8o LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



The same lamps inspired another poet, who wrote, 

 just before the destruction of the avenues took place : — 



** Hail, Royal Park ! what various charms are thine ; 

 Thy patent lamps pale Cynthia's rays outshine, 

 Thy limes and elms with grace majestic grow 

 All in a row." 



Yet once more has St. James's Park been subjected to 

 renovation. The work, which is a memorial to our late 

 beloved Queen Victoria, is not yet completed, so its 

 description must be imperfect. The design aims at 

 drawing together the several quarters of the Park 

 towards Buckingham Palace and a central group of 

 statuary. The Mall is now the scene of ceaseless traffic, 

 and the sauntering pedestrian is a thing of the past. A 

 wide road runs at right angles across the Green Park, 

 and so once again more closely associates the Upper with 

 the Lower St. James's Park. Probably the greatest praise 

 of the alterations would be to say that Le Notre would 

 have approved them. They seem to complete the 

 design in a fitting manner, but they banish once and for 

 all time, the semi-rural character which for so many 

 centuries clung to the Park. The design includes a 

 series of formal parterres which are filled with bedding- 

 out plants raised in Hyde Park. In the summer of 

 1906 they were planted with scarlet geraniums with an 

 edging of grasses and foliage and a few golden privets, 

 and on hot July days there were many people ready to 

 pronounce the arrangement as extremely bad taste. It 

 seemed a reversion to the days when a startling mass of 

 colour was the only effect aimed at. As they appeared 

 all through the mild October days, when a soft foggy 

 light enveloped the world, and the trees looked dark and 



