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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-05-10 05:21:06 -0700 |
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diff --git a/76057-0.txt b/76057-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a075eec --- /dev/null +++ b/76057-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12266 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76057 *** + + + + + +Transcriber’s Note: Italics are enclosed in _underscores_. Superscripts +are shown as ^e or ^{BLE}. Additional notes will be found near the end +of this ebook. + + + + +[Illustration: (cover)] + +[Illustration: (map)] + + + + +LONDON PARKS AND GARDENS + +[Illustration: ST. KATHARINE’S LODGE, REGENT’S PARK] + + + + + LONDON PARKS AND GARDENS + + + BY + + THE HON^{BLE} MRS. EVELYN CECIL + (ALICIA AMHERST) + CITIZEN AND GARDENER OF LONDON + + AUTHOR OF “A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND” + “CHILDREN’S GARDENS,” ETC. + + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY + LADY VICTORIA MANNERS + + + “_Reade the whole and then judge_” + + JOHN CHRISTOPHERSON, + Bishop of Chichester, 1554 + + + NEW YORK + E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY + 1907 + + + + + Printed by + BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh + + + + +PREFACE + + +In spite of the abundance of books on London, not one exists which +tells the story of the Parks and Gardens as a whole. Some of the Royal +Parks have been dealt with, and most of the Municipal Parks, but in +separate works. When Squares are touched on, in guide-books, or in +volumes to themselves, the Gardens are for the most part left alone, +and gossip of the inhabitants forms the centre of the narrative. This +is the case also with public buildings and private houses which have +gardens attached to them. To give a sketch of the history of the +more important Parks and Gardens, and to point out any features of +horticultural interest, is the object of the following pages. London is +such a wide word, and means such a different area at various periods, +that it has been necessary to make some hard and fast rule to define +the scope of this work. I have, therefore, decided to keep strictly to +the limits of the County of London within the official boundaries of +the London County Council at the present time. + +I would express my thanks to the authorities of the Parks, both Royal +and Municipal, for their courtesy in affording me information, and to +many friends who have facilitated my search in historical and private +gardens. I am also extremely grateful to my friend, Miss Margaret +MacArthur, who has assisted me in the tedious task of correcting +proofs. The lists of trees and shrubs, and of plants in the beds in +Hyde Park, were kindly drawn up for me by the Park Superintendent, the +late Mr. Jordan, with the consent of H.M. Office of Works. + + ALICIA M. CECIL. + + 10 EATON PLACE, + _August 1907_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + I. INTRODUCTORY 1 + + II. HYDE PARK 23 + + III. ST. JAMES’S AND GREEN PARKS 56 + + IV. REGENT’S PARK 83 + + V. GREENWICH PARK 106 + + VI. MUNICIPAL PARKS 119 + + VII. SOUTH LONDON PARKS 155 + + VIII. COMMONS AND OPEN SPACES 185 + + IX. SQUARES 217 + + X. BURIAL-GROUNDS 242 + + XI. INNS OF COURT 261 + + XII. HISTORICAL GARDENS 289 + + XIII. PRIVATE GARDENS 327 + + APPENDIX TO PRIVATE GARDENS: CHARLTON 357 + + LIST OF SOME OF THE WORKS CONSULTED 361 + + HYDE PARK AND KENSINGTON GARDENS: LIST OF TREES AND SHRUBS 368 + + INDEX 377 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + COLOURED PLATES + + ST. KATHARINE’S LODGE, REGENT’S PARK _Frontispiece_ + _Page_ + DOLPHIN FOUNTAIN, HYDE PARK 38 + + AUTUMN BEDS, HYDE PARK 46 + + FOUNTAIN BY COUNTESS FEODOR GLEICHEN, HYDE PARK 54 + + CROCUSES IN EARLY SPRING, ST. JAMES’S PARK 64 + + AUTUMN IN REGENT’S PARK 90 + + SPRING IN REGENT’S PARK 102 + + WATERLOW PARK 148 + + OLD ENGLISH GARDEN, BROCKWELL PARK 172 + + STATUE OF PITT, HANOVER SQUARE 220 + + STATUE OF WILLIAM III. IN ST. JAMES’S SQUARE 226 + + ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD 250 + + THE BANK GARDEN 258 + + THE INNER TEMPLE GARDEN 270 + + THE FOUNTAIN COURT, MIDDLE TEMPLE 276 + + LINCOLN’S INN 280 + + THE GARDEN GATES, GRAY’S INN 288 + + GREY COAT SCHOOL, WESTMINSTER 298 + + THE LITTLE CLOISTER, WESTMINSTER ABBEY 302 + + HERBACEOUS BORDER, LAMBETH PALACE 306 + + STATUE OF CHARLES II., CHELSEA HOSPITAL 312 + + CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN 324 + + THE GARDEN OF SIR LAURENCE ALMA-TADEMA, R.A. 334 + + THE LILY POND, HOLLAND HOUSE 340 + + ST. JOHN’S LODGE, REGENT’S PARK 347 + + + IN THE TEXT + + PAGE + DOLPHIN FOUNTAIN IN HYDE PARK 39 + + FOUNTAINS AT THE END OF THE SERPENTINE 43 + + A CORNER OF THE QUEEN VICTORIA MEMORIAL GARDENS 81 + + STONE VASE IN REGENT’S PARK 101 + + PAGODA ON THE ISLAND, VICTORIA PARK 138 + + STOKE NEWINGTON CHURCH FROM CLISSOLD PARK 143 + + FOUNTAIN BY TINWORTH, KENNINGTON PARK 167 + + STATUE OF MRS. SIDDONS, PADDINGTON GREEN 214 + + WINTER GARDEN, DUKE STREET, GROSVENOR SQUARE 220 + + SUN-DIAL, ST. BOTOLPH’S 256 + + TRINITY ALMSHOUSES, MILE END ROAD 293 + + ABBEY GARDEN, WESTMINSTER 301 + + GARDEN GATE, CHELSEA HOSPITAL 314 + + IN THE GARDEN, ST. JOHN’S LODGE 349 + + + + +London Parks & Gardens + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTORY + + _London, thou art the Flour of cities all._ + + --WILLIAM DUNBAR, 1465–1530. + + +London has a peculiar fascination of its own, and to a vast number of +English-speaking people all over the world it appeals with irresistible +force. So much has been said and written about it that the theme might +seem to be worn out, yet there are still fresh aspects to present, +still hidden charms to discover, still deep problems to solve. The +huge, unwieldly mass, which cannot be managed or legislated for as +other towns, but has to be treated as a county, enfolds within its area +all the phases of human life. It embraces every gradation from wealth +to poverty, from the millionaire to the pauper alien. The collection of +buildings which together make London are a most singular assortment of +innumerable variations between beauty and ugliness, between palaces and +works of art and hovels of sordid and unlovely squalor. + +An Englishman must be almost without soul who can stand for the first +time unmoved within the precincts of Westminster Abbey or look without +satisfaction at the faultless proportions of St. Paul’s. The sense of +possession, the pride of inheritance, are the uppermost feelings in +his mind. But he who loves not only London itself with a patriotic +veneration, but also his fellow-men, will not rest with the inspection +of the beautiful. He will journey eastward into the heart of the mighty +city, and see its seething millions at work, its dismal poverty, its +relentless hardness. The responsibility of heirship comes over him, the +sadness, the pathos, the evil of it all depresses him, the hopelessness +of the contrast overpowers him; but apart from all ideas of social +reform, from legislative action or philanthropic theories, there is +one thin line of colour running through the gloomy picture. The parks +and gardens of London form bright spots in the landscape. They are +beyond the pale of controversy; they appeal to all sections of the +community, to the workers as well as to the idlers, to the rich as well +as to the poor, to the thoughtful as well as to the careless. From the +utilitarian point of view they are essential. They bring new supplies +of oxygen, and allow the freer circulation of health-giving fresh +air. They are not less useful as places of exercise and recreation. +They waft a breath of nature where it is most needed, and the part +they play in brightening the lives of countless thousands cannot be +over-estimated. + +The parks and gardens of London have a past full of historical +associations, and at the present time their full importance is slowly +being realised. Much has been done to improve and beautify them, +but much remains to be achieved in that direction before their +capabilities will have been thoroughly developed. The opportunity +is great, and if only the best use can be made of it London Parks +could be the most beautiful as well as the most useful in the world. +It is impossible to praise or criticise them collectively, as they +have different origins, are administered by separate bodies, and have +distinct functions to perform. It cannot be denied that the laying out +in some and the planting in other cases could be improved. Plans could +be carried out with more taste than is sometimes shown, and new ideas +be encouraged, but on the whole there is so much that is excellent and +well done that there is a great deal to be proud of. + +The various open spaces in London can easily be grouped into classes. +First there are the Royal Parks, with a history and management of +their own; then there are all the Parks either created or kept up by +the London County Council, and most of the commons and other large +open spaces are in their jurisdiction also, though a few parks and +recreation grounds are under the borough councils. Municipal bodies for +the most part take charge of all the disused burial grounds converted +into gardens, though some are maintained by the parish or the rector. +Then there is another class of garden which must be included, namely, +all the squares of London, as, although few are open to the public, +they form no insignificant proportion of the unbuilt area. + +All through London there are survivals of old gardens, which are still +either quiet and concealed, or thrown open to the public. Such are the +grounds of the Charterhouse, of Chelsea Hospital, or of the Foundling +Hospital, and of other old-world haunts of peace. The rarest thing +in London are the private gardens, yet they too go to make up the +aggregate lungs of the city. Out of a total of upwards of 75,000 acres +there are in round numbers some 6000 acres of parks, commons, squares, +and open spaces in London: of these a little over 4000 acres are in +the hands of the London County Council. Besides this it administers +nearly 900 acres outside the county. The City of London owns large +forest tracts, commons, and parks beyond the limit of the County of +London--Epping, Burnham Beeches, Highgate Wood, and parks in West Ham, +Kilburn, &c.--altogether nearly 6500 acres. + +London is such a wide word, it is difficult to set a limit, and +to decide what open spaces actually belong to London. As the town +stretches away into the country, it is impossible to see the boundaries +of London. The line must be drawn near where the chimney-pots become +incessant, and the stems of the trees become black. But the degree of +blackness, dirt, and density is impossible to decide; so a prosaic, +matter-of-fact, but necessary rule has been adhered to in the following +pages, of keeping as strictly as possible to the actual defined limits +of the County of London. Therefore all the parks owned by the City +Corporation or London County Council outside this limit have not been +dealt with, and such places as Chiswick, Kew, Richmond, or Gunnersbury +have been omitted. + +To get to some of these places involves a considerable journey. Many +of the outlying parks have to be reached by train, or by a very long +drive, or tram ride. From Hyde Park Corner, for instance, to Bostall +Wood or Avery Hill is a long expedition. To the fortunate few who +possess motor cars the distances are trifling, but the vast majority +of people must exercise considerable ingenuity, and possess a good +bump of locality, if they wish to visit all London’s open spaces. A +knowledge of the distant places, the names of which are inscribed in +large letters on every omnibus, is necessary. The Royal Oak, Elephant +and Castle, or Angel, are but starting-places for the more distant +routes, although they form the goal of green, red, or blue ’busses. +The electric trams of South London have made the approach to Dulwich, +Peckham, Greenwich, and many other parks much more simple, and motor +’busses rattle along close to even the distant Golder’s Hill or +Highbury Fields. With a railway time-table, a good eye for colour in +selecting the right omnibus, and a knowledge of the points of the +compass, every green patch in London can be reached with ease, even by +those whose purses are not long enough to let them indulge in motors, +or whose nerves are not steady enough to let them venture on bicycles. + +Each park forms the central point of some large district, and they are +not dependent on the casual visitor for appreciation. Every single +green spot, on a fine Saturday throughout the year, is peopled with +a crowd from the neighbourhood, and on every day in the year, winter +as well as summer, almost every open space has a ceaseless throng of +comers and goers. + +What is the cost of maintenance of these parks is a question that +will naturally occur; and the answer in many cases is easy to find, +as the statistics of both the London County Council Parks, published +in their handbook, and those of the Royal Parks, which are submitted +to Parliament every year, are accessible. The following extracts may, +however, be useful. In looking at the two sets of figures, of course +the acreage must be borne in mind, and the great expense of police +in the Royal Parks, amounting to £8782 for Hyde Park alone, must be +deducted before any fair comparison can be made, even when results are +not considered. + + +----------------------+------------------------------------------------------+--------+ + | | 1907–8. | 1906–7.| + | +------+---------+--------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ + | | | | | New | | | | + | | | Wages | Police,| Works | Mainte- | | | + | |Acres.| and | Park- | and | nance. | Total. | Total. | + | | |Salaries.|keepers.| Altera- | | | | + | | | | | tions. | | | | + +----------------------+------+---------+--------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ + | | | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | + | 1. Greenwich | 185 | 225 | 1,090 | 175 | 3,737 | 5,319 | 4,554 | + +----------------------+------+---------+--------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ + | { Hyde Park } | | | | | | | | + | 2. { St. James’s } | 509½ | 724 | 12,153 | 4,965 | 50,886 | 69,269 | 48,835 | + | { Green Park } | | | | | | | | + +----------------------+------+---------+--------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ + | 3. Kensington Gardens| 274 | 138 | 1,590 | 50 | 5,831 | 7,730 | 7,804 | + +----------------------+------+---------+--------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ + | { Regent’s Park } | | | | | | | | + | 4. { and } | 472½ | 290 | 2,171 | 300 | 11,417 | 14,542 | 13,329 | + | { Primrose Hill } | | | | | | | | + +----------------------+------+---------+--------+---------+---------+--------+--------+ + _Taken from the Estimates for 1907–8._ + + + +-----------+-------+------------+------------+---------+ + | | | Net | Average | | + | | Acres.| Aggregate | Cost of | Number | + | | | Capital |Maintenance.|of Staff.| + | | |Expenditure.| | | + +-----------+-------+------------+------------+---------+ + | | | £ | £ | | + | Battersea | 199 | 21,042 | 10,897 | 92 | + | Brockwell | 127¼ | 114,322 | 4,493 | 34 | + | Dulwich | 72 | 45,510 | 3,330 | 28 | + | Finsbury | 115 | 137,934 | 7,649 | 52 | + | Victoria | 217 | 38,430 | 12,099 | 107 | + | Waterlow | 26 | 11,178 | 2,658 | 24 | + +-----------+-------+------------+------------+---------+ + _Taken from L.C.C. Handbook No. 1009, 1906._ + + +London has always been a city of gardens, and although much boast is +made of the newly-acquired open spaces, a wail for those destroyed +would have equal justification. It is very terrible that everything in +life has to be learnt by slow and hard lessons, dearly purchased under +the iron rod of experience. It is not till the want of a green spot +is brought painfully home to people by its loss, that the thought of +saving the last remaining speck of greenery is borne in upon them with +sufficient force to transform the wish into action. For generations +garden after garden has passed into building land. No one has a right +to grudge the wealth or prosperity that has accrued in consequence, +but the wish that the benevolence and foresight of past days had taken +a different bent, and that a more systematic retention of some of the +town gardens had received attention, cannot be banished. + +When Roman civilisation had been swept away in Britain, and with +it all vestiges of the earliest gardens, there are no vestiges of +horticulture until Christianity had taken hold of the country, and +religious houses were rising up in various parts of the kingdom. The +cradle of modern gardening may be said to have been within the peaceful +walls of these monastic foundations. In no part of the country were +they more numerous than in and around London, and it is probable that +every establishment had its garden for the supply of vegetables, and +more particularly medicinal herbs. Attached to most of them, there was +also a special garden for the production of flowers for decoration +on church festivals. It is probable that the earliest London gardens +were of this monastic character, and as long as the buildings were +maintained the gardens were in existence. The Grey, the Black, the +White, and the Austin Friars all had gardens within their enclosures; +and the Hospitaller Orders--the Templars and Knights of St. John--had +large gardens within their precincts. The Temple Garden is still one +of the charms of London, but only the old gateway of the Priory of St. +John in Clerkenwell remains, and the garden, with all its historical +associations, has long since vanished. It was in a small upper room, +“next the garden in the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in England, +without the bars of West Smythfield,” that Henry VII., in the first +year of his reign, gave the Great Seal to John Morton, Bishop of Ely, +and appointed him Chancellor, and he “carried the seal with him” to +his house, Ely Place, hard by.[1] These small references show the +picturesque side of such events, the gardens constantly being the +background of the scenes. + +It is only one more of the regrettable results of the barbarous way +in which the Reformation was carried out in England, that the gardens +shared the fate of the stately buildings round whose sheltering walls +they flourished. It is not easy to picture the desolation of those +days: the unkept, uncared-for garden, trodden under foot, makes the +forlorn aspect of the despoiled monasteries more pathetic. + +London was a city of palaces in Plantagenet times, and the great +nobles had their gardens near or surrounding their castles. Bayard’s +Castle, facing the river for centuries, had its gardens, and there were +spacious gardens within the precincts of the Tower when it was the +chief royal residence in London, and outside the walls of the City fine +dwellings and large gardens were clustered together. Among the most +famous in the thirteenth century was the Earl of Lincoln’s, purchased +from the Dominicans, when they outgrew their demesne in Holborn, and +migrated to the riverside, where their memory ever lives under their +popular name of the Black Friars. Minute accounts of the expenses +of this garden are preserved in the Manor Roll, and a very fairly +accurate picture of what it was can be pieced together. The chief +flowers in it were roses, and the choicest to be found at that date, +the sweet-scented double red “rosa gallica,” would be in profusion. +It might be that, in the shady corners of the garden, periwinkle +trailed upon the ground, and violets perfumed the air. White Madonna +lilies reared their stately heads among the clove pinks, lavender, and +thyme. Peonies, columbines, hollyhocks, honeysuckle, corncockles, and +iris, white, purple, and yellow, made no mean show. The orchard could +boast of many kinds of pears and apples, cherries and nuts. A piece +of water described as “the greater ditch”[2] formed the fish stew +where pike were kept and artificially fed. Besides all this, there +was a considerable vineyard. It was thought a favourable spot for +vines, and the Bishop of Ely’s vineyard, the site of which is still +remembered by Vine Street, was hard by. A good deal of imagination is +now required to conjure up a picture of a vintage in Holborn. Amid +the crowd of cabs, carts, carriages, and omnibuses rolling all day +over the Viaduct from Oxford Street to the heart of the City, it needs +as fertile a brain as that of the poet who pictured the vision of +poor Susan as she listens to the song of the bird in Wood Street to +call up such a scene. The gardens sloping down to the “bourne” were +carefully enclosed--the Earl of Lincoln’s by strong wooden palings, +that of Ely Place by a thorn hedge with wooden gates fitted with keys +and locks.[3] The inner gardens, that were specially reserved for +the Bishop, the great garden and the “grassyard,” were separated by +railings and locked doors from the vineyard. The “grassyard” was mown, +and a tithe of the proceeds from the sale of the grass paid to the +Rector of St. Andrew’s, Holborn. The wine produced was more of the +character of vinegar, and was also sold; as much as thirty gallons of +this “verjuice” was produced in one year. Extra hands were hired to +weed and dress the vineyard, and apparently the vineyard entailed a +good deal of trouble, and for many years it was let. Think of a warm +day in early autumn, clusters of grapes hanging from the twisted vines, +men and women in gay colours carrying baskets of ripe fruit to the +vats where they were trodden, and the crimson juice squeezed out; the +mellow rays of the sinking sun light up the high walls and many towers +of the City, and the distant pile of Westminster is half hidden by the +mists rising from the river, while there, too, the vintage is in full +swing, and the song[4] of the grape-gatherers breaks the stillness of +the October evening. Away to the north the landscape is bounded by the +wooded heights of Hampstead and Highgate. Most of the country round +London then was forest land, and in spite of the changes of centuries +a few acres of the original forest remain in Highgate Woods to this +day, now owned by the Corporation of London. Between the hills and the +city on the north-east lay the marshy ground known as Moorfields, for +some 800 years the favourite resort of Londoners wishing to take the +air. Gradually this open space has been built over, although a few +green patches, such as Finsbury Square, the Artillery Ground, or the +more distant Bunhill Fields, have remained through the changes time +has wrought. This space might have been like one of the other heaths or +commons of London, a beautiful open space in the heart of the town, but +the supposed exigencies of modern civilisation, with the usual want of +foresight, have banished the life-giving fresh air, and the Corporation +of London has had to go far afield, to Burnham Beeches and Epping +Forest, to supply what once was at its door. Literally at its door, +as the busy street of Moorgate recalls the Mayor, Thomas Falconer by +name, who in 1415 “caused the wall of the citie to be broken neere unto +Coleman Street, and there builded a posterne now called _Moorgate_, +upon the Mooreside, where was never gate before. This gate he made for +ease of the citizens, that way to passe upon cawseys into the Field +for their recreation.”[5] The fields in question were at that time a +marsh, and though some fifty years later “dikes and bridges” were made, +it was many years before the whole moor was drained. The task at one +time seemed so difficult that the chronicler Stowe, in 1598, feared +that even if the earth was raised until it was level with the city +walls it would be “but little dryer,” such was the “moorish” nature of +the ground. Moorfields was the scene of many curious dramas during its +history. It was the great place for displays, sham fights, and sports +of the citizens. Pepys notes in his Diary, July 26, 1664, that there +was much discourse about “the fray yesterday in Moorfields, how the +butchers at first did beat the weavers (between whom there hath been +ever an old competition for mastery), but at last the weavers rallied +and beat them.” Such scenes were very frequent, and Moorfields for +generations was the theatre of such contests. During the time of the +Great Fire, numbers of homeless people camped out there, passing days +of discomfort and anxiety about their few remaining household goods. +Pepys in his casual way alludes to them: “5th September, ... Into +Moorefields (our feet ready to burn, walking through the town among hot +coles), and find that full of people, and poor wretches carrying their +goods there, and everybody keeping his goods together by themselves +(and a great blessing it is to them that it is fair weather for them to +keep abroad night and day); drunk there and paid twopence for a plain +penny loaf.” The “trained bands” used Moorfields as their exercise +ground, and no doubt the prototype of John Gilpin disported himself +there. As the fields were drained after 1527 they became more and more +the favourite resort of citizens of all ranks. Laid out more as a +public garden in 1606, they continued the chief open space of the city +until a few generations ago. + +The garden of the Drapers’ Company was another of the lungs of the +City, and the disappearance of the great part of it, also within recent +years, is much to be regretted. This land was purchased by the Company +from Henry VIII. after the garden had been made by Thomas Cromwell, +Earl of Essex, and forfeited on his attainder. His method of increasing +his garden was simple enough. He appears to have taken what he wanted +from the citizens adjoining, and his all-powerful position at the +time left them without redress. Stowe describes the way this land was +filched away. “This house being finished, and having some reasonable +plot of ground left for a garden, hee caused the pales of the gardens +adjoining to the north part thereof, on a sudden to be taken doune, 22 +foot to be measured forth right into the north of every man’s ground, a +line then to be drawn, a trench to be cast, a foundation laid, and an +high bricke wall to be builded. My Father had a garden there, and there +was a house standing close to his south pale; this house they loosed +from the ground, and bare upon Rowlers into my Father’s garden 22 foot +ere my Father heard thereof.... No man durst goe to argue the matter, +but each man lost his Land.” + +It is difficult to estimate whether the charitable munificence of the +Company is altogether as great a public benefit, from a health point +of view, as retaining some of the garden for public use would have +been. Men are naturally so conservative, that, because they have been +content to talk and do business, and even search for a breath of air, +in the crowded streets on the hottest summer days, it has probably +never occurred to them that a few minutes on a seat under shady trees +would have “refreshed their spirits,” and the addition of better air +improved their brain powers more effectually. The idea of a garden +city is such a new one that it is not fair to judge by such standards. +Distances are now much reduced by electricity above and below ground, +so that the necessity of crowding business houses together to save +time is not so all-important. When the City gardens became built over, +no doubt the newer and more sanitary conditions were felt amply to +compensate for the loss of oxygen given off by the growing plants, and +the preservation of air spaces in the midst of crowded centres had not +occurred to men’s minds. + +London four or five hundred years ago must indeed have needed its +gardens. The squalor and dirt of its cramped streets, the noisy +clamour, the rough and uncouth manners, are unpleasing to realise. The +contrast of the little walled gardens, where the women could sit, and +the busy men find a little quiet from the noise outside, must indeed +have been precious. The profession of a gardener, however, did not +seem to soften their behaviour, for some of the worst offenders were +gardeners. So serious did the “scurrility, clamour, and nuisance of +the gardeners and their servants,” who sold their fruit and vegetables +in the market, become, that they disturbed the Austin Friars at their +prayers in the church hard by, and caused so much annoyance to the +people living near, that in 1345 a petition, to have these “gardeners +of the earls, barons, bishops, and citizens” removed to another part +of the town, was presented to the Lord Mayor. Later on, gardening +operations in the City and for six miles round were restricted to +freemen and apprentices of the Gardeners’ Company, and the sale of +vegetables was almost exclusively in their hands. Their guild had power +to seize and destroy all bad plants, or those exposed for sale by +unlicensed persons. The Gardeners’ Company, incorporated in 1605, had a +second charter in 1616, and a confirmation of their rights in 1635, and +it still remains one of the City companies. + +All the smaller householders, even in the crowded parts, continued +to enjoy their little gardens for many centuries. Even after the +spoliation of the monasteries, the houses rebuilt on their sites +had their little enclosures; and large houses such as Sir William +Pawlet’s, on the ground of the Augustine monastery, or later on Sir +Christopher Hatton’s on Ely Place, had their gardens around them. +Even now, in the heart of London, a small row of shabby old houses +survives, each with a small garden attached to it. These are called +Nevill Court, from the site having been within the precincts owned by +Ralph Nevill, Bishop of Chichester, Chancellor in the time of Henry +III., who built a great palace near here. One of the row belongs to the +Moravian Mission, or United Brothers, a sect who trace their origin to +John Huss. They settled in this house in 1737. This old-world corner +opens out of Fetter Lane. A small wooden paling separates the minute +strips of blackened garden from a narrow paved pathway. There were +many such gardens in this locality less than a century ago. Charles +Lamb, when aged six, went to school to a Mr. Bird in Bond Stables, +off Fetter Lane, now vanished; and, returning to the spot in 1825, he +recalled the early associations: “The school-room stands where it did, +looking into a discoloured, dingy garden.... Oh, how I remember ... +the truant looks side-long to the garden, which seemed a mockery of +our imprisonment.” Would that some antiquarian millionaire--if such a +combination exists!--might take into his head to preserve Nevill Court, +to restore the houses and renovate the gardens, and preserve this relic +of Old London, to give future generations some idea of what the smaller +dwelling-houses in the old city were like. In most districts these +little gardens were the usual appendage to dwelling-houses. Pepys, +living in Seething Lane, often mentions his garden. It was there he +sat with his wife and taught her maid to sing; it was there he watched +the flames spreading over the town at the time of the Great Fire; and +in it his money was buried during the scare of the Dutch invasion. So +carelessly, indeed, was the money hidden that 100 gold pieces were +lost, but eventually most of them recovered by sweeping the grass and +sifting the soil. The natural way in which Pepys mentions how other +people--Sir W. Batten and Mrs. Turner--during the Fire buried in their +city gardens their wine and other goods they could not send to the +country, that is, Bethnal Green, only shows how general these little +plots were. + +Gerard, that delightful old herbalist and gardener to Lord Burghley, +in Elizabeth’s reign, had his own garden in Holborn. In it flourished +no less than some 972 varieties of plants, of which he published a +catalogue in 1596. His friend and fellow-botanist, L’Obel, whose name +is best remembered by the familiar genus Lobelia, testified that he +had seen all the plants on the list actually growing there. The great +faith and skill with which these old gardeners attempted to grow in +London all the newly-acquired floral treasures, from all parts of the +world, is truly touching. To make them “denizons of our London gardens” +was Gerard’s delight. And this worthy ambition was shared by L’Obel, +who looked after Lord Zouche’s garden in Hackney; by John Parkinson, +author of the delightful work on gardening; and later on, the mantle +descended to the Tradescants, who had their museum (the nucleus of the +Ashmolean) or “Ark” and garden in Lambeth; by Sir Hans Sloane, who +established the Physic Garden in Chelsea, and numerous others. It is +curious to think how many of the plants now familiar everywhere made +their first appearance in London. They were not reared elsewhere and +brought to the large shows which are arranged in the metropolis to +exhibit novelties to the public, but really London-grown. They were +foreign importations, little seeds or bulbs, sent home to the merchants +trading with the Levant, or brought back by enterprising explorers +from the New World and carefully nurtured in the London gardens, +that the citizens “set such store by.” There were several of these +“worshipful gentlemen” to whom the introduction of flowers is due, and +of many a plant Gerard could say with pride, they “are strangers to +England, notwithstanding I have them in my garden.” Most plants were +grown for use, but others “we have them,” says Gerard, “in our London +gardens rather more for toyes of pleasure than any vertues they are +possessed with.” Some of the first potatoes introduced were grown in +London. Gerard had those in his garden direct from Virginia, and prized +them as “a meat for pleasure.” Jerusalem artichokes were brought to +London by him, and grown there in early days (1617). Parkinson also +had them, calling them “Potatos of Canada.” Bananas were first seen in +England in Johnson’s the herbalist’s shop in Snow Hill. At a much later +date--early in last century--the fuchsia was made known for the first +time to Lee, a celebrated gardener, who saw a pot of this attractive +plant in the window of a house in Wapping, where a sailor had brought +it as a present to his wife. So attached to it was she, that she only +parted with it when a sum of eight guineas was offered, besides two of +the young rooted cuttings. London can claim so many flowers, it would +be tedious to enumerate them all. The first cedars in this country grew +in the Chelsea Physic Garden, some of the first orchids at Loddige’s +Garden in Hackney, and many things have emanated from Veitch’s Nursery, +or the Botanical Gardens in Regent’s Park, or the gardens which used +to belong to the Royal Horticultural Society in South Kensington. The +chrysanthemum in early days flourished in Stoke Newington, and one of +the very first results of cross-fertilisation, which now forms the +chief part of scientific garden work, was accomplished by Fairchild, a +famous nurseryman at Hoxton, who died in 1730. + +This same Thomas Fairchild left a bequest for a sermon, to be +preached annually on Whit Tuesday, at St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch, +on “the Wonderful Works of God in the Creation,” which is still +delivered, often by most excellent preachers, but to a sadly small +and unappreciative congregation. Every opportunity ought to be taken +to awaken the interest in these wonders of creation in the vegetable +kingdom, and so much might be done in London Parks. They are too +frequently merely places of recreation, and until recently but little +has been attempted to arouse enthusiasm for the beauties of nature, +and to make them instructive as well as attractive. Even in the +crowded heart of London a great deal could be effected, and it is a +satisfaction to feel that attention is being drawn to the subject and +an effort being made in the right direction. In the summer of 1906 a +“Country in Town Exhibition” was held in Whitechapel. This novel idea +was so successful, and met with such appreciation, that 33,250 people +visited the exhibition during the fortnight it was open, besides the +hundreds that collected to see H.R.H. Princess Christian perform the +opening ceremony. The available space of the Whitechapel Art Gallery +was filled with plants that would thrive in London; the Office of +Works arranged a demonstration of potting; bees at work, aquaria, +specimens dried by children or drawn in the schools, growing specimens +of British plants, such as the dainty bee-orchis, plants and window +boxes grown in the district, and such-like, made up the exhibits. +Lectures were organised on plant life and nature in London which were +largely attended. A series of drawings and plans of the Mile End Road +and Shadwell, as they are, and as they might be, were prepared, and +the cost of such transformations was worked out. These were exhibited +in the hopes of awakening the interest of the Corporation who owns +the site of the disused market in Shadwell, and of causing more to be +done in the Mile End Road. It appears that with a comparatively small +expenditure and ultimate loss, these plans could be realised, and the +physical and moral conditions of the whole neighbourhood improved. + +Every year it is further to get into the country from the centres +of population, and the necessity of improving existing open spaces +becomes all the greater. By improving it is not meant to suggest that +what are sometimes called improvements should be carried out; grander +band-stands, handsome railings, more asphalt paths or stiff concrete +ponds. No, it is only more intelligent planting, grouping for artistic +effect, and arranging to demonstrate the wonders of nature in spaces +already in existence, and to suggest what could be done to cheer and +brighten the dark spots of the city. + +The country round London has always been a good district for wild +flowers; the varied soils, aspects, and levels all go to make it +a propitious spot for botanising. Many places now covered with +streets were a few generations ago a mass of wild flowers. The older +herbalists--Gerard, Johnson, and their friends--used to search the +neighbourhood of London for floral treasures, and incidentally in +their works the names of these friends, such as Mr. James Clarke and +Mr. Thomas Smith, “Apothecaries of London,” and their “search for rare +plants” are mentioned. Gerard was constantly on the watch, and records +plants seen in the quaintest places, such as the water-radish, which +he says grew “in the joints or chincks amongst mortar of a stone wall +that bordereth upon the river Thames by the Savoy in London, which yee +cannot finde but when the tide is much spent.” Pennyroyal “was found +on the common near London called Miles ende,” “from whence poore women +bring plentie to sell in London markets.” The rare adders-tongue and +great wild valerian grew in damp meadows, the fields abounded with all +the more common wild flowers, and such choice things as the pretty +little “ladies’ tresses,” grew on the common near Stepney, while +butcher’s broom, cow wheat, golden rod, butterfly orchis, lilies of the +valley and royal fern, wortleberries and bilberries covered the heaths +and woods of Hampstead and Highgate. Many another flower is recorded by +Gerard, who must have had a keen and observant eye which could spot a +rare water-plant in a ditch while attending an execution at Tyburn! yet +he meekly excuses his want of knowledge of where a particular hawkweed +grew, saying, “I meane, God willing, better to observe heerafter, as +oportunitie shall serve me.” That power of observation is a gift to +be fostered and encouraged, and were that achieved by education in +Council Schools, a great success would have been scored, and probably +it would be more fruitful in the child’s after life than the scattered +crumbs from countless subjects with which the brain is bewildered. +The wild flowers could still be enticed within the County of London, +and species, which used to make their homes within its area, might be +induced at least to visit some corners of its parks. The more dingy +the homes of children are, the more necessary it must be to bring what +is simple, pure, and elevating to their minds, and modern systems +of teaching are realising this. If public gardens can be brought to +lend their aid in the actual training, as well as being a playground, +they will serve a twofold purpose. An old writer quaintly puts this +influence of plant life. “Flowers through their beautie, varietie of +colour and exquisite forme, do bring to a liberall and gentle manly +mind, the remembrance of honestie, comelinesse, and all kindes of +vertues. For it would be an unseemly and filthie thing, as a certain +wise man saith, for him that doth looke upon and handle faire and +beautifull things, and who frequenteth and is conversant in faire and +beautifull places, to have his mind not faire but filthie and deformed.” + +It is not possible for all London children to get into the country +now that it is further away, so the more of nature, as well as true +artistic gardening, they can be shown in the parks the better. It used +in olden days to be the custom, among other May Day revels, to go out +to the country round London and enjoy the early spring as the Arabs do +at the present time, when they have the fête of “Shem-en-Nazim,” or +“Smelling the Spring.” “On May day in the morning, every man, except +impediment, would walk into the Sweet Meddowes and green woods, there +to rejoyce their spirits with the beauty and Savour of sweet Flowers, +and with the harmonie of Birdes, praising God in their kinde.”[6] It +would surprise many people to learn how many birds still sing their +praises within the parks of London, although the meadows and other +delights have vanished. This serves to encourage the optimist in +believing in the future possibilities of London Parks. + +There is no “park system” in England as in the United States of +America, where each town provides, in addition to its regular lines of +streets, and its main thoroughfares leading straight from the centre +to the more suburban parts, a complete system of parks. The more +old-fashioned town of Boston was behind the rest, although it contained +a few charming public gardens in the heart of the town. Of late years +large tracts of low-lying waste grounds have been filled up, and one +piece connected with another, until it, too, rejoices in a complete +“park system.” Chicago, Pittsburgh, and all these modern towns of +rapid growth possess a well-ordered “park system.” The conditions, the +natural aspect of the country, and the climate are so unlike our own +that no comparison is fair. Like everything else in the United States, +they are on a large scale, and while there is much to admire, and +something to learn, there is very little in the points in which they +differ from us that could be imitated. London parks and open spaces, +taken as a whole, are unrivalled. The history and associations which +cluster round each and all of them, would fill volumes if recorded +facts were adhered to; and if the imagination were allowed to run riot +within the range of possibility, there would be no limit. Things which +have grown gradually as circumstances changed can have no system. Their +variety and irregularity is their charm, and no description of either +the parks, gardens, or open spaces of London can be given as a whole. +Each has its own associations, its own history, and to glance at some +of London’s bright spots and tell their stories will be the endeavour +of these pages. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +HYDE PARK + + _The Park shone brighter than the skyes, + Sing tan-tara-rara-tantivee, + With jewels and gold, and Ladies’ eyes, + That sparkled and cry’d come see me: + Of all parts of England, Hide Park hath the name, + For coaches and Horses and Persons of fame, + It looked at first sight, like a field full of flame, + Which made me ride up tan-tivee._ + + --NEWS FROM HIDE PARK, an old ballad, _c._ 1670. + + +In writing about London Parks the obvious starting-point seems to +be the group comprising Hyde, Green, and St. James’s Parks, which +are so intimately connected with London life to-day, and have a past +teeming with interest. What changes some of those elms have witnessed! +Generation after generation of the world of fashion have passed beneath +their shades. Dainty ladies with powder and patches have smiled at +their beaux, perhaps concealing aching hearts by a light and careless +gaiety. Stately coaches and prancing horsemen have passed along. Crowds +of enthusiasts for various causes have aired their grievances on the +green turf. Brilliant reviews and endless parades have taken place +on the wide open spaces; games and races have amused thousands of +spectators. In still earlier times there was many a day’s good sport +after the deer, or many a busy hour’s ploughing the abbey lands of +the then Manor of Hyde. Scene after scene can be pictured down to the +present time, when, after centuries of change, the enjoyment of these +Parks remains perhaps one of the most treasured privileges of the +Londoner. + +In tracing the history of their various phases, the survival of many +features is as remarkable as the disappearance of others. The present +limits on the north and east, Bayswater Road and Park Lane, have +suffered no substantial alteration since the roads were known as the +Via Trimobantina and the Watling Street in Roman times. The Watling +Street divided, and one section followed the course of the present +Oxford Street to the City; the other, passing down the line of Park +Lane, crossed St. James’s Park, and so to the ford over the Thames at +Westminster. The Park was never common or waste land, but must have +been cleared and cultivated in very early times. In Domesday Survey +the Manor was in plough and pasture land, with various “villains” and +peasants living on it. The Thames was the southern boundary of the +Manor of “Eia,” which was divided into three parts, one being Hyde, the +site of the existing Hyde Park, the other two Ebury and Neate. Although +now forgotten, the latter name was familiar for many centuries. When +owned by the Abbots of Westminster, the Manor House by the riverside +was of some importance, and John of Gaunt stayed there. Famous +nurseries and a tea garden, “the Neate houses,” marked the spot in the +eighteenth century. + +Until the stormy days of the Reformation these lands remained much +the same. Owned by the Abbey of Westminster, they were probably well +cultivated by their tenants, and doubtless the game with which they +abounded from early times afforded the Abbot some pleasant days’ sport +and tasty meals. The first time any of the Manor became part of the +royal demesne, was when the Abbot Islip exchanged 100 acres of what +is now St. James’s Park, adjoining the royal lands, for Poughley in +Berkshire, with Henry VIII. in 1531–2. This Abbot, who had an ingenious +device to represent his name--a human eye and a cutting or “slip” of a +tree--died in the Manor House of Neate or Neyte the same year. He gave +up the lands from Charing Cross “unto the Hospital of St. James in the +fields” (now St. James’s Palace), and the meadows between the Hospital +and Westminster. Five years later, when the upheaval of the dissolution +of the monasteries was taking place, the monks of Westminster were +forced to take the lands of the Priory of Hurley--one of their own +cells just dissolved--in exchange for the rest of the manor. Henry +VIII., who loved sport, found these lands first-rate hunting-ground. +From his palace at Westminster, through Hyde Park, right away to +Hampstead, he had an almost uninterrupted stretch of country, where +hares and herons, pheasants and partridges, could be pursued and +preserved “for his own disport and pastime.” Hyde Park was enclosed, or +“substancially empayled,” as an old writer states, and a large herd of +deer kept there, and various proclamations show that the right of sport +had to be jealously guarded. + +What a gay scene must Hyde Park have often witnessed in Elizabeth’s +reign. The Queen, when not actually joining in the chase, watched +the proceedings from the hunting pavilion, or “princelye standes +therein,” and feasted the guests in the banqueting-house. There were +brilliantly caparisoned horses, men and women in costly velvets and +brocades, stiff frills, plumed hats and embroidered gloves. Picture the +_cortège_ entering by the old lodge, where now is Hyde Park Corner, the +honoured guest, for whom the day’s sport was inaugurated--such as John +Casimir, son of the Elector Palatine, who showed his skill by killing a +particular deer out of a herd of 300--surrounded by some of his foreign +attendants, and escorted by all the court gallants of the day. + +The Park must then have been as wild as the New or Sherwood Forests of +to-day. The tall trees, with their sturdy stems, were then untouched by +smoky air, the sylvan glades and pasture lands had no distant vistas +of houses and chimneys to spoil their rural aspect, while far off the +pile of the buildings of Westminster Abbey--without the conspicuous +towers, which were not finished till 1714--might be seen rising beyond +the swamps and fens of St. James’s Park. Hyde Park on a May evening +even now is still beautiful, if looked at from the eastern side across +a golden mist, against which the dark trees stand up mysteriously, when +a glow of sunset light seems to transform even ragged little Cockney +children into fairies. It wants but little imagination to see that same +golden haze peopled with huntsmen, and to hear the sound of the horn +instead of the roar of carriages. + +The next scene which can be brought vividly before the mind’s eye is +very different from the last pageant. These are troublous times. The +monarch and his courtiers are occupied in far other pursuits than +hunting deer. Charles I. was fighting in the vain endeavour to keep his +throne, and Londoners were preparing to defend the city. Hyde Park and +Green Park became the theatre of warlike operations. Forts were raised +and trenches were dug. Two small forts, one on Constitution Hill and +one near the present Mount Street in Hyde Park, were made, but the more +important were those on the present sites of the Marble Arch and of +Hamilton Place. The energy displayed on the occasion is described by +Butler in “Hudibras,” and the part taken by women in the work. Like the +“sans culottes” of the French Revolution, they helped with their own +hands. + + “Women, who were our first apostles, + Without whose aid w’ had all been lost else; + + * * * * * + + March’d rank and file, with drum and ensign, + T’ entrench the city for defence in; + Rais’d rampires with their own soft hands, + To put the enemy to stands; + From ladies down to oyster-wenches + Labour’d like pioneers in trenches, + Fell to their pickaxes and tools, + And helped the men to dig like moles.” + + --BUTLER’S “_Hudibras_.” + +The picture of their sombre garments, neat-fitting caps, and severe +faces, the close-cropped hair and stern looks of the men, working with +business-like determination, stands out a striking contrast to the gay +colours and cheerful looks of the company engaged in the chase. + +The darker trees and sheltered corners of Hyde Park afforded covert +for the wary “Roundhead” to lie in ambush for the imprudent Loyalist +carrying letters to the King. On more than one occasion the success was +on his side, and the bearer of news to his royal master was waylaid, +and the papers secured. The culminating scene of this period must +have been when Fairfax and the Parliamentary army marched through Hyde +Park in 1647, and were met by the solemn procession of the Mayor and +Sheriffs of the City of London. + +Dismal days for the Parks followed. Although the Parks had been +declared the property of the Commonwealth, it was from no wish to +use them for sport or recreation. During the latter years of Charles +the First’s reign Hyde Park had become somewhat of a fashionable +resort. People came to enjoy the air and meet their friends, and it +was less exclusively reserved for hunting. Races took place, both +foot and horse; crowds collected to witness them, and ladies, with +their attendant cavaliers, drove there in coaches, and refreshed +themselves at the “Cake House” with syllabubs. This latter was the +favourite drink, made of milk or cream whipped up with sugar and +wine or cider. But the Puritan spirit, which was rapidly asserting +itself, soon interfered with such harmless amusements. In 1645 the +Parks were ordered to be shut on the Lord’s Day, also on fast and +thanksgiving days. In 1649 the Parks, together with Windsor, Hampton +Court, Greenwich, and Richmond, were declared to be the property of +the Commonwealth, and thrown open to the public. But this did not lead +to greater public enjoyment of Hyde Park. Far from it, for only three +years later it was put up to auction in three lots. The first lot was +the part bounded on one side by the present Bayswater Road, and is +described as well wooded; the second, the Kensington side, was chiefly +pasture; the third, another well-wooded division, included the lodge +and banqueting-house and the Ring where the races took place. This part +was valued at more than double the two others, and was purchased by +Anthony Dean, a ship-builder, for £9020, 8s. 2d. This business-like +gentleman presumably reserved the use of the timber for his ships, +and let out the pasture. His tenant proceeded to make as much as he +could, and levied a toll on all carriages coming into the Park. On some +occasions he extorted 2s. 6d. from each coach. In 1653 John Evelyn in +his diary complains on April 11 that he “went to take the aire in Hide +Park, when every coach was made to pay a shilling, and every horse +sixpence, by the sordid fellow who had purchas’d it of the State, as +they were call’d.” Cromwell himself was fond of riding in the Park, and +crowds thronged him as he galloped round the Ring. More than one plot +was made against the life of Cromwell, and the Park was considered a +likely place in which to succeed. On one occasion the would-be assassin +joined the crowd, which pursued the Protector during his ride, ready, +if at any moment he galloped beyond the people, to dash at him with +a fatal blow. The plotter had carefully filed the Park gate off its +hinges so as to make good his own escape. It is a curious fact that +Cromwell more nearly met his death in Hyde Park by accident than by +design. He was presented with some fine grey Friesland horses, by the +Duke of Holstein, and insisted on driving the spirited animals himself. +They bolted, he was thrown from the box, and his pistol went off in his +pocket, “though without any hurt to himself”! + +The Ring, where all these performances took place, was situated to the +north-east of where the Humane Society’s house, built in 1834, now +stands, near the Serpentine. There are a few remains of very large +elm trees still to be seen, which probably shaded some of the company +assembled to watch the coaches driving round and round the Ring, or +cheer the winner of a hotly-contested race. Even during the sombre +days of the Commonwealth sports took place in the Park, but with the +Restoration it became much more the resort of all the fashionable +world and the scene of many more amusements. The parks were still in +those days for the Court and the wealthy or well-to-do citizens only. +Probably to many of the rabble and poorer Londoners the nearest view +obtained of Hyde Park would be the tall trees within its fence or +wall, which formed a background to the revolting but most engrossing +of popular sights, the horrors of the gallows at Tyburn. The idea of +giving parks as recreation grounds for the poor is such a novel one +that no old writer would think of noticing their absence in an age when +bull-baiting and cock fights were their highest form of amusement. + +The Ring was an enclosure with a railing round it and a wide road. It +is described as “a ring railed in, round w^{ch} a gravel way, yt would +admitt of twelve if not more rowes of Coaches, w^{ch} the Gentry to +take the aire and see each other Comes and drives round and round; one +row going Contrary to each other affords a pleaseing diversion.” + +The gay companies who assembled to drive round and round the Ring, or +watch races, sometimes met with unusual excitement. On one occasion +Hind, a famous highwayman, for a wager rode into the Ring and robbed a +coach of a bag of money. He was hotly pursued across the Park, but made +his escape, “riding by St. James’s,” which then, and until a much later +date, was a sanctuary, and no one except a traitor could be arrested +within it. So narrow an escape from justice did he have that he is said +to have exclaimed, “I never earned £100 so dear in all my life!” + +Numberless entries in Pepys’ Diary describe visits to Hyde Park. His +drives there in fine and wet weather, the company he met, whether his +wife looked well or was in a good or ill temper, and the latest gossip +the outing afforded, are all noted. Many times he regrets not having a +coach of his own, and does not conceal the feelings of wounded pride +it occasioned. Once he naïvely explains that having taken his wife and +a friend to the Park “in a hackney,” and they not in smart clothes, +he “was ashamed to go into the tour [Ring], but went round the Park, +and so, with pleasure, home.” His delight when he possessed a coach is +unbounded. He made frequent visits to the coach-builder, and watched +the final coat of varnish to “make it more and more yellow,” and at +last on May Day, 1669, he describes his first appearance in his own +carriage: “At noon home to dinner, and there find my wife extraordinary +fine with her flowered tabby gown that she made two years ago, now +laced exceeding pretty, and indeed was fine all over, and mighty +earnest to go; though the day was very lowering; and she would have me +put on my fine suit, which I did. And so anon, we went alone through +the town with our new liveries of serge and the horses’ manes and tails +tied with red ribbons, and the standards gilt with varnish, and all +clean, and green reines, that people did mightily look upon us; and +the truth is I did not see any coach more pretty, though more gay than +ours, all that day ... the day being unpleasing though the Park full +of Coaches, but dusty, and windy, and cold, and now and then a little +dribbling of rain; and what made it worse, there were so many hackney +coaches as spoiled the sight of the gentlemen’s, and so we had little +pleasure. But here was Mr. Batelier and his sister in a borrowed coach +by themselves, and I took them and we to the lodge: and at the door +did give them a syllabub and other things, cost me 12s. and pretty +merry.” + +What an amusing picture, not only of Hyde Park in 1669 but of human +nature of all time!--the start, the pride and delight with their +new acquisition, the little annoyances, the marred pleasures, the +ungenerous dislike of the less fortunate who could not afford coaches +of their own, whose ranks he had swelled the very last drive he had +taken. Then the little kindness and the refreshment, so that the story +ends merrily. + +The “Lodge” is but another name for the “Cheese-cake House” or “Cake +House,” or as it was sometimes called from the proprietor, the Gunter +of those days, “Price’s Lodge.” This house, which was a picturesque +feature, stood near the Ring, on the site of the present building +of the Humane Society, and must have been the scene of many amusing +incidents in the lives of those who graced the Ring, in the seventeenth +and eighteenth centuries. A little stream ran in front of it, and the +door was approached over planks. White with beams of timber, latticed +windows, and gabled roof, a few flowers clustering near, with the +water flowing by its walls, the old house gave a special charm and +rural flavour to the tarts and cheesecakes and syllabub with which the +company regaled themselves. + +The gay sights and sounds in Hyde Park were silenced during those +terrible weeks, when the Great Plague spread death and destruction +through London. As the summer advanced, and the havoc became more +and more appalling, many of the soldiers quartered in the city, were +marched out to encamp in Hyde Park. At first it seemed as if they would +escape the deadly scourge, but the men were not accustomed to the +rough quarters, and soon succumbed. + + “Our men (ere long) began to droop and quail, + Our lodgings cold, and some not us’d thereto, + Fell sick, and dy’d, and made us more adoe. + At length the Plague amongst us ’gan to spread, + When ev’ry morning some were found stark dead; + Down to another field the sick we t’ane, + But few went down that e’er came up again.” + +Thus all through the autumn of that terrible year the Park was one of +the fields of battle against the relentless foe. The contemporary poet, +whose lines have been quoted, describes the return of the few saddened +survivors to the “doleful” city. They had lingered through the cold and +wet until December, and surely the Park has no passage in its history +more piteous and depressing than the advent of those frightened men who +came with “heavy hearts,” “fearing the Almighty’s arrows,” only to be +overtaken by the terror in their plague-stricken camp. + +Hyde Park has witnessed other gloomy pictures from time to time. +Although the colouring of fashion and romance has endeavoured to +make these incidents less repulsive, duels cannot be otherwise than +distressing to the modern sense. For generations Hyde Park was a +favourite place in which to settle affairs of honour. The usual +spot is described by Fielding in “Amelia.” The combatants walked up +Constitution Hill and into Hyde Park “to that place which may properly +be called the Field of Blood, being that part a little to the left of +the Ring, which Heroes have chosen for the scene of their exit out of +this World.” One of the most famous duels was that fought between Lord +Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton on November 15, 1712, which resulted +in the death of both the combatants--the Duke, whose loss was a great +blow to the Jacobite cause in Scotland, and the Whig opponent. All +through the eighteenth century Hyde Park was frequently the place in +which disputes were settled, and one of the last duels recorded, which +resulted in the death of Captain Macnamara (his antagonist, Colonel +Montgomery, being tried for manslaughter, but acquitted), although +fought on Primrose Hill, originated in Hyde Park. The cause of quarrel +was that the dogs of these two gentlemen fought while out with them in +the Park, whereupon the respective masters used such abusive language +to each other that the affair had to be settled by a duel. + +Military displays, for which Hyde Park is still famous, have taken +place there from early times. The works of defence were thrown up, +and Fairfax and the Parliamentary army arrived there in the times of +civil strife, but soon after the Restoration Charles II. had a peaceful +demonstration, and there reviewed his Life Guards. Again, in September +1668, there was a more brilliant review, when the Duke of Monmouth took +command of the Life Guards, and the King and Duke of York were both +present. Pepys was there, and wrote, “It was mighty noble, and their +firing mighty fine, and the Duke of Monmouth in mighty rich clothes; +but the well ordering of the men I understand not.” + +When, in 1715, the fear of a general Jacobite rising induced the Whigs +to take serious precautions, Hyde Park became a camp from July till +November. During a similar scare in 1722 troops were again quartered +there, and the camp became the centre of popular attraction; gaiety +and frivolity were the order of the day, rather than business or +watchfulness. The Park was also used as a camp for six regiments of +militia at the time of the Gordon Riots in 1780. All through George +III.’s long reign reviews were frequent, and one of the most popular +was that held by the Prince Regent before the allied sovereigns, the +Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia, in June 1814. Blücher was the +popular hero on the occasion, and when he afterwards appeared in the +Park he was so mobbed by the crowd, enthusiastic to see something of +“Forwärts,” as he was familiarly named, that he had to defend himself +against their rough treatment. + +When the Park was again in the King’s hands after the Restoration, +a Keeper was once more appointed, who was responsible for its +maintenance. From the time of Henry VIII. various well-known people had +filled the office of Keeper. The first in Henry VIII.’s time was George +Roper, succeeded in 1553 by Francis Nevill, and in 1574 by Henry Carey, +first Lord Hunsdon, while in 1607 Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, was +appointed, and Sir Walter Cope held the office conjointly with him +from 1610. The name of the first Keeper after the Restoration, James +Hamilton, is well remembered by the site of his house and ground, +which are still known as Hamilton Place and Gardens. He was allowed to +enclose 55 acres of park, and to use it as an orchard on the condition +that he sent a certain quantity of the cider produced from it to the +King. In his time a brick wall was built round the Park, and it was +re-stocked with deer. The wall was rebuilt in 1726, and not replaced by +railings until a hundred years later. These iron railings were pulled +down by the mob in 1866, after which the present ones were set up. +The deer, which formerly ranged all over the Park, were in course of +time confined to a small area on the north-west side, called Buckdean +Hill. They were kept for sport during the first half of the eighteenth +century, and the last time royalty took part in killing deer in the +Park was probably in 1768. The exact date of the disappearance of all +the deer is difficult to ascertain. They are remembered by some who saw +them towards the end of the thirties, but by 1840 or soon after they +were done away with. + +The roads in Hyde Park must have been rather like South African tracks +at the present day, and driving at night was not free from danger +even at a comparatively late date. Attacks from highwaymen were to be +feared. Horace Walpole was robbed in November 1749, and the pistol shot +was near enough to stun though not otherwise to injure him. The Duke +of Grafton had his collar bone broken, and his coachman his leg, some +ten years earlier, when, on his way from Kensington to “the New Gate +to make some visits towards Grosvenor Square, the Chariot through the +darkness of the Night was overset in driving along the Road and” fell +“into a large deep pit.” + +Soon after William III. purchased Kensington Palace from the Earl of +Nottingham in 1691, he commenced making a new road through the Park. +This became known as the King’s Road, or “Route du Roi”: a corruption +of the latter is Rotten Row, the name now given to King William’s +Drive. In the eighteenth century it was called the King’s Old Road, and +the one which George II. made to the south of it was called the King’s +New Road. When this was finished in 1737, it was intended to turf the +older “Rotten Row,” but this plan was never carried out. The old road +was much thought of at the time it was made, and the lighting of it up +at night with 300 lamps caused wonder to all beholders. + +A young lady, Celia Fiennes, describes the road in her diary about +1695. “Y^e whole length of this parke there is a high Causey of a good +breadth, 3 Coaches may pass, and on each side are Rowes of posts on +w^{ch} are glasses--Cases for Lamps w^{ch} are Lighted in y^e Evening +and appeares very fine as well as safe for y^e passenger. This is +only a private roade y^e King had w^{ch} reaches to Kensington, where +for aire our Great King W^{m.} bought a house and filled it for a +Retirement w^{th} pretty gardens.” + +The road was in bad repair before the new one was in good order, and +Lord Hervey, writing in 1736, says it had grown “so infamously bad” as +to form “a great impassable gulf of mud” between London and Kensington +Palace. “There are two ways through the Park, but the new one is so +convex, and the old one is so concave, that by this extreme of faults +they agree in the common of being, like the high road, impassable.” + +One of the most striking features of Hyde Park to-day is the long sheet +of water known as the “Serpentine,” but this was a comparatively late +addition to the attractions of the Park. From earliest times there was +water. The deer came down to drink at pools supplied by fresh springs. +The stream of the West Bourne flowed across the Park from north to +south, leaving it near the present Albert Gate. Near there it was +spanned by a bridge, from which the hamlet of Knightsbridge derived its +name. The water in the Park was used to supply the West End of London +as houses began to be built further from the City, and Chelsea was also +supplied from it. