The squirrels at Strawberry Hill were a great feature; regularly after breakfast Walpole used to mix a large basin of bread-and-milk and throw it out to them. He was very fond of animals, he even used to cut up bread and spread it on the dining-room mantelpiece, thus drawing a number of expectant mice from their holes! It troubled him greatly when he became Earl of Orford, at the advanced age of seventy-four, on the death of his nephew. He could not see why, sitting at home in his own room, he should be called by a new name! The most notable fact connected with Strawberry Hill was the printing-press Walpole there established, from which he issued many of his own, and some of his friend, the poet Gray's, works. Henry Fielding came to Twickenham, having first married, as his second choice, his late wife's maid. He was only here about a year. Sir Godfrey Kneller, too, was a resident; and Turner, having built here a summer resort, and called it Sandycombe Lodge, used it from 1814-26. So that, all things considered, Twickenham may boast a considerable galaxy of stars. [Illustration: FOLLY BRIDGE, OXFORD] Though the names of Pope and Walpole are best known from their long association with the river, by far the noblest name that Thames can boast is that of Milton. It was as a young man, fresh from the University, that he came to live for five years with his parents at Horton, near Wraysbury. Horton is not exactly on the river, but it is very near, and the influence of the scenery must have been strong on the delicate youth nicknamed "the lady", whose genius was already blossoming. He walked far and wide over the rich, well-watered land, down to the river's banks with its overhanging trees. In many of his stately poems little word pictures, reminiscences of these quiet days, are found: By the rushy-fringed bank Where grows the willow and the osier dank. --_Comus._ Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use Of shades and wanton winds and gushing brooks. --_Lycidas._ The house in which Milton lived has vanished, in fact the only one of his many residences remaining is that at Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks. But the pretty little church at Horton, close by which the house was situated, still stands. The poet's only sister was married, his younger brother an occasional visitor, and, as his father was well on in years, the life must have been singularly quiet. Milton was only in his twenty-fourth year when he left the University, but already his poems had shown the bent of his mind. He was at Horton from 1632-38, and he himself says he spent there "a complete holiday in turning over the Greek and Latin writers". Hardly the kind of holiday that would commend itself to the Etonians not so many miles off. Yet this "holiday" was productive of _L'Allegro_, _Il Penseroso_, _Arcades_, and _Comus_, all ranking among the greatest classics in the English language.