66 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



passing down between the canal and the duck decoy to 

 a semicircular double avenue near the tilting-ground. 

 Deer wandered under fine old oaks between the canal 

 and the avenues of " the Mall." These old trees have 

 gradually disappeared, as much through gales as from 

 the wanton destruction of the would-be improver. At 

 the hour of Cromwell's death, when the storm was so 

 fierce the Royalists said it was due to fiends coming to 

 claim their own, much havoc was wrought ; and from 

 time to time similar destructions have taken place, one 

 of the most serious being in November 1703, when 

 part of the wall and over 100 elms were blown down. 

 Another notable gale was on March 15, 1752, when 

 many people lost their lives. " In St. James's Park and 

 the villages about the metropolis great numbers of trees 

 were demolished." 



The broad pathway, between avenues on the opposite 

 side of the Park to the Birdcage Walk, now called the 

 Mall, derives this name from the game of " paille- 

 maille," which is known to have been played in France 

 as early as the thirteenth century, and which was popular 

 in England in the seventeenth. The locality, however, 

 where it was first played in James I.'s time was on the 

 northern side of the street, which is still called from it. 

 Pall Mall. In those days fields stretched away beyond 

 where now St. James's Square lies, and a single row of 

 houses lay between the playground and the Park. As 

 the game became more the fashion, the coaches and dust 

 were found too disturbing for enjoyment, and a new 

 ground was laid out, running parallel to the old one, 

 but within the Park. The game is considered by some 

 to be a forerunner of croquet, as it was played with a ball 

 ( =pila) and mallet, the name being derived from these 



