By W. MR. STRUTT has made a munificent gift to the people of Derby, and there are two reasons for supposing that his liberality will not be thrown away. In the first place, you, Sir, have the laying out of the grounds, which will therefore become a model for all similar localities. Secondly, I hear that Mr. Strutt has made it an imperative condition that the garden shall be open to the public two days in the week, one of which is Sunday. If this is true, the artisans of Derby will enjoy a rare opportunity of expanding their minds by the contemplation of nature, and of refining and cultivating their taste by frequent observation of the noblest combinations of artistical gardening. That such an institution, thus auspiciously commenced, may be adequately supported, must be the ardent wish of every friend to popular improvement. For my own part, I confess I would rather that a town should never undertake or commence a public garden, than carelessly, ignorantly, or indolently, suffer it, when once completed, to go to decay. Such, I much fear, will be the fate of the noble and, in some respects, unparalleled Botanical Garden of Sheffield, upon which, in a late Number, you bestowed high and well-deserved commendation. Should that be the case, the fault will certainly not be with the working classes, who have as yet not been allowed to contribute towards its support; for, to a mechanic, the payment of a shilling, and exclusion on Sunday, the only day on which he has leisure for the contemplation of nature, form a violent prohibition against entering its precincts. At present the funds are very low, so low indeed that I hear it is doubtful how much longer they will suffice to keep the garden open. Evidently, then, the wealthier and middle classes of Sheffield are apathetic; they know not the value of the jewel which has fallen into their keeping. Such is but too generally the case with the inhabitants of our commercial towns; they toil all their lives for wealth, which, when accumulated, they know not how to enjoy. But why not allow the working classes an opportunity of one day in the week breathing a pure atmosphere, while they contemplate the wild grandeur of the Hallamshire hills, or gaze with wonder on the products of distant lands? Why not open the garden on a Sunday at a moderate charge ? Alas ! clerical bigotry forbids this simple, obvious, and effective means of recruiting the dwindled funds of the institution. The glories of nature are doomed to be a sealed book on the Sabbath, while the doors of the alehouse are left open to invite the listless passer-by. Thus are men debarred from rational and elevating employment of their faculties, cut off from the influences which would humanise and civilise them, actually driven into temptation, forced into vicious courses, then lectured on the exceeding depravity of their nature, and punished for the commission of crimes which, under other circumstances, they might have abhorred. It is said that many clergymen are shareholders in the garden, and that it is owing to their votes or influence that it is closed on Sunday. I most sincerely hope that the reverend gentlemen will be so severely mulcted by their own foolish policy, worthy only of the dark ages or of a savage country, that in the course of time more enlightened notions may penetrate their crania through the medium of their pockets.
