SOUTH-EAST LONDON 231 



narrow end of the ground a very attractive 

 prospect lies before the sight : the green wide 

 space of the Eye is seen to be bounded by a 

 wood (the park), and beyond the wood are 

 green hills Furze Hill, and One Tree, or Oak 

 of Honor, Hill. The effect of distance is pro- 

 duced by the trees and hills, and the scene is, 

 for this part of London, strikingly rural. The 

 park at the broad extremity of the Eye, I 

 have said, has the appearance of a wood ; and 

 it is or was a wood, or the well-preserved frag- 

 ment of one, as perfect a transcript of wild 

 nature as could be found within four miles of 

 Charing Cross. This park was acquired for the 

 public in 1891, and as the wildest and best por- 

 tion was enclosed with an iron fence to keep 

 the public out, some of us cherished the hope 

 that the County Council meant to preserve it in 

 the exact condition in which they received it. 

 There the self-planted and never mutilated trees 

 nourished in beautiful disorder, their lower 

 boughs mingling with the spreading luxuriant 

 brambles ; and tree, bramble, and ivy were 

 one with the wild grasses and woodland 

 blossoms among them. If, as tradition tells, 

 King John hunted the wild stag at Peckham, he 



