CHAPTER III 



ST. JAMES'S AND GREEN PARKS 



Near this my Muse, nvhat most delights her, sees 

 A living Gallery of Aged Trees : 

 Bold sons of Earthy that thrust their Arms so high. 

 As if once more they tvould invade the Sky. 



Here Charles contrives the ordering of his States ; 

 Here he resolves his neighboring Princes^ Fates ; 



A Prince on ivhom such dijf^ rent Lights did smile. 

 Born the divided World to reconcile. 

 Whatever Heaven or high extracted Blood 

 Could promise or for et el, he'll make it good. 

 Reform these Nations, and improve them more 

 Than this fair Park, from ivhat it 'was before. 



— St. James's Park : " Poetical Essay," by Waller. 



HE opening history of St. James's 



and Green Parks is similar to that 



of Hyde Park. They formed part 



of the same manor in early days, 



and became Crown property in 



Henry VIII. 's time. St. James's 



Park was chiefly a marsh. The 



Thames overflowed its banks 



nearly every year, and the low-lying parts were a swamp 



and the haunt of wild fowl, and the chief use of the 



Park was for the sport the wild birds afforded. The 



Tyburn flowed through it on its way from where it 



56 



