George Gissing

Thyrza: A Tale

1887. Harvester Press, 1974.

And so they went to the ice in Regent's Park, and Mr. Emerson put on his skates, and was speedily exhibiting his skill amid the gliding crowd. Clara and her companion walked along the edge. Thyrza, regarding this assembly of people who had come forth to enjoy themselves, marvelled inwardly. It was so hard to understand how any one could enter with such seriousness into mere amusement. How many happy people the world contained! Of all this black-coated swarm, not one with a trouble that could not be flung away at the summons of a hard frost!

A perfect winter's day - 'fog had vanished; the ways were clean and hard; between the housetops and the zenith gleamed one clear blue track of frosty sky' - has persuaded Thyrza, still grieving over a blighted love affair, to join the Emersons on their outing to the park.

Just before them, on the ice, a little troop of ducks was going by, fowl dispossessed of their wonted swimming-ground by the all-hardening frost. Of every two steps the waddlers took, one was a hopeless slip, and the spectacle presented by the unhappy birds in their effort to get along at a good round pace was ludicrous beyond resistance. They sprawled and fell, they staggered up again with indignant wagging of head and tail, they rushed forward only to slip more desperately; now one leg failed them, now the other, now both at once. And all the time they kept up a cackle of annoyance... Thyrza had thought that nothing in the world could move her to unfeigned laughter. Yet as often as she thought of the ducks it was with revival of mirth

New Grub Street

1891. Penguin, 1968.

The principal characters live close to the park, and walk round it in moods of gloom or despair. The odious Jasper, disappointed in his fiancée's financial prospects, arranges to meet her at Gloucester Gate; in the 'tree-shadowed strip of the park which skirts the canal' he manipulates her into breaking off the engagement.

The Odd Women

1893. Oxford World's Classics, 2000.

Monica Madden meets her suitor Mr. Widdowson at 'the south-east entrance' to the park for a pony and trap ride to his villa at Herne Hill. Another rendezvous there later but no descriptions.

The Collected Letters of George Gissing

Ed. Paul F Mattheisen, Arthur C. Young, Pierre Coustillas. Ohio University Press, c1991. 4 vols.

29 Dorchester Place, Blandford Square NW.
March 8, 1882
My Dear Madge,
...Last Monday Alg. and I, following in the track of the somewhat ridiculous excitement prevailing here now, went to the Zoological Gardens to see the famous elephant Jumbo - of whom you have doubtless heard. There were 16,000 people in the Gardens that day, and as, on the average, every person gave Jumbo three biscuits or buns, judge of the animal's size and appetite. They have sold him to an American showman for £2000, and now find it absolutely impossible to fulfil their bargain; Jumbo refuses to stir. A monstrous box has been made for him, but he can't be persuaded to enter...

The author had just moved into lodgings near Regent's Park and was writing to his sister about an outing with their brother Algernon. In July he was writing to 'Dear Alg...'

Splendid weather since you left...Went to hear the band in the Park last night. A change happened to be made in the order of the music, and No.4 was put up when No.11 should have been. Curious old fellow by me shouted out: "Now, I objec' to that; I object on principle. It leads the public astr'y. Now men'll go about tellin' their friends as they've eerd Number 11, when they haven't eerd no such thing!"

In May 1884 he moved to 62 Milton Street (now Balcombe Street), also close to the park, and was still enjoying the concerts:

Every Sunday evening we have a really good band there, which plays excellent music. Last Sunday we had a capital selection from Iolante. The concert lasts from 5 to 8. By paying a penny you get a chair inside an enclosure, and another penny purchases a programme...

By Christmas he had moved again, to a block of flats in Allsop Place, near Clarence Gate. Despite frequent complaints about the fumes from the Metropolitan Railway's Baker Street Station, which stood opposite, he was to remain there for five years. Subsequent letters contain only brief references, e.g. 'A fair amount of sunshine. I have dinner at 12, and then walk exactly round the park, returning by Marylebone Road. I have tea at 3.30, and am at work by 4'.