Foulness, stretching from the Kent and Essex sides respectively and connected by a ferry in the middle. This would have

been, at low water, a causeway of stones, several miles long with a comparatively small section to be crossed by boat. It is conceivable that this way may have been known as the stone ford, but it seems much more likely that the ford

refers to that over Mucking Creek, which at low water would be quite fordable by means of stepping-stones to give a firm foothold in such a muddy place. So much for the ford, Stanford; but what about the le Hope?

The name Hope occurs frequently in England. It is generally a valley or pasture flanked by hills. The name of the reach of the Thames between Gravesend and Sea Reach is the Lower Hope. Northfleet Hope is the name of the

reach above Gravesend and the other end of the S-shaped loop of the river. I am no expert in place-names, but I cannot help thinking that Hoop may be the word in this case which has been turned into Hope. In that case

Stanford-le-Hope would follow naturally as the distinction of this Stanford from other Stanfords. It is the Stanford by the Hope, and Stanford-le-Hope would be a similar name to St. Mary-le-Strand. There are those, however, who see in the le the word lee-a pasture.

There is, or rather there was, for I sketched it on the eve of demolition, a house in Stanford-le-Hope known as Ivy Walls, reproduced on page 17. This place by the time this has seen the light will have been pulled down, for it had fallen into a state of decay, so serious from a builder's point of view that nothing could be done with it. Probably the ivy which gave it a name in latter days has been responsible for this downfall. The interest of this old place was to me greatly enhanced by its literary association, for it was here that Joseph Conrad lived for some years and it was here that some of that author's wonderful writing was done.

Walking from Tilbury to Muckingford, I espied the little mill of which I was in search, and started off after it across ploughed fields. Like many things in flat lands, it was further off than it appeared to be, and by the time I had got within easy sketching distance I was almost exhausted through lifting several tons of mud during my progress. The mill is unique. It has apparently been used for pumping water out of the dykes, but the remarkable feature about it is its scale. It is a windmill in miniature, and the topmost sail would be only about 25 feet from the ground. The next mystery to be explained was the Claudian Aqueduct, which I have sketched on page 14. The illusion is a curious one, and