Here there are no places for rational amusement—unless indeed, we consider such places as “the Flora tea-gardens,” and “Bott’s Bowling-green,” to come under this designation. In that region of the parish still devoted to bull-dogs, and pet spaniels; the bodies of broken-down carriages, old wheels, rusty grates, and old copper boilers; little gardens, and low miserable sheds; there is an establishment, which boasts of having the truly attractive glass, in which “for the small charge of two-pence, any young lady may behold her future husband.” But although such attractions as these exist, the youths who live on the celebrated Paddington Estate, have not to thank the lords of the soil for setting apart any portion of it for their physical improvement; and yet for the efficient development both of mind and body, it is necessary that the physical condition of the young should be cared for. In Paddington, however, there is no public gymnasium; there is now no village-green, worthy of the name; {176} the young are not trained to use their motive powers to the best advantage; there are no public baths. And when, on the establishment of the baths and washhouses in Marylebone, the governing Body in Paddington was solicited to join in that useful work, that good office was rejected, and the people of Marylebone were permitted to carry out that necessary and useful undertaking by themselves. Perhaps the Paddington vestrymen thought there ought to be a bath, and a bath-room, in every house in Paddington; if so they certainly thought rightly. But how many of these necessary adjuncts to a healthful home are to be found even on the Paddington Estate, and what steps have our local governors taken to supply this want in the houses of the poor? In particular religious communities, the education of those who can no longer be called children, is beginning to be attended to, in some degree; yet there is no public lecture room; no museum; no public reading room; no place of general instruction in Paddington, where Jew and Gentile, saint and sinner, alike may meet to receive lessons from that fountain of truth which ought to be open to all mankind, irrespectively of their private religious opinions.