KS1 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 LF509 .K59 ' y 
 
 The historically received conception of 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 030 614 915 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tile Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030614915 
 
^ 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORICALLY RECEIVED 
 CONCEPTION 
 
 OF THE UNIYERSITY 
 
 CONSIDERED 
 
 WITH ESPECIAL EEFERENCE 
 
 TO OXFORD. 
 
 T 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD KIRKPATRICK, 
 
 M. "aT oxon. 
 
 'Ai.ij9'es slvtti Sst TO as/ivov, ov v.svov. 
 
 WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 
 
 14, HENRIETTA STREET, CO VENT GARDEN, LONDON; 
 
 AND 
 
 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 
 1857. 
 
LF 
 If 51 
 
 S^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 LEIPZIG, 
 PRIHTEDBY E. G. TECEKER. 
 
 nn4' 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following treatise was originally intend- 
 ed to appear in one of the magazines, and 
 has grown to its present dimensions in conse- 
 quence of the additions found necessary to give 
 completeness to the general design. This cir- 
 cumstance will, it is hoped, explain a certain 
 irregularity in point of form, and account for, 
 if it does not altogether excuse an apparent want 
 of sequ.ence between the several parts of which 
 the work is composed. 
 
 Although the writer has not failed to take 
 advantage of every means within his reach, he 
 is most painfully aware that every page of that 
 portion of his work in which he has attempted 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 to give a sketch of the leading events in the 
 history of academic study will exhibit glaring 
 evidence of a most imperfect acquaintance with 
 the learned labours of German scholars on the 
 same and kindred subjects. Owing however to 
 the extremely defective condition of the public 
 libraries as far as works of this kind are con- 
 cerned the production of a complete, not to 
 say exhaustive work of erudition is little less 
 than an utter impossibility to any one living in 
 the part of the kingdom in which he resides. 
 Such an attempt involves not merely the cost 
 of purchasing a very considerable library with 
 every fresh undertaking of the kind , but a still 
 more intolerable waste of time. No one who has 
 not himself made the trial can be thoroughly 
 aware of the infinite difficulties and wearisome 
 delays experienced in hunting together 'mono- 
 graphs ' published in remote corners of the con- 
 tinent, often out of print, always too trifling in 
 price to repay the bookseller for the trouble 
 of procuring them, and yet possibly contain- 
 ing what no one treating of a similar topic 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 can venture to neglect with impunity. In the 
 present instance some additional expenditure of 
 time might not have been without its advan- 
 tages in aifording an opportunity of supplying 
 the deficiencies already mentioned, and also 
 of correcting faults which it would be less 
 easy to palliate. Scanty however as may be 
 the evidence adduced, and unskillfully as it 
 may often have been urged, the writer feels 
 assured that these shortcomings on his part 
 will be more than compensated by the intrinsic 
 excellence of the case which he advocates. He 
 deemed it advisable therefore to bring the work 
 before the public in its present somewhat im- 
 perfect condition , rather than to risk the chance 
 of postponing its appearance until a time when 
 irrevocable action might have rendered all fur- 
 ther suggestions on the subject unavailing. 
 
 An affection of the eyes with which the author 
 has been much troubled during the printing of 
 the following pages has rendered it impossible 
 for him to inspect the proofs in every instance 
 with the requisite degree of minuteness and 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 care. Occasional errors of punctuation and or- 
 thography were under these circumstances una- 
 voidable. The writer is led to make this re- 
 mark less on his own account than on that of 
 the printer, who, it is but justice to add, has 
 performed his portion of the task with unusual 
 intelligence and accuracy. 
 EoiNEnKGH, March 1857. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Oxford from tlie ll"" century to the middle of 
 the 14"" p. 1—43. 
 
 §. 1. Circumstances which must be taken iuto ac- 
 count in every comparison of earlier with later stages 
 of historical development. §. 3. Celebrity and material 
 greatness of Oxford in the earlier middle ages. §. 4. 
 Its influence upon the scientific speculation of that 
 epoch. §. 6. Character and spirit of the scholastic 
 philosophy. §. 9. Nominalism and Eealism. §. 11. In- 
 fluence of Oxford upon the early political life of Eng- 
 land. §. 12. The benefits of University instruction 
 widely differ throughout the upper classes during this 
 period. §. 13. The political opinions of the University 
 and the popular party of that day the very reverse of 
 those of modern sansculottism. Simon de Montfort. 
 §. 15. Robert Grosseteste. §. 19. Results of the move- 
 ment headed by the Barons and the University. §. 20. 
 Extent to which the University contributed to the political 
 advancement of the nation at this period. §• 22. Relation 
 in which Oxford stood to the church. §. 24. Suppression 
 of the Wycklytfe party leads to the decline of Oxford. 
 
VIII CONTENTS. 
 
 / II. 
 
 The distinctive principle of University in in- 
 struction P- 43 — 93. 
 
 a'§. 1. The University an essential organ of Europeaiu 
 enlightenment and progress. §. 2. The University de- 
 signed to systematize and prolong the impulse originat- 
 ing with individual genius. §. 4. Erroneous impressions 
 prevalent on the subject of University study. §. 5. Ob- 
 jections to the principle of a curriculum of general 
 study. §. 8. Its historical origin. §. 11. The Univers- 
 ity a school for manly and adult intellect. §. 12. The 
 student of the University a man in point of physical 
 constitution. §. 14. The characteristic peculiarity of 
 manhood consists in the capacity for higher speculation. 
 §. 15. The power can alone be exercised through the 
 medium of those sciences which correspond with the 
 peculiar inclinations and mental gifts of the individual, 
 §. 16. The Idea of science attains real existence only 
 in a miiltitude of cognate forms. §. 17. True specula- 
 tive power always accompanied with a decided bias in 
 the direction of some particular study. §. 18. The cul- 
 tivation of particular branches of science the only con- 
 dition under which productivity is conceivable. §. 22. 
 This principle necessarily adopted as the law and basis 
 of University study. 
 
 III. 
 
 The Historical origin and progress of University 
 study p. 93 — 241. 
 
 §. 1. Higher education in the earlier periods of Greek 
 history. §. 3. Oratory and public life possess the cha- 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 raoter of a regular profession in the states of antiquity. 
 §. 4. The Sophists. Secret of their influence and im- 
 portance. §.*7. Inherent vices of the sophistic system. 
 §. 9. Difference between the earlier and later Sophists. 
 §. 10. Redeeming element in the character of the So- 
 phists. §. 11. Attic oratory. §. 12. Rise of Attic phi-~ 
 losophy. §. 13. Schools of Plato and Isocrates. §. 15. 
 Aristotle. §. 17. Museum of Alexandria. Schools of 
 Athens and Rhodes. §. 19. Class of persons who fre- 
 quented these schools. Duties and emoluments of Gram- 
 marians and Rhetoricians. §. 21. The iynviihci fitt'S-jj- 
 liara. §. 23. Peculiar importance assigned to the study 
 of philosophy amongst the ancients. §. 25. Rapid dege- 
 neracy of the philosophy after Aristotle. §. 26. Higher 
 education amongst the Roman.?. §. 29. Influence exercised 
 by Cicero upon the youth of his time. §. 31. Endowment 
 of learning by the emperors. Athenaeum of the Capitol- 
 University of Athens established by Marcus Aurelius. 
 §. 32. Mode of appointing professors. §. 33. Amount 
 of salary. §. 34. Classes of Sophists. §. 35. Position 
 and character of the Sophists in this period. §. 37. 
 Mode of instruction. §. 38. Principle of University 
 study as understood at this period. §. 39. Classes into 
 which the students were divided. Lecture rooms , &c. 
 §. 40. Chancellor of the University. §. 42. Effects of 
 these schools upon the literature of the age. §. 43. 
 Debasing effects of the rhetorical propensities of that 
 period upon higher education. §. 44. Influence of Chris- 
 tianity upon the academic study of antiquity. §. 46. 
 Earliest theological schools. §. 47. Tetradision of Con- 
 .stantinople. §. 48. Legal schools of Rome and Berytus. 
 §. 49. Rule of the Ostrogoths in Italy. Its effects upon 
 learning. §■ 50. Differences between the academic 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 schools of antiquity and those of the middle ages. §. 53. 
 Origin and organization of the various Faculties in the 
 mediaeval Universities. §. 54. Each of the Universities 
 of this period devotes its chief attention to the prosecu- 
 tion of some one particular study. §. 55. Influence of 
 the Byzantine schools upoii those of Western Europe. 
 §. 57. Resemblances in point of corporate organization, 
 academic dress, matriculation, mode of instruction! &c. 
 between the Universities of antiquity and those of the 
 middle ages. §. 58. Existence of a curriculum of ge- 
 neral study in both. §. 59. Explanation of this circum- 
 stance. §. 60. The Faculty of Arts long regarded as 
 inferior in dignity to those of Medicine, Law and Theo- 
 logy- §■ 61. It first assumes academic rank and conse- 
 quence at the revival of letters in the ISih century. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Practical inferences from the foregoing re- 
 ™aAs p. 241—279. 
 
 §. 1. The peculiar office which Oxford is called upon 
 to fulfil. §. 21. Radical changes not required. §. 4. 
 Ancient Halls of Oxford. §. 7. Popular character of the 
 government of the University at this period. §. 8. Orii^ 
 gin of the collegiate system. §. 10. Colleges at Paris./* 
 §. 11. Period in which such endowments particularly 
 abound. §. 12. In Oxford the colleges ultimately con- 
 stitute the University. §. 13. Breaking up of the system 
 of academic Faculties. §. 14. Colleges designed with/ 
 reference to religious purposes rather than to those of 
 instrnction. §. 18. This circumstance furnishes a clue 
 to the reforms especially called for. §. 19. Distribution I 
 of subjects of instruction amongst the tutors of each 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 college. §. 20. Original plan of Christ Church. §. -.'l. 
 Inhibits an attempt to combine collegiate with profes- 
 sorial teaching. §. 22. Part which should be assigned 
 to each in accomplishing the ends of academic instruction. 
 §. 23. The University properly intended to afford a pre- 
 paration for the Masters degree only. The course of 
 study preparative to the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
 should be completed in a much shorter time than at 
 present. §. 24. Class of subjects which should be em- 
 braced in this course. 
 
 V. 
 
 The leading excellencies and defects of the Ger- 
 man Universities p. 279 — ^291. 
 
 §. 1. The present eminence of the German Universities 
 mainly owing to ftieir adoption of the principle of study 
 which we advocate. §. 2. In point of general design 
 the academic system of Germany identical with our 
 own. §. 3. The German Universities faulty as regards 
 purposes of instruction. §. (5. Their great merit con- 
 sists in an admirably conceived method of prosecuting 
 scientific inquiry. §. 7. The learned inquiry of Ger- 
 many distinguished by the search after ultimate causes. 
 §. 8. By a religious reverence for scientific truth as 
 such. §. 9. By a judicious division of academic study. 
 
 VI. 
 
 G-eneral advantages whicli may be anticipated from 
 a reform of the Universities . p. 291 — 309- 
 
 §. 1. Faults of the English character as exhibiting itself 
 
XII CONTENTS. 
 
 at the present day. §. 2. Classes of society in which 
 these objectionable qualities are most conspicuously seM|, 
 §. 6. The University in its various modes of efficacy 
 especially and essentially qualified to countei'act these 
 faults. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page viii. line 1, for TJniTersity in instruction read University 
 instruction. 
 ix. line ]8,_/ot' Athens established read. Athens as estab- 
 lished. 
 20, omit the second note. 
 29, line 4,/flr victoirie read, victorie. 
 35, line 4,/or hi rear! hii. 
 60, line I'i.^for what those reai those which. 
 95, first note,ybr Alexis Meinecke read Alexis in Mei- 
 
 necke. 
 104, second notc./br Nimerii reatl. Himerii. 
 109, third note./or however read here. 
 126, line \l,,for forms read form. 
 131, note,/or the philosopher read that philosopher. 
 
 139, line \1,for hundred sesterces read hundred thousand 
 
 sesterces. 
 
 140, line 10, for introduced of assigning redd introduced 
 
 under the Ptolemies of assigning. 
 
 143, line 16,, /br that a later read that at a later. 
 
 144, line 1 0. insert the following sentence : The subordinate 
 
 position assigned to the subjects included in the 
 
 course above mentioned is evident from a passage 
 
 in Plutarch already cited (p. 61 .) 
 180, line 3, for with study read with the study. 
 198, line 23, for drawn together read were drawn together. 
 213, line 15,/ot' existence of faculties is read existence of 
 
 faculties at Paris is. 
 264, line 15, dele account. 
 280, line 16, /or than read as. 
 
 298, line l,for moral read morale. 
 
 299, line 18,./or state read scale. 
 
 300, line i,for initiation read initiative, 
 line \7,for garded read regarded. 
 
 301, line 26, for wildness read wilderness. 
 
 306, line 11, for and ansuch read ani has inspired such an. 
 
I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XFORD FROM THE IITH CENTURY TO THE MIDDLE 
 OP THE 14TH. 
 
 §. 1. No small share of the extraordinary circumstai 
 avour with which Mr. Macaulay's recent work Jtekln'i 
 as been popularly received is due, we believe, account i 
 
 every com 
 
 an attempt on the part of its author to com- risonofea 
 line the functions of the antiquarian with those'" ^'"Vl 
 
 ^ stages or I 
 
 f the historian, and to blend the description of torkai de 
 onditions with the statesmanlike interpretation °'"''"'^" 
 f events. Felicitous and well judged as is the 
 onception of applying to English history the 
 lethod which Niebuhr has so grandly exempli- 
 ed in his treatment of that of Kome we cannot 
 ut take some exception to the manner in 
 rhich this design is occasionally carried out. 
 n spite of the declamatory, and somewhat over 
 oloured manner of depicting characters and 
 acidents by which the work is distinguished 
 one will have failed to notice the frequent 
 eference to the vices and barbarism of earlier 
 eriods of English history, and the somewhat 
 ndue complacency with which the writer is 
 
 1 
 
— 2 — 
 
 in the habit of contrasting the coarseness and 
 prevalent immorality of former times with the 
 decorum and respectability of our own. With- 
 out being altogether prepared to join issue with 
 the historian upon the general conclusion at 
 which he has arrived we cannot help thinking that 
 he takes too little into account the homeliness 
 of manners, and ruder nature necessarily aris- 
 ing out of the smaller population, and simpler 
 relations of every more youthful period of human 
 society.*) The life and comfort of a small 
 provincial townj even though calamities now 
 and then occur which when considered en masse, 
 would give an ugly appearance to its annals, 
 is never so intolerably distui-bed and disorgan- 
 ised in consequence of the absence of an effi- 
 cient police as that of London would be under 
 similar circumstances. Mr. Macaulay seems to 
 forget ihoreover that the existence of 'a certain 
 degree of positive moral and intellectual great- 
 ness in a community more than counterbalances 
 
 *) For example when we read that Joseph sent his 
 brother Benjamin a mess five times greater th3n that 
 of any of tlie rest of the company we are not to 
 imagine both parties tq the transaction as fearfully 
 unsentimental as we should conclude them to be from 
 a similar love token at the present day. 
 
— 3 — 
 
 almost any amount of mere irregularity and 
 disorder in detail. The presence of a single 
 character like Blake's or Milton's would even at 
 the present day amply compensate for the ex- 
 istence of a score of caterans in the Highlands 
 or footpads on Hounslow heath. — Had the work 
 above referred to been composed after, instead 
 of before, the events of the last two years we 
 suspect that the author would have drawn a 
 more austere and practically fruitful moral 
 from the teachings of the past. He would at 
 all events have taken occasion in a manner more 
 pointed to bring home to his readers one salut- 
 ary warning, namely that the vices and abuses 
 of an earlier period when permitted to prop- 
 agate themselves into a more advanced stage 
 of national existence necessarily become pro- 
 ductive of tenfold greater detriment and disgrace. 
 §. 2. ^ut whatever be the merits of the view 
 adopted by Mr. Macaulay when considered with 
 reference to England generally there can be 
 little doubt that as regards the most eminent of 
 those institutions which exist for the purpose 
 of promoting the noblest life of the nation and 
 the individual the student of English History 
 is likely to arrive at a widely different con- 
 clusion. The present condition of the most 
 
 1 * 
 
— 4 — 
 
 ancient and celebrated of our schools of learn- 
 ing, its inertness and insignificance, except in 
 so far as the social momentum of mere wealth 
 is concerned, when contrasted with its sing- 
 ularly distinguished position and powerful in- 
 fluence in times far less favourable to the dom- 
 inion of knowledge, is little calculated to suggest 
 reflections of a vainglorious or selflaudatory 
 nature. — Facts in this instance speak so 
 distinctly, and point to conclusions so unavoid- 
 able, that little of the nice discrimination, and 
 delicate balance of minuter circumstances gener- 
 ally requisite in deciding upon historical ques- 
 tions is here needed to interpret their evidence. 
 A brief and simple statement of the leading 
 events in the earlier history of Oxford presents 
 so utter a contrast to all which could now be 
 recorded that we may be spared the necessity 
 of exposing the poverty and nakedness of an 
 institution deeply impaired in its usefulness yet 
 abounding in great possibilities, and in spite of 
 manifold deficiences still wearing an aspect 
 singularly hallowed and impressive. — The 
 existing state of things is so completely and 
 finally condemned that we may be permitted to 
 pass from a rapid sketch of what Oxford has 
 been to a consideration of what it, and every 
 
— 5 — 
 
 University ought to be, leaving it to eacli individ- 
 ual to determine how much remains to be done 
 in order to revive in present times something 
 analogous to so magnificent a past. It is diffi- 
 cult to discover any reason in the nature of 
 things why in all that redounds to the true 
 dignity and public usefulness of a learned in- 
 stitution Oxford in the nineteenth century 
 should exhibit the very contradictory of what 
 it was in the twelfth. 
 
 §. 3. During the whole of that period which celebrity and 
 hibits in their highest energy and perfection the ^^^^^^of 
 peculiar institutions of mediaeval Europe Ox- Oxford iu the 
 ford stood high and conspicuous, if not foremost, ^g-es. 
 among the intellectual lights of mankind. — 
 It was one of the chief sources of scientific 
 guidance and certainty during a series of ages 
 rich in vigorous vitality, and abounding in the 
 noble promise of the most healthful and genial 
 adolesc'ence. From the Norman conquest to the 
 middle of the fourteenth century Oxford as- 
 serted a power over the scientific and moral 
 convictions of the leading nations of Christen- 
 dom little if at all inferior to that of Paris, the 
 old,est and most important of the continental 
 Universities. Nay on reckoning up the names 
 of the European celebrities of that period, and 
 
— 6 — 
 
 comparing the dates which mark the order of 
 the internal changes successively introduced in 
 each, it appears that in point of mental enlight- 
 enment, and corporate organisation the balance 
 of obligation is far less exclusively on the side of 
 the English University than is commonly imag- 
 ined. So intimate indeed were the ties by 
 which both were united that they may almost 
 be regarded as distinct portions of the same 
 academic whole rather than as different Univer- 
 sities. The most eminent Doctors of Oxford 
 acted at the same time as regent masters in 
 Paris, and nothing was more frequent than for 
 students of one University to complete their 
 studies at the other. *) The material greatness 
 
 *) A. Wood History and Antiquities of Oxford, ed. 
 Gntch. I, page 207. 
 
