296 LIFE AND EXPERIENCES CHAP. 



results have followed the opening of these educational 

 and recreational institutions on Sundays." 



It is interesting to note the movement of public 

 opinion in this matter. This resolution was not 

 brought forward, for I found that a very large number 

 of my friends, Members of Parliament, otherwise 

 Liberal, were altogether opposed to the terms of the 

 resolution, this, not so much because they were per- 

 sonally averse to the proposals of Sunday opening of 

 Museums, but because they had many of them been 

 obliged, by the strongly expressed views of their con- 

 stituents, to promise to oppose any such proposals. A 

 counter-proposal did, however, meet with the approba- 

 tion of the House, viz., that the British Museum 

 should be open during the evening, which hitherto had 

 not been the case. This necessitated the expenditure 

 of a very considerable sum in electric lighting, whereas 

 the opening on Sunday afternoons could have been 

 accomplished at a merely nominal cost. Public opinion, 

 as I say, rapidly changes, and we had not to wait 

 many years before we got what we wanted, and now 

 all these Government Institutions are opened to the 

 public on Sunday. Foreigners have, with justice, com- 

 plained of the tristesse of our English Sunday. I 

 should, however, be sorry to see the Continental 

 Sunday system adopted in its entirety ; the great point 

 to remember is that the seventh day should be set 

 apart as a day of rest from the ordinary occupations as 

 much as possible, if only as a matter of health and 

 social economy. The delivery of lectures on Sundays 

 in the Queen's Hall, at Toynbee Hall, and other 

 University Settlements in the East End, as well as 

 the concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, in the Queen's 

 Hall, and in other places, shows the trend of public 

 opinion. I am afraid, however, that much remains to 



