THE LONDON PARKS. 549 



pleasure-ground scenery with broad glades turf, noble trees, 

 rich masses of shrubbery and flowering plants lakes filled with 

 rare water-fowl, and the proper surroundings, in fact, to two royal 

 palaces and the finest private houses in London ; but still, all open 

 to the enjoyment of hundreds of thousands daily. You look out 

 upon the forest of verdure in Green Park, as you sit in the windows 

 of our present minister's fine mansion in Piccadilly, astonished at 

 the breadth and beauty of the green landscape, which seems to you 

 more like a glimpse into one of the loveliest pleasure-grounds on 

 the Hudson, than the belongings of the great Metropolis. 



But the pride of London is in Hyde Park and Kensington 

 Gardens, which, together, contain nearly eight hundred acres, so 

 that you have to make a circuit of nearly seven miles to go over 

 the entire circumference. If you enter Hyde Park between seven 

 and eight in the morning, when all the world of fashion is asleep, 

 you will fancy, after you have left the great gateways and the fine 

 collosal statue of Achilles far enough behind you to be quite out of 

 sight, that you have made a mistake and strolled out into the coun- 

 try unawares. Scarcely a person is to be seen at this time of day, 

 unless it be some lonely foot-passenger, who looks as if he had lost 

 his way, or his wits, at this early hour. But you see broad grass 

 meadows with scattered groups of trees, not at all unlike what you 

 remember on the smooth banks of the Connecticut, and your im- 

 pression that you have got astray and quite out of the reach of the 

 Metropolis, is confirmed by hearing the tinkle of sheep-bells and 

 seeing flocks of these and other pastoral creatures, feeding quietly 

 on the short turf of the secluded portions of the park. You walk 

 on till you are quite weary, without finding the end of the matter 

 for Kensington Gardens, which is only another and a larger park, 

 is but the continuation of Hyde Park and you turn back in a sort 

 of bewildered astonishment at the vastness and wealth of a city 

 which can afford such an illimitable space for the pleasure of air 

 and exercise of its inhabitants. 



That is Hyde Park in dishabille. Now go in again with me in 

 the afternoon, any time during the London season, and you shall 

 see the same place in full dress, and so altered and animated by 



