THE BOOK OF THE EOYAL 



an inclined jAanc directly into the Garden on the east side of 

 the Conservatory. 



At this ejjocli too, a change, consequent upon the great increase 

 of Fellows and the crowds which it was anticijjated might at 

 times throng the entrance, was made in the manner of admission 

 to the Garden. Hitherto the Fellows had entered the Garden 

 without voucher or ticket of any kind : as masters they entered 

 their own house, merely inscribing their names in a book at the 

 entrance. To save them the troulile of doing so, they were 

 now furnished with a personal ticket, the production of which 

 dispensed with the necessity of signing. This was found to be 

 a convenience and ease to the Fellows themselves, as well as 

 greatly to facilitate the rap)id admission of the public. Another 

 change was, substituting a yearly card for the ivory tickets 

 which formerly used to be given to the four-guinea subscribers 

 as a transferable voucher entitling its bearer to admission 

 whether a Fellow or not. To have called in and renewed the 

 ivories year by year would have cost a sum which might be 

 much better othei'wise employed ; consequently this was never 

 done, and there was thus very little check upon them. The 

 ivories of Fellows long since deceased, or who had not paid 

 their subscriptions for years, or which had been lost or stolen, 

 were occasionally found to have fallen into the hands of the 

 dangerous classes, and although now and then such a ticket 

 was impounded, yet for one whose improper use was detected, 

 many must have passed unnoticed. On crowded days the 

 attendants had not time to examine each ivory and see if its 

 number had been stopped, and it was precisely on those occa- 

 sions that there was most chance of their being used, and most 