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster had a right to +the use of the water from the springs in the Park, and the history of +their privilege is recorded on a stone which stands above “the Dell” +on the north-east of the bridge across the end of the Serpentine. The +inscription states that a supply of water by a conduit was granted +to the Abbey of Westminster by Edward the Confessor, and the further +history of the lands, which passed into Henry VIII.’s hands at a time +when all church property was in peril of seizure, is neatly glossed +over as the “manor was resumed by the Crown in 1536.” The use of the +springs, however, was retained by the Abbey, and confirmed to them by +a charter of Elizabeth in 1560. Later on the privilege was withdrawn, +and in 1663 the Chelsea Waterworks were granted the use of all the +streams and springs of Hyde Park. They made in 1725 a reservoir on the +east side of the Park, opposite Mount Street. The sunk garden, with +the Dolphin Fountain, the statue in Carrara marble, and the basin of +Sicilian marble, by A. Munro, was made in 1861 on the site of this +reservoir, which was abandoned two years earlier. It has been stated +that this sunk garden was a remnant of the forts of Cromwell’s time, +one small one having been near here, but the history of the Chelsea +Waterworks reservoir must have been unknown to those who believed the +tradition. It contained a million and a half gallons of water, and +was protected by a wall and railings, as suicides were once said to +have been frequent. When the Serpentine was made by Queen Caroline, +considerable compensation had to be paid to the Waterworks Company. + +[Illustration: DOLPHIN FOUNTAIN, HYDE PARK] + +In this age of experiments in plant growing, when American writers glow +with enthusiasm on the wonders of the “New Earth,” and when science +has transformed the dullest operations of farming and gardening +into fields for enterprise and treasuries of possible discoveries, +it is humiliating to find the water in Hyde Park being used for like +experiments as long ago as 1691–92. Stephen Switzer, a gardener, +who would have been described by his contemporaries as a “lover of +ingenuities,” was fond of indulging in speculations, and studied +the effect of water on plants. He quotes a series of experiments +made by Dr. Woodward on growing plants entirely in water, or with +certain mixtures. For fifty-two days during the summer of 1692 he +carefully watched some plants of spearmint, which were all “the most +kindly, fresh, sprightly Shoots I could chuse,” and were set in water +previously weighed. For this trial he selected “Hyde Park Conduit +water”--one pure, another had an ounce and a half of common garden +earth added to it, a third was given an equal quantity of garden mould, +and a fourth was kept on “Hyde Park water distilled.” The results in +growth, and the quantity of water absorbed, were carefully noted at the +end of the time. + +[Illustration: DOLPHIN FOUNTAIN IN HYDE PARK] + +When Queen Caroline conceived the idea of throwing the ponds in Hyde +Park into one, and making a sheet of water, the school of “natural” or +“landscape” gardening was becoming the rage. Bridgeman, a well-known +garden designer, who had charge of the royal gardens, has the credit +of having invented the “ha-ha” or sunk fence, and thus led the way for +merging gardens into parks. Kent, who followed him, went still further. +He, Horace Walpole said, “leaped the fence, and saw that all Nature was +a garden.” The fashions in garden design soon change, and the work of +a former generation is quickly obliterated. William III. brought with +him the fashion of Dutch gardening, and laid out Kensington Gardens in +that style. Switzer, writing twenty-five years later, says the fault of +the Dutch gardeners was “the Pleasure Gardens being stuffed too thick +with Box”; they “used it to a fault, especially in England, where we +abound in so much good Grass and Gravel.” London and Wise, very famous +nursery gardeners, who made considerable changes at Hampton Court, +and laid out the grounds of half the country seats in England, had +charge of Kensington Palace Gardens, and housed the “tender greens” +during the winter in their nurseries hard by. These celebrated Brompton +nurseries were so vast that the Kensington plants took up “but little +room in comparison with” those belonging to the firm. Queen Mary took +great interest in the new gardens. “This active Princess lost no time, +but was either measuring, directing, or ordering her Buildings, but +in Gard’ning, especially Exoticks, she was particularly skill’d, and +allowed Dr. Pluknet £200 per ann. for his Assistance therein.” After +his queen’s death William III. did no more to the gardens, but they +were completed by Queen Anne. She appointed Wise to the chief care +of the gardens, and when in 1712 rules for the “better keeping Hyde +Park in good Order” were drawn up, and people were forbidden to leap +the fences or ditches, or to ride over the grass, a special exception +was made in favour of Henry Wise. Switzer, in tracing the history of +gardening to his day (1715), praises the “late pious Queen, whose love +to Gardening was not a little,” for “Rooting up the _Box_, and giving +an _English_ Model to the old-made Gardens at _Kensington_; and in 1704 +made that new garden behind the Green-House, that is esteemed amongst +the most valuable Pieces of Work that has been done any where.... +The place where that beautiful Hollow now is, was a large irregular +Gravel-pit, which, according to several Designs given in, was to +have been filled, but that Mr. Wise prevailed, and has given it that +surprizing Model it now appears in. As great a Piece of Work as that +whole Ground is, ’twas near all completed in one Season, (viz.) between +Michaelmas and Lady Day, which demonstrates to what a pitch Gard’ning +is arrived within these twenty or thirty years.” + +When William III. purchased Kensington Palace, the grounds covered less +than thirty acres. Under the management of Wise, in Queen Anne’s time, +more was added, and the Orangery was built in 1705. Few people know the +charms of this old building, which stands to the north of the original +garden, and which future alterations may once more bring more into +sight. As the taste for gardening changed from the shut-in gardens of +the Dutch style to the more extended plans of Wise, the garden grew +in size. Again, when Bridgeman was gardener, Queen Caroline, wife of +George II., wished to emulate the splendour of Versailles, and 300 +acres were taken from Hyde Park to add to the Palace Garden. Bridgeman +made the sunk fence which is still the division between Kensington +Gardens and the Park; and with the earth which was taken out a mount +was made, on which a summer-house was erected. This stood nearly +opposite the present end of Rotten Row, and though it has long since +ceased to exist, the gate into the Gardens is still known as the Mount +Gate. Kent, who succeeded Bridgeman, continued the planting of the +avenues and laying out of the Gardens, and the greater part of his +work still remains. The Gardens were reduced in size when the road was +made from Kensington to Bayswater, and the houses along it built about +seventy years ago, and the exact size is now 274 acres. Queen Caroline +would have liked to take still more of the Parks for her private use; +but when she hinted as much to Walpole, and asked the cost, he voiced +public opinion when he replied, “Three crowns.” + +[Illustration: FOUNTAINS AT THE END OF THE SERPENTINE] + +The fashion of making sheets of artificial water with curves and +twists, instead of a straight, canal-like shape, was just taking the +public fancy, when Queen Caroline began the work of converting the +rather marshy ponds in Hyde Park into a “Serpentine River.” The ponds +were of considerable size, and in James I.’s time there were as many +as eleven large and small. Celia Fiennes, the young lady who kept a +diary in the time of William and Mary, which has been already quoted, +after describing the Ring, says, “The rest of the park is green, and +full of deer; there are large ponds with fish and fowle.” The work +of draining the ponds and forming a river was begun in October 1730, +under the direction of Charles Withers, Surveyor-General of the Woods +and Forests. The cost of the large undertaking was supposed to come +out of the Queen’s privy purse, and it was not until after her death +that it was found that Walpole had supplemented it out of the public +funds. The West Bourne supplied the new river with sufficient water +for some hundred years, after which new arrangements had to be made, +as the stream had become too foul. The water supply now comes from two +sources--one a well 400 feet deep at the west end of the Serpentine, +where the formal fountains and basins were made, about 1861, in front +of the building of Italian design covering the well. The sculptured +vases and balustrade with sea-horses are by John Thomas. The water +in the well stands 172 feet below the ground level, and the depth +is continually increasing. It is pumped up to the “Round Pond,” and +descends by gravity. The second supply comes from a well 28 feet deep +in the gravel on “Duck Island,” in St. James’s Park. The water, which +is 19 feet below the surface, remains constant, that level being the +same as the water-bearing stratum of the Thames valley in London. +It is pumped up to the Serpentine, and returns to the lake in St. +James’s Park, supplying the lake in the gardens of Buckingham Palace +on the way. The deep well provides about 120,000 gallons, and the +shallow about 100,000 a day. The “Round Pond”--which, by the way, is +not round--affords the greatest delight to the owners, of all ages, +of miniature yachts of all sizes. There are the large boats with +skilful masters, which sail triumphantly across the placid waters, and +there are the small craft that spend days on the weeds, or founder +amid “waves that run inches high,” like the good steamship _Puffin_ +in Anstey’s amusing poem. When the weeds are cut twice every summer, +many pathetic little wrecks are raised to the surface, perchance to be +restored to the expectant owners. + +Skating was an amusement in Hyde Park even before the Serpentine +existed, and the older ponds often presented a gay scene in winter, +although it was on the canal in St. James’s Park that the use of the +modern skate is first recorded in Charles II.’s time. + +During the last hundred years Hyde Park has frequently been disturbed +by mobs and rioters, until it has become the recognised place in which +to air popular discontent in any form, or to ventilate any grievance. +The first serious riot took place at the funeral of Queen Caroline, in +1821. To avoid any popular demonstration of feeling, it was arranged +that the funeral procession should not pass through the City. The Queen +had died at Brandenburgh House, and was to be interred at Brunswick. +Instead of going straight by way of Knightsbridge and Piccadilly, a +circuitous route by Kensington, Bayswater, Islington, and Mile End +was planned. On reaching Kensington Church, the mob prevented the +turn towards Bayswater being taken. Hyde Park was thronged with an +excited crowd, trying to force the escort to go the way it wished. +At Cumberland Gate quite a severe encounter took place, in which the +Life Guards twice charged the mob. Further down Oxford Street were +barricades, and to avoid further rioting the procession eventually had +to take the people’s route, passing quietly down to the Strand and +through the City. + +The occasion of the Reform Bill riot in 1831, when the windows were +smashed in Apsley House, is well known, and from 1855 to 1866 Hyde Park +witnessed many turbulent demonstrations. The first occasion was in July +1855 against Lord Robert Grosvenor’s “Sunday Trading Bill,” when some +150,000 people assembled, and various scenes of disturbance took place. +More or less serious riots were of frequent occurrence, until they +culminated in the Reform League riot in July 1866, when the railings +between Marble Arch and Grosvenor Gate “were entirely demolished, and +the flower-beds were ruined.” The flower-beds had not been long in +existence when they were wantonly damaged by the mob. + +[Illustration: AUTUMN BEDS, HYDE PARK] + +The idea of introducing flowers into the Park began about 1860, and the +long rows of beds between Stanhope Gate and Marble Arch were made about +that time, when Mr. Cowper Temple was First Commissioner of Works. +They were made when “bedding out” was at the height of its fashion, +when the one idea was to have large, glaring patches of bright flowers +as dazzling as possible, or minute and intricate patterns carried +out in carpet bedding. Now this plan has been considerably modified. +The process of alteration has been slow, and the differences in some +cases subtle, but the old stiffness and crudeness has been banished +for ever. The harmony of colours, and variety of plants used, are the +principal features in the present bedding out. It seems right that +the Royal Parks should lead the way in originality and beauty, and +undoubted success is frequently achieved, although even the style of +to-day has its opponents. The chief objection from the more practical +gardeners is the putting out of comparatively tender plants in +the summer months, when the same general effect could be got with +a less expenditure both of money and plants. But on the other hand +numbers of people come to study the beds, note the combinations, and +examine the use of certain plants which they would not otherwise have +the opportunity of testing. The public who enjoy the results, and +often those who most severely criticise, do not know the system on +which the gardening is carried out. Many are even ignorant enough to +suppose that the whole bedding out is contracted for, and few know the +hidden recesses of Hyde Park, which produces everything for all the +display, both there and in St. James’s Park. The old place in which all +necessary plants were raised was a series of green-houses and frames +in front of Kensington Palace. The erection of these pits and glass +houses completely destroyed the design of the old garden, although even +now the slope reveals the lines of the old terraces; and they entirely +obscure the beauty of the Orangery. A few years ago three acres in +the centre of Hyde Park were taken, on which to form fresh nurseries. +Gradually better ranges have been built, and soon the old unsightly +frames at Kensington will disappear. The new garden is so completely +hidden that few have discovered its whereabouts. The ground selected +lies to the north-west of the Ranger’s Lodge. There, a series of +glass houses on the most approved plan, and rows of frames, have been +erected. The unemployed have found work by excavating the ground to the +depth of some eight feet, and the gravel taken out has made the wide +walk across the Green Park and the alterations in the “Mall.” A wall +and bank of shrubs and trees so completely hides even the highest house +in which the palms--such as those outside the National Gallery--are +stored, that it is quite invisible from the outside. There are +storehouses for the bulbs, and nurseries where masses of wall-flowers, +delphiniums, and all the hardier bedding plants, and those for the +herbaceous borders, are grown. Of late years the number of beds in +the Park has been considerably reduced, without any diminution of the +effect. In 1903 as many as ninety were done away with between Grosvenor +Gate and Marble Arch. There is now a single row of long beds instead +of three rows with round ones at intervals. But even after all these +reductions the area of flower beds and borders is very considerable, as +the following table will show:-- + + +-----------------------------+----------------+----------------+ + | | Area of Flower | Area of Flower | + | | Beds. | Borders. | + +-----------------------------+----------------+----------------+ + | | Sq. Yds. | Sq. Yds. | + | Hyde Park | 1742 | 2975 | + | Kensington Gardens | 345 | 3564 | + | St. James’s Park | 30 | 2642 | + | Queen Victoria Memorial in | 1270 | ... | + | front of Buckingham Palace | | | + +-----------------------------+----------------+----------------+ + | Total | 3687 | 9181 | + +-----------------------------+----------------+----------------+ + +An event of historic importance which took place in Hyde Park was the +Great Exhibition of 1851. Various sites, such as Battersea, Regent’s +Park, Somerset House, and Leicester Square, were suggested, and the one +chosen met with some opposition, but finally the space between Rotten +Row and Knightsbridge Barracks was decided on. Plans were submitted +for competition, and though 245 were sent in not one satisfied the +committee, so, assisted by three well-known architects, they evolved a +plan of their own. This was to be carried out in brick; the labour of +removing it after the Exhibition would have been stupendous. It was +when this plan was under consideration that Paxton showed his idea for +the building of iron and glass so well known as the Crystal Palace. It +was 1851 feet long and 408 wide, with a projection on the north 936 +feet by 48, and the building covered about 19 acres. + +One stipulation was made before the design was accepted, and that was +that three great elm trees growing on the site should not be removed, +but included in the building. To effect this, some alterations were +made, and the trees were successfully encased in this Crystal Palace, +and the old trunk of one of them is still standing in Hyde Park. There +is a railing round it, but no tablet to record this strange chapter in +its history. Some smaller trees were cut down, which led to a cartoon +in _Punch_ and lines on the Prince Consort, who was the prime mover in +all pertaining to the Great Exhibition. + + “Albert! spare those trees, + Mind where you fix your show; + For mercy’s sake, don’t, please, + Go spoiling Rotten Row.” + +The Exhibition was opened by the Queen on May 1st. The enthusiasm it +created in all sections of the population has known no parallel, and in +the success and excitement the few small elm trees were soon forgotten +by the delighted people, who raised cheers and shouted-- + + “Huzza for the Crystal Palace, + And the world’s great National Fair.” + +Hyde Park never saw more people than during the time it was open from +the 1st of May to the 11th of October, as 6,063,986 persons visited the +Exhibition, an average of 43,000 daily. Its success was phenomenal +also from a financial point of view, as after all expenses were +deducted there was a surplus of £150,000, with which the land from the +Park to South Kensington was purchased, on which the Albert Hall and +museums have been built. + +It seems to have been the complete originality of the whole structure +that captivated all beholders. In his memoirs the eighth Duke of Argyll +refers to the opening as the most beautiful spectacle he had ever seen. +“Merely,” he writes, “as a spectacle of joy and of supreme beauty, +the opening of the Great Exhibition of 1851 stands in my memory as a +thing unapproachable and alone. This supreme beauty was mainly in the +building, not in its contents, nor even in the brilliant and happy +throng that filled it. The sight was a new sensation, as if Fancy had +been suddenly unveiled. Nothing like it had ever been seen before--its +light-someness, its loftiness, its interminable vistas, its aisles and +domes of shining and brilliant colouring.” + +It was with the recollection of this world-famous Exhibition fresh in +men’s minds that the site for the Albert Memorial was chosen. The idea +conceived by Sir Gilbert Scott was the reproduction on a large scale of +a mediæval shrine or reliquary. When it was erected an alteration was +made in some of the avenues in Kensington Gardens, so as to bring one +into line with the Memorial. A fresh avenue of elms and planes straight +to the monument was planted, which joined into the original one, and a +few trees were dotted about to break the old line. As first planned, +the avenue must have commanded a view of Paddington Church steeple in +the vista. + +There is no better refutation of the theory that only plane trees will +live in London, than an examination of the trees in Hyde Park and +Kensington Gardens. An appendix to this volume gives a list of the +trees and shrubs which have been planted there, and notes those which +are not in existence, having proved unsuitable to London, or been +removed from some other cause. Many people will doubtless be surprised +at the length of the list. A large number of the trees are really fine +specimens, and would do credit to any park in the kingdom. Take, for +instance, some of the ash trees. There is a very fine group not very +far from the Mount Gate inside Kensington Gardens. Two specimens with +light feathery foliage, _Fraxinus lentiscifolia_ and _F. excelsior +angustifolia_, when seen like lace against the sky, are remarkably +pretty trees. Not far from them stand a good tulip tree and the last +remaining of the old Scotch firs. The Ailanthus Avenue from the +Serpentine Bridge towards Rotten Row, planted in 1876, is looking most +prosperous. There are a few magnificent ancient sweet chestnuts above +the bastion near the Magazine. The trees planted from time to time have +wisely been grouped together according to species. Near the Ranger’s +Lodge, outside the new frame-ground, some birches grow well, and their +white stems are washed every year. The collection of pavias, which +flower delightfully in the small three-cornered enclosure where the +road divides at the Magazine, are most flourishing. To the south-west +of the fountains at the end of the Serpentine, some very good Turkey +and American oaks are growing into large trees. Several really old +thorns are dotted about. In a walk from the “Round Pond,” by the stone +which marks the boundary of three parishes, towards Bayswater, grand +specimens of oak, ash, lime, elm, sweet and horse-chestnuts are met +with. The avenue of horse-chestnuts is just as flourishing as those +of planes or elms. In fact the whole Park shows how well trees will +succeed if sufficient care is taken of them. One feature of the Park in +old days was the Walnut Avenue, which grew nearly on the lines of the +present trees between Grosvenor Gate and the Achilles Statue. They were +decayed and were cut down in 1811, and the best of the wood was used +for gunstocks for the army. It is a pity no walnut avenue was planted +instead, as by now it would have been a fine shady walk. The old elms, +which are of such great beauty in Hyde Park, have, alas! often to be +sacrificed for the safety of passers-by, so that the recent severe +lopping was necessary. Their great branches are the first to fall in +a gale. Yet when one has to be removed there is an outcry, though +people tamely submit to a whole row of trees being ruined by tram lines +along the Embankment, so inconsistent is public opinion. It is almost +incredible what narrow escapes from destruction even the beauty of Hyde +Park has had. In 1884 a Metropolitan and Parks Railway Bill was before +Parliament, which actually proposed to cross the Park by tunnels and +cuttings which would have completely disfigured “The Dell” and other +parts of the Park. In this utilitarian age nothing is sacred. + +The Dell had not been ten years in its present form when the proposal +was made. The site of the Dell was a receiving lake, about 200 yards +by 70, which had been made in 1734. This was done away with in 1844, +and the overflow of the Serpentine allowed to pass over the artificial +rocks which still remain. It was enveloped in a dark and dirty +shrubbery, the haunt of all the ruffians and the worst characters who +frequented the Park at night. The place was not safe to pass after +dark, neither had it any beauty to recommend it. It was in this state +when the present Lord Redesdale became Secretary of the Office of +Works in 1874. He conceived the idea of turning it into a sub-tropical +garden, designed the banks of the little stream, and introduced +suitable planting, banishing the old shrubs, and merely using the best +to form a background to the spireas, iris, giant coltsfoot, osmundas, +day lilies, and such-like, which adorned the water’s edge in front. The +dark history of the Dell is quite forgotten, and watching the ducks and +rabbits playing about this pretty spot is one of the chief delights of +Hyde Park. + +The monolith which stands near was brought from Liskeard in Cornwall +by Mr. Cowper Temple, when First Commissioner of Works, and set up in +its present place as a drinking-fountain in 1862. In 1887 the water was +cut off it, the railings altered, and the turf laid round it, joining +it on to the rest of the Dell. To Lord Redesdale are due also the +rhododendrons which make such a glorious show on either side of Rotten +Row. He contracted with Messrs. Anthony Waterer for a yearly supply, as +they only look their best for a short time exposed to London air. In +his time, too, many of the small flower-beds which were dotted about +without much rhyme or reason were done away with, and the borders at +the edge of the shrubs substituted. + +The latest addition to Hyde Park is the fountain presented by Sir +Walter Palmer and put up near the end of the “Row” in 1906. The +sculpture and design are the work of Countess Feodore Gleichen. The +graceful figure of Artemis, with bow and arrow, and the supporting +cariatides, are of bronze, the upper basin of Saravezza marble, and the +lower of Tecovertino stone. The whole is most light and elegant, and +shows up well against the dark trees. + +[Illustration: FOUNTAIN BY COUNTESS FEODOR GLEICHEN, HYDE PARK] + +It has only been possible to glance at the history and beauties of +Hyde Park; many more pages could be written without touching on half +of the incidents connected with it, between the days when it was +monastic lands to the days of the modern Sunday “Church Parade.” It +is interesting to trace the origin of the little customs with which +every one is now familiar, but which once were new and original. For +instance, the naming of trees and flowers in the Parks was first done +about 1842, the idea having been suggested by Loudon, and carried out +by Nash the architect, and George Don the botanist. Then the system +of paying a penny for a seat began in 1820, but when some of the free +seats were removed in 1859 there was a great outcry, and they were +immediately put back. Then the meets of the Four-in-hand and Coaching +Clubs, which are quite an institution in Hyde Park, only continue the +tradition of the “Whip Club,” which first met in 1808. The history of +the various gates calls for notice. The Marble Arch, designed by Nash, +with ornaments by Flaxman, Westmacott, and Rossi, in Carrara marble, +was moved from Buckingham Palace to its present position in 1851. +Over £4000 was expended on the removal, while the original sum spent +was £75,000. The statue of George IV. by Chantrey, now in Pall Mall +East, was intended for the top, and cost 9000 guineas, and the bronze +gates are by Samuel Parker. Near that corner of the Park was a stone +where soldiers were shot, and one of the historians of the Park +states that it is still there, only covered over with earth when the +new Cumberland Gate was made in 1822. Apsley Gate at Hyde Park Corner +was designed by Decimus Burton, and put up in 1827, and he planned the +arch forming the entrance to Constitution Hill the following year. The +stags, by Bartolozzi, on Albert Gate, came from the Ranger’s Lodge in +Green Park. Grosvenor Gate was opened about 1724, and Stanhope Gate +some twenty-five years later. All the others are more modern. + +Those who wish to pursue the subject further will find such details +more or less accessible in various guide-books. But to every one the +Park, with all its charms, its beauties, and its memories, is open, +and it is certain that the better it is known the more it will be +appreciated. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ST. JAMES’S AND GREEN PARKS + + _Near this my Muse, what most delights her, sees + A living Gallery of Aged Trees: + Bold sons of Earth, that thrust their Arms so high, + As if once more they would invade the Sky._ + + * * * * * + + _Here Charles contrives the ord’ring of his States; + Here he resolves his neighb’ring Princes’ Fates;_ + + * * * * * + + _A Prince on whom such diff’rent Lights did smile, + Born the divided World to reconcile. + Whatever Heav’n or high extracted Blood + Could promise or foretel, he’ll make it good, + Reform these Nations, and improve them more + Than this fair Park, from what it was before._ + + --ST. JAMES’S PARK: “Poetical Essay,” by Waller. + + +The opening history of St. James’s and Green Parks is similar to that +of Hyde Park. They formed part of the same manor in early days, and +became Crown property in Henry VIII.’s time. St. James’s Park was +chiefly a marsh. The Thames overflowed its banks nearly every year, +and the low-lying parts were a swamp and the haunt of wild fowl, and +the chief use of the Park was for the sport the wild birds afforded. +The Tyburn flowed through it on its way from where it crossed the +modern Oxford Street to where it joined the Thames, a little west of +where Vauxhall Bridge afterwards stood. It passed right across Green +Park, where the depression of its valley can still be traced between +Half Moon Street and Down Street. The name, St. James’s, originated +with the hospital for lepers, dedicated to St. James, on the site of +the present palace. The exact date of its foundation is lost in the +mists of antiquity, but it was established by the citizens of London, +“before the time of any man’s memorie, for 14 Sisters, maydens, +that were leprous, living chastly and honestly in Divine Service.” +Later, there were further gifts of land and money from the citizens, +and “8 brethren to minister Divine Service there” were added to the +foundation. All these gifts were subsequently confirmed by Edward I., +who granted a fair to be held for seven days, commencing on the eve of +St. James’s Day, in St. James’s Fields, which belonged to the hospital. +The letting out of the land for booths became a source of further +income to the lepers. Stowe shortly tells the subsequent history. +“This Hospital was surrendered to Henry the 8 the 23 of his reigne: +the Sisters being compounded with were allowed Pensions for terme of +their lives, and the King builded there a goodly Mannor, annexing +thereunto a Park, closed about with a wall of brick, now called St. +James’s Parke, serving indifferently to the said Mannor, and to the +Mannor or Palace of Whitehall.” At first sight the summary ejection of +these helpless creatures appears unusually heartless, even for those +days; but leprosy, which during the time of the Crusades had grown to a +formidable extent, was declining in the sixteenth century in England. +It is probable, therefore, that the poor outcast sisters, possessed of +their pensions, would be able to find shelter in one of the other leper +hospitals, of which there were still a number in the country. + +The space between Whitehall and Westminster, acquired from the +Abbey, was turned into an orchard. The site of Montagu House was the +bowling-green of the Palace, which stretched to the river. A high +terrace and flight of steps led to the Privy Garden of Whitehall, +so, except for the Palace and the Westminster group, there were no +buildings between the river and the Park. It requires some stretch of +the imagination to efface the well-known edifices which now surround +it, and to see it in its natural state. Flights of wild birds would +pass from the marshy ground to the river, unchecked by the pile of +Government offices. Behind the Leper Hospital lay fields and scattered +houses. The far-off villages of Knightsbridge and Chelsea would +scarcely come into sight, while beyond the village of Charing the +walls and towers of the City would loom in the distance. Henry VIII. +made some alterations, and may have partially drained the ground and +stocked it with deer. Old maps show a pond at the west end, near the +present Wellington Barracks, called Rosamund’s Pond. The origin of the +name is uncertain, but “Rosemonsbore, or Rosamund’s Bower,” occurs +in a lease of land near this spot from the Abbey of Westminster as +early as 1520. Hard by was a “mount,” such as was to be seen in every +sixteenth-century garden, probably with an arbour and seat on the top +to overlook the pond. The first mention of St. James’s as a Park is in +1539, on an occasion described in Hall’s Chronicle, when Henry VIII. +held a review of the city militia. “The King himself,” writes the +chronicler, “would see the people of the Citie muster in sufficient +nombre....” Some 15,000, leaving the City after passing by St. Paul’s +Churchyard, went “directly to Westminster and so through the Sanctuary +and round about the Park of St. James, and so up into the fields and +came home through Holborne.” + +It was not until James I.’s time that the Park began to be esteemed +as a resort for those attached to the Court. Prince Henry, the elder +brother of Charles I., made the tilting-ring on the site of the present +Horse Guards’ Parade, and brought the enclosure more into vogue for +games. James I. made use of the Park for his own hobbies, one of which +was the encouragement of growing vines and mulberries in England. He +planted considerable vineyards, and in 1609 he sent a circular letter +to the Lords-Lieutenant of each county, ordering them to announce +that the following spring a thousand mulberry trees would be sent to +each county town, and people were required to buy them at the rate of +three-farthings a plant. To further prosecute his plan, the King set an +example by planting a mulberry orchard at the end of St. James’s Park. +The place afterwards became a fashionable tea garden, and Buckingham +Palace is partly built on the site. The King kept also quite a large +menagerie of beasts and birds presented to him by various crowned +heads, or sent to him by friends and favourites. There are records +of elephants, camels, antelopes, beavers, crocodiles, wild boars, +and sables, besides many kinds of birds. The keepers of the animals +received large salaries, and the cost of the care of these beasts +would frighten the Zoological Society of to-day. No expense was spared +to give the best and most suitable surroundings to the animals. For +instance, as much as £286 was expended in 1618 by Robert Wood, the +keeper of the cormorants, ospreys, and otters, “in building a place to +keep the said cormorants in and making nine fish-ponds on land within +the vine garden at Westminster.” Fish were put in for these creatures, +and a sluice was made to bring water from the Thames to fill the +ponds. These strange beasts and birds and their attendants must have +been a quaint and unusual sight. The keepers were dressed in red cloth +(which cost nine shillings a yard), embroidered with “I.R.” in Venice +gold, and must have added to the picturesque appearance of this early +Zoological Garden. + +Gradually the Park became more and more a favourite place in which to +stroll. Others were admitted besides the Court circle, the privilege +being first accorded to the tenants of the houses at Westminster. +Milton, who lived at one time in Petty France, near where Queen Anne’s +Gate now stands, planted a tree in the garden overlooking the Park, +which survived until recent times, would be one of those to enjoy the +advantage. Charles I. passed this way on his last journey to Whitehall +on the fatal 30th of January, and tradition says he paused to notice a +tree planted by his brother Henry. During the Commonwealth, the Park +still was resorted to. In the sprightly letters of Dorothy Osborne to +Sir William Temple are some vivid little touches in reference to it. +She writes from the country in March 1654: “And hark you, can you tell +me whether the gentleman that lost a crystal box the 1st of February +in St. James’s Park or Old Spring Gardens has found it again or not? +I have a strong curiosity to know.” Again, in June of the same year, +she writes from London, where she was paying a visit: “I’ll swear they +will not allow me time for anything; and to show how absolutely I am +governed, I need but tell you that I am every night in the Park and at +New Spring Gardens, where, though I come with a mask, I cannot escape +being known nor my conversation being admired.” + +The most brilliant days of its history began, however, in Charles +II.’s reign. He entirely remodelled it, and began the work soon after +his return from exile, imbued with foreign ideas of gardening. It has +always been supposed that Le Nôtre was responsible for the designs, and +it has often been asserted that he himself came to England to see them +carried out. But close investigation has furnished no proof of this, +and it is practically certain that, although invited, and allowed by +Louis XIV. to come to England, he never actually did so. Other “French +gardeners” certainly came, and one of them, La Quintinge, made many +English friends, and kept up a correspondence with them after his +return to France. Perrault probably visited London also, and may have +superintended the “French gardeners” who were employed on St. James’s +Park. They transformed the whole place. Avenues--the Mall and “Birdcage +Walk”--were planted. A straight canal passed down the middle, and at +the end, near the present Foreign Office, was the duck decoy. The +“Birdcage Walk” is no fantastic title, for birds were literally kept +there in cages. These were probably aviaries for large birds, and not +little hanging cages, as has been sometimes suggested. A well-known +passage occurs in Evelyn’s Diary, 1664, where he enumerates some of +the birds and beasts he saw during one of his walks through the Park. +The pelican delighted him, although “a melancholy waterfowl,” and he +watched the skilful way it devoured fish; and it is not surprising +that he recorded the strange fact that one of the two Balearian cranes +had a wooden leg, made by a soldier, with a joint, so that the bird +could “walk and use it as well as if it had been natural”; and he +speaks with interest of a solan goose, a stork, a milk-white raven, +and “a curious sort of poultry,” besides “deer of several countries,” +antelopes, elk, “Guinea goats, Arabian sheep, etc.” The duck decoy +lay at the south-west end of the long canal, which formed part of the +new French design. This “duck island” was rather a series of small +islands, as it was intersected by canals and reed-covered channels +for catching duck. This was a favourite resort of Charles II., who +has often been described feeding his ducks in St. James’s Park. To +be keeper of the ducks, or “Governor of Duck Island,” was granted to +St. Evremond, an excuse for bestowing a yearly salary on a favourite. +The birds continued after the King, who had found in them a special +recreation, had passed away. In William III.’s time the Park is still +described as “full of very fine walkes and rowes of trees, ponds, and +curious birds, Deer, and some fine Cows.” A Dutch traveller who was +in England from 1693–96 notices the famous old white raven. By that +time the ducks were no longer the fashion, and evidently there was an +inclination to despise the former craze for wild fowl. A Frenchman, +named M. de Sorbiere, visited England about this time, and wrote an +account of his impressions. Some of his adverse criticisms of English +people and institutions got him into trouble. A supposed translation +of his book was published in 1698, and until 1709 was held to be a +correct version. In reality it was a clever skit, and not in the least +like the original. In the true version he describes the Park with its +rows of trees and “admirable prospect” of the suburbs, and mentions +that the King had “erected a tall Pile in the Park, the better to make +use of Telescopes, with which Sir Robert Murray shew’d me Saturn and +the Satellites of Jupiter.” Not a word about the ducks. But in the +spurious parody of 1698 there is a humorous description, which shows +how the next generation laughed at the amusements of King Charles II. +“I was at St. James’s Park; there were no Pavillions, nor decoration +of Treilliage and Flowers; but I saw there a vast number of Ducks; +these were a most surprising sight. I could not forbear to say to Mr. +Johnson, who was pleased to accompany me in this Walk, that sure all +the ponds in England had contributed to this profussion of Ducks; which +he took so well, that he ran immediately to an Old Gentleman that +sate in a Chair, and was feeding of ’em. He rose up very obligingly, +embraced me, and saluted me with a Kiss, and invited me to Dinner; +telling me he was infinitely oblig’d to me for flattering the King’s +Ducks.” + +Little attention was paid to the wild fowl in the Park after that +date, until the Prince Consort took an interest in them. In 1841 he +became the Patron of the Ornithological Society, and the cottage on +Duck Island was built for the Bird-keeper. For some thirty years the +Society flourished, and kept up the supply and cared for the birds in +the Park. In 1867, however, their numbers were greatly reduced, and +the Society sold their collection of birds to H.M. Office of Works, +which has since then had them under its charge. It is pleasant to know +that the old tradition of the wild fowl in that part of the Park is +maintained. Although the duck pond of King Charles’s time must have +looked somewhat different from that of to-day, the birds can be made as +much at home, and they nest peacefully on the modern Duck Island, its +direct descendant. Moorhens and dabchicks, or little grebes, have for +the last twenty years nested in the Park. They used to leave for the +breeding season, but since 1883, when the first moorhen nested, they +have gradually taken to remaining contentedly all through the year, and +bring up their young there. Birds seem to choose the Park to rest in, +and many migratory ones have been noticed. Kingfishers have recently +been let out near the site of the ancient bird cages, in the hope that +they may carry on the historic association. + +[Illustration: CROCUSES IN EARLY SPRING, ST. JAMES’S PARK] + +The cows, which were a part of ancient history, as were the birds, +have not been so fortunate. Although a newspaper clamour in defence +of the cows was raised, the few remaining were finally banished in +1905, when the alterations in the Mall were made. These survivals +standing by the dusty stalls could scarcely be called picturesque; +and although interest undoubtedly was attached to them as venerable +survivals of an old custom, they hardly suggested the rural simplicity +of the days when cows were really pastured in the Park. For over two +centuries grazing was let to the milk-women who sold milk at the end +of the Park, near Whitehall. They paid half-a-crown a week, and after +1772 three shillings a week, for the right to feed cattle in the Park. +A Frenchman, describing St. James’s at that time, is astonished at +its rural aspect. “In that part nearest Westminster nature appears +in all its rustic simplicity; it is a meadow, regularly intersected +and watered by canals, and with willows and poplars, without any +regard to order. On this side, as well as on that towards St. +James’s Palace, the grass plots are covered with cows and deer, where +they graze or chew the cud, some standing, some lying down upon the +grass.... Agreeably to this rural simplicity, most of these cows are +driven, about noon and evening, to the gate which leads from the Park +to the quarter of Whitehall. Tied to posts at the extremity of the +grass plots, they swill passengers with their milk, which, being drawn +from their udders on the spot, is served, with all cleanliness peculiar +to the English, in little mugs at the rate of a penny a mug.” The +combination of the gay crowd in hooped petticoats, brilliant coats, and +powdered wigs, with the peaceful, green meadows and the browsing deer +and cows, forms an attractive picture. + +All this had changed long before the final departure of the cattle, +when the last old woman was pensioned off, and the sheds carted away. +A use was found for the fragments of the concrete foundations of the +last milkmaid’s stall. They were made into a sort of rockery, on which +Alpine plants grow well, to support the bank at the entrance to the new +frame-grounds at Hyde Park. + +But to return to Charles II.’s time, when the cows were undisturbed. +The great feature of what Pepys calls the “brave alterations” was the +canal. He mentions more than one visit when the works were in progress. +In October 1660 he went “to walk in St. James’s Park, where we observed +the several engines at work to draw up water, with which sight I was +very much pleased.” The canal, when finished, was 2800 feet long and +100 broad, and ran through the centre of the Park, beginning near +the north end of. Rosamund’s Pond. An avenue of trees was planted on +either side, passing down between the canal and the duck decoy to a +semicircular double avenue near the tilting-ground. Deer wandered under +fine old oaks between the canal and the avenues of “the Mall.” These +old trees have gradually disappeared, as much through gales as from the +wanton destruction of the would-be improver. At the hour of Cromwell’s +death, when the storm was so fierce the Royalists said it was due to +fiends coming to claim their own, much havoc was wrought; and from +time to time similar destructions have taken place, one of the most +serious being in November 1703, when part of the wall and over 100 elms +were blown down. Another notable gale was on March 15, 1752, when many +people lost their lives. “In St. James’s Park and the villages about +the metropolis great numbers of trees were demolished.” + +The broad pathway, between avenues on the opposite side of the Park +to the Birdcage Walk, now called the Mall, derives this name from the +game of “paille-maille,” which is known to have been played in France +as early as the thirteenth century, and which was popular in England +in the seventeenth. The locality, however, where it was first played +in James I.’s time was on the northern side of the street, which is +still called from it, Pall Mall. In those days fields stretched away +beyond where now St. James’s Square lies, and a single row of houses +lay between the playground and the Park. As the game became more the +fashion, the coaches and dust were found too disturbing for enjoyment, +and a new ground was laid out, running parallel to the old one, but +within the Park. The game is considered by some to be a forerunner of +croquet, as it was played with a ball (= _pila_) and mallet, the name +being derived from these two words. One or more hoops had to be passed +through, and a peg at the further end touched. The winner was the +player who passed the hoops and reached the peg in the fewest number of +strokes. The whole course measured over 600 yards, and was kept brushed +and smooth, and the ground prepared by coating the earth with crushed +shells, which, however, remarked Pepys, “in dry weather turns to dust +and deads the ball.” Both Charles II. and James II. were much addicted +to the game, and the flattering poet Waller eulogises King Charles’s +“matchless” skill:-- + + “No sooner has he touched the flying ball, + But ’tis already more than half the Mall.” + +The Park was by his time a much-frequented spot, and crowds delighted +to watch the King and his courtiers displaying their dexterity. +Charles II. is more intimately connected with St. James’s Park than +any other great personage. He sauntered about, fed his ducks, played +his games, and made love to fair ladies, all with indulgent, friendly +crowds watching. He stood in the “Green Walk,” beneath the trees, to +talk with Nell Gwynn, in her garden “on a terrace on the top of the +wall” overlooking the Park; and shocked John Evelyn, who records, in +his journal, that he heard and saw “a very familiar discourse between +the King and Mrs. Nelly.” Charles’s well-known reply to his brother, +that no one would ever kill him to put James on the throne, was said +in answer to James’s protest that he should not venture to roam about +so much without attendants in the Park. His dogs often accompanied +him, and perhaps, like most of their descendants, these pets had a +sporting instinct, and ran off to chase the deer. Anyhow, they managed +frequently to escape their master’s vigilance, and fell a prey to the +unscrupulous thief, and descriptions of the missing dogs were published +in the Gazette. One, answering to the name Towser, was “liver colour’d +and white spotted”; and a “dogg of His Majestie’s, full of blew spots, +with a white cross on his forehead about the bigness of a tumbler,” was +lost on another occasion. + +Charles with his dogs, his ducks, his wit, his engaging manners, his +doubtful morals, is the central figure of many a picture in St. James’s +Park, but it does not often form a background to his Queen. One scene +described by Pepys has much charm. The party, returning from Hyde Park +on horseback with a great crowd of gallants, pass down the Mall; the +Queen, riding hand in hand with the King, looking “mighty pretty” in +her white laced coat and crimson petticoat. Again, on another occasion, +the Queen forms an attractive vision, as she walks with her ladies from +Whitehall to St. James’s dressed from head to foot in silver lace, each +holding an immense green fan to shade themselves from the fierce rays +of the June sun, while a delighted crowd throng round them. + +The popularity of the Mall as the rendezvous of all classes lasted for +over a century. Through the reigns of Queen Anne and George I. and II. +all the fashionable world of London congregated there twice daily. +In the morning the promenade took them there from twelve to two, and +after dinner in full dress they thronged thither again, not to play +the game of paille-maille, which was then out of fashion, but simply +to walk about under the trees and be amused with races, wrestlings, +or an impromptu dance. Every well-known person--courtiers, wits, +beaux, writers, poets, artists, soldiers--and all the beautiful and +fascinating women, great ladies as well as more humble charmers, and +bold adventuresses, were to be seen there daily. + +The crowds seem to have been very free in their admiration of some +of the distinguished ladies. When the three lovely Misses Gunning +captivated everybody with their wit and beauty, they had only to appear +in the Mall to be surrounded by admirers. On one occasion they were so +pressed by the curious mob that one of these matchless young charmers +fainted and had to be “carried home in a sedan.” + +On looking at an old print of the ladies in their thin dresses walking +in the Mall, it is customary to bemoan the change of climate, to wonder +if our great-great-grand-mothers were supernaturally strong and not +sensitive to cold, or to conclude that they only paraded there in fine +weather. Apparently this last is not the correct solution, for in 1765 +they astonished Monsieur Grosley by their disregard of the elements. +He is horrified at the fog. “The smoke,” he writes, “forms a cloud +which envelopes London like a mantle; a cloud which the sun pervades +but rarely; a cloud which, recoiling back upon itself, suffers the sun +to break out only now and then, which casual appearance procures the +Londoners a few of what they call _glorious days_. The great love of +the English for walking defies the badness of other days. On the 26th +April, St. James’s Park, incessantly covered with fogs, smoke, and +rain, that scarce left a possibility of distinguishing objects at a +distance of four steps, was filled with walkers, who were an object of +musing and admiration to me during the whole day.” Few ladies nowadays +fear a little fog or rain, but to walk in it they must be attired in +short skirts, thick boots, and warm or mackintosh coats. It must +have been much more distressing in the days of powdered hair, picture +hats, and flimsy garments. No wonder M. Grosley was astounded at the +persistence of the poor draggled ladies. + +All foreign visitors to London naturally went to see the Mall. Here is +the account of a German baron, describing the man of the world: “He +rises late, dresses himself in a frock (close-fitting garment, without +pockets, and with narrow sleeves), leaves his sword at home, takes +his cane, and goes where he likes. Generally he takes his promenade +in the Park, for that is the exchange for the men of quality. ’Tis +such another place as the Garden of the Tuileries in Paris, only the +Park has a certain beauty of simplicity which cannot be described. The +grand walk is called the Mall. It is full of people at all hours of the +day, but especially in the morning and evening, when their Majesties +often walk there, with the royal family, who are attended only by +half-a-dozen Yeomen of the Guard, and permit all persons to walk at the +same time with them.” + +A writer in 1727, waxing eloquent on the charms of the Park, gives +up the task of describing it, as “the beauty of the Mall in summer +is almost past description.” “What can be more glorious than to view +the body of the nobility of our three kingdoms in so short a compass, +especially when freed from mixed crowds of saucy fops and city gentry?” +But more often the company was very mixed, and manners peculiar. This +brilliant and motley assembly indulged in all kinds of amusements. Even +the grandest frequenters afforded diversion sometimes to the “saucy +fops.” Wrestling matches between various courtiers attracted crowds, +or a race such as one between the Duke of Grafton and Dr. Garth, of +200 yards, was the excitement of the day. There were odd and original +races got up, and wagers freely staked. Some inhuman parents backed +their baby of eighteen months old to walk the whole length of the Mall +(half a mile) in thirty minutes, and the poor little mite performed the +feat in twenty-three minutes. What comments would modern philanthropic +societies have made on such a performance! + +A race between a fat cook and a lean footman caused great merriment, +but as the footman was handicapped by carrying 110 lbs., the fat cook +won. Another time it was a hopping-race which engrossed attention--a +man undertook to hop one hundred yards in fifty hops, and succeeded +in doing it in forty-six--and endless variety of similar follies. The +crowds who assembled indulged in every sort of gaiety; “in short, no +freedoms that can be taken here are reckoned indecent; all passes for +raillery and harmless gallantry.” + +Although open to all the world for walking, only royal personages or +a few specially favoured people were allowed to drive through. It was +one of the grievances of the Duchess of Marlborough when the Duke was +in disgrace that the privilege of driving her coach and six through +the Park was denied her. The remaining restrictions with regard to +carriages have only passed away in very recent years. The notice board +stating that Members of Parliament during the session might drive +through the Park from Great George Street to Marlborough House was +only removed when the road was opened to all traffic in 1887, and +Constitution Hill only became a public highway in 1889. The use of the +road passing under the Horse Guards’ Archway is still restricted to +those who receive special permission from the sovereign. + +The Park had never been drained, and had always shown signs of its +marshy origin, and “Duck Island” was really a natural swamp. An +unusually high tide flooded the low-lying end where the Horse Guards’ +Parade and the houses of Downing Street with their little gardens now +stand. What state secrets they could divulge had they the power of +speech! The tilting-ground was often in a condition quite unfit for the +exercise of troops, so with a view to preventing this, it was paved +with stone early in the eighteenth century. It has always been used +for military displays, and the trooping of the colours on the King’s +birthday takes place on the same ground which witnessed the brilliant +scene when the colours, thirty-eight in number, captured at the battle +of Blenheim were conveyed to Westminster Abbey. On the parade-ground +now stands the gun cast at Seville, used by Soult at Cadiz, and taken +after the battle of Salamanca. Here many an impressive ceremony of +distributing medals, and countless parades, have taken place through +many generations. Here, with the brutality of old days, corporal +punishment was administered, and offending soldiers were flogged in +full view of the merry-making crowds assembled in the Park. Round the +Park lay other marshy lands, also frequently flooded by the Thames, and +it was not surprising that on one occasion an otter found its way from +the river and settled down on Duck Island and there grew fat on the +King’s carp. Sir Robert Walpole sent to Houghton for his otter-hounds, +and an exciting hunt ensued, in which the Duke of Cumberland took part, +and the offending otter was captured. + +Rosamund’s Pond had, in the course of time, become stagnant and +unpleasant, and there were frequent complaints of its unsavoury +condition. About 1736 a machine for pumping out water was invented +by a Welshman, and used successfully to empty the pond, and it was +thoroughly cleansed. Thirty years later the same evil began again to be +a nuisance, and it was decided to drain and fill up the pond entirely, +which was accomplished about 1772. The trees on the island were felled, +and those near the bank died from the lack of water, so at first the +absence of the slimy pond must have been disfiguring. The shady walk +near it, known as the Close Walk or the Jacobites’ Walk, must have +disappeared when the trees died. About the same time the swampy moat +round Duck Island was filled up and the canal cleaned out. When these +improvements were completed in 1775 some birds were put on the canal. +One of them was a swan called Jack, belonging to Queen Charlotte, which +was reared in the garden of Buckingham House. This bird ruled the roost +for many a day, and was a popular favourite. It lived until 1840, when +some new arrivals, in the shape of Polish geese, pecked and ill-treated +the poor old bird so seriously that he died. + +About 1786 fashion began to desert the Mall for the Green Park, and the +crowds which collected there were no longer intermingled with the Court +circle. In a letter to her daughter Madame Roland describes the company +in the Mall as very different from what it was a few years earlier, +for though it was “very brilliant on a Sunday evening, and full of +well-to-do people and well-dressed women, in general they are all +tradespeople and citizens.” A generation later the Mall seems to have +become quite deserted. Sir Richard Phillips, in his morning’s walk +from London to Kew in 1817, bemoans the absence of the gay throng:-- + +“My spirits sank, and a tear started into my eyes, as I brought to mind +those crowds of beauty, rank, and fashion which, until within these few +years, used to be displayed in the centre Mall of this Park on Sunday +evenings during spring and summer. How often in my youth had I been +the delighted spectator of the enchanted and enchanting assemblage. +Here used to promenade, for one or two hours after dinner, the whole +British world of gaiety, beauty, and splendour. Here could be seen in +one moving mass, extending the whole length of the Mall, 5000 of the +most lovely women in this country of female beauty, all splendidly +attired, and accompanied by as many well-dressed men. What a change, +I exclaimed, has a few years wrought in these once happy and cheerful +personages! How many of those who on this very spot then delighted my +eyes are now mouldering in the silent grave!” + +About 1730 Queen Caroline, who was then busy with the alterations in +Hyde Park, turned her attention to what is now known as the Green Park +also. It had all formed part of St. James’s Park, and was known as the +Upper Park or Little St. James’s Park. It was enclosed by a brick wall +in 1667 by Charles II., who stocked it with deer. In the centre of +the Park an ice-house was made, at that time a great novelty in this +country, although well known in France and Italy. In his poem on St. +James’s Park Waller alludes to it:-- + + “Yonder the harvest of cold months laid up + Gives a fresh coolness to the royal cup; + There ice like crystal firm and never lost + Tempers hot July with December’s frost.” + +No further alterations were made, except that, in 1681, Charles +effected an exchange of land with the Earl of Arlington, on which, +a few years later, Arlington Street was built. The path which runs +parallel with the backs of these houses was Queen Caroline’s idea, +and she used it frequently herself, and it became known as the +“Queen’s Walk.” The houses overlooking the Park went up in value as +the occupants could enjoy the sight of the Queen and the Princesses +taking their daily walk. The line of this path is no longer the same, +as a piece was cut off the Park in 1795 and leased to the Duke of +Bridgewater to add to the garden of his house. The Queen also built +a pavilion known as the Queen’s Library in the Park, where she spent +some time after her morning promenades. Although Queen Caroline took +to the Upper Park, the world of fashion did not follow at once, and it +was not until about 1786 that the Green Park for some reason suddenly +became the rage. The only incident of historic interest between this +date and the making of the road was the celebration of the end of the +War of Succession in the spring following the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. +A great pavilion like a Doric temple, 410 feet long and 114 feet high, +was erected near the wall separating the Green Park from St. James’s, +and on the 27th of April a grand display of fireworks was arranged. +A fire, however, broke out just as the performance was beginning, +when a grand overture composed by Handel had been performed, and the +King and dense crowds were watching the illuminations. The flames +were got under, but not before much of the temporary building had +been destroyed, and the greater part of the fireworks perished in the +flames, and several fatal and serious accidents further marred the +entertainment. + +Near the top of the Park was a reservoir or “fine piece of water” +belonging to the Chelsea Waterworks, and the path round it was included +in the fashionable promenade by those who paraded in the Queen’s Walk +after dinner. Lower down, where there is still a depression, was a +little pond, originally part of the Tyburn stream. The “green stagnant +pool” was abused by a writer in 1731, who regretted that trees had just +been planted near it, which probably meant that the offensive pool +would “not soon be removed.” The prophecy was correct, for it was more +than a hundred years later before this was filled up. The Park wall +ran along Piccadilly, and here and there, as was often the case in the +eighteenth century, there were gaps with iron rails, through which +glimpses of the Park could be obtained. Some persons had private keys +to the gates leading into the Park from Piccadilly. Daring robberies +were by no means uncommon, and thieves, having done mischief in the +streets near Piccadilly on more than one occasion, were found to be +provided with keys to the gates, through which they could make their +escape into the Park and elude their pursuers. The Ranger’s Lodge stood +on the northern side, and was rebuilt and done up in 1773. It was made +so attractive that there was great competition, when it was completed, +to be Deputy-ranger and live there. The two stags which now stand +on Albert Gate, Hyde Park, once adorned the gates of this Ranger’s +Lodge. It is described in 1792 as “a very neat lodge surrounded by +a shrubbery, which renders it enchantingly rural.” When George III. +bought Buckingham House, then an old red-brick mansion, he took away +the wall which separated the Green Park from St. James’s, and put a +railing instead. In this wall was another lodge, and a few trees near +it, known as the Wilderness. + +The aspect of the Mall has greatly changed since the days when its +fashion was at its height. Then the gardens of St. James’s Palace ran +the whole length of the north side from the Palace towards Whitehall. +Stephen Switzer, writing in 1715, extols the beauty of the garden, +which by his time was cut up and partly built on. “The Royal Garden in +St. James’s Park, part of which is now in the possession of the Right +Honourable Lord Carlton, and the upper part belonging to Marlborough +House, was of that King’s [Charles II.] planting, which were in the +remembrance of most people the finest Lines of Dwarfs perhaps in the +Universe. Mr. London” ... presumed “before Monsieur de la Quintinye, +the famous French gardener, ... to challenge all France with the like, +and if France, why not the whole World?” + +Carlton House, a red-brick building, with the stone portico now in +front of the National Gallery, was built in 1709 on part of this +garden. Some twenty years later, before it was purchased by Frederick, +Prince of Wales, the grounds belonging to the house were laid out by +Kent. Until Carlton House was pulled down in 1827, therefore, the Mall +was bounded on the north by choice gardens. Between the Mall and the +walls of these gardens ran the “Green Walk,” or “Duke Humphrey’s Walk,” +as it was also often called. The origin of the latter name is to be +traced to old St. Paul’s. The monument to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, +in the centre aisle of old St. Paul’s Cathedral was where “poore +idlers” and “careless mal-contents” congregated-- + + “Poets of Paules, those of Duke Humfrye’s messe + That feed on nought but graves and emptinesse.” + +When Duke Humphrey’s Walk in St. Paul’s was burnt the name became +attached to the walk in St. James’s Park, where idlers also sauntered. +Some writers attribute the transference of the name to the fact that +the arched walk under the trees was like the cathedral aisle. Anyhow +the name clung to this walk in the Park from 1666 and during the +eighteenth century. + +When Carlton House became the centre of attraction the Park itself was +in a very neglected state. The canal was turbid, the grass long, and +the seats unpainted. How long it would have remained in this condition +is uncertain had not a new impulse of gardening possessed the whole +nation, and once more it was resolved to alter the entire Park. + +The rage for landscape gardening was at its height. Capability Brown +had done his work of destruction, and set the fashion of “copying +nature,” and his successors were following on his lines, but going +much further even than Brown. The sight of a straight canal had become +intolerable. The Serpentine was designed when the idea that it might be +possible to make the banks of artificial sheets of water in anything +but a perfectly straight line was just dawning, but the canal in St. +James’s Park was transformed when half the stiff ponds and canals in +the kingdom had been twisted and turned into lakes or meres. Brown had +had a hand in the alterations at the time Rosamund’s Pond was removed, +but it was Eyton who planned and executed the work fifty years later. +It was begun in 1827, and a contemporary writer praises the result as +“the best obliteration of avenues” that has been effected. Although he +owns it involved “a tremendous destruction of fine elms,” he is lost +in admiration of the “astounding ingenuity” which “converted a Dutch +canal into a fine flowing river, with incurvated banks, terminated +at one end by a planted island and at the other by a peninsula.” A +permanent bridge was first made across the water about this time. +Previously a temporary one had been made when the Allied Sovereigns +visited London in 1814--a kind of Chinese design by Nash, surmounted +by a pagoda of seven storeys. It was this flimsy edifice which made +Canova say the thing that struck him most in England was that Waterloo +Bridge was the work of a private company, while this bridge was put up +by the Government. It was on the canal in St. James’s Park that skates +of a modern type first appeared in London. Bone ones were in use much +earlier on Moorfields. Both Evelyn and Pepys saw the new pattern first +in the Park in 1662. Two years later Pepys notes going to the canal +with the Duke of York, “where, though the ice was broken and dangerous, +yet he would go slide upon his scates, which I did not like, but he +slides very well.” Just before the alterations began, and the complete +change of the canal was taken in hand, the Park was lighted with gas +lamps, an innovation which caused much excitement. At the same time +orders were issued to shut the gates by ten every evening. A wit on +this occasion wrote the following lines, which were found stuck up on a +tree:-- + + “The trees in the Park + Are illumined with gas, + But after it’s dark + No creatures can pass. + + “Ye sensible wights + Who govern our fates, + Extinguish your lights + Or open your gates.” + +The same lamps inspired another poet, who wrote, just before the +destruction of the avenues took place:-- + + “Hail, Royal Park! what various charms are thine; + Thy patent lamps pale Cynthia’s rays outshine, + Thy limes and elms with grace majestic grow + All in a row.” + +Yet once more has St. James’s Park been subjected to renovation. The +work, which is a memorial to our late beloved Queen Victoria, is not +yet completed, so its description must be imperfect. The design aims at +drawing together the several quarters of the Park towards Buckingham +Palace and a central group of statuary. The Mall is now the scene of +ceaseless traffic, and the sauntering pedestrian is a thing of the +past. A wide road runs at right angles across the Green Park, and so +once again more closely associates the Upper with the Lower St. James’s +Park. Probably the greatest praise of the alterations would be to say +that Le Nôtre would have approved them. They seem to complete the +design in a fitting manner, but they banish once and for all time, the +semi-rural character which for so many centuries clung to the Park. +The design includes a series of formal parterres which are filled with +bedding-out plants raised in Hyde Park. In the summer of 1906 they were +planted with scarlet geraniums with an edging of grasses and foliage +and a few golden privets, and on hot July days there were many people +ready to pronounce the arrangement as extremely bad taste. It seemed +a reversion to the days when a startling mass of colour was the only +effect aimed at. As they appeared all through the mild October days, +when a soft foggy light enveloped the world, and the trees looked +dark and dreary, with their leaves, devoid of autumn tints, still +struggling to hold on, the vivid colouring of the beds gave a very +different impression. The charm of the warm red tone against the cold +blue mists must have given a sensation of pleasure to any one sensitive +to such contrasts. + +[Illustration: A CORNER OF THE QUEEN VICTORIA MEMORIAL GARDENS, IN +FRONT OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE] + +The Park in spring has nothing of the stiff, early Victorian gardening +left. Under the trees crocuses raise their dainty heads, as cheerily as +from out of Alpine snows, and the slopes of grass spangled with a “host +of golden daffodils” are a delight to all beholders. + +The palmy days of St. James’s Park may have passed away--no longer +is the fate of nations and the happiness of lives decided under its +ancient elms--but those days have left their mark. Every path, every +tree, every green-sward, could tell its story. The Park is now more +beautiful than it ever was, even though fashion has deserted it. The +last changes are but one more link in the long historic chain. It +brings the Park of the Stuarts, the Mall of the Queen Anne’s age of +letters, down to our own great Queen and the days of Expansion and +Empire. A stroll under its shady trees and by its sparkling water must +be replete with suggestions to the moralist, with thoughts to the poet, +and with an inexpressible charm to the ordinary appreciative Londoner. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +REGENT’S PARK + + _When Philomel begins to sing + The grass grows green and flowers spring; + Methinks it is a pleasant thing + To walk on Primrose Hill._ + + --ROXBURGH BALLADS, _c._ 1620. + + +Regent’s Park has had but a transitory day of fashion, and history has +not crowded it with associations like the other Royal Parks. It is the +largest and one of the most beautiful, yet there is something cold and +less attractive about it. In spring, with its wealth of thorn trees, it +has a delightfully rural appearance, and it possesses many charms on +close acquaintance. Its history as a Royal Park is as ancient as that +of Hyde Park or St. James’s, but it remained a distant country sporting +estate, and only assumed the form of a Park, in the modern sense of the +word, less than a hundred years ago. + +In the dim distance of Domesday it formed part of the manor of +Tybourne. Later on the manor became Marylebone or Mary le Bourne, the +Church of St. Mary by the Burn, the brook in question being the Tyburn. +The manor in Domesday is described as part of the lands belonging to +the Abbey of Barking in Essex. In the thirteenth century it was held +by Robert de Vere, and passed by descent through his daughter to the +Earls of Arundel. Later on the manor was divided, and a fourth share +came to Henry V. as heir to the Earls of Derby. The greater part of the +manor was bought by Thomas Hobson, and his son, who was Lord Mayor in +1544, exchanged it with Henry VIII. for some church lands elsewhere. +So it became part of the royal hunting-ground, and the same enactment +concerning the preservation of game applied to Marylebone Park, +situated within the manor, as to Hyde Park. Queen Elizabeth leased part +of the manor to a certain Edward Forset, and James I. sold him all the +manor except the part known as Marylebone Park, now Regent’s Park. It +was again sold by the grandson of Edward Forset to John Holles, Duke +of Newcastle, and passed to his daughter, who married Edward Harley, +Earl of Oxford, and through their daughter, who married the second +Earl of Portland, to the Bentinck family. The Park has always remained +Crown property, although it has frequently been let by the reigning +sovereign. Charles I. granted it to Sir G. Strode and J. Wandesford as +a payment of a debt of £2318 for arms and ammunition. It was sold by +Cromwell with all the other royal lands, but after the Restoration it +went back to its former holders till the debt was discharged, and after +that to various other tenants. It was on the expiration of a lease to +the Duke of Portland in 1811 that the laying out of the Park in its +present form commenced. + +During the early period incidents connected with it are meagre. It is +for the most part only in royal accounts that references to Marylebone +Park are found, and they are merely a bare statement of facts. But +that hunting-parties, with all the show and splendour attending them, +took place frequently, is certain. Among the Loseley MSS. occur, in +1554, instructions to Sir Thomas Cawarden, as “Master of the Tents +and Toiles,” to superintend the making of “certaine banquiting houses +of Bowes [= boughs] and other devices of pleasure.” One of these was +made in “Marybone Parke,” and a minute description is given. It was +40 feet long, and “wrought by tymber, brick, and lyme, with their +raunges and other necessary utensyles therto insident, and to the like +accustomed.” Also three “standinges” were made at the same time, “all +of tymber garnished with boughes and flowers, every [one] of them +conteynenge in length 10 foote and in bredth 8 foote, which houses and +standings were so edified, repaired, garnished, decked, and fynyshed +against the Marshall Saint Andrewes comynge thethere by speciale and +straight comandement, as well of the late King as his counsell to +Sir Tho^{s.} Cawarden, Knt. M^{r.} of the said Office of Revels; and +Lawrence Bradshaw, Surveior of the King’s works, exhibited for the +same w^{t.} earnest charge done, wrought and attended between the 27th +of June and the 2 of August in the said year” [4th of Edward VI.]. +Employed on the above works for 22 days at all hours, a space to eat +and drink excepted, “Carpenters, bricklayers, 1d. the hour; labourers, +½d. p. hour; plasterers, 11d. a day; painters, 7d. and 6d. a day.” +“Charges for cutting boughs in the wood at Hyde Park for trimming the +banquetting house, gathering rushes, flags, and ivy; painters, taylors +for sewing roof, etc., basket makers working upon windows, total cost, +£169, 7s. 8d.” Only about half of this total was due to the work in +Marylebone, as a similar pavilion, and three other “standings,” were +made in Hyde Park at the same time. + +Hall, the chronicler of Henry VIII.’s time, inveighs against the +fashion of making these sumptuous banqueting houses. They were not only +a regal amusement, but the citizens built in their suburban gardens +“many faire Summer houses ... some of them like Mid-summer Pageants, +with Towers, Turrets, and Chimney tops, not so much for use or profit, +as for shew and pleasure, and bewraying the vanity of men’s mindes, +much unlike to the disposition of the ancient Citizens, who delighted +in building of Hospitals and Almes-houses for the poore.” There stood +in Marylebone parish a banqueting house where the Lord Mayor and +aldermen dined when they inspected the conduits of the Tybourne. On +one occasion they hunted a hare before dinner, and after, “they went +to hunt the fox. There was a great cry for a mile, and at length the +hounds killed him at the end of St. Giles.” During this run the hunt +must have skirted the royal preserves of Marylebone. In Elizabeth’s +time a hunting-party on 3rd February 1600 is recorded, in which the +“Ambassador from the Emperor of Russia and the other Muscovites rode +through the City of London to Marylebone Park, and there hunted at +their pleasure, and shortly after returned homeward.” + +Marylebone was a retired spot for duels, and many took place there +down to the time when duelling ceased. The quarrel which led to one +in Elizabeth’s reign is most typical of that age. Sir Charles Blount, +afterwards Earl of Devonshire, handsome and dashing, distinguished +himself in the lists, and won the approbation of Queen Elizabeth. +She presented him with a chessman in gold, which he fastened on his +arm with a crimson ribbon. This aroused the jealousy of Essex, who +said with scorn, “Now I perceive that every fool must have a favour.” +Whereupon Blount challenged him. They met in Marylebone Park, and Essex +was disarmed and wounded in the thigh. + +In Mary’s time the Park witnessed a warlike scene in connection with +one of the organised attempts to dethrone the Queen. The indictment of +Sir Nicholas Throgmorton for high treason, because he, with Sir Thomas +Wyatt and others, “conspired to depose and destroy the Queen,” states +that “the said Sir Nicholas plotted to take and hold the Tower, levy +war in Kent, Devonshire, etc., and, with Sir Henry Isley and others, on +26 January 1554, rose with 2000 men, marched from Kent to Southwark, +and by Brentford and Marylebone Park to London, the Queen being then +at Westminster, but were overthrown by her army.” The incidents which +centre round this Park are few. Even in the accounts of all the royal +lands it does not often occur. In 1607 one item in the Domestic State +Papers, a list of nine parks, from each of which four bucks were to +be taken, includes Hyde Park, but Marylebone is not mentioned, and in +orders to the keepers it does not often occur. + +During the Commonwealth it comes more into notice, from the sad fact +that it was then sold and disparked, and the trees cut down. When +Cromwell sold it to “John Spencer of London, gent.,” the proceeds were +settled on Col. Thomas Harrison’s regiment of dragoons for their pay. +The existing Ranger, John Carey, was turned out, and Sir John Ipsley +put in his place. The price given for the Park was £13,215, 6s. 8d., +which included £130 for deer and £1774 for timber, exclusive of 2976 +trees which were marked for the Royal Navy. Cromwell probably knew +the Park and its advantages well, as some years before, when he was a +boy, his uncle had had permission to hunt in any of the royal forests. +The warrant is dated 15th June 1604, “to the lieutenants, wardens, +and keepers of the forests, chases, and parks, to permit Sir Oliver +Cromwell, Knt., Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, to hunt where he shall +think fit.” The work of hewing the timber began at once. On October +19, 1649, the Navy Commissioner was instructed to “repair the crane +at Whitehall for boating timber, which is to go from Marylebone Park +to the yards to build frigates.” Again, Sir Henry Mildmay was ordered +to “confer with Mr. Carter, Surveyor of Works, for the timber in +Marylebone Park to be brought through Scotland Yard, to be boated there +for use of the navy.” Cromwell converted the Park to other uses, as in +June the same year orders were given to put to grass in Marylebone Park +all the artillery horses “bought by Captain Tomlins for Ireland till +Monday week.” That a number were turned out there for a time is clear +from the further warrant, dated July 12, to “permit William Yarvell, +Carriage Master, to put all the horses provided for Ireland, which +cannot be accommodated in Marylebone Park, into Hyde Park to graze.” No +doubt they found excellent pasture, in spite of the game. Still, the +deer must have been fairly numerous, considering the price paid for +those left when the Park was sold. One hundred of the “best deer” were +first ordered to be removed from there to St. James’s Park, “Colonel +Pride to see to the business.” + +At the Restoration the former tenants were reinstated until the debt +was discharged, and John Carey was compensated for his loss of the +rangership; but the Park was never re-stocked with deer. It is supposed +that the Queens, Mary and Elizabeth, sometimes resided at the Manor +House belonging to the Manor, which stood at the south side of what +is now Marylebone Road, and was built by Henry VIII. A drawing of the +house in 1700 exists, and it is not the same as Oxford House, with +which it has sometimes been confused, belonging to Lord Oxford, which +contained the celebrated Harleian collection of MSS. Henry VIII.’s +Manor House was pulled down in 1790. It is not until after that date +that anything further has to be recorded of the Park; until then +it remained let out as farms. In 1793 Mr. White, architect to the +Duke of Portland, the tenant of the Park from the Crown, approached +Mr. Fordyce, the Surveyor-General, with his ideas and plans for the +improvement of the whole of the area. During the previous fifty years +the streets and squares between Oxford Street and Marylebone had +been growing up. Foley House, a large building, stood on the site of +the present Langham Hotel; and in the lease by which the land was +held from the Duke of Portland, it was covenanted that no buildings +should obstruct the view of Marylebone Park from this house. When, +in 1772, the Brothers Adam designed Portland Place, they made it the +entire width of Foley House, so that the agreement was fulfilled to +the letter. In those days the street ended where No. 8 Portland Place +now stands; then came the railings which enclosed Marylebone Fields, +with its buttercup meadows and country lanes and hedgerows. White’s +idea commended itself to Fordyce, and he approached the Treasury on +the subject. The total area, according to the survey in 1794, was 543 +ac. 17 p. This was disposed chiefly between three farms of about 288, +133, and 117 acres respectively. From the first all the plans embraced +extensive buildings, as well as a proportion of park. Inspired by +Fordyce, the Treasury offered a prize, not exceeding £1000, for the +best design, and several were submitted. Fordyce aimed at something +between the most extreme votaries of the landscape school and the +older, debased, formal styles--a compromise which Loudon was at that +time trying to bring into vogue. A “union of the ancient and modern +styles of planting,” he called it, which led by stages to the Italian +parterres and brilliant bedding out of the early Victorian gardens. +Fordyce did not live to see any plan put into execution. At his +death the Surveyor-General of Land Revenues and the Commissioners +of Woods and Forests were amalgamated, and Leverton and Chawner, +architects to the former, and Nash, architect to the latter, submitted +designs--Nash’s being eventually accepted. The other design cut up the +whole ground into ornamental villas with pleasure grounds, with a sort +of village green or central square, with a church in the middle, and a +site for a market and barracks. White’s views were more like Nash’s in +some respects, as he had artificial water and a drive round the Park. +The lease held by the Duke of Portland fell in, in 1811, and soon after +the work of carrying out Nash’s design was begun by James Morgan. The +Regent’s Park Canal was included in the same plan, and begun in 1812 +and finished in 1820. Its length from Paddington to Limehouse is 8¾ +miles, and the total fall 84 feet. + +[Illustration: AUTUMN IN REGENT’S PARK] + +Although the planting and levelling began in 1812, the buildings rose +up slowly. Of the villas in the Park only two were built in 1820, the +rent demanded for the ground being extremely high. But two or three +years later the whole thing was more or less as it is now, so far as +the general outline and buildings are concerned. The cost by May 1826 +was £1,533,582, and the estimated probable revenue £36,330. The Prince +Regent took the greatest interest in the proceedings, and Nash’s design +included a site for a palace for him, though even contemporary writers +condemned the suggestion, as the situation was damp--“the soil was +clay, ... and the view bad.” It was only natural that the Park should +henceforth become the Regent’s, and not Marylebone Park, and the “new +street” to connect it with Carlton House be called Regent Street. + +It is difficult to judge Regent’s Park with an unprejudiced eye. +The exaggerated praise it called forth when just completed is only +equalled by the unmeasured censure of the next generation. Of the +houses which surround it the following are two descriptions. The first, +in 1855, calls them “highly-embellished terraces of houses, in which +the Doric and Ionic, the Corinthian, and even the Tuscan orders have +been employed with ornate effect, aided by architectural sculpture.” +Fifty years later the same houses are summed up with very different +epithets: “Most of the ugly terraces which surround it exhibit all +the worst follies of the Grecian architectural mania which disgraced +the beginning of this century”! It may not be a style which commends +itself to modern taste, but one thing is certain, that having embarked +on classical architecture it was best to stick to it and complete +the whole. It is as much a bit of history, and as typical of the +age, as Elizabethan or Tudor architecture is of theirs, and as such +it is best to treat Regent’s Park as an interesting example of early +nineteenth-century taste. + +This ground was country when building was begun, and when one thinks +of the streets and crescents that grow up when the country touches +the town, and the incongruous ugliness of most of them, there is much +to be said for the substantial uniformity of Regent’s Park. What can +be argued from the surroundings of the other parks? Would Regent’s +Park have been improved by the erection of rows of houses of the +Queen Anne’s Mansion type? One cannot help wondering what Stowe would +have thought of such a production, when he instances “a remarkable +punishment of Pride in high buildings,” how a man who built himself +a tower in Lime Street, to overlook his neighbours, was very soon +“tormented with gouts in his joynts, of his hands and legs”--that he +could go no “further than he was led, much lesse was he able to climbe” +his tower! What retribution would he have thought sufficiently severe +for the perpetrators of Park Row Buildings, New York, with their +thirty-two storeys? + +Anyhow, Regent’s Park was welcomed by the generation who watched it +grow. A writer in 1823 says: “When first we saw that Marylebone Fields +were enclosed, and that the hedgerow walks which twined through them +were gradually being obliterated and the whole district artificially +laid out, ... we underwent a painful feeling or two.... A few years, +however, have elapsed, and we are not only reconciled to the change +alluded to, but rejoice in it. A noble Park is rapidly rising up, and +a vast space, close to the metropolis, not only preserved from the +encroachment of mean buildings, but laid out with groves, lakes, and +villas, ... while through the place there is a winding road, which +commands at every turn some fresh feature of an extensive country +prospect.” This enthusiast winds up by saying, “We do not envy the +apathy of the Englishman who can walk through these splendid piles +without feeling his heart swell with national pride.” We may smile at +such high-sounding language, but, after all, it was an innocent form +for national pride to take. + +The special feature which the plan of the Park embraced, was the +villas, standing in their own pleasure grounds. These