72 LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
still restricted to those who receive special permission 
from the sovereign. 
The Park had never been drained, and had always 
shown signs of its marshy origin, and “ Duck Island ” 
was really a natural swamp. An unusually high tide 
flooded the low-lying end where the Horse Guards’ 
Parade and the houses of Downing Street with their 
little gardens now stand. What state secrets they could 
divulge had they the power of speech ! The tilting— 
ground was often in a condition quite unfit for the 
exercise of troops, so with a view to preventing this, it 
was paved with stone early in the eighteenth century. 
It has always been used for military displays, and the 
trooping of the colours on the King’s birthday takes 
place on the same ground which witnessed the brilliant 
scene when the colours, thirty-eight in number, captured 
at the battle of Blenheim were conveyed to Westminster 
Abbey. On the parade-ground now stands the gun cast 
at Seville, used by Soult at Cadiz, and taken after the 
battle of Salamanca. Here many an impressive cere¬ 
mony of distributing medals, and countless parades, have 
taken place through many generations. Here, with the 
brutality of old days, corporal punishment was ad¬ 
ministered, and offending soldiers were flogged in full 
view of the merry-making crowds assembled in the Park. 
Round the Park lay other marshy lands, also frequently 
flooded by the Thames, and it was not surprising that 
on one occasion an otter found its way from the river and 
settled down on Duck Island and there grew fat on the 
King’s carp. Sir Robert Walpole sent to Houghton for 
his otter-hounds, and an exciting hunt ensued, in which 
the Duke of Cumberland took part, and the offending 
otter was captured. 
