Iviii CHARLES CARDALE BABINGTON. 



even the immediate past, and the men who figured in it, are soon 

 forgotten. A cold shade too often falls on the men whose work has 

 been done so quietly, and at the same time so well, that we hardly 

 perceive that it is not part of the ancient structure of the University. 

 Hence it will not be superfluous if one who had the privilege of 

 being acquainted with the late Professor Babington for nearly half a 

 century, and of working with him for a large part of that time, puts 

 on record a brief sketch of his remembrance of the man and of his 

 doings, in so far as the two were occupied with the same or kindred 

 pursuits. 



I did not come into residence at Cambridge until 1846, and at 

 that time Babington was well on to middle age. He lived in College 

 in the simple way which was the happy custom at St. John's, then, 

 as now, one of the poorest, in proportion to the number on its 

 foundation, of the Colleges in Cambridge. But he was then, and 

 for some time after, the centre of activity in the University in the 

 cultivation of Natural History. In his rooms, or in rambles over 

 the country to explore, under his guidance, the peculiarities and 

 products of diverse soils and climates, I met almost everyone living 

 in Cambridge, or in the country round, who took any active interest 

 in Natural History. In this way the lovers of Nature became 

 acquainted with each other through him, and I can say for myself 

 that I learnt more from my companions in study than from lecturers 

 or private tutors. 



The condition of the University at that time was so utterly 

 unlike what it is now, that the younger men amongst us will per- 

 haps find a difficulty in crediting what I have to tell of it. We 

 were living under the Elizabethan Statutes, and the only avenue 

 to honours at the B.A. commencement was the Mathematical Tripos. 

 Although the Classical Tripos had been instituted for a quarter of a 

 century, none but graduates in mathematical honours had access to 

 it. There was absolutely no opening for those who followed after 

 Natural Science. Not only were there no prizes or honours in that 

 line of study, but no one could obtain any credit at all, except 

 incidentally in the medical course, either in University or College 

 examinations, for a knowledge of it. There were professors of some 

 branches of Natural Science to be sure, but the professorships had 

 hardly any endowment and were mainly honorary appointments. 

 Men like Sedgwick and Henslow and Miller and Clark kept the 

 lamp of science burning and kindled many lamps besides their own ; 

 but there was no laboratory of any kind in which an undergraduate 

 could work, and such opportunities as existed for the study of 

 Natural Science were created by the few men who loved it at their 

 own cost. At the time of which I am writing Henslow had gone 

 down to a living in Suffolk, and it was Babington more than anyone 

 else who drew around him the young men, and the older ones too, 

 who took pleasure in Natural History. This he did because his love 

 of Nature was cosmopolitan, and he had a ready sympathy with all 



