London Parks Gardens 
CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY 
London , thou art the Flour of cities all . 
—William Dunbar, 1465-1530. 
ONDON has a peculiar fascination 
of its own, and to a vast number 
of English-speaking people all 
over the world it appeals with 
irresistible force. So much has 
been said and written about it 
that the theme might seem to be 
worn out, yet there are still fresh 
aspects to present, still hidden charms to discover, still 
deep problems to solve. The huge, unwieldly mass, 
which cannot be managed or legislated for as other 
towns, but has to be treated as a county, enfolds within 
its area all the phases of human life. It embraces every 
gradation from wealth to poverty, from the millionaire 
to the pauper alien. The collection of buildings which 
together make London are a most singular assortment 
of innumerable variations between beauty and ugliness, 
between palaces and works of art and hovels of sordid 
and unlovely squalor. 