 See Huber History of the English Universities I, page 
 66. In this number were no douht. comprehended, not 
 only the numerous attendants who formed the retinue of 
 students belonging to the nobility, but all those trades- 
 men , who , from the fact of their ministering more 
 immediately to the wants of the academic population, 
 were regarded as clients of the University, In Bologna 
 a large number of scriveners bookbinders bedmakers 
 etc. were enrolled amongst the suppositos Universitati, 
 and swore obedience to the rector. See Savigny Ge- 
 schichte des Eomischen Eechts im Mittelalter. 
 
— 7 — 
 
 of Oxford during a large part of this period 
 was perfectly prodigious. The number of schol- 
 ars, according to well authenticated documents, 
 amounted to thirty thousand distributed through- 
 out three hundred halls , and this enormous ac- 
 ademic population included not only students 
 from all the British races, but a very consider- 
 able number from the nations of the continent. 
 Frenchmen, Spaniards, Germans, Bohemians 
 and Italians flocked in crowds to the teachings 
 of the English University. *) — " Those Schol- 
 ars ', says Wood, 'that could compass Oxford 
 and Paris to see the fashions there, converse 
 with clerks of most countries, and obtain but 
 a specimen of their literature were accounted 
 worthy in their generation". Oxford exerted 
 a weight and authority in England and Europe 
 generally to which no existing institution furn- 
 ishes the slightest parallel or analogon. In con- 
 junction with Paris it contained the concentrated 
 intelligence of the Church, then in the highest 
 ascendancy of spiritual power, and asserting an 
 
 *) See A. Wood History and antiquities of Oxford I, 
 P. 4. — The extent to which Oxford was frequented hy 
 students from Italy, is evident from the existence of the 
 aula Romana in the parish of All saints. (A. Wood Hist, 
 and antiq. of Oxford I, p. 206.) , 
 
almost equal universality of temporal dominion. 
 Ancient writers vie with each other in the joy 
 and pride with which they allude to the part 
 which Oxford then played in the nation , and in 
 the times. They speak of it as 'one of Englands 
 stays nay as the sun eye and soul thereof. — 
 Matthew of Paris in 1256 describes Oxford as 
 'the second school of the Church, yea the 
 fundamental base thereof'.*) An old historian 
 quoted by Huber in his work on the English 
 Universities waxes even more eloquent in his 
 enthusiasm. — "This bright sun", he tells us, 
 "gave light to the whole kingdom, the beams 
 of our wisdom spred the whole world. All 
 schools took counsel and example from this, 
 all kingdoms honoured it : as far as God heth 
 londe Oxford had a name". 
 Us influence g. 4. HyperboHcal as these expressions may 
 scientiftcspe-seem to those who only know Oxford from 
 Tarepoch. *^® intellectual torpor, and Sibthorpian con- 
 servatism (minus its kindliness) by which it 
 is now chiefly distinguished, a single glance 
 at the leading events of those times will 
 show that they contain something more trust- 
 worthy than quaint rhetoric. Oxford then 
 
 *) A. Wood Hist, ^d antiq. of Oxford p. 75 and 76. 
 
— 9 — 
 
 attested its utility and renown by the noblest 
 fruits, by 'books and men'. Its weight and 
 importance amongst the learned institutions 
 of Europe is evident from the distinguished 
 part borne by its fostersons in all the great 
 Church Councils of thi§ period, and from the 
 extraordinary proportion of the most illustrious 
 individuals of the time whom she could then 
 claim as l*er own. Roger Bacon, a name more 
 highly venerated out of England than that of 
 Bacon of Verulam *), Wycklyffe, the forerunner 
 of the Reformation, Alexander Hales (Doctor 
 irrefragabilis) , Duns Scotus, the perfector of 
 scholastic philosophy, and Ockham, the most 
 acute and ingenious advocate of Nominalism^ 
 are only samples of a long series of great and 
 gifted men who taught in Oxford during this 
 aera of its history. — '-Without doubt", says 
 Wood, in speaking of Oxford, "all impartial 
 men may receive it for an undeniable truth that 
 the most subtle arguing in school divinity did 
 take its beginning in England, and from English 
 men ; and that also from thence it went to Paris 
 and other parts of France, and at length into 
 
 *) Heeren , Geschichte der classischen Literatur im 
 Mittelalter I, p. 300. 
 
— 10 — 
 
 Italy, Spain, and other nations ".*J Of the lit- 
 erary fertility of the university we have evi- 
 dence in the fact recorded by Pitsius**), that 
 Oxford produced no less than one hundred and 
 forty authors between the twelfth and the 
 middle of the fourteenth centuries. 
 
 §. 5. In order to form a due estimate of the 
 comparative importance of the circumstances ab- 
 ove mentioned we must bear in mind,ciot merely 
 the extremely primitive condition of the times 
 of which we are now treating, but the additional 
 fact, that the illustrious individuals whose names 
 shed honour on the records of Oxford during 
 this period were in an incomparably greater de- 
 gree the genuine product of its peculiar method 
 of education than the political and literary 
 celebrities who might now be adduced amongst 
 the graduates of the university. The entire 
 life of the great men of that epoch was spent 
 in connection with what were then the sole re- 
 positories of learning and enlightenment. Even 
 when elevated to posts of political distinction, 
 or ecclesiastic dignity such individuals remained 
 
 *) Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I , p. 100. 
 **) See Huber History of the English Universities I, 
 Note 14. 
 
— 11 — 
 
 united to the University by relations and sym- 
 pathies of the strongest and most intimate na- 
 ture. Oxford was not then compelled to de- 
 fend the utility of its instruction by reference to 
 a heterogeneous list of notorieties, whose after- 
 eminence can as little be traced to their re- 
 sidence at the University as the legal ability 
 of Sir Frederick Thesiger can be refei'red to 
 the indifferent dinners consumed at the Inns of 
 Court, or the Chambers he may have rented in 
 Chancery Lane. The extent to which the alumni 
 of Oxford were indebted to her teaching for 
 their intellectual configuration was evident in 
 the permanence and strength of the ties which 
 continued to unite them to the University when 
 all external connection had been severed. She 
 proved her claims to her offspring by the in- 
 delible family likeness they bore her. 
 
 §. 6. With reference to the scientific and True cha- 
 positive value of a productivity so astonishing as 's^hojJtlc'' 
 that above mentioned, it is hardly necessary to iiwiosophy. 
 remind the reader that the once fashionable 
 method of flippantly disposing of the philoso- 
 phic labours of the scholastic period as mere 
 disputatious quibbling, or as exhibiting at 
 best the eccentricities of a perverted ingenuity 
 has long since befe discovered to be one of 
 
— 12 — 
 
 the shallowest of vulgar errors, and is now clas- 
 sed with the stupendous ignorance and incapa- ; 
 city of appreciation which with equal confidence 
 pronounced our Gothic minsters on a level 
 with the monstrosities of Mexico or Otaheite, 
 and, recognised in Macbeth and Hamleth only 
 the ravings of 'ah inebriated savage'. That 
 there was a period in which the spirit and 
 power of scientific enquiry had utterly fled from 
 the mediaeval systems, leaving a jargon quite 
 as barbarous as that into which the termino- 
 logy of Kant and Hegel has become perverted 
 in the hands of their followers , is most unques- 
 tionably true, and the readers of Erasmus 
 need not to be reminded that the absurdity and 
 emptiness of this uncouth logomachy had been 
 exposed and ridiculed long before the time of 
 those who have the credit of having first 
 opened the eyes of mankind to its deficiencies*). 
 The scholastic philosophy had begun to verge 
 towards decay even in the days of Scotus , and 
 
 *) See amongst other passages Ep. II, 10 and VI, 39. 
 where Erasmus describes its adherents as theologastros, 
 quorum cerebellis nihil pntidius, lingua nihil barba- 
 rius , ingenio nihil stupidius , doctrina nihil spinosinSj j 
 moribus nihil asperins , vita nihil fucatius , oratioue nihil 
 viruleutius, pectore nihil nigrius. 
 
— 13 — 
 
 Roger Bacon himself pointed out to his con- 
 temporaries the unhealthy tendencies into which 
 it was beginning to degenerate. At the period 
 of which we are now treating however the 
 schools of Oxford and Paris stood in the highest 
 bloom and vigour of existence. Inquiry was 
 still prosecuted with all the hope and kindling 
 ardour of triumphantly advancing speculation. 
 To be rightly appreciated the Scholastic philo- 
 sophy is but the dialectic form, the basis and 
 frame work of that powerful and passionate 
 yearning after an utter absorption of the earthly 
 nature into the spiritual and immortal which 
 lay at the root of all the leading phaenomena 
 of the brighter epochs of mediaeval life. It 
 was the universal prevalence of this ardent, and 
 — ■ at that youthful period — far from ignoble 
 striving after an entire triumph over the gros- 
 ser elements of existence which gave the Church 
 its boundless power over the minds of men, 
 and which in the mysteriously imaginative cha- 
 racter of cathedral architecture has found an 
 expression so lofty and suggestive of its own 
 infinite aspirations after the highest object of 
 human desire. 
 
 §. 7. Visionary and extravagant as were the 
 aims of the crusading period, theirs was not that 
 
 / 
 
— 14 — 
 
 morbid and puerile sentimentalism, which is ex- 
 posed in all its pitiable absurdity when brought 
 into collision with the reality of action or sub- 
 jected to the rigid scrutiny of the dispassionate 
 understanding. Their religious enthusiasm was 
 no feverish delirium, but the glow and exhi- 
 laration of redundant health. It seized, not 
 upon the weak minded — ■ yvvatxug xal yvvair' 
 xadsig Kvdpag,*) as an ancient writer fitly 
 terms them, but upon precisely the sternest and 
 most powerful natures. The Gregories and 
 Hildebrands, who appear as the spiritual At- 
 tilas of that era, and whose inflexibility of 
 purpose, and energy of character were matcli- 
 ed with administrative powers scarcely less 
 gigantic, were in many cases summoned to the 
 Chair of St. Peter from the desert and the 
 convent. The so called mysticism of that age 
 exhibits even a preponderance of the dialectic 
 element. The writings of all the most eminent 
 thinkers of the scholastic period , Albertus Mag- 
 nus, Raymond Lull, Anselm of Canterbury, 
 and especially the productions of the school 
 of Hugo de St. Victor, are remarkable not more 
 for a spirit of deep devotion , and an earnest 
 
 *) Lobeck Aglaopham. p. 629. 
 
— 15 — 
 
 upward tendency of contemplation , than for 
 the closeness of reasoning , and the vigour and 
 ability with which the question is handled. 
 With the most thorough adoption of the old 
 Pythagorean maxim , (pUoa6q)si, trov ovQavov 
 GKOTCav , they take care never to lose their 
 connection with the solid basis of earth. No 
 assertion is advanced without the strictest proof, 
 and an entire system of the most elevating 
 conceptions is riveted together with the com- 
 pactness and irresistible force of a mathema- 
 tical demonstration. 
 
 §. 9. The controversy between Nominalism Nominaiis 
 and Realism, in which Oxford bore so signal a 
 part dui'ing the best ages of its history, seems to 
 have rested far more upon a generic difference 
 of intellectual constitution, than upon the slighter 
 and more incidental grou.nds of a purely specu- 
 lative disagreement. Each of the contending 
 parties here asserted what was subjectively true, 
 and thoroughly in accordance with fact when 
 considered with reference to their respective 
 moods of cognition. The Realists with the vast 
 majority of ancient philosophers maintained 
 that thoughts are preeminently things, and do 
 not merely possess a being of their own, but 
 constitute the ground of existence to the exter- 
 
— 16 — 
 
 nals with which we are conversant by means 
 of 'the senses. The Nominalists, on the con- 
 trary, regarded the objects of sensuous per- 
 ception as constituting the only vei'itable re- 
 alities. Thought they looked upon as a mere 
 principle of classification, an arbitrary memo- 
 ria technica, and means of mentally grasping 
 a certain amount of the infinite phaenomena 
 of nature. Under the common name of thought, 
 or idea, each of the disputants understood some- 
 thing essentially different. The Realist refer- 
 red the term to the Platonic conception of 
 those highest norms and principles of being, 
 which a faculty and perception of inherent 
 necessity far more certain than bodily sense, 
 and more cogent than logical sequence as- 
 sured him must be eternal, and consequently 
 anterior to all finite and material existence. 
 The Nominalist, on the other hand, as being 
 virtually destitute of any such organ of men- 
 tal inttiition, applied the same term to those 
 abstractions of the generalizing faculty, which 
 constituted the highest form of knowledge 
 of which his nature was capable. These of 
 course he triumphantly demonstrated to be 
 secondary, and subsequent to our experience 
 of outward things. With so utter a discre- 
 
— 17 — 
 
 pancy of nature on the part of all who come 
 to the consideration of the subject matter, and 
 where the whole question hinges upon the re- 
 lative correctness of the powers of higher in- 
 tellectual cognition in each, the most summary, 
 and perhaps not the least satisfactory method 
 of determining upon the point at issue is ob- 
 tained by carrying the contest from the world 
 of subjective thought into the more universally 
 accessible region of objective reality. Impos- 
 sible as it may be to reduce either of the con- 
 tending parties to silence, where the arguments 
 of the one side at least are based upon data 
 utterly ignored by the other, it is not so hope- 
 less an attempt to discover which of these two 
 great diversities of intellect may be regarded 
 as representing the most complete and perfect 
 type of humanity, and as having been product- 
 ive of the largest amount of light, wisdom, and 
 elevated happiness to mankind. On which side 
 are to be found the mightiest poets, the most 
 beneficent lawgivers, the chiefest and most in- 
 spired apostles? Which tendency has strongly 
 predominated openly announced, or tacitly im- 
 plied, in the most fertile, active; and he- 
 roic ages of history ? By their fruits ye shall 
 know them, is a maxim quite as appKcable 
 
— 18 — 
 
 to philosophic, as to religious doctrine. That 
 system is sure to be the soundest, and most 
 thoroughly in accordance with scientific truth,, 
 which proves most eminently productive of mo- 
 ral advancement, and practically living thought. 
 
 §. 9. That this far famed controversy by no 
 means originated in the times at which the 
 names of Nominalism and Realism are first ' 
 heard of, but is in reality coeval with the ear- 
 liest essays of philosophical inquiry, is evident 
 from a remarkable passage in the Sophistes 
 of Plato where the latter speaks of the eternal 
 yiyavTOii,a%iu between those who regard voi^ta ■ 
 atta, xal d&ci(iata ai'dfj as the ground of Being, 
 and those who seek reality and truth in the 
 corporeal only*). 
 
 S. 10. A circumstance which contributed not i 
 
 *) Sophistes p. 346. We are aware that Schleier- 
 maoher (see Indroduction to the Sophistes) understands 
 this passage as referring exclusively to the controver- 
 sies of the Megareau school with the materialistic fol- 
 lowers of Deraooritus. We cannot hfelp thinking how- 
 ever that this is a, somewhat needless restriction of wide 
 and general expressions. The words iv fisam tcsqI tavxa 
 li.d)f,ri Tig anXsrog asl ^wsBn^iisv seem rather to show 
 that Plato is here speaking of a lasting divergency of 
 philosophic belief including as one of its manifestations 
 that of the schools above referred to. 
 
— 19 — 
 
 a little to render this controversy additionally- 
 barren and protracted was the loose and inac- 
 curate manner in which the word idea seems 
 to have been employed by the Realists them- 
 selves. Even Plato in many cases applies the 
 terms sidog and idea to denote the merely univer- 
 sal (to xad-olov), though not without clearly es- 
 tablishing in other passages the essential and dis- 
 tinctive features of the Absolute (ro xaO"' avro)*). 
 §. 11. Great however as was the influence 
 of Oxford upon the studious world of Europe, influence of 
 the part which it enacted in English history at a O'''''"'' »i'°" 
 
 i D t/ the early po- 
 
 crisis of political developement unspeakably liucai ufe of 
 momentous and decisive was even more signally 
 beneficial and important. It was not so much 
 in dexterously dealing with dialectic subtleties^ 
 or in awakening abstruse yet pregnant ques- 
 tions of ontologic science as in the region of 
 moral action, and practical usefulness that the 
 schools of Oxford have achieved their most in- 
 disputable claim to the respect and gratitude 
 of after men. Throughout the whole of what 
 may be termed its heroic age Oxford is distin- 
 guished by the warmth and intensity of inter- 
 
 *) Such was also the case with Aristotle. See Bran- 
 dis Aristoteles. p. 347. 
 
 2 + 
 
— 20 — 
 
 est with which it followed the cours'e of public 
 events, and it is more than to be surmised that 
 to this source more especially the history of 
 that epoch is indebted for the political interest, 
 and incipient statesmanship which set it so far 
 above all the preceding and many of the sub- 
 sequent periods. Of the two nations, into which 
 the academic population was divided, the north- 
 ern English (Angli Boreales, clercs Nourrois), 
 who in philosophy adhered to the more Plato- 
 nic and imaginative doctrines of the Realists, 
 and in politics constituted the party of pro- 
 gress,*) seem at this time to have had a de- 
 cided preponderance in the councils of the. uni- 
 versity. The weight of the whole learned class 
 was thus thrown on the side of the baronial 
 party in that memorable struggle with the 
 crown**) in which the germs of English law and 
 English liberty were quickened into intenser life 
 and activity. Simon de Montfort, the head and 
 soul of the English people at this most impor- 
 tant juncture of their history, who by the addi- 
 tion of the gentry and wealthier burgesses to 
 
 *) Huber, Hist, of the English Universities I p. 86. 
 **) The vei-y reverse of what took place during the 
 Civil Wars. temp. Cac. I. 
 
