220 FISHES AND TISniNG. 



the Paddington Canal, by an arch near Westbourne 

 Green, went through some tea gardens at Bayswater, 

 so called from the name of the above rivulet, thence 

 the stream passed partly under a bridge across the 

 Uxbridge E-oad, and entered the upper end of the 

 Serpentine Eiver, in Kensington Gardens. Sixty 

 years ago, and I do not know how recently, young anglers 

 found amusement at these tea gardens in catching 

 roach, paying sixpence for the afternoon, or nothing if 

 they had tea there. I am informed that this brook, 

 having become exceedingly filthy, through the large 

 increase of buildings in that locality, had been 

 arched over by the Commissioners of Sewers, and its 

 course diverted to a large sewer leading to the 

 Thames. Where the supply of water now comes 

 from to preserve that of the Serpentine in anything 

 like a healthy state, I do not know ; but any super- 

 abundance of the water from the Serpentine, passes 

 under some of the houses at Knightsbridge, into the 

 Ranelagb common sewer, and thence to the Thames, 

 close to which a water company drew their supplies 

 in 1827; a shameful proceeding, properly exposed, 

 and I think now prevented by the Acts of the legis- 

 lature ; the guilty parties, directors and officers, 

 ought to have been condemned to have no other 

 beverage than that taken from the very spot which 

 tliey chose as fit for their customers. In former 

 pages I have spoken of the fishing in this water. 



