110 THE PAinvS AND GARDENS OF TAIUS. [Cnvr. YIII 



CHAPTER YIII. 



Squares. 



It would perhaps be difficult to find a greater contrast than that 

 presented by the London and the Paris squares, both as regards 

 their arrangement and management. Most people are familiar 

 enough with the aspects of squares in London, their ill-keeping, 

 melancholy and deserted air, well though the scraggy hedges 

 of miserable Privet conceal their interior. Indeed they are 

 so carefully hedged in and locked up that of them might well 

 be written the motto, " Thieves without, and nothing to steal 

 within." 



If we glance at the state of a few of the best-known squares in 

 Paris before entering on the general question of the management 

 of city squares, we shall be able to get a general idea of the very 

 different system pursued in that city, and of its value as a guide 



