AROUND HAMPTON COURT 129 



considered before everybody else. Good fat land 

 is a great gift ; all the same, I often feel that we 

 — I am speaking now as a temporary dweller 

 where commons are many and wide — ought to be 

 grateful for the bad and barren. We have, you 

 see, followed those who, if it had not been for 

 precious poor stuff being mixed up with the other 

 sort, would not have had the use of any land at 

 all. As we are all descended from the very highest 

 aristocracy, and could prove that same if we only 

 go back long enough, I shall not be hurting any- 

 one's feelings except in a family way, in writing 

 that the great folk, who permitted the inferior 

 clay to get what they could out of unproductive 

 sandy wastes and such, were liberal only to the 

 extent of giving away what was of no earthly use 

 to themselves. That explains why where the 

 ground is bad you get good measure of common ; 

 and, according to my view, we of this present 

 century have to give thanks that such a large 

 acreaofe was no ofood for the lord of the manor or 

 other big man to use, and not worth anyone's 

 grabbing before our natives left off wanting a 

 bit of ground good enough to cultivate round 

 their dwellings, and, let me add, ere golf came to 

 be in vogue. We should not have any commons 

 now to speak of if golf had been popular a century 

 ago. Look at Weston Green ! There is practi- 

 cally no common left since a golf club established 

 itself there. 



In those same parts an old-time advertise- 

 ment in which I took considerable delight has 

 been disestablished. That is, the ancient legend 

 set forth for many years on the pub. near the 

 corner of Weston Green as you go from Thames 

 Ditton to Esher. I felt several pangs on missing 



I 



