The (almost really) Complete Works of Lewis Carroll

November 3, 1874

To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette

Sir,—Visitors to Oxford who may chance to enter the great Quadrangle of Chirst Church cannot fail to be struck by the changes now taking place. The central lawn is fringed by a series of long low walls which, projecting at right angles from the terrace, intersect the turf at short intervals. At a first glance one might suppose them to be buttresses of the terrace wall: it is only when one begins to realize their number, their unnecessary length, and the entire want of reasonableness in their presence, that passive acquiescence gives place to a feeling of vague astonishment. But the strangeness of their appearance is as nothing compared with the strangeness of the arguments advanced in their defence. They are a necessary evil; they are an unquestionable good; they would cost more to remove than to keep; they would cost only a trifle more to keep than to remove; they are not retained with a view to erecting cloisters, but they have an artistic value in themselves; they are unsightly in themselves, but will serve hereafter as foundations for the buttresses of cloisters; they have an archæological interest; they are a pleasing novelty; we should wrong the memory of Wolsey if we did not preserve this record of what he wished to do; we should wrong our successors if we did not provide for everything they may possibly wish to do.

It is not difficult to see the true meaning of all these various pleas; no one can doubt that what is really intended is to urge upon us, the Governing Body, at no distant date, the erection of cloisters all round the Quadrangle. I do not for a moment deny that such cloisters may be highly ornamental to the place; but neither can it be denied, on the other hand, that the place does not in the least require them, and that they will cost an enormous sum of money. I do not say this without some experience of the way in which an outlay that seemed trifling at the time has afterwards involved us in expenses to which we should probably have demurred had we foreseen them. During the restoration of the cathedral, when the bells had been removed from the tower, which had become too weak to support them, it was proposed to hang them outside the cathedral in a wooden belfry, which we were assured would be quite inoffensive, as it would hardly be visible from any point of the compass. In an evil hour we consented, and the resulting erection, which cost about a thousand pounds, speedily made us famous for having inflicted upon Oxford the ugliest and most conspicuous monstrosity that probably she has ever seen. This, and the great expense already incurred, forced on us the conviction that we must now erect a stone bell-tower, which will probably cost us five or six thousand pounds more. So again, when lowering and narrowing the terrace of the great Quadrangle (an unnecessary change, but thought by many to be a great improvement), we came upon these foundations for buttresses belonging to the long-abandoned design of cloisters, and we are now about to spend another three hundred pounds upon casing them in stone, which is either the indulgence of a shadowy archæological sentiment, or the first step in a piece of wanton extravagance. Already we stand committed, by changes each one of which might have been dispensed with, to an outlay of nearly ten thousand pounds, and we are now threatened with a further and equally needless outlay of many thousands more.

Chirst Church is understood to have an income of £12,000 (the recent report on college revenues credits us with £49,000, but this the treasurer has shown to be a mistake), and though it will probably be larger in years to come, it must be remembered that we have a debt of more than £90,000 to pay off, and that such funds as we have are not our own to spend as we will, but held, as it were, on trust for educational purposes.

The facts here stated will, I hope, be considered to justify me in thus protesting, before it be too late, against the enormous expenditure with which we are threatened, by the erection of costly and wholly unnecessary cloisters, of which the architectural eccentricities, described at the beginning of this letter, are, if they have any meaning at all, the heralds.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

November 5, 1874

To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette

Sir,—Will you kindly allow me to add a word of explanation to my letter on the subject of cloisters in Chirst Church, as I find that it has been misunderstood, and has been taken as a protest against the decision of the Governing Body to preserve the foundations lately discovered? This decision I accept as final, though I hold that any one may fairly critcise the effect produced. My protest was directed solely against the proposal with which we are threatened, to erect cloisters round the Quadrangle, as to which no decision has yet been come to. I hold so strongly the principle that it is the duty of a minority loyally to accept the decision of the majority, and to make no attempt to reverse it, that I should be very sorry to be believed to have acted otherwise.—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,