CHAP. VIII.] FINSBURY CI11CUS GAKDENS. 77 



Circus, from the Corporation of the London Institution, from the 

 Ophthalmic Hospital, from the inhabitants of the district who use 

 and frequent Finsbury Circus, &c. &c., to both Houses of Parlia- 

 ment. There were numerous deputations also against the rail- 

 ways to the Board of Trade to the First Commissioner of Office 

 of Works, &c. Yoluminous, too, was the correspondence between 

 my father and the late Lord Derby, Sir William Tite, Sir Joseph 

 Paxton, and many others, on the subject. But I think the rail- 

 way promoters wished Alfred Smee had lived in any other part 

 of London than in Finsbury Circus. 



The result of this fight was that the railways were all worsted 

 with the exception of the Metropolitan, which only carried the bill 

 by the insertion of a clause that it was only to tunnel underneath 

 the garden, and not to destroy any of the houses or the garden, 

 and was to pay 100 for the annual keeping up of the latter. 

 Here again we find that my father's energetic character carried 

 all before him. I must here plead guilty, as having done my best 

 to fan the flame of opposition to the railways, for even those 

 who had no unfriendly spirit towards them were like chaff driven 

 before the wind, and found themselves opposing that which they 

 would otherwise have let go unheeded. 



That Mr. Smee did not cease to take an interest in Finsbury 

 Circus Gardens after the termination of this fight, is shown by 

 the following letter. He also greatly assisted and promoted the 

 holding of Horticultural Shows in the Gardens. We thus see 

 that even in small matters he was as enthusiastic and as energetic 

 as he was in more weighty matters. So far as he himself was 

 concerned, he was perfectly indifferent whether Finsbury Circus 

 was or was not converted into a railway station. Still, in so 

 crowded a place as the city of London, it must be a matter of 

 gratification to the citizens that one open space is reserved for 

 them. 



FINSBURY CIRCTJS GARDENS. 



According to promise, I have made an inspection of Finsbury Circus 

 Gardens. 



The contractors were willing to meet the views of the inhabitants, 

 inasmuch as they undertook to provide any reasonable quantity of earth 

 to improve the design of the parts of the garden injured by the railway 

 works ; and it was hoped that this London garden might in some manner 

 have partaken of the picturesque features of Paris gardens. 



However, the general curves and contour lines, which were exceedingly 

 well laid in the former garden, are now arranged in such an extraordinary 



