The tradition of "Herne the Hunter," which Shakespeare gives in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, is said to be founded on the fact that Herne, a keeper of Windsor Forest, having committed some offence, hanged himself upon an oak tree. His ghost afterwards was to be seen, with horns on its head, walking round about this oak in the neighborhood of the castle. [Illustration: INTERIOR OF ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL. (By permission of Messrs. Harper & Brothers.)] SOME RIVER SCENES. [Illustration: MAGNA CHARTA ISLAND.] Just below Windsor the Thames passes between Runnimede, the "Meadow of Council," where the barons encamped, and Magna Charta Island, where King John signed the great charter of English liberty. The river sweeps in a tranquil bend around the wooded isle, where a pretty little cottage has been built which is said to contain the very stone whereon the charter was signed. The river Coln falls into the Thames, and "London Stone" marks the entrance to Middlesex and the domain of the metropolis. We pass Staines and Chertsey, where the poet Cowley lived, and then on the right hand the river Wey comes in at Weymouth. Many villages are passed, and at a bend in the Thames we come to the place where Caesar with his legions forded the river at Cowey Stakes, defeated Cassivelaunus, and conquered Britain. In his _Commentaries_ Julius Caesar writes that he led his army to the Thames, which could be crossed on foot at one place only, and there with difficulty. On arriving, he perceived great forces of the enemy drawn up on the opposite bank, which was fortified by sharp stakes set along the margin, a similar stockade being fixed in the bed of the river and covered by the stream. These facts being ascertained from prisoners and deserters, Caesar sent the cavalry in front and ordered the legions to follow immediately. The soldiers advanced with such impetuosity, although up to their necks in the water, that the Britons could not withstand the onset and fled. A couple of miles below, at Hampton, Garrick lived in a mansion fronted by a rotunda with a Grecian portico. We pass Hampton Court and Bushey Park, which revive memories of Wolsey, Cromwell, and William III., and then on the opposite bank see the two charming Dittons--"Thames" and "Long" Ditton--of which Theodore Hook has written: "When sultry suns and dusty streets proclaim town's 'winter season,' And rural scenes and cool retreats sound something like high treason, I steal away to shades serene which yet no bard has hit on, And change the bustling, heartless scene for quietude and Ditton. "Here, in a placid waking dream, I'm free from worldly troubles, Calm as the rippling silver stream that in the sunshine bubbles; And when sweet Eden's blissful bowers some abler bard has writ on, Despairing to transcend _his_ powers, I'll _ditto_ say for Ditton."