Open spaces, especially those near the big towns, had in the railway companies another and most powerful enemy. It was so much easier to take a railway across a common than through the neighbouring enclosed land, that there arose a serious risk that the commons though at last secured for the people, would still be despoiled of their freshness and beauty. Fawcett was quick to perceive this, and to try to save the open spaces from such invasions of their sanctity. He was characteristically amused once by the suggestion of some more prudent members of the Commons Preservation Society that he might weaken their position by failure. It was not by fear of defeat that he so often succeeded in turning defeat into victory. He never hesitated in his attack. Even when Postmaster-General he voted against his colleague, Mr. Chamberlain, the President of the Board of Trade, on a question of railway encroachment on Wimbledon Common. It is a beautiful thing for all of us who have the privilege of enjoying the glory of the commons and forests of England to appreciate that that pleasure has been kept for us, and for countless others for all time, largely by the valiant fight and generous labours of a man who, though he loved them as he loved light, freedom and justice, and gave part of his life to save them, could only see them through the eyes of others. [Sidenote: Lord Morley takes Fawcett [on] a walk.] Lord Morley tells of Fawcett on these lands which he saved for the poor. Fawcett had been walking on Lord Morley’s arm over the Wimbledon Commons, with that vigour and enjoyment in the exercise which he invariably found. They paused on a hill. Lord Morley, impressed with the unusual loveliness of the sunset and its ineffable melancholy, was startled to hear Fawcett beside him ask wistfully: ‘Morley, is the sunset very beautiful?’ ‘Yes,’ was the answer. ‘Ah, I thought so,’ came the comment before a long silence, in which the blind man seemed to be taking in the exquisite scene spread before his unseeing eyes. We know how Fawcett’s deep love of nature and beauty was a strong factor of his very being. He loved the forest and the hills, the fields and the skies, and above all the rivers. [Sidenote: Following the Boat Race.] Until nearly the end of his life, Fawcett rarely missed the Oxford and Cambridge rowing contests. It was a matter of course to see him ‘looking over’ the crew of the college ‘eight’ and expressing his opinion frankly about its fitness, or eagerly ‘watching’ a race. He followed the University boat race on one occasion in a launch, and in the keenest excitement continually asked his friend, ‘How are they going now, Morgan? How near are they now?’