'I have fought my fight, I have lived my life, I have drunk my share of wine; From Trier to Coln there was never a knight Led a merrier life than mine.

" [Illustration: The Manor-House, Coln St. Aldwyns.

But there is one very pleasant walk in that part of the Cotswolds we know best, and this takes you up the valley of the Coln to the Roman villa at Chedworth.

The first two miles are the least interesting of the whole journey; the Coln, broadened out for some distance to the size of a lake, is hidden from our view by the tall trees of Fairford Park.

It was along this road that John Keble, the poet used to walk day by day to his cure at Coln-St.-Aldwyns.

As we pass on through the fair villages of Quenington and Coln-St.-Aldwyns we cannot help noticing the delightful character of the houses from a picturesque point of view; in both these hamlets there are the same clean-looking stone cottages and stone-tiled roofs.

The beautiful gabled house close to the Norman church of Coln-St.-Aldwyns is the old original manor house.

Williamstrip House and Park lie on your right-hand side as you leave the village of "Coln" behind you.

The three parishes of Hatherop, Quenington, and Coln-St.-Aldwyns practically adjoin each other.

We have now two rather uneventful miles to traverse between Coln-St.-Aldwyns and Bibury, for we must once more leave the valley and set out across the bleak uplands.

A broad reach of the Coln and a grand waterfall enhance the quiet and peaceful beauty of the scene.

Our way lies along the edge of the hill for the next few miles, and we look down upon the picturesque valley of the Coln.

Winson, Coln Rogers, Coln-St.-Dennis, and Fossbridge all lie below us as we wend our way westwards.

Winson, Coln Rogers, Coln-St.-Dennis, and Fossbridge all lie below us as we wend our way westwards.

* Coming once more down the hill into the valley of the Coln, we must cross the old Roman road known as the Fossway, follow the course of the stream, and, about a mile beyond the snug little village of Fossbridge, we reach the great woods of Chedworth.

It stands on the banks of the Coln, and in olden times was approached by a drawbridge and surrounded by a moat.

We made a ground in the valley of the Coln some years ago, and went to some expense in the way of levelling, filling up gravel pits, and removing obstructions like cowsheds; but unless we had looked after it ourselves and made preparations for a match, it would have soon gone back to its original rough state again.

The Windrush, like the Coln at Bibury, runs for some distance alongside of the village street.

But the stag, after crossing the Windrush close to Mr. Dutton's house at Sherborne, had failed to make his point, and had "taken soil" in a deep pool of the river Coln, near the little village of Coln-St-Dennis, where eventually the mort had sounded.

But the stag, after crossing the Windrush close to Mr. Dutton's house at Sherborne, had failed to make his point, and had "taken soil" in a deep pool of the river Coln, near the little village of Coln-St-Dennis, where eventually the mort had sounded.

And as he rides round a bend in the valley, a fair manor house comes into view, pleasantly placed in a sheltered spot hard by the River Coln.

He told how, after running from scent to view, they came down into the woodlands of the valley of the Coln, and awoke the echoes with their "gallant chiding.

Had we not better return to the dry land?'" There is a spot in the woods by the River Coln that is almost untrodden by man.

Such a prize, Since the three Kings came wandering into Coln, They ne'er saw, nor their fathers;well they knew it!

Frederic the Kaiser, Henry the Landgrave, brother of her husband; The Princesses, too, Agnes, and her mother; And every noble name, sir, at whose war-cry The Saxon heart leaps up; with them the prelates Of Treves, of Coln, and Maintzwhy name them all?