— 21 — 
 
 the former assembly of the barons and prelates 
 became the author of the political power of 
 the commonalty, found his most vigorous suppor- 
 ters in the ranks of the clerisy, and established 
 at Oxford the headquarters of the baronial 
 party*). That the support of the academic 
 population was not confined to m^re sympathy 
 is evident from their bold and spirited conduct 
 at the defence of Northampton. On this oc- 
 casion they fought under their own banner, and 
 according to old Walter Hemingford '' dealt the 
 soldiers of the king more harm than did all the 
 barons"**). Their stout defence so irritated 
 Henry that on entering the town he was with 
 difficulty dissuaded from putting them all to 
 the sword. Such a gathering together of lite- 
 rally myriads of ardent and highly susceptible 
 natures into one focus of intelligence and 
 sympathy could not but exercise a powerful 
 influence upon the sentiments and destinies of 
 the entire nation. A rude rhyme which has 
 come down to us from that period bears wit- 
 ness to the fact that Oxford was then to the 
 
 *) Huber, Hist, of the Engl. Univ. I p. 95. 
 **) Huber. I Note 24, See also Pauli, Geschichte von 
 England III p. 642. 
 
— 22 — 
 
 rest of England almost as much a centre of 
 impulse and action as Paris at the present day 
 is to France, though, it need hardly be obser- 
 ved, that in the former instance this relation 
 was based upon grounds, and exercised in a 
 manner far more honourable to each*). 
 Benefits of §• 'IS. This remarkable Community of senti- 
 jniversiiyiii'jjjgj^^ between the body of the nation and its 
 
 structionwi- "^ 
 
 deiy diffused schools of learning was the result at once of the 
 
 thTaristo- unwcakencd connection which all who had ever 
 
 :racy of those ^een adopted into the mental aristocracy con- 
 
 ag^es. 
 
 tinued to maintain Tvith the university, and of 
 the singularly large proportion of the best clas- 
 ses of the country over whom the elevating ' 
 influences of an academic education were then 
 extended. The nobility of that day seem far 
 less frequently than at present to have neglec- 
 ted to take advantage of the peculiar opportu- 
 nities furnished by wealth and social position 
 for possessing themselves of the highest cul- 
 ture which the age could furnish by passing 
 
 *) Chronica si penses 
 
 Cum pugnaut Oxonienses 
 Post paueos menses 
 Volat ira per Angligenenses. 
 A. Wood. Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I p. 258. 
 
— 23 — 
 
 through a regular course of university study*). 
 Even king John is known to have been by 
 no means destitute of literary attainments.**) 
 Henry the first (Beauclerc) is known to have 
 been educated at one of the universities, most 
 probably Oxford. Wood tells us ***) that this ac- 
 complished monarch was wont to declare "that 
 he would esteem himself but "a crowngdasse" 
 
 *) "For at this time our mother was in its vigour, 
 and esteemed by all as great a, school of learning and 
 virtue as in the whole world, and therefore as the com- 
 mon nursery of the chief nobility in England." A. Wood. 
 Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford, I p. 221. The very large 
 number of men of rank who studied at Oxford in the 
 earlier period of its history is attested by another cir- 
 cumstance recorded by the same writer (I p. 267). At 
 the storming at Northampton when Henry the Second 
 had resolved to send to the scaffold all the scholars of 
 Oxford who had taken part in the defence of the town, 
 his own friends earnestly dissuaded him from carrying 
 his design into effect, representing to him that the 
 university comprised a very large portion of the sons 
 of the first families in the realm, and that any undue se- 
 verity towards them would infalliblycause the defection 
 of many who had hitherto espoused the royal cause. 
 
 **) Pauli Gesch. von Engl. Ill p. 48(3. The works 
 of Pliny and Peter Lombardus are mentioned as amongst 
 the books in his library. 
 
 ***) Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I p. 131- 
 
— 24 — 
 
 without literature, and was always ready to 
 declaim against the condition of those princes 
 that had not naturally, or did not take pains to 
 obtain such humane gifts that might render 
 them prudent and discerning in the eyes and 
 judgment of the people". Even in the com- 
 parative decline of the English universities at 
 the close of the fifteenth century John Major 
 writes that there were in each "from four to five 
 thousand scholars, all grown up, carrying swords, 
 and bows, and mostly gentry".*) Of the swarms 
 of zealous disciples who followed Abelard, and 
 other great teachers of that age, from city to 
 city until the whole countryside was often 
 unable to supply food for their countless mul- 
 titudes, it is expressly mentioned that a very 
 large proportion was composed of the noblest 
 born, and most affluent of the land**). The 
 warlike and adventurous spirit of the crusades, 
 no less than of the time of Elisabeth arose 
 from something better than an excess of ani- 
 mal spirits, or the incontrollable redundancy of 
 mere physical vigour. Their chivalrous gallan- 
 
 *) Quoted by Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions on Philo- 
 sophy &c. p. 414. 
 
 **) Neander Church History Vol. VIII, pp. 427, 40, 
 95, 96. 
 
— 25 — 
 
 try was but the simplest and most primitive ex- 
 pression of a naturally noble and aspiring 
 temper, which was almost as much in its ele- 
 ment in the high speculations of the schools, as 
 when enacting deeds of valour and romance.*) 
 
 §. 13. We should be doing a grievous injustice Thopoiuicai 
 to Oxford of the olden time if we imagined for °p'°'0"s "f 
 
 ° the Univers- 
 
 an instant that in their influence upon the poli-iiyand popu- 
 tical events of the thirteenth century the scho- thauiaVhart 
 lars of that day bore the slightest resemblance """^'"S' ='■'"' 
 
 1 . 1 ^ • 1 . ^° modern 
 
 to the insane school boys whose mischievous sanscuiottism. 
 puerilities during the late disturbances on the 
 
 *) An analogy, and in some respects a confirmation, 
 of the view here taken of the spirit of the chivalrous 
 ages will he found in the twofold character of the gym- 
 nastic training of the ancients. The latter was designed 
 to harden and invigorate the hody, in order by a sort of 
 indefinable sympathy to fortify, and give a heroic temper 
 to the soul. (See Lucian's beautiful dialogue de gymna- 
 siis.) The gymnasia were schools of philosophic , quite 
 as much as of bodily, exercise and their twofold tendency 
 is indicated by the divinities to whom they were dedica- 
 ted, Apollo cpi'Xad-Xog (Lucian de Gymn., P. 887 Hemster- 
 hus. Plut. Symposiac. P. 724) and Hermes, the god of 
 intellectual, and bodily dexterity (Miiller, Archaeologie 
 derKunst §.380, Hor. Carm. 1, 10, init.), amongst the later 
 Romans the Thermae held relatively to literature and phi- 
 losophy a position in many respects analogous to that of 
 the Greek gymnasia. Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Paris I, p. 367. 
 
— 26 — 
 
 continent have done so much to bring German 
 universities into contempt and disgrace. Plutarch 
 would as soon have thought of drawing a parallel 
 between Tiberius Gracchus and Mr. Cuffey*) 
 as of comparing the academic adherents of 
 de Montfort and Grosseteste with the be- 
 muddled Burschen who vapoured in 1848 'at 
 the barricades of Berlin and Vienna. The 
 scholars of Oxford are not seen associated with 
 the spirits of anarchy, absurdity, and black- 
 guardism, but with the powers of Duty, intel- 
 ligence and order. The resolute yet modest 
 watchword of their party ' nolumus leges Ang- 
 liae mutari' plainly demonstrates that they were 
 in arms to defend the ayQccTCta vofii^cc, the 
 primeval law of the land, and to resist not 
 create, revolution. Their conception of the 
 liberties of Englishmen was suggested by na- 
 tional institutions inherent in the praehistoric 
 organisation of their own peculiar type of social 
 life, and springing essentially from that living 
 principle of personal honour, and mutual self- 
 respect, which had given its very name to the 
 Germanic race. **) The leaders of the party to 
 
 *) The impertinent 'nigg-er', who diverted the public 
 
 a few years since in the capacity of a Chartist orator. 
 
 **) Tlie name Germani is, according to Savigny, equi- 
 
— 27 — 
 
 which they attached themselves consisted not 
 of mischievous madmen, or ' seedy ' patriots, but 
 of those who were confessedly the most vir- 
 tuous, and nobly gifted men of their time. 
 
 valeut to Ehrenmauuer (men of honour, itoUtai, cives 
 Optimo jure) and denoted the collective body of freemen. 
 The principle which" animated this body was believed 
 to consist in the personal dignity of a commoner and 
 a gentleman , as distinguished from the more exclusive 
 pride of rank belonging to a nobleman. The honour of 
 a free man constituted .the caput civis amongst the 
 Germanic nations. This notion of freedom, Savigny goes 
 on to observe, was not as at present purely negative, 
 but contains something [far more positively character- 
 istic than we now commonly associate with the word. 
 As in the case of the dominium ex jure Quiritium am- 
 ongst the Eomans, the possession of property was re- 
 garded as a necessary condition to the enjoyment of 
 the rights of the Germani. 
 
 In point of etymology Savigny connects the Germani 
 with the AUemanni, the proper name Herrmannus, and 
 the Ahrimanni of the Lombards. Analogies of meaning 
 he adduces in the case of the Franken, or freemen, 
 also called Kachinburgii , a term derived either from 
 rechtbiirgen , or from rek, noble. The Kachinburgii are 
 also designated as boni homines, where of course the 
 word plainly corresponds to the Goths i. e. die Guteu, or, 
 as we should say, the good men and true. 
 
 The ordinary derivation of Germani from Heermanner, 
 or warriors Savigny shows to be inadmissible from the 
 fact that even women were designated as Ahrimannae. 
 
— 28 — 
 
 Simon de Miich of the poetic interest which attaches to 
 Montfort. ^jjg history of Simon de Montfort arises from 
 the manly tolie of religious faith, which gave 
 elevation, earnestness and pregnancy of las- 
 ting results to the actions of that heroic and 
 farsighted man.*) A ballad quoted in Pauli's 
 excellent history of England **) strikingly illus- 
 trates the pride and enthusiastic confidence of 
 his followers in their chief, as well as the 
 strong assurance, and conscious power which 
 the presence of an ethical and. absolute prin- 
 ciple imparted even in that primitive period. 
 
 II est apele de Montfort. 
 
 II est el mond, et si est fort, 
 
 Si ad grand chevalerie. 
 
 Ce voir e je m'acort. 
 
 II eime droit, et het le tort, 
 
 Si avera le mestrie. 
 
 §. 14. Simon de Montfort continued to be 
 revered after his death as a saint and martyi* 
 by the people. Pilgrimages were performed to 
 his tomb, where miracles of healing were de- 
 voutly believed to be wrought. This popular 
 
 *) Pauli, Gesch. von England III, p. 
 **) III , p. 749. 
 
— 29 — 
 
 canonization of the hero is alluded to in a 
 lament of the same period: 
 
 Mas par sa mort le cuens Mountfort 
 Conquist la victoirie. 
 • Come ly martyr de Canterbyr 
 Finist sa vie &c. — *) 
 §. 15. Qualities no less admirable were con- i^»bert 
 
 • , , I' -r> 1 Grosselesle. 
 
 spicuous in the personal character of Robert 
 Grosseteste, the friend of Simon de Montfort **), 
 who seems to have exercised a sort of Nestorlike 
 authority and guidance over the academic section 
 of the adherents of the latter. Though fearlessly 
 espousing the cause of the nation in church and 
 state, and expressing his views on the subject 
 of ecclesiastical abuses with a plain spoken 
 energy which falls not far behind the language 
 of the reformers themselves, the extreme benig- 
 nity^ and wisdom of his nature seems to have 
 led him to avoid any positive breach with those 
 whom he felt it his duty to oppose. He was 
 thus enabled on one occasion more especially 
 to intercede on behalf of the university whose 
 wilder spirits had well nigh dra-«Ti down upon 
 Oxford the fulminations of the Papacy at a 
 
 *) Pauli, Geseh. von England III, p. p. 795, 796. 
 **) Pauli, Gesch. von England III, p. 685.. 
 
— 30 — 
 
 time when Kings and Kaisars had learned in 
 good earnest to respect its anathema. 
 
 Grrosseteste was an intimate friend of Roger 
 Bacon who had even been educated under his 
 influence. He is known to have possessed an 
 acquaintance with Greek and Hebrew and is 
 described by Neander as holding a very high 
 rank among the scholastic divines of the day. 
 That his acquirements were not of that general 
 nature which imparts mere liberality of sen- 
 timent and comprehensiveness of view is evident 
 from the fact that he taught with distinction 
 as a Doctor of the university.*) Roger Bacon 
 speaks in the strongest and most enthusiastic 
 terms of his intellectual attainments. "Solum 
 dominus Robertus dictus Grossum caput novit 
 scientias."**) The belief in his knowledge of the 
 mysterious ground of things caused him to be 
 invested with an awful and half unearthly 
 character. Like Roger Bacon he was popu- 
 larly regarded as a magician. ***) 
 
 §. 17. Throughout the whole of his public 
 career Grosseteste was distinguished for the 
 
 *) Pauli, Gesch. von England III, p. 644. ■ 
 **) Neander, Church History VIII., p. 98 Note. 
 ***) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I, p. 200. 
 
— 31 — 
 
 affectionate warmth and interest with which he 
 entered into all questions connected with the 
 welfare of the university. ' Doctor Grosseteste', 
 says the old annalist, 'was always a loving 
 father to the scholars.'*) He was attached to 
 the university not only from the genial love of 
 youth characteristic of all finally susceptible 
 natures but from a profound recognition of the 
 elevated spirit and influences it embodies. At 
 the head of the bishops of England he declared 
 Oxford to be 'the second church' (secunda ec- 
 clesia).**) After his death when the king clergy 
 and people of England publicly petitioned the 
 pope to ratify the judgment of their hearts and 
 consciences by enrolling 'holy Robert of Lin- 
 coln ' amongst the saints of the church, the uni- 
 versity bore witness that " he never omitted any 
 good act pertaining to his cure for fear of any 
 man, but that he was always provided to undergo 
 martyrdom whenever the sword of the persecu- 
 tor should appear". A noble instance at once of 
 his intrepid resolution, and enlightened intellect 
 is recorded by Wood. On the elevation of 
 Frederick de Lavonia, a mere boy, and a 
 
 *) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. I, p. 233. 
 **) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. I, p. 228. 
 
— 32 — 
 
 soidisant nephew of the Pope, to one of 
 the highest ecclesiastical dignities in England, 
 Grosseteste resisted the appointment : and when 
 excommunicated for his contumacy declared 
 that 'he appealed from the sentence of the Pope 
 to the tribunal of Christ.'*) 
 
 §.18. It is a pleasing characteristic of this 
 genuine worthy of English History that he had 
 a true Lutheran appreciation an^d love of music. 
 He always kept a minstrel in an adjoining apart- 
 ment in order, as he expressed it 'to dispel the 
 fiends.' **) 
 lesuitsofthe §. 19. Such wcro the men who with the zea- 
 moVement ^^^^ support of the uuivcrsity and learned clas-- 
 eadedbyihe ges Conducted a political movement which has so 
 
 Barons and r» n -it 
 
 tiie Uni- poweriully contributed to render the history of 
 ■versity. England grandly fruitful, beyond that of all other 
 modern nations, in lessons of noblest interest 
 and lasting meaning to mankind. Cast as they 
 have been into comparative obscurity by the 
 occurrences of times more generally acces- 
 sible, and bearing more immediately upon the 
 questions of the present they gave distinctness 
 and form to a living principle of political life. 
 
 *) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I, p. 202. 
 **) Pauli, Gesch. von England III, p. 855. 
 
— 33 — 
 
 which, though slumbering for ages, in sus- 
 pended vitality, never afterwards became wholly 
 lost to the national consciousness. The fruits of 
 their efforts are to be found in the existence 
 of a united English nationality, in the intro- 
 duction of ministerial government, in the begin- 
 ning of the representative system, in the employ- 
 ment of parliament as a medium for the re- 
 dress of grievances, and finally in the enact- 
 ment of laws , which by providing for the con- 
 vocation of the estates of the realm at regularly 
 recurring, and not distant intervals, effectually 
 rendered the sanction and formal assent of the 
 nation an indispensable element in all future 
 government. *) 
 
 §. 20. That the details , and special results of Exiem to 
 the policy pursued by the Baronial party are to 
 be attributed rather to the native good sense, and comri 
 practical sagacity of the men of action, than adv^ncemeM 
 to the cloistered lucubrations of scholastic Ox- accomplished 
 
 in Ihis period. 
 
 ford is too thoroughly in accordance with the 
 primitive simplicity and healthy nature of those 
 times to admit of the slightest uncertainty. 
 We must however bear in mind that the Ba- 
 
 wllicli llle 
 Universily 
 ibuled 
 
 *) Pauli, Gesch. vou England, p. p. 391, 624, 676, 
 719. 
 
 3 
 
— 34 — , 
 
 rons themselves were probably to a man alumni 
 of the university; and that the alliance which thus 
 existed with that institution was rendered closer 
 and more intense through the parish clergy, by 
 whom they were most vigorously supported. *) 
 The presence of an element of high political 
 speculation is moreover distinctly visible in the 
 literature of the day, a circumstance which can 
 only be attributed to the active cooperation of 
 a far more metaphysical and thoughtful class 
 of intellects than could have been met with in 
 any number amongst the mailed barons of 
 Runymede. The following extract from a poem 
 of that period strikingly shows the extreme 
 enlightenment, precision and clearness of ulti- 
 mate principle imparted by the learned body to 
 the movements of the popular party. 
 
 Nee omnis arctatio privat libertatem. 
 Nee omnis districtio tollit potestatem. 
 Ad quid vult libera lex reges arctari? 
 Ne possint adultera lege maeulari. 
 Et haec coarctatio non est servitutis; 
 Sed est ampliatio regiae virtutis. 
 Igitur communitas regni eonsulatur; 
 Et quid imiversitas sentiat seiatur. 
 
 *) Pauli, Gesch. von England HI, p. 725. 
 
— 35 — 
 
 Cui leges propriae maxime sunt notae 
 Nee cuncti provinciae sic sint idiotae. 
 Quin sciant plus ceteris regni sui mores, 
 *) Quos relinquunt posteris hi qui sunt priores. 
 
 §. 21. In the wonderful accuracy of distinc- 
 tion, and philosophic comprehensiveness of spi- 
 rit with which the great problem of the times 
 is here treated it is scarcely possible to avoid 
 recognising an immediate utterance of the Uni- 
 versity. The same conclusion is still further 
 favoured by the language in which this extra- 
 ordinary document is composed, and the traces 
 of Aristotelian doctrine which it not obscurely 
 exhibits. 
 
 §. 22. That the literature of England which Eeiaiionin 
 began to appear above the surface at the same '^''"'l °'''^°'''' 
 
 ° ■■■ -^ stood to Ihe 
 
 vigorous and prolific epoch was, indirectly at church. 
 least, not a little indebted to the general stir and 
 activity set in motion by the University appears 
 all the more probable when we consider how deep- 
 ly the art of those ages reechoes the sublime 
 faith, and speculative mysticism, which were the 
 prevailing characteristics of the leading schools 
 
 *) Quoted by Pauli, see Geschiohte von England III, 
 p. 727. 
 
