The various open spaces in London can easily be grouped into classes. First there are the Royal Parks, with a history and management of their own; then there are all the Parks either created or kept up by the London County Council, and most of the commons and other large open spaces are in their jurisdiction also, though a few parks and recreation grounds are under the borough councils. Municipal bodies for the most part take charge of all the disused burial grounds converted into gardens, though some are maintained by the parish or the rector. Then there is another class of garden which must be included, namely, all the squares of London, as, although few are open to the public, they form no insignificant proportion of the unbuilt area. All through London there are survivals of old gardens, which are still either quiet and concealed, or thrown open to the public. Such are the grounds of the Charterhouse, of Chelsea Hospital, or of the Foundling Hospital, and of other old-world haunts of peace. The rarest thing in London are the private gardens, yet they too go to make up the aggregate lungs of the city. Out of a total of upwards of 75,000 acres there are in round numbers some 6000 acres of parks, commons, squares, and open spaces in London: of these a little over 4000 acres are in the hands of the London County Council. Besides this it administers nearly 900 acres outside the county. The City of London owns large forest tracts, commons, and parks beyond the limit of the County of London--Epping, Burnham Beeches, Highgate Wood, and parks in West Ham, Kilburn, &c.--altogether nearly 6500 acres. London is such a wide word, it is difficult to set a limit, and to decide what open spaces actually belong to London. As the town stretches away into the country, it is impossible to see the boundaries of London. The line must be drawn near where the chimney-pots become incessant, and the stems of the trees become black. But the degree of blackness, dirt, and density is impossible to decide; so a prosaic, matter-of-fact, but necessary rule has been adhered to in the following pages, of keeping as strictly as possible to the actual defined limits of the County of London. Therefore all the parks owned by the City Corporation or London County Council outside this limit have not been dealt with, and such places as Chiswick, Kew, Richmond, or Gunnersbury have been omitted.