41 
and having been successful, they resolved that strangers should 
be admitted by tickets at one shilling each. With some modi¬ 
fication in the form and extent of admission this has remained 
substantially to the present time. It appears, however, to have 
been long considered as an experiment, and till 1854 authority 
for it was taken from every annual meeting. Access to York 
has been greatly facilitated by the construction of railways; the 
attractions of the grounds, the riches of the Museum, have been 
constantly increased; its reputation has been more widely 
diffused, and ‘‘ The Gate ” has become a very important source 
of income to the Society, having in 1872 produced £273 12s., 
more than tripling the interest due on our permanent debt of 
£ 2 , 000 . 
In 1836 five additional acres were purchased by the Council 
for £2,500, extending its grounds to the river’s edge. Among 
the objects which thus came into the possession of the Society 
was the ruinous building called the Hospitium, and its repair 
and disposal became an immediate object of attention. It may 
seem singular that those who saw this building frequently insu¬ 
lated by the river, and even flooded by it, should have enter¬ 
tained the idea of making it a gallery of painting and sculpture. 
Yet such was the first proposal for its appropriation, and a 
subscription, amounting to nearly £500, was raised in 1838, 
for this purpose, which was strongly recommended by no less 
an authority than that of our eminent native artist, William 
Etty, This project was abandoned in the following year, a 
small part of the subscriptions being transferred to a fund for 
the restoration of the Hospitium, which was augmented by 
special contributions, and the proceeds of a County Ball. This 
venerable appendage to the Monastery was thus saved from the 
destruction which once threatened it. The appearance of the 
grounds was also greatly improved by the lease of the old 
Gate-house of the Abbey in 1838 to Professor Phillips, who 
restored it, where necessary, with excellent taste, in harmony 
with the later remains of mediseval architecture. His exten¬ 
sive knowledge of every branch of natural history had the 
effect of placing all the collections of the Society, except the 
antiquities, virtually under his care, and when his engagements 
H 