were all built in +the same Grecian style--most of them designed by Decimus Burton, who +was also the architect of Cornwall Terrace, the only one not by Nash. +St. Dunstan’s Villa, now belonging to Lord Aldenham, and containing +his precious library, was his work. It was built by the Marquis of +Hertford, and the name is taken from the two giant wooden figures of +Gog and Magog, which formerly stood by St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleet +Street. They had been placed there in 1671, and struck the hours on a +large clock (the work of Thomas Harrys), one of the curiosities of the +City. It was with reference to them that Cowper’s lines on a feeble, +uninspired poet were written:-- + + “When Labour and when Dullness, club in hand, + Like the two figures of St. Dunstan’s stand, + Beating alternately, in measured time, + The clock-work tintinabulum of rhyme, + Exact and regular the sounds will be, + But such mere quarter strokes are not for me.” + +Lord Hertford used to be taken to see them as a child, and had a +child’s longing to possess the monsters. Unlike most childish dreams, +he was able, when the church was rebuilt in 1832, to realise it and +to purchase the figures, and remove them to strike the hours in his +new villa. St. John’s Lodge is another of these detached villas, with +a fascinating garden, built by Burton, for Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid; +and also in the inner circle there is South Villa, with an observatory, +erected in 1837 by Mr. George Bishop, from which various stars and +asteroids were discovered by Dawes and Hinde. + +The most interesting of the houses in the park is St. Katharine’s +Lodge, not from any special beauty of its own, but from the sad +association of its history. On the east of the road which encircles +the Park is St. Katharine’s Hospital, built by A. Poynter, a pupil of +Nash, in 1827, when the “act of barbarism” of removing the Hospital +from the East End was committed. The home of the Hospital, with its +church and almshouses, was close to the Tower, and after a peaceful +existence of nearly seven hundred years it was completely swept away to +make room for more docks. There is nothing to redeem the crude look of +uselessness that the new buildings in Regent’s Park present. They seem +out of place, and as if stranded there by accident. Even thirty years +after their removal an official report on the revenues of the hospital +shows some signs of repentance. The writers sum up the increased +income, then about £11,000 a year, and wonder if in this far-away spot +it is being put to the best uses; and the report even goes so far as to +suggest its restoration to the populous East End, where the recipients +of the charity would spend their lives in the cure of souls, or as +nurses and mission-women among the poor. Since then, an improvement has +set in as it has become the Central House for Nurses for the Poor, +known as the Jubilee Nurses, as the funds to provide them were raised +by the women of England as a Jubilee Gift to Queen Victoria. + +The Hospital of St. Katharine was founded by Queen Matilda, “wife to +King Stephen, by licence of the Prior and Convent of the Holy Trinity +in London, on whose ground she founded it. Elianor the Queene, wife +to King Edward the First, a second Foundresse, appointed to be there, +one Master, three Brethren Chaplaines and three Sisters, ten poore +women, and six poore clerkes. She gave to them the Manor of Clarton in +Wiltshire and Upchurch in Kent, etc. Queene Philip, wife to King Edward +the Third, 1351, founded a Chauntry there, and gave to that Hospital +tenne pound land by yeere; it was of late time [1598] called a free +Chappell, a Colledge and an Hospital for poore sisters. The Quire which +(of late yeares) was not much inferior to that of Pauls, was dissolved +by Doctor Wilson, a late Master there.” Such is Stowe’s account of the +foundation. + +Even in those days the district was becoming crowded, “pestered with +small Tenements,” chiefly owing to the influx from Calais, Hammes, and +Guisnes when those places were lost in Mary’s reign. Many, “wanting +Habitation,” were allowed a “Place belonging to St. Katharine’s.” +The curious name, “Hangman’s Gains,” in that locality was said to be +derived from a corruption of two of the places the refugees came from. + +In Henry VIII.’s time a Guild or Fraternity was “founded in the Church +of this Hospital of St. Katharine to the Honour of St. Barbara.” +Katharine of Aragon and Henry VIII. and Cardinal Wolsey belonged to +it, and many other “honourable persons.” The object was to secure a +home for any “Brother or Sister who fell into Decay of worldly Goods +as by Sekenes or Hurt by the Warrys, or upon Land or See, or by any +other means.” Those belonging to the Fraternity who had paid the full +sum due, namely 10s. 4d., in “money, plate, or any other honest stufe,” +were entitled to fourteen pence a week, house-room and bedding, “and a +woman to wash his clothes and to dresse his mete; and so to continue +Yere by Yere and Weke by Weke durynge his Lyfe,” like a modern benefit +society. The fine old church contained many monuments, some of which +were transferred to the new church when the removal took place. Among +them the effigy of John Holland, Duke of Exeter, and one of his wives, +dating from 1447, reposes under a fine canopy. The stalls and pulpit of +the sixteenth century were also brought to the new building. Thus shorn +of all its associations and all its beauty, the foundation remains, +like a flower ruthlessly transplanted too late to take root and regain +its former charm. + +The Master’s house makes a most delightful residence, and has always +been let. Mr. Marley, the present tenant, who has filled the house +with works of art, has made a very charming garden also, more like an +Italian than an English villa garden, as the view reproduced in this +volume testifies. + +Three Societies occupy pieces of ground within the Park. The most +ancient and least well known is the Toxophilite. Archery has for many +hundred years been practised by the citizens of London. The ground +chosen for shooting was chiefly near Islington, Hoxton, and Shoreditch. +To encourage the use of bows and arrows Henry VIII. ordered Sir +Christopher Morris, Master of Ordnance, to form the “Fraternitye or +Guylde of Saint George” about 1537, and these archers used to shoot +in Spital Fields. About the time of the Spanish Armada the Honourable +Artillery Company was formed, which possessed a company of archers, +and for over two hundred years archery was kept alive by this corps, +and, following them, by the Finsbury Archers. Just at the time when the +corps was abolished Sir Ashton Lever formed the Toxophilite Society +in 1781, and the archers of the Honourable Artillery Company became +merged in the new Society, which then shot on Blackheath. George IV. +belonged to it, and it henceforth became the Royal Toxophilite Society, +and settled on ground given to it in Regent’s Park in 1834, where it +remains, as the lineal descendant of the old historic Guild of Archers. +It possesses several interesting relics; a shield given by Queen Mary, +and silver cups of the Georgian period, besides a valuable collection +of bows and arrows. The hall where the members meet, built when the +Society moved to Regent’s Park, and added to since, has beneath it +some curious cellars with underground passages branching off from +them, which it has been suggested may have been part of the outhouses +belonging to the Royal Manor House, which stood not far off, on ground +now outside the Park. The large iron hooks that were until recently +in the cellar walls, seemed suggestive of venison from the Park for +the royal table. The ground of the Society is suitably laid out, with +a fine sunk lawn for the archery practice. By an arrangement with the +Toxophilite Society, “the Skating Club” have their own pavilion, and +the lawn is flooded during the winter for their use. There is so much +talk about the change of the climate of England, and of the so-called +old-fashioned winters, that the record kept by this Skating Club since +its foundation in 1830 of the number of skating days in each winter is +instructive. Taking the periods of ten years during the first decade, +1830–40, there was an average of 10.2 skating days per winter. In +1833–34 there were none, in 1837–38 thirty-seven days. Between 1850–60 +the average was only 8.5, while the last ten years of the century it +was 16.8. It is difficult to see how any argument could be deduced from +such figures in favour of the excess of cold in the good old days! When +the freezing of the Thames is quoted to prove the case, people forget +that the Thames has completely changed. The narrow piers of old London +Bridge no longer get stopped with ice-floes, and the current is much +more rapid now that the whole length is properly embanked. In the days +when coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple Stairs as in 1684, or +when people dwelt on the Thames in tents for weeks in 1740, all the low +land was flooded and the stream wider and more sluggish. The believers +in the hard winters generally maintain the springs were warmer than +now, May Day more like what poets pictured, even allowing the eleven +days later for our equivalent. But in 1614 there was snow a foot deep +in April, and those who went in search of flowers on May Day only got +snowflakes. In 1698, on May 8th, there was a deep fall of snow all over +England, and many other instances might be quoted. So it seems, though +people may grumble now, their ancestors were no better off. + +In the centre of the ground is the Royal Botanical Society of London, +founded in 1839. At one time the Society was greatly in fashion, and +the membership was eagerly sought after. No doubt such will be the +case again, although for some reason the immense advance in gardening +during the last ten years has not met with the response looked for +from this Society, and hence a certain decrease instead of increase in +popularity--a phase which can but be transitory. The botanical portions +of the grounds illustrative of the natural orders were arranged by +James de Carle Sowerby, son of the author of the well-known “English +Botany,” assisted by Dr. Frederick Farre and others, and the ornamental +part of the garden, with the lake, by Marnoch. The designs were +severely criticised by Loudon in the first instance, who prophesied +failure to the garden, but was well satisfied when the modified plans +were announced. Some of the earliest flower shows in the modern sense +were held there. And this Society was the pioneer in exhibitions of +spring flowers. The first was held in 1862, and was quite a novel +departure, although summer and autumn floral shows had been instituted +for more than thirty years. These exhibitions and fêtes became very +fashionable, and people flocked to them, and numbers joined the +Society. It is always difficult to combine two objects, and this is the +problem the Botanical Society now has to face. It is almost impossible +to keep up the Botanical side and at the same time make a bid for +popular public support by turning the grounds partly into a Tea Garden. +Now that gardening is more the fashion than it has ever been, it is sad +to see this ancient Society taking a back place instead of leading. +It is actual horticulture that now engrosses people, the practical +cultivation of new and rare plants, the raising and hybridising of +florists’ varieties. The time for merely well-kept lawns and artificial +water and a few masses of bright flowers, which was all the public +asked for in the Sixties, has gone by. A thirst for new flowers, for +strange combinations of colours, for revivals of long-forgotten plants +and curious shrubs, has now taken possession of the large circle of +people who profess to be gardeners. Apart from the question whether the +present fashion has taken the best direction for the advancement of +botany and horticulture, it is evident no society can prosper unless it +directs its attention to suit the popular fancy. No doubt this worthy +Society will realise this, and emerge triumphant from its present +embarrassments. + +The third and best known of the societies is the Zoological one. What +London child has not spent moments of supreme joy mingled with awe on +the back of the forbearing elephant? And there are few grown persons +who do not share with them the delight of an hour’s stroll through the +“Zoo.” More than ever, with the improved aviaries and delightful seal +ponds, is the Zoo attractive. It was the first of the three Societies +to settle in the Park, having been there since 1826. Some of the +original buildings were designed by Decimus Burton, who, next to Nash, +is the architect most associated with the Park. The Society was the +idea of Sir Thomas Raffles, who became the first President in 1825. +In three years there were over 12,000 members, and the gardens were +thronged by 30,000 visitors. A pass signed by a member was necessary +for the admission of every party of people, besides the payment of a +shilling each. An abuse of this soon crept in, and people waited at the +gates to attach themselves to the parties entering, and well-dressed +young ladies begged the kindness of members who were seen approaching +the gates. Now only Sunday admittance is dependent on the members. A +Guide to Regent’s Park in 1829 gives engravings of many of the animals, +and shows the summer quarters of the monkeys--most quaint arrangements, +like a pigeon cot on a pole, to which the monkey with chain and ring +was attached, to race up and down at will. + +[Illustration: STONE VASE IN REGENT’S PARK] + +The only alterations of importance after the completion of the Park +were the making of the flower garden, and the filling up of the +artificial water to a uniform depth of 4 feet, after a terrible +accident had occurred in 1867, when the ice broke and forty skaters +lost their lives. The flower-beds are now one of the most attractive +features in the Park, and were originally designed by Nesfield in 1863. +The centre walk continues the line of the “Broad Walk” avenue at its +southern end. In the middle is a fine stone vase supported by griffins, +and other stone ornaments in keeping with the formal style. + +The frame-ground in Regent’s Park has to be a spacious one, to produce +all that is required in the way of spring and summer plants. The fogs +are the greatest enemies of the London gardener, and more especially +on the heavier soil of Regent’s Park. Not even the most hardy of the +bedding-out plants will survive the winter, unless in frames. Even +wall-flowers and forget-me-nots will perish with a single bad night of +fog, unless under glass. Although, on the other hand, it is surprising +how some species apparently unsuited to withstand the climate will +survive. Among the rock plants growing in a private rock-garden within +the Park _Azalia procumbens_, that precarious Alpine, is perfectly at +home. Clumps of _Cypripedium spectabele_ come up and flower year after +year, and _Arnebia echioides_, the prophet flower, by no means easy to +grow, seems quite established. But to return to the frame-ground, from +whence all the bedding plants emanate. Violas are a special feature +in the Park, and one which is much to be commended, as their season +of beauty is so protracted. They are all struck in frames, one row of +fifty-three lights being devoted to them, in which 23,750 cuttings are +put annually. The green-houses are used for storing plants not only for +the decoration of the Park but for some fourteen other places outside. +The Tower, the Law Courts, Mint, Audit Office, the Mercantile Marine +in Poplar, are all supplied from Regent’s Park. The Tate Gallery and +Hertford House have to be catered for also. Whether the visitors to the +Wallace Collection even notice the plants it is impossible to say; they +might miss their absence. But the gardeners have to give these few pots +considerable care, as they will only stand for a very short time +inside the building, and after three weeks’ visit return to hospital. + +[Illustration: SPRING IN REGENT’S PARK] + +Of late years a considerable alteration has been made in the +arrangement of the beds in the flower-garden of the Park, chiefly with +a view to reducing the bedding and yet obtaining a better effect. Long +herbaceous borders have been substituted for one of the rows of formal +beds, requiring a constant succession of plants. This has necessitated +the removal of some of the flowers shown in the view of this garden +taken in the spring. The loss of these is compensated by the new +arrangement of beds, separated from the Park by a hedge and flowering +shrubs. + +Very few of the old trees remain in Regent’s Park; what became +of them between the time when only a portion were marked for the +navy by Cromwell, and the present day, there is no record as yet +forthcoming. Two elms near the flower-garden are, however, remarkably +fine specimens, as the branches feather on to the ground all round. A +_Paulownia tomentosa_ is well worthy of notice. It must have been one +of the earliest to be planted in this country, and is a large spreading +tree. It stands on what is known as the Mound, near Chester Gate. +Nineteen years ago it flowered, and in the unusually warm autumn of +1906 it was covered with buds of blossom, all ready to expand, when, +alas! the long-delayed frost arrived in October, just too soon for them +to come to perfection. Not far from it is a large tree of _Cotoneaster +frigida_, which has masses of red berries every year. + +The railings of Regent’s Park have always been of timber, but it +is now threatened to alter this survival of the days when it first +changed from Marylebone Farm. The present timber fence has stood for +forty years, so even from an economical point of view iron, which +requires painting, could not be recommended. It is to be hoped the old +traditional style of fence of this delightful Park may be continued. + +To the north of Regent’s Park, and only divided from it by a road, +lies Primrose Hill. This curious conical hill, 216 feet high, so well +known as an open space enjoyed by the public, formerly belonged to Eton +College, but became Crown property about the middle of last century, +and is now under the Office of Works, who keep it in order, and have +done all the planting which has of late years improved this otherwise +bare eminence. Some of the guide-books to London refer to the lines +of Mother Shipton’s prophecy that Primrose Hill “must one day be the +centre of London.” The passage this is supposed to be based on, is that +which used to be said to foretell railways, and now people see in it a +foreshadowing of motor cars. At one time also the marriage reference +which is in the same poem was applied to Queen Victoria. The lines are +these-- + + “Carriages without horses shall go, + And accidents fill the world with woe: + Primrose Hill in London shall be, + And in its centre a Bishop’s see. + + * * * * * + + The British Olive next shall twine, + In marriage with the German Vine.” + +The early editions of the prophecy contain none of these lines except +the two last, which are quoted in the 1687 edition, and are there +interpreted to refer to the marriage of Elizabeth, daughter of James +I., and the Elector Palatine. The Primrose Hill lines first made their +appearance in 1877! So, although now quite surrounded by houses, and +well within the County of London, that this would be so in time to +come, was not foretold three hundred years ago. + +The delightfully rural name dates from the time of Queen Elizabeth, and +is said to be derived from the number of primroses which grew there. +The earlier name was Barrow Hill, from supposed ancient burials. After +the mysterious murder of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey in October 1678, his +body was found in a ditch at the foot of the hill. At one time the +superstitious thought his ghost haunted the place, and a contemporary +medal has this inscription-- + + “Godfrey walks up hill after he was dead; + [St.] Denis walks down hill carrying his head.” + +The fresh air and pleasant view from the top of the hill, and the +cheery sounds of games, have long ago dispelled all these gloomy +memories. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GREENWICH PARK + + _Towered cities please us then, + And the busy hum of men, + Where throngs of knights and barons bold + In weeds of peace high triumphs hold, + With store of ladies, whose bright eyes + Rain influence, and judge the prize + Of wit, or arms, while both contend + To win her grace, whom all commend._ + + --MILTON. + + +It would not occur to most people to reckon Greenwich among the +London Parks. But it is well within the bounds of the County of +London, and now so easy of access that it should have no difficulty in +substantiating its claim to be one of the most beautiful among them. +Both for natural features and historic interest it is one of the most +fascinating. + +Its Spanish chestnuts are among the distinguishing characteristics, +and although smoke is slowly telling on them, numbers of these sturdy +timber trees are still in their prime, and it would be hard to find a +more splendid collection in any part of the country. One of the giants +is 20 feet in girth at 3 feet from the ground, and contains 200 feet of +timber. + +Those who are the ready champions of the rights of the people to the +common lands, and who justly inveigh against all encroachments, must +feel bound to admit that, in the case of Greenwich Park, what they +would call pilfering in other instances is thoroughly justified. The +land which forms the Park was part of Blackheath until Henry VI., in +the fifteenth year of his reign, gave his uncle Humphrey, Duke of +Gloucester, licence to enclose 200 acres of the wood and heath “to make +a park in Greenwich.” + +The modern history of Greenwich Park may be said to begin in Duke +Humphrey’s time, but it was a favourite resort long before that. +Situated on the high ground above the marshy banks of the river, and +near the Watling Street between London and Dover, Greenwich was found +suitable for country residence in Roman times. On one of the hills in +the Park, with a commanding view over the river, the remains of a Roman +villa have been excavated. Over 300 coins were found, dating from 35 +B.C. to A.D. 423. Bronzes, pottery, a tesselated pavement, and the +remains of painted plaster were discovered, showing that it must have +been a villa of “taste and elegance,” and there were indications that +the final destruction of this charming abode was by fire. A peep into +the past might reveal the last of its Roman occupants flying before the +barbarian Jute. + +Doubtless in its prime there would be a garden near the villa--perhaps +a faint imitation of those Roman gardens like Pliny’s. There, “in front +of the portico,” was “a sort of terrace, embellished with various +figures and bounded with a box-hedge,” which descended “by an easy +slope, adorned with the representation of divers animals in box,” to a +soft lawn. There were shady trees and a splashing fountain, and sunny +walks to form “a very pleasing contrast,” where the air was “perfumed +with roses.” The slopes of Greenwich may have presented such a scene in +the days when Roman galleys rowed up the Thames. + +In another part of the Park, Roman graves have been found, and other +burying-places of a later date suggest a very different picture from +that of Roman times. These tumuli are very numerous, and although over +twenty remain, a much greater number existed, and have been rifled from +time to time, or excavated, as in 1784, when some fifty were opened, +and braids of human hair, fragments of woollen cloth, and beads were +found. These graves suggest the occupation of these heights by the +Danes, who were encamped there for some three years about 1011. Wild +and lawless must have been the aspect then, and the incident that +stands out prominently is the martyrdom of St. Alphege, the Archbishop, +slain here by the Danes in 1012. + +There was probably some royal residence at Greenwich from the time +of Edward I., but it was not until it came to Humphrey, Duke of +Gloucester, that the Palace much used in Tudor times was built. This +building faced the Thames, and went by the name of “Placentia” or +“Plaisance,” and round it there was a garden. The royal licence, which +gave the Duke leave to enclose a portion of the heath, provided that +he might also build “Towers of stone and lime.” The tower stood on the +hill now crowned by the Observatory, and was pulled down when Charles +II. had the Observatory erected from designs by Wren in 1675. The plan +included a well 100 feet deep, at the bottom of which the astronomer +Flamsteed could lie and observe the heavens. All through the earlier +history of the Park this tower must have been a conspicuous object. +During Tudor times Greenwich was much lived in by the Sovereign, +and many a gay pageant enlivened the Park. Jousts and tournaments, +Christmas games and May Day frolics, were of yearly recurrence in the +early days of Henry VIII. The Court moved there regularly to “bring in +the May.” A picturesque account is given of one of these merry-makings +by the Venetian Ambassador and his Secretary. The Ambassador was +charmed with the King. “Not only,” he writes, is he “very expert in +arms and of great valour, and most excellent in personal endowment, +but is likewise so gifted and adorned with mental accomplishments of +every sort.” He joined in the May Day proceedings, which must indeed +have presented a brilliant spectacle, with the oaks and hawthorn, and +all the wild beauty of Greenwich Park, as a background. Katharine +of Aragon, “most excellently attired and very richly, and with her +twenty-five damsels mounted on white palfreys, with housings of the +same fashion most beautifully embroidered in gold,” and followed by +“a number of footmen,” rode out into the wood, where “they found the +King with his guard, all clad in a livery of green with bowers [boughs] +in their hands, and about 100 noblemen on horseback, all gorgeously +arrayed.” “In this wood were certain bowers filled purposely with +singing birds, which carrolled most sweetly.” Music played, and a +banquet under the trees followed, then the procession with the King and +Queen together returned to the Palace. The crowds flocking round them +the Venetian estimated “to exceed ... 25,000 persons.” + +Queen Mary was born at Greenwich, and there she was betrothed to +the Dauphin of France. She resided here much during her short and +troublous reign; and perhaps her fondness for this Palace came from the +association of her early youth, when she was the centre of attraction. +Greenwich cannot always have been pleasant for the Princess Mary, for +here came Anne Boleyn. From Greenwich she was escorted in state to +London by the Lord Mayor, who was summoned by the King to fetch her, +and from Greenwich she was taken up the river, her last melancholy +journey to the Tower. The oak under which Henry VIII. is said to have +danced with her is still standing. It is a huge, old, hollow stem, +though quite dead, kept upright by the ivy. The trunk has a hole 6 feet +in diameter, and it is known as Queen Elizabeth’s Oak, as tradition +also says she took refreshments inside it. It was fitted with a door, +and those who transgressed the rules of the Park were confined in +this original prison. It was at Greenwich that Queen Elizabeth was +born; and to Greenwich Henry brought his fourth bride, when poor Anne +Boleyn’s short-lived favour was at an end, and Jane Seymour dead. The +less beautiful Anne of Cleves, who so signally failed to please the +King, was escorted in state from Calais by thirty gentlemen, with their +servants, “in cotes of black velvet with cheines of gold about their +neckes.” On January 3, 1540, the King rode up from the Palace to meet +her on Blackheath with noblemen, knights, and gentlemen, and citizens, +all in velvet with gold chains. The King rode a horse with rich +trappings of gold damask studded with pearls, a coat of purple velvet +slashed with gold, and a bonnet decorated with “unvalued gems.” Anne +came out of her tent on the Heath to meet him, clad in cloth of gold, +and mounted on a horse with trappings embroidered with her arms, a lion +sable. She rode right through the Park from the Black Heath to the +northern gate and round through the town to the Palace, the guns firing +from the Tower in her honour. + +It was at Greenwich that the boy king, Edward VI., died, and Mary and +Elizabeth were constantly there. Their state barges bearing them to and +from the Palace must have been no uncommon sight on the Thames. It was +on landing on one of these occasions that the famous episode of Sir +Walter Raleigh laying his cloak in the mud for the Queen to tread on, +happened. One of the many brilliant scenes in the Park took place after +Elizabeth’s accession, when the citizens of London, overjoyed, wished +to give her a very special greeting. It was on July 2, 1559, that “the +City of London entertained the Queen at Greenwich with a muster, each +Company sending out a certain number of men-at-arms” (1400 in all), “to +her great delight.... On the 1st of July they marched out of London in +coats of velvet and chaines of gold, with guns, moris pikes, halberds, +and flags; and so over London Bridge unto the Duke of Suffolk’s Park +in Southwark; where they all mustered before the Lord Mayor, and lay +abroad in St. George’s Fields all that night. The next morning they +removed towards Greenwich to the Court there; and thence to Greenwich +Park. Here they tarried till eight of the clock; then they marched down +into the Lawn, and mustered in arms: all the gunners in shirts of mail. +At five of the clock at night the Queen came into the gallery over the +Park Gate, with the Ambassadors, Lords, and Ladies, to a great number. +The Lord Marquis, Lord Admiral, Lord Dudley, and divers other Lords and +Knights, rode to and fro to view them, and to set the two battles in +array to skirmish before the Queen: then came the trumpets to blow on +each part, the drums beating, and the flutes playing. There were given +three onsets in every battle; the guns discharged on one another, the +moris pikes encountered together with great alarm; each ran to their +weapons again, and then they fell together as fast as they could, in +imitation of close fight. All this while the Queen, with the rest of +the Nobles about her, beheld the skirmishings.... After all this, Mr. +Chamberlain, and divers of the Commons of the City and the Wiflers, +came before her Grace, who thanked them heartily, and all the City: +whereupon immediately was given the greatest shout as ever was heard, +with hurling up of caps. And the Queen shewed herself very merry. After +this was a running at tilt. And lastly, all departed home to London.” + +This fête took place on a Sunday, and the time between the muster and +the fight was probably mostly spent in refreshment. The account for +the supplies of the “Mete and Drynke” for 1st day of July and Sunday +night supper is preserved. They were far from being starved, as, among +other items, 9 geese, 14 capons, 8 chickens, 3 quarters and 2 necks of +mutton, 4 breasts of veal, beside a sirloin of beef, venison pasties, 8 +marrow-bones, fresh sturgeon, 3 gallons of cream, and other delicacies +were provided for them. Floral decorations in their honour were not +forgotten, and appear in the accounts--“gely flowers and marygolds for +iii garlands, 7d.; strawynge herbes, 1/4; bowes for the chemneys, 1d.; +flowers for the potts in the wyndowys, 6d.” + +There is no end to the gay scenes that the Park and even some of +the most ancient trees have witnessed. “Goodly banquetting houses” +were built of “fir poles decked with birch branches and all manner +of flowers both of the field and garden, as roses, gilly flowers, +lavender, marigold, and all manner of strewing herbs and rushes” (10th +July 1572); and many a brilliant pageant took place under the greenwood +tree as well as in the Palace, where Shakespeare acted before the Queen. + +Although the days of sumptuous pageantry ended with Elizabeth, much was +done for Greenwich by the Stuarts. James I. replaced the wooden fence +of the Park by a brick wall, 12 feet high and 2 miles round. At various +times sections have been altered or replaced by iron rails, but the +greater part of the wall remains as completed between 1619–25. + +The “Queen’s House,” which is the only portion of the older building +which still exists, was begun under James I., and completed by Inigo +Jones for Queen Henrietta Maria. It was called the House of Delight or +the Queen’s House, and still bears the latter title. Although the sale +does not appear to have been actually completed, Greenwich is among the +Royal Parks the Parliament intended to sell. The deer at the time must +have been numerous and in good condition, for during the Commonwealth +the fear of their being stolen was such, that soldiers were posted +in the tower for their preservation. Not any great change, however, +took place; the Park remained as it was until completely remodelled by +Charles II. + +Le Nôtre’s name is associated with the changes at Greenwich, as it is +with those in St. James’s Park, and the style was undoubtedly his; +but it is not at all likely that he ever actually came to England, +but sent some representative who helped to carry out his ideas. The +alterations were under the superintendence of Sir William Boreman, +who became Keeper of the Park about that date. In March 1644 John +Evelyn made a note in his Diary about planting some trees at his house +of Sayes Court, Deptford, and adds, “being the same year that the +elms were planted by His Majesty in Greenwich Park.” The avenues and +all the fine sweet chestnuts were planted about this time, besides +coppices and orchards. John Evelyn must have approved of these +avenues, as in his “Sylva” he praises the chestnut for “Avenues to our +Country-houses; they are a magnificent and royal Ornament.” Their nuts +were not appreciated in England. “We give that food to our swine,” +Evelyn continues, “which is amongst the delicacies of Princes in other +Countries; ... doubtless we might propagate their use amongst our +common people ... being a Food so cheap and so lasting.” + +A series of terraces sloping down from the tower formed part of the +design, and their outline can still be traced between the Observatory +and the Queen’s House, which faces the hill at the foot. Each terrace +was 40 yards wide, and on either side Scotch firs were planted 24 +feet apart. These trees were brought by General Monk from Scotland in +1664, and until forty years ago many were standing, and the line of +the avenue was still traceable; some of the trunks measured 4 feet in +diameter at the ground. Smoke tells so much more on all the coniferous +tribes than on the deciduous trees, that they have all now perished. +The last dead stump had to be felled some ten years ago. The old Palace +was much gone to decay when Charles II. began the alterations, so he +pulled it down with the exception of the Queen’s House, the only part +said to be in good repair, and commenced a vast building designed by +Wren, one wing of which only was completed in his reign. + +Pepys, who always did the right and fashionable thing, of course +often went to Greenwich, and mentions many pleasant days there. On +one occasion (June 16, 1662) he went “in the afternoon with all the +children by water to Greenwich, where I showed them the King’s yacht, +the house, and the parke, all very pleasant; and to the taverne, +and had the musique of the house, and so merrily home again.” This +excursion having been so successful, he soon after escorted Lady +Carteret with great pride, “she being very fine, and her page carrying +up her train, she staying a little at my house, and then walked +through the garden, and took water, and went first on board the King’s +pleasure-boat, which pleased her much. Then to Greenwiche Parke; and +with much ado she was able to walk up to the top of the hill, and so +down again, and took boat....” His wife and servants, unencumbered +by the fine clothes and the page, had evidently not minded the steep +ascent as did this “fine” lady, who, however, was “much pleased with +the ramble in every particular of it.” + +Greenwich Fair was always a great institution, and as a rule it was a +riotous and disorderly gathering. Two took place each year, in May and +October, and lasted several days. During the seventeenth and following +centuries the fairs were notorious, and finally had to be suppressed in +the middle of the nineteenth. + +When William III. altered the building of Charles II. from a palace +to a hospital for seamen in 1694 the Park was kept separate, and the +Ranger lived in the “Queen’s House.” It was not until Princess Sophia +held the office in 1816 that the residence was changed to the house +which still goes by the name of the Ranger’s Lodge, and was lived in +by the last Ranger, Lord Wolseley. This Ranger’s House had formerly +belonged to Lord Chesterfield, and many of the famous letters to his +godson are dated from there. No special feature in the garden, which +was thrown open to the public with the Park in 1898, can be attributed +to him. He was not, as Lord Carnarvon’s memoir of him points out, fond +of the country; though he “took some interest in growing fruit in his +garden at Blackheath, he had no love for his garden like Bacon” or Sir +William Temple. There are some fine trees in the grounds, especially +a copper beech, with a spread 57 feet in diameter, and a good tulip +tree. Queen Caroline, as Princess of Wales, was Ranger in 1806, and +lived in Montague House, since pulled down, and the “Queen’s House” was +appropriated to the Royal Naval School. At the same time the “Ranger’s” +was inhabited by the Duchess of Brunswick, her mother, and it was on +her death that it was purchased by the Crown, and Princess Sophia, +daughter of the Duke of Gloucester, came to live there as Ranger. The +last royal personage to stay in the house was the Duke of Connaught, +when studying at Woolwich; and now it serves as refreshment rooms for +the numberless trippers who enjoy Greenwich Park in the summer. + +The most recent changes in the Park have all been improvements, and +now it is beautifully kept. There is much that is still wild, and the +flora and fauna of the Park would astonish many. Among the wild flowers +butcher’s broom, spindle, and the parasites on the heather and the +broom, dodder and broom-rape are to be found, and hart’s-tongue, wall +rue, polypody and male and lady ferns. The list of birds that breed +there still is a long one:-- + + Barndoor owl. + Spotted fly-catcher. + Missel and the song thrush. + Blackbird. + Hedge sparrow. + Robin. + Sedge and reed warblers. + Black-cap. + White-throat. + The great, blue, and cole tits. + Pied wagtail. + Common bunting. + House sparrow. + Greenfinch. + Linnet. + Bullfinch. + Starling. + Carrion crow. + Jackdaw. + Green woodpecker. + Tree creeper. + Wren. + Nuthatch. + Swallow. + Ring, turtle, and stock doves. + Pigeon. + Moorhen. + Lesser grebe. + +The part of the Park fenced off and known as the Wilderness is quiet +and undisturbed; there under the big trees, among long grass and +bracken, the young fawns are reared every year. They are most confiding +and tame--those in the Park too much so; for they are only too ready to +eat what is given them, and tragic deaths from a surfeit of orange-peel +or such-like delights are the result. + +The lake is prettily planted, and red marliac varieties of water-lilies +now float on the surface in the summer. The dell, planted with a +large collection of flowering shrubs, is well arranged, and many +choice varieties, _Solanum crispum_, gum cistus, magnolias, _Buddlea +intermedia_, _Indigofera gerardiana floribunda_, and such-like are +doing well. The frame-ground is most unostentatious, and it is +satisfactory to see how much can be produced. The climate allows of the +spring bedding plants and hardy chrysanthemums for autumn being raised +out of doors; and the small amount of glass shelters the standard +heliotropes, _Streptosolens Jamesoni_, and the like for bedding. Lilies +do well in the open; _superbum_, tiger, _thunbergium_, _Henryii_, +&c., and pots of _longifolium_ flower strongly after doing duty for +three years. There is now a fair-sized garden, where these plants are +displayed, near the Wilderness, adjoining Blackheath; while the rest +of the Park, with the deer wandering under the chestnuts, is still +left delightfully wild. Under the shady trees on a summer’s day it +would still be possible to dream of Romans and Danes, of pageants and +tournaments, and to people the scene with the heroes and heroines of +yore. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +MUNICIPAL PARKS + + _Let cities, kirks, and everie noble towne + Be purified, and decked up and downe._ + + --ALEXANDER HUME (1557–1609). + + +London is almost completely surrounded by a chain of parks. Luckily, +as the town grew, the necessity for fresh air began to be realised, +and before it was too late, in the thickly-populated districts north, +south, east, and west, any available open space has been converted +into a public garden, or into a more ambitious park. Would that this +laudable spirit had moved people sooner, and then there might have been +a Finsbury Park nearer Finsbury, and the circle of green patches on the +map might have been more evenly dotted about some of the intervening +parishes. Many of the open spaces are heaths, or commons, or Lammas +Lands, which have various rights attached to them, and, in consequence, +have been saved from the encroachments which have threatened them from +time to time, and have thus been preserved, in spite of the growth +of the surrounding districts. Of late years the rights have in many +instances been acquired by public bodies, so as to keep for ever these +priceless boons. It was not until the middle of last century that the +movement in favour of city parks assumed definite form. They were in +contemplation before 1840, but none were completed until several years +later. Victoria was the first, opened in 1845; Battersea, although +begun then, was not ready for planting till 1857; Kennington, Finsbury, +and Southwark had followed before 1870, and, since then, every few +years new open spaces have been added. They have been purchased by +public bodies for the most part, but a large share of the honour of +acquiring these grounds is due to private munificence and individual +enterprise. + +Irrespective of the commons which link them together, the principal +parks are the following. Beginning on the extreme north there is +Golder’s Hill, then to the east of Hampstead lies Waterlow, the next +going eastwards is Finsbury, then Clissold and Springfield, and down +towards the east Victoria. In South London, between Woolwich and +Greenwich, lies Maryon Park; then, west of Greenwich, Deptford and +Southwark; then a densely built-over district before Kennington, +Vauxhall, and Battersea are reached; while away to the south lie +Camberwell, Ruskin, Brockwell, and Dulwich; right away into the +country, on the south-east, Avery Hill and Eltham; and back again +west, across the river again, in Hammersmith, is Ravenscourt. These +parks of varying sizes, and smaller recreation grounds between, make +up the actual parks, although some of the commons, with playgrounds, +artificial water, and band-stands, can hardly be distinguished from the +true park. + +The oldest of the parks now under the London County Council--Battersea, +Kennington, and Victoria--were for many years under the Office of +Works, and on the same footing as the Royal Parks. Government, and no +municipal authority, has the credit of their formation. Then came +several formed by or transferred to the Metropolitan Board of Works. +To all these, already over 2050 acres, the London County Council +automatically succeeded. After the Bill reorganising the disposal of +the funds of the London Parochial Charities in 1883, a part of their +money was allotted to provide open spaces, and they helped to purchase +many of the parks--Clissold, Vauxhall, Ravenscourt, Brockwell, and so +on. The acquisition of parks has, in many cases, been due to private +individuals, who helped to raise the necessary funds, and themselves +contributed, and were generally assisted by the local vestries, +and, later on, Borough Councils. Miss Octavia Hill, by writing and +trying to influence public opinion, made many efforts to secure open +spaces. At her instance the Kyrle Society was founded for the general +improvement of homes, of disused burial-grounds, and open spaces; and +from this developed the Metropolitan Gardens Association, of which +the Earl of Meath is Chairman. Immense credit is due to this Society, +both for acquiring new sites and beautifying existing ones, and being +instrumental in having countless places opened to the public. And to +private individuals who have given whole parks, or largely contributed +to others, too much gratitude cannot be expressed. Since they came into +office, the London County Council has had added some 2300 acres of open +spaces and parks to those under its care, which have been purchased, +or given in whole or in part, by private individuals or other public +bodies. Some of the last acquisitions of the London County Council lie +quite outside the county boundary, so are beyond the limit set to this +volume. Marble Hill is away at Twickenham, but half the purchase-money +of £72,000 was paid by the London County Council, and the entire cost +of alteration and maintenance is found by it. The place was bought +chiefly to preserve the wooded aspect of the view from Richmond Hill. +The Forest of Hainault is also outside the bounds, near Epping. The +805 acres there are partly fields, and in part the remains of the old +Forest of “Hyneholt,” as it was often written, a section of the Royal +Forest which covered a large tract of Essex. + +The most natural division, when dealing with these open spaces, is +the river, and it is a division which strikes a fairly even balance. +Including Royal Parks, which contain some 1266 acres, the northern side +can claim the larger area, as, irrespective of squares and churchyards +and gardens, there are about 3141 acres of green. The south side has +only Greenwich Park of 185 acres of Royal Park, and, exclusive of that, +there are quite 2169 acres, as against 1875 of the municipal areas on +the northern side, when the Crown land is deducted. Besides these, +there are 226 acres maintained by the Borough Councils; so in round +numbers London has about 5721 acres of open space. These figures are +only rough estimates, and do not include all the smaller recreation +grounds or gardens of less than an acre. + +These parks scattered around London are enjoyed by hundreds of +thousands annually, and yet, to a comparative handful of people who +live near Hyde Park, they are as much unexplored country as the regions +of Timbuctoo. The bicycling craze of ten years ago suddenly brought +Battersea Park into fashion; but the miles of crowded streets, with +their rushing trams and top-heavy omnibuses, put a considerable bar +between the “West End” and those more distant favoured spots. There +is much variety in these parks, both north and south, and the chief +difference lies in their origin. When a suburban manor-house, standing +in its own grounds, with well-timbered park and a garden of some +design, has been acquired, a much finer effect is produced than when +fields or market-gardens have been bought up and made into a park. + +Finsbury Park, for instance, was merely fields, while Waterlow has +always been part of a private demesne. It is the same on the south of +the river. Brockwell is an old park and garden. Battersea was entirely +made. Each park has features which give it an individual character, +while there is and must be a certain repetition in describing every one +separately. + +Many details are of necessity more or less the same in each. The London +County Council is responsible for the greater number, and in every +case they have thought certain things essential. For instance, the +band-stand; no park, large or small, is considered complete without +one. It is hardly necessary to mention each individually, though some +are of the ordinary patterns, others more “rustic” in construction (as +in Brockwell Park), with branching oak supports and thatched or tiled +roofs. Every park, except Waterlow, which is too hilly, furnishes ample +area for games. Cricket pitches by the dozen, and space for numerous +goal-posts is provided for, in each and all of the larger parks. +Gymnasiums, too, are included in the requirements of a fully-equipped +park. Swings for the smaller children, bars, ropes, and higher swings +for older boys and girls, are supplied. Bathing pools of greater +or less dimensions are often added, the one in Victoria Park being +especially large and crowded. Then the larger parks have green-houses, +and a succession of plants are on view all the year round. The +chrysanthemum time is one specially looked forward to in the East End +districts. Iron railings and paths, of course, are the inevitable +beginnings in the creation of a park, and more or less ambitious gates. +It is only in the larger ones, such as Finsbury, Victoria, Dulwich, +and Battersea, that carriages are anticipated. Though there is a drive +through Brockwell, and the steep hill in Waterlow might be climbed, and +the avenue in Ravenscourt is wide enough, it is evidently only foot +passengers who are expected, as a rule. Fancy ducks and geese attract +the small children on all the ponds, and some parks have enclosures for +deer or other animals. Sand gardens, or “seasides” for children to dig +in, are also frequently included. + +The larger parks are self-contained--that is to say, the bedding out +and all the plants necessary for the flower-gardens are reared on the +premises. There is a frame-ground with green-houses attached, where the +stock is kept and propagated. Of course, much depends on the soil and +locality. In some parks the things will stand the winter much better +than in others, where fog and smoke and damp work deadly havoc. + +A great deal is now done with simple, hardy flowers, which give just as +good an effect as more elaborate and expensive bedding. Roses in the +show beds will do well for two or even three years; with a few annuals +between they make charming effects. In Finsbury Park, the dark red +roses with Canterbury bells, and fuchsias with a ground of alyssum, +were effective and simple. In some parks the spring plants will thrive +all through the winter. Beds of white Arabis with pink tulips between; +forget-me-nots with white tulips; mixed collections of auriculas, that +dear old-fashioned “bear’s ears,” put in about the end of October, make +a little show all the winter, and produce a mass of colour in spring. +There is still room for improvement in the direction of the planting, +but of late years the war waged against the monopoly of calceolarias, +geraniums, and blue lobelias has, fortunately, had its effect in a +marked degree on the London Parks, municipal as well as royal. + +There is apt to be a great uniformity in the selection of plants, +more especially among the trees and bushes. The future should always +be borne in mind in planting, and alas! that is not always the case. +Anything that will grow quickly is often put in, whereas a little +patience and a much finer effect would be the result in the end. +Privet grows faster than holly, but can the two results be compared? +There is a very fine old elm avenue in Ravenscourt; trees which the +planter never saw in perfection, but which many generations have since +enjoyed. But will the avenue of poplars in Finsbury Park have such a +future? After thirty-five years’ growth they are considerable trees, +but how long will they last? The plane does grow remarkably well, there +is no denying, but is it necessary for that reason to exclude almost +every other tree? Ash trees thrive surprisingly. Some of the oaks take +kindly to London, yet how few are planted. Richard Jefferies, that most +delightful of writers on nature, bemoans the lack of English trees +in the suburban gardens of London, and the same may be said of the +parks to some extent. “Go round the entire circumference of Greater +London,” he writes, “and find the list ceaselessly repeated. There are +acacias, sumachs, cedar deodaras, araucarias, laurels, planes, beds +of rhododendrons, and so on.” “If, again, search were made in these +enclosures for English trees and English shrubs, it would be found that +none have been introduced.” + +It would be even more charming in a London Park than a suburban garden +to plant some of the delights of our English country, such as thorns, +crab apples, elder, and wild roses, with horse-chestnuts, and hazel. +What can be more beautiful than birches at all times of the year? That +they grow readily, their well-washed white stems in Hyde Park testify. +Birds, too, love the native trees, and some of the songsters, which +till lately were plentiful in many parks, might return to build if thus +encouraged. + +There is much monotony in the laying out of all these parks. The +undulating green turf with a wavy line of bushes seems the only +recognised form. A narrow strip of herbaceous plants is put between the +smutty bushes and well-mown turf, and the official park flower-border +is produced. Curving lines of uncertain direction, tortuous paths +that carefully avoid the straight line, are all part of the generally +received idea of a correct outline. It is always more easy to criticise +than to suggest, but surely more variety would be achieved if parks +were planted really like wild gardens--the groups of plants more +as they might occur in a natural glade or woodland. Then let the +herbaceous border be a thing apart--a garden, straight and formal, +or curved and round, but not always in bays and promontories jutting +into seas of undulating green. A straight line occasionally is a +great rest to the eye, but it should begin and end at a definite and +tangible point. The small Park in Camberwell has a little avenue of +limes running straight across, with a centre where seats can be put +and paths diverge at right angles. It is quite small, and yet the Park +would be exactly like every other piece of ground, with no particular +design, without this. It gives a point and centre to the meandering +paths, and comes as a distinct relief. In Southwark Park an avenue is +growing up into fairly large trees. It seems stuck on to the Park--it +is not straight, but it is not a definite curve, and it ends somehow by +turning towards the entrance at one end and twisting in the direction +of the pond at the other. So it remains a shady walk, but not an avenue +with any pretension to forming part of a design. + +It is not for the formal only this appeal is made, it is for less +formality and more real wildness, also a protest against the monotony +of the green banks, and bunches of bushes, and meaningless curves, too +often the only form of design. The aim in every case must be to have as +much variety as possible without incongruity, and to make the utmost +use of the ground; to give the most pleasure at the least expense. + +One of the great difficulties must always be the numbers of people who +enjoy these parks. The grass suffers to such an extent that portions +must be periodically enclosed to recover. Then the children have to +be kept at a certain distance from the flowers, or the temptation to +gather one over-masters the fear of the park-keeper. + +A green walk between trees would be a pleasing change from gravel and +asphalt in a less-frequented part of some park, but it would doubtless +have to be closed in sections, or there would soon be no turf left; +but such an experiment might well be tried. The attempts in Brockwell, +Golder’s Hill, and Ravenscourt at “old English gardens” are most +successful, and a welcome change in the monotony, and one has only to +look at the crowded seats to see how much they are appreciated. + +The effort to make use of the parks to supplement nature-teaching in +the schools is also an advance in the right direction, and one that +could be followed up with advantage. + +The trials of the climate of London, and the hurtful fogs, must not +be forgotten when criticising. They are no new thing, and gardeners +for two hundred years have had to contend with the smoke, and wage +war against its effects. But the evil has, of course, become greatly +intensified during the last fifty years. Fairchild, the author of the +“City Gardener,” in 1722, regrets that plants will not prosper because +of the “Sea Coal.” Mirabeau, writing from London in 1784, deplores +the fogs in England, and especially “those of London. The prodigious +quantity of coal that is consumed, adds to their consistence, prolongs +their duration, and eminently contributes to render these vapours more +black, and more suffocating--you feel this when rising in the morning. +To breathe the fresh morning air is a sort of happiness you cannot +enjoy in this immense Capital.” Yet in spite of this gloomy picture +there are trees now within the London area, which were getting black +when Mirabeau wrote. Smuts are by no means solely responsible for trees +dying. There are many other contributory causes. The drainage and want +of water is often a serious danger, and bad pruning in the case of the +younger trees is another. When branches begin to die, it is a very +safe and salutary precaution to lop them off, as has lately been done +to such a noticeable extent in Kensington Gardens. But the cutting and +pruning of trees by those employed by various municipal bodies is often +lamentably performed. The branches are not cut off clean, or to a +joint, where fresh twigs will soon sprout and fill in and make good the +gaps. Often they are cut leaving a piece of wood, which decays back to +the young growth, and rots into the sound part of the tree. + +Some of the worst enemies of the gardener are the electric +power-stations. The trees suffer terribly from the smoke they emit. +Even healthy young shrubs and bushes, such as laurels, are destroyed +by it. In a very short time they become completely dried up, brown, +and shrivelled. In a memorandum on the Electric Power and Supply Bill +of 1906, the First Commissioner of Works pointed out these disastrous +effects. He says, “The case is not entirely one of the emission or +consumption of black or sooty or tarry matters. The other products of +combustion, such as sulphurous and sulphuric acid, with solid particles +of mineral matter or ash, are very deleterious to vegetation.” It +appears from the report of Dr. Thorpe, of the Government Laboratory, +that the production of sulphuric acid could be “much diminished, if not +entirely prevented, by pouring lime-water on the coal before it goes +into the furnaces, but from the look of trees in some neighbourhoods +this precaution does not appear to be taken.” These hindrances are +often very disheartening, and the many and serious difficulties that +have to be contended with, must never be lost sight of in any review of +the parks. + +In every case the park is thoroughly appreciated by the inhabitants, +and no one can overestimate the health-giving properties of these +lungs of the city. It would be vain repetition to point out the fact +in each case, or to picture the crowds who enjoy them on Sundays--who +walk about, or lounge, or listen to the bands, or to what appears +still more stimulating, to the impassioned harangue of some would-be +reformer or earnest preacher. The densely-packed audiences, the +gesticulations and heated and declamatory arguments, are not confined +to Hyde Park. Victoria Park gathers just such assemblies, and every +park could make more or less the same boast. The seats are equally full +in each and all, and the grass as thickly strewn with prostrate forms. +Perambulators are as numerous and children as conspicuous in the north, +south, and eastern parks as in those of the west. + +In looking round the parks it will be well to take a glance at the +smaller ones, then to consider each of the larger ones more in detail, +in every case missing out some of the obvious appendages which are +characteristic of all. + +How pathetic some of these little parks are, and what a part they play +in the lives of those who live in the dingy streets near. Take, for +instance, one with a high-sounding name, Avondale Park. It is little +more than ten minutes’ walk from Shepherd’s Bush Station or Notting +Hill Gate. Yet, on inquiry for the most direct road, nobody can give +a satisfactory answer. One man will say, “I have lived here for years +and never heard of it”; another, “I don’t think it can be in this +district.” The same would be the result even nearer to it; but ask +for the recreation ground, and any child will tell you. “Down the +first narrow turning and to the right again, by the pawnbroker at the +corner.” It is a melancholy shop, with the plain necessaries of life +and tiny babies’ boots for sale on the trays outside the door--what +a volume of wretchedness and poverty those poor things bespeak. A +few yards further, and the iron railings of the “Park” come in view. +The happy shrill voices of children resound, the swings are in full +motion, the seats well filled, and up and down the asphalt walk, old +and young are enjoying themselves. When the band plays the place is +packed. “I’ve calculated as many as nine hundred at one time,” says +the old guardian, who is proud of the place, “and as for the children, +you often can’t see the ground for them.” Yes, this open space of four +and a quarter acres is really appreciated. It is difficult for those +in easier circumstances to realise what a difference that little patch +of green, those few bright flowers, make to the neighbourhood, or the +social effect of the summer evenings, when the band and the pleasant +trees offer a counter-attraction to the public-house. For some twelve +years this little Park has been enjoyed. Formed by the vestry, and kept +up by the Royal Borough of Kensington, it greatly pleases, although +it scarce can be called beautiful. The centre is given over to the +children, and the boys have ample room, and the girls and infants keep +their twenty-four swings in constant motion. A path twists round the +irregular plot, and most of the way is bordered by those London-loving +plants, the iris, and the usual groups of smutty bushes. Along the +front runs a wide asphalt walk, well furnished with seats, a band-stand +half way, and a fountain at one end. Some bedding out with gay flowers +is the attraction here. A gardener and a boy keep it in order, +while for about £20 a year a nurseryman supplies all the necessary +bedding-out plants. The old guardian sweeps the scraps of paper up and +sees the children are not too riotous at the swings. Thus, for no great +expense, widespread pleasure is conferred. + +The Embankment Gardens, between Westminster and Blackfriars, are much +frequented. At all seasons of the year the seats are crowded, and now, +with the statues, bands playing in summer, refreshment buffet, and +newspaper kiosk, they look more like a foreign garden than the usual +solemn squares of London. During the dinner-hour they are filled with +the printers from the many newspaper offices near, and the band was in +the first instance paid for by the Press. + +They are divided into three sections, and measure ten acres in all, +not including the garden beyond the Victoria Tower. The peace has been +utterly destroyed by the din of trams, which are for ever passing and +re-passing, and it is much to be feared that the trees next the river, +which were growing so well, will not withstand the ill-treatment they +have received--the cutting of roots and depriving them of moisture. +The Gardens are entirely on the ground made up when the Embankment was +formed, between 1864 and 1870. + +The Gardens were opened in 1870, but many improvements have since been +made in the design, and various statues put up to famous men. One +is to John Stuart Mill, and at the Westminster end, one of William +Tyndall, the translator of the New Testament and Pentateuch, to which +translation is due much of the beautiful language of the Authorised +Version of the Bible. + +Of the old gardens and entrances to the great houses which stretched +the whole length of the river bank, from Westminster and Whitehall to +the City, only one trace remains. It is the Water Gate of York House. +The low level on which it stands, below the terrace end of Buckingham +Street, shows to what point the river rose. York House was so called +as it was the town house of the Archbishops of York, but none of them +ever lived there except Heath, in Queen Mary’s time, who was the first +to possess it. It was let, as a rule, to the Keepers of the Great Seal, +and Bacon lived there. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, pulled +down most of the old house, and commenced rebuilding. Nothing now +remains but the Water Gate, supposed to be by Inigo Jones, although the +design is also attributed to Nicholas Stone, who built it. The house +and gardens were sold and divided in 1672. Buckingham Street and the +streets adjoining are built on the site, and all that is left is the +fine old gateway, with most modern-looking gardens between it and the +river, which once flowed up to its arches. + +Another Embankment recreation ground is the Island Garden, Poplar, and +it is one that is also much appreciated. It was made on some ground +not required for ship-building or docks on the river front of the Isle +of Dogs, and opened to the public in 1895. The idea of making a garden +of it had for some few years been in contemplation, and as soon as the +necessary funds were found, this space, somewhat less than three acres, +was saved from being built over, and a wide walk of about 700 feet made +along the river embankment. The view from the seats, with which it is +plentifully supplied, over towards Greenwich Hospital and Park makes +it a really charming promenade. The quaint name of this part of London +is said to be derived from the fact that the kennels of the sporting +dogs of the royal residents of Greenwich Palace were kept there, “which +usually making a great noise, the seamen and others thereupon called +the place the Isle of Dogs.” This seems the most plausible of the +various definitions of the name of this peninsula--for it is only an +island by means of the dock canal, made in 1800. A quotation from a +play of Middleton and Dekker, in 1611, shows that then, at any rate, it +was associated with actual dogs. + +“_Moll Cutpurse_: O Sir, he hath been brought up in the Isle of Dogs, +and can both fawn like a spaniel and bite like a mastiff, as he finds +occasion.” + +The ground in those days and until much later times was a fertile +marsh, subject to frequent inundations, but affording very rich +pasture. Breaches in the embankment occurred at intervals until a solid +pile and brick wall was made in the last century, above which the +“Island Gardens” were laid. + +Further along the north bank of the river there is another and a larger +garden, kept up by the London County Council, although it is in East +Ham and not within the County of London. This was made on the site of +the North Woolwich Tea Gardens, which enjoyed a kind of popularity +for some fifty years. Having been started in 1851, they kept up their +reputation for “Baby Shows,” “Beard Shows,” and such-like attractions, +until the ground became too valuable for building, and too heavily +rated for them to exist, and, but for timely interference, this open +space would have been converted into wharves. + +The story of the Bethnal Green Gardens is very different. Although +it was only in 1891 that the present arrangements with regard to +keeping up the Gardens were established, the 15½ acres of which +they form part has a long history. As far back as 1667 the land was +purchased by a group of residents, who collectively subscribed £200, +and by a trust-deed dated 1690 conveyed the land to trustees, to be +administered for the benefit of the poor. It had been purchased and +enclosed, the deed specified, “for the prevention of any new building +thereon.” Of this ground 9 acres form the present Garden; on part of +the remainder St. John’s Church was built, and in 1872 the Bethnal +Green Museum, an offshoot from South Kensington, was opened on another +section. The most exhaustive work on Municipal Parks says that when +the land “came into the possession of the London County Council” it +“consisted of orchard, paddock, kitchen garden, and pleasure grounds, +all in a rough and neglected condition.” Under the levelling hand of +the London County Council it has been made to look exactly like every +other public garden, with “ornamental wrought-iron enclosing fences, +broad walks, shrubberies,” and so on, at a cost of over £5000, and was +opened in 1895. There is no trace of its former condition, nothing to +point to its antiquity or any difference in its appearance from the +most modern acquisition. Perhaps after all it is as well, for among +the thousands of that poor and crowded district that use and enjoy it, +there is not one to whom a passing thought of the old weavers who were +settled there when the land was given, or to whom the legend of pretty +Bessee the Blind Beggar’s daughter of Bethnal Green would occur. Though +the design is prosaic, the gardens are made cheerful and gay, and if +they add a gleam of brightness to the lives of toil of those living +near them, they must be said to fulfil their purpose. + + +VICTORIA PARK + +Victoria Park was the first of the modern Parks to be laid out, and it +is the largest. When the advantage of an East End Park was admitted, +the work of forming one was carried out by the Commissioners of Woods +and Forests. An Act passed in 1840 enabled them to sell York House to +the Duke of Sutherland (hence it became Stafford House), for £72,000, +and to purchase about 290 acres of land in the East End in the parishes +of Hackney, Bethnal Green, and Bow. Part of this was reserved for +building improved dwellings, and 193 acres formed Victoria Park, the +laying out of which began in 1842. Thirty years later, when some of +the land adjoining was about to be built on, the Metropolitan Board +of Works bought some 24 acres to add to the Park, the whole of which, +including the new part, was under the Office of Works. Other additions +have been made from time to time, chiefly with a view to opening +entrances to the Park, so as to make it as easy of access as possible +from the crowded districts in the direction of Limehouse and the docks, +and round Mile End Road. + +The ground which the Park covers was chiefly brick-fields and +market-gardens, and Bishop’s Hall Farm. The latter place is the only +part with any historical association. The farm was in the manor of +Stepney, which was held by the Bishops of London, and Bishop’s or +Bonner’s Hall was the Manor House. Many of the Bishops of London +resided here in early days. Stowe, in 1598, referring to Bishop Richard +de Gravesend in 1280, writes: “It appeareth by the Charter [of free] +warren granted to this Bishop, that (in his time) there were two +Woods in the Parish of Stebunheth [Stepney], pertaining to the said +Bishop: I have (since I kept house for my selfe) knowne the one of +them by _Bishops Hall_, but now they are both made plaine of wood, +and not to be discerned from other grounds.” These woods were on the +ground covered by the Park. Stowe notices in his short accounts of the +Bishops of London that Ralph Stratford, who was Bishop from 1339 to +1354, “deceased at Stebunhith.” The name Bonner’s Hall somehow became +attached to the Manor House. The same chronicler also records that +Bishop Ridley gave the manors of Stepney and Hackney to the King in the +fourth year of Edward VI., who granted them to Lord Wentworth. Bonner, +therefore, would be the last Bishop who could have resided there. The +old Manor House was not destroyed till 1800, when part of the material +was taken to build a farm-house, which was cleared away when the Park +was formed. + +The first laying out of the Park does not seem to have been altogether +satisfactory. A writer in 1851 criticises it very severely. The +roads and paths, he says, were so badly laid as to require almost +reconstruction. The “banks of the lake must be reduced to something +like shape to resist the wash of the water,” and the remodelling of +the plantations will be “a work of time.” Just then Mr. Gibson assumed +the charge of the Park, and even this captious critic seems to have +been well satisfied that he had “begun in real earnest” to carry out +the necessary improvements. Modern gardeners might not applaud all his +planting quite so enthusiastically as his contemporaries. For instance, +the rage for araucarias--monkey puzzles--has somewhat subsided, though +the planting of a number met with great praise in the Fifties. Most +of the Park was planted with discrimination. In a line with the canal +which forms one boundary, an avenue was put, now a charming shady +road with well-grown trees. The artificial water with fancy ducks, in +which is a wooded island with a Chinese pagoda, is a great delight for +boating. The bathing-lake has still greater attraction, and thousands +bathe there daily all through the summer months. It is said, as many +as 25,000 have been counted on a summer’s morning. Bedding out was +at its height when Victoria Park was laid out, so the flower-garden +included some elaborate scroll designs which were suited to the style +of carpet-bedding then in vogue. Now, though less stiff, the formal +bedding is well done, and attracts great attention. Those in the East +End have just as keen an appreciation as the frequenters of Hyde Park, +of the display of flowers. The green-house in winter is much enjoyed, +and a succession of bright flowers is kept there during the dark months +of the year. The children’s sand garden is also a delight. + +[Illustration: PAGODA ON THE ISLAND, VICTORIA PARK.] + +In spite of its situation in a densely-populated district, the +feathered tribes have not quite deserted the Park. The moor-hen builds +by the lake and the ringdove nests in the trees. Though the greenfinch +and the wren have vanished, some songsters still gladden the world. +Blackbirds, thrushes, and chaffinches are by no means uncommon. Some +of these latter get caught, and take part in the popular amusement of +singing-matches. Many men in the district keep chaffinches in cages, +and bring them to the Park on a Sunday morning that they may practise +their notes in chorus with their wild associates, and so beat the caged +bird of some rival. Sometimes the temptation is too great, and the wild +birds are kidnapped to join the competition. + + +FINSBURY PARK + +Finsbury is second in size, and second in date of construction, of +the Parks of North London. It is far from Finsbury, being really in +Hornsey, but as the idea, first expressed about 1850, was to make a +Park for the borough of Finsbury, the name was retained although the +land acquired some years later was somewhat remote. + +The movement was first set on foot when building began to destroy +all the open spaces near Finsbury Fields. Some of these, like Spa +Fields, had been popular places of resort as Tea Gardens, but were +being rapidly covered with houses, and separating Finsbury altogether +from the country. Many delays, owing to changes of Government, +occurred before the necessary legislation was accomplished. When the +Metropolitan Board of Works came into being, it took up the scheme, and +it was finally under its auspices that the land was purchased, and the +Park, 115 acres in extent, was opened in 1869. + +On the highest point of the ground there is a lake, which was in +existence before it became a public park. Near there stood Hornsey Wood +House, a Tea Garden of some reputation in the eighteenth century. About +the year 1800 the old house was pulled down, and the new proprietor +built another tavern, and converted part of the remains of Hornsey +Wood into an artificial lake for boating and angling. This second +house existed until it was pulled down in 1866, when the Park was in +progress. Hornsey Wood was part of the forest which bounded London on +the north, and the site of the Park was in the manor of Brownswood, +which was held by the See of London. + +Accounts of various incidents which are connected with this spot are +given in histories of Hornsey. The most picturesque is that in which +the ill-fated little King Edward V. is the central figure, overshadowed +by his perfidious uncle. “The King on his way to London [from Ludlow] +was on the fourth of May met at Hornsey Park (now [1756] Highgate) +by Edmund Shaw, the Mayor, accompanied by the Aldermen, Sheriffs and +five hundred Citizens on Horseback, richly accoutered in purple Gowns; +whence they conducted him to the City; where he was received by the +Citizens with a joy inexpressible.... In this solemn Cavalcade, the +Duke of Gloucester’s Deportment was very remarkable; for riding before +the King, uncovered, he frequently called to the Citizens, with an +audible voice, to behold their Prince and Sovereign.” What a scene +must the site of Finsbury Park have presented that May morning. The +Londoners, incensed at Gloucester’s having taken possession of the +young King, no doubt meet him with distrust and anger, and while the +procession moves on towards the City he allays their suspicions, acting +a part to deceive them. + +The trees in Finsbury are beginning to grow up, and the Park is losing +the new, bare look which made it unattractive in its early years. +Poplars (fast-growing trees) have been largely used. That is very +well for a beginning, but others of a slower growth, but making finer +timber, are the trees for the future. There is nothing very special to +notice in the general laying out of the grounds, as beyond the avenue +of black poplars and the lake, there are no striking features. The +view from the high ground, towards Epping, adds to the attractions of +this useful open space but not very interesting Park. One of the most +pleasing corners is the rock garden, not far from the lake. The plants +seem well established and very much at home. The green-houses, too, are +well kept up, and in the gloomy seasons of the year especially are much +frequented. + + +CLISSOLD PARK + +Clissold, or Stoke Newington Park, is one of the parks which has +the advantage of having been the grounds of a private house, and +enjoys all the benefits of a well-planted suburban demesne. The old +trees at once give it a certain _cachet_ that even County Council +railings, notice-boards, and bird-cages cannot destroy. It has the +additional charm of the New River passing through the heart of it, and, +furthermore, the ground is undulating. + +One of the approaches to the Park still has a semi-rural aspect and +associations attached to it. This is Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, with +a row of fine elm trees, under which the Queen may have passed as +a girl while staying in seclusion at the manor-house, then in the +possession of the Dudley