 3' 
 
— 36 — 
 
 of mediaeval philosophy *). To this circum- 
 stance however, as well as to the still more 
 signal benefit conferred on England by Oxford 
 in not indistinctly heralding the advent of re- 
 ligious reformation, we can only allude most 
 briefly. Oxford appears to have been from the 
 very first far less immediately dependent upon 
 the church than almost any of the other trans- 
 alpine Universities. The researches of Professor : 
 Huber render it evident that the English Uni- 
 versity developed itself, not from the cathedral, 
 or abbey school, as was the case with that of 
 Paris, but from the court school established by 
 Alfred at Oxford in imitation of a similar in- 
 stitution founded by Charlemagne. This pe- 
 culiarity in the origin of the University of 
 Oxford seems to have exercised a deci- 
 sive influence upon the whole tenour of its 
 relations to the ecclesiastic power. It main- 
 tained indeed the most intimate connection 
 with the church, and derived all the advan- 
 tages which would naturally be afforded by 
 the favour and fostering protection of that 
 
 *) A series of English painters is mentioned by Pauli 
 (Gesch. von England III p. 843) as having arisen in 
 the reign of Henry the third (1216—1272). 
 
— 37 — 
 
 sovereign hierarchy *) which then occupied a 
 position so astonishingly elevated and impos- 
 ing, but never failed at the same time to main- 
 tain a distinct, though subordinate individuality, 
 and to give proof of a possible independance of 
 action. While zealously cooperating with the 
 church , as the loftiest expression of holy order, 
 and the concentrated form of all the highest 
 tendencies of human nature, Oxford seems ne- 
 ver to have been so far carried away by its 
 appreciation of what the Church was meant to 
 be as to become blind to the knowledge of 
 what it often actually was. The Papacy at that 
 period seems not only to have presented a 
 spectacle inexpressibly impressive and sublime, 
 but to have exercised an influence on the 
 whole eminently civilizing and salutary. ' The 
 crowned priest' in whose hand were all en- 
 terprises, and at whose feet the fealty of Chris- 
 tendom was offered, was often the soul and 
 direction of the very best aims and efforts of 
 
 *) The Pope supported the University in its quarrel 
 with the town aided hy king John in 1210. In another 
 controversy of the same nature in 1228 the Pope de- 
 cided in favour of the University, and appointed the 
 Masters judges in such cases without appeal from their 
 verdict (Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I p. 18.) 
 
— 38 — 
 
 the period. The church existed as the origin, 
 and element of all highest impulses in know- 
 ledge, in art, and in practical life ; and through 
 the closely knit organization of one vast sys- 
 tem gave form, consistency, and discipline, to 
 their expressions. The institutions of Popery, 
 which in the more advanced sta.ges of social 
 existence are ever found pernicious to mo- 
 rality, and inimical to political freedom, ap- 
 pear to have been productive of many very 
 happy effects in an age so simple, and so sus- 
 ceptible of boyish enthusiasm ; just as many of 
 the loveliest and holiest virtues of the feminine 
 character seem even now to attain their most 
 exquisite perfection amidst the graceful super- 
 stitions, the highwrought sentiment, and the un- 
 questioning, selfabandoning faith of Catholicism. 
 The darker and more subtle tendencies of 
 Popery remained comparatively harmless in the 
 primitive childhood of European life, and we 
 find that the protests of Oxford are far more di- 
 rected against the appointment of foreign priests 
 to the highest offices of the English church, 
 the scandalous extortion of Eomish officials, 
 and other corruptions and abuses, than against 
 the essentials of the Popish system. On more than 
 one occasion we find the University staunchly 
 
— 39 — 
 
 supporting the cause of the Pope *), and Anselm 
 of Canterbury, one of the brightest characters, 
 and finest intellects of the whole mediaeval 
 epoch, is found among the zealous adherents of 
 Hildebrand**). There appears notwithstanding 
 to have been all along a leaven of something 
 decidedly akin to Protestantism in the Northern 
 clerks and Realists, from whom Wyclyffe him- 
 self ultimately proceeded***). The opinions of 
 the Waldenses are known to have found decid- 
 ed sympathy in Oxford f). So determined and 
 energetic was the spirit of resistance to t^je 
 abuses and scandals flowing out of the Popish 
 system that there were times when the entire 
 University seemed on the point of assuming a 
 position of open hostility to the Romish 
 church. We read that when Gregory the second 
 sent out a bull in condemnation of the doctrines 
 of Wyclyffe "the proctors and certain Masters 
 joining together stood along in doubt with 
 themselves whether they should receive the said 
 bull with honour, or refuse and reject it with dis- 
 
 *) Huber. Hist, of the English University I p. 8! 
 **) Neander Church History VHI p. 14. 
 ***) Huber. Hist, of the English Univ. I p. 85. 
 t) A. Wood Hist, of the English Univ. I p. 158. 
 
- 40 - . 
 
 grace"*). "Wyclyffe," we are further informed, 
 " proceeded very boldly, not without the applause 
 and wellwishes of many persons in the Univer- 
 sity"**). In the details of the tumults, which 
 were of somewhat frequent occurrence with the 
 bold and turbulent academic plebs of the period, 
 we find many traces of a national spirit of re- 
 sistance to the aggressions of a foreign priest- 
 hood. This is especially discernable in the 
 account given by Mathew of Paris of the riot 
 of 1238, in which the' Papal legate narrowly 
 e^aped with his life.***) 
 
 *) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I p. 494. 
 
 **) Id. I p. 498. 
 
 ***) About this time (1238) the lord legate Otho (who 
 had been sent to England to remedy multifarious abuses 
 in the church) came to Oxford also, where he was re- 
 ceived with all becoming honours. He took up his 
 abode in the Abbey of Osuey, the clerks of the Univer- 
 sity, however, sent him a goodly present of welcome of 
 meats and various drinks for his dinner , and after the 
 hour of the meal repaired to his abode to greet him, 
 and to do him honour. Then so it was that a certain 
 Italian, a doorkeeper of the legate with less perchance 
 of courtesy towards visitors than was becoming called 
 out to them with loud voice after the Eomish fashion, 
 and keeping the door ajar: 'What seek ye?' Where 
 upon they answered, 'the lord legate, that we may 
 
— 41 — 
 
 §.23. In commenting upon this occurrence 
 Huber draws attention to the fact that the re- 
 
 greet him. ' And they thought within themselves assur- 
 edly that hpnour would be requited by honour. But 
 when the doorkeeper with violent and unseemly words 
 refused them entrance they pressed with force into the 
 house regardless of the clubs and swords of the Eomans, 
 who sought to keep them back. — Now it came to pass 
 also that during this tumult a certain poor Irish clerk 
 went to the door of the kitchen, and begged earnestly 
 for Gods sake, as a hungry and needy man, that they 
 would give him a portion of the good things. The 
 master cook however (the legate's own brother, it is 
 said, who filled this place for fear of poison) drove him 
 back with hard words, and at last with great wrath 
 flung hot broth from out of a pot into his face. ' Fie 
 for shame ! ' cries a scholar fromWelshland, who witnessed 
 the affront , 'shall we bear this?' and then bending a 
 bow , which he held in his hand , for during the turmoil 
 some had laid hands upon such weapons as they found 
 within reach , he shot the cook , whom the scholars in 
 derision named Nebuzaradau, the prince of cooks, with 
 a bolt through the body, so that he fell dead to the 
 earth. Then was raised a loud cry, and the legate 
 himself in great fear disguised in the garment of a 
 canonist fled into the tower of the church , and shut to 
 the gates. And there remained he hidden until nighti 
 and only when the tumult wa^ quite laid he came forth, 
 mounted a horse, and hastened through byways, and not 
 without danger , led by trusty guides to the spot where 
 the king held his court: and there he sought protection. 
 
— 42 — 
 
 proaches with which the scholars assailed the 
 
 legate " were the expression of public opinion 
 
 in England, and do but state more correctly 
 
 and plainly the sentiments then held by many 
 
 of the best English .divines " (vol. I p. 93). 
 
 uppression §. 24. So deeply seated was this reformatory 
 
 yff! mHy tendency in Oxford, and so radically interwoven 
 
 eartstothe iff{t\x the vcry principle of its existence that the 
 
 iclineofOx- ^ , . p t -r-rr i rv i • i 
 
 ford. final suppression oi the Wyciytte party in the 
 middle of the fourteenth century gave at once 
 the deathblow to its ancient prosperity*). The 
 academic population rapidly dwindled to an in- 
 considerable remnant of literary mendicants, and 
 nothing can be more lamentably graphic than 
 the descriptions given by contemporary writers 
 of the feeble and shrunken existence through 
 which it continued to languish until with the 
 revival of classical learning in the fifteenth 
 century it regained a faint resemblance of its 
 former renown**). To this period in the history 
 
 The enraged scholars however stayed not for a long time 
 seeking the legate with loud cries in all corners of 
 the house saying : ' Where is the usurer , the simonist, 
 the plunderer of our goods, who thirsts after our gold 
 and silver, who leads the king astray, and upsetting 
 the kingdom enriches strangers with our spoils?' 
 
 *) Huher. Hist, of the English Universities p. 157. 
 **) In an extract from an academic petition quoted 
 
— 43 
 
 of Oxford as that in which the existing form 
 of the University had its origin we shall here- 
 after have occasion to recur. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLE OF UNIVERSITY IN- 
 ( 
 
 STKUCTION. 
 
 §. 1. We are well aware that any at- The Univer- 
 tempt to claim for the University at the",i^i^",.^^„°°f 
 present day the same absolute and uncon- European 
 
 enlig:hten- 
 
 troUed ascendancy which it maintained at a mcnt and pro- 
 period when in possession of a positive mo- ^'^^^^' 
 nopoly of knowledge would justly be dismis- 
 sed as a mere freak of literary Quixotism. 
 Much no doubt which it then laboured to bring 
 about has now finally been accomplished. The 
 
 by Huber. I p. 163. it is mentioned that "out of so many 
 thousand students, which are reported to have been here 
 at a former time, not one thousand now remaiue to us." 
 See also Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions on Philosophy 
 &c. p. 414. 
 
— 44 — 
 
 grain of mustard seed has expanded into a 
 life incomparably vaster than that from which 
 it proceeded. The leaven of intelligence has 
 indeed so far permeated the mass that the re- 
 lative positions of the University and the world 
 without have actually been reversed, and so- 
 ciety at large is now bestirring itself to carry 
 onwards, and spiritually invigorate those very 
 institutions to which it is itself indebted for the 
 liveliest and most dynainic elements in its own 
 existence. An anomaly so glaring and disgrace- 
 ful can however have no permanent place in 
 the natural course of things. The University 
 can hardly be regarded as an institution of 
 merely transient utility, whose part, like that of 
 Venice or Nuremberg , has been already played, 
 and which must henceforth subside into a re- 
 spected, but comparatively common place and 
 insignificant existence. As involving a distinct 
 principle of study and education, and adapted to 
 aparticular stage of mental growth, the office and 
 position of the University is no less abiding 
 than the condition it is intended to meet. The 
 vast changes which have taken place in the 
 social and intellectual condition of the com- 
 munity generally ought not of themselves to 
 operate exclusively, or even importantly, to its 
 
— 45 — 
 
 disadvantage. Its intrinsic claims to authority 
 and influence should on the contrary only be- 
 come more urgent and irresistible with every wi- 
 der extension of knowledge. Far from being di- 
 minished, its opportunities of acquiring mental 
 dominion are immeasurably augmented with 
 every circumstance which conduces to awaken a 
 spirit of intelligence, and quicken the capacity 
 for nobler pursuits over a vaster circle of the 
 community. In place of a learned few the 
 most thoughtful and politically important por- 
 tion of an entire people are thus more and 
 more brought within the range of its influence. 
 Nor need this more amply extended sphere of 
 operations be purchased at the cost of any 
 diminution of the central energy. The proper 
 action of the University should become the more 
 intense and forcible from the vigorous reaction 
 by which its impulse will be reciprocated. Its 
 utterance should be rendered all the more deep 
 and powerful by the wider compass of vibra- 
 ting sympathy from which its tones will be 
 re-echoed. The University of the present day, 
 like the church, has sacrificed only an unnatu- 
 ral and extravagant species of predominance, 
 while invited to aspire to a position far more 
 grandly important as well as infinitely more 
 
— 46 — 
 
 permanent and secure. Controlled, and to a cer- 
 tain extent counterbalanced, as it hencefor- 
 ward must be by the intelligence of the upper 
 classes, and the existence of a numerous and 
 highly cultivated extramural clerisy,*) the Uni- 
 versity is none the less bound to assert its 
 ancient priority over the learned institutions of 
 the land, and to maintain an undoubted supre- 
 macy over those less strictly disciplined auxi- 
 liaries who have gradually assumed so large a 
 share of its functions. Its design is conceived 
 with reference to education in a form so lofty 
 and absolute as to aim at aiding onwards and 
 upwards not merely the student, but science 
 
 *) For the derivation of this' word see Neander Church 
 History I, p. 271. We are there informed that it was 
 originally suggested by the analogy supposed to exist 
 between the ancient Levites and the Christian priesthood. 
 In the same manner as the former were assigned no share 
 in the promised land, but had the Lord for their inheri- 
 tance (nl'^Qog) , the latter were looked upon as a class 
 having no participation in the world and its concerns, and 
 living and labouring solely with reference to spiritual 
 and eternal interests. By a further extension of the 
 same analogy the term xlrjQmog , clericus, was ulti- 
 mately applied to all who devoted themselves to a life 
 of thought and speculation. Huher Hist, of the Engl. 
 Univ. I, p. 39. 
 
— 47 — 
 
 itself. The efficiency with which the Univer- 
 sity discharges this its proper function is an 
 indispensible condition to the progress of that 
 severely scientific investigation without which 
 the office of the dispensers of information would 
 of itself speedily come to an end. It is pre- 
 cisely to this element of ever advancing science- 
 guided developement thai the intelligence of 
 Europe is indebted for its distinctive and in- 
 variable superiority over the monotonously re- 
 curring, and unprogressive, or rather successive- 
 ly retrograding, civilization of the orientals. 
 Progress in the highest speculation is essen- 
 tially identified with the very existence of the 
 European state, and the means of ensuring its 
 furtherance becomes a question of imperative 
 necessity. Even if no motives more manly and 
 resolute than those of self preservation, and 
 the maintenance of inherited" advantages be 
 taken into account, interests so momentous 
 dare not, of course, be staked, upon a concur- 
 rence of accidents so improbable as the spon- 
 taneous appearance of a series of gifted indivi- 
 duals, each arriving exactly at the moment when 
 his services are required, and enabled by the 
 unaided force of natural ability at once to enter 
 upon the career of a discoverer. Neither in 
 
— 48 — 
 
 actual nor ideal life does the deus ex machina 
 ever descend to save from disaster and disgrace 
 those who from slowness of heart , and secret 
 unbelief in everything beyond physical enjoy- 
 ment neglect to' take to heart the plainest con- 
 clusions of reason, and the most terrible war- 
 nings of history. An ever present and lofty 
 necessity can be only met by an activity no 
 less permanent and elevated. Without the 
 existence in full practical efficiency of a scien- 
 tific body politic resting its foreknowledge of 
 the future upon the most genial mastery of the 
 past, and blended by organisation into one 
 comprehensive individuality, activity of intellect 
 not uhfrequently becomes a curse instead of a 
 blessing to society. Restless eddying assumes 
 the place of onward movement, and, as is so 
 often seen in the unedifying excentricities of 
 English sectarianism, the very mental fertility of 
 a people gives birth to mere abortions and 
 monstrosities. Men of no mean natural endow^ 
 ments, and eminently gifted with that sense 
 for the unseen which is the life of human devel- 
 opement, from the absence of sound scientific 
 discipline have become the apostles of mischie- 
 vous delusions, or at best introduced a new 
 element of confusion and uncertainty. 
 
— 49 — 
 
 §. 2. The supei-human agencies of genius- 
 can never, it is true, be conjured within the 
 limits of any institution, however admirably 
 conceived, or wisely and judiciously organ- 
 ised. The powers • of mightiest influence in 
 human history seem to come and go mysteri- 
 ously, in obedience to a will, which seems, 
 with Heraclitus,*) to disport itself in the rhyth- 
 mical freedom of its own spontaneity. — ■ But 
 though all incapable of commanding the gift 
 of the Q'sCa (lotQa legislative wisdom and fore- 
 thought is paramount over all the ordinary 
 and permanent constituents of human grandeur 
 and felicity. ■ It is enabled to provide con- 
 ditions which will almost infallibly ensure on 
 the part of the community that genuine sym- 
 pathy and lively susceptibility for high thoughts 
 which is the vital element of genius.. It 
 has given existence to learned institutions of 
 an intent so high and noble as never to be 
 wholly obscured by the selfish meanness of 
 their administrators, and calculated of them- 
 selves to foster in the nation a spirit of intelli- 
 gence and aspiration, which whenever heaven 
 
 *) See Fragments of Heraclitus, collected by Sohleier- 
 macher. Museum d. Alterthumswissenschaft I, p. 429. 
 
 4 
 
— 50 — 
 
 •Sent prophets and judges do appear, will per- 
 mit none of their words to fall to the ground 
 in vain. It is the province of the University 
 to warrant an Originality only secondary to 
 ■that of miraculous and creative intuition. It 
 claims to possess that scientific method whose 
 first suggestion is the noblest fruit of genius, 
 and without the establishment of which that 
 divine faculty would have appeared amongst 
 men in vain. Men simply remarkable for 
 learned industry and intelligent inquiry united 
 .with a reverential and imaginative temper,' 
 when trained and organised as the several 
 members of one scientific whole are abund- 
 antly qualified to maintain the steady devel- 
 opement of forms of knowledge which origin- 
 ally emanated from a generically distinct, and 
 far more marvellously gifted class of intellects. 
 Revelations of highest truth otherwise unveil- 
 ed only to those who quite transcend the con- 
 ditions of ordinary humanity are through the 
 instrumentality of the University brought within 
 the ken of all who through earnest endeavour 
 and persevering energy strive to awaken with- 
 in them that germ of the divine which exists 
 in every uncorrupted and well constituted na- 
 ture. The original movement of genius is 
 
— 51 — 
 
 thus endlessly propagated. Its inspiration and 
 power purified from all subjective imperfection 
 become exalted into principles of moral order 
 and ideal beauty, which penetrate and trans- 
 form into their own likeness the entire life 
 of society. 
 
