[5] I do not forget the lower ponds of Hampstead, which were once magnificent sheets of water, but then they were the property of the New River Company, and bathing was strictly prohibited in them. Now they seem to be abandoned by the Water Company, but they have been allowed to drain away or evaporate, until they are little better than muddy pools with a broad margin of sticky clay which would deter any one except a London street Arab from attempting to bathe in them. It would be possible to convert one or more of them into excellent swimming baths of any required depth. [6] Were the Thames once more the “crystal stream” that poets used to call it, I fear its tidal character would offer some difficulties to placing on it, between the bridges, floating baths, such as we see on the Seine; for these, if placed near the side, would be left high and dry at every ebb, and, if stationed in mid-stream, would seriously interfere with navigation. While almost every second-rate continental town has ample provision for open-air bathing, it is disgraceful that a large and wealthy metropolis like London should virtually have nothing of the sort. How much pleasure do its citizens consequently lose! what a powerful hygienic agent are they not deprived of! And yet London offers more facilities than almost any other town I know of for the construction of open-air swimming baths of the best kind, and that without infringing on the comfort or privileges of any one. In the Serpentine, when the levelling operations are completed, the finest swimming baths the world can show might be constructed for a very small sum of money, and I venture to say that while the convenience and wishes of thousands who delight in swimming, and to whom an open-air bath is a source of health and pleasure, would be gratified, no person would be inconvenienced, nor would anything unpleasant be presented to the eye. The arrangements heretofore in force pleased no one; the bathing public were put to every sort of inconvenience, and the non-bathing public were disgusted that for certain hours in the day the banks of the Serpentine should be handed over to a horde of naked savages, rendering it impossible for any decent female to venture near them. It is surely the duty of the authorities who permit bathing in the Park to provide that it may be done with safety and comfort, and without outraging decency.