CHAPTER III 
ST. JAMES’S AND GREEN PARKS 
Near this my Muse, what most delights her, sees 
A living Gallery of Aged Trees : 
Bold sons of Earth, that thrust their Arms so high, 
As if once more they would invade the Shy. 
Here Charles contrives the ordering of his States ; 
Here he resolves his neigh Bring Princes' Fates ; 
A Prince on whom such different Lights did smile. 
Born the divided IVorld to reconcile. 
Whatever Heav'n or high extracted Blood 
Could promise or foretel, he'll make it good. 
Reform these Nations, and improve them more 
Than this fair Park, from what it was before. 
—St. James’s Park: “ Poetical Essay,” by Waller. 
HE opening history of St. James’s 
and Green Parks is similar to that 
of Hyde Park. They formed part 
of the same manor in early days, 
and became Crown property in 
Henry VIII.’s time. St. James’s 
Park was chiefly a marsh. The 
Thames overflowed its banks 
nearly every year, and the low-lying parts were a swamp 
and the haunt of wild fowl, and the chief use of the 
Park was for the sport the wild birds afforded. The 
Tyburn flowed through it on its way from where it 
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