 §. 3. In proceeding from these somewhat ge- 
 neral and preliminary remarks to a closer in- 
 vestigation of the subject we propose to consider, 
 our first endeavour must be to arrive at that 
 distinct conception of the immediate and special 
 usefulness of the University which can alone 
 enable us to unravel the intricacies of the 
 testimony of the past. The University is, 
 of course, preeminently a training school for 
 the intellect. It exists for the purpose of calling 
 into action the highest order of mental facult- 
 ies, and aims at invigorating those powers 
 which most completely sum up the scientific 
 capabilities of the man. Though consequently 
 embracing within the sphere of its operations 
 the moral, as well as the intellectual nature, 
 or rather having reference to that higher mode 
 of cognition in which both are inseparably 
 combined, its influences are necessarily intended 
 to bear far more immediately and powerfully 
 upon the latter. Strictly speaking the moral 
 
— 52 — 
 
 nature, vast and incalculable as is the im- 
 portance it ever assumes, must here be regarded 
 as of secondary moment. It is included, less 
 in its own right, than as necessary to complete 
 the conditions of the general design. Study 
 and instruction, the communication and living 
 reception of knowledge, must ever constitute 
 the chief end of the University, and a clear 
 and definite conception of the principle of Un- 
 iversity study is accordingly the primary con- 
 dition of every well matured scheme of Un- 
 iversity reform. 
 Erroneous §.4. The extreme pcrplcxity and Uncertainty 
 •ovaient on which sccms to havc been felt in dealing with 
 e subject of ^]jjg question is to be attributed to the absence on 
 
 Jnivers^ty ■*■ 
 
 study, the one hand of any exact and clearly under- 
 stood principle, and to the prevalence on the 
 other of imperfect and erroneous notions, whose 
 adoption fortunately has been attended with 
 insuperable difficulties. Much as the learned 
 institutions of this country have suffered from 
 the general apathy of the English people to all 
 questions of higher import, they are now threat- 
 ened with risks infinitely more serious from 
 those paroxysms of precipitate legislation which 
 regularly alternate with long intervals of total 
 indifference. Among the many weak and shah 
 
— 53 — 
 
 low fancies now current on the subject of 
 University education, there is one which seems 
 to have found wonderful favour in the eyes of 
 that numerically imposing, and now indeed 
 absolutely dominant section of the community 
 which so instinctively sympathises with what- 
 ever is mediocre and trivial, or where the essen- 
 tial poverty of the scheme is 'thinly covered over 
 with a few equally common place, but vaguely 
 high sounding phrases. The theory to which 
 we allude is too familiarly known from a con- 
 spicuous practical illustration to need any. 
 minutely detailed description of its peculiar- 
 ities. [The characteristic feature of institutions 
 formed upon this model is to be seen in 
 the fact that the results of academic teaching 
 are sought to be obtained by means of a system 
 of stu-dies so selected as to compose a small 
 encylopaedia of those branches of knowledge 
 which are considered peculiarly essential to a 
 liberal education. Their aims are especially 
 directed towards comprehensiveness of know^ 
 ledge in a somewhat popular acceptation of the 
 phrase, and those subjects consequently which 
 lie most widely distant towards the leading 
 points of the compass of science are peculiarly 
 preferred. The studies of the .University ac- 
 
— 54 — 
 
 cording to this view of the subject are purely 
 introductory in their nature. The knowledge 
 imparted in academic education is not regarded 
 as constituting an end in itself, and as not 
 less inseparably one with wisdom and mental 
 culture than form is with substance, body with 
 soul, but simply as the means and instrument 
 to an end external to itself, and consequently 
 as destined to become comparatively valueless 
 whenever the mental discipline for the sake of 
 which such studies were prosecuted has been 
 finally attained. The chief utility of the Un- 
 iversity is here believed to consist in en- 
 abling the student to direct his glance as wide- 
 ly as possible over the whole field of science, 
 and thus to enter upon a future course of 
 specific study with all the intelligence and 
 catholicity of spirit which a general acquaint- 
 ance with a variety of subjects widely differing 
 in character is likely to impart. 
 
 Objections to §. 5, That a system of higher education found- 
 
 the principle - _ . , , i r» n 
 
 of a curricn-Cd upon such a principle stands latally open on 
 lum of gene- gyery gidc to the severest criticism is immedi- 
 
 ral study. "^ 
 
 atily apparent. We will not dwell upon the 
 difficulty of coming to any real and decided 
 agreement with reference to the studies which 
 
— 55 — 
 
 so unmistakably and preeminently deserve a 
 place in a system of liberal education. What 
 clear and absolute canon is there by which we 
 can know what subjects to exclude? Are no 
 studies to be represented in the University 
 beyond the very limited number which can 
 find place in such a curriculum? Or if nom- 
 inally admitted by the creation of supplement- 
 ary professorships are the individuals who 
 hold appointments of this nature — constitut- 
 ing as they soon would the vast majority of 
 academic teachers — to remain without virtual 
 influence or share in the life and workings of 
 system by depending for a class upon those 
 very exceptional instances where students could 
 aiford time from the imposed labours of the 
 University course for the thousand and one 
 subjects which it did not embrace? The dif- 
 ficulties in the way of such a plan are not at 
 all diminished if we take into account the in- 
 finite diversity of tastes and mental idiosyn- 
 crasies which have already definitely manifested 
 themselves in early manhood. Every decen- 
 nium in advancing existing sciences farther on 
 the way to perfection, and in calling new 
 forms of knowledge into existence is furnish- 
 ing a new means by which a corresponding 
 
— 56 — 
 
 class of intellects can alone arrive at the de- 
 velopement of their characteristic excellencies. 
 §. 6. These however are but trifling cavils di- 
 rected against mere external inconveniences in 
 comparison with those objections which become 
 apparent upon a closer examination of the essen- 
 tials of the system. It is unnecessary to 
 point out the extreme superficiality which must 
 be an inherent characteristic of instruction 
 communicated upon such a principle. Not only 
 is the scattering of the attention over an in- 
 definite number of heterogeneous subjects pro- 
 verbially unfavourable to excellence in any, but 
 the very circumstance that those branches of 
 knowledge are prosecuted only for a brief 
 period, and destined eventually to be cast aside 
 for studies of an utterly different , nature is 
 even more incompatible with that zeal and 
 earnestness which is the indispensible condition 
 of all depth and originality. 
 
 §. 7. In spite moreover of the high sounding 
 phrases which its advocates lavish upon the 
 end they propose to attain, no one can fail to 
 discern how immeasurably the University would 
 sink below its high traditional office and its 
 even yet vaguely recognised position if the 
 utmost aims of academic teaching were merely 
 
— 57 — 
 
 directed towards serving as the prelude to a 
 still higher course of instruction. The function 
 here assigned to the University is in fact that 
 property belonging to the collegiate school, 
 which is compelled to resort- to an education 
 by means of generalities in consequence of 
 the immaturity of the intellects with which 
 it is called upon to deal. As an essentially 
 practical art, education necessarily adapts itself 
 to the nature and permanent conditions of the 
 subject whose faculties it is intended to cul- 
 tivate and develop. It is compelled to direct 
 its efforts to the attainment, not of the most 
 admirable end under all conditions whatsoever, 
 but of the most excellent of those ends which 
 are attainable under certain given circum- 
 stances. It must advance and enlarge itself 
 in accordance with the same law of unity of 
 character combined with successively expand- 
 ing diversity of form which regulates the 
 growth of the individual mind. The type and 
 order of its various metamorphoses must cor- 
 respond throughout with those through which 
 the individual passes in his progress to matur- 
 ity. The strongly marked and essential dif- 
 ference between the mental constitution of the 
 boy and the man demands a distinction equally 
 
— 58 - 
 
 broad and definite between the mode of edu- 
 cation designed for each. The peculiar mental 
 characteristics of boyhood all spring from the 
 fact that it is merely the basis, so to say, of 
 the intellectual faculties which is then existent. 
 Memory, a lower form of imagination, and a 
 certain ready receptivity are almost the only 
 forms of intellect which appear with any pro- 
 minence in a normally constituted boyish nature. 
 Reason, and all power of originating are either 
 utterly not existent or little more than foretold 
 in embryo. The system of instruction adapted 
 to meet the wants of such a period must lie 
 similarly at the basis of all education and of 
 all mental acquirements. It must be laid in 
 the lower sphere of the intellect, which is pos- 
 sessed by all healthy and properly organised-' 
 natures, and not in that higher consciousness 
 which even at manhood is vouchsafed to but few. 
 Its chief aims will be to store the memory with 
 those data which will serve as the materials of 
 all positive knowledge*), to fill the imagination 
 with noble images, and in the absence of any 
 very decided indication of power in the di- 
 
 *) ■navxav Ss iidliata ttjv iivi]jn]v rmv naCSav dcKSiv 
 ■ual avvi^C^uv. Plut. de lib. educand. §. 13. 
 
— 59 — 
 
 rection of one particular department to give that 
 general discipline of the faculties which is sure 
 to be useful in all. The highest excellence 
 attainable at this stage of education consists in 
 an unpretending solidity and thoroughness of 
 acquirements. In consequence of the utterly 
 undeveloped state of the reflective faculties, 
 and the inability to look beyond facts to prin- 
 ciples normally characteristic of this period, the 
 highest form under which knowledge can as 
 yet be communicated is that of rule. The 
 most efficient schoolmaster is he who can best 
 succeed, in imparting to his pupils a sound and 
 thorough routine, the meaning and reason of 
 which they will hereafter be in a condition to 
 appreciate. All attempts to convey instruction 
 by higher methods at a stage of developement 
 when in accordance with the wise and unchan- 
 ging design of nature, nothing beyond the merest 
 rudiments of the intellect are existent, invari- 
 ably result in verbosity, feebleness and dis- 
 appointment. 'Der gute Schulmeister' says 
 Lessing, 'soil seine Schiiler tuchtig einiiben 
 und nicht mit ihnen prahlen'. It is a remark- 
 able circumstance, and one most characteristic 
 of the confusion and perversity prevalent on 
 those subjects, that while public opinion is 
 
— 60 — 
 
 setting strongly towards a scheme of study 
 which would degrade the University into an 
 unmeaning repetition of the school, demands 
 not less clamorous are being made for a revol- 
 ution in the mode of imparting preliminary 
 education which would lead to a most abortive 
 attempt on the part of the school to invade the 
 province of the University. 
 Us ori=-ii]. §• 8- That the plan of conveying the mental 
 culture by means of a combination of various 
 branches of knowledge belongs to the instruc* 
 tion of the school, and has no connection with 
 the principle of academic study is further ev- 
 ident from a consideration of its origin. The 
 entire conception is identical in principle , and 
 in all probability historically derived from the 
 syKVxha ^ad"i^L(,aTa of the Greeks, and the 
 Trivium and Quadrivium of the later Eoman 
 empire*). This course of instruction was con- 
 fined in the times of antiquity to the higher' 
 class of schools, and regarded as completely 
 subordinate to what those hold the place of 
 University study. We shall hereafter have 
 
 *) The former consisted of Grammar, Dialectics, Rhe- 
 toric, the latter of Arithmetic, Music, Geometry and 
 Astronomy. 
 
— 61 — 
 
 occasion to illustrate this point more fully. 
 For the present we will merely refer the reader 
 to p. 11 of Plutarch's life of Alexander (ed. 
 Reiske), where the inferior position of the 
 teachers of the syxvxhu is distinctly indicated, 
 and also to §. 10 in the treatise by the same 
 author de liberis educandis. In this last pf.s- 
 sage Plutarch lays down the principle that a li- 
 berally educated person should content himself 
 with a general notion of such subjects, ax a;«- 
 QadQO[i'^S [''CiQ'stv , coensQsl yEVficcTog svexsv, 
 kv ccTtaGi yccQ to xbXelov advvaxov. The channel 
 through which this plan of instruction has arri- 
 ved at its present popularity is doubtless to be 
 recognised in the original studies of the Faculty 
 of Arts. This department of the University in 
 the purely preliminary character which it con- 
 tinued to maintain until the revival of letters 
 is well known to have been entirely based upon 
 the old Trivium and Quadrivium. 
 
 §. 9. In one word such a scheme of academic 
 study amounts to a mere compromise between 
 the requirements of two essentially distinct 
 forms of education, in which, as usual in such 
 cases, the solid substance of the one and the 
 boundless power of the other are equally sacri- 
 ficed. Every step towards consistency forces 
 
— 62 — 
 
 those who adopt this theory in still more un- 
 comfortable proximity to one or other of the 
 horns of an unrelenting dilemma. If they aim 
 at propounding a plan of study which shall 
 simply and strictly serve the purposes of general 
 mental discipline they are compelled to fall 
 back within the narrow limits of schoolboy 
 education, while any attempt at an acquaint- 
 ance however cursory with even the leading 
 subjects of the cycle of liberal arts and sciences 
 is physically incompatible with the time allot- 
 ted to the entire course. 
 
 §. 10. We are far from being disposed abso- 
 lutely to condemn this system of education when 
 considered simply by itself, and not forced 
 into comparison with the infinitely higher tend- 
 encies of the discipline whose name it usurps. 
 In spite of the adage to the contrary even the 
 most superficial acquaintance with science is 
 not without its elevating and salutary influ- 
 ence. Troublesome as is the spirit of talkat- 
 iveness encouraged by debating societies, me- 
 chanics institutes and other literary associations 
 of a popular cast, their effects take them for 
 all in all are we believe wholesomely stimul- 
 ative and beneficial. The seminaries founded 
 on the principle we have hitherto been dis- 
 
— 63 — 
 
 cussing amount to a much more strict and 
 permanently organised variety of the same 
 class of institutions with results proportionably 
 higher and more important. Their ill effects 
 proceed not so much from themselves as from 
 the virtual non-existence of a nobler and more 
 masculine type of education, the very pres- 
 ence of which would suffice to keep them in 
 their proper place. Here as elsewhere it is 
 quite possible for a first rate specimen of a 
 lower class to be productive of much more 
 practical good than an utterly degraded and 
 enfeebled instance of a higher genus. Pupils 
 formed under such a system may be expected 
 to manifest a very considerable degree of that 
 quickness and fluency which even the perseve- 
 ring perusal of newspapers suffices to impart. 
 Few topics can be stated respecting which 
 they are altogether in the dark, and they are 
 enabled to bear their part in a conversation 
 somewhat above small talk with respectability 
 and credit. As far as any decided results can 
 well arise from a theory which contains so 
 little that is either mentally or morally fruct- 
 ifying, such institutions would seem to give 
 promise of a plentiful crop of platform orators, 
 ' able editors ' , and occasionally might even be 
 
— 64 — 
 
 adorned with a tenth rate literateur. The 
 highest results however attainable under such 
 a system are ever found to be a large amount 
 of merely general information, a smattering of 
 many subjects but the mastery of none. IIov-' 
 ^Vfiad'irj voov ov diddexsi, a delusive semi -edu- 
 cation and in too many instances that know- 
 ledge which puffeth up without edifying is all 
 that can be anticipated from a scheme of ed- 
 ucation so radically feeble and common place. 
 Amongst our livelier and more exact allies on 
 the other side of the channel, with whom 
 causes hurry on to their legitimate effects far 
 more rapidly and consistently than with us, 
 the characteristic tendencies of this system of 
 study are made apparent in the fact that learned 
 ladies are we are told already beginning to 
 compose an alarmingly considerable portion of 
 the audiences of the college de France. 
 The Univer- §.11. Excellent, nay absolutely necessary, as is 
 formatui°e°d ^^^^ systom of imparting mental culture by means 
 and manly ^f gubjects the most widc and general in their 
 bearings during the mere prelude of the educa- 
 tional process it is evident that a mode of in- 
 struction which answers admirably with refe- 
 rence to a mental constitution so simple and 
 uniform as that of boyhood will no longer prove 
 
— 65 — 
 
 applicable at a period when original thought, 
 the reasoning powers, the productive imagina- 
 tion — ^ in a word all that constitutes a well 
 deiiiied individuality — is daily becoming pro- 
 nounced with greater distinctness and energy. 
 So infinite is the diversity of tendencies at this 
 stage of mental developement, so manifold the 
 methods which instinct and nature have point- 
 ed out to each individual, as the means of at- 
 taining to moral strength, and intellectual vi- 
 sion, "that the curriculum of study had need be 
 as wide as the universe itself in order to have 
 any definite pertinency of application to the 
 requirements of subjects so various. It is not by 
 following after knowledge discursively through- 
 out the endless multiplicity of its forms, still less 
 by so -impotent an attempt at polymathia as that 
 which we have been hitherto considering, but 
 by mastering science as a power and a function 
 that the mind and character can be trained for 
 entering the lists of life with high hopes and 
 steadfast assurance of success. Paltry and puer- 
 ile as is the conception of the university enter- 
 tained by those who would sweep away the 
 significant forms and boundless capabilities of 
 our ancient schools of learning for some of 
 the patent educational humbugs of the canting 
 
— 66 — 
 
 liberalism of the day, utterly incapable as they 
 seem of establishing its operations upon any 
 principle which would raise them into different 
 category from those designed to drill the un- 
 reasoning and half animal schoolboy, the terms 
 which even they employ when speaking rather of 
 the general aims of academic study than of the 
 means by which they propose their attainment, 
 prove how deeply seated is the notion that 
 the instruction of the university should be 
 regarded from no lower standing point than 
 that which suggests itself on inquiring what is 
 the fittest and worthiest mental training for 
 men. Mistaken indeed is the notion which would 
 cause education to cease at the very point 
 where it begins to exhibit itself in its full per- 
 ection and energy. Manhood evinces the ple- 
 nitude of its power , and practically asserts 
 the culmination of its faculties, in the inten- 
 sified ability and earnestness with which it 
 addresses itself to the search after that know- 
 ledge and wisdom which constitutes the comple- 
 tion of its being. No one more completely 
 gave the tenour of a perfect life, or more tho- 
 roughly read the riddle of human existence 
 than the Athenian sage who tells us that as 
 
— .67 — 
 
 an aged man he found himself none the less a 
 student*). 
 S. 12. Nor is that estimate of the University Tiie unWer- 
 
 " _ ■' sity student 
 
 which claims that its studies shouldbe in thorough a man in 
 accordance with the tone of manly intellect a* s "'JJ* °c„n5^". 
 all at variance with existing circumstances. t«'ion. 
 Few individuals become members of an English 
 University greatly below the age at which in 
 countries more military than our own they 
 would be called upon to do the first duty of 
 an adult citizen by serving the state in arms. 
 In the two great nations of antiquity the siprj- 
 Poi stood first upon the muster roll of the state, 
 and the same age seems afterwards to have 
 been regarded as the fit period for entering 
 upon the life of the University**). In mental 
 
 *) yriQciaiim S' del itolla SiSadnoiisvog Solon. Fr. 19. 
 See also Plato Laches p. 188—201. Amatores p. 133. 
 Euthydem. p. 272—278. Erasmi Ad. p. 258. 
 
