SURVEY OF THE PARKS : WEST LONDON 161 



make a wonderful difference. There is a 

 miraculous quality in their voice. In the best 

 of many poems which the Poet Laureate has 

 addressed to this, his favourite bird, he 

 sings : 



Hearing thee first, who pines or grieves 

 For vernal smiles and showers ! 



Thy voice is greener than the leaves, 

 And fresher than the flowers. 



Even here in mid-London the effect is the same, 

 and a strange glory fills the old ruined and 

 deserted place. But, alas ! 'tis but an illusion, 

 and is quickly gone. The tendency for many 

 years past has been towards a greater artifi- 

 ciality. It saves trouble and makes for pretti- 

 ness to cut down decaying trees. To take 

 measures to prevent their fall, to drape them 

 with ivy and make them beautiful in decay, 

 would require some thought and care. It 

 is not so long ago that Matthew Arnold com- 

 posed his 'Lines written in Kensington Gardens.' 

 It seems but the other day that he died ; but 

 how impossible it would be for anyone to-day, 

 at this spot, to experience the feeling which 

 inspired those matchless verses ! 



M 



