HYDE PARK 33 



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," " fear- 

 ing 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 



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