COMMONS & OPEN SPACES 213 



couraged by Foote, Wilkes, and others, witty speeches 

 were made. Foote wrote a farce called " The Mayor 

 of Garratt," which for some time gave the ceremony 

 no small celebrity. The rowdyism becoming serious 

 at the sham elections, they were suppressed in 1796. 

 When the Common was eventually saved, it was in a 

 bad and untidy state : quantities of gravel had been 

 dug, and holes, some of them filled with water, were 

 a danger ; the trees had all disappeared, and the whole 

 surface was bare and muddy. It has improved since 

 then, but there is nothing picturesque left. The "Three 

 Island Pond," which is supposed to be its greatest 

 beauty, is stiff, formal, and new-looking, with a few 

 straggly trees growing up. Still it is safely preserved 

 as an open space, and makes a good recreation ground. 



All round London, besides the larger commons, 

 smaller greens are to be found, which are survivals of 

 the old village greens. They recall the time when 

 London was a walled city, and thickly scattered round 

 it were the little hamlets which have now been absorbed 

 by the ever-growing, monster town. 



There is little that is distinctive about them. For 

 the most part they are simply open spaces of well-worn 

 turf without trees. Shepherd's Bush is one of these. 

 Brook Green, in Hammersmith, not very far from it, 

 has the remains of a few fine elm trees. In Fulham 

 there are Parson's Green and Eel Brook Common. 

 Away in South London, Goose Green and Nunhead 

 Green are other examples where grass is even more 

 inconspicuous. 



On the north lies Paddington Green, which is small 

 in extent, but close to the large graveyard turned into a 

 public garden. In the centre of the Green a statue to 



