COMMONS & OPEN SPACES 201 



earth, like the golden showers which fell on Danae in her 

 prison. 



The attractive wood-clad hills of Bostall are the 

 most remote of all London's open spaces. They lie the 

 furthest east on the fringe of the suburbs. From Bostall 

 westward roofs and chimney-pots become continuous — 

 Woolwich, Greenwich, Deptford, Bermondsey, South- 

 wark getting more and more densely crowded. But 

 westward also begins the chain of commons which circle 

 the town round the southern border — with breaks, it is 

 true, yet so nearly continuous that from the highest 

 point of one, the view almost ranges on to the next. 



Only a deep valley, with Wickham Lane on the track 

 of a Roman road, divides Bostall Wood from Plumstead 

 Common. This is open and breezy, standing high 

 above what was in ancient times the marsh overflowed by 

 the Thames. The greater part is, however, used by the 

 military, and the trample of horse artillery makes it look 

 like a desert. It is a curious effect to see this part of 

 the Common in winter. It has probably been used for 

 manoeuvring all the week, and by Saturday afternoon 

 there are pools of mud, and ruts, and furrows, and hoof- 

 marks all over it. On this dreary waste hundreds of 

 boys and young men, sorted according to age, play more 

 or less serious football matches. The coats of the 

 players, in four little heaps, do duty for goal-posts, 

 and these are so thickly strewn over the surface, and 

 the players so closely mingled, that the effect is like 

 bands of savages fighting among their slain — the ancient 

 barrow in the centre of the ground gives colour to the 

 supposition. 



A sudden deep valley, called " the Slade," cuts the 

 Common in two. In the hollow there are ponds, and on 