 **) insiSav e^sto ^.Tjltapjjtxoi' ygaftfiatstov iyygaqpcofft, 
 xat k'lprj^oi ysvcovtai. Lycnrg. adv. Leocr. c. 18. cited 
 by Meineke Fragm. Com. Ill p. 528. The registration 
 on the list of the lexiaroh was identical in point of time 
 ■with entrance into the military service of the state. 
 See Wachsmuth Hellen. Alterthum I p. 477. Respect- 
 ing the university age in the school of Athens during 
 the 2°* and 4* centuries see Philostrat. II p. 564. 
 Morell. Eunap. pp. 126', 102, 82. Schott. 
 
 5* 
 
— 68 — 
 
 no less than in bodily organisation the class 
 who compose the bulk of University students 
 have to all intents and purposes arrived at 
 man's estate. Their frames are not yet filled 
 out to their complete proportions , and still lack 
 the compactness and solidity of manly prime, 
 but these deficiencies are more than compen- 
 sated by the freshness and eletsticity of youth. 
 §.13. In perfect accordance therefore with this 
 entire developement of the highest faculties of 
 his nature the student in entering upon the stu- 
 dies of the University has arrived at a stage of edu- 
 cational culture not less essentially distinguished 
 from those through which he has hitherto pas- 
 sed than the mind and sphere of action assigned 
 to the noblest and most admirably gifted man 
 rise above the widest opportunities and capa- 
 cities of a child. "He has entered upon the 
 noblest heritage , and is henceforth called upon 
 in self advancement to enjoy the magnificent 
 faculties and means of higher being with which 
 he has been entrusted. OsCav aQirjV ■^'p§«ro 
 anavGtov xal e(i<pQovog ^Cov sls tov azavra 
 XQovov. The formal and theoretic training which 
 ushers in this new epoch of existence' must 
 itself be but the beginning of the end. It must 
 stand in immediate reference, and have the di- 
 
— 69 — 
 
 riectest pertinency to the special duties of 'after 
 life. Its aim must be to awaken in the indi- 
 vidual his own peculiar mode of growth in 
 knowledge , and to unfold within him that type 
 of human excellence which his existence is 
 especially designed to exemplify. 
 
 §. 14. The capacity for becoming cognisant of Thecharacie- 
 things in their causes and ultimate grounds of exis- rity "oTraan- 
 tence is of course the prominent and charac- ^""^ consists 
 
 in the capa- 
 
 teristic feature of manly intellect, and the same city for wg-her 
 circumstance will necessarily determine the bent ''^'^'" ^"°"' 
 of the education best suited to call forth and 
 heighten its peculiar virtues. It is only at 
 the full maturity of man's physical and intel- 
 lectual nature that thought and reason consti- 
 tute the type of his knowledge. The interde- 
 pendence of highest truths stretching forward 
 beyond all possible experience, and potentially 
 involving an infinitude of particular conclu- 
 sions , supplants for the future that memoria- 
 lizing of mere facts, which is only valuable 
 as affording the stuff and informable material 
 for the activity of higher faculties. Even where 
 the subjects of study remain the same, the 
 change of the spirit in which they are prose- 
 cuted leads to results unspeakably different. 
 The mechanical combinations of the school- 
 
— 70 — 
 
 room become transformed into shapes of light 
 and energy. What was before an inert mass 
 of dogmas and retrospective conclusions be- 
 comes a body of living principles advancing, 
 and causing advance almost independently of 
 human will or design, furthered by the highest 
 mental power, and yet insensibly stealing on- 
 wards when prosecuted with merely ordinary 
 observation and intelligence. 
 This can §. 15. Thisiutuition of the Absolutc wMch givcs 
 pu °e7hioug-h *^® tone and character to University study is 
 themediumof^Qt go much the peculiar property of any one 
 
 those sciences . i i 
 
 which corre- particular department of knowledge as the end 
 spond with ^^^ perfection of all. — It is the one com- 
 
 the peculiar -t 
 
 inclinations, niou idea of Scieucc , which while exerting a 
 gifts of the power of distinctest unity, has still tangible 
 individual, reality, and definite matter of fact existence 
 only in the infinite diversity of the actual modes 
 of cognition. Some forms of knowledge exhi- 
 bit the Idea more face to face, as it were, and 
 in a more perfect, and congenial material than 
 others. All however unfold essentially the work- 
 ings of a morally necessitated law of Righ- 
 teousness, Truth and Beauty, and to those en- 
 dowed with the genuine vocation for a life of 
 knowledge its glory and majesty are perhaps 
 even more peculiarly brought home when un- 
 
— 71 — 
 
 expectedly revealing themselves in the very 
 humblest walks of science. 
 
 §.16. Plato in one of the masterpieces of his The idea of 
 philosophical genius tells us that to hecome a liv- ^"""'^ ^J- 
 
 ^ i. <-> tains real 
 
 ing agency the One must at the same time be existence on- 
 many*). The Idea must exhibit the unbound- gnitude of 
 ed fullness of the Being it comprehends through "^o^n^'e 
 myriad fold forms of existence, each a perfect 
 image bf the one common prototype. The in- 
 tensity of its unity is not diminished by infi- 
 nite distribution. Like the soul it is all and 
 entire in every part. To suppose that the 
 principle of highest Being is restricted to a 
 single mode of manifestation would in effect 
 contradict one of primary laws of its nature, 
 which consists in the assertion of a triumphant 
 superiority over the limitations of finite exis- 
 stence. Absolute knowledge therefore as the 
 counterpart of absolute being can exist in 
 energy**) — as Aristotle phrases it — only by- 
 means of a corresponding multiplicity of forms. 
 Though one in spirit, and in the abstract, it will 
 be many in actuality and the concrete ; one as a 
 viewless and wholly indeterminable potency, 
 
 *) Parmenides p. 142. omovv ansiqov av to TtXrjd-os 
 ovxta TO £v dv £171; 
 **) 6 vovg 6 KO!T ivsQyiiav ra ndvra voav. 
 
— 72 — 
 
 many as far as all practical and educational 
 
 purposes are concerned. 
 True specula- §. 17. Nor is this view of the subject alone 
 aiway^ir supportcd upou grouuds of theory and abstract 
 companied spcculation. In cvcry instance of genuine ori- 
 bias in ihe giuality a powerful mental bias in the direction 
 direction of (j£ gQjQg q^q particular subject never fails to 
 
 some particu- ■*■ ^ "^ 
 
 lar study, manifest itself along with that activity of the 
 reasoning faculties which constitutes the essen- 
 tial characteristic of intellectual maturity. The 
 most marked and striking peculiarity in the 
 practical education of manhood when compar- 
 ed with that of an earlier period is perceived 
 in the fact of its being accomplished by means 
 of specific and definite studies, instead of mere 
 generalities. The strengthening and determin- 
 ing of those tendencies whose harmoniously 
 toned predominance gives character, and, so 
 to say, expression to existence, nay the direct 
 training of the more purely intellectual facul- 
 ties is with the great majority of mankind the 
 result of the mental habits and requirements 
 arising out of the peculiar pursuit upon which 
 the individual has been directed either from 
 bent of natural , genius , or the concurrence of 
 external circumstances. Such is unmistakeably 
 the fact, nor is the ratio at all a matter of uu- 
 
— 73 — 
 
 certainty. The fulness of time has arrived for 
 the application in the sphere of the particular, 
 and practical of those faculties which have 
 hitherto only been exercised, or rather sought af- 
 ter, in the region of the general. Action, which 
 guided by design is, of course, preeminently 
 the vocation of the man, deals always, accord- 
 ing to Ai'istotle*), with the individual instance. 
 The accompanying energies of the intellect are 
 in like manner therefore collected in undi- 
 vided force and intensity upon the mastery of 
 that one particular subject under which these 
 individuals are embraced. Universality, on 
 the other hand, and comprehensiveness of mind 
 are to be obtained, not by the mechanical 
 method of cramming the rudiments of as many 
 different sciences as the memory will contain, 
 but by searching into one subject in its depth 
 and fulness, by penetrating to the cognition 
 of the fundamental truth in all its self neces- 
 sity, and endless capacity of application. In 
 a far more profound and pregnant accepta- 
 tion is the culture of the intellect here un- 
 derstood than in the crude and ill conceived 
 
 *) Metaphys. A. 1. 981 a. at Sh n^d^sig v.al at ysvs- 
 astg Jtacai Jieql to Ka9' 'iv-aexov sIblv. 
 
— 74 — 
 
 attempts at its attainment perceived in the 
 schemes of education of which we have previous- 
 ly treated. Every true and perfect science, nay 
 to go farther every entire and ideal thought 
 holds potentially involved within itself the whole 
 universe of truth. It furnishes a norm and 
 keynote of harmony, in accordance with which 
 every further discovery will, if genuine, neces- 
 sarily be attuned. Not only therefore does it 
 ingraft within the subject a germ of that in- 
 finite productivity of the Idea which Bacon 
 speaks of, but even in the lower region of his 
 every day consciousness it foreshadows and re- 
 veals an image of the totality of knowledge*). 
 It is not therefore by the sacrifice, but by the 
 zealous encouragement of that individual capa- 
 city and genius which betrays the instinctive 
 striving after the comprehensive mastery of 
 the special that the University, standing, as it 
 does, on the threshold of the intellectual career 
 of manhood will impart the form and method 
 by which breadth of views, and totality of con- 
 templation, with its attendant humanizing in- 
 fluences on the moral character are most surely 
 to be attained. 
 
 *) See Schelling Acaderaische Vorlesungen p. 44. 
 
— 75 — 
 
 §. 18. Nor is it merely an infinitely more sound The cuuwa- 
 and genuinely liberal tone of sentiment wliichj!°„iJ i^^^Ii! 
 results from this pursuit of the Absolute in and "•'=^°f «"''"' 
 
 1 11 .1 X • 1 *''^ only con- 
 
 through the particular. It constitutes the only anion under 
 
 condition under which powers and qualities the '"'""'^ ^'°' 
 
 ^ ^ duclivuy is 
 
 most mighty and commanding, the existence of conceivable. 
 which is in itself the sum of human felicity 
 and greatness, can possibly be manifested. The 
 godlike p^iwer of productivity, whether evinced 
 in the purely ' intellectual efforts of the philo- 
 sophical and artistic imagination, or in the less 
 infrequent, but not less thought-directed forms 
 of practical originality and moral purpose, is 
 alone conceivable where all the energies are 
 concentrated upon the entire and signal ful- 
 filment of one high end, and the mastery of 
 one comprehensive subject. The highest ex- 
 cellence — and no lower object can be propos- 
 ed by him who is destined to accomplish what 
 is even creditable — is alone to be attained by 
 one who does not disperse, but gathers his powers 
 of perception into a piercing intensity and sin- 
 gleness of view, enabling him to reach beyond 
 the facile and common place into the dim 
 and distant region of the undiscovered. The 
 law of genial precognition in the subject is 
 in the highest degree analogous with that of 
 
— 76 — 
 
 life aud beauty in the object, Intensest uni- 
 ty*) is the soul of contemplation, and ideal action 
 no less than of creative organisation. 
 
 §. 19. Progress in any particular science is the 
 result of the thorough mastery of those highest 
 principles which involve not merely endless re- 
 sults when subjected to the process of logical 
 deduction, but furnish the starting point for an 
 infinite variety of synthesis to the mind which 
 can look beyond the necessary imperfection of 
 the proposition in which they are conveyed to 
 the unfathomable mystery of their proper Being. 
 So thorough an insight into any department of 
 knowledge demands of course the most absolute 
 command of all its details superinduced upon 
 a profoundly meditative and suggestive intel- 
 lect. The whole subject must have been ren- 
 dered so familiar, that all the phaenomena it 
 embraces become transparent media for the sug- 
 gestion of the principle which lies beyond them. 
 The entire mass of facts in the science great 
 and small must have so completely formed a 
 part of the instinctive, and half unconscious 
 operations of his mind , that they rise sponta- 
 
 *) Philolaus ed. Boeckh. p. 61. Ttolvfiiyiiav evaais. 
 
— 77 — 
 
 neously and without effort to his recollection*). 
 Scientific advance is so frequently furthered by 
 questions suggested to a thoughtful mind by ex- 
 ternal phaenomena, and hitherto unobserved ano- 
 malies, that the smallest fact, the most appa- 
 rently trifling minutiae, are precious to the stu- 
 dent who has within him the gift of discovery. 
 Neither of the requisites so essential to fertil- 
 ity and advance in knowledge, neither the 
 grasp of particulars, nor the more transcendent 
 faculty of divining from hitherto neglected 
 phaenomena the deeper truths to which they 
 point, is at all possible without a concentrated 
 energy of thought and observation utterly in- 
 compatible with the simultaneous prosecution of 
 a medley of literary and scientific subjects. 
 
 §. 20. Could no other objection be brought 
 against the polytechnic, polyhistoric seminaries 
 now so much the rage their evident inadequacy 
 to impart that profundity of acquirements which 
 is the ground of all genuine independence of 
 thought would essentially and utterly disqualify 
 them from furnishing the pattern of University 
 
 *) The details of the subject must have been posses- 
 ed with what the schoolmen call a cognitio in actu ct in 
 habitu. See also Dial, de Orator. 8, 33. 
 
— 78 — 
 
 study. The words of Schelling: ' Lerne urn pro- 
 ductiv zu werden', learn in order to produce, 
 should be indelibly engraven on the memory 
 and attention of every University student. The 
 advancement of science according to Savigny 
 constitutes the specific feature of difference 
 which distinguishes the University from the 
 humbler stages of the educational system. The 
 Professor is called upon to teach science inthe 
 very process of expanding its developement, 
 and by the encouragement of his example to sti- 
 mulate and evoke a similar faculty in his pupils. 
 §. 21 . Nor is this all. The sacred enthusiasm of 
 Love, which Christianity has so profoundly 
 brought to light as the vital element of -that spi- 
 ritual Being which is all consciousness , and all 
 action, demands as the very condition of its es- 
 sence the notion of the distinctest preference. 
 That this divinest sentiment of our nature finds 
 its true and natural object in the eternal verities 
 of science, no less than in the reciprocating 
 consciousness of another personality, none who 
 are capable of appreciating either will be dis- 
 posed to doubt for an instant. The devotion 
 felt by noble and self sufficing natures even 
 for the individual has far more reference to 
 perfection and beauty of character, to the truth 
 
— 79 — 
 
 and meaning conveyed in every act and word, 
 than to the mere naked human unit. In 
 asserting that no eminent example which 
 gave heart and inspiration to all uncorrupted 
 natures, no invention or discovery in phy- 
 sics, no revelation in mind, has ever been ac- 
 complished without a zeal for the particular de- 
 partment in which the faculty was exercised 
 which amounted to an absorbing passion, we 
 are simply bearing witness to the existence of 
 a law which history small and great, declares 
 to be without exception. Nor let it be ima- 
 gined that those remarks apply only to the 
 highest products of intellectual greatness, where 
 few, we imagine, will be inclined to dispute their 
 justice. The most humble and ordinary mode 
 of usefulness and efficiency in life demands a 
 lower, but not less decided, bent of heart, and 
 mind, and soul, and strength, in one direction, 
 and upon one well selected object. 
 
 §. 22. The University therefore, as being no The same 
 wholesale manufactory of female pedants, or ^^l"^f."^^"^^_ 
 schoolboy prodigies, but a training school for he- ' cessariiy 
 
 , 1 j_ r TT 1 adopted as the 
 
 roic men , a palaestra tor Jlerculean natures, basis and law 
 must, and practically does, enforce the same truth °' ^'"■'^"■^"y 
 in adopting, as the fundamental law of its or- 
 ganisation, the sternest concentration of labour 
 
— 80 - 
 
 and study upon one field of exertion. In 
 accordance with the very simplest, and most 
 general regulations of its original form — as 
 will hereafter be seen more fully — every one 
 who attached himself to a community of this 
 description was at once directed to enrol himself 
 amongst the members of some particular Fa- 
 culty, or division of University instruction. At 
 the very outset of his academic career he was 
 thus called upon to devote himself to one de- 
 partment of knowledge, the prosecution of which 
 became from henceforth .associated with the 
 essential elements of his individual existence. 
 The subject to which the student was thus for- 
 mally apprenticed by the University was selected 
 not merely with the view of assigning a direc- 
 tion to scientific industry, but of furnishing 
 the future means of bodily support. The Univer- 
 sity, in consistency with what we have above 
 laid down as the strictest law of its nature, is 
 designed quite as much to ensure the subsis- 
 tence of the outer, as the glorified renewal 
 of the inner man. In one word concentrated' 
 study necessarily implies professional study. 
 Such a condition was necessarily attached, not 
 only from the fact that otherwise the favourite 
 study would soon have found a most formidable 
 
— 81 — 
 
 rival in the occupation upon which the individual 
 was obliged to depend for his daily bread, but 
 as a means of supplementing the scientiiic in- 
 struction of the University with the subtlety 
 of observation, and thorough command of the 
 subject, which practical familiarity so peculi- 
 arly affords. In qualifying himself to come 
 before society in the character of a Professor 
 of learning or science in some of its specific 
 forms the student enriched his whole nature with 
 a new function, he becamed gifted with a scien- 
 tific organ, the possession of which was not only 
 a mode of thought, and form of inward devel- 
 opement, but at the same time constituted the 
 leading and mos.t- prominent feature of his so- 
 cial life. This subject he declared to be his 
 forte , the ground of his personal efficiency. 
 Here he took his stand in the struggle of life, 
 and on this point he professed himself ready, 
 and competent, to meet any demands at all in 
 accordance with the existing stage of scientific 
 advancement. The character and qualities with 
 which the University invested him were not 
 those of a well informed man, or of general 
 culture in the form of a shadowy and empty 
 abstraction. Its arrangements were so contrived 
 
 as to impart the most sublime and elevated 
 
 6 
 
— 82 — 
 
 wisdom, the. most noble and comprehensive 
 humanity, in a form the most distinct and 
 tangible. It is ever thus with those thoughts 
 whose greatness lies rather in the concep- 
 tion than in the statement. The more genu- 
 ine and universal the principle the more 
 marked and characteristic the individuality 
 of form. 
 
