1054 



THE NATURE BOOK 



of a mythical prince will live in the odour 

 of sanctity as the founder of this beautiful 

 pleasure ground, which will, of course, 

 easily survive a mere two thousand 

 j'ears. 



Our Londoner will enjoy his Park the 

 more if he has a little knowledge of its 

 history, and some imagination. It seems 

 a pity that some brief printed record is 

 not easily available (it might even be 

 posted upon a board at the entrance). 

 The visitor would then learn that in early 

 times the Park formed part of a large 

 oak forest, the property of tlie crown, 

 and used as a Royal Chase. The oaks — 

 several thousands of them — were cut 

 down in the time of the Commonwealth 

 for navy building ; there is not an oak 

 left. The land was afterwards cultivated 

 in three farms until 1811, when the estate 

 was " developed," and the Park formed 

 for the use of the public, " H.R.H. taking 

 a gracious interest in the proceedings." 



The oaks are gone, but three large elms 

 in the neighbourhood of the Zoological 

 Gardens are rehcs of the days of agri- 



culture ; they once stood in the farm 

 hedgerows. 



The blood of the Anglo-Saxon plough- 

 men is still thick in our veins ; and the 

 idea at least of farming has a strong attrac- 

 tion for most EngUshmen, not e.xcepting 

 the inhabitants of London ; and so we 

 cannot help feeling regretful for those 

 vanished farms. The taste of " society " 

 at the time would no doubt have scouted 

 the idea, but I am sure that Tom, Dick, 

 and Harry, then as now, would have 

 been glad if something at least of that 

 rustic life could have been preserved — 

 some of the land continued in cultivation 

 as a London farm. 



I know that to many thousands of 

 people it would have been a pure delight 

 to walk in a lane, rutty as possible, and 

 bordered with hedges of black and white 

 thorn, dogwood, and hazel, blooming with 

 honeysuckle in its season ; from which 

 might be seen the plough turning the 

 crumbling earth, with rooks, belonging to 

 carefully preserved London rookeries, 

 following hard in the furrow ; to watch 