family, relations to the Earl of Leicester. +Stoke Newington, until lately, was not so overrun with small houses +as most of the suburbs. In 1855 it was described as “one of the few +rural villages in the immediate environs [of London]. Though, as the +crow flies, but three miles from the General Post Office, it is still +rich in parks, gardens, and old trees.” The last fifty years have quite +transformed its appearance. “Green Lanes,” which skirts the west of the +Park, though with such a rural-sounding name, is a busy thoroughfare, +with rushing trams; and, but for Clissold Park and Abney Park Cemetery, +but little of its former attractions would remain. The Cemetery is +on the grounds of the old Manor House, where Sir Thomas Abney lived, +and “the late excellent Dr. Isaac Watts was treated for thirty-six +years with all the kindness that friendship could prompt, and all +the attention that respect could dictate.” The manor was sold by +direction of Sir Thomas’s daughter’s will, and the proceeds devoted to +charitable purposes. The old church, with its thin spire, and the new +large, handsome Gothic church, built to meet the needs of the growing +population, stand close together at one corner of the Park, at the +end of Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, and on all sides the towers among the +trees form pretty and conspicuous objects. The house in the Park, for +the most part disused, stands above the bend of the New River, which +makes a loop through the grounds. It is a white Georgian house with +columns, and looks well with wide steps and slope to the water’s edge, +now alas! disfigured by high iron railings. The place belonged to the +Crawshay family, by whom it was sold. The daughter of one of the owners +had a romantic attachment to a curate, the Rev. Augustus Clissold, but +the father would not allow the marriage, and kept his daughter more +or less a prisoner. After her father’s death, however, she married +her lover, and succeeded to the estate, and changed its name from +Crawshay Farm to Clissold Place. This title has stuck to it, although +it reverted to the Crawshays, and in 1886 was sold by them. + +[Illustration: STOKE NEWINGTON CHURCH FROM CLISSOLD PARK] + +The Park measures 53 acres. There is a small enclosure with fallow +deer and guinea-pigs, some artificial water, and wide green spaces for +games; but the special beauty of the Park consists in the canal-like +New River, with walks beside it, and in places foliage arching over it, +and the fine large specimen trees round the house. There are some good +cedars, deciduous cypress, ilex, thorns, and laburnums; a good specimen +of one of the American varieties of oak, _Quercus palustris_; also +acacias and chestnuts--all looking quite healthy. + + +SPRINGFIELD PARK + +Not very far from Clissold lies Springfield Park, in Upper Clapton, +opened to the public in 1905. It also has the advantage of being made +out of well laid out private grounds. The area, 32½ acres, embraced +three residences, two of which have been pulled down, while the third, +Springfield House, which gives its name to the Park, has been retained, +and serves as refreshment rooms. The view from the front of the house +over Walthamstow Marshes is very extensive. The ground slopes steeply +to the river Lea, and beyond on the plain, like a lake, the reservoirs +of the “East London Works,” now part of the Metropolitan Water Board, +make a striking picture. Springfield House was, until lately, one of +those pleasant old-fashioned residences of which there were many in +this neighbourhood, standing in well-planted gardens overlooking +the marshes and fertile flats below. These delightful houses are +becoming more rare every year, and it is fortunate that the grounds +of one of the most attractive should have been preserved as a public +park. The place was well cared for in old days, as the good specimen +trees testify. A flourishing purple beech is growing up, also a sweet +chestnut and several birches. A very old black mulberry still survives, +although showing signs of age. There are other nice timber trees on the +hillside, and among the shrubs an _Arbutus unedo_, the strawberry tree, +is one of the most unusual. This Park, though small, is quite unlike +any other, and has much to recommend it to the general public, while in +the more immediate neighbourhood it is greatly appreciated. + + +WATERLOW PARK + +Undoubtedly the most beautiful of all the parks is Waterlow, the +munificent gift of Sir Sydney Waterlow. Its situation near Highgate, +above all City smoke; its steep slopes and fine trees; its old garden +and historic associations, combine to give it a character and a charm +of its own. It is small in comparison with such parks as Victoria, +Battersea, or Finsbury, being only 29 acres, but it has a fascination +quite out of proportion to its size. There are few pleasanter spots on +a summer’s day, and at any season of the year it would well repay a +visit. It is especially attractive when the great city with its domes +and towers is seen clearly at the foot of the hill. London from a +distance never looks hard and sharp and clear, like some foreign towns. +The buildings do not stand up in definite outline like the churches +of Paris looked down upon from the Eiffel Tower: the soft curtain of +smoke, the mysterious blue light, a gentle reminder of orange and black +fog, shrouds and beautifies everything it touches. On a June day, when +the grass is vivid and the trees a bright pale green, Waterlow Park is +at its best. The dome of St. Paul’s, the countless towers of Wren’s +city churches, the pinnacles of the Law Courts, the wonderful Tower +Bridge, dwarfing the old Norman White Tower, all appear in softened +beauty behind the fresh verdure, through well-contrived peeps and gaps +in the trees. + +Most of the ground is too steep for the cricket and football to which +the greater part of other parks are given over. Only lawn tennis and +bowls can be provided for, on the green lawns at the top of the Park. +A delightful old pond, with steep banks overshadowed by limes and +chestnuts, has a feeling of the real country about it. The concrete +edges, the little patches of aquatic plants and neat turf, are missing. +The banks show signs of last year’s leaves, fallen sticks, and +blackened chestnuts, and any green near it, is only natural wild plants +that enjoy shade and moisture. It is the sort of place a water-hen +would feel at home in, and not expect to meet intruding Mandarin +ducks or Canadian geese. Let us hope this quiet spot may long remain +untouched. There are two newer lakes lower down, laid out in approved +County Council style, trim and neat, with water-fowl, water-lilies, and +judicious planting round the banks of weeping willows and rhododendron +clumps. Probably many visitors find them more attractive than the upper +pool. There is no fault to find with them, and they are perhaps more +suited to a public park, but they are devoid of the poetry which raises +the other out of the commonplace. As the slopes towards the lower +lakes are the playground of multitudes of babies, it is necessary to +protect them from the water’s edge by substantial railings, but most of +the Park is singularly free from these unsightly but often necessary +safeguards. The trees all through the grounds are unusually fine. Four +hickories are particularly worthy of note. They are indeed grand and +graceful trees, and it is astonishing they should be so little planted. +These are noble specimens, and look extremely healthy. + +The most characteristic feature in the Park is the house it contains +and the garden immediately round it. This was built for Lauderdale, +the “L” in the Cabal of Charles II., probably about 1660. When +this unattractive character was not living there himself, he not +unfrequently lent it to Nell Gwynn. The ground floor of the house is +open to the public as refreshment rooms, and one empty parlour with +seats has much good old carving, of the date of the house, over the +mantelpiece, also in a recess which encloses a marble bath known +as “Nell Gwynn’s bath.” It is said to have been from a window in +Lauderdale House that she held out her son when Charles was walking +below, threatening to let him drop if the King did not promise to +confer some title upon him. In response Charles exclaimed, “Save the +Earl of Burford,” which title (and later, that of Duke of St. Albans) +was formally conferred upon him. + +The terrace along which the King was walking is still there. A little +inscription has been inserted on a sun-dial near the wall, to record +the fact that the dial-plate is level with the top of St. Paul’s +Cathedral. A flight of steps leads to a lower terrace. This is planted +in a formal design consisting of three circles, the centre one having +a fountain. Two more flights of steps descend, in a line from the +fountain, to a broad walk bordered with flowers leading to one of the +entrances to the Park. At right angles to the other steps a walk leads +from the fountain to another part of the garden, which is planted +with old fruit-trees on the grassy slope. It is at the foot of these +steps that the water-colour sketch is taken. The “eagles with wings +expanded” are the supporters of the Lauderdale arms. The whole garden +is delightful, and so much in keeping with the house that it is easy to +picture the much-disliked Lauderdale, the genial King, and fascinating +“Nell,” living and moving on its terraces. Pepys gives a glimpse of one +of these characters at home. He drove up alone with Lord Brouncker, in +a coach and six. No doubt the hill made the six very necessary, as in +another place Pepys talks of the bad road to Highgate. They joined Lord +Lauderdale “and his lady, and some Scotch people,” at supper. Scotch +airs were played by one of the servants on the violin; “the best of +their country, as they seemed to esteem them, by their praising and +admiring them: but, Lord! the strangest ayre that ever I heard in my +life, and all of one cast. But strange to hear my Lord Lauderdale say +himself that he had rather hear a cat mew, than the best musique in +the world; and the better the musique, the more sick it makes him; and +that of all instruments, he hates the lute most, and next to that the +baggpipe.” These sentiments may not prove that Lauderdale was “a man of +mighty good reason and judgement,” as Lord Brouncker assured Pepys when +he said he thought it “odd company,” but at least it shows him honest! +How many people who sit patiently through a performance of the “Ring” +would have as much courage of their opinions? + +[Illustration: WATERLOW PARK] + +Within the grounds of the present Park, near Lauderdale House, stood a +small cottage in which Andrew Marvel lived, which was only pulled down +in 1869. It was considered unsafe, and no National Trust Society was +then in existence to make efforts for its preservation. In a “History +of Highgate” in 1842 the connection between the place and this curious +personage, political writer, poet, Member of Parliament, and friend +of Milton is barely commented on. “Andrew Marvel, a writer of the +seventeenth century, resided on the Bank at Highgate in the cottage now +occupied by Mrs. Walker.” The reader of these lines is penetrated with +a feeling that he ought to know all about Mrs. Walker, rather than the +obscure writer! + +The kitchen-garden is large, with charming herbaceous borders, and +a long row of glass-houses and vineries, and the grapes produced +have hitherto been given to hospitals. Let us hope that the same +complaint will not arise here as in another Park, where out-door fruit +was distributed, and caused such jealousies that the practice was +discontinued. + +With such a high standard set by the existing gardens, it is curious +that the new bedding should be as much out of harmony as possible. The +beds which call forth this remark are those round the band-stand. The +shape of them it is impossible to describe, for they are of uncertain +form and indistinct meaning. The flowers are in bold groups, and yet +they look thoroughly out of place. + +Wandering one summer’s day near the statue, erected to Sir Sydney +Waterlow, the writer overheard some girls, who looked like shop-girls +out for a holiday, discussing who it was. The most enterprising went +up and read the inscription. “To Sir Sydney H. Waterlow, Bart., donor +of the Park 1889, Lord Mayor of London 1872–73. Erected by public +subscription 1900.” “Why, it’s to some chap that was once Lord Mayor,” +was the remark to her friend, following a close scrutiny of this bald +inscription. The impulse to explain the meaning of the word “donor” +was irresistible; it was evidently quite Greek to these two Cockney +young ladies. On learning the meaning they were very ready to join in a +tribute of gratitude to the giver of such a princely present. Surely a +few words expressing such a feeling would have been appropriate on the +statue so rightly erected in memory of the gift! Profound feelings of +thanks to the giver must indeed be experienced by every one who has the +privilege of enjoying this lovely Park, one of the most charming spots +within easy reach of the heart of the City. + + +GOLDER’S HILL PARK + +Golder’s Hill Park joins the western end of Hampstead Heath, but its +park-like appearance and house and garden are quite a contrast to the +wilder scenery of the Heath, although Golder’s Hill seems more in the +country than Hampstead, as the houses near are so well hidden from it. +The mansion has a modern exterior, although parts of it are very old, +and the fine trees in the grounds show that it has been a pleasant +residence for some hundreds of years. The estate of 36 acres was +bought in 1898 from the executors of Sir Spencer Wells, the money in +the first instance being advanced by three public-spirited gentlemen, +anxious to save the charming spot from the hands of the builder. The +view from the terrace of the house, which now serves as a refreshment +room, is very pretty, with a gently sloping lawn in front, park-like +meadows, and fine trees beyond the dividing sunk fence, and distant +peeps of the country towards Harrow. The approach from the Finchley +Road is by an avenue of chestnuts, and a flat paddock on one side is +a hockey and cricket-ground for ladies. There are some really fine +oaks, good beeches, ash, sycamore, Spanish chestnuts, and Scotch firs; +but the most remarkable tree is a very fine tulip, which flowers +profusely nearly every year. At the bottom of the Park an undisturbed +pond, with reedy margin, is much frequented by moor-hens. The valley +above is railed off for some red deer, peacocks, and an emu, while +three storks are to be seen prancing about under the oak trees in the +open Park. The most attractive corner is the kitchen-garden, which, +like the one in Brockwell, has been turned into an extremely pretty +flower-garden. On one side is a range of hothouses, where plants are +produced for bedding out, and a good supply of fruit is raised and sold +to the refreshment-room contractor on the spot. Two sides have old red +walls covered with pear trees, which produce but little fruit, and +the fourth has a good holly hedge. The vines from one of the vineries +have been planted out, and they cover a large rustic shelter, and have +picturesque though not edible bunches of grapes every year. The way +the planting of roses, herbaceous and rock plants, and spring bulbs +is arranged is very good; but the same misleadingly-worded notice +with regard to the plants of Shakespeare is placed here as in the +Brockwell “old English garden.”[7] There is a nice old quince and other +fruit-tree standards in this really charming garden. In another part of +the grounds there is an orchard, not “improved” in any way, but left +as it might be in Herefordshire, with grass and wild flowers under the +trees, which bear bushels of ruddy apples every year. + +Part of the Park is actually outside London, but it is all kept up by +the London County Council. The parish boundary of Hampstead and Hendon, +which is also the limit of the County of London, is seen in the middle +among the oak trees. + + +RAVENSCOURT PARK + +Ravenscourt is another of those parks the nucleus of which was an old +Manor House, hence the existence of fine old trees, which at once lift +from it the crudeness which is invariably associated with a brand-new +Municipal Park. A bird’s-eye view of the ground is familiar to many who +pass over the viaduct in the London and South-Western trains. These +arches intersect one end of the Park, and cut across the beginning of +the fine old elm avenue, one of its most beautiful features. A bright +piece of garden, typical of every London Park, with raised borders in +bays and promontories, jutting into grass and backed by bushes, lies to +the south of the viaduct. Where two paths diverge there is a pleasing +variation to the usual type--a sun-dial--erected by Sir William Bull to +“a sunny memory.” The arches have been utilised so as to compensate for +the intrusion of the railway. Asphalted underneath, they form shelters +in wet weather--one is given over to an aviary, two to bars for the +elder children to climb on, and one is fitted with swings for the +babies. This arch is by far the most popular, and it requires all the +vigilance of the park-keeper to see that only the really small children +use the swings, or the bigger girls would monopolise them. Perhaps the +indulgent and fatherly London County Council will provide swings for +the elders, too, some day, and so remove the small jealousies. + +To the west of the long avenue lies the orchard. A stretch of grass, +devoted to tennis-courts and bowling-greens, separates the pear trees +from the walk. These pears and the solitary apple tree are delightful +in spring, and a temptation in autumn. Round the house, which is not +by any means as picturesque as the date of its building (about 1649) +would lead one to expect, are some good trees--planes that are really +old, with massive stems, horse-chestnuts and limes, acacias that have +seen their best days, cedars suffering from age and smoke, and a good +catalpa. The Manor House which preceded the present building was of +ancient origin. In early times it was known as the Manor House of +Paddenswick, or Pallenswick, under the Manor of Fulham, and was the +residence of Alice Perrers, the favourite of Edward III. It was seized +in 1378, when she was banished by Richard II.; but after the reversion +of her sentence, she returned to England as the wife of Lord Windsor, +and the King, in 1380, granted the manor to him. It is not heard of +again till Elizabeth’s time, when it belonged to the Payne family, +and was sold by them in 1631 to Sir Richard Gurney, the Royalist Lord +Mayor, who perished in the Tower. After his death it was bought by +Maximilian Bard, who probably pulled down the old house and built the +present one, which is now used as the Hammersmith Public Library. In +the eighteenth century the name was changed from Paddenswick (a title +preserved by a road of that name running near the Park) to Ravenscourt, +an enduring recollection of the device of a black raven, the arms of +Thomas Corbett, Secretary to the Admiralty, who owned the place for +a few short years. Nearly every vestige of the surroundings of the +old manor was obliterated and improved away by Humphrey Repton, the +celebrated landscape gardener. He filled up most of the old moat, +except a small piece, which was transformed into a lake, more in +harmony with the landscape school to which he belonged. This piece of +water is a pretty feature in the Park, and an attempt has been made to +recall the older style, by introducing a little formal garden in an +angle of the enclosing wall of the Park. The square has been completed +with two hedges, one of them of holly, and good iron gates afford an +entrance. The “old English garden,” from which dogs and young children, +unless under proper supervision, are excluded, is laid out in good +taste--a simple, suitable design, with appropriate masses of roses and +herbaceous plants, arches with climbers, and an abundance of seats. It +has the same misleading notice with regard to Shakespearian plants, as +in Golder’s Hill and Brockwell, one of the South London Parks, which +must now be looked at. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MUNICIPAL PARKS IN SOUTH LONDON + + _No fresh’ning breeze--no trellised bower, + No bee to chase from flower to flower; + ’Tis dimly close--in city pent-- + But the hearts within it are well content._ + + --ELIZA COOK. + + +Of the South London Parks Battersea is the largest and most westerly, +and the best known to people outside its own district. Battersea is +entirely new, and has no history as a Park, for before the middle of +last century the greater part was nothing but a dismal marsh. The +ground had to be raised and entirely made before the planting of it as +a park could begin at all. The site was low-lying fields with reeds and +swamps near the water, and market-gardens famous for the asparagus, +sold as “Battersea bundles,” growing around it. In the eighteenth +century three windmills were conspicuous from the river. One ground +corn, another the colours, and the third served to grind the white lead +for the potteries. This was during the time when Battersea enamel was +at its height, and snuff-boxes were being turned out in quantities. On +the banks of the river stood a tavern and Tea Garden, known as the Red +House for many generations. It was much resorted to, but latterly its +reputation was none of the best. Games of all kinds took place in its +gardens, and pigeon-shooting was one of the greatest attractions there, +during the first half of the nineteenth century. Although for long, +crowds enjoyed harmless amusements there--“flounder breakfasts,” and +an annual “sucking-pig dinner,” and such-like--towards the end of the +time of its existence, it became the centre of such noisy and riotous +merrymakings that the grounds of the Red House became notorious. +The Sunday fairs, with the attendant evils of races, gambling, and +drinking, were crowded, and thousands of the less reputable sections +of the community landed every Sunday at the Red House to join in these +revellings. It was chiefly with a view to doing away with this state +of affairs, that the scheme was set on foot, for absorbing the grounds +of the Red House, and other less famous taverns and gardens that had +sprung up round it, and forming a Park. + +Battersea, or “Patricesy,” as it is written in Domesday, was a manor +belonging to the Abbey of Westminster until the Dissolution of the +Monasteries. The name is most probably derived from the fact that +it was lands of St. Peter’s Abbey “by the water.” Later on it came +into the St. John family, and Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, was +born and died in Battersea. After his death it was purchased by Earl +Spencer, in whose family it remains. Part of the fields were Lammas +Lands, for which the parish was duly compensated. The gloomy wildness +of the fields gave rise to superstitions, and a haunted house, from +which groans proceeded and mysterious lights were seen at night, +at one time scared the neighbourhood, and enticed the adventurous. +The only historical incident, connected with the fields, is the duel +fought there in 1829 between the Duke of Wellington and the Marquess +of Winchelsea; the latter having personally attacked the Duke during +the debates on the Catholic Emancipation Bill. The Duke aimed his shot +through his adversary’s hat, who then fired in the air, and the affair +of honour was thus settled. Battersea Fields were approached, in those +days, by the old wooden Battersea Bridge which had superseded the +ferry; the only means of communication till 1772. The present bridges +at either corner of the Park have both been built since the Park was +formed. + +Like Victoria Park, Battersea was administered with the other Royal +Parks, in the first instance. The Act of Parliament giving powers +to the “Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Woods” to form the Park was +passed in 1846, but so much had to be done to the land, that the +actual planting did not begin until 1857. The ground had all to be +drained, and raised, and a proper embankment made to keep out the +river. Just at this time the Victoria Docks were being excavated, +and the earth dug out of them was conveyed to Battersea. Places were +left, to form the shallow artificial lake, mounds raised, to make the +ground round the water undulating, and the rest of the surface of +the Park levelled. Altogether about a million cubic yards of earth +were deposited in Battersea Park. The extent is 198 acres, and from +the nature of the ground, except the artificial elevations near the +lake, it is quite flat. The design was originally made by Sir James +Pennethorne, architect of the Office of Works, and the execution of +it completed by Mr. Farrow. The chief features, are the artificial +water (for the most part supplied by the Thames), and the avenue of +elms which traverses the Park from east to west, and cross walks, with +a band-stand and drinking-fountain at the converging points. Round the +Park runs a carriage drive, and, following a different line, a track +for riders--with the usual spaces for games between. The trees are +growing up well, so already any bareness has disappeared. The absolute +flatness, which makes the open spaces uninteresting, is relieved by the +avenue, which will some day be a fine one. + +It is an object-lesson to show the advantage of avenues and shady +walks, too often ignored by modern park designers, or only carried +out in a feeble, half-hearted way. The chief variation in Battersea +Park was achieved by John Gibson, the Park Superintendent, who made +the sub-tropical garden in 1864. His experience, gained on a botanical +mission to India, which he undertook for the Duke of Devonshire, well +fitted him for the task. This garden has always been kept up and added +to, and specially improved in the Seventies, while the present Lord +Redesdale was at the Office of Works. + +A sub-tropical garden was quite a novelty when first started here, and +caused much interest to horticulturalists and landscape gardeners. +The “Sub-tropical Garden,” by W. Robinson, and other writings on the +subject, have since made the effects which can be produced familiar +to all gardeners; but in 1864 to group hardy plants of a tropical +appearance, such as aralias, acanthus, eulalias, bamboos, or fan palms, +was a new idea. During the summer, cannas, tobacco, various palms, +bananas, and so on, were added to the collection, and caused quite an +excitement when they first appeared at Battersea. The garden is still +kept up, and looks pretty and cool in summer, and on a cold winter’s +day is sheltered and pleasant. But much of the charm and originality +of the early planting has been lost, in the present official idea of +what sub-tropical gardens should contain, which carries a certain +stereotyped stiffness with it. + +In 1887 the Park, at the same time as Victoria and Kennington, was +given up to the Metropolitan Board of Works, and since then the control +has passed to its successor, the London County Council. The gardens are +kept up, more or less, as before, with a few additions. An aviary with +a restless raven, fat gold and silver pheasants, and contented pigeons, +delights the small children, who are as plentiful in Battersea as in +all the other London playgrounds. Like the other parks, Saturdays and +Sundays are the great days. The games of cricket are played as close +together as possible, until to the passer-by the elevens and even the +balls seem hopelessly mixed. The ground not devoted to games is thickly +strewn with prostrate forms, and certainly, in this, Battersea is by no +means singular! In autumn, one of the green-houses, in which the more +tender sub-tropical plants are housed is given up to chrysanthemums. +This flower is the one of all others for London. It will thrive in +the dingiest corners of the town, and display its colours long after +the fogs and frosts have deprived the parks and gardens of all other +colour. The shows in the East End testify to what can be achieved, even +by the poorest, with this friendly plant. Every year at Shoreditch +Town Hall the local exhibition takes place, and there are many similar +institutions, where monster blooms, grown on roofs or in small back +gardens, would compete creditably at a national show. The popularity +of the chrysanthemums in Battersea Park is so great, that on a fine +Sunday there is a string of people waiting their turn of walking +through, stretching for fifty yards at least from the green-house to +the entrance to the frame-ground. Certainly the arrangement of the +green-house is prettily done. The stages are removed, and a sanded path +with a double twist meanders among groups of plants sloping up to the +rafters, and a few long, lanky ones trained to arch under the roof. +The show is much looked forward to, and the colours and arrangements +compared with former years, praised or criticised, such is the eager +interest of those who crowd to take their turn for a peep. It is +delightful to watch the pleasure on all faces, as a whole family out +for their Sunday walk, press in together. It is only one more instance +of the joy the London Parks bring to millions of lives. + +The world of fashion has only attacked Battersea Park spasmodically. +When it was new, and the sub-tropical garden a rarity, people drove out +from Mayfair or Belgravia to see it. Again Battersea became the fashion +when the cycling craze began. In the summer of 1895 it suddenly became +“the thing” to bicycle to breakfast in Battersea Park, and ladies +who had never before visited this South London Park flocked there +in the early mornings. It was away from the traffic that disturbed +the beginner in Hyde or St. James’s Park, and perhaps the daring +originality of cycling seemed to demand that conventions should further +be violated; and nothing so commonplace as Hyde Park would satisfy the +aspirations of the newly-emancipated lady cyclists. What would their +ancestors, who had paced the Mall in powder and crinolines, have said +to the short-skirted, energetic young or even elderly cyclist? No doubt +some of that language which shocks modern ears, used by the heroines in +“Sir Charles Grandison,” would have been found equal to the occasion. +The great cycling rage is over, and Battersea is again deserted by fair +beings, who now prefer to fly further afield in motors, but the Park +is just as crowded by those for whose benefit it was really made--the +ever-growing population of London south of the river. + + +VAUXHALL PARK + +Going east from Battersea the next Park is Vauxhall, a small oasis of +green in a crowded district. Although only 8 acres in extent, it is a +great boon to the neighbourhood, and hundreds of children play there +every day. It has been open since 1891, the land, occupied by houses +with gardens, having been acquired and the houses demolished, and the +little Park is owned and kept up by Lambeth Borough Council. + +It has nothing to do with the famous Vauxhall Gardens, to which the +rank and fashion of the town flocked for nearly two hundred years; +and the country visitor to Vauxhall Park could hardly speak of it in +such glowing terms as Farmer Colin to his wife in 1741 of the famous +Vauxhall Spring Gardens:-- + + “O Mary! soft in feature, + I’ve been at dear Vauxhall; + No paradise is sweeter, + Not that they Eden call. + + “Methought, when first I entered, + Such splendours round me shone, + Into a world I ventured + Where rose another sun.” + +The site of these Gardens, which covered some twelve acres with groves, +avenues, dining-halls, the famous Rotunda and caverns, cascades and +pavilions, is now all built over. It lay about as far to the south-east +of Vauxhall Bridge as the little Park is to the south-west. In name +Vauxhall sounds quaint and un-English. In earlier times it was known +as Foxhall, or more correctly Foukeshall, from Foukes de Breant, who +married a sister of Archbishop Baldwin in the latter half of the +twelfth century. + +The land of the present Park was purchased in May 1889.[8] Then it +was covered by houses standing in their own grounds. The largest of +these was Carroun or Caroone House, which had been built by Sir Noel +de Caron, who was Ambassador of the Netherlands for thirty-three +years, during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.--the others, a row +of eight with gardens, were known as “The Lawn.” In front of them was +a long pond, said to have been fed by the Effra River. This stream, +which rose in Norwood and flowed into the Thames at Vauxhall, has, +like most of the other streams of London, become a sewer, and the pond +is no more. In one of these houses (51 South Lambeth Road) Mr. Henry +Fawcett resided, and when the houses were pulled down to form the Park +his was left, the intention being to make it into some memorial of +him. It was found to be too much out of repair to retain, and had to +be pulled down. With the sum which the sale of materials from the old +house realised, it was proposed to erect a memorial drinking-fountain. +This idea bore fruit, as Sir Henry Doulton sold one to the vestry +for less than one-third of its value, and moreover gave a further +memorial to the courageous blind Postmaster-General of a portrait +statue by Tinworth, with appropriate allegorical figures. This fine +group recording the connection of Henry Fawcett with the place is +the most conspicuous feature of the Park. The trees are growing up, +and an abundance of seats and dry walks made it an enjoyable if not +beautiful garden. The swings and gymnasiums are numerous and large, +but what gives most pleasure is the sand-garden for little children. +For hours and hours these small mites are happily occupied digging +and making clean mud pies, while their elders sit by and work. It is +touching to see the miniature castles and carefully patted puddings +at the close of a busy baby’s day. In the summer, when the sand is +too dry to bind, some of the infants bring small bottles, which they +manage to get filled at the drinking-fountain, and water their little +handfuls of sand. These children’s sand-gardens, common in parks in +the United States, are a delightful invention for the safe amusement +of these small folk, and the delight caused by this one, which was +only made in 1905, shows how greatly they are appreciated. Many of the +parks and some of the commons now have their “sea-side” or “sand-pit,” +and probably not only do they give immense pleasure, but they act as +a safety-valve for small mischievous urchins, who otherwise could not +resist trespassing on flower-beds. + +The grass in this, as in all the parks, has to be enclosed at times, to +let it recover, the tramp of many feet. The wattled hurdles which are +often used in the London Parks for this purpose, have quite a rustic +appearance. They are like those which appear in all the agricultural +scenes depicted in fifteenth century MSS. It is much to be hoped that +no modern invention in metal will be found to take their place. + + +KENNINGTON PARK + +Not very far from Vauxhall, beyond the famous Oval, lies the larger and +more pretentious Kennington Park of 19½ acres. This has a long history +as Kennington Common. It formed part of the Duchy of Cornwall estates, +having been settled by James I. on Prince Henry, and has since belonged +to each succeeding Prince of Wales. In still earlier times there was a +Royal Palace at Kennington, which fell into decay after Henry VIII.’s +reign. Here as on all similar commons, the people had a right of +grazing cattle for six months of the year. But the moment it was open +to them in the spring such a number of beasts were turned on to the +ground, that in a very short time “the herbage” was “devoured, and it +remained entirely bare for the rest of the season.” + +The Common was a great place for games of all sorts, particularly +cricket. When in 1852 it was turned into a Park, and play could not go +on to the same extent, by suggestion of the Prince Consort, a piece of +land, then market-gardens, was let by the Duchy to the Surrey Cricket +Club, which was formed for the purpose of maintaining it. This is the +ground that has since gained such notoriety as the Oval, the scene of +many a match historical in the annals of cricket. The Common, too, was +famous for the masses that collected there to hear Whitfield preach. +His congregations numbered from 10,000 to 40,000 persons, and his voice +would carry to the “extremest part of the audience.” He notes in his +diary, Sunday, May 6, 1731--“At six in the evening went and preached +at Kennington; but such a sight I never saw before. Some supposed +there were above 30,000 or 40,000 people, and near fourscore coaches, +besides great number of horses; and there was such an awful silence +amongst them, and the Word of God came with such power, that all seemed +pleasingly surprised. I continued my discourse for an hour and a half.” +The last time he preached there was a farewell sermon before he went to +America in August 1739. + +Two other incidents are connected with Kennington Common, neither so +pleasant--the scenes of the execution for high treason, with all the +attendant horrors, of the “Manchester rebels” after the ’45; and the +great Chartist revolutionary meeting under Feargus O’Connor in 1848. +The precautions taken by the Duke of Wellington saved the situation, +and the 200,000 people who it had been proposed should march to +Westminster melted away, and the whole thing was a fiasco. + +It was soon after this episode that the Common was converted into a +Park. The ground, including all the Common and the site of the Pound, +was handed over by the Duchy of Cornwall (by Act of Parliament), to be +laid out as “Pleasure grounds for the recreation of the public; but if +it cease to be so maintained” to “revert to the Duchy.” + +The transformation has been very successful, and the design was +suitable and well conceived. The large greens are divided by wide +paths shaded by trees, and each section can be closed in turn to +preserve the grass. There is a sunk formal garden, bedded out with +bright flowers, which show up well on the green turf; and at one end +there are shrubberies with twisting walks in the style that is truly +characteristic of the English Park, and seems to appeal to so many +people. The whole space is not large, but the most is made of it, and +both the formal and the “natural” sections have their attractions. At +the “natural” end, near the church--which, by the way, was built as a +thank-offering after Waterloo--is a handsome granite drinking-fountain, +designed by Driver, and presented by Mr. Felix Slade; and in the centre +of the Park is a fountain, given by Sir Henry Doulton, with a group of +figures by Tinworth, emblematic of “The Pilgrimage of Life.” The Lodge +was the model lodging-house erected by the Prince Consort in the Great +Exhibition of 1851. + + +MYATT’S FIELDS + +Myatt’s Fields or Camberwell Park is but a short distance to the +south-west of Kennington. This Park of 14½ acres was one of those +princely gifts which have been showered on the inhabitants of London. +It was presented by Mr. William Minet, in whose family the land has +been since 1770. His ancestors were Huguenots who had come to England +at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. + +[Illustration: FOUNTAIN BY TINWORTH, KENNINGTON PARK] + +It was handed over to the newly-formed County Council in 1889, +having been previously laid out. The way in which this was done with +an avenue, which will some day be one of the great beauties of the +neighbourhood, and which is in the meantime a pleasant shady walk, has +already been commented on. For its size, Myatt’s Fields is one of the +most tasteful of the new parks. Its quaint name is a survival of the +time when the ground was a market-garden leased by a certain Myatt from +1818–69. The excellent qualities of the strawberries and rhubarb raised +there, gave the Fields such a good reputation in the district, and the +name became so familiar, that it was retained for the Park. + +Camberwell Green is a distinct place, not far distant, and is noticed +among the village greens of London. + + +RUSKIN PARK + +Ruskin Park, the newest of all the parks, is not very far from +Camberwell, and has been formed of a cluster of houses, with grounds +of their own, on Denmark Hill, known as the Sanders’ Estate. The name, +which has an “Art Nouveau” sound about it, and raises an expectation +of something beautiful, was given to it because John Ruskin for many +years lived in the neighbourhood. From 1823, when he was four, to 1843, +his home was 28 Herne Hill, and there he wrote “Modern Painters.” From +then until 1871 he lived even nearer the present Park, at 163 Denmark +Hill. Describing the house, Ruskin wrote of it: “It stood in command +of seven acres of healthy ground ... half of it meadow sloping to the +sunrise, the rest prudently and pleasantly divided into an upper and +lower kitchen-garden; a fruitful bit of orchard, and chance inlets and +outlets of wood walk, opening to the sunny path by the field, which +was gladdened on its other side in springtime by flushes of almond +and double peach blossom.” Such might have been the description of +the houses and grounds now turned into a park. Some of the lines of +the villa gardens have been retained, and some wise and necessary +additions and changes have been made to bring the whole together; but +even the inspiration of Ruskin has not kept out the inevitable edges +and backbones of uninteresting evergreens. Some of the green-houses +have been kept, but six dwellings have been demolished, and one of +the two retained will be used as a refreshment room. The outside wall +of the garden front of one, covered with wistaria, has been left, +facing its own little terrace and lawn and cedars, and soon after the +opening, in February 1907, many people found it was possible to get +sun and shelter and enjoy the prospect from the seats in front of the +ruined drawing-room windows. The dividing wall of two houses has been +cleverly turned into what will be a charming pergola, and below, the +ground has been levelled to form a bowling-green. The terraces and +steps from one level to another are a pleasing feature in the design. +The ground is not yet finished, and it is greatly to be hoped that +the usual clumps of evergreens will not be multiplied, but Ruskin’s +description borne in mind, and let there be almonds and double peaches +to gladden the spring, and not drooping, smutty evergreens, or “ever +blacks,” as they might be more fittingly called, to jar on the picture +of fresh young growth. The pond, a stiff oval, has had to have the +necessary iron railings, and the trees near it have been substantially +barricaded with rustic seats--a most important addition. The avenue of +chestnuts which crosses the open part of the ground has been left; and +there are other good young trees growing up, and a fine old ilex and +mulberry. There is already a question of adding a further 12 acres to +this Park, which is 24 acres at present, but the scheme is still under +consideration. + + +BROCKWELL PARK + +Those who want a change, from the roar and bustle of streets, can +attain their object very quickly by the expenditure of a few pence +and fifteen minutes in the train. Getting out at Herne Hill Station, +in a few seconds the gates of Brockwell Park are reached. The old +trees and undulating ground are all that could be desired, but the +chief attraction, and the object that well repays a visit, is the +old walled garden. It is a high brick enclosure, with fine old trees +peeping above, and festoons of climbing plants brightening the dull red +walls. The narrow paths, running in straight lines round and across, +are here and there, spanned by rustic arches covered with roses, or +clematis, or gourds, from which hang glowing orange fruit in autumn. +In the centre of the garden a small fountain plays on to moss-grown +stones, and on a hot summer’s day the seats, shaded by the luxuriant +Traveller’s Joy, make a cool resting-place, though not so sequestered +as the arbours in the angles of the wall, darkened by other climbers. +The rest of the garden is a delightful tangle of herbaceous plants. +All the old favourites are there, and a small notice near the entrance +announces to those in search of knowledge that the garden contains all +herbs and garden plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s works. A little +knowledge is a dangerous thing, and the unwary might not realise that +the flowers of Shakespeare’s time, although undoubtedly there, only +form a small portion of the whole display. The board is literally +true, but visitors are apt to go away with the idea that brilliant +dahlias, and gaudy calceolarias, or even the most modern introduction, +_Kochia tricophila_, were friends of Shakespeare’s! A large number of +the plants, however, are truly of the Elizabethan age, that golden +time of progress in gardening as well as of other arts, when spirited +courtiers and hardened old sailors alike scoured the seas and brought +strange plants from new lands. Many of these now familiar treasures +from east and west flourish in this little enclosure, and recall the +romantic days of the sixteenth century: the Marvel of Peru--the very +name tells the delight that heralded its arrival from the West--the +quaint Egg-plant (_Solanum ovigerum_) brought from Africa, and the +bright-seeded Capsicums from India. Even the bush, with its wealth of +white or purple flowers, the _Hibiscus Syriacus_, was known in those +days, though not by that name. Gerard, in describing it, says it was +a stranger to England; “notwithstanding, I have sowen some seedes of +them in my garden, expecting successe.” That delightful confidence, +which is the great characteristic of all these old gardeners, was not +abused, apparently, in this case, for two years later, in the catalogue +of plants in his garden, 1599, this great tree mallow was flourishing. +Many of the gourds, which are grown to great advantage in this little +garden, were also known at an early date. Gerard says of them, “they +joy in a fruitful soil, and are common in England.” Were it not for +the conspicuous little notice-board, no fault could be found with the +selection of plants which, from early spring till late autumn, brighten +this romantic little garden. The _Solanum jasminoides_ is none the +less graceful because it has only found a home in sheltered corners in +England, for the last seventy years. _Cobæa scandens_, which festoons +very charmingly some of the arches, is certainly an old friend, having +been over a hundred years in this country; but it is a new-comer when +compared with the Passion Flower growing in profusion near it, and even +that did not appear until after Shakespeare’s death. It was unknown to +Gerard, but his editor, Thomas Johnson, illustrates it in the appendix +to the edition of 1633. It had then arrived from America, “whence it +hath been brought into our English gardens, where it growes very well, +but floures only in some few places, and in hot and seasonable yeares: +it is in good plenty growing with Mistresse Tuggy at Westminster, +where I have some years seene it beare a great many floures.” Mistress +Tuggy and her friend would have rejoiced at the sight of the house in +the centre of Brockwell Park on a warm October day, thickly covered +with the golden fruit as well as star-like flowers of their precious +“Maracoc or Passion-floure.” + +[Illustration: OLD ENGLISH GARDEN, BROCKWELL PARK] + +This delightful walled garden was the old kitchen-garden. Luckily, +the fashion for the gardens of a past generation was growing at the +time the Park was purchased, and the London County Council must be +congratulated on the good taste displayed in dealing with it. The +history of the acquisition of the ground is soon told. The desire for +a park in this neighbourhood led those interested to try and arrange +to buy Raleigh House in the Brixton Road, with some 10 acres of land, +for about £40,000. Having got an Act of Parliament to allow this, +Brockwell Park came into the market with a ready-made park of 78 acres. +The Act of 1888 was repealed, and eventually a sum of nearly £120,000 +was spent on the purchase of Brockwell, which was opened to the public +in 1892. Near the entrance gates, close to Herne Hill Railway Station, +a drinking-fountain, with a graceful figure of “Perseverance” and +portrait bust, has been erected to Mr. Thomas Lynn Bristowe, M.P. for +Norwood, who was chiefly instrumental in obtaining the Park, and whose +death occurred with tragic suddenness at the opening ceremony. It is +quite a steep hill up to the house, which is of no great antiquity +or beauty, having been built at the beginning of last century, when +the older manor-house was pulled down, by Mr. Blades, the ancestor of +the last owner. The view on all sides is extensive, and the timber +is fine. There are good old oaks, as well as elms and limes; and it +is satisfactory to see that, in the recent planting, limes have been +given a place, and not only the overdone plane. As a contrast to the +delightful formal garden, some pretty wild grouping has been carried +out beside the artificial water. This series of ponds are an addition +to the Park as originally purchased. It now measures 84 acres, and +the extra piece contained water, which has been enlarged into a big +bathing-pool and a so-called “Japanese garden.” These ponds are well +arranged; and although there are various kinds of ducks and geese and +black swans, and concrete edges and wire netting are inevitable, they +are not so aggressive as in many parks. In places tall plants have been +put in behind the railings and allowed to hang over, to break the undue +stiffness. In the late autumn purple Michaelmas daisies nearly touched +the water, and the red berries of the Pyracantha overhung the ducks +without apparent disagreement. + +The opening of Brockwell as a public Park has had the effect of +banishing most of the rooks. There was a large rookery, but year by +year the nests decrease. In 1896 there were thirty-five nests, the next +year twenty, while in 1898 there were only eight or ten. Thus every +season they are getting fewer, but still, in the spring of 1907, one +pair of rooks were bold enough to build. + + +DULWICH PARK + +Dulwich Park is not very far from Brockwell, but its surroundings +are more open. A few of the roads near it have some feeling of the +country left. The houses that are springing up are of a cheerful villa +type, and have nothing of the monotony and dulness of most of the +suburbs. Fine old trees grow along many of the roads. The chestnuts, +for instance, in Half Moon Lane between Herne Hill and Dulwich +are charming, and also on the further side of the Park, where the +celebrated inn, the “Green Man,” was situated, there is a rural aspect +and a delightful walk between trees. It was within the grounds of the +“Green Man” that the Wells of chalybeate water were situated. The Wells +had been discovered in the reign of Charles II., and the water sold in +London, but the “Green Man” did not become a popular resort until after +1739. A story connected with this popular spa is recorded in the “Percy +Anecdotes” in 1823. A well-known literary man was invited to dinner +there, and wished to be directed. However, he inquired vainly for the +“Dull Man at Greenwich,” instead of the “Green Man at Dulwich.” One +of the entrances to the Park is close to the site of the once famous +Wells. The Park itself, which covers 72 acres, was the munificent gift +of Dulwich College. The gift was confirmed by an Act of Parliament +in 1885, and the Park opened to the public in 1890. The College was +founded by Edward Alleyn in 1614, who called it “The College of God’s +Gift.” Originally, there were besides the Master, Warden, and four +Fellows, six poor brethren and six sisters, and thirty out-members. +The value of the property has so enormously increased that the number +of scholars has been very greatly added to, and now hundreds of boys, +some quite free, and some for a very low fee, obtain a sound commercial +education. The founder was a friend of Shakespeare, and one of the best +actors of his plays in the poet’s lifetime. His early biographers go +out of their way to refute the alleged reason of his founding “God’s +Gift College,” namely, that when on one occasion he was personating the +devil, the original appeared, and so frightened him that he gave up the +stage to devote himself to good works. Were this story true, the vision +was certainly well timed, and has produced unexpected and far-reaching +results. The educational work, the picture gallery, and the well laid +out estate of Dulwich Manor, including the large public Park, are all +the direct result! + +There are a few fine old trees in the Park, particularly a row of +gnarled oaks near the lake. This is a small sheet of water on the +side nearest the College. The carriage road, which encircles the +Park, crosses by a stone bridge the trickling stream, formed by the +overflow from the lake. On the south-east side of the Park there are +but few trees, but large masses of rhododendrons and azaleas have +been planted, which make a brilliant show in the summer. The most +distinctive feature is the rock gardening. There is a very large +collection of Alpine and rock plants, which are growing extremely well +and covering the stones with delicious soft green cushions, which turn +to pink, yellow, white, and purple, as the season advances. Even in +the cold, early spring, snowdrops, and the pretty little Chionodoxa, +the “Glory of the Snow,” begin to peep out amongst the rocks, and +these are the harbingers of a succession of bloom, through the spring +and summer months. On either side of one of the entrances, a long and +pleasing line of this rock-work extends, but the plants for the most +part are grown on mounds like rocky islands rising up from a sea of +gravel. There are several of these isolated patches in the middle of +the carriage drive. It is certainly fortunate, for those who only +drive round the Park, thus to have a full view of the charming rock +plants; but to compare such a display to the rock garden at Kew is +misleading. There may be nearly as many plants at Dulwich as at Kew, +but the arrangement of that charming little retired valley at Kew is +so infinitely superior that the comparison is unjustified. The small +stream which leaves the lake, and other places in the Park, offer, +just as good a foundation for a really effective rock garden as the +one at Kew. Such an arrangement would give a much better idea of the +plants, in their own homes, than the islands in the roadway, that +must suffer from dust, besides looking stiff and unnatural. It is, +however, delightful to see how well these plants are thriving. This is +hardly astonishing, as it is not in a crowded, smoky district, but in +one of the most favoured of suburbs. Dulwich Park adds greatly to the +advantages of the neighbourhood: it has not hitherto been crowded, and +is by no means a playground of the poorest classes, but now the advent +of electric trams and rapid communication may somewhat lessen its +exclusiveness. + + +HORNIMAN GARDENS + +There are gardens of a very different character round the Horniman +Museum, not far distant. This collection, as well as the 9¼ acres of +ground adjoining it on Forest Hill, were the gift of the late Mr. J. F. +Horniman, M.P., and the garden, kept up by the London County Council, +was opened in June 1901. The situation is extremely attractive. A +steep walk up an avenue from London Road, Forest Hill, near Lordship +Lane Station, leads to a villa standing in its own grounds, which is +utilised for refreshment rooms and caretaker’s house, &c. The lawns +descend steeply on three sides, and on the western slope there is a +wide terrace, with a row of gnarled pollard oaks. From this walk there +is a wide and beautiful view, over the hills and parks, chimney-pots +and steeples of South London, with the lawns and pond of Horniman +Gardens in front. On this terrace a shelter and band-stand have been +put up, and no more favoured spot for enjoying the open-air town life, +so common on the Continent, but until lately so rare in England, can +well be imagined. The country round is still fairly open, between +Forest Hill and Brixton. Near the foot of Horniman Gardens lies Dulwich +Park, with the shady path known as “Cox’s Walk,” from the proprietor +of the “Green Man,” and the roads lined with trees connect Dulwich +with Brockwell Park, Herne Hill, so that this corner of London is well +supplied with trees. + + +DEPTFORD PARK + +Deptford Park is a complete contrast to the semi-rural Dulwich. It +is in one of the most densely-populated and poor districts, where +it is greatly needed, and has been open since 1897. The site was +market-gardens, and was sold by the owner, Mr. Evelyn, below its value, +to benefit the neighbourhood. It is merely a square, flat, open space +of 17 acres, with only a few young trees planted round the outskirts. +Near the principal entrance in Lower Road, the approach is by a short +walk between two walls. Along either side of the pathway, and for some +little distance to the right and left, after the open space is reached, +a nice border of herbaceous plants has been made along the wall, and +a few beds placed in the grass on either side, and ornamental trees +planted. Thus the entrance to this wide playground is made cheerful and +attractive, and a pleasant contrast to the grimy streets outside. + + +TELEGRAPH HILL + +Between these two extremes lies a small Park known as Telegraph Hill. +It is only 9½ acres, and is cut in two by a road, but it is very +varied in surface. The origin of its name is from its having been a +station for a kind of telegraphy that was invented before the electric +telegraph had been discovered. Two brothers Chappé invented the +system, and were so successful in telegraphing the news of a victory +in 1793, that their plan was adopted in France, and soon throughout +Europe. In Russia a large sum was expended in establishing a line of +communication between the German frontier and St. Petersburg; but so +slow was the building that the stations were hardly at work before +they were superseded by electricity. The signals were made by opening +and shutting six shutters, arranged on two frames on the roofs of a +small house, and by various combinations sixty-three signals could +be formed. The Admiralty established the English line, of this form +of telegraphy between Dover and London in 1795, and the first public +news of the battle of Waterloo actually reached London by means of the +one on “Telegraph Hill.” The place was well chosen, for even now, all +surrounded by houses, the hill is so steep and conical, that a very +extensive view is still obtained. The site of the semaphore station is +now a level green for lawn tennis. On the other side of the roadway, +the descent is steep into the valley, and there are two small ponds at +the bottom. The cliffs are covered with turf, interspersed by the usual +meaningless clumps of bushes, and a few nice trees. + + +SOUTHWARK PARK + +Southwark Park lies far away from Southwark, beyond Bermondsey, in +Rotherhithe. It was in the parliamentary borough of Southwark, hence +the misleading name. The Park is a gloomy enough place when compared +with the more distant or West End Parks, but a perfect paradise in +this crowded district. Between its creation in 1864 and its completion +in 1869, a great reformation was worked in the district. Close to the +docks, and intersected by streams and canals, with the poorest kind +of rickety houses so vividly described by Dickens in “Oliver Twist,” +the surroundings were among the most dismal imaginable. The actual +site of the Park was partly market-gardens, which had for long been +established in this locality owing to the fertility of the alluvial +soil. Vines were grown here for wine with success in the first half +of the eighteenth century, when there was a revival in grape-growing, +and vineyards were planted at Hoxton and elsewhere. Over 100 gallons of +wine were made in a year in Rotherhithe. Some of the earth excavated +from the Thames Tunnel was put on the ground covered by the Park before +the laying out commenced. When the land, 65 acres, was bought, only 45 +were to be kept for the Park, and the rest were reserved for building. +But when the day of building arrived there was such an outcry that the +whole plan was remodelled, the drives which encircled it done away +with, and tar-paved paths substituted, only one driving road crossing +it being left, and the ponds added. It is more the want of design, than +any special style, that is conspicuous, and a good deal more could have +been done to make the Park less gloomy. An avenue is growing up, but +it will never have the charming effect of the one across Battersea, as +the line is neither straight nor a definite curve. The wild fowl on +the pond are such an attraction, that perhaps it may be that the wire +netting and asphalt edges they apparently require are not drawbacks, +but they are not beautiful. The gateway into the Park, near Deptford +Station, has rather the grim look of a prison, and yet, with the forest +of masts behind, all it requires is a climbing plant or two to make +a picture. On the opposite end of the Park runs Jamaica Road, which +perpetuates the name of a well-known Tea Garden, Jamaica House. Pepys +records a visit there, on a Sunday in April 1667. “Took out my wife, +and the two Mercers, and two of our maids, Barker and Jane, and over +the water to Jamaica House, where I never was before, and there the +girls did run for wagers over the bowling-green; and there, with much +pleasure, spent little and so home.” Pepys’ home in Seething Lane near +the Tower would be an easy distance from the Tea Gardens of Redriff, as +Rotherhithe was called then, and in the days when Swift made Gulliver +live there. There were other well-known Tea Gardens near, the “Cherry +Garden,” “Half-way House,” and at a much later date “St. Helena’s +Gardens,” which were only closed in 1881. The disappearance of all the +Tea Gardens and open spaces made the necessity of a Park very obvious, +and it was to meet this want that Southwark Park was made. + + +MARYON PARK + +There is one more small Park to complete the line of South London +Parks, for which the public is indebted to Sir Spencer Maryon-Wilson, +the lord of the manor of Charlton, in which parish it is situated. It +lies between Greenwich and Woolwich, and the South-Eastern Railway +skirts the northern side. The ground was chiefly large gravel pits, and +has a hill in the middle partly caused by the excavations. This hill +has some pretty brushwood still growing on its slope, showing it was +once joined to Hanging Wood, a well-known hiding-place of highwaymen. +It was conveniently thick, and there are many tales of pursuit from +Blackheath which ended by losing the thieves in Hanging Wood. The hill +in the Park is locally known as Cox’s Mount, having been rented by an +inhabitant of that name in 1838, who built a summer-house there and +planted poplars. The area of the Park is about 12 acres, and except +for one or two trees on the Mount and patches of brushwood, it is open +grass. The boys on the _Warspite_ training ship anchored near are +allowed to play cricket there, provision for this having been made by +the generous donor of the Park in the deed of gift to the London County +Council in 1891. + +Quite outside these crowded districts, yet within the County of London, +lie three more Parks maintained by the County Council. The one nearest +the heart of London is Manor Park, or Manor House Gardens, between the +High Road, Lee, and Hither Green Station, opened in 1902. There are +8¾ acres here attached to the Lee Manor House, a substantial building +in the Adams style, now used as the Public Library. The Gardens slope +gently away from the house to a large pond--or lake as the Council +would prefer to call it--and beyond to a rapid little stream, the +Quaggy, a tributary of the Ravensbourne. Beyond the Quaggy’s steep +banks, well protected by spiked railings, is a flat green devoted +to games. The chief beauty of this little Park is four magnificent +old elms and a few other good trees--beech, chestnut, _Robinia +speudo acacia_, &c. In the spring of 1907 the pond was in process of +cleaning, so no rooks had ventured to build within the Park, but just +at the gates a large elm in a small garden had been favoured by these +capricious birds, and their hoarse voices were making a deliciously +countrified sound. + +The other London County Council Parks are in what is still nearly open +country, although rows of villas are being rather rapidly reared in +the district. Eltham is one of these. It is at present not enclosed +with massive iron railings, but the wide, flat stretch of smooth +turf, studded with patriarchal trees, is left untouched, except that +a few spaces have been levelled for games. This Park of 41 acres +was bought in 1902, the Borough of Woolwich paying half the cost of +purchase--£9600--with the Council. + +Still further into the country is Avery Hill, with the large house +and grounds, extending over 84 acres, built and laid out by Colonel +J. T. North. The London County Council were offered this estate in +1902, if purchased within a certain limit of time, for £25,000. Usually +the Council, in making a purchase, have ascertained beforehand what +contributions the local Boroughs were prepared to subscribe towards the +total cost, but, on this occasion, the Boroughs were invited to share +the expense after the purchase had been made, with the result that +all those concerned--Camberwell, Lewisham, Greenwich, Deptford, and +Woolwich--refused; so the whole of the purchase and upkeep devolved on +the London County Council. The large mansion is now used as a teachers’ +training college for girls, but the greater part of the grounds, and +the immense winter gardens are open to the public. It is still so +far from the centres of population that the public who make use of +these spacious gardens is very limited. The nearest railway station, +New Eltham, is three-quarters of a mile distant from the Park, and +half-an-hour or more by train from Charing Cross. Although it is now +so far into the country, and some people would deprecate the purchase, +it is only fair to remember that most of the crowded districts were +also country not long ago, and that when land is dear and houses being +built is not a favourable moment to purchase. As a rule it is want of +foresight that is the complaint, and not excess of zeal, as in this +case. The garden is made use of to furnish supplies of plants to some +of the smaller parks, and a portion is being reserved for growing +specimens for demonstration in the Council Schools. On the west side +of the house there are three terraced gardens, prettily planted with +roses and fruit-trees. In front of the house a sloping lawn, with +a few large beds, touches the park-like meadows studded with trees. +Sheep feeding with their tinkling bells gives a rural appearance. To +the large, modern, very red brick house is attached a huge winter +garden. This is on a very large scale, with lofty palms, date, dom, and +cocoa-nut growing with tropical luxuriance in the central house, with a +large camellia house on one side and a fernery with rock-work, pools, +and goldfish on the other. All this requires a good deal of keeping +up--nearly £3000 a year--and although it has been open now some five +years, it has been enjoyed by few. It is greatly to be hoped that it +has a much-appreciated future before it. + +Such is a slight sketch of some of London’s Parks. No doubt there +is much that could be changed for the better, both in design and +planting: less sameness and meaningless formality without true lines +of beauty in design would be an improvement. In planting, there might +be more variety of British trees--alder, oak, ash, and hawthorn; and a +wider range of foreign ones--limes, American or Turkey oaks, and many +others; more climbing plants, such as Virginian creepers, more simple +herbaceous borders and fewer clumps of unattractive bushes, and more +lilacs, laburnums, thorns, almonds, cherries, and medlars in groups +on the grass. If greater originality was displayed and a thorough +knowledge of horticulture were shown, especially by the authorities +that supervise the largest number of these parks, many improvements +in existing ones could be easily achieved, and in forming new parks +the same idea need not be so rigidly followed. But, in spite of small +defects, the Parks as a whole are extremely beautiful, and Londoners +may well be proud of them. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +COMMONS AND OPEN SPACES + + _’Tis very bad in man or woman + To steal a goose from off the common, + But who shall plead that man’s excuse + Who steals the common from the goose?_ + + --AN OLD DITTY. + + +It was only fifty years ago, when the want of fresh air and room +for recreation was being realised, that people began to wake up to +the truth that there were already great open spaces in London which +ought to be cared for and preserved. It was brought home by the fact +that over £1000 an acre was being paid to purchase market-gardens or +fields so as to transform them into parks, while at the same time land +which already belonged to the people was being recklessly sold away +and built over. All through the history of most of the common lands +encroachments of a more or less serious nature are recorded from time +to time. The exercise of common rights also was often so unrestrained +as to inflict permanent injury on the commons. The digging for gravel +was frequently carried to excess, whins and brushwood were cut, and +grass over-grazed until nothing remained. At last, in 1865, a Commons +Preservation Society was formed with the view of arousing public +attention to the subject. As is often the case, some people ran to +the opposite extreme, and wished to transform the commons into parks +without giving compensation to the freeholders and copyhold tenants, +who thereby would lose considerable benefits. In some cases after the +Metropolitan Commons Act of 1866 was passed, the Lord of the Manor, on +behalf of all the freeholders, disputed the right of the Metropolitan +Board of Works to take the land without compensation to the owners. The +lord of the manor was considered unreasonable by some of the agitators +for the transference of the common lands to public bodies, but he was +fighting the battle of all the small owners. The freeholders in some +cases were as many as fifty for some 40 acres. Many of the commons were +Lammas Lands. The freeholders, of which there were a large number, had +the use of the land from the 6th of April until the 12th of August, +and the copyhold tenants of the manor had the right of grazing during +the remainder of the year. The number of cattle each could graze +was determined by the amount of rent they paid, and the grazing was +regulated by the “marsh drivers,” men elected annually by the courts +of the Manor for the purpose. A curious incident in connection with +these rights happened on Hackney Downs in 1837. The season was late, +and the steward of the Manor put up a notice to the effect that as the +freeholders’ crops were not gathered the grazing on the Downs could not +begin until the 25th, instead of the usual 12th of August. The marshes +and other common lands in the parish were open, so there was actually +plenty of pasture available for those entitled to it. There was a fine +crop of wheat on some plots on the Downs, and on the morning of Monday +the 14th August, “a few persons made their appearance and began to help +themselves to the corn.” Summoned before the magistrates, the bench +decided that after the usual opening day the corn “was common property, +and could be claimed by no one parishioner more than another.” On the +strength of this decision the whole parish turned out, and a terrible +scene of looting the crop took place, while the poor owners vainly +tried to save what they could. The freeholder with the most wheat, a +Mr. Adamson, lost over £100 worth, although he worked all night to +save what he could. A case followed, as Mr. Adamson prosecuted Thomas +Wright, one of the many looters who thought they had a right to it, +for stealing his wheat. This time the magistrates fined the man twenty +shillings, and half-a-crown, the value of the wheat he had actually +taken, as he had no right to take away the crop, although he had a +right to put cattle on the Downs. Further trials for riot before the +Court of Queen’s Bench resulted in the prisoners being discharged after +they had pleaded guilty. It appeared both the looters and Mr. Adamson +were in the wrong. They had no right to remove the corn, neither had +he, after the 12th August, and those who had grazing rights could have +turned on their cattle to eat the standing corn. This incident just +shows how the right of freeholders and copyholders could not lightly be +trifled with. + +The report of the Select Committee on Open Spaces in 1865 pointed out +in the same way, that although the right to these common lands had +been enjoyed from time immemorial, the rights were vague as far as the +public at large were concerned. They were probably limited to a certain +defined area or body of persons, as the inhabitants of a parish, and +it was doubtful if the custom would hold good at law for such a large +place as London. Thousands of people from all parts of London trampling +over a common was a very different thing to the free use of it by +the parishioners. This report led to the passing of the Metropolitan +Commons Act of 1866. Both before and after this Act there were several +others for the maintenance and regulation of the commons and all the +parks, gardens, and open spaces too numerous to mention.