REVIEWS. 



beauty or safety, have the single merit of consistency; they are in due proportion to all 

 the rest of London, and the character of the people. 



St. James' Park is the true size for every object for which a park should exist at all; 

 large enough for beauty, air, health, exercise. Nothing can be imagined more elegant in 

 its design, more complete in its plan and ornament. It may be considered a model for 

 all the world of landscape gardening, and for all city parks; any deviation from which 

 must be so far into error. It is a gem of beauty and elegance, and is, one cannot but 

 think, the most beautiful piece of cultivated ground in the world; so different in its 

 graceful curves from all our rectilinear plantings, and in its charming variegated shrub- 

 beries, from our unending monotonous elms. 1 would not decry the ehn. I saw no oak 

 or elm in England, that would compare for grandeur with our elms, especially of the 

 valley of the Connecticut. But we must beware of the proverb, "too much of a 

 good thing," &c. The elm is not everything. St. James Park combines the beauty of 

 the conservatory with the grandeur of forest planting. Here, trees, in groups, or if large, 

 insulated; there, a dense parterre of shrubs and llowers; then, in addition, sheets of 

 water with their appropriate inhabitants. Our Boston Common, with a moderate outlay 

 of taste and sense, might, with its naturally varied surface, have been made as beautiful 

 as the Park of St. James is now, one must suppose, — though still not too late for some 

 change for the better — condemned for all time to their geometrical lines of elms and ma- 

 ples, as if there were in nature neither such things as shrubs, flowers, or curved lines. 

 Our American idea of a city park, or square, seems to be — it is not the same thing in all 

 cities — rows of forest trees, with straight paths between, which will conduct the business 

 man, by the shortest possible cut, to his shop or his couning-room, allowing never the sac- 

 rifice of a foot or an inch to taste, the love of beauty, or the enjoyment of a walk. With 

 the single exception of the Common in Boston, no other park or square in the country, 

 exceeds some ten or fifteen acres. And, though so small, yet if well laid out, it were in 

 most cases enough — better at least, and less of a nuisance — for that they are with all their 

 vast extent — than Hyde, Regent's, or Victoria." 



The impression of vastness produced on the mind of Mr. Ware b}' the London Parks, 

 is precisely that which is felt by all Americans at first sight, and so far we agree with him. 

 But he seems to have overlooked the highest merit of those parks, as compared with the 

 larger parks of the continental cities, though his description clearly shows that he felt 

 what he did not understand the true value of, viz: their truthful expression of nafitre. 

 That they are like vast landed estates — portions of real country, with trees, streams of 

 water, broad meadow-like surfaces, untouched by art, is just their highest praise, both as 

 proving the real fondness of the English for natural beauty, (for all continental town 

 parks are formal,) and as evincing a knowledge of the great charm and power of contrast 

 in art; for nothing can be finer than the contrast of the great London Parks, so rural, so 

 simple, so entirely natural in character, with the highly artificial aspect of the elaborated 

 and complex streets and buildings of the city. 



But Mr. Wake makes also a greater practical mistake when he complains of the useless 

 size of the great London Parks. His error can onl}^ be explained by sunposing he could 

 only have seen them when London was comparatively deserted, or that he only walked 

 there in the morning — when they always look lonely. One of the main uses of the great 

 parks — Hyde Park, for instance — is for the purpose of taking exercise in carriages or on 

 horse-back. St. James' Park, which is not undeservedly Mr. Ware's beau ideal, is only 

 a park for promenade. It is too small for any other purpose, (though containing 87 

 acres,) and we have several times seen its numerous broad walks and alleys absolutely 

 thronged with men, women and children, all enjoying their promenade. To understand 

 the value of the Parks of London, one must visit them day after day, in the London " sea- 

 son" — and from half past three to six o'clock in the afternoon. He will then see Hyde 

 Park, vast as it seems in the morning, completely and wholly taken possession of. The 

 circle, four or five miles round, will be one unbroken line of carriages, of all 

 descriptions — Rotten Row, as the space particularly set apart for equestrians 



No. XI. 3^ 



