For those who love the pure “old fashion,” and the ways of old fashion, there is nothing more refreshing than a Sunday stroll by these antique towns and villages. Familiar and “Cockneyfied” as are such places, it is surprising what picturesque little “bits” will here repay a little quiet searching. These have often engaged the artist, but the antiquary and lover of the antique prettiness have not been so diligent. Numbers of little “corners” and old houses are revealed along these river banks as we walk. At Battersea, when we turn out of the “speculative builders” region and enter “Vicarage Road,” with its old house and gate, and railing of excellent ironwork, we come straight on a sound, solid old mansion of ripe brick, standing in charming grounds, with a velvet sward and fine old trees, the river flowing beside--a perfect surprise, for it has quite a manorial air. There are a number of these old riverside mansions--retired, snug, and very close to London town, with the air of being miles away. Some of these have been utilized for fashionable suburban clubs, just such a one as “BARN ELMS,” of which you have a most pleasing view as you walk along the river’s bank from Putney to Town. At Hammersmith, Chiswick, Kew, and a few other places there are terraces built along the river-side, which bear the name of the MALLS. There is a quaint _rococo_ tone in these titles; and it is pleasant to fancy oneself living in some old house on Chiswick or Hammersmith Mall. For instance, Hammersmith Mall has its row of old trees stooping over the river; its files of pleasure boats drawn up by the boat-houses; the Dutch barges, always furnishing colour. There are curious winding lanes behind houses, and yards which have been allowed to encroach on the banks and have thus driven back the path, with a small canal and a bridge across. Across the river will be noticed a row of mellow old red-brick mansions, snoozing, as it were, in the calm content of a tranquil old age, with a welcome Flemish air.