PREFACE ix 



" Oxford, its Buildings and Gardens," which justified the lively 

 hope (the price of the book being one guinea) that at least 

 one chapter might be given to a description of the principal 

 Garden ; but in the time at our disposal, we could find no 

 allusion to it. 



It would appear, then, that the last word upon the Garden 

 has not yet been written ; we would welcome a comprehensive 

 account of its various successes and failures, and of the varied 

 activities of those who have been fortunate enough to have 

 charge; but such an account would require not only the 

 services of an historian, but also the collaboration of those 

 skilled in the technicalities of the produce, whether horticultural, 

 forestal, pharmacological, or botanical. Nor would we wish 

 it to be merely a catalogue, but a work that a garden-loving 

 public might read with pleasure. 



The present little book does not claim to meet this require- 

 ment ; it has been put together, a labour of love, to recall to 

 this and future generations some forgotten details of the work 

 of a pioneer of natural science in Oxford the many-sided 

 Dr. Daubeny ; to indicate the noble trees which have sprung 

 from seed of his sowing. We leave the timber rough-hewn ; 

 the carving will be for the more skilful chisels of those that 

 come after. We hope that they too may share the 



backward thoughts of sympathy 

 With him who writes, for memory's sake. 



We wish that we might possess the knowledge necessary 

 to do more justice to the recent work of many of the depart- 

 ments, but the naval rule of not talking to the man at the 

 wheel has applied here ; we could not venture to trouble busy 

 people too much. 



Our friend the Professor of Botany, to whom, however, we 

 did apply, has helped us negatively in a considerable way, 

 for he ended our quest for records of the past at the outset 



