Our Common Land (and Other Short Essays)

Our Common Land by Octavia Hill is an essay in favor of the regulation of public areas and the various laws involving common spaces shared by the citizens of England. Excerpt: "Probably few persons who have a choice of holidays select a Bank holiday, which falls in the spring or summer, as one on which they will travel, or stroll in the country, unless, indeed, they live in neighborhoods very far removed from large towns. Every railway station is crowded; every booking office thronged; every seat—nay, all standing room—is occupied in every kind of public conveyance; the roads leading out of London for miles are crowded with every description of the vehicle—van, cart, chaise, gig—drawn by every size and sort of donkey, pony, or horse; if it is a dusty day, a great dull unbroken choking cloud of dust hangs over every line of the road."