II. 



KEW-GARDENS: NEW HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT: A 

 NOBLEMAN'S SEAT. 



August, 1850. 



MY DEAR SIR : I intended to say something to you in this 

 letter of the enormous parks of London absolute woods and 

 prairies, in the midst of a vast and populous city ; but the subject 

 is one that demands more space than I have at my disposal to-day, 

 and I shall therefore reserve it for the future. I will merely say, 

 en passant, that every American who visits London, whether for the 

 first or the fiftieth time, feels mortified that no city in the United 

 States has a public park here so justly considered both the highest 

 luxury and necessity in a great city. What are called parks in 

 New- York, are not even apologies for the thing ; they are only 

 squares, or paddocks. In the parks of London, you may imagine 

 yourself in the depths of the country, with, apparently, its bound- 

 less space on all sides ; its green turf, fresh air, and, at certain times 

 of the day, almost its solitude and repose. And at other times, 

 they are the healthful breathing zone of hundreds of thousands of 

 citizens ! 



THE NATIONAL GARDEN AT KEW. I have just come from a 

 visit to Sir William Hooker's, at Kew Park. He is the director 

 of the Royal Gardens at Kew, a short distance from his house, 

 where we spent almost the entire day together, exploring in detail 

 the many intersting features of this place, now admitted to be the 

 finest public botanic garden in Europe. 



It is only within a few years that Kew Gardens have been given 