 §. 23. In speaking of professional study as the 
 basis of the University system there is no dan- 
 ger, we would fain hope, of our being so ut- 
 terly misunderstood as to be supposed desirous 
 of restricting the educational usefulness of 
 academic institutions to instruction in those 
 departments which in common parlance are de- 
 signated as such. Far from being limited to a 
 sphere so narrow it is, we hold it, the especial 
 aim and office of the University to exalt every 
 noble and liberal study to the scientific per- 
 fection and exactness of discipline which is 
 included in the very name of Profession. Any 
 and every subject has a right to this desig- 
 nation which admits of being prosecuted as a 
 science, and practised as an art ; which can be 
 intellectually summed up in formula of absolute 
 truth on the one hand , and employed as a 
 means, and mode of individual action on the 
 
— 83 — 
 
 other. Learned and philosophical studies in 
 ever increasing multiplicity become through the 
 instrumentality of the University peculiarly 
 and preeminently professional. It affords to "the 
 scholar and scientific investigator that precision 
 and severity of intellectual training which 
 makes him perfect in his department, and 
 furnishes at the same time a field of action in 
 whichto give practical scope and effect to his 
 acquirements. Opportunities of professional 
 usefulness on the part of the regularly trained 
 teachers of learning and science would not, of 
 course, be confined to those afforded in the 
 sphere of purely academic life. The University 
 is itself only the highest and most conspicuous 
 instance of a socially organised body in which 
 erudition and scientific enquiry constitute the 
 chief business, and instruction the sole profes- 
 sion of life. The example thus set forth is re- 
 flected in numberless other learned institutions of 
 minor dignity and importance, which are meant 
 to carry the influences of the central life into the 
 remotest corners of the system. In supplying 
 schools and colleges throughout the nation with 
 a class of highly educated and scholarly intel- 
 lects the university maintains a living circu- 
 lation of the noblest agencies. The ordinary 
 
— 84 — 
 
 professions, we may finally remark, arise out of 
 the imperative and unavoidable wants of every 
 community, that of learning is maintained by 
 the ideal aims and free intellectual activity 
 of a mentally energetic and highly cultivated 
 community. 
 
 §. 24. The immediate and primary result of 
 this plan of university study was that of arming 
 the whole man to meet the emergencies of his 
 coming life, under the two great forms in which 
 they were certain to present themselves. The 
 purposes of such a mode of education were in 
 the highest degree practical and soberminded, 
 without thereby becoming mean, or utilitarian. 
 It strove to insure to the individual the most ho- 
 nourable avraQxeoa. Intheinstruction wherewith ' 
 he was furnished by the University the student 
 had put into his hands a two - edged weapon ul- 
 timately indeed intended to enable him to do 
 good service in a far nobler cause than that of 
 self, but at the same time not too delicate to 
 admit of being brought to bear most efficiently 
 against all that stood in his way in the ruder 
 contest of every day life. Its objects were far 
 more earnest and severely practical than those of 
 the mere elegant and enervated dilettantiism of 
 a cloistered and unproductive contemplation 
 
• — 85 — 
 
 utterly dissevered from those homely occasions 
 of physical life which keep us in such close 
 and constant relation with wholesome reality, and 
 the refreshing, life maintaining bosom of mother 
 earth. It can never be sufficiently remembered 
 that in the University, as in every institution 
 social and political which has within itself the 
 grounds of a permanent and extensive utility, the 
 guiding principle of its arrangements must be an 
 endeavour to meet the loftiest' aspirations of the 
 spirit, while professing little more than to pro- 
 vide for the necessities of the body. It is even 
 so with nature, who in her masterpiece of 
 creative design has established the physical 
 constitution and instincts of an animal as the 
 starting point for the hopes and faculties of a 
 demigod. The selfsame principle lies deep at the 
 rootof the'collective humanity of the state, which 
 the greatest of philosophers has described as yty- 
 vo^EV7]v [lev tov ^ijv avsxsv, ovGccv Ss rov av 
 i,'fjv.*). Art again, the quintessence of life and 
 nature, is never so perfect as when in ostensibly 
 promising to meet only the homeliest require- 
 ments of physical necessity it surprises with the 
 free gift, and unanticipated presence of ideal dig- 
 
 *) Aristotle Pol. I, 2. 
 
— 86 — 
 
 nity. In a manner precisely similar did the 
 University enlist in its service that lower exis- 
 tence which it is called upon to hold in sub- 
 jection, and drew from the cravings of daily 
 life the occasion for its noblest and most ele- 
 vated influences. To the forgetfulness of this 
 principle, and to the consequent substitution of 
 a system of academic study ignoring so deep 
 and powerful a trait of human character the 
 Universities are iindoubtedly in no small de- 
 gree indebted for the comparative insignificance 
 into which they have since fallen. No graver 
 or more fatal mistake can be made by those who 
 find themselves called upon to perform the 
 grandest office of a statesman in calling in- 
 stitutions into existence than by forgetting the 
 permanent preponderance of the animal and 
 external nature in the vast majority of man- 
 kind. The celibacy of the priesthood, and 
 numberless other pernicious peculiarities of the 
 Romish system furnish instances of the fright- 
 ful effects to which attempts to ignore this cir- 
 cumstance inevitably lead. A system of acad- 
 emic study which has no direct and pal- 
 pable reference to the wordly advantage of 
 its pupils, which does not in the plainest and 
 most unmistakeable manner conduce to success 
 
— 87 — 
 
 in their several callings, can -reckon upon no 
 decisive weight, or commanding influence, in an 
 age and country like that in which we live. 
 An institution which stakes its whole credit 
 and power in society upon refinement and in- 
 telligence not evinced in any one particular 
 form of efficiency, will inevitably disappear 
 more and more from connexion with the world 
 of flesh and blood into a kindred cloudland of 
 unrealities and abstractions. Nothing, we are 
 convinced, but the sacred name of the Uni- 
 versity, the memory of what it has been in 
 an eventful past, and a lurking consciousness 
 of what it ought yet to be, has prevented such 
 a consummation from having long since taken 
 place. That such a result cannot always be 
 deferred but little reflection is required to make 
 evident. With the progress of civilisation, 
 and the consequent widening extent, and incre- 
 asing complexity of human action, life is daily 
 becoming more feverish, anxious, and difficult. 
 Time is more precious to all, and especially to 
 theprofessional classes, who, it may be remarked, 
 are far from profiting to the same extent with 
 the commercial and labouring population in the 
 openings afforded by the growth of ■colonial 
 prosperity, and the prodigious material devel- 
 
opement of tbe age. Under such circumstances 
 it is a grave question whether it will always 
 be possible for that higher middle class upon 
 which the University must mainly depend for 
 its support to bestow so large a portion of the 
 best years of life, together with a heavy pe- 
 cuniary outlay, upon what the vast majority 
 will regard as the mere luxuries of education. 
 Even the more sensible of the body we refer 
 to will be inclined to question whether mental 
 training, and general intelligence will not be 
 attained far more thoroughly and surely in 
 acquiring the knowledge requisite for the pe- 
 culiar avocation of the individual, if not in the 
 practical schooling of life. The many, it has 
 often been remarked, are the patrons of the 
 present d^y; and their support will in the long 
 run only be bestowed upon such educational 
 institutions as approve their usefulness in 
 advancing material success. We are far from 
 thinking lightly or irreverently of the soul 
 which resides in the organised masses of the 
 community. The ultimate tendencies of public 
 institutions can never be made too noble or 
 exalted. Their immediate purpose, on the 
 other hand, cannot be too strictly directed to 
 the plainest utility. The broader the basis 
 
— 89 — 
 
 of the University in the wants and inter- 
 est of actual human nature, the higher will 
 it be enabled to culminate into the atmo- 
 sphere of ideal humanity, the nQog o of his- 
 tory,*) which, though by no means to be cal- 
 culated on, is yet mysteriously present as the 
 very mightiest power in political existence. 
 
 §. 25. How completely this by no means distant- 
 ly threatening danger is averted by the principle 
 of concentrated, and professional instruction we 
 need not stop to explain. By founding the 
 whole system of academic training upon the 
 zealous prosecution of one favourite study, 
 eminence' in which is equivalent to no small 
 measure of worlly prosperity, it is easy to 
 perceive that the very carnal minded, and 
 material spirit of the times, which has been 
 so slowly and surely sapping at the founda- 
 tions of the University will contribute to 
 give them additional massiveness^ and solidity, 
 without in the slightest degree detracting from 
 the elevated character of the end proposed. 
 In imparting fitly, and thoroughly, the theore- 
 tical knowledge required for the practice of a 
 learned profession, the purest and loftiest mental 
 
 *) Plut. de placitis philosophor. p. 882. ed. Eeisk. 
 
— 90 — 
 
 culture will of necessity be involved. The 
 blessings of high and absolute intellectual 
 activity will thus spread theinselves throughout 
 the entire social organization, reaching hundreds 
 who neither can nor will sacrifice time and 
 money to the attainment of an object to them 
 so vague and visionary as general refinement 
 and humanity. Apart however from all con- 
 siderations of expediency the influence of uni- 
 versity study would be lamed and paralysed 
 to the extent of one half of its usefulness, were 
 its operations confined to the mens divinior in 
 man, even supposing that the difficult problem 
 of reaching the higher nature otherwise than 
 through the medium of, and in conjunction with, 
 the lower had been satisfactorily accomplished. 
 §. 26. It is hardly necessary to remind the rea- 
 der that while thus regarding the essential pecu- 
 liarity of academical education as founded 
 upon the sel^ption of one subject, upon the 
 acquisition of which the university student is 
 directed to bend the undivided energies of his 
 nature, with the distinct purpose of hereafter 
 becoming an instructor orpractitoner in the same 
 department we are far from wishing to be un- 
 derstood as recommending an entire and literal 
 exclusion from his notice of all other learned, 
 
— 91 — 
 
 or scientific topics. All that wei -would advocate 
 is the necessity of definitely establishing some 
 one form of knowledge around which all other 
 requirements should group and arrange themsel- 
 ves as the centre of a mental organisation. The 
 more extensive the multiplicity of detail consistent 
 with strongly expressed, and predominant unity, 
 the richer, of course, and ampler will be the 
 hafmony of the whole. Mere unity, unbalanced 
 by the presence of it correlative, shrivels up 
 into the nothingness of a mathematical point. 
 Paradoxical however as in some respectsthe as- 
 sertion may appear, it is nevertheless most im- 
 portantly true that, though in existence unity and 
 multiplicity ever hold each other in equilibrio, 
 the preponderance and centre of igravity in the 
 highest, and most powerful forms of life, is al- 
 ways to be found on the side of unity. While 
 forming the widest acquaintance with science 
 in all its varieties — while feeling the liveliest 
 interest in every shape and manifestation of the 
 godlike striving after knowledge — the study 
 for the mastery of which every force and fa- 
 culty has mustered its utmost energies will only 
 be heightened thereby in its prominent and so- 
 vereign importance. He acquaints himself lar- 
 gely with other subjects, but solely in oder to 
 
— 92 — 
 
 illustrate, enrich, and confirm, his knowledge 
 of his own. 
 
 §. 27. But, it is not merely when considered 
 on grounds of abstract psychology that the plan 
 of imparting wisdom and power by means of 
 the most severely expressed and pregnant unity 
 of study approves itself in accordance with the 
 genuine aims and character of the schools of 
 manly education. The same conclusion is not 
 less forcibly suggested upon an investigation 
 into the origin and developement of the exis- 
 ting system of academic instruction, as exhibi- 
 ted in the most eminent and important | Univer- 
 sities ef our own, and former ages. Even in the 
 case of those which have deflected farthest from 
 the originally controlling influence the possession 
 of this principle supplies the secret of their an- 
 cient greatness, and the clue to the aberrations 
 and anomalies of their subsequent decline. The 
 history of this ennobling form of educational 
 culture is throughout consistent and conclusive, 
 furnishing as it advances more and more vivid 
 instances of one ever present law of mental 
 action, and leaving, we are presuaded, little 
 doubt that the principle, which, we have seen, 
 has reason so decidedly on its side, is not less 
 equivocally supported by fact also. 
 
m. 
 
 THE HISTORICAL ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OP UNI- 
 VERSITY STUDY. 
 
 §. 1. The paramount importance assigned Higiier eciu- 
 to the subject of education in all the noblest "g^^uerpe-" 
 states of antiquity, and the earnestness with""'** "*''''''''' 
 
 ^ •' ' . history. 
 
 which their most celebrated lawgivers exerted 
 themselves to carry outthe principle of mental 
 and moral advancement to the utmost con- 
 ceivable perfection, are every- where cons- 
 picuous ^ at the earliest period at which Hel- 
 lenic genius and culture assume their distinct 
 historic character. The existence of a com- 
 plete, and minutely organised system of edu- 
 cational arrangements, is from the first ob- 
 servable in those communities which exhibit the 
 most strongly expressed, and consistent ex- 
 amples of the Greek conception of the state. 
 The education of the youth of the country was 
 
— 94 — 
 
 considered as the basis of all the future in- 
 fluences of the state, the ground and warrant 
 of its best anticipations from the citizen*). 
 Far from abandoning this subject to the pos- 
 sible inattention, or excentric fancies of individ- 
 uals, the state conceived that, as the common 
 parent, its most sacred duty, and most vital 
 interests, would be equally neglected, if the 
 highest mind of the whole community were not 
 directly, and constantly, brought to bear upon 
 a question of such inconceivable importance to 
 the individual, and the nation. In Sparta the 
 workings of the whole educational machinery 
 were placed under the supervision of an espe- 
 cial minister of state, the itaidovo^os, and the 
 individual appointed to this office was selected 
 from amongst those who had previously been 
 invested with the highest political dignities**). 
 A similar degree of attention was directed to 
 this subject by the Pythagorean statesmen of 
 the Greek cities in Italy, and even in Athens 
 as we learn from Plato, parents were compel- 
 led to provide for the instruction of their 
 
 *) This sentiment is most emphatically expressed in 
 Plato's Euthyphron p. 2. See also Legg. VI, p. 765 ete. 
 **) Xenoph. de Eep. Lac. 11, 2. 
 
— 95 — 
 
 children*) in gymnastics, and fiovGix'^ — a sub- 
 ject including what we should now call the ru- 
 diments of polite literature, and even the first 
 elements of ethical doctrine**). 
 ^ §. 2. From the very primitive and unformed 
 condition in which science of every kind contin- 
 ued to exist Until shortly before the time of 
 Plato and Aristotle, to say nothing of the scanty 
 and limited extent to which the materials for lear- 
 ned study were then extant, it is evident that, all 
 interesting , and invaluable as are the institu- 
 tions and precepts of the philosophers and 
 legislators of earlier Greece, from the light 
 they throw upon the nature and ultimate aims 
 of education, they can supply at the utmost but 
 distant, and general analogies with reference to 
 the peculiar and distinctive functions of the 
 several parts of a system of instruction pro- 
 vided in accordance with requirements of which 
 that age had not as yet become conscious. Xe- 
 
 *) Crito p. 50, cited by Graefenhahn, Geschichte der 
 Class. Litterat. im Alterthum. See also passage from the 
 Comic Poet Alexis Meinecke, Fragm. Com. LXXXI. 
 "Qui Athenienses aitideo oportere laudari, quod omnium 
 Graeeorum legea cogunt parentes ali a liberis , Athe- 
 niensium non omues, nisi qui liberos artibns erudissent." 
 
 **) See Plato Protag. p. 328. 
 
— 96 — 
 
 nophon, or whoever else is the author of the 
 treatise derepublica Lacedaemoniorum, informs 
 us that the state of Lycurgus regarded the 
 education of the ri^avtes as infinitely transcend- 
 ing in importance and dignity that of a period' 
 less mentally and physically developed, and less 
 capable of moral good and evil. Notwith- 
 standing this general conviction of the necessity 
 for a more advanced form of instruction the 
 -training of those who had advanced beyond 
 childhood partook even more strongly of the 
 character of a practical discipline than the 
 educational stages by which it had been pre- 
 ceded. Vigour and manly dignity of character, 
 as exhibited in deeds of positive morality 
 {aQsvri, avdqaytt&Cu) , still constituted the high- 
 est form of excellence placed before the com- 
 ing man, just as obedience {nBi&aQ%ia) , moral 
 purity {amfpQoevviq) ^ and reverence (at'drag), 
 had been almost exclusively inculcated in child- 
 hood. — It was reserved for a later period, 
 and for a more intellectually progressive portion 
 of the Hellenic race to recognise in knowledge 
 and mental power the highest condition, and 
 absolute end of human existence.*) The en- 
 
 *) yuQ loyoq ruiiv v.al 6 vovg trjs (ptiascos tilog. 
 Aritsotle. 
 
— 97 — 
 
 tire scientific attainments of the times in which 
 the Dorian commonwealths had their period 
 of pertinency were expended in the pregnant 
 apophthegms, *) the heroic ballads, and the mas- 
 culine, Handelian music, which formed the prin- 
 cipal components of the mental training of boy- 
 hood. Positive instruction had herein reached 
 its farthest limits. The man was henceforth 
 called upon to enact deeds similar in spirit to 
 those which he had been taught to remember, 
 and revere. The only higher school into which 
 he now passed was that of the public service. 
 The grandly suggestive forms, and sublime 
 tendencies of the state were designed to set 
 before the man a still loftier, more serious, and 
 more impressive manifestation of the principle 
 of the nobly beautiful {xa^ov)**) which had been 
 throughout the keynote of his previous edu- 
 cation. This notion that the state is the 
 
 *) These brief and sententious aphorisms were not in 
 reality peculiar to the Spartans , but simply a remnant 
 of the pithy and proverblike form in which the most 
 ancient philosophy of the Greeks was embodied. Sec the 
 celebrated passage in the Protagoras of Plato p. 342 — 444. 
 
 **) The phrase tk KciXd was the regular expression 
 for a refined and liberal education. See Xen. Hellen. V, 
 3, 9. Cyr. I, 2, 15. Compare also Aristoph. Ean. 729. 
 
school- for men, noUg avdga didaOxst,, thougl 
 most emphatically expressed amongst the Dori 
 ans, who were, indeed little more than the strict 
 est and straitest sect of the practical politieianf 
 of Greece, was scarcely less adhered to in the 
 antagonistic element of the common race.*) — 
 In the magnificently eloquent harangue ir 
 which Pericles has idealised the excellence! 
 of the state he had exalted to a grandeur of supra 
 macy so nobly contrasting with its diminutivf 
 extent, and insignificance in point of materia 
 resources, he sums up all the glories of th( 
 Athenian people in the fact that their com 
 monwealth was not only the most 9,dmirabl] 
 perfect training school of its own citizens, bu 
 served at the same time as the means o 
 education (natdEvSis) to the entire civilize( 
 world. **) 
 Oratory and §. 3. At the period hcrc referred to the prin 
 hoM iho rink ciplss of poHtical existence which lived in thi 
 and position Hellenic race whilst remaining substantially thi 
 
 of a reg-ular i i i i 
 
 profession in samo, had nevertheless entered upon a newpnasi 
 
 the states of . 
 
 antiquity. ^^ g^^ pj^^^ Protag. p. 32 b. insiSav S' h SiSamd 
 Xcav cntaXlaycoBiv r] noXig av rovg ts voiJtovg dvay^id^s 
 fiav9av£LV -Aal naxa xovrovg ^yv ^ara TtccqdSeiyiia n 
 T. k. Compare also Gorg. p. 517. 
 **) Thucyd. II, 4.1. 
 