[9] + +Under the present system most of the metropolitan commons and heaths +are in the hands of the County Council, and in some cases considerable +sums have been spent on them. Among the smaller ones is London Fields, +Hackney, the nearest open space to the city. This was in a very untidy +state when first taken in hand after 1866. The grass was worn away, and +it was the scene of a kind of fair, and the resort of all the worst +characters in the neighbourhood. It used to be known as Shoulder of +Mutton Fields, and the name survives in a “Cat and Mutton” public-house +on the site of a tavern which gave its name to the fields. It was in +the eighteenth century a well-known haunt of robbers and footpads, and +in spite of a watch-house and special guard robberies were frequent. +The watch must have been rather slack, as about 1732 a Mr. Baxter was +robbed about five in the morning “by two fellows, who started out on +him from behind the Watch-House in the Shoulder of Mutton Fields.” +Hackney is rich in open spaces, as besides London Fields there is +Hackney or Well Street Common, near Victoria Park, Mill Fields, Stoke +Newington and Clapton Commons, Hackney Downs (over 40 acres) on the +north, and Hackney Marshes (337 acres) on the east. These were Lammas +Lands, and the marshes were used for grazing until within the last few +years, when the rights were bought up and the land finally thrown open +to the public in 1894. The river Lea skirts the marsh, and used not +unfrequently to flood, doing considerable damage. The London County +Council have made four cuts across the bends of the river, forming +islands. The water now can more easily flow in a wet season, and the +periodical inundations no longer occur. The planting of these islands +has not been carried out at all satisfactorily. An utter want of +appreciation of the habits of plants or the localities suited to them +has been shown. A stiff row of the large saxifrage, _S. cordifolia_, +charming in a rock garden or mixed border, has been put round the +water’s edge, and behind it, berberis, laurels, and a few flowering +bushes suited to a villa garden shrubbery. The opportunity for a +really pleasing effect has thus been missed, and money wasted. A few +willows and alders, with groups of iris and common yellow flags, and +free growing willow herb, and purple loosestrife, would soon, for much +less expense, have made the islands worthy of a visit from an artist. +Instead, an eyesore to every tasteful gardener and lover of nature has +been produced. The beauty of the marsh has always been appreciated by +the dwellers in Hackney and Clapton. The view over the fertile fields +from the high land was one of the attractions since the time when Pepys +wrote, “I every day grow more and more in love with” Hackney. + +Hackney Downs now form a large open area for recreation, but they were +fruitful fields sixty years ago. An engraving, from a drawing by W. +Walker, dated 1814, represents a “Harvest Scene, Hackney Downs, with +a View of the Old Tower, and Part of the Town of Hackney,” and gives +a delightful picture of harvesters reaping with sickles, and binding +up sheaves of the tall, thick-growing corn. That some of the Downs +were arable land was a grievance to those who had grazing rights, and +there was a considerable agitation to get the freeholders to lay it all +down in grass, after the incident of looting the corn in 1837, already +referred to. The Downs continued rural within the memory of many still +living. The Lord of the Manor remembers that an inhabitant stated that +she had, whilst walking across the Downs, startled a wild hare from +her form. This would be about the year 1845, and for ten or twelve +years later there were partridges in the larger fields of turnip and +mangold-wurzel which adjoined the Downs. The rural character has quite +changed, and now the Downs are a large open space, with young trees +growing up to supply shade along the roads which encircle the wide +grassy area. + +Highbury Fields, although much smaller than Hackney Downs, being +only 27 instead of 41 acres, play as important a part in the north +of London, as the Downs do in the north-east. They are not, however, +Common Lands, but until recently were actually fields with sheep +grazing in them. Tradition points to Highbury Fields as the site of +the Roman encampment during the final struggle with Boadicea. In the +Middle Ages they belonged to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and +there the rebels of the Wat Tyler rising, headed by Jack Straw, camped +after leaving Hampstead. There are a few old trees still standing in +the Fields, which were formerly within the grounds of two detached +residences, one of them the Manor House. An old “moated grange,” +or barn, belonging to the ancient Priory, gives its name to the +public-house, Highbury Barn, the goal of motor omnibuses. The moat was +only filled up fifty years ago, and the old buildings pulled down, +after enjoying some notoriety as a Tea Garden for over a century. A +part of the present Fields was called “the Reedmote,” or “Six Acre +Field,” and is also shown on old maps as “Mother Field.” When Islington +Spa was a fashionable resort, and Sadler’s Wells at the height of its +prosperity, the houses facing the Fields were built. On the north-west +the row is inscribed in large letters, “Highbury Terrace, 1789,” and +this, according to old guide-books, “commands a beautiful prospect.” On +the east lies another substantial row of eighteenth-century mansions, +and the inhabitants are proud to point out to strangers No. 25 Highbury +Place as the house in which Mr. Chamberlain lived, from the age of +nine until he was eighteen, when he went to live in Birmingham. His +present home, now so well known, was built in 1879, and was named in +remembrance of Highbury Place. In the early years of the nineteenth +century several well-known people were living in these houses. John +Nichols, the biographer of Hogarth, who was for fifty years editor of +the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, died there in 1826. A few years later a +historian of Islington describes Highbury Place as “thirty-nine houses +built on a large scale, but varying in size, all having good gardens, +and some of them allotments of meadow land in the front and rear. The +road is private, and is frequented only by the carriages passing to and +from the several dwellings situated between the village and Highbury +House.” This description draws a very rural picture, of which nothing +now remains but the name. The Fields were turned into a public Park in +1885, and now consist of wide open spaces for games, with intersecting +paths well planted with limes, elms, chestnuts, and planes, and an +abundance of seats. Near the point where Upper Street, Islington ends +and Holloway Road joins it, a memorial to the soldiers and volunteers +of Islington who fell in the Boer War has been erected, and the figure +of Victory stands conspicuously facing the approach from the city. + +By far the most beautiful and the most frequented of all London Commons +is Hampstead Heath. The original Heath measured 240 acres, but, with +the addition of Parliament Hill, there are now over 500 acres of wild +open country for ever preserved for the benefit of Londoners. ’Appy +’Ampstead, the resort not only of ’Arrys and ’Arriets, but poets, +artists, and people of every rank in life, is too well known to demand +description. The view from it seems more beautiful every time the +occasional visitor ascends the hill, and gazes down on London and away +over the lovely country of the Thames valley. The County Council, the +present holders of this public trust, have mercifully refrained from +turning it into a park--the original intention of those who first +wished to preserve it. The bracken still flourishes, the gorse still +blooms, and there is yet a wild freshness about it that has not been +“improved” away. + +Hampstead has had periods of fashion as a residence. In the eighteenth +century it is described as “a village in Middlesex, on the declivity +of a fine hill, 4 miles from London. On the summit of this hill is +a heath, adorned with many gentlemen’s houses.... The water of the +[Hampstead] Wells is equal in efficacy to that of Tunbridge, and +superior to that of Islington.” These Wells appear to have first +attracted notice in the time of Charles II. In 1698, Susanna Noel and +her son, third Earl of Gainsborough (then the owner of the soil), gave +the Well, with six acres of ground, to the poor of Hampstead. For more +than thirty years the Wells, with all the attendant attractions of +the pump-room, with balls and music, drew the fashionable world up to +Hampstead. It was said to be “much more frequented by good company than +can well be expected, considering its vicinity to London; but such care +has been taken to discourage the meaner sort from making it a place +of residence, that it is now become ... one of the Politest Public +Places in England.” Here Fanny Burney made her heroine, Evelina, attend +dances, and it plays a part in the fortunes of Richardson’s Clarissa +Harlowe; and here all the wits and poets of the time mingled in the +gay throng. Many have been the celebrated residents in Hampstead--Lord +Chatham, Dr. Johnson, Crabbe, Steele, Gay, Keats, William Blake, Leigh +Hunt, Romney and Constable, John Linnell, and David Wilkie among the +number. The site of the pump-room is all built over, but some fine old +elm trees in Well Walk, still have an air of romance and faded glory +about them. The houses near the Heath--such as Shelford, afterwards +Rosslyn House, with a celebrated avenue of Spanish chestnuts, The +Grove, Belsize Park, the residence of Lord Wotton, and then of Philip, +Earl of Chesterfield--have all been consumed by the inroads of bricks +and mortar. It is more than likely that the Heath would have shared +the same fate, had not the inhabitants taken active steps to arouse +public attention to preserve this wild heath, unequalled near any great +city. Already aggressive red villas were making their appearance in +far too great numbers. The western side was dotted over with them. +That the purchase of it for the public benefit has been appreciated +it is not difficult to prove, when over 100,000 visit it on a Bank +Holiday. It was the commencement of building operations near the +Flagstaff by the lord of the manor, Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, in the +heart of the Heath, that brought things to a crisis in 1866. A case +began against the lord of the manor, but he died before it was ended, +and his brother, Sir John, being willing to compromise, the sum of +£47,000 was agreed on for the sale of the Heath to the Metropolitan +Board of Works. The few houses dotted about on the Heath are those of +squatters, who have established their right by the length of time they +have been in possession. The small hamlet or collection of houses in +the “Vale of Health,” those near the “Spaniards” and round Jack Straw’s +Castle, have existed from time immemorial, although few old houses of +interest remain, and large, unsightly buildings have taken the place +of the picturesque ones. In the Vale of Health the houses are chiefly +given up to catering for holiday-makers. The “Spaniards,” at the most +northerly point of the Heath, is a genuine old house, and it still +has a nice garden, although all the alleys and fantastic ornaments +which made it popular, in the eighteenth century, have vanished. The +name came from the fact that the first owner was a Spaniard. The next +proprietor was a Mr. Staples, who “improved and beautifully ornamented +it.” The house was on the site of the toll-gate and lodge to Caen +Wood, and its position saved that house from destruction, at the time +of the Gordon riots. The rioters had burnt and wantonly destroyed +Lord Mansfield’s house in Bloomsbury Square. Maddened with drink, and +flushed with triumph at the success of their outrages, they made +a bonfire in the square of the invaluable books collected by Lord +Mansfield. Their temper may be imagined as they marched by Hampstead to +commit the same violence at Caen Wood, Lord Mansfield’s country house. +The proprietor of the “Spaniards” invited them in, and threw open his +cellars to the mob. Fresh barrels of drink were sent down from Caen +Wood, and meanwhile messengers were despatched for soldiers; so that +by the time all the liquor had been consumed, and the drunken rioters +began to proceed, they were confronted by a troop of Horse Guards, +who, in their addled condition, soon put them all to flight. The name +of the other inn on Hampstead Heath, which stands conspicuously on the +highest point, 443 feet above the sea, is Jack Straw’s Castle, and has +also some connection with a riot. Jack Straw was one of the leaders in +the Wat Tyler rebellion, and after burning the Priory of St. John of +Jerusalem, he came up to Hampstead and Highgate, though there is no +direct evidence to connect him, in 1381, with any tavern on the spot +on which the inn stands. The addition of Castle to the name is from +the fact, that there was some sort of fortress or earthworks on this +commanding point. The inn on the site was known as the Castle Inn, and +not until 1822 is there any mention of it as Jack Straw’s Castle. The +wood of the gallows on which a famous highwayman was hung behind the +house in 1673 was built into the wall. Jack Straw’s Castle is now quite +modernised, but the view from it, on all sides, is still as lovely as +ever. The Whitestone Pond in front is really a reservoir, and to the +south of that lies the Grove, with fine trees and some old-fashioned +houses. The most picturesque walk is that known as the Judges’ or +King’s Bench Walk, from a tradition that justice was administered under +the trees there, when the judges fled from London at the time of the +Great Plague. This walk is on the south-west side of the Heath, the +Well Walk on the south-east. To the east of the highest point with +Jack Straw’s Castle and the road which runs northwards towards the +“Spaniards” is the Vale of Health, and below are a series of ponds. +Hampstead has always furnished a water-supply for the city at its feet. +When more water was required, in the sixteenth century, the Lord Mayor +proposed to utilise the springs there, and convey the water to London +by conduits. A pound of pepper at the Feast of St. Michael annually +to the “Bishop of Westminster,” was the tribute for the use of the +water, as the land belonged to the Abbey of Westminster, having been +granted to it by King Ethelred in 986. The managers of water-supply +in 1692 were a company known as the Hampstead Water Company, which +became absorbed in the New River Company. The lakes are very deep, and +dangerous for boating, bathing, and skating, although used for all +those purposes. + +The hill which rises beyond the ponds and stretches away to the east, +is part of the land adjoining the true Heath, which was bought in +1887, so as to double the area of open country, and prevent that side +of the Heath being overlooked by houses. The character is quite a +contrast, and lacks the wildness, but it is pretty, park-like scenery, +and Hampstead Heath would have been greatly spoilt had this further +wide space of pasture land not been saved. The first hill to the east +of the Heath is crowned by a mound or tumulus, which was opened a +few years ago; the investigations leading scientists to believe that +it was a British burial-place of the bronze age. This used to be very +picturesque with a group of Scotch firs--now, alas! all dead. The next +hill is Parliament or Traitor’s Hill, and there is no very definite +solution of the name. It may have been a meeting-place of the British +“Moot” or Parliament, or the origin may only be traced to Cromwell’s +time. As if to encourage the tradition being kept up, a stone suggests +that meetings may take place within 50 yards of the spot by daylight. +Below the hill are flat meadows by Gospel Oak, said to be so named from +its being a parish boundary, and the Gospel was read under the tree to +impress the parishioners, with the same object as the other and more +familiar form of beating the bounds. These Gospel Oak fields are the +typical London County Council greens for games, so gradually, after +leaving the summit of the Heath, the descent is made, from the artistic +and picturesque, to the practical and prosaic. + +Hampstead was always famous for its wild flowers. The older botanists +roamed there in search of rare plants, and the frequent references in +their works, especially in Gerard’s “Herbal,” show how often they were +successful. Osmundas, or royal ferns, sundew or drosera, and the bog +bean grew in the damp places, and lilies of the valley were among the +familiar flowers. As late as 1838 a work on London Flora enumerates 290 +genera, and no less than 650 species, as found round about the Heath. +The soil, the aspect, the situation, are all propitious. Even now it +is so far above the densest smoke-fogs that much might be done to +encourage the growth of wild flowers. It is true notice-boards forbid +the plucking of them, and that is a great step in advance--but the +sowing of a few species, which have become extinct, would add greatly +to the charm of the place. It is also still the favourite haunt of wild +birds, and the more the true wildness is encouraged, the more likely +they are to frequent it. It is much to be hoped that the London County +Council will refrain in their planting, from anything but native trees +and bushes which look at home, and which would attract our native +songsters. Within the last ten or twelve years a very great variety of +birds have been recorded either as nesting there or as visitors. The +following list (taken from “Birds in London” by W. H. Hudson, 1898) may +interest bird lovers:-- + +Wryneck, cuckoo, blackcap, grasshopper, sedge, reed and garden +warblers, both white-throats, wood and willow wrens, chiff-chaff, +redstart, stonechat, pied wagtail, tree pipit, red-backed shrike, +spotted fly-catcher, swallow, house martin, swift, goldfinch, +wheat-ears in passage, fieldfare in winter, occasionally redwings, also +redpoles, siskin, and grey wagtail. + +This list is certainly a revelation to those who only associate dusty +sparrows and greedy wood-pigeons with the ornithology of London. +No better testimony is wanted to prove that Hampstead is still the +beautiful wild Heath that has given pleasure to so many generations. + +The only other large space of common land, north of the river within +the London area, is Wormwood Scrubs, of very different appearance +and associations from Hampstead. The manorial and common rights +were purchased by the War Office, and the ground made over to the +Metropolitan Board of Works in 1879, with reservations for the rifle +range and military exercises. The space is altogether over 200 acres. +The ground in ancient times was a wood, adjoining “Old Oak Common,” +just beyond the London boundary, which was covered with patriarchal +oaks. The last was felled in 1830. The ground, being flat, is admirably +suited for the War Office purposes; it has gone through a process +of draining, and the only part not downtrodden by soldiers has been +“improved” by the London County Council, so there is little wildness +or attraction in the place. The presence of a prison, erected in 1874, +still further diminishes its charm as an open space. + +This completes the open large spaces on the north; the south of the +river is even richer in commons. One of the most thoroughly rural spots +within the London area is Bostall Wood. There is nothing to spoil the +illusion, and for quite a considerable walk it would be easy to imagine +that a journey on the magic horse of the “Arabian Nights” had been +taken to some distant forest land, to forget that the roar of the town +was barely out of one’s ears, and that ten minutes’ walk would take +one, out of the enchanted land, back to suburban villas and electric +trams. + +Beyond the inevitable band-stand, which attracts thousands on a summer +Sunday evening, there is nothing to jar, and spoil the illusion of +real country. The woods, and Bostall Heath which adjoins them, can +be reached from Plumstead or Abbey Wood Station, in twenty minutes’ +walk up the steep hill. Pine woods crest the summit, and below them +stretches a delightful thicket, chiefly of oaks and sweet chestnut, +with an undergrowth of holly and a pleasant tangle of bracken and +bramble, where the blackbirds, chaffinches, and robins call to each +other and flit across the path. Steep slopes, and valleys, and hollows +clothed with trees, give possibilities of real rambles, in a truly +sylvan scene. Under the pines, which are tall enough to produce that +soothing, soughing sound even in the most gentle breeze, the carpet of +pine needles is cushioned here and there with patches of vivid green +moss where the moisture has penetrated. Beyond the Wood lies the Heath, +studded with birch trees, among gorse and bracken. There are narrow +gullies and glades, like miniature “gates” or “gwyles” of the sea +coast, and at the foot of the Heath lie the marshes, often in the soft +light as blue as the sea, and the silver Thames, a bright streak across +the picture, chequered with the red sails of the barges, and tall masts +of the more stately ships. + +The whole area of woods and common is only about 133 acres, but the +varied surface, and the distant views from it, make it appear of larger +extent. It is little known to most Londoners, although the Heath was +purchased as far back as 1877, and the Wood bought by the London County +Council in 1891. The place, however, is much frequented and duly +appreciated by the neighbouring population. This peaceful country-side +could be reached within an hour, from any point in the City. It is +attractive at all times of the year, especially in spring, when the +green is pale and the young brackens, soft and downy, are uncurling +their fronds, and the dark firs stand up in sharp contrast to the +tender greens. Or, perhaps, still more delightful is it in autumn, when + + “Red o’er the forest gleams the setting sun,” + +and the oaks have turned a rich russet, and the birches, of brilliant +yellow, shower their tiny leaves on the mossy earth, like the golden +showers which fell on Danaë in her prison. + +The attractive wood-clad hills of Bostall are the most remote of +all London’s open spaces. They lie the furthest east on the fringe +of the suburbs. From Bostall westward roofs and chimney-pots become +continuous--Woolwich, Greenwich, Deptford, Bermondsey, Southwark +getting more and more densely crowded. But westward also begins the +chain of commons which circle the town round the southern border--with +breaks, it is true, yet so nearly continuous that from the highest +point of one, the view almost ranges on to the next. + +Only a deep valley, with Wickham Lane on the track of a Roman road, +divides Bostall Wood from Plumstead Common. This is open and breezy, +standing high above what was in ancient times the marsh overflowed by +the Thames. The greater part is, however, used by the military, and the +trample of horse artillery makes it look like a desert. It is a curious +effect to see this part of the Common in winter. It has probably been +used for manœuvring all the week, and by Saturday afternoon there are +pools of mud, and ruts, and furrows, and hoofmarks all over it. On this +dreary waste hundreds of boys and young men, sorted according to age, +play more or less serious football matches. The coats of the players, +in four little heaps, do duty for goal-posts, and these are so thickly +strewn over the surface, and the players so closely mingled, that the +effect is like bands of savages fighting among their slain--the ancient +barrow in the centre of the ground gives colour to the supposition. + +A sudden deep valley, called “the Slade,” cuts the Common in two. In +the hollow there are ponds, and on the high ground beyond stood a +windmill, the remains of which are embedded in the Windmill Tavern. + +The next common west of Plumstead, is Woolwich, maintained by the War +Office and given up to military exercises. The extent is 159 acres. +It is so much absorbed by the requirements of the War Office that it +cannot be classed among London’s playgrounds. + +Going westward, the next large space is Blackheath, whose history is +wrapped up with that of Greenwich, the beautiful Greenwich Park having +once been part of the Heath. It is high ground, for the most part bare +of trees, and with roads intersecting it--one of them, the old Roman +Watling Street. The wild, bare summit of the Heath was a dangerous +place for travellers, and many was the highway robbery committed there +in times past. It is of very large extent, some 267 acres, and has been +effectually preserved for public use, for some thirty-five years, since +early in the Seventies. + +The Heath has played its part in history--gay scenes, such as when +the Mayor and aldermen of London flocked, with a great assemblage, +to welcome Henry V. after the battle of Agincourt, or more ominous +and hostile demonstrations, as when Wat Tyler collected his followers +there, or when Jack Cade, some seventy years later, did the same thing. +A few fine old eighteenth-century houses still stand on the edge of +the Heath, and an avenue, “Chesterfield Walk,” perpetuates the name of +one of the distinguished residents. Morden College, at the south-east +corner of the Heath, is a fine old building of Wren’s design, founded +by Sir John Morden, for merchants trading with the East who, through +unforeseen accidents, had lost their fortunes. + +To the west of Blackheath there was once a Deptford Common, but it +has long since been built over, and, with the exception of the small +Deptford Park, there is a large district of dense population without +any open space. The nearest is Hilly Fields on the south. This is a +steep, conical hill, with little beauty to recommend it, except its +breezy height, and views over chimney-pots to the Crystal Palace. A +large, bleak-looking building, with a small enclosure on the highest +point--at present for sale--marked the West Kent Grammer School, does +not improve the appearance of this open space. There are some 45 acres +of turf, and a line of old elms and another of twisted thorns show that +there were once hedgerows. There is some promiscuous planting of young +trees, and iron railings, and of course a band-stand; otherwise no +particular “beautifying” has been attempted since it was opened to the +public in 1896. + +In the valley of the Ravensbourne, below the hill stretches the long, +narrow strip of the Ladywell Recreation Ground. It lies on either +bank of the stream between Ladywell and Catford Bridge stations. It +is intersected by railways, and the pathway passes sometimes over, +sometimes under the lines, and constant trains whizz by. But in spite +of such drawbacks, the place has a special attraction in the stream +which meanders through the patches of grass devoted to games. Where +the stream has been untouched, and allowed to continue its course +unmolested between iron railings, even the railings cannot destroy a +certain rural aspect it has retained. Alders and elms, with gnarled +and twisted roots, lean over the banks, and hawthorns dip down towards +the rather swiftly flowing water. When the land was bought for public +use in 1889 the stream frequently overflowed its sandy banks, and +one or two necessary cuttings were made across some of the sharpest +curves, to allow a better flow of water. This has stopped all the +objectionable flooding, but the melancholy part is that, having been +obliged to make these imperative but necessarily artificial cuttings, +the London County Council did not plant them with alders, thorns, and +willows, like the pretty, natural stream; but instead, the islands thus +formed, and the banks, were dotted about with box and aucuba bushes. +The babbling stream seems to jeer at these poor sickly little black +bushes, as if to say, “What is the good of bravely playing at being in +the country, and trying to make believe trout may jump from my ripples +and water-ousels pop in and out of my banks, if you dreadful Cockneys +disfigure me like that?” Very likely it does not jar on the feelings +of the inhabitants of Lewisham or Catford, but when public money is +spent by way of improvement, it is cruel to mar and deform instead. +Where the churchyard of St. Mary’s, Lewisham, touches the stream is a +pretty spot, but, in places, untidy little back-gardens are the only +adornment; but that is not the fault of the London County Council. + +Peckham Rye Common is more or less flat, without any special feature +of interest, except at the southern end, which has been converted +into a Park. The Rye--what a quaint name it is! and there is no very +satisfactory derivation. It may either come from a stream of that name, +long since disappeared, or from a Celtic word, _rhyn_, a projecting +piece of land--Peckham Rye, the village on the spur of the hill, now +known as Forest Hill and Honor Oak. This “Rye” has been a place of +recreation from time immemorial, and at one time must have extended so +as to embrace the smaller patches of common known as Nunhead Green (now +black asphalt), and Goose Green. The Common was secured by purchase +from further encroachments in 1882. + +The Park has much that savours of the country. An enclosure within +it, is not open to the public, and for that very reason is one of the +most rural spots. There is a delightful public road across it, known +as “the Avenue.” The old trees form an archway overhead, and on either +side of the fence the wood is like a covert somewhere miles from +London; brambles and fern and brushwood make shelter for pheasants, +and squirrels run up the trees. The farm-house, and its out-buildings +with their moss-grown tiled roofs, have nothing suburban about them. +The front facing the Rye Common has a notice to say it is the Friern +Manor Dairy, but even that is not aggressive, as the name carries back +the history to the time of Henry I., when the manor was granted to +the Earl of Gloucester, and on till it was given by his descendants +to the Priory of Halliwell, which held it until the church property +was taken by Henry VIII. and granted to Robert Draper, and so on +till modern days. There is, besides this attractive farm, a regular +piece of laid-out garden, and a pond and well-planted flower-beds; +but the little walk among trees, beside a streamlet which has been +formed into small cascades, and crossed by rustic bridges, is a more +original conception, and is decidedly a success, and a good imitation +of a woodland scene. The contrast is all the greater as Peckham is so +eminently prosaic, busy, and unpicturesque; the old houses having for +the most part given place to modern suburban edifices. + +Due west of Peckham lies Clapham, the largest of the South London +Commons, 220 acres in extent; although, being flat and compact in +shape, it does not appear larger than Tooting, which is really only +10 acres less, but of more rambling shape. The Common has suffered +much less than most of its neighbours from enclosures. It was shared +between two manors, Battersea and Clapham, and the rival lords and +commonalities, each jealous of their own special rights, were more +careful to prevent encroachments than was often the case. At one time +Battersea went so far as to dig a great ditch to prevent the cattle +of the Clapham people coming into its part of the ground. The other +parish resisted and filled up the ditch, and was sued for trespass +by Battersea, which, however, lost its case--this ended in 1718. The +Common has an air of dignified respectability, and is still surrounded +with some solid old-fashioned houses, although modern innovations have +destroyed a great number of them. A nice old buttressed wall, over +which ilex trees show their heads, and suggest possibilities of a shady +lawn, carries one back to the time when Pepys retired to Clapham to +“a very noble house and sweete place, where he enjoyed the fruite of +his labour in great prosperity”; or to the days when Wilberforce lived +there, and he, together with the other workers in the same cause, +Clarkson, Granville Sharp, and Zachary Macaulay, used to meet at the +house of John Thornton by the Common. + +There is nothing wild now about the Common, and the numbers of paths +which intersect it are edged by high iron railings, to prevent the +entire wearing away of the grass. The beauty of the ground is its +trees. They proclaim it to be an old and honoured open space, and not +a modern creation. Only one tree has any pretentions to historical +interest, having been planted by the eldest son of Captain Cook the +explorer, but only a stump remains. The ponds are the distinctive +feature of the Common, and there are several of them dotted about, the +joy of boys for bathing and boat-sailing. The origin of most of them +has been gravel pits dug in early days. There is the Cock Pond near the +church, the Long Pond, the Mount Pond, and the Eagle House Pond, some +of them fairly large. The Mount Pond was at one time nearly lost to the +Common, as about 1748 a Mr. Henton Brown, who had a house close by, and +who kept a boat on the water, obtained leave to fence it in for his own +private gratification. It was not until others followed Mr. Brown’s +example, and further encroachments began to frighten the parish, that +it repented of having let in the thin end of the wedge. A committee was +formed to watch over the interests of the Common lands, and took away +Mr. Brown’s privileges; but in spite of their vigilance other pieces +were from time to time taken away. A little group of houses by the +Windmill Inn are on the site of one of these shavings off the area, +for a house called Windmill Place. The church was built on a corner of +the Common in 1774, and has a peaceful, solid, dignified appearance, +standing among fine old elms and away from the din of trams, which rush +in all directions from the corner hard by. It was built to replace an +older parish church, which was described as “a mean edifice, without +a steeple” by a writer of the eighteenth century, who admired the +“elegant” one which took its place. The present generation would hardly +apply that epithet to the massive Georgian edifice, but it seems to +suit its surroundings: substantial and unostentatious, recalling +memories of the evangelical revival, it seems an essential part of the +Common and its history. + +Away to the south-west of Clapham lies Tooting (why does the very name +sound comic, and invariably produce a laugh?), another Common, nearly +as large, and much more wild and picturesque. Clapham is essentially +a town open space, like an overgrown village green; but on Tooting +Common one can successfully play at being in the country. The trees +are quite patriarchal, and have nothing suburban about them, except +their blackened stems. There are good spreading oaks and grand old +elms, gnarled thorns, tangles of brambles, and golden gorse. The grass +grows long, with stretches of mossy turf, and has not the melancholy, +down-trodden appearance of Clapham or Peckham Rye. + +Fine elm avenues overshadow the main roads, and no stiff paths with +iron rails, take away from the rural effect. Even the railway, +which cuts across it in two directions, has only disfigured and not +completely spoilt the park-like appearance. The disused gravel-pits, +now filled with water, have been enlarged since the London County +Council had possession; and if only the banks could be left as wild +and natural, as nature is willing to make them, they may be preserved +from the inevitable stamp which marks every municipal park. The smaller +holes, excavated by virtue of the former rights of digging gravel, and +already overgrown, assist rather than take away from the charms of the +Common. + +Tooting Common consists of two parts, belonging to two ancient manors. +The smallest is Tooting Graveney, which derives its name from the De +Gravenelle family, who held the manor soon after the Conquest, on +the payment of a rose yearly at the feast of St. John the Baptist. +The larger half, Tooting Beck, takes its name from the Abbey of Bec +in Normandy, which was in possession of the Manor from Domesday till +1414, when it came to the Crown. Both manors can be traced through +successive owners until the rights were purchased in 1875 and 1873 by +the Metropolitan Board of Works. The avenue of elms which runs right +across the Common divides the two. Tooting Beck is more than twice +the size of Graveney, and has the finest trees. One of the oldest elm +trees, now encircled by a railing, was completely hollow, but now has +a young poplar sprouting out of its shell. Tradition associates this +tree particularly with Dr. Johnson, and though he did not compose his +Dictionary under it, it is more than likely he often enjoyed the shade +of what must have been a very old tree in his day. For fifteen years +he was a constant visitor at Thrale Place close by. “He frequently +resided here,” says a contemporary guide-book, “and experienced that +sincere respect to which his virtues and talents were entitled, +and those soothing attentions which his ill-health and melancholy +demanded.” The house stood in 100 acres of ground between Tooting and +Streatham Commons, and has since been pulled down and built over. +During these years, no doubt, Tooting as well as Streatham Common was +often trodden by the brilliant circle who drank tea and conversed with +the accomplished Mrs. Thrale--Sir Joshua Reynolds, Burke, Garrick, +Goldsmith--to all of them the woodland scenes of both Commons were +familiar. + +To prevent the too free use of the turf by riders, a special track has +been made for them, skirting the Common, and passing down one of the +finest avenues. It may save the grass from being too much cut up, but +to those who don’t feel called to gallop across the Common, the loss +of the green sward under the tall feathery elms is a cause of regret. +It is such, perhaps necessary, alterations which spoil the delusion of +genuine country, otherwise so well counterfeited on Tooting Common. A +charming time is when the may is out and the gorse ablaze with bloom, +the chestnuts in blossom, and birds are singing all around; or if one +happens to be there on a winter’s day, when it is too cold for loungers +or holiday-makers, there are moments when the nearness of streets and +trams could be forgotten. The frosty air, and dew-drops on the vivid +green grass, the brown of the fallen leaves, the dark stems clear +against an amber sky, with the intense blue distance, which London +atmosphere produces so readily, combine harmoniously into a telling +picture, which remains photographed “upon that inward eye, which is the +gift of solitude.” The dream is as quickly dispelled. A sight, a sound, +recalls the nearness of London, which makes its presence felt even when +one is trying to play Hide-and-seek with the chimney-pots. How well +Richard Jefferies, that inimitable writer on nature, describes his +feelings in the neighbourhood of London, in spots only a little further +from Hyde Park Corner than Tooting Beck:-- + +“Though my preconceived ideas were overthrown by the presence of so +much that was beautiful and interesting close to London, yet in course +of time I came to understand what was at first a dim sense of something +wanting. In the shadiest lane, in the still pine-woods, on the hills of +purple heather, after brief contemplation there arose a restlessness, +a feeling that it was essential to be moving. In no grassy mead was +there a nook where I could stretch myself in slumbrous ease and +watch the swallows ever wheeling, wheeling in the sky. This was the +unseen influence of mighty London. The strong life of the vast city +magnetised me, and I felt it under the calm oaks.” + +The most remote of London open spaces in this direction is Streatham, +to the south-east of Tooting, close to Norwood, and on the very +extremity of the County of London. Much smaller than the other commons, +it possesses attractions of its own. It is less spoilt by modern +buildings than any of these once country villages, but ominous boards +foretell the rapid advance of the red-brick villa. The houses which +now overlook the upper part are substantial, in the solid, simple +style of the eighteenth century, In those days Streatham possessed a +mineral spring, and for a few years people flocked to drink at it. But +long before the end of the eighteenth century other more fashionable +watering-places had supplanted it, and in 1792 Streatham is described +as “once frequented for its medicinal waters.” The spring was in the +grounds afterwards belonging to a house called the Rookery, and near +the house called Wellfield, on the southern side of the Common. The +waters were said to be so strong that three glasses of Streatham were +equivalent to nine of Epsom. Although so near London, the journey +to the springs presented some dangers, as this was one of the most +noted localities for footpads and highwaymen. The woods of Norwood, +which came close to the Common, afforded covert and an easy means of +escape. This road from London, which went on to Croydon and Brighton, +had such a bad reputation that the risk of an adventure must have +counterbalanced some of the health-giving properties to any nervous +invalid! The lower part of the Common, near the road, is flat and open, +and not particularly inviting. The charms of the top of the hill are +all the more delightful, as they come as a surprise. There are fine +old trees, and a wealth of fern, thorns, and bramble, and the short +grass is exchanged for springy turf the moment the crest of the steep +hill is reached. But by far the greatest surprise is the glorious view. +Away and away over soft, hazy, blue country the eye can reach. It may +or may not be true that Woolwich, Windsor, and Stanmore can be seen: +nobody will care who gazes over that wide stretch of country bathed +in a mysterious light, perhaps with the rays of the sun, like golden +pathways from heaven, carrying the thoughts far from the prosaic villas +or harrowing slums concealed at one’s feet. Only the wide expanse and +the waving bracken and tangled brushwood fill the picture--while one +rejoices that such a beautiful scene should be within the reach of so +many of London’s toilers. + +Wandsworth is among the least beautiful and the most cut-up of the +commons. Large and straggling in extent, it has been so much encroached +upon that roads, and houses, and railways cross it. It is narrowed to +a strip in places, and all the wildness and all the old trees have +gone. Some young avenues by the main road have been planted, and no +more curtailments can be perpetrated, as it was acquired for the use +of the public in 1871. For many years the encroachments had roused the +inhabitants, and about 1760 a species of club was formed to protect +the rights of the commoners. When enclosures took place, the members +all subscribed and went to law, and often won their cases. The head +was called the “Mayor of Garratt,” from Garratt Lane, near the Common, +where a “ridiculous mock election” was held. A mob collected, and +encouraged by Foote, Wilkes, and others, witty speeches were made. +Foote wrote a farce called “The Mayor of Garratt,” which for some time +gave the ceremony no small celebrity. The rowdyism becoming serious +at the sham elections, they were suppressed in 1796. When the Common +was eventually saved, it was in a bad and untidy state: quantities of +gravel had been dug, and holes, some of them filled with water, were a +danger; the trees had all disappeared, and the whole surface was bare +and muddy. It has improved since then, but there is nothing picturesque +left. The “Three Island Pond,” which is supposed to be its greatest +beauty, is stiff, formal, and new-looking, with a few straggly trees +growing up. Still it is safely preserved as an open space, and makes a +good recreation ground. + +All round London, besides the larger commons, smaller greens are to be +found, which are survivals of the old village greens. They recall the +time when London was a walled city, and thickly scattered round it were +the little hamlets which have now been absorbed by the ever-growing, +monster town. + +There is little that is distinctive about them. For the most part they +are simply open spaces of well-worn turf without trees. Shepherd’s Bush +is one of these. Brook Green, in Hammersmith, not very far from it, has +the remains of a few fine elm trees. In Fulham there are Parson’s Green +and Eel Brook Common. Away in South London, Goose Green and Nunhead +Green are other examples where grass is even more inconspicuous. + +[Illustration: STATUE OF MRS. SIDDONS, PADDINGTON GREEN] + +On the north lies Paddington Green, which is small in extent, but close +to the large graveyard turned into a public garden. In the centre of +the Green a statue to Mrs. Siddons, by Chevaliand, was erected in +1897, as she lived in the neighbourhood when Paddington was still +rural. There is nothing beautiful about the asphalt paths between +high iron railings surrounding the small space of grass and trees. +Some of the other greens are more of the ordinary public garden type. +Islington Green has been planted with trees, and outside the railings +stands a statue of Sir Hugh Myddelton, who died in 1631, representing +him holding a plan of the New River. Stepney was once a very large +green, and has still 3¼ acres of garden cut up into four sections. Some +quaint old houses, wood with tiled roofs, and good seventeenth-century +brick ones, still overlook the gardens. The gardens have been made +exactly like every other, with a slightly serpentine path, a border +running parallel in irregular curves not following the line of the +path, and trees dotted about. One really fine, thick-stemmed laburnum +shows how well that tree will do in smoke, and some curious old wooden +water-pipes dug up in 1890, dating from 1570, are placed at intervals +in the grass. + +Camberwell has one of the large village greens of South London, and has +been made into a satisfactory garden. All the trams seem to meet there, +but in spite of the din it is a pleasant garden in which to rest. +The 2½ acres are well laid out, and the clipped lime-trees round the +railings are a protection from the street which other places would do +well to copy. When the trees are in leaf the garden is partially hidden +even from those on the tops of omnibuses. + +These greens scattered round London help to connect the larger areas, +thus forming links in the chain of open spaces which encircles London. +These natural recreation grounds are the admiration of all foreigners, +and a priceless boon to the citizens, ensuring the preservation of +green grass and green trees to refresh their fog-dimmed eyes, at no +great distance from the throng of city life. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SQUARES + + _Fountains and Trees our wearied Pride do please, + Even in the midst of Gilded Palaces; + And in our Towns, that Prospect gives Delight, + Which opens round the Country to our Sight._ + + --Lines in a Letter from SPRAT to SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN + on the Translation of Horace. + + +Nothing is more essentially characteristic of London than its squares. +They have no exact counterpart in any foreign city. The iron railings, +the enclosure of dusty bushes and lofty trees, with wood-pigeons and +twittering sparrows, have little in common with, say for instance, the +Place Vendôme in Paris, or the Grand’ Place in Brussels, or Madison +Square, New York. The vicissitudes of some of the London Squares would +fill a volume, but most of them have had much the same origin. They +have been built with residential houses surrounding them, and though +some have changed to shops, and in others the houses are dilapidated +and forsaken by the wealthier classes, nearly every one has had its day +of popularity. + +In some of those now deserted by the world of fashion, the gardens have +been opened to the public, but by far the greater number of squares +are maintained by the residents in their neighbourhood, who have keys +to the gardens. But even though they are kept outside the railings +the rest of the public receive a benefit from these air spaces and +oxygen-exhaling trees. Sometimes the public get more direct advantage, +as in such cases as Eaton Square, where seats are placed down the +centre on the pavement under the shade of the trees inside the rails, +and are much frequented in hot weather; or in Lower Grosvenor Gardens, +which are open for six weeks in the autumn, when most of the residents +in the houses are absent. + +Squares are dotted about nearly all over London, but they can, for the +most part, be grouped together. There are the older ones, of different +sizes, and varying in their modern conditions. Among such are Lincoln’s +Inn Fields, Charterhouse, Soho, Golden, Leicester, and St. James’s +Squares. Then there is the large Bloomsbury group, and further westward +the chain of squares begins with Cavendish, Manchester, Portman, on the +north, and Hanover and Grosvenor to the south of Oxford Street. Then +follow the later continuations of the sequence--Bryanston, Montagu, and +so on to Ladbroke Square, nearly to Shepherd’s Bush. To the south of +the Park lies the Belgravia group, with more and more modern additions +stretching westward till they join the old village of Kensington, with +dignified squares of its own, or till their further multiplication is +checked by the River. + +To describe most of these squares would imply a vast amount of vain +repetition. Few have anything original either in design or planting. +The majority have elms and planes mixed with ailanthus, while aucubas, +euonymous, and straggling privet form the staple product of the +encircling borders, with a pleasant admixture of lilac and laburnum, +and generally a good supply of iris facing the gravel pathway. A few +annuals and bedding-out plants brighten the borders in summer, and +some can boast of one or two ferns. Occasionally the luxury of a +summer-house is indulged in, and here and there a weeping ash has been +ventured upon by way of shelter; a secluded walk or seat is practically +unknown. The older gardens have some large trees, and the turf in all +of them is good, and when it is with “daisies pied” it forms the chief +delight of the children who play there. It may be that the distance +of Notting Hill Gate from the smoke of the East End has encouraged +more enterprise in gardening; certainly the result of the planting in +Ladbroke Square is satisfactory. Several healthy young oaks are growing +up; and a fountain and small piece of formal gardening round it, on +the highest point of the long, sloping lawn, is effective. In the +older squares, such as Grosvenor Square, the bushes are high, and the +openings so well arranged that the lawns in the centre are perfectly +private, and hidden from the streets. In the less ancient ones, such as +Eccleston and Warwick, Connaught and Montagu Squares, the long, narrow +strip leaves little scope for variation. + +An innovation of the usual square is to be seen in Duke Street, +Grosvenor Square. This small square, which was laid out as a garden +with sheltered seats, was made when the new red-brick dwellings +replaced the smaller and more crowded houses. The middle is now the +distributing centre of an electric power-station, but the roof is low +and flat, and has been successfully transformed into a formal garden, +with trees in tubs and boxes of flowers. + +[Illustration: WINTER GARDEN, DUKE STREET, GROSVENOR SQUARE] + +Some of the squares have finer trees than others, and in many a statue +is a feature. Originally these statues formed the central object +towards which the garden paths converged, but most of the central +statues have been moved, though in a few, like St. James’s and Golden +Squares, they are still in the middle. These statues were evidently a +good deal thought of by Londoners, but they did not strike foreigners +as very good. In one of Mirabeau’s letters he writes in 1784 from +London: “The public monuments in honour of Sovereigns, reflect little +honour on English Sculpture.... The Statues of the last Kings, which +adorn the Squares in the new quarters of London, being cast in +brass or copper, have nothing remarkable in them but their lustre; they +are doubtless kept in repair, cleaned and rubbed with as much care as +the larger knockers at gentlemen’s doors, which are of similar metal.” +The usual plan now is to place the statue facing the street, where a +background of green shows it off to the passer-by. Thus Lord George +Bentinck is prominent in Cavendish Square, from which the equestrian +central statue of the Duke of Cumberland has gone; and from Hanover +Square, built about the same time as Cavendish (between 1717–20), +Chantrey’s statue of Pitt gazes down towards St. George’s Church. In +Grosvenor Square no statue has replaced the central one of George I. by +Von Nost, which was placed there in 1726, and is described by Maitland +as a “stately gilt equestrian statue.” This Square is older than the +two last mentioned, having been built in 1695. In those days each of +the spacious houses had its large garden at the back, with a view of +the country away to Hampstead and Highgate. The garden was designed +by Kent, but a plan of it about 1750 shows a considerable difference +between the arrangements then and now, although some details are the +same. The raised square of grass in the centre where the statue stood +has now a large, octagonal, covered seat, apparently formed with the +old pedestal. The walk round and the four wide paths to the centre are +retained, but the smaller intersecting paths are replaced by lawns +on which grow some fine old elms. The railings with stone piers and +handsome gates, shown in the engraving, have given place to much less +ornamental iron rails. + +[Illustration: STATUE OF PITT, HANOVER SQUARE] + +Manchester Square is of later date. It was an open space approached by +shady lanes from Cavendish Square for some fifty years after that was +built. The houses in Manchester Square were not begun till 1776--some +ten years after the commencement of Portman Square. This district was +all very semi-rural and unfinished until much later. Southey, in a +letter, writes of Portman Square as “on the outskirts of the town,” and +approached “on one side by a road, unlit, unpaved, and inaccessible by +carriages.” The large corner house, now occupied by Lord Portman, was +built for Mrs. Montagu, “Queen of the Blue Stockings,” and during her +time “Montagu House” was the salon to which the literary celebrities +of the day flocked. When Mrs. Montagu moved there from Hill Street +she wrote to a friend, “My health has not been interrupted by the +bad weather we have had; I believe Portman Square is the Montpellier +of England.” In the centre of the Square garden was planted a +“wilderness,” after the fashion of the day, and early in the nineteenth +century, when the Turkish Ambassador resided in the Square, he erected +a kiosk in this “wilderness,” where he used to smoke and imagine +himself in a perfumed garden of the East. It is still one of the best +kept-up of the squares. + +Berkeley Square dates from nearly the same time as Grosvenor, having +been begun in 1698, on the site of the extensive gardens of Berkeley +House, which John Evelyn so much admired, and where flourished the +holly hedges of which he advised the planting. The central statue here +was one by Beaupré and Wilton of George III., which was removed in +1827, and the base of the statue made into a summer-house. In the place +of the usual statesman, a drinking fountain, with a figure pouring +the water--the gift of the Marquess of Lansdowne--has been placed +outside the rails at the southern end. The plane trees are very fine, +and were planted at the end of the eighteenth century, it is said, +by Mr. Edward Bouverie in 1789. The plane has been so long grown in +London these cannot be said with certainty to be the oldest, as is +so often stated. Some in Lincoln’s Inn Fields are decidedly larger. +In 1722 Fairchild writes in praise of the plane trees, about 40 feet +high, in the churchyard of St. Dunstan-in-the-East. Loudon mentions +one at the Physic Garden, planted by Philip Miller, which was 115 feet +high in 1837 (a western Plane--not the great oriental Plane which fell +down a few years ago). The western Plane (_Platinus occidentalis_) +was introduced to this country many years after the eastern Plane +(_Platinus orientalis_). The tree most common in town is a variety of +eastern Plane called _accrifolia_, known as the “London Plane”: this +must have been a good deal planted all through the eighteenth century, +so it is difficult to assign to any actual tree the priority. + +St. James’s Square is older than any of the squares already glanced +at, having been built in the time of Charles II. It was known as Pall +Mall Field or Close, originally part of St. James’s Fields, and the +actual site of the Square was a meadow used by those attached to the +Court as a sort of recreation ground. Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, +leased it in 1665 from Charles II., and began to plan the Square or +“Piazza,” as it was called at first. The deadly year of the Plague, +followed by the Great Fire, delayed the building, and the houses were +not finished and lived in till 1676. No. 6 in the Square, belonging to +the Marquess of Bristol, has been in his family since that time. Every +one of the fine old houses has its story of history and romance. Here +Charles II. was frequently seen visiting Moll Davis, Sir Cyril Wyche, +and the Earl of Ranelagh. The Earl of Romney, and the Duke of Ormond, +and Count Tallard the French Ambassador, are names connected with the +Square in William III.’s time, and Josiah Wedgwood lived at No. 7. But +these and many other historical personages did not look from their +windows on to a well-ordered garden, and the Court beauties did not +wander with their admirers under the spreading trees. The centre of the +Square was left open, and merely like a field. The chief use to which +the space seems to have been put was for displays of fireworks. One +of the great occasions for these was after the Peace of Ryswick, but +unfortunately they were not always very successful. An eye-witness, +writing to Sir Christopher Hatton, says of Sir Martin Beckman, who +had the management of them, that he “hath got the curses of a good +many and the praises of nobody.” The open space eventually became so +untidy that the residents in 1726 petitioned Parliament to allow them +to levy a special rate to “cleanse, adorn, and beautify the Square,” +as “the ground hath for some years past lain, and doth now lie, rude +and in great disorder, contrary to the design of King Charles II., who +granted the soil for erecting capital buildings.” So badly used was +it that even a coach-builder had erected a shed in the middle of it, +in which to store his timber. Strong measures were taken, and any one +“annoying the Square” after May 1, 1726, was to be fined 20s., and any +one encroaching on it, £50. No hackney coach was allowed to ply there, +and unless a coachman, after setting down his fare, immediately drove +out of the Square, he was to be fined 10s. The whole place was levelled +and paved, and a round basin of water, which was intended to have a +fountain in it, and never did, was dug in the centre. Round it ran an +octagon railing with stone obelisks, surmounted with lamps at each +angle. A road of flat paving-stones with posts went round the Square in +front of the houses; the rest was paved with cobble stones. As early +as 1697 it was proposed to place a statue of William III., and figures +emblematical of his victories, in the Square, but nothing was done. In +1721 the Chevalier de David tried to get up a subscription for a sum of +£2500 for a statute of George I. to be done by himself and set up, but, +as he only collected £100 towards it, that scheme also fell through. +Once more an effort was made which bore tardy fruit, for in 1724 Samuel +Travers bequeathed a sum of money by will “to purchase and erect an +equestrian statue in brass to the glorious memory of my master, King +William III.” Somehow this was not carried out at the time, but in 1806 +the money appeared in a list of unclaimed dividends, and John Bacon the +younger was given the commission to model the statue, which was cast +in bronze at the artist’s own studio in Newman Street, and put up in +the centre of the pond. Thus it remained until towards the middle of +last century the stagnant pool was drained. In the 1780 riots the mob +carried off the keys of Newgate and flung them into this basin, where +years afterwards they were found. It was 150 feet in diameter, and 6 or +7 feet deep. When the pond was drained, the garden was planted in the +form it now is, and the statue left standing in the centre. St. James’s +is still one of the finest residential squares in London, and the old +rhyme, picturing the attractions in store for the lady of quality who +became a duchess and lived in the Square, might have been written in +the twentieth instead of the eighteenth century. + + “She shall have all that’s fine and fair, + And the best of silk and satin shall wear; + And ride in a coach to take the air, + And have a house in St. James’s Square.” + +[Illustration: STATUE OF WILLIAM III. IN ST. JAMES’S SQUARE] + +Less cheerful has been the fate of Golden Square, which has a forsaken +look, and the days when it may have justified its name are past. +Originally Gelding Square, from the name of an inn hard by, the +grander-sounding and more attractive corruption supplanted the older +name. Another derivation for the word is also given--“Golding,” from +the name of the first builder; but anyhow it was called Golden Square +soon after it came into being. The houses round it were built about +the opening years of the eighteenth century, when the dismal memories +of the Plague were growing faint. For the site of Golden Square, “far +from the haunts of men,” was one of the spots where, during the Plague, +thousands of dead were cast, by scores every night. These gloomy +scenes forgotten, the Square was built, and at one time fashionable +Lord Bolingbroke lived here, while Secretary for War. It is still “not +exactly in anybody’s way, to or from anywhere.” The garden is neat, +with a row of trees round the Square enclosure, and a path following +the same lines. In the centre stands a statue of George II., looking +thoroughly out of place, like a dilapidated Roman emperor. It was +bought from Canons, the Duke of Chandos’s house, near Edgware, when +the house was pulled down and everything sold in 1747. There are a +few seats, but they are rarely used, and it has a very quiet and +dreary aspect when compared with the cheerful crowds enjoying the +gardens in its larger neighbour, Leicester Square. This was known as +Leicester Fields, and was traversed by two rows of elm trees; and even +after the houses round it were begun, about 1635, the name of Fields +clung to it. The ground was part of the Lammas Lands belonging to +the parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and Robert Sydney, Earl of +Leicester, who built the house from which the Square takes its name, +paid compensation for the land, to the poor of the parish £3 yearly. +The house occupied the north-east corner of the Square, and in after +years became famous as a royal residence. It has been called “the +pouting-place” of princes, as it was to Leicester House that the Prince +of Wales retired when he quarrelled with his father, George I.; and +there Caroline the Illustrious gathered all the dissatisfied courtiers, +and such wit and beauty as could be found, round her. When he became +George II., and quarrelled in his turn with his son, Frederick, Prince +of Wales, the latter came to live in Leicester House. The statue of +George I. which stood in the centre of the garden was, it was said, +put up by Frederick, with the express purpose of annoying his father. +A view of the Square in 1700, shows a neatly-kept square garden with +four straight walks, and trees at even distances, and Leicester House +standing back, with a forecourt and large entrance gates, and a garden +of its own with lawns and statues at the back. Savile House, next door +to Leicester House, on the site of the present Empire Theatre, was +also the scene of many interesting incidents, until it was practically +destroyed during the Gordon Riots. The list of great names connected +with the Square is too long to recite, but four of the greatest are +commemorated by the four busts in the modern garden--Sir Joshua +Reynolds, Hogarth, John Hunter, the eminent surgeon, and Sir Isaac +Newton. But before these monuments were erected Leicester Square Garden +had gone through a period of decay. It was left unkept up and uncared +for; the gilt statue was tumbling to pieces, and was only propped up +with wooden posts. The garden from 1851 for ten years, was used to +exhibit the Great Globe of Wylde, the geographer, who leased the space +from the Tulk family, then the owners of the land. Leicester House, +after it ceased to be a royal residence, was in the hands of Sir Ashton +Lever, who turned it into a museum, which was open from 1771 to 1784, +but failed to obtain much popularity. The collection was dispersed, +and soon after the house was pulled down and the site built over, and +the Square was allowed to get more and more untidy. Several efforts +were made to purchase it for the public, but the price asked was +prohibitive, as the owners wished to build on it. When, however, after +much litigation, the Court of Appeal decided it could not be built on, +but must be maintained as an open space, they were more ready to come +to terms. A generous purchaser came forward, Mr. Albert (afterwards +Baron) Grant, who bought the land, laid it out as a garden, and +presented it to the public, to be kept up by the Metropolitan Board of +Works. The plans for the newly-restored garden, were made for Mr. Grant +by Mr. James Knowles, and the planting done by Mr. John Gibson, who +was then occupied with the sub-tropical garden in Battersea Park. The +statue of Shakespeare in the centre, and the four busts, were also the +gift of the same public benefactor, who presented the Square complete, +with trees, statues, railings, and seats, in 1874. + +Soho Square was another of the fashionable squares of London, now +gloomy and deserted by its former aristocratic residents. The gardens +are kept up for the benefit of those living in the Square only, and are +not enjoyed by the masses, like Leicester Square. Maitland describes +the building and consecration of St. Anne’s, Soho, or, as he calls +it, St. Anne’s, Westminster, which was in 1685 separated from St. +Martin’s-in-the-Fields, and a new parish created, just in the same way +as scores of parishes have to be treated nowadays, to meet the needs +of the much more rapidly-growing population. Of the new parish, he +says the only remarkable things were “its beautiful streets, spacious +and handsome Church, and stately Quadrate, denominated King’s-Square, +but vulgarly Soho-Square.” Various suggestions have been made as to +the origin of the name, and the most popular explanation is that it +was a hunting-cry used in hunting hares, which sport was indulged in +over these fields. The word Soho occurs in the parish registers as +early as 1632. When first built the Square was called King Square, +from Geoffrey King, who surveyed it, not after King Charles II. But +the old name of the fields became for ever attached to the Square, +to the entire exclusion of the more modern one, after the battle of +Sedgemoor. Monmouth’s supporters on that occasion took the word Soho +for their watchword, from the fact that Monmouth lived in the Square. +In 1690 John Evelyn notes that he went with his family “to winter at +Soho in the Great Square.” Monmouth House was built by Wren, when the +Square was begun in 1681, and it was pulled down, to make room for +smaller houses on the south side of the Square, in 1773. There are +some fine old trees in the garden, and a statue of Charles II. used, +till the middle of last century, like the one in St. James’s Square, +to stand in a basin of water, with figures round it, emblematic of the +rivers Thames, Severn, Tyne, and Humber, spouting water. Nollekens, the +sculptor, who was born in 28 Dean Street, Soho, in 1738, recalled how +he stood as a boy “for hours together to see the water run out of the +jug of the old river-gods in the basin in the middle of the Square, but +the water never would run out of their jugs but when the windmill was +going round at the top of Rathbone Place.” The centre of the Square was +in 1748 “new made and inclosed with iron railings on a stone kirb,” +and “eight lamp Irons 3 ft. 6 in. high above the spikes in each of the +Eight corner Angles”: the “Channell all round the Square” was paved +with “good new Kentish Ragg stones.” + +Beyond Oxford Street are collected a great number of squares in the +district of Bloomsbury. They are all surrounded by solid, well-built +houses, which seem to hold their own with dignity, even though fashion +has moved away from them westward. Before the squares arose, this +was the site of two great palaces with their gardens. One of them, +Southampton House, afterwards known as Bedford or Russell House, was +where Bloomsbury Square now is. In 1665, February 9, Evelyn notes +that he “dined at my Lord Treasurer’s the Earl of Southampton, in +Bloomsbury, where he was building a noble square or piazza, a little +town; his own house stands too low--some noble rooms, a pretty cedar +chapel, a naked garden to the North, but good air.” This house was +pulled down in 1800, and Russell Square was built on the garden. Both +Bloomsbury, or Southampton Square, as it was sometimes called, and +Russell Square have good trees, and in each garden there is a statue by +Westmacott. Charles James Fox, seated in classical drapery, erected in +1816, looks down Bedford Place, where stood Southampton House, towards +the larger statue, with elaborate pedestal and cupids, of Francis, Duke +of Bedford, in Russell Square. This is one of London’s largest Squares, +being only about 140 feet smaller than Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and +included most of the garden of Southampton House, with its fine limes, +and a large locust-tree, _Robinia pseudo acacia_. + +The laying out is more original in design than most of the squares, +having been done by Repton in 1810. In Repton’s book on Landscape +Gardening he goes fully into his reasons for the design of Russell +Square. “The ground,” he said, “had all been brought to one level +plain at too great expense to admit of its being altered.” He approves +of the novel plan of placing the statue at the edge instead of in +the usual position in the centre of the Square. “To screen the broad +gravel-walk from the street, a compact hedge is intended to be kept +clipt to about six feet high; this, composed of privet and hornbeam, +will become almost as impervious as a hedge of laurels, or other +evergreens, which will not succeed in a London atmosphere.” He says he +has not “clothed the lawn” with plantation, so that children playing +there could be seen from the windows, to meet “the particular wishes +of some mothers.” “The outline of this area is formed by a walk under +two rows of lime-trees, regularly planted at equal distances, not in +a perfect circle, but finishing towards the statue in two straight +lines.” He imagines that fanciful advocates of landscape gardening will +object to this as too formal, and be “further shocked” by learning that +he hoped they would be kept cut and trimmed. Within were to be “groves +in one quarter of the area, the other three enriched with flowers and +shrubs, each disposed in a different manner, to indulge the various +tastes for regular or irregular gardens.” He ends his description +by saying: “A few years hence, when the present patches of shrubs +shall have become thickets--when the present meagre rows of trees +shall have become an umbrageous avenue--and the children now in their +nurses’ arms shall have become the parents or grand-sires of future +generations--this square may serve to record, that the Art of Landscape +Gardening in the beginning of the nineteenth century was not directed +by whim or caprice, but founded on a due consideration of utility as +well as beauty, without a bigoted adherence to forms and lines, whether +straight, or crooked, or serpentine.” + +Repton always put forth his ideas in high-sounding language, often not +so well justified as in the present case. The lime-trees have been +allowed to grow taller than he desired, and yet are not fine trees +from having at one period been kept trimmed; but they certainly form +an attractive addition to the usual design, and looking at them, after +nearly a hundred years, from the outside, where they form a background +to the statue, the effect in summer is very attractive. + +Bedford Square is on the gardens of the other great house--Montagu +House, built by the Duke of Montagu. Evelyn also notes going to see +that. In 1676, “I dined,” he says, “with Mr. Charleton and went to see +Mr. Montagu’s new palace near Bloomsbury, built by Mr. Hooke of our +Society [the Royal] after the French manner.” This house was burnt down +ten years later, and rebuilt with equal magnificence; but when the +Duke moved to Montagu House, Whitehall, in 1757, it became the home +of the British Museum. The old house was pulled down and the present +building erected in 1845. The Square was laid out at the end of the +eighteenth century on the gardens and the open fields of the parish +of St. Giles-in-the-Fields beyond. Lord Loughborough lived in No. 6, +and after him Lord Eldon from 1804 to 1815. At the time of the Gordon +Riots in 1780, when Lord Mansfield’s house was plundered, troops were +stationed near, and a camp formed in the garden of the British Museum. +That garden was also of use when, in March 1815, Lord Eldon’s house in +Bedford Square was attacked by a mob, and he was forced to make his +escape out of the back into the Museum garden. + +Of Queen’s Square, built in Queen Anne’s time, but containing a statue +of Queen Charlotte, and all the other squares of this district there +is little of special interest to record directly connected with their +gardens. They all have good trees, and are kept up much in the same +style. + +Red Lion Square is an exception. It has a longer history, and now +its garden differs from the rest, as it is open to the public, and +a great boon in this crowded district. It takes its name from a Red +Lion Inn, which stood in the fields long before any other houses had +grown up near it. It was to this inn that the bodies of the regicides +Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw were carried, when they were exhumed +from Westminster Abbey and taken, with all the horrible indignities +meted out to traitors, to Tyburn. A tradition, probably without +foundation, was for long current that a rough stone obelisk, which +stood afterwards in the Square, marked the spot where Cromwell’s body +was buried by friends who rescued the remains from the scaffold. The +houses were built round it at the end of the seventeenth century, but +the space in the middle seems, like all other squares at this time, +to have been more or less a rubbish heap, and a resort of “vagabonds +and other disorderly persons.” In 1737 the inhabitants got an Act of +Parliament to allow them to levy a rate to keep the Square in order. A +contemporary, in praising this determination to beautify the Square, +“which had run much to decay,” hopes that “Leicester Fields and Golden +Square will soon follow these good examples.” The “beautifying” +consisted in setting up a railing round it, with watch-houses at the +corners, while the obelisk rose in the centre out of the rank grass. + +The present garden, when first opened to the public, was managed by +the Metropolitan Gardens Association, but since 1895 the London County +Council have looked after it; the inhabitants having made a practically +free gift of it for the public benefit. The nice old trees, flowers, +seats, and fountain make it a much less gloomy spot than during any +time of its history since the Red Lion kept solitary watch in the +fields. + +The largest of all the squares is Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The garden, +which is 7¼ acres in extent, was, after many lengthy negotiations, +finally opened to the public in 1895. The fine old houses which +survive, show the importance and size of Inigo Jones’s original +conception. It has been said that the Square is exactly the same size +as the base of the Great Pyramid, but this is not the case. The west +side, which was completed by Inigo Jones, was begun in 1618, but the +centre of the Square was left an open waste till long after that +date. The Fields, before the building commenced, were used as a place +of execution, and Babington and his associates met a traitor’s death, +in 1586, on the spot where it was supposed they had planned some of +their conspiracy. The surrounding houses had been built, and the ground +was no longer an open field when William, Lord Russell, was beheaded +there in 1683. The scaffold was erected in what is now the centre of +the garden. The Fields for many years bore a bad name, and were the +haunt of thieves and ruffians of all sorts. When things reached such +a climax, that the Master of the Rolls was knocked down in crossing +the Fields, the centre was railed in. This was done about 1735, with +a view to improving their condition, and they remained closed, and +kept up by the inhabitants, until a few years ago. The chief feature +in the pleasant gardens now are the very fine trees. There are some +patriarchal planes, with immense branches, under which numbers of +people are always to be seen resting. The houses, Old Lindsay House, +Newcastle House, the College of Surgeons, Sir John Soane’s Museum, with +long histories of their own, and all the lesser ones, with a sleepy air +of dingy respectability and ancient splendour, now look down on a most +peaceful, well-kept garden, and Gay’s lines of warning are no longer a +necessary caution:-- + + “Where Lincoln’s Inn wide space is rail’d around, + Cross not with venturous step; there oft is found + The lurking thief, who, while the daylight shone, + Made the walls echo with his begging tone; + That crutch, which late compassion moved, shall wound + Thy bleeding head, and fell thee to the ground.” + +Adjoining the Fields is New Square, which used to be known as Little +Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and earlier still as Fickett’s Field or Croft. +It was built in 1687. Fickett’s Fields occupied a wider area, and until +1620 they, like the larger Fields, were a place of execution. The +site of New Square was planted and laid out in very early days. The +Knights of St. John in 1376 made it into a walking place, planted with +trees, for the clerks, apprentices, and students of the law. In 1399 +a certain Roger Legit was fined and imprisoned for setting mantraps +with a “malicious intention to maim the said clerks and others,” as +they strolled in their shaded walks. This Square, like all others, went +through phases of being unkept and untidy, but was finally remodelled, +into its present neat form, in 1845. + +Eastwards, into the heart of London there are the squares which are the +remains of the open ground without the City walls. Charterhouse Square, +which is now a retired, quiet spot with old houses telling of a former +prosperity, has a history reaching back to the fourteenth century. In +the days of the Black Death, when people were dying so fast that the +Chronicler of London, Stowe, says that “scarce the tenth person of all +sorts was left alive,” the “churchyards were not sufficient to receive +the dead, but men were forced to chuse out certaine fields for burials: +whereupon Ralph Stratford, Bishop of London, in the yeere 1348 bought a +piece of ground, called _No man’s land_, which he inclosed with a wall +of Bricke, and dedicated for buriall of the dead, builded thereupon +a proper Chappell, which is now enlarged, and made a dwelling-house: +and this burying plot is become a faire Garden, retaining the old +name of Pardon Churchyard.” It was very soon after this purchase, +that the Carthusian monastery was founded hard by; but although the +land was bought by the Order, Pardon Churchyard was maintained as a +burial-ground for felons and suicides. After the dissolution of the +monasteries, when Charterhouse School and Hospital had been established +by Thomas Sutton, the houses round the other three sides of the Square +began to be built. One of the finest was Rutland House, once the +residence of the Venetian Ambassador. It is still a quiet, quaint place +of old memories; and the garden, with two walks crossing each other +diagonally, and some fair-sized trees, has a solemn look, as if, even +after all the centuries that have passed, it had some trace of its +origin. Finsbury Circus and Finsbury Square are very different. They +are more modern, bustling places which have entirely effaced the past. +That they were, for long years, the most resorted to of open spaces, +where Londoners took their walks is well-nigh forgotten, except in the +name Finsbury, or Fensbury, the fen or moor-like fields without the +walls. Bethlehem Hospital, known as Bedlam, was, for many generations, +the only large building on the Fields. Finsbury Square was begun more +than a hundred years ago, and but for the few green trees, nothing +suggests the former country origin. Trinity Square, by the Tower, is +so unique in aspect and association that it must be mentioned. In the +sixteenth century the “tenements and garden plots” encroached on Tower +Hill right up to the “Tower Ditch,” and from the earliest time some +kind of garden existed at the Tower. When it was a royal residence, +frequent entries appear in the accounts of payments for the upkeep of +the garden. Although so much has changed, and the wild animals that +afforded amusement for centuries are removed, it is pleasant to see the +moat turned into walks, and well planted with iris and hardy plants, +and making quite a bright show in summer, in contrast to the sombre +grey walls. + +Away in the East End there are numbers of other gloomy little squares +whose gardens are the playground of the neighbourhood. They are +useful spaces of air and light, and the few trees and low houses +surrounding them give a little ventilation in some of the very crowded +districts. They are all much alike; in some more care has been taken +in the planting and selection of the trees than in others. There is +De Beauvoir Square, Dalston; Arbour Square, off the Commercial Road; +York Square, Stepney; Wellclose, near the Mint and London Docks; +Trafalgar Square, Mile End; and many others dotted about among the +dismal streets. Turning to the West End again, the largest of the +square spaces is Vincent Square, which forms the playground of the +Westminster boys. It derives its name from Dr. Vincent, the head-master +who was chiefly instrumental in obtaining it for the use of the boys. +It was first marked out in 1810, and enclosed by railings in 1842. The +10 acres of ground were part of Tothill Fields, and the site was a +burial-place in the time of the Great Plague. + +There is nothing of historical interest in the Squares of Belgravia. +The ground covered by Belgrave Square was known as Five Fields, +which were so swampy that no one had attempted to build on them. It +was the celebrated builder, Thomas Cubitt, who in 1825 was able by +draining, and removing clay, which he used for bricks, to reach a solid +foundation, and in a few years had built Belgrave and Eaton Squares and +the streets adjoining. The site of the centre of Belgrave Square was +then a market-garden. Ebury Square, the garden of which is open to the +public, and tastefully laid out, was built about 1820. The farm on +that spot, which in 1676 came to the Grosvenor family, was a farm of +430 acres in Queen Elizabeth’s time, and is mentioned as early as 1307, +when Edward I. gave John de Benstede permission to fortify it. There +was only one road across the swampy ground from St. James’s to Chelsea, +and that was the King’s Road, which followed the line of the centre +of Eaton Square. There were, however, numerous footpaths, infested +by footpads and robbers at night, and bright with wild flowers and +scented by briar roses by day. There is a great sameness among all the +squares between Vauxhall Bridge and the Pimlico Road. Of this latter +original-sounding name there seems no satisfactory explanation. The +space between Warwick Street and the river, was in old times occupied +by the Manor House of Neyte, and in later days by nurseries and a tea +garden, known as the Neat House. The ground near Eccleston Square was +an osier bed. The whole surface was raised by Cubitt, with soil from +St. Katherine’s Docks in 1827, and the houses built, and square gardens +laid out; Eccleston in 1835, Warwick 1843, St. George’s 1850, and so +on until the whole was covered. The gardens are all in the same style, +and have no horticultural interest. The garden in front of Cadogan +Place varied most from the usual pattern, having been designed by +Repton. “Instead of raising the surface to the level of the street, as +had usually been the custom, by bringing earth from a distance,” he +“recommended a valley to be formed through its whole length, with other +lesser valleys flowing from it, and hills to be raised by the ground +so taken from the valleys.” The original intention was to bring the +overflow of the Serpentine down Repton’s valley, but this was never +done, and the gardens now only show the variation of level in one part. +There is a good assortment of trees, and a group of mulberries which +bear fruit every year. + +Further west again, the old hamlet of Brompton has small, quiet squares +of its own. The trees of Brompton Square, that quiet _cul-de-sac_, and +the way through with a nice row of trees to Holy Trinity Church (built +in 1829), with Cottage Place running parallel with it, is rather unlike +any other corner of London. Before it was built over Brompton was +famous for its gardens--first that of London and Wise, in the reign of +William III. and Anne, and then that of William Curtis, the editor of +the _Botanical Magazine_. A guide-book of 1792, describes Brompton as +“a populous hamlet of Kensington, adjoining Knightsbridge, remarkable +for the salubrity of its air. This place was the residence of Oliver +Cromwell.” Kensington Square is older than any of the Brompton Squares, +having been begun in James II.’s reign, and completed after William +III. was living in Kensington Palace. From the first it was very +fashionable, and has many celebrated names connected with it--Addison, +Talleyrand, Archbishop Herring, John Stuart Mill, and many others. +The weeping ash trees and circular beds give the gardens a character +of their own. Edwardes differs from all other London Squares. The +small houses and large square garden are said by Leigh Hunt, who lived +there at one time, to have been laid out to suit the taste of French +refugees, who it was thought might take up their quarters there. The +small houses were to suit their empty pockets, and the large garden +their taste for a sociable out-of-door life. Loudon was an admirer +of the design of the garden, which he says was made by Aiglio, an +eminent landscape painter, in 1819. The arrangement is quite distinct +from other squares--small paths, partly hidden by groups of bushes and +larger trees, all round the edge, and from them twisting walks diverge +towards the centre. At their meeting-point now stands a shell from the +battle of the Alma. The Square with its nice trees, standard hollies, +and even a few conifers and carefully-planted beds, is further original +in possessing a beadle. This gentleman, who lives in a delightful +little house, with a portico in which the visitors to the Square +can shelter from the rain, looks most imposing in his uniform and +gold-braided hat, and adds greatly to the old-world appearance of the +place. It is sad to think the leases all fall in within the next few +years, and this quaint personage and vast garden (it is 3¼ acres) and +funny little houses may all disappear from London. + +It is impossible in such a hasty glance to give more than a very +faint sketch of the story of the squares, or a mere suggestion of the +romance attached to them. Though the gardening in many leaves much to +be desired, it is well to appreciate things as they are, and enjoy +to the full the pleasure the sight of the huge planes in Berkeley +or Bedford Squares, or Lincoln’s Inn Fields, can bring even to the +harassed Londoner. When the sun shines through the large leaves, and +the chequered light and shade play on the grass beneath, and sunbeams +even light up the massive black stems, which defy the injurious fogs, +they possess a soothing and refreshing power. They, indeed, add to the +enjoyment, the health, and the beauty of London. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BURIAL-GROUNDS + + _Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent, + A man’s good name is his best monument._ + + --EPITAPH IN ST. BOTOLPH, ALDERSGATE. + + +The disused burial-grounds within the London area must now be counted +among its gardens. There are those who would not have the living +benefit by these hallowed spots set apart for the dead, but the vast +majority of people have welcomed the movement which has led to this +change. In some instances there is no doubt the transformation has been +badly done. Here and there graves have been disturbed and tombstones +heedlessly moved, but on the whole the improvement of the last fifty +years has been immense. It is appalling even to read the accounts of +many of the London graveyards before this reaction set in. The hideous +sights, the foul condition in which God’s acre was often allowed to +remain, as revealed by the inquiry held about 1850, together with the +horrors of body-snatchers, are such a disagreeable contrast to the +orderly graveyards of to-day, that the removal of a few head-stones is +a much lesser evil. + +Loudon, in the _Botanical Magazine_, was one of the first to write +about the improvement of public cemeteries, and to point out how they +could be beautified, and the suggestion that the smaller burial-grounds +could be turned into gardens was made as early as 1843 by Sir Edwin +Chadwick. But the closing of them did not come until ten years later, +and it was many years after that, before any attempt was made to turn +them into gardens. By 1877 eight had been transformed, and from that +time onwards, every year something has been done. The Metropolitan +Gardens Association, started by Lord Meath (then Lord Brabazon) in +1882, has done much towards accomplishing this work. One of the +earliest churchyards taken in hand was that of St. Pancras, and joined +to it St. Giles-in-the-Fields. The Act permitting this was in 1875. +Perhaps because it was one of the first, it is also one of the worst in +taste and arrangement. The church of St. Pancras-in-the-Fields is one +of the oldest in Middlesex. “For the antiquity thereof” it “is thought +not to yield to St. Paul’s in London.” In 1593 the houses standing +near this old Norman church were much “decaied, leaving poore Pancras +without companie or comfort.” The bell of St. Pancras Church was said +to be the last tolled in England at the time of the Reformation, +to call people to Mass. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century, +adjoining to the south side of the churchyard, was “a good spaw, +whose water is of a sweet taste,” very clear, and imbued with various +medicinal qualities. These “Pancras Wells” had a large garden, which +extended from the Spa buildings by the churchyard, between the coach +road from Hampstead, and the footpath across the meadows to Gray’s Inn. +As late as 1772 the coach was stopped and robbed at this corner, and +the footpads, armed with cutlasses, made off through the churchyard. +It was of this then lonely, rural churchyard that it was said the dead +would rest “as secure against the day of resurrection as ... in stately +Paules”; but, alas for modern exigencies, the Midland Railway now spans +the sacred ground by a viaduct, and the would-be improvers, in turning +what remained into a garden, have moved the tombstones, levelled the +undulating ground, and heaped the head-stones into terrible rocky +mounds, or pushed them in rows along the wall. Numerous were the +interesting monuments it contained; many a courtly French _emigré_ here +found a resting-place, such as the Comte de Front, on whose tomb was +the line, “A foreign land preserves his ashes with respect.” Although +a monumental tablet put up to record the opening, and the names of the +designers of the garden, proclaims it to be “a boon to the living, a +grace to the dead”; it is doubtful how that respect to the dead was +shown. The lines go on to say it was “not for the culture of health +only, but also of thought.” Surely health and thought could have been +equally well stimulated by making pretty paths, lined with trees and +flowers, wind reverently in and out among the tombs, and up and down +the undulating ground, with seats in shade or sun, arranged with peeps +of the old church; and there might even have been room for the fine +sun-dial (the gift of Baroness Burdett-Coutts) without levelling the +whole area and laying it out with geometrically straight asphalt walks. +The asphalt paths are in themselves a necessity in most cases, as the +expense of keeping gravel in order is too great, and the majority of +the renovated disused burial-grounds suffer from this fact. + +Westward from St. Pancras the next large churchyard is that of +Marylebone, and further to the north is St. John’s Wood burial-ground. +Its large trees and shaded walks are familiar to the thousands who go +every year to Lord’s Cricket Ground. Another large one, still more +westward, now used as a garden, is Paddington. The small green patch +round St. Mary’s Church, and a large cemetery beyond, together make +over 4 acres. All round London these spaces are being used, and in +most cases little has been done to upset the ground--among the more +prominent are St. George’s, Hanover Square, in Bayswater; St. John’s, +Waterloo Road; Brixton Parish Church, with a row of yew trees; Fulham +Parish Church, with Irish yews, and tall, closely clipped hollies; +St. Mary’s, Upper Street, Islington, and many others. Some are large +spaces, such as St. John-at-Hackney, which covers 3 acres, and in it +stands the tower of the old church, the present very large church which +dominates it being in the Georgian style of 1797. + +Stepney is the largest of all these disused churchyards, and covers +7 acres. It was opened as a public garden in 1887. The beautiful old +Perpendicular church of St. Dunstan, with its carved gargoyles and fine +old tower, which escaped the fire that destroyed the roof, stands on +a low level, with the large square stone graves, of which there are a +great quantity, on higher mounds round it. The central path, the old +approach to the church, has trees on either side, and runs straight +across the graveyard, and is as peaceful-looking as the walk in many +a country churchyard. The way the laying out as a garden has been +carried out is unfortunate in many respects. The number of the big, +stone, box-like monuments made it difficult to carry intersecting +paths across between them, so a plan hardly to be commended has been +followed, of half burying a number of these, and planting bushes in the +earth thus thrown about, and putting the necessary frames for raising +plants in the centre. To place the frames against the wall, and make a +raised path or terrace among the tombs, and not to have banked them up +with a kind of rockery of broken pieces, might have been more fitting. +The part of the ground which is less crowded is well planted. Birch and +alder (_Alnus cordifolia_) are doing well, and a nice clump of gorse +flourishes. + +One of the best-arranged of these old East End graveyards is that of +St. George’s-in-the-East, near Ratcliffe Highway. It is kept up by the +Borough of Stepney, having been put in order under the direction of the +rector, Rev. C. H. Turner (now Bishop of Islington), at the expense of +Mr. A. G. Crowder, in 1866. The tombstones have for the most part been +placed against the wall, or left standing if out of the way, as in the +case of the one to the Marr family, whose murder caused horror in 1811. +In the centre stands the obelisk monument to Mrs. Raine, a benefactress +of the parish, who died in 1725. The whole of the ground is laid out +with great taste and simplicity, and is thoroughly well cared for. +The flowers seem to flourish particularly well, and the borders in +summer are redolent with the scent of old clove carnations, which are +actually raised and kept from year to year on the premises. A small +green-house supplies the needs of the flower-beds, The superintendence +of the garden is left to Miss Kate Hall, who takes charge of the +Borough of Stepney Museum in Whitechapel Road, and also of the charming +little nature-study museum in the St. George’s Churchyard Garden. What +formerly was the mortuary has been turned to good account, and hundreds +of children in the borough benefit by Miss Hall’s instruction. Aquaria +both for fresh-water fish and shells, and salt-water collections, +with a lobster, starfish, sea anemones, and growing sea weeds are to +be seen, and moths, butterflies, dragon-flies, pass through all their +stages, while toads, frogs, and salamanders and such-like are a great +delight. The hedgehog spends his summer in the garden, and hibernates +comfortably in the museum. The bees at work in the glass hive are +another source of instruction. Outside the museum a special plot is +tended by the pupils, who are allowed in turn to work, dig, and prune, +and who obtain, under the eye of their sympathetic teacher, most +creditable results. The charm of this East End garden, and the special +educational uses it has been put to, shows what can be achieved, and +sets a good example to others, where similar opportunities exist. A +less promising neighbourhood for gardening could hardly be imagined, +which surely shows that no one need be disheartened. + +Some of the burial-grounds were in such a shocking state before they +were taken in hand, that very few of the head-stones remained in their +right places, and many had gone altogether, while some even reappeared +as paving-stones in the district. Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, had a very +chequered history. The site was first a tea garden, near the famous +Sadler’s Wells. For a few years, from 1770, its “little Pantheon” and +pretty garden, with a pond or “canal” stocked with fish, and alcoves +for tea drinkers, was thronged by the middle class, small tradesmen, +and apprentices, while the more fashionable world flocked to Ranelagh +or Almack’s. It was the sort of place in which John Gilpin and his +spouse might have amused themselves, on a less important holiday than +their wedding anniversary. Twenty years later the scene had changed. +The rotunda was turned into a chapel, by the Countess of Huntingdon, +who took up her residence in a jessamine-covered house that had +been a tavern, near to it. The gardens had already been turned into +a private burial-ground, which soon became notorious for the evil +condition in which it was kept. There every single gravestone had +disappeared long before it was converted into the neat little garden, +the delight of poor Clerkenwell children. The rotunda was at length +pulled down, and in 1888 a new church was erected on the site. The +same disgraceful story of neglect and repulsive overcrowding, can be +told of the Victoria Park Cemetery, although the ground had not such a +strange early history. It was one of those private cemeteries which the +legislation with regard to other burial-places did not touch. It was +never consecrated, and abuses of every kind were connected with it. It +is a space of 9½ acres in a crowded district between Bethnal Green and +Bow, a little to the south of Victoria Park. After various difficulties +in raising funds and so forth, it was laid out by the Metropolitan +Gardens Association, opened to the public in 1894, and is kept up by +the London County Council, and is an extremely popular recreation +ground, under the name of “Meath Gardens.” + +One of the quiet spots near the City is Bunhill Fields. This has for +over two hundred years been the Nonconformist burial-ground. The +land was enclosed by a brick wall, by the City of London in 1665 for +interments “in that dreadful year of Pestilence. However, it not +being made use of on that occasion,” a man called “Tindal took a +lease thereof, and converted it into a burial-ground for the use of +Dissenters.” As late as 1756 it appears to have been known as “Tindal’s +Burial-ground.” The name Bunhill Fields was given to that part of +Finsbury Fields, on to which quantities of bones were taken from St. +Paul’s in 1549. It is said “above a thousand cartloads of human bones” +were deposited there. No wonder the ghastly name of “bone hill,” +corrupted into Bunhill, has clung to the place. At the present time the +gravestones here are undisturbed, and more respect has been shown to +them than to the bones in the sixteenth century. Asphalt paths meander +through a forest of monuments, and a few seats are placed in the shade +of some of the trees. Those who live in this poor and busy district no +doubt make much use of these places of rest, but the visitor is only +brought to this depressing, gloomy spot on a pilgrimage to the tomb of +John Bunyan. He rests near the centre of the ground, under a modern +effigy. Not far off is the tomb of Dr. Isaac Watts, whose hymns are +repeated wherever the British tongue is spoken, and near him lies the +author of “Robinson Crusoe,” Daniel Defoe. This quaint old enclosure +opens off the City Road, opposite Wesley’s Chapel, and on the western +side it is skirted by Bunhill Row. But a few yards distant is another +graveyard of very different aspect, as it contains only one stone, +and that a very small one, with the name of George Fox, who died in +1690. The other graves in this, the “Friends’ Burial-ground,” never +having been marked in any way, it has the appearance of a dismal little +garden, like the approach or “gravel sweep” to a suburban villa. But it +is neatly kept. + +Of all the churchyards, that of St. Paul’s is best known, and least +like the ordinary idea of one. But this was not always so. It was +for centuries an actual burying-place. When the foundations of the +present cathedral were dug, after the Great Fire, a series of early +burials were disclosed. There were Saxon coffins, and below them +British graves, where wooden and ivory pins were found, which fastened +the woollen shrouds of those who rested there, and below that again, +between twenty and thirty feet deep, were Roman remains, with fragments +of pottery, rings, beads, and such-like. + +The original churchyard was very much larger, as the present houses in +“St. Paul’s Churchyard” are actually on part of the ground included in +it. It extended from Old Change in Cheapside to Paternoster Row, and on +the south to Carter Lane, and the whole was surrounded by a wall built +in 1109, with the principal gateway opening into “Ludgate Street.” This +wall seems to have been unfinished, or else part of it became ruinous +in course of time, and the churchyard became the resort of thieves +and ruffians. To remedy this state of things, the wall was completed +and fortified early in the fourteenth century. It had six gates, and +remained like this until the Great Fire, although long before that date +houses had been built against the wall both within and without. Round +here were collected the shops of the most famous booksellers, such as +John Day, who came here in 1575. + +[Illustration: ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD] + +On the north side was a plot of ground known as Pardon’s Churchyard, +and here was built a cloister in Henry V.’s time, decorated with +paintings to illustrate Lidgate’s translation of “The Dance of Death.” +Here, too, was a chapel and charnel-house, and the whole was +pulled down by order of the Protector Somerset, who used some of the +material in building Somerset House. It was on that occasion that the +cartloads of bones were removed to Finsbury Fields. There, covered +with earth, they made a solid, conspicuous hill on which windmills +were erected. It was part of this same ground which has already been +referred to as Bunhill Fields. Great as was the damage done by the +Fire, perhaps no site has been so completely altered as that of St. +Paul’s. The modern cathedral, dearly loved by all Londoners, stands at +quite a different angle from the old one, the western limit of which is +marked by the statue of Queen Anne. Nestling close to the south-west +corner of the great Gothic cathedral with its lofty spire, was the +parish church of St. Gregory, and the crypt was the parish church +of St. Faith’s. Both these parishes were allocated a portion of the +churchyard for their burials. + +To the north-east of the cathedral stood Paul’s Cross, the out-door +pulpit whence many notable sermons were preached. It is described +by Stowe. “About the middest of this Churchyard is a pulpit-crosse +of timber, mounted upon steps of stone, and covered with Lead, in +which are Sermons preached by learned Divines, every Sunday in the +fore-noone. The very antiquity of which Crosse is to me unknowne.” The +earliest scene he records as taking place at this “crosse,” was when +Henry III., in 1259, commanded the Mayor to cause “every stripling of +twelve years of age and upward to assemble there,” to swear “to be +true to the King and his heires, Kings of England.” In later times, +the most distinguished preachers of the day were summoned to preach +before the Court and the Mayor, Aldermen and citizens, and the +political significance of such harangues may well be imagined. It was +here Papal Bulls were promulgated; here Tyndal’s translation of the +New Testament was publicly burnt; here Queen Elizabeth listened to a +sermon of thanksgiving on the defeat of the Armada--only to mention a +few of the associations that cling round the spot, which, until within +the last fifty years, was marked by an old elm tree which kept its +memory green. Now it is treated with scant respect. There is, indeed, +a little wooden notice-board, like a giant flower-label, stuck into +the ground by an iron support, which records the fact that here stood +Paul’s Cross, destroyed by the Fire of 1666. The notice is not so large +or conspicuous as the one a few feet from it, beseeching the kindly +friends of the pigeons not to feed them on the flower-beds! It is to be +hoped that before long the bequest of £5000 of the late H. C. Richards, +for the re-erection of the Cross, may be embodied in some visible form. + +What a picture such recollections call up!--the excited crowds with +all the colour of Tudor costumes, the eager, fanatical faces of the +“defenders of the Faith,” the sad and despondent faces of the intensely +serious Reformers, as they see the blue smoke curl upwards, and the +flames consume the sacred volumes. + +Picture the churchyard once more in still earlier times, when strange, +fantastic customs clung round the cathedral services. One of the most +original seems to have arisen from the tenure of land in Essex granted +to Sir William Baud by the Dean and Chapter. The twenty-two acres of +land were held on the condition that “hee would (for ever) upon the +Feast day of the Conversion of Paul in Winter give unto them a good +Doe, seasonable and sweete, and upon the Feast of the Commemoration of +St. Paul in Summer, a good Buck, and offer the same at the high Altar, +the same to bee spent amongst the Canons residents.” On the appointed +days the keeper who had brought the deer carried it through the +procession to the high altar. There the head was severed, and the body +sent off to be cooked, while the horns, stuck on a spear, were carried +round the cathedral. The procession consisted of the Dean and Chapter +in their copes--special ones for the two occasions--one embroidered +with does, the other with bucks, the gift of the Baud family, and on +their heads garlands of roses. Having performed the ceremony within the +church, the whole procession issued out of the west door, and there +the keeper blew a blast upon his horn, and when he had “blowed the +death of the Bucke,” the “Horners that were about the City presently +answered him in like manner.” The Dean and Chapter paid the blowers of +horns fourpence each and their dinner, while the man who brought the +venison got five shillings and his food and lodgings, and a “loafe of +bread, having the picture of Saint Paul upon it,” to take away with +him. What a strange picture of mediæval life and half-pagan rites! yet +all conducted with perfect good faith, in all seriousness. It is just +one of the great charms of knowing London and its traditions, that one +is able to clear away in imagination the growth of centuries, and throw +back one’s mind to the past--to stand at the top of Ludgate Hill and to +remove Wren’s building and to see the Gothic pinnacles; to blot out the +garden and fountain and modern seats, and see Paul’s Cross; on the left +to see the arches of the cloisters, and on the right the high wall and +timbered houses; then to open the western door and see this strange +procession issue forth, with the antlers borne aloft, and hear the +bugle-blast and answering notes. + +Surely no place can be more crowded with memories than busy, “roaring +London,” and nowhere are the past and present so unexpectedly brought +together. The City is full of surprises to those who have leisure to +wander among its narrow, crowded streets. The quiet little graveyards +afford many of these telling contrasts. Suddenly, in the busiest +thoroughfares, where a constant stream of men are walking by every +weekday, come these quiet little back-waters. In many cases the +churches themselves have vanished, or only remain in part. St. Mary’s +Staining is one of these, so hidden away that one might walk along +Fenchurch Street hundreds of times and never find it. The approach +is by a very narrow alley, at the end of which is this quiet little +graveyard, where, among other worthies, reposes Sir Arthur Savage, +knighted at Cadiz in 1596. The church, all except the tower, was +destroyed in the Great Fire, and never rebuilt. The picturesque old +tower stands in the centre of this little plot, which now forms the +garden of the Clothworkers’ Company, whose hall opens on to one side of +it. + +Another church which perished in the Fire and was never rebuilt is St. +Olave’s, Hart Street, but its churchyard remains, and a few large tombs +stand in a small garden with seats, where at all times of the year some +weary wayfarers are resting. + +Another such graveyard where the burnt church was not restored is at +the corner of Wood Street and Cheapside. The old tree inside the closed +railings may have inspired the lark to carol so joyously as to call up +the “vision of poor Susan.” + +St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate, has one of the largest churchyards in the +City, but it really consists of four pieces of land thrown into one +in 1892, by a scheme under the London Parochial Charities, which +contributed part of the purchase-money of some of the land, and gives +£150 a year for the upkeep--£100 being paid to them by the General Post +Office, which has the right of light over the whole space. One-half +of the churchyard is St. Botolph’s, and the rest is made up of the +burial-grounds of St. Leonard, Foster Lane, and Christ Church, Newgate +Street, and a strip of land which might have been built on, but which, +under the revised scheme in 1900, became permanently part of this open +space. The garden is carefully laid out; there are nice plane trees +and a little fountain, regular paths and numerous seats. A sheltered +gallery runs along one side, and in it are tablets to commemorate deeds +of heroism in humble life--Londoners who lost their lives in saving +the lives of others. The church of St. Botolph was one which escaped +the Fire, but had fallen into such disrepair that it was rebuilt, by +Act of Parliament, in 1754. The Act specially stipulates that none of +the gravestones were to be removed, but where some of them are, now +that it is a trim garden, it would be hard to say. Being not far from +the General Post Office, this garden is so much used by its officials +during the middle of the day, it has earned the name of the “Postman’s +Park.” + +[Illustration: SUN-DIAL, ST. BOTOLPH’S] + +Another much-frequented but much smaller churchyard is that of St. +Katharine Coleman. Suddenly, in a corner of crowded Fenchurch Street, +comes this retired shade. The church, with its old high pews, and tiny +graveyard, devoid of monuments, is a peaceful oasis. These surprises +in the densest parts of the City are very refreshing, and they are too +numerous to mention each individually. Most of them now are neatly +kept, though some look dreary enough. None of them recall the neglect +of half a century ago. St. Olave’s, Hart Street, in Seething Lane, is +perhaps among the most gloomy. It is the church Pepys speaks of so +often as “our owne church,” and was one of the churches that escaped +the Fire. The archway with the skulls over it, leads from Seething +Lane to the dismal-looking churchyard. Nothing is done to alter or +brighten this place of many memories. One shudders to think of what it +must have been like when Pepys crossed it for the first time after the +Great Plague, when he went to the memorial service for King Charles +I., on 30th January 1666. No wonder he says it “frighted me indeed to +go through the church more than I thought it could have done, to see +so many graves lie so high upon the churchyard, where people have been +buried of the Plague. I was much troubled about it, and do not think +to go through it again a good while.” The parish registers show that +no less than 326 were interred in this very small place, during the +previous six months, so Pepys’ feelings were well justified. The old +church has a special interest to lovers of gardens, as in it is the +tomb of William Turner, the author of the first English Herbal. + +In more than one City churchyard a portion of the old wall +makes its appearance. There is St. Alphage, London Wall, and +Allhallows-in-the-Wall, where the little gardens by the wall have +been formed with a view to preserving it. The most picturesque is St. +Giles’s, Cripplegate, where Milton is buried. The graveyard is large, +and the ground rises above the footpath, which was made across it some +thirty years ago, to a bastion of the wall, of rough stones and flint, +which is in its old state, although part of the wall was rebuilt in +1803. There has been no attempt here to make it a resting-place for the +living, although it is used as a thoroughfare. + +[Illustration: THE BANK GARDEN] + +Few people who have not entered the Bank of England would suspect it +of enclosing an extremely pretty garden. There the inner courtyard +possesses tall lime trees, gay rhododendrons, and a cool splashing +fountain, with ferns and iris glistening in the spray. It is quite +one of the most delightfully fresh and peaceful corners on a hot +summer’s day, and carries one in imagination to Italy. Yet this is +but another of the many old City churchyards. The parish of St. +Christopher-le-Stocks was absorbed, with five other parishes, into +St. Margaret’s, Lothbury, in 1781. Some of the tombs, and pictures of +Moses and Aaron, were removed from it, and are still to be seen in St. +Margaret’s, which is crowded with monuments from all six churches. +The Bank was already in possession of most of the land within the +parish, and by the Act of Parliament of 1781, the church and churchyard +became part of the Bank premises, which cover nearly three acres. The +church site was built over, but the graveyard became the garden. This +enclosure at first was a simple grass plot, as shown in an engraving +dated 1790. The lime trees may have been planted soon after, as they +appear as large trees sixty years later, and are spoken of in 1855 +as two of the finest lime trees in London. The fountain was put up in +1852 by Mr. Thomas Hankey, then the governor. The water for it came +from the tanks belonging to the Bank, supplied by an artesian well 330 +feet deep, said to be very pure, and free from lime. Perhaps that is +why the rhododendrons look so flourishing. Most of the Bank, as is well +known, was the work of the architect Sir John Soane, but some of the +portions built by Sir Robert Taylor, before his death in 1788, when +Soane was appointed to succeed him, are to be seen in the garden court. +It is said that the last person buried there was a Bank clerk named +Jenkins, who was 7½ feet in height. He was allowed to rest there, as he +feared he might be disinterred on account of his gigantic proportions. + +Very different is the churchyard of St. Martin’s, on Ludgate Hill. It +belongs to Stationers’ Hall, and although it boasts of one fine plane +tree, is an untidy, grimy, dingy little square. By permission of all +the necessary authorities, the coffins (480 in number) were removed and +reverently buried in Brookwood Cemetery in 1893, a careful register +of all the names and dates, that could be deciphered, being kept. +This having been done, the earth was merely left in an irregular heap +round the tree, and no attempt has been made to improve in any way the +forsaken appearance of the place. + +This sketch does not aim at being a guide-book, and it would only be +tedious to enumerate the many churchyards, without as well as within +the City, which of late years have been made worthy “gardens of sleep.” +St. Luke’s, Old Street; St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch; St. Anne’s, Soho; +St. Sepulchre, Holborn, and many others in every part of the town, from +being dreary and untidy, have become orderly and well kept; and instead +of being unwholesome and unsightly, have become attractive harbours of +refuge in the sea of streets and houses. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +INNS OF COURT + + _Sweete Themmes! runne softly, till I end my Song. + At length they all to mery London came,_ + + * * * * * + + _There when they came, whereas those brickly towers + The which on Themmes brode aged backe doe ryde + Where now the studious Lawyers have their bowers, + There whylome wont the Templer Knights to byde, + Till they decayed through pride:_ + + * * * * * + + _Sweete Themmes! runne softly, till I end my Song._ + + --SPENSER: “Prothalamion, or a Spousall Verse.” + + +There are no more peaceful gardens in all London than those among +the venerable buildings devoted to the study of the law. There is a +sense of dignity and repose, the moment one has entered from the noisy +thoroughfares which surround these quiet courts. They may be dark, +dull, and dingy, as seen by a Dickens, and sombre and serious, to those +whose business lies there; but to the ordinary Londoner, who loves the +old world of the City, and the links that bind the present with the +past, there are no more reposeful places than these gardens. The courts +and buildings seem peopled with those who have worked and lived there. +If stones could speak, what tales some of these could tell! + +The best-known, perhaps, of the gardens are those belonging to the +Inner and Middle Temple, as their green lawns are visible from the +Embankment. They add greatly to the charm of one of London’s most +beautiful roadways, now, alas! desecrated by the rush of electric +trams, and its fine young trees sacrificed to make yet more rapid the +stream of beings hourly passing between South London and the City. +The modern whirl of business life can leave nothing untouched in this +age of bustle, money-making, ceaseless toil, and care. Even pleasures +have to be provided by united effort, and partake of noise and hurry. +Thought and contemplation are hardly counted among the pleasures of +life; yet to those who value them, even to look through the iron +railings on the smooth turf brings a sense of relief. Even to those +who scarcely seem to feel it, the very existence of these haunts of +comparative peace, which flash on their vision as they hurry by, leaves +something, a subtle influence, a faint impression on the brain. It +must make a difference to a child who knows nothing beyond the noisy +streets and alleys in which its lot is cast, to hear the rooks caw and +the birds sing in the quiet gardens of Gray’s Inn. It must come as a +welcome relief, even though unperceived and unappreciated, from the din +and clatter in which most of its days are passed. One cannot be too +grateful that it has not been thought necessary to change and modernise +“our English juridical university.” + +Although the four great Inns of Court are untouched, the lesser Inns +have vanished or are vanishing. Clement’s Inn has gone. The garden +there was small, but had a special feature of its own--a sun-dial +upheld by the kneeling figure of a blackamoor. This is now preserved +in the Temple Garden, where it appeared soon after Clement’s Inn +was disestablished in 1884. Clement’s Inn, which appertained to the +Inner Temple, was so named from the Church of St. Clement Danes and +St. Clement’s Well, where “the City Youth on Festival Days used to +entertain themselves with a variety of Diversions.” The sun-dial is +said to have been presented to the Inn by a Holles, Lord Clare, and +some writers state that it was brought from Italy. It was, however, +more probably made in London by John Van Nost, a Dutch sculptor, who +came to England in William III.’s time, and established himself in +Piccadilly. When he died in 1711 the business was continued by John +Cheere, brother of Sir Henry Cheere, who executed various monuments +in Westminster Abbey. Similar work is known to have issued from this +studio. At Clifford’s Inn, which was also attached to the Inner Temple, +there is still a vestige of the garden, but it looks a miserable doomed +wreck, a few black trees rising among heaps of earth and rubbish. It +was described in 1756 as “an airy place, and neatly kept; the garden +being inclosed with a pallisado Pale, and adorned with Rows of Lime +trees, set round the gravel Plats and gravel walks.” Its present +forlorn appearance is certainly not suggestive of its past glories. +Barnard’s Inn has been converted into a school by the Mercers’ Company; +it also has its court and trees on a very small scale. Staples Inn, +so familiar from the timbered, gabled front it presents to Holborn, +carefully preserved by the Prudential Assurance Company, its present +owners, still has its quiet little quadrangle of green at the back. +It was of that Dickens wrote such an inimitable description. “It is +one of those nooks, the turning into which out of the clashing streets +imparts to the relieved pedestrian the sensation of having put cotton +in his ears and velvet soles on his boots.” Furnival’s, Thavies’, and +all the other Inns famous in olden days, have disappeared, and their +quiet little gardens with them. + +The Temple Gardens are larger now than in the earlier days of their +history, as then there was nothing to keep the Thames within its +channel at high tide. The landing steps from the river were approached +by a causeway of arches across the muddy banks. It was not until 1528 +that a protecting wall was built, and a pathway ran outside the wall +between it and the river. Gardens must have existed on this site from +a very early date. When the Templars moved there from Holborn and +built the church in 1185, it was all open country round, with a few +great houses and conventual buildings standing in their own orchards +and gardens. After the suppression of the Order, it was in the hands +of Aimer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and in 1324 the land was given +to the Knights of St. John. As they had their own buildings and church +not far off, they granted it “to the Students of the Common Lawes of +England: in whose possession the same hath sithence remained.” All the +consecrated land, and all within the City, was included in the grant to +the Knights of St. John: besides this there was some land outside the +City, or the Outer Temple, part of which remained in secular hands, and +in later times was covered by Essex House, with its famous gardens. The +section belonging to the Law Societies, beyond the City, is spoken of +in early records as the Outer Garden, and from time to time buildings +were erected on it--at first under protest, as in 1565 there was an +order “for the plucking down of a study newly erected,” and again in +1567, “the nuisance made by Woodye, by building his house in the Outer +Garden, shall be abated and plucked down, or as much thereof as is upon +Temple ground.” All this garden has long ago been completely built +over, and the large spaces now forming the Temple Gardens are those +anciently known as the “Great Garden,” belonging to the Inner Temple +and the Middle Temple Garden. The Outer Temple (never another Inn) was +merely the ground outside the limits of the City. + +The long green slopes down to the Embankment, are much larger than the +older gardens, as the wall which was built in 1528 to keep out the +river, cut across from where No. 10 King’s Bench Walk now stands. The +wall must have been a vast improvement, and was greatly appreciated. +In 1534 a vote of thanks was passed by the “parliament” of the Inner +Temple to the late Treasurer, John Parkynton, who had “takyn many and +sundrie payns in the buylding of the walle betwene the Thamez and +the garden,” for which “greate dyligens” they gave unto him “hartey +thankes.” And, indeed, the garden must sorely have needed this +protection. It is difficult to picture the Temple in the sixteenth +century, and the little gardens must have been as bewildering as the +present courts and buildings. In the records there are references to +various gardens, no doubt small enclosures like the present courts, +besides the Great Garden and the kitchen-garden. There was the nut +garden, perhaps adorned with nut trees, as Fig-tree Court probably was +with figs. There is more than one record of payments for attending to +the fig-tree or painting rails round it. In 1610, just at the time +James I. brought them into notice, a mulberry was “set in Fairfield’s +Court.” In 1605 seats were set “about the trees in Hare’s Court”; thus +all the courts were more or less little gardens. In 1510 a chamber is +assigned to some one “in the garden called le Olyvaunte.” This was +probably the Elephant, from a sign carved or painted to distinguish a +particular house facing it. There was similarly “le Talbott,” probably +from a greyhound sign, in another court. The houses facing the Great +Garden apparently had steps descending into it from the chief rooms, +and it was a special privilege to have your staircase opening on to it. +Thus, “May 1573, Mr. Wyott and Mr. Hall, licensed to have ‘a steeyrs’ +(stairs) from their chamber into the garden.” The Great Garden was +constantly being encroached on as new chambers were built. Entries in +the records with regard to permission to build into the garden often +occur; for instance-- + +“1581. Thomas Compton ... to build ... within the compass of the garden +or little Court ... from the south corner of the brick wall of the said +garden ... 57 feet ... and from the said wall into the garden 22 feet.” + +On one occasion a license to build was exceeded, and the offence +further aggravated by cutting down “divers timber trees.” The offender +was at first put out of commons, and fined £20, which was afterwards +mitigated to £5, with the addition of a most wise proviso, that “he +shall plant double the number of trees he caused to be cut down.” Would +that the fault of felling timber always met with the same punishment! + +When houses were put on the site of the present Paper Buildings in +1610, the Great Garden was cut in two, and the eastern portion went +to form the broad stretch with its trees known as King’s Bench Walk. +Elm trees were planted, and the walks and seats under them repaired +from time to time, and kept in good order. The part to the west was +carefully tended, and became from that year the chief garden. In James +I.’s reign, that age of gardening, when every house of any pretensions +was having its garden enlarged, and Bacon was laying out the grounds of +Gray’s Inn, the Temple was not behind-hand. The accounts show constant +repairs and additions and buying of trees. The items for painting posts +and rails are very frequent. Probably they do not always refer to +outer palings, but it may be that the Tudor fashion of railing round +the beds, with a low trellis and posts at the angles, still prevailed. +One of the largest items of the expenses was for making “the pound” in +1618. This, it is said, was a pond, but no record of digging it out, or +filling it with water occurs, while all the payments in connection with +it went to painters or carpenters, and therefore it was more probably a +kind of garden-house, much in favour at that time, made by the wall, to +command a view over the river. The chief items with regard to it are:-- + +“1618, To John Fielde, the carpenter, for making ‘the pound’ in the +garden, £19.” + +“To Bowden, the painter, for stopping and ‘refreshing’ the rails in the +‘wakes’ (walks), the posts, seats and balusters belonging to the same, +and for stopping and finishing the ‘pound’ by the waterside, £9, 10s.” + +Again in 1639 the entry certainly implies some kind of summer-house and +not “a pond”: “Edward Simmes, carpenter, for repairing ‘the pound’ and +other seats in the garden and walks, &c., £15, 8s.” There must have +been another summer-house at the same time, unless the sums paid to +a plasterer “for work done about the summer-house in the garden,” in +1630, refers to the same “pound.” + +A great deal seems to have been done to the Garden during the first few +years of the Commonwealth, and large sums were expended in procuring +new gravel and turf: “392 loads of gravel at 2s. 6d. the load” is one +entry. But the chief work was the re-turfing. An arrangement was made, +by payment of various small sums to the poor of Greenwich, to cut +3000 turfs on Blackheath, and convey them in lighters to the Temple +Stairs. A second transaction procured them 2000 more, each turf being +a foot broad and a yard long. These amounts would cover a third of +an acre with turf. The head gardeners seem to have been particularly +unruly people. Although they remained in office many years, there were +frequent complaints. On one occasion this official had cut down trees, +another time he had the plague, and his house was frequented by rogues +and beggars. At first the gardener’s house was on the present King’s +Bench Walk side of the Garden, near the river; later on, near where +Harcourt Buildings are now. In 1690 the house, then in Middle Temple +Lane, was turned into an ale-house, and evidently none of the quietest, +for the occupier was forbidden to sell drink, and the “door out of the +gardener’s lodge towards the water gate” was ordered to be bricked up, +so as to prevent all the riffraff from the river rioting in his rooms. +Yet the post descended from father to son. In 1687 Thomas Elliott +succeeded his father, Seth Elliott, who had been there some years, and +when in 1708 Charles Gardner had taken the second Elliott’s place, his +daughter Elizabeth’s name occurs as a recipient of money, and Elliott +himself received a pension of £20 a-year, although he was the culprit +of the riotous ale-house. During the years succeeding the Restoration, +the Garden seems to have been little touched. The kitchen-garden would +still be maintained, and either it was farmed by the gardener, or its +supplies were inadequate, as on fast-days there was always a special +payment to the gardener for vegetables. Such items as the following +are of frequent occurrence: “Sallating for the hall in grass week, +strewings and ‘bow pots’ for the hall in Easter and Trinity terms.” + +Though the French fashions in gardening of Charles II.’s reign do not +seem to have affected the Temple precincts, yet the Dutch influence +that came in with William and Mary made itself felt. A small garden +was specially set apart for the Benchers, and done up entirely in +the prevailing style. A piece of ground between King’s Bench Office +and Serjeants’ Inn was made use of for this. It had been let to the +Alienation Office, but after the Great Fire the Temple resumed the +control of it, and finally did it up and replanted it for the use of +the Benchers. It was known as the “Benchers’,” the “Little” or the +“Privy” Garden, and great care, attention, and money were expended +on it. Turf, gravel, and plants were bought; a sun-dial put on +the wall; orange trees set out in tubs; and a fountain erected in +the middle. This fountain must have been the chief feature of the +Garden, and from the immense amount of care it required to keep it +in order, it seems that it was one of those elaborate “waterworks,” +without which no garden was then complete. Such fountains were made +with secret arrangements for turning on the water, which dropped +from birds’ bills, or spurted out of dolphins or such-like, with an +unpleasant suddenness which gave the unwary visitor a shower-bath. +Other fountains played tunes or set curious machinery in motion, or +otherwise surprised the beholder. From the descriptions, this one in +the Benchers’ Garden doubtless concealed some original variation. It +consisted of a lion’s face with a copper scallop shell, and a copper +cherry-tree with branches, and perhaps the water dropped from the +leaves. One payment in 1700 occurs for “a new scallop shell to the +fountain, for a cock and a lion’s face to draw the water out of the +fountain, and for keeping the fountain in repair, £12.” The copper +cherry-tree was painted, and perhaps the Pegasus--the arms of the Inner +Temple--figured in the strange medley, as the cost of painting the tree +and “gilding the horse” are together paid to the man “Fowler,” who had +charge of the fountain. The “best way to bring the water” had to be +carefully considered for these “waterworks” which Fowler was designing +and carrying out, and it evidently was brought up to the pitch of +perfection required of a fountain in those days. There was also a +summer-house with a paved floor, and an alcove with seats. Altogether, +even without the glories of the strange fountain, the little enclosed +Dutch garden must have been an attractive place. + +[Illustration: THE INNER TEMPLE GARDEN] + +While the Benchers’ Garden was being made, the Great Garden was not +neglected. Its form was altered to suit the prevailing taste. This +remodelling must have begun in the winter of 1703, as it was then +resolved that “the trees in the Great Garden be cut down, and the +Garden to be put in the same model as the gardener hath proposed.” The +delightful terrace, which is still one of the most beautiful features +in the Garden, existed before these alterations began, but the sun-dial +which still adorns it was added during these changes. The payment for +it was made to Strong, who was contractor for St. Paul’s under Wren: +“To Edward Strong, for the pedestal for the dial in the Great Garden +steps, &c., £25.” The beautiful gates of wrought iron were put up in +1730. The design shows the arms of Gray’s Inn, as well as the winged +horse of the Inner Temple, in compliment to the other learned society, +its close ally. In the same way the Pegasus occurs at Gray’s Inn. It +was probably along this terrace that some of the orange trees in pots +were placed during the summer. The pots in which these oranges and +other “greens” were grown seem to have been specially decorative. It +was a serious offence when Allgood, a member of the Inn, broke some, +and was obliged to “furnish other pots of like fashion and value,” +otherwise he would “be put out of commons.” After this others were +purchased, as the payment of £8 was made “for a large mould, carved +in wood, for casting of earthen pots for the Garden”; and in other +years further similar expenses occur, one in 1690 “to the potter for +a large pot made for the Garden, painted in oil, £1, 5s.” Some of the +plants grown would stand the winter in the open, but after the oranges +made their appearance a shelter had to be provided. Green-houses owed +their origin to this necessity, and as they were only used in winter, +and merely sheltered the large pots of “greens,” these green-houses or +orangeries were built like rooms, and used as summer-houses during warm +months. All the larger gardens had their green-houses, but the smaller +proprietors frequently sent their plants away to a nurseryman to be +housed during the winter. Even the “greens” at Kensington Palace were +kept by London and Wise, until the new orangery was built. The Temple +orange trees were first sent to the house of Cadrow at Islington. +In 1704 the green-house seems to have been made, and used as a +garden-house in summer. Such items in the accounts as “a chimney-glass +and sconces for the green-house” show that it was in the usual solid +architectural style then in fashion. That the “panierman,” an officer, +one of whose duties was to summon members to meals by blowing a horn, +was appointed to take charge of it as well as of the library, is a +further proof that it bore the character of a room, and was more or +less outside the gardener’s department. The panierman also had the +care of the elaborate fountain, after it had been supervised for some +years by the maker. This green-house stood at the end of the terrace, +which still runs parallel with Crown Office Row, and near the site of +Harcourt Buildings, behind the gardener’s house. This gardener’s house +was pulled down two or three years later to make way for Harcourt +Buildings, which was joined to the summer-house. The first or ground +floor opened on to the garden below the “paved walk” or terrace, on +which level stood the summer-house. + +The most fascinating feature of a garden ought to be its flowers, +and of these also some particulars can be gleaned from the accounts. +There is enough to show that the Temple Garden was quite up to date +in its horticulture, and that it followed fashion as closely in its +plants as in its design. It is not surprising to find Dutch bulbs, and +especially tulips, being bought when such a lover of those flowers +as Sir Thomas Hanmer was a member. He was one of those who devoted +much time to the culture of that flower, when the tulip mania was at +its height, and raised new varieties, which were known by his name, +“the agate Hanmer.” In 1703 the list of bulbs purchased is carefully +noted. There were “200 ‘junquiles’ at 6s. a hundred; for 200 tulips +at 5s. a hundred; for 100 yellow Dutch crocus, for 50 Armathagalum.” +The spelling of “junquiles” is much more correct than our modern +“jonquil,” and all the old writers would have written it so. Parkinson, +in 1629, describes them as “Narcissus juncifolius” or the “Junquilia +or Rush Daffodill”; but “Ornithogalum” was too much for the Temple +scribe. The “Ornithogalum” or “Starre of Bethlehem,” and probably one +of the rarer varieties, must be meant by “Armathagalum.” The Arabian +variety was then “nursed in gardens,” but it should be “housed all the +winter, that so it may bee defended from the frosts,” wrote Parkinson, +and sadly admitted that the two roots sent to him “out of Spain” had +“prospered not” “for want of knowledge” of this “rule.” There was also +the “Starre flower of Æthiopia,” which “was gathered by some Hollanders +on the West side of the Cape of Good Hope”; and this is more likely +to have been the variety bought for the Temple with the other Dutch +bulbs. Among the other purchases were various shrubs, on which the +topiary art was then commonly practised. There were “15 yew trees for +the Great Garden in pots, ... 4 box trees for the grass plots, ... +12 striped ‘fillerayes’”--this latter being variegated phillyreas +(most likely _angustifolia_), which were largely used for cutting +into quaint shapes. Another account is for “28 standard laurels, 4 +‘perimic’ (laurels), 6 junipers, 4 hollies, and 2 perimic box trees.” +These “perimetric” trees had already gone through the necessary +clipping and training, to enable them to take their place in the trim +Dutch garden. Another year flowering shrubs are got for the Benchers’ +Garden: “2 messerius at 2s., and 2 lorrestines at 2s.” The _Daphne +mezereum_ had been a favourite in English gardens from the earliest +times, and the laurestinus (_Viburnum tinus_) came from South Europe in +the sixteenth century. Parkinson, the most attractive of all the old +gardening authors, has a delightfully true description of the “Laurus +Tinus,” with its “many small white sweete-smelling flowers thrusting +together, ... the edges whereof have a shew of a wash purple or light +blush in them; which for the most part fall away without bearing any +perfect ripe fruit in our countrey: yet sometimes it hath small black +berries, as if they were good, but are not”! Fruit-trees were also +to be found--peaches, “nectrons,” cherries, and plums, besides figs +and mulberries. That the walls were covered with climbing roses and +jessamine is certain, from the oft-recurring cost of nailing them up. +“Nails and list for the jessamy wall,” and the needful bits of old felt +required to fasten them up, was another time supplied by “hatt parings +for the jessamines.” + +Thus it is easy, bit by bit, out of the old accounts, to piece together +the Garden, until the mind’s eye can see back into the days of Queen +Anne, and take an imaginary walk through it on a fine spring evening. +The Bencher walks out of the large window of the “green-house” on to +the terrace, where the sun-dial points the hour: the orange trees, +glossy and fresh from their winter quarters, stand in stiff array, in +the large artistic pots. Down the steps, a few stiff beds are bright +with Dutch bulbs in flower. The turf, well rolled (for a new stone +roller has just been purchased), stretches down to the river between +straight lines of quaintly cut box, yews, and hollies. He sees Surrey +hills clear in the early evening light, and the barges sail by, and +boats pass up and down the river. He may linger on one of the seats +in the garden-house overlooking the river, or wander back under the +stately elms of King’s Bench Walk, to rest awhile in the Privy Garden, +where the air is scented with mezereum, and cooled by the drops that +fall from the metal leaves hanging over the basin of the fountain. + +The Middle Temple, too, had its Benchers’ Garden, and part of it +survives to this day in the delightful Fountain Court. The Benchers’ +Garden was larger, covering the ground where Garden Court now stands, +up to the wall of the famous gardens of Essex House. A garden covered +the space where the library has been built, and the terrace and steps +in front of the fountain reached right across to the Essex House +wall. Below the beautiful old hall which Queen Elizabeth opened in +person, and where Shakespeare’s contemporaries witnessed “Twelfth +Night,” lay the rest of the Garden, with green lawns and shady trees +down the water’s edge. The fountain, once the glory of the Benchers’ +private garden, is still one of the most delightful in all London. Sir +Christopher Hatton, whose garden of Ely Place--wrung by Queen Elizabeth +from the unwilling Bishop--was not far off, was an admirer of the +Middle Temple fountain. It was kept, he says, “in so good order as +always to force its stream to a vast and almost incredible altitude. +It is fenced with timber palisades, constituting a quadrangle, wherein +grow several lofty trees, and without are walks extending on every +side of the quadrangle, all paved with Purbeck, very pleasant and +delightful.” In an eighteenth-century picture, with groups of strollers +and a lady passing the gay company in her sedan chair, the palings are +superseded by fine iron railings enclosing the lofty jet, its marble +basin, and shady trees. The pavement ended with the terrace wall +overlooking the garden below, and the Thames covered at high tide what +is now the lower part of the lawn. The Fountain Court has inspired +many a thought which has found expression in prose and verse, but no +picture is more vivid or well known than the figure of Ruth Pinch, in +“Martin Chuzzlewit,” waiting for her brother “with the best little +laugh upon her face that ever played in opposition to the fountain,” +or the description at the end, of that crowning day to her happiness, +when she walks there with John Westlock, and “Brilliantly the Temple +Fountain splashed in the sun, and laughingly its liquid music played, +and merrily the idle drops of water danced and danced, and peeping out +in sport among the trees, plunged lightly down to hide themselves, +as little Ruth and her companion came towards it.” The fountain has +suffered some modernising changes since Dickens wrote those lines; but +in spite of them there is still music in its sound, which calls up +dreams of other ages and of brighter gardens as it tosses its spray +into the murky air. + + “Away in the distance is heard the vast sound + From the streets of the city that compass it round, + Like the echo of mountains or ocean’s deep call: + Yet that fountain’s low singing is heard over all.” + + --MISS LANDON. + +Of all the incidents that are associated with particular places, none +stands out more vividly than the scene told by Shakespeare, of the +first beginning to the Wars of the Roses in the Temple Garden. + +[Illustration: THE FOUNTAIN COURT, MIDDLE TEMPLE] + +Richard Plantagenet, with the Earls of Somerset, Suffolk, and Warwick, +Vernon, and a lawyer, enter the Temple Garden (“Henry VI.” Pt. I. Act +2, sc. iv.). + + _Suffolk._ Within the Temple Hall we were too loud; + The garden here is more convenient. + + _Plantagenet._ Then say at once if I maintained the truth, + Or else was wrangling Somerset in the error? + + * * * * * + + +The direct answer being evaded, Plantagenet continues-- + + Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak, + In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts; + Let him that is a true-born gentleman, + And stands upon the honour of his birth, + If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, + From off this brier pluck a white rose with me. + + _Somerset._ Let him that is no coward nor no flatterer, + But dare maintain the party of the truth, + Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me. + + * * * * * + + _Warwick._ I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet. + + _Suffolk._ I pluck this red rose with young Somerset. + + * * * * * + + _Vernon._ I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here, + Giving my verdict on the white rose side. + + * * * * * + + _Lawyer_ (to _Somerset_) ... The argument you held was wrong in you, + In sign whereof I pluck a white rose too. + + _Plan._ Now, Somerset, where is your argument? + + _Som._ Here, in my scabbard, meditating that + Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red. + + * * * * * + + _Plan._ Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset? + + _Som._ Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet? + + _Plan._ Ay, sharp and piercing to maintain his truth; + Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood. + + _Som._ Well, I’ll find friends to wear my bleeding roses, + That shall maintain what I have said is true. + + * * * * * + + _Warwick._ And here I prophesy this brawl to-day, + Grown to this faction in the Temple-garden, + Shall send between the red rose and the white + A thousand souls to death and deadly night. + +With such a tradition the Temple Garden should never be without its +roses. They are one of those friendly plants which will do their best +to fight against fog and smoke, and flower boldly for two or three +years in succession: so a supply of red and white, and the delightful +_Rosa mundi_, the “York and Lancaster,” could without much difficulty +be seen there every summer. Certainly some of the finest roses in +existence have been in the Temple Gardens, as the Flower Shows, which +are looked forward to by all lovers of horticulture, have for many +years been permitted to take place in these historic grounds. How +astonished those adherents of the red or white roses would have been +to see the colours, shades, and forms which the descendants of those +briars now produce. The Plantagenet Garden would not contain many +varieties, although every known one was cherished in every garden, +as roses have always been first favourites. Besides the briars, dog +roses, and sweet briars, there was the double white and double red, a +variety of _Rosa gallica_. Many so-called old-fashioned roses, such +as the common monthly roses, came to England very much later, and +the vast number of gorgeous hybrids are absolutely new. Elizabethan +gardens had a fair show of roses with centifolia, including moss and +Provence roses, and York and Lancaster, _Rosa lutea_, musk, damask, +and cinnamon roses in several varieties; and as the old records show, +the Temple Garden was well supplied with roses. All these probably +flourished there in the days of Shakespeare, and would readily suggest +the scene he immortalised. + +Among the spirits that haunt the Temple Garden, there is none that +seems to cling to it more than that of Charles Lamb. It should be a +pride of these peaceful gardens that they helped to mould that lovable +and unselfish character. A schoolfellow, who describes his ways as a +boy at Christ’s Hospital, recalls how all his young days were spent in +the solemn surrounding of the Temple, and how, while at school, “On +every half holiday (and there were two in the week), in ten minutes he +was in the gardens, on the terrace, or at the fountain of the Temple. +Here was his home, here his recreation; and the influence they had +on his infant mind is vividly shown in his description of the old +Benchers.” + +“Shadows we are and like shadows depart,” suggests the sun-dial on the +wall of Pump Court, but shadows of such gentle spirits as Charles Lamb +leave something behind, and those “footprints on the sands of time” are +nowhere more traceable than in these solemn precincts of law with their +quiet, restful gardens. + +The attractions of the Temple are so great, one feels loth to cross +the noisy thoroughfare and plunge through the traffic till the stately +old gateway out of Chancery Lane, on which Ben Jonson is said to have +worked, affords an opening towards the spacious gardens of Lincoln’s +Inn. + +Lincoln’s Inn Gardens have a special claim to antiquity as they are +partly on the site of the famous garden of the Earl of Lincoln, of +which some of the accounts are preserved in a splendid big old manor +roll now at the Record Office. It is supposed that at his death in +1311, Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, assigned these lands to the +“Professors of the Law as a residence.” Additions were made later from +the ground belonging to the Bishop of Chichester, round the palace +which Ralph Neville had built in 1228. Part of the site was the “coney +garth,” which belonged to one William Cotterell, and hence is often +mentioned as “Cotterell’s Garden.” Garden of course only meant a garth +or yard, and though the name now signifies an enclosure for plants, in +early times other enclosures were common. There was the “grass yard” +or lawn, the “cook’s garth” or kitchen-garden, and “coney garth” where +rabbits were kept, as well as the “wyrt yard” or plant yard, the “ort +yard” or orchard, apple yard, cherry yard, and so on. The coney garth +was not a mere name, but was well stocked with game, and even at a +much later date, from Edward IV. to Henry VIII., there were various +ordinances in force for punishing law students who hunted rabbits with +bows and arrows or darts. + +[Illustration: LINCOLN’S INN] + +In the first year of Queen Elizabeth the Garden was separated from the +fields by a clay embankment, and a little later a brick wall was added, +with a gate into the fields, which is probably the same as the present +little gate to the north of the new hall, at the end of the border, +shown in the illustration. The Garden continued much further along the +wall then, and only was curtailed when the new hall and library were +built in 1843. The delightful terrace which is raised against the wall +overlooking the “fields” was made in 1663. On June 27th of that year, +Pepys, who on other occasions mentions his walks there with his +wife, went to see the alterations. “So to Lincoln’s Inne, and there +walked up and down to see the new garden which they are making, and +will be very pretty.” The outside world seems to have had easy access +to the gardens of all the Inns of Court in those days, but it was +regarded as a special privilege granted to a very wide circle, and +a favour not accorded to the public at large. In the _Tatler_ occur +such passages as, “I went into Lincoln’s Inn walks, and having taken +a round or two I sat down according to the allowed familiarity of +these places.” Again, “I was last week taking a solitary walk in the +garden of Lincoln’s Inn, a favour that is indulged me by several of the +benchers who are my intimate friends.” + +They were, however, so much frequented by all the fashionable world +of London, that the foreigner arriving there naturally took them for +public gardens. Mr. Grosley, who came to London in 1765, thus describes +them:-- + +“Besides St. James’s Park, the Green Park, and Hyde Park, the two last +of which are continuations of the first, which, like the Tuileries +at Paris, lie at the extremity of the metropolis, London has several +public walks, which are much more agreeable to the English, as they are +less frequented and more solitary than the Park. Such are the gardens +contained within the compass of the Temple, of Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s +Inn. They consist of grass plots, which are kept in excellent order, +and planted with trees, either cut regularly, or with high stocks: some +of them have a part laid out for culinary uses. The grass plots of the +gardens at Lincoln’s Inn are adorned with statues, which, taken all +together, form a scene very pleasing to the eye.” + +The students must certainly have aimed at keeping their gardens from +the vulgar gaze, and showed their displeasure at some one who had built +a house with windows overlooking the Garden in 1632 in an uproarious +manner. They flung brickbats at the offending window until “one out of +the house discharged haile shot upon Mr. Attornie’s sonne’s face, which +though by good chance it missed his eyes yet it pitifully mangled his +visage.” + +Old maps of the gardens show a wall dividing the large upper garden +from the smaller, but by 1772 the partition had disappeared. It was +doubtless unnecessary when the terrace was made and the rabbits done +away with. + +The 1658 map with the wall in it shows the upper garden intersected by +four paths, and an avenue of trees round three sides, and the small +garden with a single row of trees round it divided into two large grass +plots. The lovely shady avenue below the terrace in the large garden +has still a great charm, and although not so extensive as it once was, +the great green-sward and walks seem very spacious in these days of +crowding. The terrace overlooking Lincoln’s Inn Fields, with the broad +walk and border of suitable old-fashioned herbaceous plants, has great +attractions. The view from here must have improved since the days when +the Fields were a wild-looking place of evil repute, and the scene of +bloody executions. In the lonely darkness below the terrace wall, deeds +of violence were only too common. + + “Though thou are tempted by the linkman’s call, + Yet trust him not along the lonely wall. + In the mid-way he’ll quench the flaming brand, + And share the booty with the pilfering band.” + + --GAY. + +Certainly when one is sentimental over the departed charms of Old +London, it would be an excellent antidote to call up some of the +inconveniences that electric light and the metropolitan police have +banished. + +There is more character about the gardens of Gray’s Inn than either +the Temple or Lincoln’s Inn. They have come down with but little +alteration from the hands of that great lover of gardens, Bacon. +But long before his time gardens existed. The land on which Gray’s +Inn stands formed part of a prebend of St. Paul’s of the manor of +Portpoole, and subsequently belonged to the family of Grey de Wilton, +and in the fourteenth century the Inn of Court was established. Between +its grounds and the villages of Highgate and Hampstead was an unbroken +stretch of open country. There, in Mary’s reign, Henry Lord Berkeley +used daily to hunt “in Gray’s Inne fields and in those parts towards +Islington and Heygate with his hounds,” and in his company were “many +gentlemen of the Innes of Court and others of lower condition ... and +150 servants in livery that daily attended him in their tawny coates.” +In Bacon’s time it must still have been as open, and Theobald’s Road +a country lane with hedgerows. The Garden already boasted of fine +trees, and among the records of the Society there is a list of the +elms in 1583 all carefully enumerated, and the exact places they were +growing: “In the grene Courte xi Elmes and iii Walnut trees,” and so +on. Eighty-seven elms, besides four young elms and one young ash, +appear on the list; so the Garden was well furnished with trees even +before Bacon commenced his work. Gray’s Inn was the most popular of +the four Inns of Court in the Elizabethan period, and many famous men, +such as Lord Burghley, belonged to it. It was in 1597 that Bacon +took the Garden in hand, some ten years after he became a Bencher. In +the accounts of that year £7. 15s. 4d. appears “due to Mr. Bacon for +planting of trees in the walkes.” In 1598 it was resolved to “supply +more yonge elme trees in the places of such as are decayed, and that a +new Rayle and quicksett hedge be sett upon the upper long walke at the +good discretion of Mr. Bacon, and Mr. Wilbraham, soe that the charges +thereof doe not exceed the sum of seventy pounds.” On 29th April +1600, £60. 