72 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



still restricted to those who receive special permission 

 from the sovereign. 



The Park had never been drained, and had always 

 shown signs of its marshy origin, and " Duck Island " 

 was really a natural swamp. An unusually high tide 

 flooded the low-lying end where the Horse Guards' 

 Parade and the houses of Downing Street with their 

 little gardens now stand. What state secrets they could 

 divulge had they the power of speech ! The tilting- 

 ground was often in a condition quite unfit for the 

 exercise of troops, so with a view to preventing this, it 

 was paved with stone early in the eighteenth century. 

 It has always been used for military displays, and the 

 trooping of the colours on the King's birthday takes 

 place on the same ground which witnessed the brilliant 

 scene when the colours, thirty-eight in number, captured 

 at the battle of Blenheim were conveyed to Westminster 

 Abbey. On the parade-ground now stands the gun cast 

 at Seville, used by Soult at Cadiz, and taken after the 

 battle of Salamanca. Here many an impressive cere- 

 mony of distributing medals, and countless parades, have 

 taken place through many generations. Here, with the 

 brutality of old days, corporal punishment was ad- 

 ministered, and offending soldiers were flogged in full 

 view of the merry-making crowds assembled in the Park. 

 Round the Park lay other marshy lands, also frequently 

 flooded by the Thames, and it was not surprising that 

 on one occasion an otter found its way from the river and 

 settled down on Duck Island and there grew fat on the 

 King's carp. Sir Robert Walpole sent to Houghton for 

 his otter-hounds, and an exciting hunt ensued, in which 

 the Duke of Cumberland took part, and the offending 

 otter was captured. 



