6o LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 
Wood, the keeper of the cormorants, ospreys, and otters, 
“ in building a place to keep the said cormorants in 
and making nine fish-ponds on land within the vine 
garden at Westminster.” Fish were put in for these 
creatures, and a sluice was made to bring water from 
the Thames to fill the ponds. These strange beasts 
and birds and their attendants must have been a 
quaint and unusual sight. The keepers were dressed 
in red cloth (which cost nine shillings a yard), em¬ 
broidered with “ I.R.” in Venice gold, and must have 
added to the picturesque appearance of this early 
Zoological Garden. 
Gradually the Park became more and more a favourite 
place in which to stroll. Others were admitted besides 
the Court circle, the privilege being first accorded to the 
tenants of the houses at Westminster. Milton, who lived 
at one time in Petty France, near where Queen Anne’s 
Gate now stands, planted a tree in the garden over¬ 
looking the Park, which survived until recent times, 
would be one of those to enjoy the advantage. Charles 
I. passed this way on his last journey to Whitehall on 
the fatal 30th of January, and tradition says he paused 
to notice a tree planted by his brother Henry. During 
the Commonwealth, the Park still was resorted to. In 
the sprightly letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William 
Temple are some vivid little touches in reference to 
it. She writes from the country in March 1654 : “And 
hark you, can you tell me whether the gentleman that 
lost a crystal box the 1st of February in St. James’s 
Park or Old Spring Gardens has found it again or not ? 
I have a strong curiosity to know.” Again, in June 
of the same year, she writes from London, where she 
was paying a visit: “ I’ll swear they will not allow me 
