SOUTH-EAST LONDON 223 



to feed but do not live. Greenwich Park con- 

 tains 185 acres, inclusive of the enclosed grounds 

 attached to the ranger's lodge, which are now 

 open to the public. But though not more than 

 half the area of Hyde Park, it really strikes one 

 as being very large on account of the hilly 

 broken surface in parts and the large amount 

 of old timber. This park has a curiously aged 

 and somewhat stately appearance, and so long 

 as the back is kept turned on the exceedingly 

 dirty and ugly-looking refreshment building 

 which disgraces it, one cannot fail to be im- 

 pressed. At the same time I find that this 

 really fine park, which I have known for many 

 years, invariably has a somewhat depressing 

 effect on me. It may be that the historical 

 associations of Greenwich, from the effects of 

 which even those who concern themselves little 

 with the past cannot wholly escape, are partly 

 the cause of the feeling. Its memories are of 

 things dreadful, and magnificent, and some 

 almost ludicrous, but they are all in some 

 degree hateful. After all, perhaps the thoughts 

 of a royal wife-killing ruffian and tyrant, a 

 dying boy king, and a fantastic virgin queen, 

 a.ffect me less than the sight of the old lopped 



