Esoteric London

Finsbury Park, London, N4. Photo © Roger Dean 1987

London: A Book Of Aspects – Arthur Symons, 1909:

It is only after trying to prefer the parks and public gardens of most of the other capitals of Europe that I have come to convince myself that London can more than hold its own against them all. We have no site comparable with the site of the Pincio in Rome, none of the opalescent water which encircles the gardens at Venice, no Sierras to see from our Prado, not even a Berlin forest in the midst of the city; and I for one have loved the Luxembourg Gardens; but, if we will be frank with ourselves, and put sentiment or the prejudice of foreign travel out of our heads, we shall have to admit that in the natural properties of the park, in grass, trees, and the magic of atmosphere, London is not to be excelled.