Parliamentary enclosure, however, is not to be obtained without conditions. That reckless disregard of the wider public interests both of the locality and of the nation at large in the land to be enclosed of which the administration of the General Enclosure Act from 1845 to 1874 has been accused, has been dispelled by the vigorous and ably-conducted agitation to which we owe the preservation of Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath, and many other priceless commons. In the enclosure of Castor and Ailesworth, in the first place, Ailesworth Heath, which occupies the highest and most remote corner of the parish, was excluded from the operation of the Enclosure Act. It is a wild little common which, beyond feeding a few sheep and furnishing a quarry, seems to be fit for nothing but picnics and blackberrying. Situated at the distance of about five miles from Peterborough, which again stands on the margin of the fen country, it will probably come to be valued by the townsmen for its unprofitable wildness. Next, the parish boasts its antiquities, the remains of a part of the ancient Roman road from London to York, and certain blocks of stone, locally known as Robin Hood and Little John. The Enclosure Act provides for the preservation of these. A bathing place in the River Nen, which bounds the parish on the south, selected at the most convenient spot, and three recreation grounds of 6 acres each, and one of 14 acres, are handed over to the safe keeping of the parish councils of Castor and Ailesworth, besides four pieces of land, making 42 acres in all, for allotments and field gardens. The farmers mournfully point out that these 76 acres thus reserved for the common use and benefit of the villagers are some of the best land and the most conveniently situated. The recreation grounds in particular they scorn as foolishness. Possibly, however, because the village prides itself on its prowess in the football field, the indignation against this supposed fad of the central government is mild compared with that expressed by some of the thrifty people of Upton St. Leonards, near Gloucester, which was being enclosed at the same time. Here the recreation ground was dubbed by some the “ruination ground,” enticing as it did the young lads from digging in their fathers’ allotments to cricket and football, and so subverting the very foundation of good morals.