It was already environed.

The ranks of the street-lamps threaded it unbroken.
The city, upon all sides of it, was tightly packed, and growled with traffic.

To-day, I do not doubt the very landmarks are all swept away; but it offered then, within narrow limits, a delightful peace, and (in the morning, when I chiefly went there) a seclusion almost rural.

On a steep sand-hill, in this neighbourhood, toppled, on the most insecure foundation, a certain row of houses, each with a bit of garden, and all (I have to presume) inhabited.

Thither I used to mount by a crumbling footpath, and in front of the last of the houses, would sit down to sketch.