2IO LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



elms is a cause of regret. It is such, perhaps necessary, 

 alterations which spoil the delusion of genuine country, 

 otherwise so well counterfeited on Tooting Common. 

 A charming time is when the may is out and the gorse 

 ablaze with bloom, the chestnuts in blossom, and birds 

 are singing all around ; or if one happens to be there 

 on a winter's day, when it is too cold for loungers or 

 holiday-makers, there are moments when the nearness 

 of streets and trams could be forgotten. The frosty 

 air, and dew-drops on the vivid green grass, the brown 

 of the fallen leaves, the dark stems clear against an 

 amber sky, with the intense blue distance, which London 

 atmosphere produces so readily, combine harmoniously 

 into a telling picture, which remains photographed " upon 

 that inward eye, which is the gift of solitude." The 

 dream is as quickly dispelled. A sight, a sound, recalls 

 the nearness of London, which makes its presence felt 

 even when one is trying to play Hide-and-seek with 

 the chimney-pots. How well Richard Jefferies, that 

 inimitable writer on nature, describes his feelings in the 

 neighbourhood of London, in spots only a little further 

 from Hyde Park Corner than Tooting Beck : — 



" Though my preconceived ideas were overthrown by 

 the presence of so much that was beautiful and interest- 

 ing close to London, yet in course of time I came to 

 understand what was at first a dim sense of something 

 wanting. In the shadiest lane, in the still pine-woods, on 

 the hills of purple heather, after brief contemplation 

 there arose a restlessness, a feeling that it was essential to 

 be moving. In no grassy mead was there a nook where 

 I could stretch myself in slumbrous ease and watch the 

 swallows ever wheeling, wheeling in the sky. This was 

 the unseen influence of mighty London. The strong 



