MUNICIPAL PARKS 145 



well-planted gardens overlooking the marshes and fertile 

 flats below. These delightful houses are becoming more 

 rare every year, and it is fortunate that the grounds of 

 one of the most attractive should have been preserved as 

 a public park. The place was well cared for in old days, 

 as the good specimen trees testify. A flourishing purple 

 beech is growing up, also a sweet chestnut and several 

 birches. A very old black mulberry still survives, 

 although showing signs of age. There are other nice 

 timber trees on the hillside, and among the shrubs an 

 Arbutus unedo^ the strawberry tree, is one of the most 

 unusual. This Park, though small, is quite unlike any 

 other, and has much to recommend it to the general public, 

 while in the more immediate neighbourhood it is greatly 

 appreciated. 



Waterlow Park 



Undoubtedly the most beautiful of all the parks is 

 Waterlow, the munificent gift of Sir Sydney Waterlow. 

 Its situation near Highgate, above all City smoke ; its 

 steep slopes and fine trees ; its old garden and historic 

 associations, combine to give it a character and a charm 

 of its own. It is small in comparison with such parks 

 as Victoria, Battersea, or Finsbury, being only 29 acres, 

 but it has a fascination quite out of proportion to 

 its size. There are few pleasanter spots on a summer's 

 day, and at any season of the year it would well repay a 

 visit. It is especially attractive when the great city with 

 its domes and towers is seen clearly at the foot of the 

 hill. London from a distance never looks hard and 

 sharp and clear, like some foreign towns. The buildings 

 do not stand up in definite outline like the churches of 

 Paris looked down upon from the Eiff^el Tower : the 



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