HAMPSTEAD HEATH. 53 
and did not appreciate the importance of defeating the 
claims of the lords in these early cases. Mr. Gurney 
Hoare and the Commoners were glad to be relieved of 
their suit, which might have entailed costs on them. They 
were satisfied if their own Heath was preserved to them, 
and they were not disposed to think of the interests of 
other Commons. Finally, an arrangement was effected 
under which Sir Spencer Maryon Wilson transferred all 
his rights, as Lord of the Manor of Hampstead, to the 
Metropolitan Board for the sum of £45,000—an 
excessive sum, in proportion to their real value 
(especially when regarded by the light of subsequent 
experience in respect of other Commons, where the 
litigation was fought out), but very small in proportion 
to the freehold value of the land, if the Lord of the 
Manor should prove his right to inclose, or in compari- 
son with the sum of £400,000 originally suggested 
by the lord before the commencement of the suit. 
The result of the case, therefore, was a substantial 
victory for the views put forward by the Commons 
Society ; though it would have been preferable, in the 
interest of all the other cases, that the suit should 
have been brought to issue, and a judgment given 
on the rights of the Commoners. The Heath 
has since the date of this compromise been under 
the charge and management of the Metropolitan Board 
and its successor, the London County Couneil. 
The settlement of the Hampstead Heath suit, 
and the sense of security engendered by its being 
vested in a public authority, for the enjoyment of 
