xcu CHARLES CARDALE BABINGTON. 



" It is proposed to open the Garden on Sundays, but it must be 

 manifest that that can be a real advantage or even convenience to 

 very few. It is only those who live near to the Garden who can 

 suppose it to be important to them ; and of them very few of the 

 class contemplated are not provided with private gardens, well fitted 

 for quiet Sunday recreation ; and still fewer would probably wish to 

 give trouble and discomfort to the persons employed in the Garden by 

 requiring their presence on that day, or knowingly ask work from 

 those who have scruples as to its lawfulness. It has been well 

 remarked that " it is impossible to change the manner of spending, 

 the day of national rest without seriously affecting the comfort of 

 all who live by labour." 



"The following questions must be answered in the affirmative 

 before we have any right to require work on the Sunday — 



" 1. Are we justified in sanctioning, far less requiring, any un- 

 necessary work on the Lord's Day, which will deprive others of the 

 rest for which it was instituted 1 



" 2. Have we a right to bribe any man by extra wages, or in any 

 other way, to do unnecessary work on that day 1 



" 3. Is our own fancied comfort or convenience any excuse for 

 making our dependents work unnecessarily on that day ? 



" In my opinion absolutely necessary work is alone allowable : 

 such as the preservation of a Garden and its contents from injury : 

 not the enabling people to walk and take their pleasure in it. The 

 proposed plan excludes the undergraduates who might wish (un- 

 advisedly in my opinion) to use the Garden as a place of study on 

 Sunday. They have six days in the week for study, and could not 

 advantageously have the seventh added to them. 



" Also, as I have already said, those who wish to use the Botanic 

 Garden on a Sunday have mostly gardens of their own, even though 

 (as in my case) small ones, or they live at such a distance from the 

 Garden, and are so much nearer to the grounds of the colleges, as to 

 render the addition of this Garden to the places open to them quite 

 unnecessary. I must be allowed, therefore, to be rather surprised 

 by seeing some of the names appended to the memorial to the Vice- 

 Chancellor, unless it has been done with a view to the opening of 

 all museums and gardens on that day. 



" But I venture to think that the supporters of this proposition 

 have somewhat overlooked the real use of a Botanic Garden, when 

 they look at it from the point of view of a place of recreation, and 

 propose to use it, and the funds by which it is supported, for the 

 purpose of increasing their own comfort or pleasure. It will be 

 found on reference to the original documents that the Garden was 

 given and endowed by Dr. Walker for scientific purposes alone : for 

 the growing of plants to be used in the study of their " properties 

 and uses for the benefit of mankind " {Endowments of University, 250), 

 and not at all for the recreation of the members of the University ;. 