6s. 8d. was paid to “Mr. Bacon for money disbursed about +garnishing of the walkes.” + +Bacon’s own ideas of what a garden should be are so delightfully set +forth in his essay on gardens, that the whole as it left his hand +is not difficult to imagine. The fair alleys, the great hedge, were +essentials, and the green, “because nothing is more pleasant to the eye +than green grass kept finely shorn.” His list of plants which bloom +in all the months of the year was compiled of those specially suited +“for the Climate of London,” so no doubt some would be included in this +Garden under his eye, although they do not appear in the records. He +wished “also in the very middle a fair mount,” and even this desire +he carried out in Gray’s Inn. In a description of the Garden as late +as 1761, a summer-house which Bacon put up in 1609 to the memory of +his friend Jeremiah Bettenham is mentioned as only recently destroyed. +“Till lately,” it says, “there was a summer-house erected by the great +Sir Francis Bacon upon a small mount: it was open on all sides, and the +roof supported by slender pillars. A few years ago the uninterrupted +prospect of the neighbouring fields, as far as the hills of Highgate +and Hampstead, was obstructed by a handsome row of houses on the +north; since which the above summer-house has been levelled, and many +trees cut down to lay the Garden more open.” The view, even then, was +fairly open, as Sir Samuel Romilly, in 1780, complains of the cold, as +there was “only one row of houses” between him and Hampstead, and “a +north-west wind blows full against” his chambers. This “most gallant +prospect into the country, and its beautiful walks” were the great +attractions of these Gardens. They appear to have been one of the most +fashionable walks, especially on Sundays. Pepys was frequently there, +and his diary records, several times, that he went to morning church, +then had dinner, then to church again, and after went for a walk in +Gray’s Inn. That he met there “great store of gallants,” or “saw many +beauties,” is the usual comment after a visit. On one occasion, he +took his wife there to “observe the fashions of the ladies,” because +she was “making some clothes.” The walks and trees are redolent with +associations, and the Gardens, though curtailed, have much the same +appearance as of yore. When a portion of the ground was sacrificed to +the new buildings, those who loved the Garden deeply bewailed. “Those +accursed Verulam Buildings,” wrote Charles Lamb, recalling his early +walks in Gray’s Inn Gardens, “had not encroached upon all the east side +of them, cutting out delicate green crankles, and shouldering away +one of two stately alcoves of the terrace. The survivor stands gaping +and relationless, as if it remembered its brother. They are still +the best gardens of any of the Inns of Court--my beloved Temple not +forgotten--have the gravest character, their aspect being altogether +reserved and law-breathing. Bacon has left the impress of his foot +upon their gravel walks.” + +After such a delightful summary of their charms it seems cruel to +try and dispel one of their most treasured traditions--namely, that +Bacon planted the catalpa. It is a splendid and venerable tree, and +there is no wish to pull it from its proud position of the first +catalpa planted, and the finest in existence in this country; but it +is hard to believe that Bacon planted it, in the light of the history +of the plant. There is no mention of a catalpa in any of the earlier +writers--Gerard did not know it, and it is not in the later edition of +his work by Thomas Johnson, in 1633, or in Parkinson’s “Paradisus,” +in 1629, or in Evelyn’s “Sylva,” in 1664, all published after Bacon’s +death. + +The tree was first described by Catesby in his “Natural History of +Carolina,” a splendid folio which appeared in 1731. There it is classed +as _Bignonia urucu foliis_, or _Catalpa_, as it was not until later +that Jussieu separated the genus _Catalpa_. He says the tree was not +known to the inhabitants of Carolina till the seeds “were brought there +from the remoter parts of the country,” “and though the inhabitants are +little curious in gardening, the uncommon beauty of this tree induced +them to propagate it, and it is become an ornament to many of their +gardens, and probably will be the same to ours in England, it being as +hardy as most of our American plants: many of them, now at Mr. Bacon’s, +at Hoxton, having stood out several winters without any protection, +except the first year.” Hoxton was then a place famous for its nursery +gardens. In 1767, in Catesby’s volume on the trees of North America, +he gives the same story, and adds, “in August 1748” it produced, “at +Mr. Gray’s, such numbers of blossoms, that the leaves were almost hid +thereby.” This Mr. Gray owned the nurseries in Brompton, famous under +the management of London and Wise. + +In Philip Miller’s dictionary, Catesby’s history of the plant is +referred to, and also in 1808, in the _Botanical Magazine_, when the +plant was figured. There it says the plant “has been long an inhabitant +of our gardens, being introduced by the same Botanist [Catesby] about +the year 1728.” “It bears the smoke of large towns better than most +trees; the largest specimen we have ever seen grows in the garden +belonging to the Society of Gray’s Inn.” There is no hint that the +tree in question could have been here before Catesby’s discovery, and +it is not till Loudon’s Encyclopædia in 1822 that the planting is +attributed to Bacon. Such a remarkable tree could hardly have escaped +all gardeners for more than a century, during a time when gardening +was greatly in fashion, and every new plant greedily sought after. We +know that nearly a hundred years ago this specimen was the finest in +England, and therefore it may have been planted not more than a hundred +years or so after Bacon’s death. Raleigh very likely walked with Bacon +on the spot where it now stands, but, alas! the possibility that he +brought Bacon a tree from Virginia, which was only discovered near the +Mississippi a century later, is hardly credible. + +The entrance to the Gardens on the Holborn side is through massive +wrought-iron gates, on which the date 1723 is legible. The letters +“W. I. G.” are the initials of the Treasurer during whose tenure of +office they were erected, the “T” above standing for Treasurer. In +the Inns of Chancery a “P” for Principal, associated with the various +initials, is often to be noticed. These fine gates are a charming +approach to the sequestered walks and ancient trees. Gray’s Inn Gardens +have another delightful speciality, in that the rooks delight to honour +them by building there. They have a warm welcome, and good food in cold +weather, and seem likely to remain. Looking through the lofty iron +gates, the rooks’ nests are seen, and the pleasant cawing sound adds +greatly to the attraction of the place. + +[Illustration: THE GARDEN GATES, GRAY’S INN] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +HISTORICAL GARDENS + + _History is philosophy teaching by examples._ + + --BOLINGBROKE. + + +Although their number has sadly diminished of late years, London still +has a few spaces remaining which may be classed as gardens. Often they +are merely green patches of a formal type, which are better suited to +the present climate than attempts at flowers; but a few regular gardens +still exist, bringing dreams of a former period. In St. Bartholomew’s +Hospital, the oldest of all such institutions, the square, with a +handsome fountain in the centre, is more what one expects to find in +Italy than in Smithfield. It is this sort of surprise that makes the +charm of London, and renders a wander through its mazes so attractive. +What a contrast the walk of a few minutes can bring in the heart of +London! but of all these changes none is more impressive than the +hush of the Charterhouse after the rush of Aldermanbury or the noise +of Clerkenwell. There is still lingering there the touch of the old +monastery; a breath of a bygone age seems to pervade the courtyards and +gateways, and something in the silence speaks of another world. The +first indication of its hidden green courts are the mulberry leaves +peeping over the worn stone wall, near the gateway which leads to the +weathered archway, the entrance of the old Carthusian monastery. This +is the very spot where, with the brutal severity of Tudor times, the +arm of the last Prior was exposed after his cruel execution at Tyburn. +The monastery, founded in 1371, was dissolved with unusual barbarity, +and passed into secular hands. The possession of it by the Duke of +Norfolk has left its mark in many of the existing buildings, as he +converted it from a cloister to a palace, but its palatial days did not +last long. It was bought by the benevolent Thomas Sutton, a portion +of whose large fortune, amassed from profitably working coal mines, +was bestowed in founding “a hospital for poor brethren and scholars.” +The scholars have been taken away from the historical associations, +to the purer air of Godalming, and the parts of the buildings devoted +to their accommodation were in 1872 bought by the Merchants Taylors’ +Company for their school. The playing field of the boys is the ample +space which was enclosed by the cloister of the monastery. Part of the +land to the north has been built over, and a tall warehouse overlooks +the burying-ground of the monks, which is still a large green sward +of hallowed ground, with a row of mulberries. This lies so far below +the level of Clerkenwell Road that a flight of steps leads to the +postern gate in the high wall, overhung with climbing plants. This +“God’s acre” is covered with smooth turf, and some day the two walnut +trees planted by the master in 1901 may afford grateful shade. It is +in keeping with the spirit of the place to plant trees of such slow +and stately growth. The Preachers’ Court and the smaller Pensioners’ +Court are like college quadrangles, with that perfect turf that England +alone produces. The smooth surface is broken only by the regular +intersecting gravel paths, and one row of mulberry trees some seventy +years old. The red-brick buildings have a venerable appearance, +although they do not carry the weight of centuries with dignity, like +the “Wash-house Court,” the hall, the library, or the brick cloister, +and the delightful old walls with their deliciously-scented fig-trees. +The whole place has a mediæval look and feeling, and teems with ghosts +and recollections of the monks of the early peaceful days, and their +courageous successors at the Dissolution. The pious founder, as the +chorus of the old Carthusian melody says, must not be forgotten:-- + + “Then blessed be the memory + Of good old Thomas Sutton, + Who gave us lodging, learning, + As well as beef and mutton.” + +Of the shades which surround these peaceful green courts none appear +more real than that of Colonel Newcome. The guardian will point out the +room in which he died, or his pew in the chapel, as if he belonged to +history as much as Wray, who bequeathed the old books in the “Officers’ +Library,” or any of the well-known pensioners. With such true and +pathetic touches has Thackeray drawn the character of Colonel Newcome +that fiction has here become entwined round the walls almost as closely +as fact. + +Further eastward is an open piece of ground, which is hardly a garden; +but as it is green, and took the place of what was known as the +Artillery Garden, it may claim a moment’s consideration. Push open +a door in the modern-looking castellated building in the City Road +near Bunhill Fields, and a large, quiet, open space is discovered. Old +guns look inoffensively down on a wide square of green turf. This is +the home of the Honourable Artillery Company, the descendants of the +“Trained Bands” of citizens, first enrolled in 1585 in the fear of +a Spanish invasion. They have been here since 1622, when they moved +from near Bishopsgate Without. “Artillery Garden,” or Teazel Close or +Garden, was the name of the older place, from the teazel grown there +for the cloth workers. + + “Teazel of ground we enlarge St. Mary’s Spittle, + Trees cut down, and gardens added to it, + Thanks to the lords that gave us leave to do it,” + +says an old poem. The existing Artillery Ground was a great place for +cricket matches, where county met county in the eighteenth century. It +was here that a vast crowd witnessed the first balloon ever launched +into the air in England, sent up by Count Zambeccari in 1783. The next +year, from the same place, Lunardi was more ambitious, and actually +went up in his balloon. It proved too small for the friend who was +ready to risk his life in his company, so he took a dog, a cat, and a +pigeon with him instead. + +Passing on into the City, the remains of the once extensive Drapers’ +Garden is met with.[10] Only a small piece, seen from the street +through iron railings, and approached through the hall, has been +retained; a few trees and bright flowers survive of what was once a +fashionable and much sought after resort. + +[Illustration: TRINITY ALMSHOUSES, MILE END ROAD] + +Most of the other patches of green in the City are disused +burial-grounds, and are considered in a chapter by themselves. Beyond +the City, on the east, in the Mile End Road, is the quiet old Trinity +Hospital. It stands on the north of that wide road, which might be +made one of the most beautiful entrances to the City. The simple good +taste of these delightful old almshouses is a great contrast to some +of the surroundings. They were probably designed by John Evelyn, +with the assistance of Wren. His father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, +founded and built very similar almshouses at Deptford, long since +swept away. Of these Evelyn writes, “It was a good and charitable +work and gift, but would have been better bestowed on the poor of +that parish than on seamen’s widows, the Trinity Company being very +rich, and the rest of the poor of the parish exceedingly indigent.” +In spite of these sentiments, he is believed to have had a hand in +the Mile End Almshouses, which were founded by Captain Henry Mudd of +Ratcliffe, Captain Sandes or Sanders, and Captain Maples. The two last +are remembered by statues still standing in the little formal gardens. +Maples, who appears in the dress of a naval officer of the period, left +a fortune for the use of the guild in diamonds, collected in India, +where he was an early pioneer, and where he died in 1680. A similar +endowment in Hull is described in a poem in 1662:-- + + “It is a comely built, well-ordered place, + But that which most of all the house doth grace + Are rooms for widowes, who are old and poore, + And have been wives to mariners before.” + +Certainly Trinity Hospital, Mile End, is comely and well ordered. The +pensioners take a pride in keeping every nook and corner scrupulously +clean. Everything is, in fact, in “ship-shape” order. The grass is +neatly mown, the trees on either side well trimmed and clipped. Outside +each little house a few plants are carefully tended, the pots arranged +with precision, and every flower looked after with pride. It is indeed +a peaceful place for these old people to pass their declining years +in, and the sight makes the regret for St. Katharine’s and the other +vanished charitable buildings all the more keen. + +The site of another benevolent institution near is fulfilling a useful +and delightful task, although the old houses attached to it have +disappeared. It was a row of almshouses founded by a member of the +Brewers’ Company, named Baker, about 150 years ago, for widows. The +garden was much too large for these decrepid old women to cultivate, +so the place was taken in hand some twenty-five years ago by the Rev. +Sidney Vatcher, who built the beautiful church of St. Philip, Stepney, +hard by, and he became the tenant of the Brewers’ Company. This +charming garden was at first more or less opened by him to the parish, +but lately it has been put to the most suitable use of giving a quiet +place for rest and recreation to the nurses of the London Hospital. The +almshouses were pulled down about four years ago, to make way for the +laundries of the Hospital. Here, indeed, is one of those sudden and +surprising contrasts to be found in London. A high brick wall encloses +this oasis, and the nurses and some privileged people have keys to the +door, which opens, from a side street close to the noise of the Mile +End Road, suddenly into a peaceful, picturesque garden. The idea in +the formation was a willow-pattern plate, and the little bridge over +a miniature stream is reproduced. Plane trees in a formal array are +kept trimmed to give a dense shade, and the hammocks hung from them in +summer provide the most ideal resting-places for the worn-out nurses. +At one time animals were kept here in cages, as a kind of small “Zoo” +for Whitechapel; but since the last alterations the animals have been +relinquished, and the bear-pit makes a delightful rock garden, and +the various other cages form summer-houses. One thoughtful addition +of the vicar was placing a small stove in one of these shelters, with +an array of kettles, teapots, cups and saucers, so that any of the +nurses resting can have their _al fresco_ cup of tea--and what could +be more grateful and comforting? A French writer who recently gave her +impressions of L’Ile Inconnue was charmed with the peace and repose +of this little East End Paradise. After seeing the Hospital and all +its wonderful appliances, “You will now see our Eden,” said the guide. +“Ici! l’Eden! m’écriai-je, après le péché alors!” Then, when she had +for a moment looked within those mysterious high walls, “N’avais-je pas +raison d’appeler ce jardin l’Eden?” said the friend. “Oui, repondis-je, +c’est l’Eden après la Rédemption.” Certainly any one who sees this +little garden, and realises the devoted lives of those who made it and +those who enjoy it, must agree with this writer. + +It is not often that, when the old almshouses vanish, the neighbourhood +benefits to such an extent. What will be the fate of the Ironmongers’ +Almshouses in Kingsland Road, between Shoreditch and Dalston? A large +board in the garden that fronts the street announces the site is for +sale! + +The Foundling Hospital has large green courts, on which the merry but +sombrely-clad little children are seen running about, through the +fine iron gates which face Guildford Street. This was founded in 1739 +by Captain Thomas Coram, who gave so much of his wealth to objects +of charity and philanthropy that a subscription had to be raised to +support him in his old age. Theodore Jacobson (died 1772) was the +architect of the building. A colonnade runs round the whole length of +the forecourt up to the gates, part of which is used as laundries, or +other things necessary to the institution. A writer in 1773 describes +the “large area between the gates and the hospital” as “adorned with +grass plats, gravel walks, and lamps erected upon handsome posts: +beside which there are two convenient gardens,” and exactly the same +description holds good to-day. Brunswick Square lies to the west, and +Mecklenburgh Square to the east, so the Hospital grounds are still +airy. There is a small garden at the back of the building in front of +the Infirmary; on the east is the Treasurer’s Garden, a fair-sized +enclosure, and on the other side, with the poplars growing in Brunswick +Square overhanging it, lies the other and larger of the two “convenient +gardens.” There is nothing old-fashioned or attractive in these gardens +left; merely a green lawn, a weeping ash, and a few commonplace +“bedding-out” plants; not altogether in keeping with the age or dignity +of the building and spacious forecourt. + +Less well known is the delightful Garden of the Grey-coat School +in Westminster. Most of the old foundations in Westminster have +vanished, such as Emanuel Hospital and the “Blue-coat School,” which +disappeared a few years ago, but so far this charming old house has +been respected. Quaint figures of the children in the dress of the +time--it was founded by the citizens of Westminster in 1698--stand +on either side of the entrance. The children from the parishes of +St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, who have attended the +elementary schools for three years, are eligible for admission, up +to the age of ten. The school was reconstituted as a day school for +300 girls in 1873, and, in spite of all educational vicissitudes, +has been allowed to survive, and the sweet and wholesome influence +of those old-fashioned surroundings would be a great loss, should +it ever be swept away. The Garden is delightful. It is practical as +well as ornamental, as it furnishes the staff of teachers with a good +supply of vegetables. They have each a small flower-bed too, tended +with great care, and the children are allowed a place of their own, +where they work, dig, and plant. Down the centre runs a wide gravel +walk, with a deep herbaceous border along either side, sweet-scented +pinks and low-growing plants near the front, then a long row of +spiderwort, and behind that a regiment of magnificent hollyhocks. The +spiderwort or Tradescantia is a flower eminently suited to London +gardens, not only because it seems to withstand any amount of smoke +and bad air, but because of its association with the famous garden +in Lambeth, where it was first grown. Parkinson, in 1629, gives the +history of his friend’s introduction of the plant. “The Spiderwort,” +he writes, “is of late knowledge, and for it the Christian World is +indebted unto that painfull industrious searcher, and lover of all +nature’s varieties, John Tradescant (sometimes belonging to the Right +Honourable Lord Robert Earle of Salisbury, Lord Treasurer of England in +his time, and unto the Right Honourable the Lord Wotton at Canterbury +in Kent, and lastly unto the late Duke of Buckingham), who first +received it of a friend, that brought it out of Virginia, thinking it +to bee the Silke Grasse that groweth there, and hath imparted hereof, +as of many other things, both to me and others.” “Unto this plant I +confess I first imposed the name ... which untill some can finde a +more proper, I desire may still continue ... John Tradescant’s Spider +Wort of Virginia.” Courageous as herbalists generally were in tasting +plants, Parkinson confesses there had “not beene any tryall made of +the properties” or “vertues.” Luckily no one has disputed Parkinson’s +choice of a name, and his friend’s memory is still preserved. The +plant is not confined to Virginia, but grows much further into the +Wild West, and is common in Kansas, Nebraska, and distant States. +Yet it will still adapt itself to the grimy limits of a London garden, +and flower year after year. The Grey-coat School Garden is quite +refreshing; the plants look so healthy and prosperous that it is really +encouraging. The interior of the house, with oak beams and panels, is +all in keeping, and the long class-room, with windows looking out on +the bright Garden, is most ideal. As, at the close of their afternoon +studies, the girls, singing sweetly in parts, join in some familiar +hymn, and the melodious sounds are wafted across the sunlit Garden, it +is hard to believe in the existence of the crowded, unsavoury slums of +Westminster, only a stone’s throw from this “haunt of ancient peace.” + +[Illustration: GREY COAT SCHOOL, WESTMINSTER] + +Among its many charms and associations Westminster Abbey can lay +claim to possessing one of the oldest gardens in England. The ground +still occupied by the space known as the “College Garden” was part +of the infirmary garden of the ancient monastery. It cannot trace +back its history with the Abbey to the Saxon Sebert, but when Edward +the Confessor’s pile began to rise, and all the usual adjuncts of +a monastery gathered round it, the infirmary with the necessary +herb-garden of simples for treating the sick monks would be one of the +first buildings to be completed. One of the most peaceful and retired +spots within the Abbey precincts is the Little Cloister, which was +the infirmary in early days. When the Great Cloister was finished in +1365, the Little Cloister was taken in hand. Payments for work on +“the New Cloister of the Infirmary” appear in the accounts from 1377, +and it was completed in 1390, and that year the centre was laid down +in turf. The garden belonging to the infirmary covered all the space +now occupied by the “College Garden,” and joined the “Grete Garden,” +which lay to the west. It was probably, like all the gardens of that +date, laid out in long, narrow, straight beds, in which were grown all +the healing herbs used for the sick of the monastery. Probably there +were fruit-trees, too, as in 1362 John de Mordon, the infirmarer, got +9s. for his apples, and the following year 10s. for pears and apples. +No doubt the favourite Wardon pear was among them, as in another +record, between 1380–90, it is specially mentioned. The chapel of St. +Katharine, which stood on the north side of the Garden, was destroyed +in Elizabeth’s reign. This, the infirmary chapel of Norman building, +was as replete with history as every other nook and corner of the Abbey +buildings. Here St. Hugh of Lincoln and most of the early bishops were +consecrated, and here took place the unseemly dispute for precedence, +between the Primates of Canterbury and York in 1186, which led to the +settling of their respective ranks by the Pope. While so many changes +have swept over the Abbey, and whole buildings have vanished, the +herb-garden of early days has kept its place, and is still a garden, +though bereft of its neat little beds. + +[Illustration: ABBEY GARDEN, WESTMINSTER] + +The Little Cloister has been greatly altered since then, having been +refashioned in the early part of the eighteenth century under the +influence of Wren. Although so changed since the time when strange +decoctions of medicinal herbs were administered within its walls, it +has retained much of its fascination, and the approach to it by the dim +vaulted entrance, dating from the Confessor’s time, out of the narrow +passage known as the “Dark Entry,” adds to its charm. The sun streams +down on this small court, with its tree and ferns and old moss-grown +fountain, lighting it with a kind of “dusky splendour.” Any one +standing in this suggestive spot will feel with Washington Irving, +that “The Cloisters still retain something of the quiet and seclusion +of former days. The gray walls are discoloured by damps, and crumbling +with age; a coat of hoary moss has gathered over the inscriptions of +the mural monuments, and obscured the death’s heads, and other mural +emblems. The sharp touches of the chisel are gone from the rich tracery +of the arches; the roses which adorned the keystones have lost their +leafy beauty; everything bears marks of the gradual dilapidations of +time, which yet has something touching and pleasing in its very decay.” + +These lines refer to the Great Cloister, but the quiet and repose are +still more noticeable in the Little Cloister, which rarely echoes to +the sound of hurrying feet. The noise and laughter of Westminster +scholars is only dimly heard in this secluded corner. The boys are not +as boisterous as when Horace Walpole feared to face them alone, even to +visit his mother’s tomb. “I literally had not courage to venture alone +among the Westminster boys; they are as formidable to me as the ship +carpenters at Portsmouth,” he wrote in 1754. Even in those days the +list of eminent scholars was already a long one--Hakluyt, Ben Jonson, +George Herbert, Dryden, Wren, being on the roll of those who had passed +away, besides others then living, such as Gibbon and Warren Hastings, +who carried on the tradition of this classic ground. + +[Illustration: THE LITTLE CLOISTER, WESTMINSTER ABBEY] + +In monastic times there were many gardens within the precincts of the +Abbey, besides the infirmary garden; but it is difficult to locate +all of them with certainty, although the sites of some are known. The +abbot’s garden lay in the north-west angle of the wall, and must have +covered part of the present Broad Sanctuary, including the spot +where the Crimean monument now stands. Beyond the abbot’s house, just +west of the cloister, was the abbot’s little garden. The northern part +of Dean’s Yard was from very early times known as “The Elms,” from +the grove of fine trees, some of which remain. It is said that when +Elizabeth ascended the throne and summoned Abbot Feckenham, who had +been reinstated by Mary, he was planting some, perhaps these identical, +elm trees. Among them formerly stood a huge oak, which was blown down +in 1791. The horse pool was on the west of the Elms, and beyond both to +the south lay the numerous adjuncts of the monastery, the brewhouse, +bakehouse, and granaries. Skirting this enclosure was the “Long Ditch,” +which flowed by the line of the present Delahay Street and Prince’s +Streets, and passed along outside of the wall of the Infirmary Garden, +in what is now Great College Street, and fell into the Thames. This +stream turned the mill from which “Millbank” took its name. In it, to +the south of the granary, was a small island osier bed. The sale of the +osiers on it used to bring in 10s. annually in the fourteenth century. +Beyond the stream were more gardens. The “Hostry Garden” was a large +one on the site of the church of St. John, and next to it the “Bowling +Alley,” where Bowling Street ran in later times, and to the west of +that was a kitchen-garden. Somewhere also on the west of the “Long +Ditch,” before it turned towards the Thames near the osier island, must +have been the “Precentor’s Mede,” or, as it was sometimes called, the +“Chaunter’s-hull,” and also the “Almoner’s Mede” or “Almery Garden.” +On the other side of the “Hostry Garden,” southwards on the site of +“Vine Street” and “Market Street,” was situated the vineyard, without +which no thirteenth-century monastery was complete, and “Market Mede.” +Even this does not exhaust the list of separate gardens, but the +others probably lay further away. The cellarer had charge of a large +garden, which may have been the “Convent Garden,” which is so familiar +as “Covent Garden” that the connection between the site of the market +and the Abbey has been lost sight of. One of the large gardens which +was generally let was “Maudit’s Garden.” In the records it is spoken +of as “Maudit’s” or “Caleys.” The name Maudit was given to it because +Thomas Maudit, Earl of Warwick, in the thirteenth century effected an +exchange of lands with the Abbey, of which the garden formed a part. +The other name, “Caleys,” was “Calais,” named from the wool staplers +who came from that town and resided near there, just as “Petty France” +(where Milton lived) was called so from the French merchants. An Act +of interchange of land between Henry VIII. and the Abbey, in the +twenty-third year of his reign, mentions “a certain great messuage +or tenement commonly called Pety Caleys, and all messuages, houses, +barns, stables, dove-houses, orchards, gardens, pools, fisheries, +waters, ditches, lands, meadows, and pastures.” Part of this was +“Maudit’s” garden, which was sometimes in the hands of the convent, but +more frequently let out. Among the muniments in 1350, “a toft called +Maudit’s garden, and a croft called Maudit’s croft,” are referred to. +There seems to have been an enclosure within this “toft” which was let +out separately, and in the twentieth year of Edward IV., Matilda, the +widow of Richard Willy, who had held it, gave up this enclosure or +“conyn garth.” This was probably a “coney garth” or rabbit enclosure, +like the one at Lincoln’s Inn, which was kept up for a long time. Such +rabbit gardens were by no means uncommon. All gardening operations +must at times have been rendered difficult by reason of the wet soil +and frequent flooding of the river, but with the patient persistence +characteristic of gardeners in those days, the gardens in monastic +times were probably well kept, and yielded profitable crops. It is +delightful to know that, in spite of all the changes, one portion of +the old gardens actually remains to this day. + +Lambeth, on the opposite bank, fared no better than Westminster for +high tides, and wet seasons did occasional damage there. In Archbishop +Laud’s Diary, he notes the inroad of a high tide, which certainly would +be destructive:--“November 15, 1635, Sunday. At afternoon the greatest +tide that hath been seen. It came within my gates, walks, cloysters, +and stables at Lambeth.” Nothing of great antiquity now remains in +these Lambeth Gardens, although they are indeed historic ground. The +long terrace and wide herbaceous border, with a profusion of madonna +lilies, backed by a wooden paling, and fruit-trees peeping over, is +now a charming walk. The trees on the right of the illustration are +planes, ailanthus, and catalpas, all smoke-resisting and suitable, +but not such as would have ornamented the Garden in older days, when +Archbishop Cranmer adorned his garden with “a summer-house of exquisite +workmanship.” It was designed by his chaplain, Dr. John Ponet or +Poynet, who is said to have had “great skill and taste in works of +that kind.” The summer-house was repaired by Archbishop Parker, but +afterwards fell into decay and was removed, and in 1828 not even a +tradition of where it had stood remained. The site of “Clarendon’s +Walk,” another historical corner of the Lambeth Garden, is also +uncertain. It appears to have received the name from a conversation +which took place in the Garden between Laud and Hyde, in which the +latter seems to have told the Archbishop pretty plainly that “people +were universally discontented ... and many people spoke extreme ill of +his grace,” on account of his discourteous manners, which culminated on +one occasion by his telling a guest “he had no time for compliments,” +which greatly incensed him. The only survivals of former years are +the delightfully fragrant fig-trees, which flourish between the +buttresses on the sunny side of the library--the great hall rebuilt by +Archbishop Juxon after the destruction in Cromwell’s time. These figs +are now fair-sized trees, but they are only cuttings of the older ones +destroyed in 1829, when Archbishop Howley commenced his rebuilding. +The two parent trees, in 1792, measured 28 inches and 21 inches in +circumference, and were 50 feet high and 40 feet in breadth, and, +according to contemporary evidence, bore delicious fruit of the white +Marseilles variety. Tradition ascribed their planting to Cardinal Pole +during his brief sojourn as Archbishop. + +[Illustration: HERBACEOUS BORDER, LAMBETH PALACE] + +Latimer seems much to have appreciated the Lambeth Garden, when +business called him to the Palace. Sir Thomas More describes, in +1534, how he watched him walking in the Garden from the windows. +Latimer himself, in writing to Edward VI., says, “I trouble my Lord of +Canterbury, and being at his house now and then, I walk in the Garden +looking at my book, as I can do but little good at it. But something I +must needs do to satisfy the place. I am no sooner in the Garden and +have read awhile, but by-and-by cometh there some one or other +knocking at the gate. Anon cometh my man and saith, ‘Sir, there is +one at the gate would speak with you.’” How many of us that have been +called in from a pleasant garden to perform some unpleasant task will +sympathise with the Bishop! + +One famous inhabitant of the Garden lived through many and great +changes. This was a tortoise, which is said to have been put into the +Garden by Archbishop Laud, and lived until 1757, when he perished by +the negligence of a gardener. This legend is apparently quite true, so +it had been there for over 110 years. + +A short account of the principal gardens near London, written by Gibson +in 1691, describes that of Lambeth Palace. It “has,” he says, “little +in it but walks, the late Archbishop [Sancroft] not delighting in” +gardens, “but they are now making them better; and they have already +made a green-house, one of the finest and costliest about the town. It +is of three rooms, the middle having a stove under it; ... but it is +placed so near Lambeth Church, that the sun shines most on it in winter +after eleven o’clock, a fault owned by the gardener, but not thought +of by the contrivers. Most of the greens are oranges and lemons, which +have very large ripe fruit on them.” The Archbishop who thus took the +garden in hand was Tillotson, and it is not surprising to find him +adopting that keenness for gardening and the cultivation of “greens” +brought into fashion by William III. + +Nearly ten acres of the extensive grounds of Lambeth Palace have now +been put under the management of the London County Council, and made +open to the public as “Archbishop’s Park.” For many years this Park had +been used for cricket and so on, but the transference entailed some +alterations, and extended its use to a wider circle. + +The Garden of Fulham, the other ecclesiastical palace of London, is +even more interesting than Lambeth, on account of the fine trees +still remaining of which the history is known. Among the Bishops of +London several have shown great interest in the gardens, and two +especially, Grindal and Compton, were eminent gardeners. The tamarisk +was introduced by Bishop Grindal, and in the golden age of gardening +he was in the foremost rank of the patrons of the art, with Bacon and +Burghley. He used to send Queen Elizabeth presents of choice fruits +from his garden, and on one occasion got into trouble by sending +fruit, when one of his servants was supposed, unjustly, to have the +plague. He wrote (5th August 1566) to Burghley, to say he was sorry +he had “no fruit to offer him but some grapes.” These grapes were of +course produced out of doors, as growing vines in green-houses was a +fashion unknown until some 150 years later. Even before the additions +of Grindal, the gardens were extensive, and Bonner is said to have been +much in his garden, not from the love of its repose, but, according to +contemporary but prejudiced chroniclers, because in the further arbours +of the garden he could with the rod or by other equally stringent +measures, “persuade” undisturbed those of the reformed religion to +recant and adopt his views. His successor, Grindal, used the Garden +for more laudable and peaceful practices, and his work of planting was +much appreciated in that garden-loving age. Bishop Aylmer, who, after +Sandys, succeeded Grindal in 1577, was accused of destroying much of +Grindal’s work and cutting down his trees, then some thirty-five +years old. Strype, however, protests that he only cut down “two or +three of the decayed ones.” That there should be a controversy on +the subject only shows how much was thought of Grindal’s planting. +The same thing happened after the death of Compton, the next great +planter, as Robinson, who followed him, let the gardener sell and cut +down as much as he liked. In our own day, even, some of Compton’s elms +have been removed, to make the alterations in the Bishop’s Park when +it was opened to the public. The Bishop’s Park is the long, narrow +strip of land between the moat and the river. Flowering shrubs on the +bank of the moat, and rows of cut plane trees by the river, have been +planted. There are two long asphalt paths, and some bedding out and +rock gardening between the grass lawns. It is now kept in order by the +Borough of Fulham, which reminds the public of the fact by the notices +stuck up: “Ratepayers, protect your property.” + +The Elm Avenue was part of Compton’s design, and many very fine trees +known to be his remain to this day. During the long duration of his +episcopate--1675 to 1714--he had time to see his plants grow and +flourish. His gardening achievements were much appreciated in his own +day. John Evelyn, a great authority on horticultural matters, was +often at Fulham. He notes in his Diary on Oct. 11, 1681: “To Fulham +to visit the Bishop of London, in whose garden I first saw the _Sedum +arborescens_ in flower, which was exceedingly beautiful.” Richard +Bradley, a well-known gardener, in his book published in 1717, quotes +many of the plants at Fulham as examples in his pages. With regard +to the passion flower, his notice is interesting, as it gives the +name of Bishop Compton’s gardener. “That [the passion flower] may +bear fruit,” he writes, “we must Plant it in very moist and cool +places, where it may be continually fed with Water; this I had from +the Curious Mr. Adam Holt, Gardener to the late Bishop of London, +who shew’d me a letter from the West Indies, from whence I learnt it +was an Inhabitant of Swampy Places.” Bradley had seen the pistachio +fruiting against a wall at Fulham, and he thought he had also noticed +an olive flourishing there. From time to time there have been special +notices of the trees round the Bishop’s palace. Sir William Watson +wrote a paper on them for the Royal Society, in which he gives a list +of thirty-seven special trees, many of them the finest of their kind in +England. “For exemplification of this I would,” he says, “recommend to +the curious observer the black Virginian walnut tree, the cluster pine, +the honey locust, the pseudo-acacia, the ash maple, &c., now remaining +at Fulham.” Many of the later bishops have paid great attention to +the grounds. Bishop Porteous (1787–1809) who planted cedars; Howley +(1813–1828), and especially Blomfield (1828–1856), all took delight +in the Garden. Bishop Blomfield planted a deciduous cypress and the +ailanthus, which now measures 10 feet 4 inches at 4 feet from the +ground, curiously exactly the same girth as the one at Broom House +close by. In 1865, Bishop Tait had the old trees measured, and there +are later measurements of some of the finest. The cork tree was 13 +feet 9 inches, and although sadly shattered, part of this magnificent +old tree, with its thick cork bark, still holds its own. The great +black walnut or hickory has not been so fortunate, and died about ten +years ago, and only a venerable stump is left; but a good specimen +still stands in the meadow. The great tree in 1865 measured 15 feet 5 +inches; in 1894, 17 feet 3 inches. The tulip tree died about the same +time as the hickory. The honey locust (_Gleditschia triacanthos_), one +of Bishop Compton’s trees, only died last year, the large white elm in +1904, and, sad to say, the flowering ash (_Fraxinus ornus_) was blown +down in March 1907. The Wych elm and a beautiful walnut still flourish, +and also the variety of Turkey oak (_Quercus cerris lucumbeana_ or +_fulhamensis_), so in spite of many disasters Fulham Palace still can +show some fine trees. + +Chelsea still abounds in gardens. There are the modern plots along the +Embankment, laid out with the wriggling path that municipal authorities +seem to deem necessary nowadays. The private gardens in front of +some of the houses are an older institution, and some can boast of +delightful patches of old gardens in their rear also. Behind Lindsay +House the Moravian burial-ground is hidden away, and part of its wall +may be the actual wall of Sir Thomas More’s garden. There are the +remains of elms and several good mulberry trees. The large mulberry on +the Embankment near looks as if it once might have been in the garden +too. Chelsea further possesses one of the first botanical gardens in +England, the Duke of York’s School with large grass area and fine elm +trees, and the spacious grounds that surround the Hospital. Much of +the old stately simplicity still clings to these latter, although last +century saw many variations in their plan. + +The site was occupied by King James’s College, founded by Matthew +Sutcliffe, Dean of Exeter, in 1610, which, in spite of the King’s +patronage and the interest of Prince Henry, was a failure. It added +to, rather than allayed, religious discussion, and was familiarly +known as “Controversy College.” The ground was, in 1669, given to +the Royal Society, but the buildings were too dilapidated for them +to use. To Sir Stephen Fox is probably due the idea of founding a +hospital for disabled soldiers, although tradition also attributes +some of the credit to Nell Gwynn, who is said to have appealed to +Charles II. on their behalf. The King laid the foundation-stone, on +the 12th of March 1682, of the building designed by Wren. John Evelyn, +as one of the Council of the Royal Society, had been consulted when +the idea was first mooted, and in January 1682 he notes in his Diary +a talk on the subject with Sir Stephen Fox, who asked for Evelyn’s +assistance with regard to the staff and management. So in Sir Stephen’s +study, as Evelyn writes, “We arranged the governor, chaplain, steward, +housekeeper, chirurgeon, cook, butler, gardener, porter, and other +officers, with their several salaries and entertainments.” This list +of officials shows the importance of the Garden from the first--and no +wonder, as the grounds occupied some twenty-six acres. A survey made in +1702 shows how this space was divided. The largest part, lying to the +north of the Hospital, is what is now known as “Burton’s Court,” and +is used as a recreation ground for the soldiers in the barracks near, +and a cricket ground for the brigade of Guards. The avenue down the +central walk, “planted with limes and chestnuts,” was included in the +early design, and “Royal Avenue” is a continuation of it, Queen Anne +having, it is said, intended to carry it on to Kensington. This part, +called “the great court north of the buildings,” occupied over thirteen +acres. The rest was divided into grass plots between the quadrangle +courts and canals, nearly three acres; the “garden on the east, now the +governor’s,” about two acres; a kitchen-garden towards the river +of more than three acres, two L-shaped canals with wide walks between, +an “apothecary’s garden” for medicinal herbs, bleaching yards, and the +churchyard. The front garden, with its canals in Dutch style, ended +in a terrace along the river. This garden was subject to much abuse +by the landscape school of designers. “It was laid out,” wrote one in +1805, “when the art of landscape gardening was at its lowest pitch; the +principal absurdity in the garden is cutting two insignificant canals +as ornaments, whilst one side of the garden is bounded by the noble +stream of the Thames.” The writer adds that the gardens were open on +Sundays in summer, and were much frequented as a public promenade. +These severely-criticised canals were filled up in the middle of last +century, and the space is now grass with avenues on either side, and a +central obelisk, a monument to our soldiers who fell in the battle of +Chillianwallah. + +[Illustration: STATUE OF CHARLES II., CHELSEA HOSPITAL] + +The statue of Charles II. as a Roman emperor, by Gibbons, in the centre +of the court, was given by Tobias Rustat. The view over the simple, +spacious garden from this central court, to the long balustrade with +steps down to the lower terrace, is very satisfying, and in keeping +with the stately architecture. The Governor’s house has its own +special garden, a fine, wide terrace and large, straight beds, and a +delightful red-brick wall covered with trailing plants and fine iron +gateway. The old pensioners, in their long coats and weather-beaten +faces, enjoying their “peace pipe” and their well-earned repose, add +very greatly to the picturesque effect of the Garden, and all its +surroundings. The churchyard, clearly seen through the railings along +Queen’s Road from Chelsea Barracks, has an air of dignified repose. It +has been closed since 1854. The first soldier buried there in 1692, +Simon Box, had served four kings: Charles I., Charles II., James II., +and William III. The tombs are much worn with age, and it is no longer +possible to find some of those known to have been laid to rest there. +Among them are two women who had served as privates; one of them, +who died in 1739, Christian Davies or “Mother Ross,” had served in +Marlborough’s campaigns. The extraordinary number of centenarians this +small burying-ground contains is astounding. William Hisland surely +beats the record, as he was married when he was over a hundred! He was +born in August 1620, and died in February 1732. Another veteran of 112 +died five years later, while another, Robert Comming, who was buried +in 1767, was 115, and before the end of the eighteenth century three +others, aged respectively 102, 111, and 107, were interred. The eldest +of these three, who died in 1772, had fought in the Battle of the +Boyne! It certainly speaks well for the care and attention bestowed on +them in the Hospital. + +[Illustration: GARDEN GATE, CHELSEA HOSPITAL] + +The garden to the east of the buildings was part of the original +ground, but has had a career and history of its own. It was the famous +Ranelagh Gardens, which enchanted the beaux and fair ladies of the +eighteenth century. From 1742 to 1803 its glories lasted. Ranelagh +House was built by the Earl of that name, who was Paymaster to the +Forces in the reign of James II., a clever, unscrupulous person, who +amassed considerable wealth in the course of his office-work. He +obtained a grant of the land from Chelsea Hospital, built a house +and laid out a garden, where the “plots, borders, and walks” were +“curiously kept, and elegantly designed.” After passing through the +hands of his daughter, Lady Catherine Jones, the property was sold to +Swift and Timbrell, who leased it to Lacey, the patentee of Drury Lane +Theatre. The idea was to turn it into a winter Vauxhall. Eventually +it was open from Easter till the end of the summer, and effectually +outshone Vauxhall. Walpole, in a letter two days after it was first +opened, did not think much of it. “I was there, last night, but did +not find the joy of it. Vauxhall is a little better, for the garden +is pleasanter, and one goes to it by water.” Two years later he wrote +in a very different strain. “Every night constantly I go to Ranelagh, +which has totally beat Vauxhall. Nobody goes anywhere else--everybody +goes there. My Lord Chesterfield is so fond of it, that he says he +has ordered all his letters to be directed thither.” Fanny Burney, +in “Evelina,” to bring out the character of the “surly, vulgar, and +disagreeable man,” makes him abuse the place which fascinated polite +society. “There’s your famous Ranelagh, that you make such a fuss +about; why, what a dull place is that!” The chief amusement was walking +about and looking at each other, as the poem by Bloomfield puts it-- + + “We had seen every soul that was in it, + Then we went round and saw them again.” + +The great attraction was the Rotunda, supposed to be like the Pantheon +at Rome. The outside diameter was 185 feet. An arcade ran all round, +and above it a gallery, with steps up to it through four Doric +porticos. Over the gallery were sixty windows, and the whole was +surmounted by a slate roof. In the middle, supporting the roof, was +a huge fireplace, on the space at first occupied by the orchestra. +“Round the Rotunda,” inside, were “47 boxes ... with a table and +cloth spread in each; in these the company” were “regaled, without +any further expense, with tea and coffee.” The whole was adorned with +looking-glasses and paintings, imitation marble, stucco, and gilding. +Dr. Arne wrote music for the special performances; breakfasts were +at one time the rage, and at another masquerades were the order of +the day; while fireworks and illuminations amused the company at +intervals, all through the years in which Ranelagh was prosperous. + + “There thousands of gay lamps aspir’d + To the tops of the trees and beyond; + And, what was most hugely admired, + They looked upside-down in a pond. + The blaze scarce an eagle could bear + And an owl had most surely been slain; + We returned to the circle, and then-- + And then we went round it again.” + +One of the last entertainments at Ranelagh was the Installation Ball +of the Knights of the Bath in 1803; and a few years afterwards all +trace of Ranelagh House, the Rotunda, and even the Garden was gone. The +ground reverted to Chelsea Hospital, and not a vestige of the former +glories is left. The pleasant shady walks and undulating lawns on the +site, bear no resemblance to the lines of the former gardens, and only +some of the older trees can have been there when Lord Chesterfield and +Walpole were paying it daily visits. + +The most important of Chelsea gardens, and one of the most interesting +in England, is the Physic Garden, which lies between the Embankment +and Queen’s Road, now called Royal Hospital Road. The Garden, both +horticulturally, botanically, and historically, has claims on every +Londoner. England was much behind the rest of Europe in starting +botanic gardens. That of Padua, begun in 1545, was the first on the +Continent, and it was nearly a hundred years later before any were +attempted in this country. Oxford led the way in 1632, and the Chelsea +one followed in 1673. Its formation was due to the Apothecaries’ +Company, and its first object the study of medicinal herbs. In those +days botany and medicine were closely entwined. Every botanical and +horticultural work was occupied with the virtues and properties of +plants, far more than their structural peculiarities, or their beauties +of form or growth. Gerard, Johnson, and less well-known botanists, were +herbalists and apothecaries, so it was only natural that the Worshipful +Company of Apothecaries should be the founders of a garden. It was not +the first of its kind in London, but it ranks now as the second oldest +in England, as its predecessors in London, such as Gerard’s Garden in +Holborn, and the Tradescants in Lambeth, have long since passed away. +It probably, moreover, embodies the earlier one at Westminster, which +was under the care of Hugh Morgan, said by his contemporaries to be a +very skilful botanist. The Westminster Garden seems to have been still +flourishing when the Apothecaries started theirs in Chelsea, but three +years later it was bought by them, one of the conditions of sale being +that the plants might be moved to Chelsea. The land in Chelsea was +leased from Lord Cheyne. By the time the lease had expired, Sir Hans +Sloane was owner of the property, having purchased it from Lord Cheyne +in 1712. He granted the land to the Apothecaries’ Company on a yearly +rent of £5, on condition that it should always be maintained as a +Physic Garden, and certain other conditions, such as supplying a number +of specimens to the Royal Society. The deed of gift further provided +that should the Apothecaries not continue to fulfil their obligation, +the Garden should be held in trust by the Royal Society, and should +they not wish to take it over, by the College of Physicians. It was +acting in conformity with these wishes, that, when the Apothecaries +ceased to desire to maintain it, the Charity Commissioners, in 1898, +established a scheme for the management of the Garden: £800 towards +its maintenance was provided by the London Parochial Charities, who +became trustees of the Garden, and £150 by the Treasury. A committee +was appointed to manage the Garden, and see that it fulfilled the +founder’s intentions. The original societies mentioned by Sir Hans +Sloane, the Treasury, the London County Council, and other modern +bodies each nominate one representative on the board of management, and +the trustees appoint nine. It has been worked under this scheme since +May 1899. The buildings and green-houses, which were tumbling down, +have been rebuilt, and now include up-to-date conveniences for growing +and rearing plants, and a well-fitted laboratory and lecture room. +The Garden is certainly now fulfilling the purposes for which it was +founded. It has proved to be of the greatest use to the students of the +Royal College of Science, and members of schools and polytechnics. Cut +specimens, for demonstration at lectures, are sent out in quantities +during the summer, often as many as 750 in a day. Students and teachers +have admission to the Garden, and the numbers who come (nearly 3000 +is the average annual attendance) show it is appreciated. Lectures on +advanced botany have been attended by an average of seventy students, +and research experiments are carried on in the laboratory. Seeds are +exchanged with botanical gardens all over the world, to the extent of +over a thousand packets in a year. In this it is carrying on a very +early tradition, as seeds were exchanged with the University of Leyden +in 1682, after Dr. Herman, from that city, had visited Chelsea. + +Even in its early days the Apothecaries found the Garden expensive to +keep up. When in 1685 it cost them £130, besides the Curator’s salary, +they made an arrangement, by which they paid him £100 a year, out of +which he had to keep up the Garden, and was allowed to sell the plants. +Watt was the first Curator under this new plan, and Doody, a botanist +of some standing who succeeded him, was under the same conditions. +Philip Miller was appointed Curator, after the land had been given by +Sir Hans Sloane, and other well-known men have been connected with it. +After 1724, besides the Curator, a “Præfectus Horti,” or Director, was +appointed to visit and inspect the Garden, and report on its condition +to the Company. Sometimes there was a little rivalry between the two, +and at one time this occasioned two lists of the plants contained in +the Garden being published, one by Isaac Rand, the other by Philip +Miller. Among the famous names in botany or horticulture connected with +the Garden are Dr. Dale, Mrs. Elizabeth Blackwell, James Sherard and +his brother William, Joseph Millar, William Curtis, Forsyth, Robert +Fortune and Dr. Lindley, and Nathaniel Ward, the inventor of “Wardian +Cases.” But of all the Curators, Philip Miller was one of the most +eminent, and did most for the Garden. His Dictionary was for years the +standard work on horticulture, and went through numerous editions and +translations. He published a catalogue of plants in the Physic Garden +in 1730. The last “Præfectus Horti” was Lindley, who held the office +from 1835 to 1853. During that time the expenses were getting too heavy +for the Society, and after his death no successor was appointed. Thomas +Moore, who was co-editor with Lindley of the well-known “Treasury of +Botany,” and author of several works on British ferns, continued alone +as Curator. He held the office from 1848 to 1887. During his later +years the Garden gradually declined for want of funds, and after his +death no new appointment was made by the Apothecaries, and a labourer +looked after the grounds. With the advent of the new authority and +great expansion of work, the office was once more bestowed on a +competent man, William Hales, the present Curator, who ably maintains +the old traditions of the garden. + +One of the institutions of early days which has had to be discontinued +was the “herborising.” Expeditions in search of herbs were undertaken +by the students, in company of their teacher, in the neighbourhood. +After 1834, owing to the spread of London, these excursions had to be +abandoned. + +The famous cedars were planted in Watt’s time, and from contemporary +references to them, there seems no doubt that they were the first to +be grown in England. John Evelyn in his “Sylva” in 1663, writing of +the cedar, says, “Why should it not thrive in Old England?” and Ray +is astonished in 1684 to see the young trees flourishing at Chelsea +without protection. They are shown in a plan of the Garden in 1753 +(the year of Sir Hans Sloane’s death) at the four corners of a pond, +which no longer remains in the same position. Eighteen years later the +two furthest from the river were cut down (1771), “being in a decayed +state” (and no wonder) from the rough usage they had been subjected +to. The timber, 133¾ feet, was sold at 2s. 8d. a foot, and, together +with the branches, the trees fetched £23, 9s. 8d. The two specimens +nearest the river were for nearly a hundred years a conspicuous object, +although much injured by snow in 1809. By 1871, only one remained, and, +in a report of the Garden seven years later, it was said to be in a +“dying condition.” At the time the new Management Committee came into +office, that one was quite dead. They left the tree standing until the +fungi on it became a danger to the rest of the trees in the Garden, +when most reluctantly it was felled in March 1904, all the sound parts +of the timber being carefully preserved. Miller gives a good account +of them in his time. “The four trees,” he writes, “(which as I have +been credibly informed) were planted there in the year 1683, and at +that time were not above three feet high; two of which Trees are at +this time (viz. 1757) upwards of eleven feet and a Half in girt, at +two Feet above ground, and thereby afford a goodly shade in the hotest +Season of the Year.” He goes on to point out that they were planted so +near the pond, which was bricked up to within two feet of them, that +the roots could not spread on one side. Whether the water was good for +them he is not sure, but feels certain it was injurious to cramp the +roots. The two specimens nearest the green-house had had some of their +branches lopped off, to prevent their shading the grass, and suffered +in consequence. Though one remained for nearly 150 years after Miller +gave these measurements, it was only 13 feet round the trunk at the +base when it was felled, and was so completely rotten it must soon have +fallen. Miller records that three of the trees began producing cones +about 1732, and that in his time the seeds ripened, and germinated +freely, so it is probable that many plants in England are descendants +of the Chelsea trees. That these were actually the first to be grown +in England there is not much doubt. Evelyn regrets in his “Sylva” the +absence of the cedars in England. The only trees which have put forth +rival claims to the Chelsea ones are those of Bretby and Enfield. The +Bretby one is undoubtedly very old, but there is no early reference to +it in histories which mention the Enfield trees, and the famous one +at Hendon, traditionally planted by Queen Elizabeth and blown down in +1779, and a few others; and there is no contemporary evidence of the +date of its planting to warrant the assumption that it was before 1683. +The Enfield tree in the garden of Robert Uvedale was said, in 1823, by +Henry Phillips, to be about 156 years old, therefore older than the +Chelsea ones by some six years; but there is no evidence to corroborate +this. When Gibson describes the Garden in 1691, he makes no mention +of it, and it seems unlikely he would have omitted such an important +tree. There exists much correspondence with Uvedale and botanists of +his time, but in none of the letters or early notices is the cedar +mentioned before Ray’s note of the Chelsea trees, or even referred to +as the first planted in England, so it seems the Chelsea trees’ claim +to be the first is fairly established. + +The oriental plane, which fell just as it was going to be taken down +in 1904, was one of the finest in London, planted by Philip Miller, +and is quoted by Loudon, in 1837, as then 115 feet high. Some of the +other famous trees have also died, such as the cork trees and paper +mulberries; but some have been more fortunate, and are among the +oldest of their kind in England. The _Koelreuteria paniculata_ is +probably the finest in this country, and the other old trees which +were noted as being particularly fine specimens in 1813 or 1820, and +which are still alive, are _Diospyros Virginiana_, the Persimmon or +Virginian date plum, the Quercus ilex, black walnut, mulberry, and +_Styrax officinale_. _Rhus juglandifolia_, which grows by the wall, +was probably planted when introduced from Nepaul in 1823. The wistaria +and pomegranate are old and still flourishing, and young plants of the +trees once famous in the Garden are doing well. The amount of attention +the novelties in the Physic Garden used to attract is well shown by +the spurious translation of De Sorbière’s travels. The little book, +published in 1698, purported to be a translation of De Sorbière, but +was really an original skit. The writer pretends De Sorbière visited +the Garden, and reported a delightful series of imaginary flowers. “I +was at Chelsey, where I took particular notice of the plants in the +Green House at that time, as _Urtica male oleus Japoniæ_, the stinking +nettle of Japan; _Goosberia sterelis Armenia_, the Armenian gooseberry +bush that bears no fruit (this had been potted thirty years); +_Brambelia fructificans Laplandiæ_, or the Blooming Bramble of Lapland; +with a hundred other curious plants, and a particular Collection of +Briars and Thorns, which were some part of the curse of the Creation.” +That it was worth while laughing at the Garden in a popular skit, +shows what an important position it had taken. The green-houses were +among the earliest attempted, and many scientific visitors describe +their plans and arrangements. They were rebuilt at great cost in 1732. +The statue to Sir Hans Sloane, by Michael Rysbrach, stood in a niche +in the green-house wall. It was moved to the centre of the Garden +in 1751, where it still stands. The Garden was honoured by a visit +from the great Linnæus in 1736, and he noted in his diary: “Miller of +Chelsea permitted me to collect many plants in the Garden, and gave me +several dried specimens collected in South America.” Among the valuable +bequests to the Garden were collections of dried plants, now in +the British Museum of Natural History, and a library left by Dr. Dale +in 1739, on condition that “suitable and proper conveniences” were made +for them at the Physic Garden. They should be there still, and the new +buildings are eminently suited for their reception; and their use to +students would be very great, now that the Garden is well equipped for +supplying all the requirements for the modern teaching of botany. + +[Illustration: CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN] + +Before quitting these gardens of historic interest, there is one which +must not be forgotten, although its former charms have vanished, and +it can no longer claim such botanical curiosities as the Chelsea +Physic Garden--that is, the remains of John Evelyn’s Garden of Sayes +Court. The Garden is now enjoyed by numbers in that crowded district +of Deptford, through the kindness of Mr. Evelyn, the descendant of +the famous diarist, John Evelyn, who keeps it up as well as opens it +to the public. The Manor of Deptford was retained by the Crown in +James I.’s time, and Sayes Court was leased to Christopher Browne, the +grandfather of Sir Richard Browne, whose only daughter and heiress +John Evelyn married. After his wife had succeeded to the property, +and they had lived there some years and made the Garden, John Evelyn +purchased the freehold land from Charles II. The delight he took in +his garden, how he exchanged seeds and plants, imported rare specimens +from abroad, through his many friends, and grew them with success, is +well known. The ruthless way his treasures were treated by Peter the +Great was a sore trial to Evelyn. The Czar amused himself, among other +acts of vandalism, by being wheeled about the beds and hedges in a +wheelbarrow. The holly hedge, even, he partially destroyed. In writing +of the merits of holly in his “Sylva,” Evelyn says of this one: “Is +there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind, +than an impregnable Hedge a hundred and sixty feet in length, and seven +feet high, and five in diameter, which I can shew in my poor Gardens at +any time of the year, glittering with its armed and vernish’d leaves? +the taller Standards at orderly distances blushing with their natural +Corall. It mocks at the rudest assaults of the Weather, Beasts, and +Hedgebreakers.” This hedge has long since departed, but young hollies, +planted in groups on the same part of the Garden, keep up the old +associations. One wing of the house is standing, and is at present +used as a school. The walled garden on the south side is still there, +and on the north a wide terrace walk, with a straight grass lawn with +large beds, is in keeping with the old place. But instead of the views +over the river, and the Garden descending to the water’s edge, there +is a high rampart of the buildings of the Foreign Cattle Market, from +whence the sounds of lowing oxen mingle with the din of streets which +close round the Garden on the three other sides. In spite of these +drawbacks, it is delightful to know, that the surviving portion of the +once-beautiful Garden is fulfilling a want among the poor in a way that +would have appealed to the generous and kind-hearted author. + + * * * * * + +These are some of the chief gardens of historic interest, but it by no +means exhausts the list of the smaller ones rich in associations, green +courts attached to schools, almshouses, hospitals, or such-like, which +are hidden away in unexpected corners throughout London. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +PRIVATE GARDENS + + _Even in the stifling bosom of a town + A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms + That soothe the rich possessor_; ... + + --COWPER. + + +In writing of the private gardens of London it is difficult to know +where to begin. There are a few large and beautiful gardens, but for +the most part the smaller they are, and the less there is to write +about them of interest to the general reader, the more they are of +value to the happy possessors. It is the minute back-garden, invaded +by all the cats of the neighbourhood, with a few plants on which an +infinity of time and trouble, care and thought, have been expended, +that is the real typical London garden. What a joy to see the patches +of seeds come up in the summer, and with what expectation are the buds +on the one lilac bush examined to see if really at last it is going to +flower! What pleasure the fern dug up on a summer holiday gives, as it +bravely uncurls its fronds year by year! What delight is occasioned if +the Virginian creeper, which covers the wall, grows more luxuriantly +than those of the houses on either side, and what excitement if it +really turns red once in a way in October, instead of shrivelling up +to an inglorious end! What grief is felt when the fuchsia, purchased +as a fitting centre-piece to the formal geranium bed, loses its +buds one by one before they expand! These and many similar joys and +sorrows are the portion of those who tend small gardens in London. +How fascinating it is to look into back-gardens as the train passes +over viaducts out of the heart of the town. Certainly the differences +in their appearance show what skill and devotion can accomplish. +Nothing but real love of the plants, and a tender solicitude for their +welfare, can induce them to exist in the confined areas and stifling +atmosphere of the average London garden. But even these inauspicious +surroundings may be brightened by flowers. When those absolutely +ignorant of the requirements of plant life take to gardening in the +country, they have Nature at hand to help them. The sunlight, air, +and good soil supplement their deficiencies of knowledge, and, though +terribly handicapped by careless planting, unsuitable situations, want +of water, and such drawbacks, the plants can struggle with success to +maintain their natural beauty. But let the ignorant try in town to +grow plants, where all the conditions militate against them, instead +of assisting, and the results are very different. For instance, many a +small back-garden, or even window box, is planted year after year with +no renewal of the soil. The crumbling mould, which is either caked hard +or pours like dust from the hand, is completely exhausted, and the poor +plants are starved. They should be given plenty of what in gardeners’ +slang is called “good stuff,” if they are to grow in such adverse +conditions. A little of the money expended on plants which dwindle +and die, spent on manure or good soil, would better repay the would-be +gardener. Many plants require a good deal of water when making their +growth, and if that is denied them they will not thrive, no matter +how great the solicitude for their welfare in other ways. Washing +the leaves, especially of evergreens, and scrubbing stems is also a +great help, as leaves choked with dirt have no chance of imbibing the +life-giving properties necessary to the plant. + +The back-garden has many enemies besides soot and fogs. Cats are one +of the greatest trials, and most destructive. Sparrows also are very +mischievous. They will pick the flower-buds off trees just at the +critical moment. A wistaria climber laden with young blossoms they +will destroy in a few days, just before the purple buds appear. But, +notwithstanding all these pests and difficulties, it is surprising how +many things will not only survive, but grow well. The task becomes +more and more easy as the houses recede from the City. In St. John’s +Wood, Bayswater, or Earl’s Court, in Camberwell or Stoke Newington, +plants will grow better than in Bloomsbury or Southwark. But yet it is +possible to grow many things even in Whitechapel. + +It is impossible to prescribe the best plants for all London gardens, +as there is such a great difference in soil and aspect, that what +does well in one part will not flourish in another. The heavy soil of +Regent’s Park, for instance, is well suited to peonies, which do not +seem at home in Chelsea. On the other hand, some of the showy, hardy +spring flowers, such as wallflowers and forget-me-nots, die off with +fogs much more quickly in the Regent’s Park than in other districts. +Any deciduous tree or shrub thrives better than an evergreen or +a conifer in any part of London. The fresh growth of clean leaves +every year, by which the plant absorbs much of its nourishment, must +necessarily be better for it than dried-up, blackened leaves. Among +flowering shrubs, a great number grow sturdily in London. Laburnums +of all kinds, thorns in many varieties, flower well; lilacs grow and +look fresh and green everywhere, but cannot be depended on always +to flower; almonds, snowy medlars, double cherries, weigelas or +diervillas succeed; broom, Forsythias, acacia, syringa, many kinds +of prunus, ribes, rose acacia, Guelder rose, Japanese red peach, +_Kerria japonica_, _Hibiscus Syriacus_, or _Althæa frutex_, are all +satisfactory, and many more could be mentioned. _Yucca gloriosa_ will +stand any amount of smoke, and _Aralia spinosa_ does well in many +parts; and among evergreens, _Arbutus Andrachne_ can be recommended. +Fruit-trees, pears, and apples are charming when in bloom, and in a +large space, or to cover a wall, figs are valuable. + +Alpines grow astonishingly well, and though a considerable percentage +will die from the alternating damp fogs and frost in the winter, many +will really establish themselves, and be quite at home, much nearer +the heart of London than Dulwich, where many have been cultivated. “I +know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows” in London--not a green, mossy +bank, but rather a blackened rockery; still the slope is really covered +with large patches of wild thyme, purple with bloom in the summer, +carefully marked by the London County Council “_Thymus serpyllum_,” for +the benefit of the inquiring. Several of the other thymes, which form +good carpets, will also grow. _Antennaria dioica_, a British plant, +forms a pretty silvery groundwork on beds or rockeries, and nothing +seems to kill it. Saxifrages in great numbers are suitable, beginning +with the well-known mossy green _hypnoides_, to the giant known as +_Megasia cordifolia_, also sedums, semper-viviums, aubrietias, phloxes, +tiarella, dianthus in variety; and several other Alpines have succeeded +in different parks and gardens, such as _Androsace sarmentosa_, _Dryas +octopetala_, yellow fumitory, _Cotoneaster frigida_, the small ivy +_Hedera conglomerata_, _Achillea tormentosa_, _Lychnis Haageana_, +_Linnæa borealis_, _Azalea procumbens_, _Campanula garganica_, only +to mention some that have been noticed; even edelweiss has been +successfully grown in the centre of London. + +A few annuals will make a good show, and nothing is better in a +window-box or really dingy corner than Virginian stock; but, as a rule, +it repays trouble best to rear perennials. Seedling wallflowers, sweet +Williams and Canterbury bells, and such like, make a border bright. The +great secret of success in growing annuals is to thin them out well; +the patches of seedlings are too often left far too much overcrowded. +This “thinning” is even more important than good soil and careful +watering. Marigolds thrive best of all, and will often seed themselves, +but a few other annuals can be safely recommended. + + Candytuft. + Catchfly. (Silene pendula and + armeria). + Erysinum perofskianum (a kind of + Treacle mustard). + Eschscholzia. + Flax (scarlet). + Godetias. + Ionopsidium acaule (violet cress). + Larkspur (annual). + Love-in-a-mist (Nigella). + Nasturtiums. + Phlox drummondi. + Snapdragon (Antirrhinum). + Toadflax (Linaria). + +Very many things may succeed well that are not specially noted here, +but the following list of fifty herbaceous plants have all been seen +really growing, and coming up, year after year, in private gardens +in London. Some are not so sturdy as others; for instance, neither +alyssum nor phlox flourish as well as thrift or the members of the iris +tribe, but all are hardy in London. Thomas Fairchild, who had a famous +nursery garden at Hoxton, writing of City gardens in 1722, gives his +experience of plants that succeed best, and many on his list are those +that do well still. He specially notes some growing in the most shut-in +parts of the City, which were flourishing: fraxinella in Aldermanbury, +monkshood and lily of the valley near the Guildhall, bladder senna +in Crutched Friars, and so on, mentioning many of those which still +prove the most smoke-resisting. One large, coarse, but handsome plant +deserves mention, as it grows so well it will seed itself, and that +is the giant heracleum. It propagates itself in the garden of Lowther +Lodge, Kensington Gore, and in much more confined spaces, even in the +garden used by the London Hospital, near the Mile End Road. + + +LIST OF FIFTY HERBACEOUS PLANTS + + Alyssum. + Auricula. + Bachelors’ buttons. + Buglos. + Campanula--several varieties. + Candytuft. + Carnations. + Centaurea. + Chrysanthemums. + Columbines. + Comfrey. + Crane’s bill. + Creeping Jenny. + Crown Imperial. + Cyclamen. + Day lilies. + Dictamnus fraxinella (burning bush). + Doronicum (leopard’s bane). + Erigeron (Fleabane). + Funkias (Plantain lilies). + Galega officinalis. + Golden rod (solidago). + Heucheras. + Hollyhocks. + Iris--several varieties, especially those with rhizomes and + non-bulbous roots. + Japanese anemone. + Larkspur. + Lilies of the valley. + Lilies-- + Canadense. + Candidum. + Davuricum. + Lancifolium (speciosum). + Martagon dalmaticum. + Pyrenaicum. + Tigrinum. + London Pride (also many other Saxifrages). + Lupin. + Mallow. + Michaelmas daisies. + Monkshood. + Montbretia. + Pansies. + Periwinkle. + Phlox. + Polygonum. + Primroses (also Japanese primulas, cowslips, and polyanthus). + Pyrethrum. + Rock roses. + Solomon’s seal. + Southernwood. + Speedwell (Veronica amethystina and others). + Spiræa (S. aruncus, venusta, &c.). + Sunflower (perennial, including Harpalium). + Thrift. + Tradescantia. + Trollius. + +Of climbing plants the Virginian creeper, which makes a green bower +of so many London houses, must come first, but the real grape vine is +quite as successful. In several parts of London vines laden with grapes +may be seen in the autumn, by those on the look-out for such things. +One vine in Buckingham Gate had forty bunches of fruit that ripened in +1906. On one branch of a vine, near Ladbroke Square, fourteen purple +bunches were hanging in a row at the same time, and in other parts of +the town well-cared-for vines will bear well. Wistaria also thrives, +and jasmine, yellow or white, and ivy. Besides these in constant use, +for more special gardens there are Everlasting peas, Dutchman’s pipe +(_Aristolochia_), clematis, Jackmani, Montana, or the Wild Traveller’s +Joy, and Passion flower; also convolvulus, _Cobæa scandens_, and gourds +of all kinds for the summer. + +Spring flowers planted in autumn succeed, and even those in pots +or boxes in windows or on roof gardens flower freely. Hyacinths, +crocus, tulips, daffodils, and narcissus do well; snowdrops are not so +successful as a rule, but Spanish Iris will make a good show when the +earlier bulbs are over. The minute green-house which often opens out of +a staircase window in London houses can easily be made gay in spring +by this means. Acorns and chestnuts sown in the autumn in shallow pans +and covered with moss make a delightful small forest from May onwards. +Foxgloves dug out of the woods will flower well in these dingy little +green-houses, and are a delightful contrast to the ferns which will +flourish best in them. A few other plants are sturdy for this purpose, +such as the fan palms, _Chamærops excelsa_, _Fortunei_, and _humilis_, +Aspidistra, _Aralia Sieboldii_, _Selaginella Kraussina_, the Cornish +money-wort (Sibthorpia). Geraniums will flower well, and Imantophyllums +(or Clivias) are one of the most accommodating plants for such small +green-houses, as although they take up an undue share of room on +account of the large pots necessary, they will flower well every year. + +[Illustration: THE GARDEN OF SIR LAURENCE ALMA-TADEMA, R.A.] + +Roses only do fairly well; but though they sometimes will last two +or three years, they are apt to give disappointments and must often +be renewed. The climbing roses, however, in some gardens are very +charming. In one of the prettiest in London--that belonging to Sir +Laurence Alma-Tadema, in Grove End Road--the illustration shows how +charmingly an iron trellis is covered with red and white roses. The +garden is most artistically arranged and is a good illustration of +how much can be made of a small space. A large evergreen oak overhangs +the basin with a stone margin and splashing fountain, on which +water-lilies gracefully float. The variety and harmony of the whole +garden, with its paths shaded by fig-trees, apples and pears, cherries +and lilacs, sunny borders with Scotch roses, Day lilies, foxgloves, +and iris, and formal fountains, all in a small space, yet not crowded, +and bright with flowers, is delightful. Another small garden in +Kensington--tended by Lady Bergne--of quite another type, contains +nearly all the flowers that have been mentioned as growing well in +London. It is only the stereotyped long narrow strip at the back of +the house; but by putting a path and rock-work and pools of water on +one side, and having grass and flower borders on the other, backed by +flowering shrubs and ferns at the shaded end, a great variety of plants +have been grown successfully. + +In most London gardens very little enterprise is shown. The old system +of bedding out is adhered to. Of the large London houses standing by +their own lawns, none have gardens of any horticultural interest. +Montagu House is on the site of the extensive gardens of Whitehall, and +the present lawn is where the bowling green, with its gay throng of +players, lay in former years, and the terrace keeps up the tradition +of the wide terraces that descended from the palace to the green. The +turf is still fair and green, and is brightened in summer by lines of +geraniums, white daisies, and calceolarias. Devonshire House garden, +on the site of the famous one belonging to Berkeley House that covered +all the present Square, is in the same way merely planted with the +usual summer bedding plants. Lord Portman’s house, 22 Portman Square, +is where Mrs. Montagu, the Queen of the Blue-Stockings, held her +court. The present garden, with spacious lawn, has no horticultural +peculiarity, but its historical interest lies in the fact that it +was here that Mrs. Montagu entertained the chimney-sweeps, every +year on the 1st of May. She is said to have done so, to give these +poor children “one happy day in the year,” and when the horrors and +tragedies attending the lives and often deaths of these cruelly treated +little creatures is realised, it is not to be wondered at that one lady +was humane enough to befriend them. + +A quaint pathetic poem by Allan Cunningham, written in 1824, records +in characteristically stilted language an incident supposed to have +occurred to Mrs. Montagu. A sad boy, whose life was spent in climbing +flues, is pictured, and one lady he supplicates turns away--“And lo! +another lady came,” and spoke kindly to him, asked him why he thus +spent his life, listened to his tale of how he was an orphan and “sold +to this cruel trade.” + + “She stroked the sooty locks and smiled, + While o’er the dusky boy, + As streams the sunbeam through a cloud, + There came a flash of joy. + She took him from his cruel trade, + And soon the milk-white hue + Came to his neck; he with the muse + Sings, ‘Bless the Montagu.’” + +Her kindness is recorded in other poems, and in her lifetime took the +practical shape of a sumptuous spread of beef and plum-pudding on the +lawn of her house in Portman Square. + +Grosvenor House garden, with terrace and lawn sloping down to large +trees, has natural advantages for a beautiful garden, but a row of +beds along the terrace are the only flowers. The owners of these large +London gardens have such an abundance of floral display elsewhere that +no real gardening seems to be attempted. To understand what are the +horticultural possibilities of London, it is in the minute back-garden +that the lesson must be learned, and the subject studied. Holland House +is an exception to this rule, for there the most beautiful garden, in +keeping with the magnificent old house, is kept up, and the greatest +care and skill were bestowed on it with wonderful results by the late +Earl of Ilchester. + +[Illustration: THE LILY POND, HOLLAND HOUSE] + +No house, perhaps, has more associations than Holland House. Its +history has been so often written, that to go over it in detail would +be superfluous. Built by Sir Walter Cope, while Elizabeth was on +the throne, from the designs of Thorpe, it doubtless from the first +had a good garden, as in those days great care was expended on the +surroundings of a house, for people realised, as did Bacon, that, “men +come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely; as if gardening +were the greater perfection.” The second stage in its history, when +it passed to Henry Rich, through his marriage with Sir Walter Cope’s +daughter and heiress, was even more eventful. He enlarged the house, +which became known as Holland House after Charles I. had created him +Baron Kensington and Earl of Holland. His wonderful personal charm, +inherited from his mother, the “Stella” of Sir Philip Sidney, made +him a general favourite; but not even his attachment to the Queen +preserved him from disloyalty, although in the end he fought for +the King’s cause. While he was on the Parliamentary side, Holland +House was often the meeting-place of its leaders. Cromwell and Ireton +talked together in the centre of the field in front of the house, so +that their raised voices, occasioned by Ireton’s deafness, should not +be overheard. For a time after the Restoration, Holland House was +tenanted by various people of note, to whom it was let out in suites +by the widowed Countess. One among them, the Frenchman Chardin, who +became famous by his travels to Persia, it has been surmised, may +have brought some of the rare plants to the garden. The connection +with Addison came from his marriage with the Dowager Lady Warwick, to +whom the house belonged, the second Lord Holland having succeeded his +cousin as Earl of Warwick. He must have delighted in the gardens of +Holland House, although they were hardly so wild as the ideal one he +describes in the _Spectator_. There he said, “I look upon the pleasure +which we take in a garden as one of the most innocent delights in human +life.” No doubt he found some solace in the beauties of Holland House +garden to cheer the depression of the unhappiness the marriage had +brought him. The brilliant days of Holland House continued after it +changed hands, and was owned by Henry Fox, second son of Sir Stephen +Fox, who was chiefly instrumental in starting Chelsea Hospital. Henry +Fox eloped with Lady Caroline Lennox, and was afterwards created +Lord Holland. He took great interest in his garden, and was advised +and helped by the well-known collector and horticulturist, Peter +Collinson. This friend was the means of introducing many new plants +to this country--a genus Collinsonia was named after him--and he +must have been pleasant and good besides, for his biographer says to +him was attached “all that respect which is due to benevolence and +virtue.” He was in correspondence with leading men in America, and was +constantly receiving seeds and plants, and his own garden contained +“a more complete assortment of the _orchis_ genus than, perhaps, had +ever been seen in one collection before.” No doubt some found their way +to the gardens of his friend, Lord Holland. How astonished they both +would be could they peep for a moment at the orchids displayed in the +tents of the Horticultural Society’s shows, which have been allowed +to take place in the park where Cromwell conversed? At this time the +gardens must have been considerably remodelled, as the taste for the +formal was waning, and the “natural” school taking its place. One of +the pioneers of the natural style, Charles Hamilton, assisted the new +design. His own place, Painshill, near Cobham, in Surrey, embraced +all the newest ideas, groves, thickets, lakes, temples, grottos, sham +ruins, and hermitages. A contemporary admirer, Wheatley, says of +Painshill, it “is all a new creation; and a boldness of design, and +a happiness of execution attend the wonderful efforts which art has +there made to rival nature.” No doubt this adept in the new art would +introduce many changes. The “Green Lane” was a road shut up by Lady +Holland, and Hamilton is said to have suggested turfing it. He appears +to have been fond of woodland glades and turfed the shaded walks in his +own creation, so it seems very likely that the idea of grass was his. +In the Green Lane, Charles James Fox, son of the first Lady Holland, +who closed the road, loved to walk, and still the Green Lane is one +of the most attractive spots in all London. The fame of Holland House +increased as time went on, and some of its most brilliant days were +during the time of the third Lord Holland, when Lady Holland drew all +the wit and fashion of London to her salon. Although it is no longer +a country place, and though no highwaymen have to be braved to reach +it, and though its surroundings are completely changed, the garden of +Holland House was never more beautiful than it is to-day. It is easy to +forget it is a London garden, the flowers look so clean and fresh. The +long vista into the rose garden from the lawn, which lies to the north, +is flanked on either side with pink roses, that pretty free-flowering +Caroline Testout. To the west, overlooking the Dutch garden, the view +is even more attractive, and the garden so well harmonises with the +house that it is easy to picture the beaux in wigs, and ladies in +hoops and powder, moving among the box-edged beds. On the south, the +wide terrace shown in the sketch was made in 1848, when the footpath +was altered and the entrance to the house changed to the eastern side. +The stone basin in the centre was put in by the late Lord Ilchester. +The hybrid water-lilies, raised by Marliac, grow well in it, and that +rather delicate, but most beautiful of the Sagittarias, _montevidensis_ +has flowered there. The raised terrace on the arches of the old +stables, which encloses one side of the garden and is covered with a +tangle of ivy, affords a charming view over the Dutch garden. Beyond is +the old ballroom, orangery and garden enclosed by arches of cut limes. +A terrace runs to the south of the Dutch garden and orangery, and the +Italian garden which lies here is in itself as complete a contrast to +the box-edged beds of the Dutch garden as is the Japanese garden, +a new addition which lies further to the north. It was near here that +the fatal duel between Lord Camelford and Colonel Best took place in +1804. There is yet another small enclosed garden cut off by thick yew +hedges and fat hollies from the rest. In it is the seat inscribed with +lines to the poet Rogers:-- + + “Here Rogers sat, and here forever dwell + With me those Pleasures that he sings so well.” + +In this garden, year by year, dahlias have grown ever since they were +first successfully grown in England. In 1789 the dahlia came for the +first time from the New World to the Old. It was then sent to Spain, +and that same year Lady Bute procured some from Madrid. She was not, +however, successful in growing it and it quite died out, until it +was reintroduced by Lady Holland in 1804. The plants remained rare +in England for some years. It was being grown in France, Germany, +and Holland, but little had been done to improve the original plant. +When, however, a larger supply was available in England after 1814, +the English growers took it up, and produced, before long, the round +very double flowers which soon became the rage. In stilted style a +writer in 1824 describes the dahlia mania, after giving the history of +its introduction. “It was left to English capital and perseverance,” +he says, “to illuminate the northern part of the globe by the full +brilliancy of these floral luminaries.” Thus in extravagant language +he continues to sing the praises of the dahlia. It is curious that +the name is now generally pronounced as if it were “dalea,” forgetful +of the fact that there is a flower, something like a vetch, called +“Dalea” by Linnæus, after Dr. Samuel Dale, who died in 1739, a +well-known botanist and friend of Ray. The dahlia was named long after +in honour of the Swedish botanist Dahl. + +The so-called “Japanese garden” was made by the late Lord Ilchester. It +is extremely pretty, but is entirely an English idea of what a Japanese +garden is like, and, however pleasing it may be to the uninitiated, +would probably shock the Japanese gardener, who is guided by as precise +rules in his garden, as the painter in his art. In Japan the rules +governing the laying-out of a garden are so exact that, apparently, it +requires years of study to acquire the rudiments. The Japanese garden +at Holland House, which is pleasing to the English eye, consists of a +little stream descending through grassy lawns, with groups of plants, +a stone lantern, and rustic bridges, and water plants at each little +pond. The delightful _Iris kæmpferi_ flowers well, and yuccas, which, +by the way, come from America, and not Japan; neither do _Aralia +spinosa_ or _Saxifraga peltata_, which together form charming groups, +with auratum lilies in the summer and other Japanese plants. The French +hybrid water-lilies, of varying shades of pink, red, and yellow, here +too make a picture, with their brilliant blossoms floating on the +miniature pools--while bamboos, maples, and eulalias, true natives of +Japan, make a soft and feathery background. Above the Japanese garden +there is a well-furnished rock garden, and between that and the roses, +which make such a grand display on the north of the house, green walks +through rhododendrons and flowering shrubs unite the gardens. There +are some really fine trees, as well as all the charming flowers, in +the grounds. Near the bridge leading to the Japanese garden there is +a beautiful evergreen oak and rare forest trees, while on the lawn +some old cedars, planted by Charles James Fox, are showing signs of +decrepitude, although the delightful picturesque effect a cedar always +has, adds one more to the many charms of this, the most beautiful as +well as the largest of London gardens. + +There is a charming group of houses standing in their own grounds +still left on Campden Hill, although Campden House has been demolished +and its site built over within the last few years. The property on +which Campden House stood, and some authorities say the house itself, +was won over some game of chance in James I.’s time by Sir Baptist +Hicks, afterwards Viscount Campden, from Sir Walter Cope, the builder +of Holland House, hard by. It was to Campden House that Queen Anne’s +little son, the Duke of Gloucester, was taken for country air. The air +is still pleasant on these heights, and the open tract of Holland Park +gives so much freshness that plants flourish wonderfully. There are +good gardens attached to many of the houses--Cam House, Blundell House, +Aubrey House, Thornwood, Holly, and Moray Lodges, and several others. +Holly Lodge is noteworthy as having for a few years been the residence +of Lord Macaulay. There are some charming trees in the grounds, even +yews (which are among the first to suffer from smoke) looking well; +a good old mulberry and silver elms, and a camellia in a border near +the wall, which often flowers out of doors, although some years the +half-open buds drop off from the effects of frosty fogs. + +Cam House has one of the most charming gardens. It is now lived in by +Sir Walter Phillimore, and has been in his family for some 150 years. +It was well known as Argyll Lodge, as the late Duke bought the lease +and made it his town residence from the time he first took office in +Lord Aberdeen’s ministry in 1852. Before that it was known as Bedford +Lodge, as the Duchess of Bedford, step-mother of Lord John Russell, +the Prime Minister, had lived there and laid out and planted most of +the garden. The “two very old oaks, which,” wrote the Duke of Argyll, +“would have done no discredit to any ancient chase in England,” are +still to be seen. The Duke was also delighted with the wild birds +which there made their homes in the garden; in fact, he says in his +Memoirs, it was the sight of the “fine lawn covered with starlings, +hunting for grubs and insects in their very peculiar fashion,” the +nut-hatches “moving over the trees, as if they were in some deep +English woodland,” the fly-catchers and the warblers, that made him +decide to take the house. During the half-century he lived there many +of the birds, the fly catchers, reed-wren, black cap, and willow-wren, +and nut-hatches, deserted the garden, but even now starlings and +wood-pigeons abound, and, what is even more rare in London, squirrels +may be seen swinging from branch to branch of the old trees. Besides +the two old pollard oaks there are good beech and copper-beech, elder, +chestnuts, snowy medlar, sycamore, several varieties of thorn, and +a large Scotch laburnum, _Laburnum alpinum_, which flowers later +than the ordinary laburnum, and is therefore valuable to prolong the +season of these golden showers. The leaves are broader and darker, +and growth more spreading. On the vine trellis is a curious old vine +with strongly scented flowers. All the plants which thrive in London +are well grown in the charming formal garden and along the old wall, +which is covered with delicious climbing plants. So luxuriously will +some flowers grow, that the hollyhocks from this garden took the prize +at the horticultural show held in the grounds of Holland House, in a +competition open to all the gardens in the Kingdom. + +At Fulham there is a charming garden, with trees which would be +remarkable anywhere, and appear still more beautiful from their +proximity to London. These trees in the grounds of Broom House have +fared on the whole better than those at Fulham Palace, hard by. It is +separated from the Palace by the grounds now attached to the club of +Hurlingham. Of Hurlingham there is not much early history. Faulkner, +the authority for this district, writes in 1813: “Hurlingham Field is +now the property of the Earl of Ranelagh and the site of his house. It +was here that great numbers of people were buried during the Plague.” +The same authority mentions: “The Dowager Countess of Lonsdale has +an elegant house and gardens here in full view of the Thames,” and +Broom House is shown on Rocque’s map of 1757. The estate was bought +by Mr. Sulivan from the Nepean family in 1824, and his daughter, Miss +Sulivan, keeps up the garden with the utmost good taste and knowledge +of horticulture. The ailanthus, with a trunk 10 feet 4 inches in girth +at 4 feet from the ground, is probably one of the finest specimens in +England. The one in Fulham Palace garden is exactly the same girth, but +does not appear to be so lofty. The liquidamber is also a magnificent +tree, and the false acacia is quite as fine as the one in Fulham +Palace, and was probably planted at the same time. There are still +two cedars left, although the finest was blown down some years ago, +and the timber afforded panelling for a large room and many pieces of +furniture. Perhaps the most beautiful of the trees is the copper or +purple beech. Not only is it very tall and has a massive trunk (14 feet +6 inches at 2 feet from the ground), but the shape is quite perfect, +and its branches are furnished evenly all round. There are also good +evergreen oaks, elms, chestnuts and Scotch firs. There is a large +collection of flowering shrubs, which are in no way affected by the +smoky air. Standard magnolias, grandiflora, conspicua and stellata, +many varieties of the delightful autumn-flowering plant, the _Hibiscus +syriacus_, known to older gardeners as _Althæa frutex_, and recommended +under that name by Fairchild in 1722 as suited to London, _Cratægus +pyracantha_, _Choysia_, _Pyrus spectabilis_, and many other equally +delightful shrubs all appear most flourishing. These, together with +herbaceous plants and ornamental trees, well grouped in a garden of +good design, with the river flowing at the foot of it, make the grounds +of Broom House rank among the most attractive about London. + +[Illustration: ST. JOHN’S LODGE, REGENT’S PARK] + +A few of the gardens, like this one, have succeeded in keeping the +real stamp of the country, in spite of the encroachments of the town +and the advance of trams and motor omnibuses, but they are every day +becoming more scarce. Hampstead and Highgate have many such, and here +and there, to the north and on the south of the river, such delightful +spots are to be found, although the temptation to cut them up and build +small red villas on the sites is very great. Towards the north of +London there are many small gardens which are bright and attractive, +and without going so far as Hampstead, pleached walks and small but +tastefully arranged grounds are met with. Within Regent’s Park +there are several charming gardens round the detached villas, which +have been already noticed in the chapter on that Park. The two most +interesting from a horticultural point of view are St. Katharine’s and +St. John’s Lodges. The fountain in the former is the frontispiece to +this volume, and that view says more than any elaborate description. +It might be in some far-away Italian garden, so perfectly are the +sights and sounds of London obliterated. On a still, hot day, when +the fountain drips with a cool sound and there is a shimmering light +of summer over the distant trees beyond the terrace, the delusion is +perfect. Most of the herbaceous plants which take kindly to London grow +in the border--hollyhocks, day lilies, poppies, peonies, pulmoneria +and lilies, while there is a large variety of flowering shrubs--ribes, +lilacs, buddleias, shumachs and _Aralia spinosa_. The kitchen-garden +produces good crops of most of the ordinary vegetables. The garden is +arranged with a definite design; there is nothing specially formal, +no cut trees or anything associated with some of the formal ideas in +England, but there is method in the design; the trees and plants grow +as Nature intended them, but they are not stuck about in incongruous +disorder and meaningless, distorted lines, as is so often thought +necessary, in designing a garden or “improving” a park. + +St. John’s Lodge has also a well-thought-out garden, some of it of a +distinctly formal type. The coloured illustration of it is taken from +a part of the garden enclosed with cut privet hedges, with a fountain +in the centre, on which stands a statue of St. John the Baptist, by +Mr. Johnes. Between the four wide grass walks there are masses of +herbaceous plants, backed by rhododendrons, which, as the picture +shows, stand out with brilliant colour in summer against the green +background. This garden opens into a bowling-green enclosed by cut lime +trees, and a cool walk for summer shaded by pleached lime trees. A +seductive broad walk bordered with fruit-trees is another feature. This +attractive garden has been made within the last eighteen years. The +conception of it was due to Lord Bute, and the designing and carrying +out to Mr. Schultz. The other side of the house, with a wide terrace +and park stretching down toward the water, has no special horticultural +feature, but the formal garden is full of charm, and the plants are +thriving and trees growing up so fast there is no trace of its newness. +It only shows how much can be done where knowledge and good taste are +displayed. + +St. James’s Park is still skirted by garden walls--Stafford, Clarence, +and Marlborough Houses, as well as St. James’s Palace, though their +gardens are hardly as elaborate as those of former years. The garden +of that Palace delighted the Sieur de la Serre, who accompanied Marie +de Medicis when she came to pay a visit to Henrietta Maria and Charles +I. and was lodged in St. James’s Palace. After describing the house, +“there were, besides,” he writes, “two grand gardens with parterres of +different figures, bordered on every side by a hedge of box, carefully +cultivated by the hands of a skilful gardener; and in order to render +the walks on both sides which enclosed it appear more agreeable, all +sorts of fine flowers were sowed.... The other garden, which was +adjoining and of the same extent, had divers walks, some sanded and +others grass, but both bordered on each side by an infinity of +fruit-trees, which rendered walking so agreeable that one could never +be tired.” + +[Illustration: IN THE GARDEN, ST. JOHN’S LODGE] + +The garden of Bridgewater House was a little slice taken off Green +Park. On the advice of Fordyce, the Crown in 1795 granted a lease, on +certain conditions, to the Duke of Bridgewater and other proprietors +near their respective houses, on the ground that it would improve +rather than injure the Park. In 1850 the question arose whether the +plans Barry had just made for the garden of Bridgewater House infringed +the terms of the lease, and Pennethorne, architect to the Office of +Works, had to report on the question. It being finally settled that the +proposed wall and terrace would not hurt the Park, the alterations were +allowed. + +Last, but by no means least, either in size or importance, the gardens +of Buckingham Palace must be glanced at. The Palace is so modern, when +compared with the older Royal residences, that it is easy to forget +the history of the forty acres enclosed in the King’s private garden, +yet they have much historical interest. In the time of James I. a +portion of the ground was covered by a mulberry garden, which the King +had planted, in pursuance of his scheme to encourage the culture of +silkworms, in 1609. That year he spent £935 in levelling the four acres +of ground and building a wall round it for the protection of the trees. +A few years later most of the enclosure became a tea-garden, while part +was occupied by Goring House. There are many references to these famous +tea-gardens, called the “Mulberry Garden,” in plays and writings of the +seventeenth century. Evelyn notes in his “Diary,” on 10th April 1654: +“My Lady Gerrard treated us at Mulberry Garden, now the only place +of refreshment about the town for persons of the best quality to be +exceeding cheated at, Cromwell and his partisans having shut up and +seized Spring Garden, which till now had been the usual rendezvous for +the ladies and gallants at this season.” + +Goring House stood just where Buckingham Palace does now, and was the +residence of George Goring, Earl of Norwich, and of his son, with whom +the title became extinct. It was let in 1666, by the last Earl of +Norwich, to Lord Arlington, and became known sometimes as Arlington +House. It was burnt in 1674, and Evelyn notes in his “Diary” of 21st +September: “I went to see the great losse that Lord Arlington had +sustained by fire at Goring House, this night consumed to the ground, +with exceeding losse of hangings, plate, rare pictures, and cabinets; +hardly anything was saved of the best and most princely furniture that +any subject had in England. My lord and lady were both absent at the +Bath.” Buckingham House, which was built in 1703 on the same site for +the Duke of Buckingham, must have been very charming. Defoe describes +it as “one of the beauties of London, both by reason of its situation +and its building.... Behind it is a fine garden, a noble terrace (from +whence, as well as from the apartments, you have a most delicious +prospect), and a little park with a pretty canal.” The Duke of +Buckingham himself gives a full description of his garden in a letter +to a friend, telling him how he passed his time and what were his +enjoyments, when he resigned being Privy Seal to Queen Anne (1709). “To +the garden,” he writes, “we go down from the house by seven steps into +a gravel walk that reaches across the garden, with a covered arbour at +each end. Another of thirty feet broad leads from the front of the +house, and lies between two groves of tall lime trees, planted on a +carpet of grass. The outsides of those groves are bordered with tubs +of bays and orange trees. At the end of the broad walk you go up to a +terrace 400 paces long, with a large semicircle in the middle, from +where are beheld the Queen’s (Anne’s) two parks and a great part of +Surrey: then, going down a few steps, you walk on the bank of a canal +600 yards long and 17 broad, with two rows of limes on either side. On +one side of this terrace a wall, covered with roses and jessamines, is +made low to admit the view of a meadow full of cattle just beneath (no +disagreeable object in the midst of a great city), and at each end is a +descent into parterres with fountains and waterworks. From the biggest +of these parterres we pass into a little square garden, that has a +fountain in the middle and two green-houses on the sides ... below this +a kitchen-garden ... and under the windows ... of this green-house is a +little wilderness full of blackbirds and nightingales.” This is truly +an entrancing picture of a town garden. + +The waterworks, those elaborate fountains then in vogue, were supplied +by water pumped up from the Thames into a tank above the kitchen, +which held fifty tons of water. Buckingham House was then a red-brick +building, consisting of a central square structure, with stone pillars +and balustrade along the top, and two wings attached to the main +building by a colonnade. It was this style of house when King George +III. bought it, originally for a dower-house for Queen Charlotte, +instead of Somerset House, where the Queens-Dowager had previously +lived. These formal gardens were not suited to the taste of the time, +and George IV. had all the garden altered, as well as the house +rebuilt by Nash. The whole of the parterres, terraces and fountains +and canal were swept away, and most of the lime-trees cut down. A wide +lawn and five acres of ornamental water, glades, walks and thickets +took their place. When first made the water was severely criticised by +a writer of the landscape school, the chief fault he found being that +too much was visible at once from the path which encircled it, so that +the limits were not well concealed. This seems to have been altered to +the satisfaction of later critics. Dennis, writing in 1835, gives a +plan in which the path has been made a little distance from the water’s +edge, and the outline broken by clumps of trees and a promontory, which +later on was turned into an island, on which a willow from Napoleon’s +tomb at St. Helena is said to have been planted, though no old willow +now exists. This writer gives great praise to Aiton, who superintended +all the execution of the plans. The pavilion in the grounds was added +in 1844, and decorated with paintings of scenes from Milton’s _Comus_ +by Eastlake, Maclise, Landseer and other artists, with borders and gilt +ornaments by Gruner. + +During the last four years his Majesty has had a great deal done +to improve the grounds. His appreciation of what is beautiful in +gardening has led him to effect several changes, which, while keeping +the park-like character of the gardens, have added immensely to their +scenic beauty and horticultural interest. The dead and dying trees +and others of poor and stunted growth have been removed, giving air +and light to those remaining. Several good specimens of plane, lime, +elm, beech, ash, ailanthus and hawthorn have thus secured more +space to develop. A very large assortment of all the best flowering +shrubs which will flourish in London have taken the place of worn-out +evergreens. The best of the hollies, arbutus and healthy evergreens +have been encouraged by careful attention. The great object in laying +out the garden originally was naturally to obtain as much privacy as +possible, and the earth taken out of the lake was formed into a great +bank, which was thickly planted to screen the stables and distant +houses. This bank, which was stiff and formal in appearance, has now +been artistically broken by planting and rock-work--not merely by a +few stones, which would seem small, unnatural, and out of place, but +by bold crags, over which roses climb, and where gorse, savin and +broom, and countless other suitable plants look perfectly at home. The +aspect of the lake is also greatly enhanced by the substitution of +rustic stone bridges for the iron structures, The water’s edge is well +furnished with iris and other water-loving plants--the finest Marliac +lilies brighten its surface--and the stiff, round island is now varied +by striking rocky promontories and is prettily adorned with broom and +cherries. + +The colossal vase by Westmacott, executed as a memento of the Battle of +Waterloo, has lately been placed on one of the lawns in an amphitheatre +of trees. It stands in front of his Majesty’s summer-house, which +is quaint in design, and was brought from the old Spring Gardens at +Whitehall. The views down the wide glades, with the groups of tall +trees, the bridges, the herbaceous borders, and the wealth of flowering +shrubs, make the garden altogether one of singular charm considering it +is even more truly “in the midst of a great city” than when the Duke +of Buckingham described the same spot nearly 200 years ago. + +The Buckingham Palace Gardens show how much judicious planting can +do, and how much is lost in many of the parks as well as gardens by +not sufficiently considering the decorative value of plants. The old +landscape gardeners, in their desire to copy nature and depart from +all formality, forgot the horticultural part of their work in their +plans for the creation of landscapes. They had not studied the effects +which skilful planting will produce, and ignored flowers as a factor +in their scenery. They had not got the wealth of genera which the +twentieth century possesses, and of which, in many instances, full use +is made. But in a review of London Parks and Gardens, it is impossible +not to notice effects missed as well as success achieved. The immense +advance gardening has made of late years, and the knowledge and wide +range of plants, makes it easier to garden now than ever before. The +enormous number of trees and flowers now in cultivation leaves a good +choice to select from, even among those suitable for the fog-begrimed +gardens of London. The carpets of spring flowering bulbs, the masses of +brilliant rhododendrons, the groups of choice blossoming trees, which +so greatly beautify many of the parks and gardens, are all the result +of modern developments. Experience, too, has pointed out the mistakes +in landscape gardening, which is for the most part the style followed +in London, and it should be easy to avoid the errors of earlier +generations. In formal designing, also, the recent introductions and +modern taste in flowers should have a marked influence. In all the +parks and gardens, public and private, the chief aim should be to make +the best use of the existing material, to draw upon the vast resources +of horticulture, which have never been so great as at the present time, +and thus to maintain the position of superiority of London gardens +among the cities of the world. + + + + +APPENDIX TO PRIVATE GARDENS + + +CHARLTON + +Owing to unavoidable circumstances it was not possible to include +Charlton in the foregoing chapter on private gardens, but some account +of this place of historic interest is necessary to complete this +book. Further from the centres of fashion, on the eastern limits of +London, it has not been the scene of such brilliant assemblies as +Holland House on the west; yet its early days share that speculative +fascination which gathers round the personality of Henry, Prince of +Wales, who figures for such a short time on the pages of English +history. Only two miles from Greenwich, in the hundred of Blackheath, +lies the manor of Charlton, which was bestowed by William the Conqueror +on his half-brother, Odo of Bayeux. Later on it passed by gift to +the Priory of Bermondsey, and so remained until the Dissolution of +the Monasteries, when it became crown land until James I. gave it to +Sir Adam Newton, “who built a goodly brave house” thereon. Born in +Scotland, Sir Adam had spent much of his life in France, and passing +himself off as a priest, had taught Greek at St. Maixant in Poitou. +On his return to Scotland in 1600, he was appointed tutor to Prince +Henry, and was in attendance on him as secretary when the Prince grew +up. In 1607 he commenced to build Charlton for him, Inigo Jones being +the architect, and after the Prince’s death in 1612, the King granted +Sir Adam the manor, in lieu of payment for the expenses he had incurred +in building the house. The owner of Charlton continued to enjoy +royal favour, became Treasurer of the Household to Prince Charles, +was created a baronet in 1620, and married a daughter of Sir John +Puckering, who had been Keeper of the Great Seal to Queen Elizabeth. +His second son, Sir Henry Newton, who succeeded him at Charlton, and +took the name of Puckering from estates inherited from his uncle, was +an ardent supporter of Charles I. He sold the property to Sir William +Ducie, Viscount Downe, at whose death it was again sold. The purchaser, +Sir William Langhorne, was a wealthy East India merchant, who was, from +1670 to 1677, Governor of Madras. On his death it passed by entail to +his cousin Mrs. Maryon, and eventually to her great-granddaughter, +the wife of Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, in whose family Charlton still +remains. + +The gardens show traces of all the many owners, and in spite of the +growth of London and its attendant drawbacks, they are still charming. +The house stands in about 150 acres of undulating deer park, with some +fine old trees, an avenue of English elms on the east, and one of +horse-chestnuts, forming the approach on the west. Perhaps the planting +of the tulip tree near the present lodge was due to John Evelyn, the +friend of Sir Henry Puckering. Evelyn’s liking for tulip trees is well +known, and this specimen looks old enough to claim his acquaintance. +The two shattered but grand old mulberry trees probably date from the +year 1609, when James I. encouraged all his subjects to plant them, +and tradition points to one as the first brought to England. There is +an immense horse-chestnut on the lawn, with a wide spread of branches +which are rooted in the ground all round, and among the evergreen oaks +and other attractive trees in the “Wilderness,” a Judas of great age +is remarkable. The small house standing near the road which passes +the parish church, known as the “Guard House,” recalls the time when +Prince Henry was living there, and his guard of honour kept watch near +the entrance. The stables are just as they were built by Inigo Jones, +and the little “Dutch” walled garden which adjoins them on one side is +also a pretty relic of those days, and the “Gooseberry Garden” near +it is a survival of the same period. A walk overshadowed by tall yew +trees stretches across and along the main part of the grounds, and +hidden away near its southern end is a delightful rose garden. The +beautiful lead fountain in the centre must have been put there by Sir +William Langhorne. His initials appear on the leaden tank, and the +spray rises from a basin held up by a charming little cupid standing +on a pedestal surrounded by swans. The same group appears without +the tank in another part of the garden, and there are lead vases and +figures, and a cistern dated 1777, which add greatly to the old-world +charm which still lingers. Chemical works and sulphurous fumes now work +deadly havoc among the old trees, but everything that modern science +can recommend is done to preserve them, and young ones planted to keep +up the traditions, and bridge over the centuries dividing the present +from the days of Prince Henry and his learned and courtly tutor. + + + + +LIST OF SOME OF THE WORKS CONSULTED. + +(_The date does not always refer to the first edition, but to the one +consulted._) + + + Ambulator. A Pocket Companion in a Tour Round London. 1792. + + Amusements of Old London. Boulton. 1900. + + Argyll, Autobiography of George Douglas, Eighth Duke of. Ed. by the + Dowager Duchess of Argyll. 1907. + + + Baker, T. H. Records of Seasons and Prices. + + Battersea, All About. H. S. Simmonds. 1882. + + Birds in London. W. H. Hudson. 1898. + + „ of London. H. K. Swann. 1893. + + Bloomsbury. Chronicle of Blemundsbury. W. Blott. 1892. + + „ and St. Giles. George Cluich. 1890. + + Bradley, Richard. New Improvements of Planting and Gardening. 1717. + + Burial Grounds, London. Mrs. Basil Holmes. 1896. + + Butler, Samuel. Hudibras. Notes by Grey and Nash. 1847. + + + Calendar of State Papers. 1557, &c. Ed. J. Redington. + + Camberwell. Parish of All Saints. T. J. Gaster. 1896. + + „ Ye Parish of Camerwell. W. H. Blanch. 1875. + + Catesby, Mark. Natural History of Carolina. 1731–43. + + „ „ Hortus Europæ Americanus. 1767. + + Chelsea. Memoirs of the Botanic Garden. Henry Field. 1820. + + „ „ „ „ Ed. by R. H. Semple. 1878. + + „ An Account of Chelsea Hospital. 1805. + + „ Historical Notes. Isabella Burt. 1871. + + „ Hospital. Thomas Faulkener. 1805. + + „ Thomas Faulkener. 1810. + + Cleveland. Character of a London Diurnal. 1647. + + „ Poems, annotated by J. M. Berden. 1903. + + Cole, John. A Pleasant and Profitable Journey to London. 1828. + + Commons. A Glance at the Commons and Open Spaces of London. 1867. + + Curtis, William. Botanical Magazine. 1787–1906. + + „ „ A Catalogue of the Plants Growing Wild in the Environs + of London. 1774. + + „ „ Flora Londinensis. 1777–1828. + + + Dennis, John. The Landscape Gardener. 1835. + + Domesday Book. Ed. 1812. + + Draper, W. H. The Morning Walk; or, City Encompass’d. 1751. + + + Evelyn, John. Diary. + + „ „ Sylva. 1664. + + + Fairchild, Thomas. The City Gardener. 1722. + + Fiennes, Celia. Through England on a Side-Saddle in the Time of + William and Mary. Ed. Hon. Mrs. Griffiths. 1888. + + Foreign Visitors to England. Smith. 1889. + + Fulham, Old and New. C. J. Feret. 1900. + + „ and Hammersmith. Faulkener. 1813. + + + Gardeners’ Magazine. Conducted by J. C. Loudon. 1826–43. + + Gardening. History of, in England. Alicia Amherst. 1896. + + Gerard. Herbal. 1597. + + „ „ Ed. by T. Johnson. 1633. + + „ Catalogus. 1599. + + Greenwich. W. Howarth. 1886. + + „ and Blackheath. Half Holiday Hand-book Series. 1881. + + „ Park: Its History and Associations. Angus D. Webster. 1902. + + „ The Palace and Hospital. A. G. K. L’Estrange. 1886. + + Grosley. A Tour to London. 1765. + + + Hackney. Magazine and Parish Reformer. 1833–38. + + „ Collecteanea Geographica, &c. 1842. + + „ History and Antiquities of. William Robinson. 1842. + + Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Passages from English Note-Books. 1870. + + Hazlitt, W. C. Gleanings in Old Garden Literature. 1887. + + Highgate, History of. Frederick Prickett. 1842. + + Hook, Dean of Chichester. Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. + 1875. + + Hyde Park, from Domesday to Date. J. Ashton. 1900. + + + Index Kewensis. 1893, &c. + + Inns of Court. Inner Temple Records, F. A. Inderwick. 1896. + + „ „ Inner and Middle Temple. H. H. L. Bellot. 1902. + + „ „ Lincoln’s Inn. Douthwaite. 1886. + + „ „ Gray’s Inn. Douthwaite. 1886. + + „ „ and Chancery. W.J. Loftée. Illustrations by Herbert + Railton. 1893. + + Islington. History of the Parish of St. Mary. S. Lewis. 1842. + + Issue Rolls. James I., &c. + + + Lamb, Charles, Life of. E. V. Lucas. 1905. + + Lambeth, History of. Ducarel. 1785. + + „ „ Thomas Allen. 1828. + + „ Palace and its Associations. J. C. Browne. 1883. + + Laud, Archbishop’s, Diary. + + Loimographia: An Account of the Great Plague. W. Boghurst. 1894. + + London, Ancient and Modern, from a Sanitary Point of View. G. V. + Poore. 1889. + + „ Birds and Insects. T. D. Pigott. 1892. + + „ Botanic Gardens, Pierre E. F. Perrédès. Pub. by Wellcome + Chemical Research Laboratories. No. 62. + + „ Bygone. F. Ross. 1892. + + „ City Suburbs as they are To-Day. 1893. + + „ City: Its History, &c. W. J. Loftie. + + „ Curiosities of. Timbs. 1868. + + „ Environs of. Daniel Lysons. 1790–96. + + „ Familiar, J. C. L’Estrange. 1890. + + „ Fascination of. Series ed. by Sir W. Besant. + + „ Flora. Alexander Irvine. 1838. + + „ Garland. W. E. Henley. 1895. + + „ Greater. E. Walford. 1893–95. + + „ Hand-book of. Peter Cunningham. 1850. + + „ Highways and Byways in. Mrs. E. T. Cook. 1903. + + „ History of. Noorthouck. 1773. + + „ „ William Maitland. 1756. + + „ „ Plantagenet, Tudor Times, &c. Sir W. Besant. + + „ Illustrata. Wilkinson. + + „ Its Neighbourhood, &c. Hughson David. 1805–9. + + „ Journey to. John Cole. 1825. + + „ Knight, Charles. Revised by E. Walford. + + „ Life Seen Through German Eyes. Brand. 1887. + + „ Memories. C. W. Heckethorne. 1900. + + „ Our Rambles in Old. E. S. M. Smith. 1895. + + „ Pageant of. Richard Davey. 1906. + + „ Past and Present. H. B. Wheatley and P. Cunningham, 1891. + + „ Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century, W. Wroth. 1896. + + „ Redivivium. James Peter Malcolm. 1807. + + „ Reliques of Old London and Suburbs. H. B, Wheatley. 1896. + + „ Round About. W. J. Loftée, 1893. + + „ Signs and Inscriptions, Wheatley and Philip Norman. 1893. + + „ Some Account of. Thomas Pennant. 1793. + + „ Soul of. F. H. Madox Heuffer. 1905. + + „ Story of. H. B. Wheatley. 1904. + + „ Survey of. (London County Council.) C. R. Ashbee. 1900. + + „ „ Stowe. Several Editions. 1598, 1633, &c. + + „ of To-Day. C. E. Pascoe. 1885. + + „ Town. Marcus Fall. 1880. + + „ Vanished and Vanishing. P. Norman, 1905. + + „ Vestiges of Old. Archer J. Wykeham. 1851. + + „ Walks Through. Hughson David. 1817. + + „ „ In. Augustus Hare. 1901. + + Londres et Les Anglais en 1771. Join Lambert. 1890. + + London, G., and H. Wise. Complete Gardener. 1701. + + Loudon, J. C. Arboretum. 1838. + + „ Encyclopædia of Gardening. 1822. + + „ „ of Plants. 1838. + + „ Gardeners’ Magazine. + + „ Laying Out, &c., of Cemetries, 1843. + + + Magalotti. Travels of Cosmo III., Grand Duke of Tuscany, through + England, 1669. 1821. + + Maitland, William. History and Survey of London. 1756. + + Marylebone, Random Sketches in. F. H. Hallam. 1885. + + „ and St. Pancras, G. Cluich. 1890. + + Mayfair and Belgravia. G. Cluich. 1892. + + Miller, Philip. Gardeners’ and Florists’ Dictionary. 1724. + + „ „ „ Dictionary. 1759. + + Mirabeau. Letters during his Residence in England. 1832. + + Misson, H. Memoirs and Observations in his Travels over England. + Translated by Mr. Ozell. 1719. + + Montagu, Letters of Mrs. E. 1809–13. + + „ Mrs. E. By J. Doran. 1873. + + Montgomerie, James. Chimney Sweepers’ Friend. 1824. + + Municipal History, Bibliography of. Cross. 1897. + + + Nichol. Progress of Queen Elizabeth. + + Nisbet, J. British Forest Trees. 1895. + + Norden. Notes on his Map of London, 1593. H. B. Wheatley. 1877. + + + Open Lands, Inclosure and Preservation of. Sir Robert Hunter. + Reprint. 1897. + + + Parliamentary Reports-- + Committee on the Public Parks, &c. 1887. + „ „ Best Means of Preserving ... Use of Forests, + Commons, &c. 1865. + Other Reports: see Catalogue of Parliamentary Papers, 1801–1908. + P. and S. King & Co. + Plan of Improvements proposed opposite Buckingham Palace. 1850. + Return of the Outlay on Battersea Park. 1856. + Select Committee on Open Spaces. 1865. + + Parks, Gardens, &c., of London. Edward Kemp. 1851. + + „ Hyde Park, from Domesday to Date. J. Ashton. 1896. + + „ Municipal, and Gardens. Lieut.-Col. J. G. Sexby. 1905. + + „ and Pleasure Grounds. C. H. J. Smith, 1852. + + „ „ Open Spaces. London County Council Sixpenny Guide. 1906. + + „ „ „ and Thoroughfares. A. M’Kenzie. 1869. + + „ Royal, and Gardens. N. Cole. 1877. + + „ Story of the London. Jacob Larwood. 1872. + + Parkinson, John. Paradise in Sole. 1629. + + Pepys, Samuel. Diary. + + Piccadilly and Pall Mall, Round About. H. B. Wheatley. 1817. + + Philips, Henry. Sylva Florifera. 1823. Flora Historica, &c. + + Phillips, Sir Richard. Morning Walk to Kew. 1817. + + Pulteney, Richard. History of the Progress of Botany in England. 1790. + + Pyne, Wm. H. History of the Royal Residences. 1819. + + + Regent’s Park. Some Account of the Improvements. 1814. + + „ „ „ „ „ . John White. 1815. + + „ „ Literary Pocket Book. 1823. + + „ „ Picturesque Guide to. 1829. + + Repton. Landscape Gardening. Ed. J. C. Loudon. 1840. + + + St. Botolph, Aldgate. A. G. B. Atkinson. 1898. + + St. James’s Square. Dasent. 1895. + + Selby, P. J. British Forest Trees. 1841. + + Shipton, Mother. Life and Death of. 1687. + + „ „ Prophecies. Ed. E. Pearson. 1871. + + „ „ „ C. Hindley. 1877. + + Soho, Two Centuries of. J. H. Cardwell. 1898. + + „ and its Associations. E. F. Rimbault. 1895. + + Sorbière, Samuel de. A Journey to London. [William King.] 1698. + + „ „ A Voyage to England. 1709. + + „ „ Journey to London. 1832. + + „ „ Reponse aux Faussetés ... dans la relation du + Voyage en Angleterre. 1675. + + Stepney. Two Centuries of History. W. H. Frere. 1892. + + Stowe. Survey of London. 1598. + + „ Munday’s Edition. 1633. + + „ Strype’s Edition. 1720. + + Suburban Reliques of Old Londons. H. B, Wheatley. Drawn by T. R. Way. + 1715. + + Switzer, Stephen. Nobleman, Gentleman, and Gardener’s Recreation. + 1715. + + + Tradescant, John. Museum Tradescantianum. 1656. + + Trinity Hospital, Mile End Road, C. R. Ashbee, 1896. + + + Westminster, Antiquities of. John T. Smith. 1807. + + „ Abbey. W. J. Loftie. 1890. + + „ „ Dean Stanley. + + „ „ MSS. Records. + + „ „ Richard Widmore. 1751. + + „ Memorials of the City, St. Peter’s College, &c. Rev. + MacKenzie E. C. Walcott. 1849. + + Wheatley. Observations on Modern Gardening. 1793. + + Whitten, W. London in Song. 1898. + + Wren, Christopher. Parentalia. 1750. + + + + +HYDE PARK AND KENSINGTON GARDENS + + +LIST OF TREES AND SHRUBS + +_N.B._--Those marked thus * are not in existence at the present time. A +small number proved unsuitable for London, and others have been removed +from the plantations for various reasons. + + Acer campestre. + „ circinatum. + „ creticum. + „ dasycarpum. + „ macrophyllum. + „ Negundo. + „ „ foliis variegatis. + „ palmatum. + „ platanoides. + „ „ Reitenbachii. + „ „ Schwedleri. + „ Pseudo-platanus. + „ „ „ foliis variegatis. + „ „ „ purpureum. + „ rubrum. + „ saccharum. + „ saccharum nigrum. + „ tartaricum. + Æsculus Hippocastanum. + „ „ laciniata. + „ „ rubicunda. + Ailantus glandulosa. + Alnus barbata. + „ glutinosa. + „ „ incisa. + „ „ laciniata. + „ „ quercifolia. + Amorpha fruticosa. + Amygdalus (Prunus) communis. + „ „ „ amara. + Amygdalus communis macrocarpa. + „ nana. + Amelanchier canadensis. + „ vulgaris. + Aralia chinensis. + „ spinosa. + Arbutus Andrachne. + „ Unedo. + „ „ rubra. + Aristolochia Sipho. + Armeniaca (Prunus) sibirica. + Artemisia arborescens. + Asimina triloba. + Aucuba japonica. + „ „ maculata. + „ „ viridis. + Azalea (Rhododendron) sinense. + „ pontica. + „ nudiflorum. + + Berberis Aquifolium. + „ Darwinii. + „ Fortunei. + „ japonica.* + „ repens. + „ stenophylla. + „ vulgaris. + „ „ foliis purpureis. + Betula alba. + „ „ pendula. + Betula fruticosa. + „ lenta. + „ nana. + „ nigra. + „ populifolia. + „ urticifolia. + Buxus balearica. + „ caucasica. + „ sempervirens arborescens. + „ „ aureo-marginita. + + Caragana arborescens. + „ Chamluga. + „ frutescens. + „ spinosa. + Carpinus betulus. + Carya amara. + Caryopteris Mastacanthus. + Castanea sativa. + Catalpa bignonioides. + Cedrus Deodora.* + „ Libani. + Cerasus. _See_ Prunus. + Cercis Siliquastrum. + Cistus florentinus. + „ ladaniferus. + „ monspeliensis. + Clematis Flammula. + „ Jackmani. + „ montana. + „ Vitalba. + Celtis Tournefortii. + Clerodendron trichotomum. + Colutea arborescens. + Cornus alba. + „ „ Spæthii. + „ Mas. + „ „ aurea elegantissima. + „ „ variegata. + „ sanguinea. + „ stolonifera. + Coronilla Emerus. + Coryllus Avellana. + „ maxima atropurpurea. + Cotoneaster acuminata. + „ bacillaris. + Cotoneaster frigida. + „ horizontalis. + „ microphylla. + „ Nummularia. + „ Simmonsii. + Cratægus altaica. + „ Azarolus. + „ coccinea. + „ cordata. + „ „ accrifolia. + „ „ maxima. + „ Crus-galli. + „ „ ovalifolium. + „ „ pyracanthafolia. + „ „ splendens. + „ dippeliana. + „ heterophylla. + „ macrantha. + „ nigra. + „ orientalis. + „ Oxyacantha. + „ „ aurea. + „ „ eriocarpa. + „ „ flexuosa. + „ „ flore pleno albo. + „ „ flore pleno coccineo. + „ „ flore pleno puniceo. + „ „ flore pleno roseo. + „ „ flore pleno rubro. + „ „ flore roseo. + „ „ laciniata. + „ „ pendula. + „ „ præcox. + „ „ quercifolia. + „ „ stricta. + „ punctata. + „ „ brevispina. + „ „ xanthocarpa. + „ pyracantha. + „ „ Lalandi. + „ siniaca. + „ spathulata. + „ tanacetifolia. + Cupressus Lawsoniana.* + „ Nootkatensis.* + „ sempervirens.* + Cydonia japonica. + „ Maulei. + „ vulgaris lusitanica. + „ „ maliformis. + Cytisus albus. + „ alpinus. + „ nigricans. + „ præcox. + „ racemosus. + „ scoparius. + „ sessilifolius. + „ tinctoria. + + Daphne Mezereum. + „ pontica. + Diospyros Lotus. + „ virginiana. + Diplopappus chrysophylla. + Deutzia crenata. + „ „ flore pleno. + „ „ gracilis. + „ scabra. + + Elæagnus angustifolia. + „ argentea. + Euonymus europæus. + „ „ fructo albo. + „ japonicus. + „ „ argenteus. + „ „ aureo-variegatus. + „ „ radicans. + „ „ „ foliis pictis. + „ latifolius. + + Fagus sylvatica. + „ „ cuprea. + „ „ pendula. + „ „ purpurea. + „ „ „ pendula. + Fatsia japonica. + Ficus Carica. + Fontanesia phillyræoides. + Forsythia intermedia. + „ suspensa. + „ viridissima. + Fraxinus americana cinerea. + „ „ elliptica. + „ „ juglandifolia. + „ excelsior. + „ „ angustifolia. + „ „ aurea. + „ „ heterophylla. + „ „ pendula. + „ Ornus. + „ „ angustifolia. + „ parvifolia. + + Genista hispanica. + Gleditschia triacanthos. + „ sinensis. + „ „ nana. + Gymnocladus canadensis. + + Halesia diptera. + „ tetraptera. + Halimodendron argenteum. + Hamamelis virginica. + Hedera Helix. + „ „ arborescens. + „ „ caenwoodiana. + „ „ canariensis. + „ „ „ arborescens. + „ „ chrysocarpa. + „ „ colchica. + „ „ dentata. + „ „ digitata. + „ „ lucida. + „ „ maderensis variegata. + „ „ minima. + „ „ taurica. + „ „ variegata. + Hibiscus syriacus--and numerous garden varieties. + Hippophæ rhamnoides. + „ salicifolia. + Hydrangea hortensia. + „ paniculata grandiflora. + Hypericum calycinum. + „ elatum. + „ hircinum. + „ patulum. + + Ilex Aquifolium. + „ „ albo-picta. + „ „ altaclerense. + „ „ angustifolia. + „ „ „ variegata. + „ „ argentea variegata. + „ „ argentea marginata. + „ „ aureo-picta. + „ „ aureo-regina. + „ „ balearica. + „ „ camelliæfolia. + „ „ ferox. + „ „ „ argentea. + „ „ „ aurea. + „ „ fructo luteo. + „ „ heterophylla. + „ „ Hodginsii. + „ „ latispina. + „ „ laurifolia. + „ „ myrtifolia. + „ „ recurva. + „ „ scotica. + „ „ Shepherdii. + „ „ Watereriana. + „ dipyrena + „ latifolia. + „ opaca. + + Jasminum fruticans. + „ humile. + „ nudiflorum. + „ officinale. + Juniperus chinensis.* + „ communis.* + „ nana.* + „ Sabina tamariscifolia. + „ „ procumbens. + „ virginiana.* + Juglans cinerea. + „ nigra. + „ regia. + + Kerria japonica. + Koelreuteria paniculata. + + Laburnum alpinum. + „ vulgare. + „ „ quercifolium. + „ „ Watereri. + Laurus nobilis. + Leycesteria formosa. + Ligustrum Ibota. + „ japonicum. + „ lucidum. + „ ovalifolium. + „ „ foliis aureis. + „ Quihoui. + „ vulgare. + Liquidamber styraciflua. + Liriodendron tulipifera. + Lonicera Caprifolium. + „ flexuosa. + „ involucrata. + „ Periclymenum. + Lycium chinense. + „ hamilifolium.* + + Magnolia acuminata. + „ conspicua. + „ „ Soulangeana. + „ grandiflora. + „ stellata. + Morus alba. + „ „ pendula. + „ nigra. + + Osmanthus Aquifolium ilicifolius. + + Pavia (Æsculus) flava. + „ „ purpurascens. + „ glabra arguta. + „ humulis. + „ neglecta. + „ parvifolia. + „ rubra. + Philadelphus coronarius. + „ „ tomentosus. + „ floribundus. + „ „ verrucosus. + „ Gordonianus. + „ grandiflorus floribundus. + „ hirsutus. + „ inodorus. + „ Lemoinei. + Phillyrea angustifolium. + „ decora. + „ latifolia. + Photinia serrulata. + Pinus cembra.* + „ insignis.* + „ Laricio.* + „ sylvestris. + Planera aquatica.* + „ Richardi.* + Platanus accrifolia. + Populus alba. + „ „ pyramidalis (bolleana). + „ balsamifera. + „ canescens. + „ deltoidea. + „ „ aurea. + „ macrophylla. + „ nigra. + „ „ betulæfolia. + „ „ pyramidalis. + „ tremula. + „ „ pendula. + Prunus including Cerasus and persica. + „ persica camelliæflora. + „ „ flore roseo pleno. + „ „ „ alba pleno. + „ „ dianthiflora pleno. + „ Avium. + „ „ flore pleno. + „ „ pendula. + „ cerasifera. + „ „ atropurpureum. + „ communis. + „ (Cerasus) acida semperflorens. + „ japonicas flore roseo pleno. + „ pseudo-cerasus. + „ (Padus) Mahaleb. + „ „ pendula. + „ Padus. + „ rotundifolia. + „ serotina. + „ (Laurocerasus) caucasica. + „ „ colchica. + „ „ Laurocerasus. + „ serrulata. + „ spinosa. + „ triloba. + „ Watereri. + Ptelea trifoliata. + Pterocarya caucasica. + Pyrus Aria. + „ „ salicifolia. + „ „ undulata. + „ amygdaliformis. + „ arbutifolia. + „ Aucuparia. + „ auricularis. + „ baccata. + „ communis. + „ floribunda. + „ hybrida. + „ intermedia. + „ lanata. + „ malus astracanica. + „ nivalis. + „ pinnatifida. + „ rivularis. + „ spectabilis. + + Quercus Ægilops. + „ cerris. + „ „ cana-major. + „ „ cana-minor. + „ „ fulhamensis. + „ coccinea. + „ fastigiata. + „ filicifolia. + „ Ilex. + „ „ Gramuntia. + „ lucombeana. + „ palustris. + „ pedunculata. + „ „ fastigiata. + „ rubra. + „ „ longifolia. + „ Suber. + + Rhamnus Alaternus maculata. + „ alpina. + „ cathartica. + „ Frangula. + „ infectoria. + Rhododendron Cunninghami. + „ dauricum. + „ hybrids in variety. + „ ponticum. + „ præcox. + Rhus canadensis. + „ copallina. + „ cotinus. + „ glabra laciniata. + „ typhina. + „ „ frutescens. + Ribes alpinum. + „ „ pumilum. + „ aureum. + „ „ præcox. + „ Diacantha. + „ nigrum variegatum. + „ Sanguineum. + „ „ albidum. + Robinia hispida. + „ inermis. + „ Pseudacacia. + „ „ angustifolium. + „ „ bessoniana. + „ „ Decaisneana. + „ „ dubea. + „ „ elegans. + „ „ fastigiata. + „ „ heterophylla. + „ „ inermis. + „ „ monophylla. + „ „ semperflorens. + „ „ tortuosa. + „ viscosa. + Rosa arvensis. + „ Banksiæ. + „ canina. + „ damascena. + „ gallica centifolia. + „ „ muscosa. + „ indica. + „ multiflora. + „ noisettiana. + „ rubiginosa. + „ rugosa. + „ „ flore pleno. + „ wichuraiana. + „ hybrids in variety. + Rosmarinus officinalis. + Rubus fruticosus. + „ „ albo-pleno. + „ „ rubra-pleno. + „ laciniatus. + „ nutkanus. + Ruscus aculeatus. + + Salisburia (Ginkgo) adiantifolia. + Salix alba. + „ babylonica. + „ Caprea. + „ daphnoides. + „ rosmarinifolia. + „ viminalis. + Sambucus nigra. + „ „ laciniata. + „ „ foliis aureis. + „ racemosa. + „ „ plumosa. + „ „ „ aurea. + Skimmia Fortunei. + „ japonica. + Spartium junceum. + Smilax aspera. + „ glauca. + „ rotundifolia. + Sophora japonica. + Spiræa bullata. + „ canescens. + „ cantoniensis.* + „ chamædrifolia.* + „ discolor.* + „ japonica.* + „ „ Bumalda. + „ prunifolia flore pleno. + „ salicifolia. + „ sorbifolia. + „ Thunbergii. + Symphoricarpus orbiculatus. + „ racemosus. + Syringa Emodi. + „ Josikæa. + „ persica. + „ „ alba. + „ vulgaris. + And many garden varieties. + + Taxodium distichum. + Taxus baccata. + „ „ adpressa. + „ „ „ aurea. + „ „ Dovastoni. + „ „ fastigiata. + „ „ fructo luteo. + „ canadensis. + „ cuspidata. + Thuja dolobrata.* + „ japonica.* + „ occidentalis. + „ orientalis. + „ „ aureo-variegata. + „ plicata.* + Tilia americana. + „ argentea. + „ cordata. + „ dasystyla. + „ petiolaris. + „ platyphyllus asplenifolia. + „ vulgaris. + + Ulex europæus. + „ „ flore pleno. + „ nanus. + Ulmus americanus. + „ „ pendula. + „ campestris. + „ „ Louis van Houtte. + „ „ sarniensis. + „ „ Wheatleyi. + „ glabra. + „ „ cornubiensis. + „ „ stricta. + „ montana. + „ „ atropurpureum. + „ „ fastigiata aurea. + „ „ pendula. + „ „ vegeta. + „ pedunculata. + + Veronica cupressoides. + „ Traversii. + Viburnum dentatum. + „ Lantana. + „ Lentago. + „ Opulus. + „ „ sterile. + „ Tinus. + „ „ hirtum. + „ plicatum. + + Weigela (Diervilla) florida. + „ hybrida. + „ Looymansi aurea. + Wistaria chinensis. + „ multijuga. + + Xanthorrhiza apiifolia.* + + Yucca angustifolia. + „ filamentosa. + „ „ flaccida. + „ gloriosa. + „ recurvifolia. + + + + +EXAMPLES OF PLANTING FLOWER-BEDS IN HYDE PARK IN 1905–6 + + +BED 1. + +1. Autumn planting for spring flowers:--Hyacinths, margin of Saxifrage. +Day Lily, thinly planted, for bright green foliage growing up with and +above the Hyacinths. + +2. Spring planting for early summer flowers:--Pansies for margin 18 +inches wide, the centre of bed planted with Ragged Robin. + +3. Summer planting for later summer and autumn display:--Large plants +of Calceolaria Burbidgeii 8 feet high, Cassia corymbosa 6 feet high, +Heliotrope 6 feet to 7 feet high, finishing off with Nicotiana affinis +and sylvestris, Lantana Drap d’Or with Lilium longifiorum interspersed. + + +BED 2. + +1. Autumn planting for spring flowers:---Tulips, margin of Saxifrage. +Iris germanica for foliage planted thinly with bulbs. + +2. Delphiniums, deep blue, 18 inch margin of yellow Pansies. + +3. Broad margin of Dell’s dark Beet, remainder of bed well planted with +Cannas, Alphonse Bouvier, and Flambeau, brilliant crimson flowers. + + +BED 3. + +1. Autumn planting for spring flowers:---Narcissus Emperor with a 6 to +1 mixture of Hyacinth King of the Blues, margin of Saxifrage. + +2. Broad margin of Pansies, remainder of bed filled with Erigeron +speciosum. + +3. Large plants in pots of Ivy-leaved Pelargonium Madame Crousse, 6 +feet high, placed 5 feet apart. Margin and intermediate spaces planted +with dwarf plants of a deeper coloured Ivy-leaved Pelargonium. + + +BED 4. + +1. Autumn planting for spring flowers:---Hyacinths Czar Peter, +light-blue, Gigantea blush, margin of Saxifrage. + +2. Dictamnus in two colours, about 2 feet apart, ground of bed Anemone +coronaria margined with Saxifraga Camposii. + +3. Gymnothrix latifolia, Kochia scoparia tricophylla interspersed with +Acalypha musaica. + + +BED 5. + +1. Dark Wallflowers with margin of Gardiner’s Garter (Phalaris). + +2. Pelargonium Achievement 4 feet high and 4 feet apart, centre of bed +and margin planted with dwarf plants of same variety. + +3. Celosia pyramidalis crimson and gold, with some crimson Cockscombs +intermixed, the remaining portion of bed thickly planted to the margin +with Leucophytum Brownii. + + +BED 6. + +1. Autumn planting for spring flowers:--Hyacinth Grande Maitre, blue. + +2. An interesting combination of the following flowers in rotation, +fresh ones being introduced as others faded:--Linum perenne, Ixias, +Sparaxis, and Calochortus, in variety, Oxalis rosea, Camassia +esculenta, Lychnis Viscaria, Crassula coccinea, Balsams with double +pink blooms. The setting for these flowers was a variegated grass. A +good effect was the result for many weeks. + +3. For the remainder of the season this bed was filled with a +succession of Lilium speciosum roseum on a green ground, with a margin +of Agathea cœlestis. + + + + +ERRATA + + + Page 16, line 24, _for_ ‘Sir John Sloane’ _read_ ‘Sir Hans Sloane.’ + „ 42, „ 4, _for_ ‘places’ _read_ ‘plans.’ + „ 77, „ 15, _for_ ‘Quintinge’ _read_ ‘Quintinye.’ + „ 241, „ 7, _for_ ‘battle of Alma’ _read_ ‘battle of the Alma.’ + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] Close Roll, Henry VII. + +[2] MSS. Manor Roll in the Record Office. + +[3] MSS. Manor Roll, Archives of Ely Cathedral. + +[4] See Alexander Necham, _De Naturis Rerum_, twelfth century. + +[5] Stowe, “Survey of London.” + +[6] Stowe’s “Survey of London.” + +[7] See p. 171. + +[8] As Vauxhall is not included in Lieut.-Col. Sexby’s exhaustive book, +the following details are not very accessible. It was bought from Mr. +Cobeldick for £43,500. + + Made up by Lambeth Vestry £11,746 17 6 + „ Charity Commissioners 12,500 0 0 + „ London County Council 11,746 17 6 + „ Donations and other sources 7,506 5 0 + ----------- + £43,500 0 0 + +The fencing and laying out was done by the Kyrle Society. The Park was +opened by the present King and Queen, July 7, 1890. + +[9] See “Chitty’s Statutes,” by J. M. Lely, under “Metropolis.” + +[10] See page 12. + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Acreage of Parks, 4, 121 + + Aiglio, 241 + + Albert Memorial, 50 + + Alma-Tadema, Sir Laurence, 334 + + Alpine plants, 330 + + Anne Boleyn, 110 + + ---- of Cleves, 110 + + ---- Queen, 41 + + Annual flowers, 331 + + Apothecaries’ Garden, Chelsea, 317 + + Archbishop’s Park, 307 + + Archery, 96, 97 + + Argyll Lodge, 344 + + Artillery Garden, 292 + + ---- Ground, 10, 291 + + Austin Friars, 14 + + Avery Hill, 183 + + Avondale Park, 130 + + + B + + Bacon and Gray’s Inn, 283 + + Balloon ascents, 292 + + Bank of England, 258 + + Banqueting-houses, 26, 85, 86, 112 + + Barnard’s Inn, 263 + + Battersea enamel, 155 + + Battersea Park, 120, 155–161 + + ---- bicycling in, 161 + + ---- chrysanthemums in, 160 + + ---- duel in, 157 + + ---- early history of, 156 + + ---- Red House in, 156 + + ---- sub-tropical garden in, 158 + + Bayard’s Castle, 8 + + Bergne, Lady, garden in Kensington, 335 + + Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam), 237 + + Bethnal Green Gardens, 134 + + Birdcage Walk, 61 + + Birds, wild, in Greenwich Park, 117 + + ---- in Victoria Park, 139 + + ---- on Hampstead Heath, 198 + + Blackfriars, 9 + + Blackheath, 107, 202 + + Bostall Wood, 199 + + Botanical Garden, Regent’s Park, 17, 98 + + ---- Society, 98 + + Brewers’ Almshouses, 294 + + Bridgeman, 40, 42 + + Bridgewater House, 350 + + Broad Walk, Regent’s Park, 101 + + Brockwell Park, 170–174 + + ---- old English garden in, 170–172 + + ---- purchase of, 172 + + ---- rooks in, 174 + + Brook Green, 213 + + Broome House, 345 + + Brown, Sir Richard, 293, 325 + + Buckingham House, 76, 351 + + ---- Palace, 59, 350–355 + + Bunhill Fields, 11, 248–251 + + Bunyan, John, tomb, 249 + + Burial-grounds, 3, 242–260 + + ---- Friends’, 249 + + ---- in the City, 254–259 + + ---- Marylebone, 245 + + ---- St. John’s Wood, 245 + + ---- St. Pancras, 243 + + ---- Stepney, 245 + + Burton’s Court, 312 + + Burton, Decimus, 93, 100 + + + C + + Cadogan Place, 239 + + Cake-house in Hyde Park, 28, 32 + + Camberwell Park, 126, 166 + + ---- Green, 168, 215 + + Cam House, 343 + + Campden Hill, gardens on, 343 + + Carlton House, 77 + + Caroline, Queen, 38, 40, 42, 45, 74, 75 + + Catalpa, 153, 286 + + Cedars, 17, 321 + + Chamberlain, Mr., house at Highbury, 191 + + Charles I., 60 + + Charles II., 61, 63, 67, 147 + + Charlton, 357 + + Charterhouse, 289–291 + + Chelsea, 311 + + ---- Ranelagh Gardens, 315 + + ---- Waterworks, 38, 76 + + Chelsea Hospital, 311–317 + + ---- burial-ground, 314 + + ---- statue in, 313 + + Chelsea Physic Garden, 16, 17, 317 + + ---- cedars, 321 + + ---- curators of, 320 + + ---- new management of, 319 + + ---- trees in, 323 + + ---- visit of Linnæus, 324 + + Chrysanthemums, 17, 159 + + City Corporation Parks, 4 + + Clapham Common, 205–207 + + Clement’s Inn, 262 + + Clifford’s Inn, 263 + + Climate, changes of, 69, 98, 128 + + Clissold Park, 141–144 + + Commons, 185–216 + + ---- Clapham, 205 + + ---- Deptford, 203 + + ---- Hackney, 188 + + ---- Old Oak, 199 + + ---- Peckham Rye, 204 + + ---- Plumstead, 201 + + ---- Streatham, 211 + + ---- Tooting, 207 + + ---- Wandsworth, 212 + + Commons’ Preservation Society, 185 + + Commonwealth, sale of Royal Parks in time of, 28, 87 + + Cost of maintenance of Parks, 5 + + County in Town Exhibition, 18 + + Cox’s Walk, 177 + + Cromwell, Oliver, 29, 233 + + Cromwell, Thomas, seizure of gardens by, 12 + + + D + + Dahlia, 341 + + Deer, 36, 67, 74, 88 + + Dell in Hyde Park, 52 + + Deptford Park, 178, 203 + + Devonshire House, 335 + + Dolphin Fountain, Hyde Park, 39 + + Downing Street, 72 + + Drapers’ Company Garden, 12, 292 + + Duck Island, 62, 72, 73 + + Duels, 33, 86, 157, 341 + + Duke Humphrey’s Walk, 77 + + Duke of York’s School, Chelsea, 311 + + Dulwich College, 175 + + Dulwich Park, 174–177 + + ---- rock garden in, 176 + + + E + + Eel Brook Common, 213 + + Eltham Park, 182 + + Ely Place, 9, 14 + + Embankment Gardens, 132 + + Enfield, 323 + + Evelyn, John, 29, 67, 79, 229, 232, 293, 309, 312, 325–326 + + Exhibition of 1851, 48 + + + F + + Fairchild, Thomas, 18, 128, 223 + + Fawcett, Henry, 163 + + Fetter Lane, 15 + + Fickett’s Field, 236 + + Finsbury Circus, 237 + + ---- Park, 120, 125, 139–141 + + ---- Square, 10, 237 + + Fire of London, 12, 15 + + Flowers at the Grey-coat School, 298. + + ---- in Greenwich Park, 117 + + ---- in Holborn, 9 + + ---- in Hyde Park, 46–48 + + ---- in Municipal Parks, 124 + + ---- in the Temple Gardens, 272 + + ---- of Shakespeare, 151, 154, 171 + + ---- suited to London, 330–335 + + Fogs, 69, 128 + + Foley House, 89 + + Fordyce, Mr., 89, 90 + + Foundling Hospital, 296 + + French Gardeners, 61 + + Fuchsia, 17 + + Fulham Palace, 308, 311 + + ---- gardens at, 345 + + + G + + Gardeners, 14 + + ---- Company, 14 + + Gardens, Castle, 8 + + ---- City, 14–16 + + ---- monastic, 7–8 + + Gay, lines on Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 235, 282 + + Gerard, John, 16, 17, 19 + + Gibson, Mr., 137–158, 228 + + Godfrey, Sir Edmondsbury, 105 + + Goose Green, 213 + + Gordon riots, 194–233 + + Gospel Oak, 197 + + Grant, Baron, 228 + + Gray’s Inn, 283–288 + + Green Park, 56–73 + + ---- fireworks in, 75 + + ---- railings round, 76 + + ---- Ranger’s lodge in, 76 + + Green Walk, St. James’s Park, 77 + + Greens, 213 + + Greenwich Fair, 115 + + Greenwich Park, 106–118 + + ---- birds in, 117 + + ---- burials in, 107 + + ---- flowers in, 117 + + ---- Queen’s House, 113 + + ---- royal pageants in, 109–113 + + ---- wild flowers in, 116 + + Grey-coat School, Westminster, 297 + + Grosley, Mr., 67, 281 + + Grosvenor House, 337 + + Gunning, The Misses, 69 + + + H + + Hackney, 16, 17 + + ---- Commons, 188 + + ---- Downs, 186, 189 + + ---- Marsh, 189 + + Hainault, Forest of, 122 + + Hamilton Place, 35 + + Hampstead Heath, 192–198 + + ---- Jack Straw’s Castle, 195 + + ---- Spaniards, 194 + + ---- Wells, 192 + + ---- wild flowers, 197 + + Hatton, Sir Christopher, 14 + + Heath, Bostall, 199 + + ---- Hampstead, 192 + + Henry VIII. and Hyde Park, 25 + + ---- at Greenwich, 109 + + Henry, Prince of Wales, 357–359 + + Highbury Fields, 190 + + Highgate, 10 + + Hilly Fields, 203 + + Holborn, 8, 16 + + Holland House, 337–343 + + Honourable Artillery Company, 97, 292 + + Horniman Gardens, 177 + + Hornsey Wood, 140 + + Horse Guards’ Parade, 59, 72 + + Horticultural Society, 17 + + Hoxton, 18 + + Hunting, 25, 85–86, 88 + + Hyde, Manor of, 24 + + Hyde Park, 23–55 + + ---- area of flower beds, 48 + + ---- boundaries, 24 + + ---- cake-house in, 28, 32 + + ---- deer in, 35 + + ---- dell, 52 + + ---- duels in, 33 + + ---- flowers in, 46 + + ---- forts erected in, 27 + + ---- fountains in, 39, 44, 54 + + ---- frame-ground in, 47 + + ---- gates, 54 + + ---- hunting in, 25 + + ---- keepers of, 35 + + ---- Parliamentary army in, 28 + + ---- Plague in, 32 + + ---- railings round, 35, 46 + + ---- reviews in, 35 + + ---- Ring in, 28–30 + + ---- roads in, 36 + + ---- sale of, 28 + + ---- trees in, 51 + + ---- water in, 37, 42 + + + I + + Ice accident, 101 + + Ice-house in Green Park, 74 + + Inns of Court, 261–288 + + Ironmongers’ Almshouses, 296 + + Island Garden, Poplar, 133 + + Isle of Dogs, 133 + + Islip Abbot, 25 + + + J + + Jack Straw’s Castle, 194 + + Jacobite Walk, 73 + + James I., 59 + + James II., 67 + + Jefferies, Richard, 125, 210 + + Johnson, Thomas, 17, 19 + + + K + + Kennington Common, 164 + + Kennington Park, 164–166 + + ---- fountain in, 166 + + ---- historical incidents, 165 + + Kensington Gardens, 41–50 + + ---- trees in, 51 + + Kensington Palace, 36–40 + + Kent, landscape gardener, 40 + + Kyrle Society, 121 + + + L + + Ladywell Recreation Ground, 203 + + Lamb, Charles, 15, 279, 285 + + Lambeth, 305 + + Lammas Lands, 119, 186, 189 + + Latimer, Bishop, 306, 308 + + Laud, Archbishop, 305–306 + + Lauderdale House, Waterlow Park, 147 + + Le Nôtre, 61, 113 + + Lincoln, Earl of, 8 + + Lincoln’s Inn, 279–282 + + Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 234, 282 + + L’Obel, 16 + + Loddige, 17 + + London and Wise, 40 + + London County Council, equipment of, 123 + + ---- expenditure on parks, 6 + + ---- inappropriate planting by, 189, 204 + + ---- parks owned by, 4, 121 + + London Fields, 188 + + ---- Hospital Garden, 295 + + Loudon, 54, 90, 99, 223 + + + M + + Mall, The, 61, 66, 68, 70, 73, 77 + + Manor Park or Manor House Gardens, 182 + + Marble Arch, 54 + + ---- Hill, 121 + + Marvel, Andrew, 149 + + Mary, Queen, 40 + + Marylebone Fields, 89, 92 + + ---- origin of, 83 + + Marylebone Park, 84–89 + + ---- called Regent’s Park, 91 + + ---- lease to the Duke of Portland, 90 + + ---- Manor-house in, 89 + + Maryon Park, 181 + + Mayor of Garrett, 212 + + Meath Gardens, 248 + + ---- Earl of, 243 + + Metropolitan Commons Act, 186, 188 + + ---- Gardens Association, 121, 234, 243, 248 + + Milton, 60 + + Minet, Mr. William, 166 + + Mirabeau, letters of, 128, 220 + + Monastic gardens, 7, 8 + + Montagu House, 222, 232, 335 + + Montagu, Mrs., 222, 336 + + Moorfields, 10–12 + + Moorgate, 11 + + Moravian Mission, 15, 311 + + More, Sir Thomas, 311 + + Mother Shipton, 104 + + Municipal Parks, 119 + + ---- acreage of, 121 + + ---- criticisms upon, 184, 189, 204 + + ---- equipment of, 123 + + ---- flowers in, 124 + + ---- formation of, 120, 123, 136 + + ---- green-houses in, 124 + + ---- laying out of, 126 + + ---- old English gardens in, 127 + + ---- situation of, 120 + + Myatt’s Fields, Camberwell, 166–168 + + ---- avenue in, 126, 168 + + + N + + Naming plants, 54 + + Nash, architect, 90–91 + + Navy, timber in Marylebone Park used by Cromwell for, 88 + + Neate or Neyte, 24, 239 + + Nell Gwynn, 67, 147 + + Nesfield, 101 + + Nevill, Bishop of Chichester, 15 + + ---- Court, 15 + + New River, 142–143 + + North Woolwich tea garden, 134 + + Nunhead Green, 213 + + + O + + Observatory, Greenwich, 108 + + “Old English Gardens,” 151–154, 171 + + Open Spaces, Select Committee on, 187 + + Osborne, Dorothy, 60 + + + P + + Paddington Green, 213 + + Pall Mall, 66 + + Pardon Churchyard, Charterhouse, 236 + + ---- St. Paul’s, 250 + + Parkinson, John, 16, 298 + + Parks, acreage of, 4, 6, 122 + + ---- classes of, 3 + + ---- duels in, 33, 86, 157 + + ---- lighting of, 37, 79 + + ---- maintenance of, 5, 6 + + ---- Municipal, 3, 6, 121, 122, 159 + + ---- Royal, 3, 6, 122, 157 + + ---- sale of, 28, 87 + + Park system, 22 + + Parliament Hill, 192, 197 + + Parson’s Green, 213 + + Paul’s Cross, 252 + + Pawlet, Sir William, 14 + + Peckham Rye, 204 + + Pennethorne, Sir James, 157 + + Pepys, 12, 15, 31, 34, 65, 79, 115, 148, 180, 189, 206, 257, 280 + + Piccadilly, 76 + + Placentia or Plaisance, 108 + + Plague, 32, 196, 226, 236, 238, 257 + + Plane trees, 223 + + Plants suited to London, 330–335 + + Plumstead Common, 201 + + Portland Place, 89 + + Postman’s Park, 255 + + Potatoes, 17 + + Primrose Hill, 104 + + Private gardens, 327–356 + + + Q + + Quaggy River, 182 + + Queen’s House, Greenwich, 113–114 + + Queen’s Walk, Green Park, 75 + + Quintinye, de la, 61, 77 + + + R + + Ranelagh Gardens, 315 + + Ranger’s Lodge, Green Park, 76 + + ---- Greenwich Park, 115 + + Ravensbourne, 203 + + Ravenscourt Park, 152–154 + + ---- old English garden in, 154 + + ---- trees in, 153 + + Red House, Battersea, 156 + + Reform Bill riots, 46 + + Regent’s Park, 83–105 + + ---- architecture and houses, 91 + + ---- banqueting houses in, 85 + + ---- canal, 90 + + ---- deer, 88 + + ---- duels in, 86 + + ---- flowers in, 101–102 + + ---- formerly Marylebone Park, 84, 91 + + ---- hunting in, 85–86 + + ---- Manor-house in, 89, 97 + + ---- railings, 103 + + ---- sale by Cromwell, 87 + + ---- Societies in, 96 + + ---- stone vase in, 101 + + ---- villas in, 93–94, 347 + + Repton, Humphrey, 231–239 + + Rhododendrons in Hyde Park, 53 + + Ring in Hyde Park, 28–30 + + Riots in Hyde Park, 45 + + Rock gardens, 176 + + Rooks, 174, 288 + + Rosamond’s Pond, 58, 73 + + Roses, 9, 277, 334 + + Rotten Row, 36 + + Round Pond, 44 + + Royal Avenue, Chelsea, 312 + + Ruskin Park, 168–170 + + + S + + Saint Alphege, London Wall, 258 + + ---- Bartholomew’s Hospital, 289 + + ---- Botolph’s, Aldersgate, 255–256 + + ---- Christopher-le-Stocks, 258 + + ---- Dunstan’s Lodge, 93 + + ---- Dunstan’s, Stepney, 245 + + ---- George’s-in-the-East, 246 + + ---- Giles, Cripplegate, 258 + + ---- James’s Palace, 57, 348 + + ---- James’s Park, 25, 45, 56–82 + + ---- ---- ---- animals and birds in, 59, 61, 64,73 + + ---- ---- ---- canal in, 65 + + ---- ---- ---- cows in, 64 + + ---- ---- ---- driving privileges in, 71 + + ---- ---- ---- Duck Island, 62, 73 + + ---- ---- ---- flowers in, 80 + + ---- ---- ---- leper hospital in, 57 + + ---- ---- ---- a races in, 71 + + ---- ---- ---- Rosamond’s Pond, 58, 73 + + ---- ---- ---- tilting ring, 59 + + ---- John at Hackney, 245 + + ---- ---- Knights of, 7–8, 236, 264 + + ---- John’s Lodge, 74, 237 + + ---- Katherine Coleman, 256 + + ---- Katharine’s, Regent’s Park, 94, 437 + + ---- Leonard’s, Shoreditch, 18 + + ---- Martin, 259 + + ---- Mary Staining, 254 + + ---- Mary, Islington, 245 + + ---- Olave’s, Hart Street, 254–257 + + ---- Pancras-in-the-Fields, 243 + + ---- Paul’s Churchyard, 250–254 + + Sand gardens for children, 124, 139, 163 + + Sayes Court, Deptford, 325 + + Scott, Sir Gilbert, 50 + + Seething Lane, 16 + + Serpentine, 37–38, 42–45 + + Shakespeare, flowers of, 151, 154, 171 + + Shepherd’s Bush, 213 + + Shrubs suitable for London, 330 + + Skating, 45, 79, 101 + + ---- club, 97 + + Sloane, Sir Hans, 16, 318 + + Smoke, 69, 128, 129 + + Spa Fields, 247 + + “Spaniards,” Hampstead, 194 + + Spring flowers suitable for London, 334 + + Springfield Park, 144 + + Spring Gardens, 60 + + Squares, 217–241 + + ---- Bedford, 232 + + ---- Belgrave, 238 + + ---- Berkeley, 222 + + ---- Bloomsbury, 231 + + ---- Brompton, 240 + + ---- Brunswick, 296 + + ---- Cadogan Place, 239 + + ---- Cavendish, 221 + + ---- Eaton, 218, 239 + + ---- Finsbury, 237 + + ---- Golden, 226 + + ---- Grosvenor, 219, 221 + + ---- Hanover, 221 + + ---- in Belgravia, 238 + + ---- in Bloomsbury, 230, 297 + + ---- in the East End, 238 + + ---- Kensington, 240 + + ---- Ladbroke, 219 + + ---- Leicester, 227 + + ---- Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 234 + + ---- Manchester, 221 + + ---- Mecklenburgh, 297 + + ---- New, 235 + + ---- Portman, 222, 336 + + ---- Queen’s, 233 + + ---- Red Lion, 233 + + ---- Russell, 321 + + ---- Saint James’s, 223 + + ---- Soho, 229 + + ---- Southampton, 231 + + ---- statues in, 220, 225, 226, 229, 230, 231 + + ---- Trinity, 237 + + ---- Vincent, 238 + + Sorbiere, M. de, 62 + + South London Parks, 155–184 + + Southwark Park, 179 + + Stepney, Manor of, 139 + + ---- Museum, 146 + + Stoke Newington or Clissold Park, 141–144 + + Streatham Common, 209, 211 + + Sub-tropical Garden, Battersea, 158 + + Summer-houses, 86 + + Switzer, Stephen, 39 + + + T + + Telegraph Hill, 178 + + Templars, 7 + + Temple, The, 262, 264–279 + + ---- Bencher’s Garden, Inner, 275 + + ---- Bencher’s Garden, Middle, 275 + + Temple Garden, chambers built on the, 266 + + ---- flowers in, 272 + + ---- Fountain, 269–275 + + ---- green-house, 272 + + ---- iron gates, 271 + + ---- re-turfing, 268 + + ---- sun-dial, 271 + + ---- Wars of the Roses begin in, 277 + + Thrale Place, 209 + + Tinworth, sculpture by, 163–166 + + Tooting Beck, 208 + + ---- Common, 208, 210 + + ---- Graveney, 208 + + Tortoise at Lambeth, 307 + + Toxopholite Society, 307 + + Tradescant, 16, 298 + + Trees at Fulham, 310, 345 + + ---- in Chelsea Physic Garden, 321–323 + + ---- in Greenwich Park, 106, 110, 114 + + ---- in Hyde Park, 57 + + ---- in Municipal Parks, 125, 137, 141, 144, 145, 147, 151, 153, + 175, 182 + + ---- in Regent’s Park, 103 + + ---- in squares, 223 + + ---- pruning of, 128 + + Trinity Hospital, Mile End, 293 + + Turner, William, 257 + + Tyburn, Manor of, 56, 83 + + + U + + Upper Park, 74 + + Uvedale, Robert, 323 + + + V + + Vatcher, Rev. Sidney, 295 + + Vauxhall Gardens, 161 + + Vauxhall Park, 161–164 + + ---- purchase of, 162 + + Veitch, 17 + + Verjuice, 10 + + Victoria Docks, 157 + + Victoria Park, 120, 135–139 + + ---- birds in, 139 + + ---- planting in, 137 + + Victoria Park Cemetery, 248 + + Victoria, Queen, Memorial, 80 + + Vineyards, 9, 59, 180 + + Vintage, 10 + + + W + + Wages in 1554, 85 + + Wandsworth Common, 212 + + Waterlow Park, 145–150 + + ---- historical events in, 147–149 + + ---- ponds in, 147 + + ---- trees in, 147 + + Waterlow, Sir Sidney, 145, 149 + + Waterworks Company, 38 + + Westminster, 10, 25, 38, 58, 299 + + Westminster Abbey, 299–305 + + ---- gardens in monastic times, 302 + + ---- Little Cloister, 299 + + Whip Club, 54 + + Whitechapel, 18 + + Whitfield, 165 + + Wild flowers near London, 20 + + William III., 36, 41 + + Wine, 10 + + Winter Garden, Duke Street, 219 + + Wise, 41 + + Woolwich, 202 + + Wormwood Scrubs, 198 + + + Y + + Yews, Irish, 245 + + + Z + + Zoological Society, 100 + + Zouche, Lord, Garden in Hackney, 16 + + +THE END + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + +[Illustration: (map)] + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + +Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a +predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they +were not changed. + +Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation +marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left +unbalanced. + +Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs +and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support +hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to +the corresponding illustrations. + +The Errata following page 376 have been corrected in this eBook. + +Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of the pages that referenced them, +have been collected, sequentially renumbered, and placed near the end +of the book, just before the index. + +The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page +references. + +Page 203: “West Kent Grammer School” was printed that way. + +Pages 368–374: In the original book, asterisks indicating “not in +existence” were positioned at the left sides of the lines. In this +ebook, they are positioned at the right sides. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76057 *** |