REGULATION OF COMMONS. 319 
perhaps more important to the health and enjoyment 
of the people of their district than any others in London. 
They are in the centre of a dense population, very in- 
adequately supplied with open spaces and breathing- 
places. They are worn almost bare by the constant 
use of the public for games. None of these spaces are 
Commons in the ordinary sense of the term. They 
are commonable lands, or common fields, survivals of 
the early system of communal tenure, referred to early 
in this work. They used to be inclosed during a part 
of the year, to be held in severalty by divers owners for 
the haying season, and to be thrown open to the cattle 
of all on Lammas day. This closing of the land in 
severalty had long fallen into disuse, in the case of 
Hackney Downs and London Fields, and no cattle 
were ever turned out there. The custom of shutting 
up for severalty was continued in the Hackney Marshes 
till recently. Mr. Tyssen Amherst, now Lord Amherst 
of Hackney, the owner of a great property in the dis- 
trict, which has of late years become most valuable 
for building purposes, is the Lord of the Manor of 
Hackney. His interest in these Commons, having 
regard to the rights in severalty of the tenants of his 
Manor, must have been very small. 
In 1872, the Inclosure Commissioners approved of a 
scheme for the regulation of Hackney Downs and 
London Fields, not including the Marshes. The Lord 
of the Manor, in spite of his great interest in the 
district, and comparatively small interest in the 
Common Fields, did not consent to it, though he 
