PARK TREES 133 



Purple Plum, Hornbeam, Birch of good size, Purple 

 Beech, and brighter flowering Thorns, including the 

 Cockspur and Tansy-leaved. 



It was beneath a tree in Regent's Park, near York 

 Gate, that Elizabeth Barrett, after gazing long at the 

 leaves and sky, consented to marry Robert Browning. 

 Mrs. Baillie-Saunders, in her charming book, * The 

 Great Folk of Old Marylebone,' says : ' She drove, 

 accompanied by her sister, to Regent's Park, alighted, 

 and walked on the grass and leaned against a tree, 

 and looked long at the leaves and sky thinking. Then 

 she went home and wrote off " Yes " a slight figure 

 in a black robe, and under the black " Granny " bonnet 

 a little face like a white rose and eyes like a spaniel's, 

 with a smile of a seraph in them and a mist of womanly 

 tears.' 



Park Square Gardens are also of interest for the 

 varied collection of well-grown Elms, Ash, Thorns and 

 other trees that the grounds contain. The Catalpa 

 has attained to a large size by the entrance gate at 

 Park Square West, and the Weeping Ash and Elm 

 afford good shade in these well-kept gardens. Planes 

 of large size, the Ailanthus, White Beam tree, Copper- 

 coloured Beech, Purple-leaved Plum, Birch, Sumach, 

 and Laburnums are all well represented. 



The Royal Botanic Garden in Regent's Park was 

 a century ago a well-known tree nursery, to which 

 fact may be attributed the varied collection of old and 

 uncommon specimens for which these grounds are 

 celebrated. London can boast of no finer specimen 

 of the Manna Ash, Weeping Elm, Silver Maple, White 

 Beam tree, Quince or Medlar than is to be seen in 

 these ideal grounds ; while the rare Liquidambar, 

 Ptelea, Mulberry, Cork Oak, and a varied collection of 



