Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/30

10 squares every here and there with railings all round, and trees, flower-plants and walks inside. These are open only to those who live round the squares. They are called the "Lungs of London," for London would be very close and uncomfortable to live in without these open places. The houses are very closely built, and uniformly in a row, and the rooms are small and close. In fact every thing here seems to be designed to protect the people from the cold of winter which is long, while summers are, I am told, short. But as there are no contrivances to keep off the heat, London during the summer is, I am told, very uncomfortable. The weather is murky and the days are generally half dark, there being plenty of mist with showers every now and then, but they are not our Indian heavy showers, but slight patter, patter, patter, which is very annoying. Of sun you don't see much here except in summer, it is generally hid in mists or clouds, and only now and then peeps out with a pale sickly face! There is a saying here that English suns are made of worn-out French moons! and English summers, they say, consist of three warm days and a thunder-storm!

At present the thermometer stands at 50°. It is hardly overever [sic] higher than 80°, and in winter sometimes goes 10 or 12 degrees below the freezing point.

On the 9th June, we went to see the Crystal Palace in Sydenham, a few miles from London. It is a large building, of thin sheets of glass joined together by thin bars of iron, having a noble arch in the middle and two wings