Last century Clapham Common was little better than a morass; it covers 202 acres. The number and variety of trees both English and exotic with which it is ornamented give it very much the appearance of a park. The Metropolitan Board of Works have purchased the manorial rights over the Common which is now under their supervision. "In the year 1874 (says Mr Walford) the Enclosure Commissioners for England and Wales under the Metropolitan Common Act, 1866, and Metropolitan Commons' Amendment Act, 1869, certified a scheme for placing the Common under the control of the Local Board, the Common was purchased for the sum of £17,000 and it was proposed that it should be dedicated to the use and recreation of the public for ever. By the above mentioned scheme the Board were to drain, plant, and ornament the Common as necessary, no houses were to be built thereon, but eight lodges necessary for its maintenance." The writer of a work entitled "Clapham with its Common and Environs," says, "The Mount-Pond was originally a gravel pit, excavated principally to form the turnpike road from Tooting to London. The Mount was raised, and a Pagoda Summer House planted on the top, by Henton Brown, Esq., of the firm of Brown and Tritton, Bankers, Lombard Street, member of the Society of Friends. Mr. Brown lived in the house, late in the occupation of J. Thornton, Esq., and was at great expense in forming the Mount and Pond. The Mount was larger than it now is, and planted with choice shrubs as well as trees. A bridge was thrown over the east side to connect it with the Common, and a pleasure boat was kept under it, but which after the failure of Mr. Brown, went rapidly to decay. He fenced it round with posts and rails, and in 1748 the Parish gave him leave to put down a close fence, which a subsequent Vestry refused to ratify. He was also at the expense of making a conduit from the pond to supply a reservoir in his own grounds." Lavender Hill seems to have been long noted for its nursery gardens. Situated on the Hill was Lavender Villa--at the foot of Lavender Hill was a brook. Now Lavender Hill has the appearance of a busy town. Splendid shops, handsomely decorated and well stocked line both sides of the main thoroughfare, and rows of respectable houses and semi-detached villas forming roads and streets have sprung up in all directions. The same may be said of a great portion of Battersea Rise extending to Bolingbroke Grove. Stately trees have been felled and green slopes that were are now covered with houses, with here and there a place of worship, and all this transformation has taken place within the last twelve years. Clapham Common and its immediate vicinity was in the early years of the present century the seat of the knot of zealous men who, labouring together for what they believed to be the interest of pure religion, the reformation of manners and the suppression of slavery, came to be known as the Clapham sect. One of