II AM PS TE AD HEATH. 53 



and did not appreciate the importance of defeating the 

 claims of the lords in these early cases. Mr. Gurney 

 Hoare and the Commoners were glad to be relieved of 

 their suit, which might have entailed costs on them. They 

 were satisfied if their own Heath was preserved to them, 

 and they were not disposed to think of the interests of 

 other Commons. Finally, an arrangement was effected 

 under which Sir Spencer Mary on Wilson transferred all 

 his rights, as Lord of the Manor of Hampstead, to the 

 Metropolitan Board for the sum of 45,000 an 

 excessive sum, in proportion to their real value 

 (especially when regarded by the light of subsequent 

 experience in respect of other Commons, where the 

 litigation was fought out), but very small in proportion 

 to the freehold value of the land, if the Lord of the 

 Manor should prove his right to inclose, or in compari- 

 son with the sum of 400,000 originally suggested 

 by the lord before the commencement of the suit. 



The result of the case, therefore, was a substantial 

 victory for the views put forward by the Commons 

 Society ; though it would have been preferable, in the 

 interest of all the other cases, that the suit should 

 have been brought to issue, and a judgment given 

 on the rights of the Commoners. The Heath 

 has since the date of this compromise been under 

 the charge and management of the Metropolitan Board 

 and its successor, the London County Council. 



The settlement of the Hampstead Heath suit, 

 and the sense of security engendered by its being 

 vested in a public authority, for the enjoyment of 



