2io LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
elms is a cause of regret. It is such, perhaps necessary, 
alterations which spoil the delusion of genuine country, 
otherwise so well counterfeited on Tooting Common. 
A charming time is when the may is out and the gorse 
ablaze with bloom, the chestnuts in blossom, and birds 
are singing all around ; or if one happens to be there 
on a winter’s day, when it is too cold for loungers or 
holiday-makers, there are moments when the nearness 
of streets and trams could be forgotten. The frosty 
air, and dew-drops on the vivid green grass, the brown 
of the fallen leaves, the dark stems clear against an 
amber sky, with the intense blue distance, which London 
atmosphere produces so readily, combine harmoniously 
into a telling picture, which remains photographed “ upon 
that inward eye, which is the gift of solitude.” The 
dream is as quickly dispelled. A sight, a sound, recalls 
the nearness of London, which makes its presence felt 
even when one is trying to play Hide-and-seek with 
the chimney-pots. How well Richard Jefferies, that 
inimitable writer on nature, describes his feelings in the 
neighbourhood of London, in spots only a little further 
from Hyde Park Corner than Tooting Beck :— 
“ Though my preconceived ideas were overthrown by 
the presence of so much that was beautiful and interest¬ 
ing close to London, yet in course of time I came to 
understand what was at first a dim sense of something 
wanting. In the shadiest lane, in the still pine-woods, on 
the hills of purple heather, after brief contemplation 
there arose a restlessness, a feeling that it was essential to 
be moving. In no grassy mead was there a nook where 
I could stretch myself in slumbrous ease and watch the 
swallows ever wheeling, wheeling in the sky. This was 
the unseen influence of mighty London. The strong 
