They are making a great outcry about the ventilators on the Thames
Embankment, just as they made a great outcry about the Griffin in Fleet
Street. [See _Alps and Sanctuaries_. Introduction.] They say the
ventilators have spoiled the Thames Embankment. They do not spoil it
half so much as the statues do—indeed, I do not see that they spoil it at
all. The trees that are planted everywhere are, or will be, a more
serious nuisance. Trees are all very well where there is plenty of room,
otherwise they are a mistake; they keep in the moisture, exclude light
and air, and their roots disturb foundations; most of our London Squares
would look much better if the trees were thinned. I should like to cut
down all the plane trees in the garden of Clifford’s Inn and leave only
the others.