lish a noble
work. Happily, the necessity for public parks is beginning to be
appreciated. These are the fortifications which we should make about our
towns. Would that, on every side of the Metropolis, we could see such
scenes as this so touchingly described by Goethe.

"Turn round, and from this height look back upon
The town: from its black dungeon gate forth pours,
In thousand parties, the gay multitude,
All happy, all indulging in the sunshine!
All celebrating the Lord's resurrection,
And in themselves exhibiting, as 'twere
A resurrection too--so changed are they,
So raised above themselves. From chambers damp
Of poor mean houses--from consuming toil
Laborious--from the work-yard and the shop--
From the imprisonment of walls and roofs,
And the oppression of confining streets,
And from the solemn twilight of dim churches--
All are abroad--all happy in the sun."

_Anster's Faust_.

Many other excellent enterprises might be suggested which societies are
peculiarly fitted to undertake. I must own that I think they are best
occupied in such matters as will not require perpetual looking after,
which when they are once done are wholly done, such as the formation of a
park, the making of a survey, the collection of materials for a
legislative measure, and the like. These bodies are called in for an
exigency, and we should be able to contemplate a time when their
functions will cease; or at least when their main work will be done.

Other limits in their choice of objects might be suggested. For
instance, it is desirable that they should address themselves, in
preference, to such purposes as may benefit people indirectly; or such as
concern the public as a body rather than distressed individuals of the
public; or that aim at supplying wants which the people benefited are not
likely in the first instance to estimate themselves. Such is the supply
of air, light, and the means of cleanliness. There is small danger of
corrupting industry by giving any extent of facilities for washing. {233}

While we are on this subject, we must not pass over the societies which
have started up in connexion with our immediate object. These "Baths and
Washhouses for the Poor" are an admirable charity, obvious to very little
of the danger which is apt to threaten benevolent undertakings. It
would, however, be a most s