But the public parks belong to the people, and by the people they are enjoyed most thoroughly. Children, old and young, gray-beard and adolescent, all flock to these parks; and Regent's Park or Hyde Park, on a summer Sunday afternoon is a splendid sight, and a similar one cannot be obtained anywhere else but in Paris pleasure grounds, on a Sunday, and it was Paris that first taught London to respire through these public lungs of hers. The dimensions of the public parks and gardens of London are as follows: Battersea Park, 200 acres. Kensington Gardens, 380 " Finsbury Park (in progress), 300 " Green Park, 71 " Regent's Park, 450 " Victoria Park, 290 " Primrose Hill Park (Cricket Grounds), 50 " St. James Park, 83 " Hyde Park, 395 " Southwark Park (not completed), 120 " Kensington Oval, (for Cricket Ground), 12 " Cremorne Garden, 10 " Botanic Garden, Chelsea, 12 " Royal Botanic Garden (Regent's Park), 20 " Horticultural Gardens (Cheswick), 35 " Kew Gardens, 60 " Buckingham Palace Gardens, 40 " Temple Gardens, 7 " Zoological Gardens, 18 " Greenwich Park, 200 " Richmond Park, 2,253 " ----- 5,006 " Here are five thousand acres of parks, pleasure grounds, gardens, and cricket fields, all in fine order, and under careful and economical supervision. Surely London is well provided for in the way of open air amusement. Besides, bands play in the different parks and squares almost daily. In St. James Park, Regent's Park, and Hyde Park, bands play every afternoon in inclosures set apart for that purpose. Some of these bands are formed of old musicians and veterans who have served in the Crimean and Indian wars. There is a body of men distributed over London, who wear a uniform of semi-military fashion, and are called the "Corps of Commissionaires," who can be sent on errands, with or for packages or letters, and from this body two full bands have been formed, who earn a decent subsistence by playing in St. James Park and Regent's Park, every pleasant afternoon during summer. [Sidenote: WHAT THE PARKS CONTAIN.] In the inclosures, where these bands furnish music, chairs are arranged, and all persons who enter and take seats are expected to contribute two-pence toward the musicians for the pleasure of hearing the music. [Illustration: BATHING IN HYDE PARK.]