Excerpt from Isis and Thamesis: Hours on the River From Oxford to Henley <p>It is hardly necessary to say how much all this has changed. The barges are scarcely more frequent than they were: in some sections of the river they are, I fancy, less so. But a pleasure traffic, that is nothing less than vast, has sprung up; a continuous stream - on Bank holidays it may also be said a positive torrent of boats, and, z'nfmza'um dicta, of steam-launches, passes up and down the river. And here I would say a word, by the way, in defence of these much-abused persons, the riparian proprietors. It is not to be wondered at, when we compare what the Thames was and what it is, that they assert and seek to enforce the rights of private ownership over backwaters and islands. They once lived in seclusion, and they now find themselves in the blaze of publicity; they feel as the dweller in some remote farm-house might be supposed to feel if he found his home suddenly transported to Piccadilly. Their privacy is invaded by an army which, not without some of the unpleasing features of military occupation, bivouacs on their lawns and erects posts of observa tion opposite to their dining-room windows. <p>About the Publisher <p>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com <p>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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