London Parks ^ Gardens 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



London, thou art the Flour of cities all, 



— William Dunbar, 146 5- 1530. 



ONDON 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. 



A 