— 99 — 
 
 of development. The glory of the Dorian citizen 
 had consisted in becoming the organ of the state, 
 that of the Athenian was sought for in the ac- 
 quisition of an intellectual dominion in , and 
 over the state. The example of the extra - 
 ordinary man to whom we have already re- 
 ferred had given the most striking and con- 
 spicuous proof of the more than regal authority 
 which the itQatog avrjQ could wield in a 
 government where scarcely the slighest check, 
 or balance to the popular will had been suf- 
 fered to exist. On the other hand the utter 
 sweeping away of the support afforded by forms 
 of state, and positive institutions, had driven 
 the nation when deprived of the masterly in- 
 tellect, and steadfast will, which had hitherto 
 supplied the place of governmental organi- 
 zation, to throw itself in utter' helplessness into 
 the arms of the I first bold and confident ad- 
 venturer who undertook the responsibility of 
 command. Honour and emolument in profusion, . 
 unlimited power, the more fascinating to a 
 quick witted and aspiring people , from the ac- 
 knowledgment of intellectual superiority which 
 it involved, all contributed to render the as- 
 cendancy over the Athenian demos scarcely 
 less alluring to every ardent and ambitious 
 
— 100 — 
 
 spirit during the era of the great Peloponnesian 
 contest than the occupancy of the throne itself 
 had proved in the earlier periods of Grecian 
 history. — 
 le Sophists. §.4. The eager emulation which arose between 
 icret of their ^]^g numerous competitors for the sovereignty 
 
 muuence, ^ 01/ 
 
 over the popular will, as well as the refined fas- 
 tidiousness and intellectual subtlety of the au- 
 dience before- whom their claims were to be 
 approved , soon rendered the necessity for theo- 
 retical attainments and scientific training im- 
 perative upon all who aspired to distinction 
 and success in the one great field of enterprise 
 and activity for every Athenian. Public life 
 had developed itself into a systematic and le- 
 gitimate career, in which the correspondence 
 of means to ends had become thoroughly un- 
 derstood; and the simple and purely general 
 education of former ages was no longer found 
 sufficient to satisfy the requirements of a mode 
 of activity as refined and complicated in its 
 workings as the professional industry of mo- 
 dern times. — To meet these demands, and to 
 furnish to the noblest born, and most intelligent 
 portion of the Athenian youth that scientific 
 method which should serve at once as the ca- 
 non for action, and the nucleus of future ex- 
 
— 101 — 
 
 perience a new class of instructors, the So- 
 phists, or professores artium, were called into 
 existence. *) The limits of the present treatise 
 do not permit us to enter into any detailed ac- 
 count of the history and doctrines of those re- 
 markable men, respecting whose influence and 
 importance opinions so various and conflicting 
 have been entertained. Suffice it to say that- 
 in the circumstances above referred to many 
 of the most singular and otherwise inexplicable 
 peculiarities in their history and character find 
 their full interpretation. In the fact that an ac- 
 tual profession — and one too of the highest 
 order — had for the first time arisen in the social 
 horizon, that new educational wants had pre- 
 ceded, and loudly called for their appearance 
 we obtain a far more satisfactory explanation 
 of the marvellous success which attended their 
 teaching, the princely fortunes they amassed, 
 and the rapturous enthusiasm with which they 
 were welcomed, than can be discovered in any 
 
 *) 7]V (S8iv6rrjTa noXitmiiv %al Sqaetriqiov avvsaiv) ot 
 fista tavta (li'laj'TEg Tsxvaig iiai fisTayayovtsg atto rav 
 ^gd^scov trjv aaxTjaiv iTcl rois i.6yovg aotpLaral Ttqoai^yo- 
 Qsvd-rjaav. Plut. vit. Themistocl. cited by CresoU. Theatr. 
 Ehet. I. 4. 
 
— 102 — 
 
 fragmentary specimens of their literary produc- 
 tions which have comedown to later ages.*) • — 
 §. 5. The Sophists peculiarly addressed them- 
 selves to that thirst for intellectual supremacy, 
 as expressed in the forms of political power, 
 which was the master passion of that period. **) 
 They declared themselves absolutely competent 
 to afford a mastery of the secrets of power so 
 complete as to enable its possessor to command 
 the implicit obedience of his countrymen, and 
 by able administration to derive the fullest ad- 
 vantage from the position to which he had thus 
 attained. That an insight into causes, and an 
 acquaintance with scientific method can have no 
 other effect upon practical experience than that 
 of endlessly increasing its precision and efficien- 
 cy was a deeply rooted, and, characteristic con- 
 viction of the best era of Athenian ***) history. 
 
 *) 266. Roller, die Gr. Sophisten p. 2. Cresoll. Tlieatr. 
 Eliet. V. 5. 
 
 **) Plato Gorg. pp. 452—454. 
 
 ***) Tliuc. II. 40. ov xovq loyovg toig k'^yotg ^kd^riv rj. 
 yovfisvoi , aXXa fit] nqoSiSax&ftvai [laXXov Xoyca n^otsqov 
 rj sm, 5 Sst tQyo} ^l&eCv. See also Menauder Fr. 267- 
 "ElXrjvsg statv ccvSqss ov% ayvcofiovsg, 
 %a), fista Xoyiafiov mivra TtQartovai'v zivog. 
 
— 103 — 
 
 The very earliest orators endeavour to base their 
 art upon certain theoretic principles, and the 
 Sophists, as the sole possessors of the learning 
 and systematic knowledge of that period, were 
 long the instructors of the statesmen and ad- 
 vocates ((Swi^yoQai,) who composed the higher 
 world in the leading people of Greece. Not 
 only do we read that men like Thucydides, 
 Alcibiades and Theramenes were trained in the 
 schools of the Sophists*), but even the most 
 turbulent and contemptible demagogues are said 
 to have found it expedient to adopt a similar 
 course. **) 
 
 §. 6. That the existence of the Sophists is dis- 
 tinctly to be referred to the rise of the various 
 professions connected with public life is evident 
 from the fact that Protagoras, the most acute, 
 and speculatively important amongst the apost- 
 les of the sect expressly describes himself in 
 Plato as a teacher of political science. ***) 
 At a later period the chair assigned to this 
 subject in the school of Athens was regularly 
 held by a sophist. The elder sophists, it is 
 
 *) Euhnken. Dissertatio de Antiplioute. 
 **) Aristoph. Nub. 875. cited in Bernhardy. Grundriss 
 der Gr. Litt. I. p. 335. 
 ***) Plato Protag. p. 168. 
 
— 104 — 
 
 well known, were often employed in embassies 
 and public missions in which the gravest public 
 interests were concerned. The same connection 
 between Sophistry and the grander forms of prac- 
 tical life is further attested in the frequency with 
 which we find individuals of this class appointed 
 to civil offices of a more than usually responsible 
 and important nature. Isocrates himself is said 
 to have acted as private secretary to Conon,*) 
 and numerous instances of a similar nature are 
 mentioned in the historians and biographers of 
 the third and fourth centuries after Christ. As the 
 most finished and highly cultivated form of ora- 
 tory sophistry naturally stood in the closest rela- 
 tion with jurisprudence. Professors of the art are 
 frequently described as acting both in the capaci- 
 ty of teachers and advocates Those of the number 
 who confined themselves exclusively to legal prac- 
 tice (ot fisx^l rdv Gavidav aal tov /JjjftaTOg) are 
 said to have been held in lower estimation [eme- 
 ^sSTSQoi)**). The forensic sophists (oi dixccvixol 
 QTjroQEg), ***) though often described as coming 
 
 *) Photius Bibl. Cod. 260. 
 
 **) Werusdorf Vit. Nimerii p. 47. 
 
 ***) Philostr. II. p. 509. Morell. The term ?'ijT(op as 
 compared with aocpLGfrjg, is employed to denote the Pro- 
 fessor of legal and political oratory, in contradistinc- 
 
— 105 — 
 
 off the worse in their encounters with the har- 
 der headed and more knowing ayo^atoi , seem 
 on the whole to have been regarded as the more 
 educated and gentlemanly portion of the juristic 
 body , and to have maintained with reference to 
 the former a position analogous to that which the 
 advocate as compared to the solicitor holds with 
 us. Libanius in his epistles refers moreover to no- 
 table instances where Sophists had achieved a 
 greater amount of success as lawyers than had 
 fallen to the lot of their more practically trained 
 antagonists. 
 
 §, 7. Born as it was out of a condition of rnherem 
 
 T .1 . - T .1 vices of the 
 
 daily increasing and ever more, aggravated system 
 social disorder the vocation of the Sophist could 
 not be otherwise than deeply tainted with the 
 profligate and unprincipled character of the times 
 in which it originated. The entire system furnish- 
 ed a complete reflex of the utter unbelief which 
 had taken possession of the minds of men in the 
 period intervening between the departure of 
 
 tion to those who taught the art in its more gene- 
 ral bearings and power of application. Amongst the 
 Romans the expression rhetor was used with reference 
 to the teacher of Latin literature while aocpiarrig denote 
 one who publicly professed that of Greece. See CresoU 
 Theatr. Ehet. I. 1. 2. 
 
— 106 — 
 
 the simple and ancestral faith of the nation, and 
 the rise of the clear and steadfast convictions hy 
 which its place was ultimately destined to be 
 supplied. Far from seeking to give the inward 
 strength of truth and solid knowledge the Sophists 
 made the denial of both the very keystone of their 
 system of instruction. Objective reality of every 
 kind they utterly impugned , maintaining that 
 intellectual superiority simply consists in the 
 power of producing a vividness of subjective 
 impression in the minds of others. The baser 
 and more paltry [tendencies of sophistic educa- 
 tion are conspicuously seen in the regular train- 
 ing which it furnished to the class of profes- 
 sional demagogues. Oratorical persuasiveness 
 and power were of course recognised as the 
 one great engine for working upon the passions 
 of the populace. Fluency on a vairety of topics, 
 and dexterity in the use of that simpler logic 
 which, as Aristotle tells us, the many are com- 
 petent to appreciate and enjoy, also suggested 
 themselves as well adopted to dazzle and aston- 
 ish, even where more important results could not 
 be secured. The instruction of the Sophists aimed 
 accordingly at imparting an acquaintance with 
 a system of political artifices, highly coloured 
 and declamatory rhetoric, multifarious infer- 
 
— 107 — 
 
 mation, and skill of fence in gladiatorial dia- 
 lectics.*) — 
 
 §. 8. The apologists of this class of pseudo 
 politicians have been fond of dwelling upon the 
 fact that all the accounts we possesss of the 
 Sophists are derived from their avowed an- 
 tagonists forgetting ^themselves to notice who 
 these antagonists after all are. Unfortunately 
 for those whose cause they espouse they hap- 
 pen to be in every instance precisely the 
 most virtuous, most healthy minded, and most 
 discerning men of the time. The entire age in 
 the person of those who constitute its history 
 has pronounced its unerring, and unalterable 
 verdict upon the character and tendencies of 
 the sophistic system. In spite of the un- 
 questionably great abilities of the leading So- 
 phists, their doctrine and plan of instruction 
 was essentially antiphilosophic,**) and carried 
 in its bosom the seeds of its own speedy dis- 
 solution. The shameless avowal of systematic 
 
 *) Aristoph. Nub. 267. 316. 444. sqq. Wachsmuth, 
 Hellen. Alterthumskunde I. §. 62. 
 
 **) Compare the favourite , and characteristic dogma 
 of Protagoras Svo loyovg slvcci ^sqI navtos nqayiiaioq 
 dvrmsi^svovg dXX'^XoLg Diogen. Laert. quoted by Brandis 
 Handbuch der Gesoh. der Gr. Philos. I. p. 529. 
 
— 108 — 
 
 selfishness, and the denial of the possibility o 
 absolute knowledge,*) which formed the be 
 ginning and end of their creed was of cours 
 diametrically at variance with the scientific uni 
 versality of all professional study, and thus cor 
 tradicted the very first requirements of th 
 education they were called upon to impart. - 
 Difference §-9. The great and Striking difference betwBe: 
 between ear- ^j^^ earlier and latter professors of the sophisti 
 
 her and la- ^ ^ 
 
 ter Sophists, art must not however be forgotten. Protagora 
 by no means disclaimed the intention of imparl 
 ing a morally elevating mental culture to hi 
 pupils,**) and in all that concerns persons 
 conduct and demeanour his character, like tha 
 of Gorgias andProdicus, is invariably depicts 
 by Plato in a spirit of marked admiration ani 
 respect. The elder Sophists seem never to hav 
 gone further than a dallying with scepticisn 
 while Polus, Thrasymachus, Diagoras, and othe 
 younger representatives of the school gloried i 
 
 *) Brandis Handbuch der Gesch. der 6r. Philosophi 
 I. p. 525 sqq. Roller die Gr. Sophisten. p. 21. 
 
 **) Plato Protag. p. 328. The liberality of spirit exl 
 bited by Protagoras in all pecuniary transactions with i 
 pupils is borne witness to by Plato in the same pa 
 sage. 
 
— 109 — 
 
 figuring as the advocates of the coarsest pro- 
 fligacy and atheism.*) — 
 
 §. 10. Thoroughly possessed as were even the Redeeming 
 
 element in the 
 
 most eminent and accomplished of the Sophists sophistic 
 with the delusive notion of cultivating the in- ^y^'^™- 
 tellect as a mere mechanical force capable of 
 being turned indifferently to the accomplishment 
 of good or evil,**) instead of recognising in the 
 noblest element of humanity a faculty insepar- 
 ably, and essentially associated with its own 
 highest objects, ***) the effects of their teaching 
 
 *) Brandis , Handbuch der Gr. Phil. I. pp. 543. 544. 
 
 **) Aristoph. Nub. 98. ovvoi SiSaav.ova , dgyvQiov ijv tig 
 SiStp, Xsyovta.viv.av Kcsi Siv,aiav.' aSiv.a. According to 
 Isocrates the art of the sophists consisted in rendering 
 ra fisv fjiSyaXa fitK^a, m Ss (itxpa jisydXa. Cresoll. 
 Theatr. Ehet. I. c. 11. 
 
 ***) That Thought and Being are, so to say, antistro- 
 phio conceptions, that each plays over into, and reci- 
 procally produces the tfther is a fundamental conviction 
 of all the leading schools of Greek philosophy. — 
 
 This belief, though tacitly involved in numberless other 
 speculations of earlier and more recent date , is perhaps 
 nowhere so distinctly announced as in the well known 
 passage of Parmenides 93. sqq. 
 
 Tiarroi' S' iatl vosCv ts Kal ovi'eksi' ^'eti vorjfia' 
 
 ov yciQ avsv tovsovtos, sv coTcsipatiBfisvov tatlv, 
 
 ivqi^aeig to vosiv. 
 The original doctrine is however further amplified to the 
 
— 110 — 
 
 could not fail to be most withering to the 
 intellectual fertility, no less than to the honesty 
 
 extent of regarding Thought (to vostv) as the living 
 principle , and origin of Being, while Being on the other 
 hand is declared to be the living product, and perfected 
 reality of Thought (ev m Ttstpaxi(jyi,svov sariv). The one 
 stands related to the other very much as in Aristotle the 
 conception of the evSQysia does to that of the svtsXsxiia. 
 (See Biese Philosophie des Aristoteles I. p. 497 Note 4.) 
 Without going farther into the consideration of so in- 
 teresting and all comprehensive a question we may men- 
 tion that the simplest and most popular ground upon which 
 this doctrine is based is no doubt to be discovered in 
 the axiom common to all the earlier schools that like 
 can only be deeply -discerned in its essentials by a 
 sympathetic, and kindred like (similia similibus cognos- 
 cuntur). The Being of the thing known was believed 
 to be not simply reflected , but to attain its own proper 
 perfection , and to arrive at conscious existence in the 
 knowledge of a sentient subject. — Hence the conclusion 
 on the part of the Pythagoreans more especially that in 
 discovering a permanency in cognition (the absolutely ne. 
 cessary in number and its relations) they had reached a 
 permanent Being in Nature also (Brandis Rheinisches 
 Museum. II. p. 215.). The Idea was regarded as the foun- 
 tain alike of Thought and Being , constituting as it did 
 the ovToig'Ov (Clemens Alexandrin. p. 453. Potter) on the 
 one hand, and the ground of intelligibility on the other 
 (Philolaus ed. Boeckh p. 49). — Intimately connected with 
 this belief of the antients in the essential affinity of the 
 Ov and the Nosiv is their doctrine that SvvaiJbig and 
 
— Ill — 
 
 and moral vigour of the generation upon which 
 they exercised an influence so extensive and 
 so powerful. At the same time is hardly ne- 
 cessary to say that we thoroughly agree with 
 the general conclusion to which modern inves- 
 tigations on this subject seem gradually to 
 have arrived. The magnitude and importance 
 of the results produced by the Sophists upon 
 the mental developement of their own people, 
 and that of after times were unquestionably 
 such as it would not be easy to overestimate. 
 The healthful and vitally quickening influences 
 inherent in all knowledge and 'active minded- 
 ness' seem in their case finally to have triumph- 
 ed over the antisocial and disorganising ten- 
 dencies which entered so largely into the theory 
 of their system. Their invaluable services to 
 the cause of letters as the orginators of philo- 
 logy, criticism, and systematic erudition of 
 every kind, are too well known to require 
 mention in detail. Of far more importance, 
 doubtless, than any positive results attained 
 to in those subjects was the stimulative effect 
 
 ovai'a necessarily imply each other also (Plut. de Fato 
 p. 570. Iambi, vit. Pyth. §. 139. ovta S' ^Ssi Kal rorBjiacs 
 (6 JIv^ayoQag) va avla , «at dtSta , Kal jj,6va Sgaati^a.) 
 
— 112 — 
 
 produced by their eristic and disputatious mode 
 of instruction in every department of enquiry. 
 Above all the sophists have the high merit of 
 having called into existence a higher form of 
 educational culture, which rapidly widening 
 beyond its first narrow aims soon embraced 
 within the compass of its influence maiiy of 
 those sciences which still rank amongst the 
 most prominent subjects of professional study, 
 We have already seen that oratory both poH- 
 tical and forensic had received at their hands 
 the regularity and consistency of an art practised 
 in unison with ultimate principles of form, and 
 subject matter. The statesman, the advocate, and 
 the instructor by whom they were trained to 
 the duties of their respective callings constituted 
 in the states of antiquity the first rudimentary 
 form of that upper middle order in society whose 
 admitted equality with the noblest , rests, whol- 
 ly irrespective of wealth or external advan- 
 tages , upon the intelligence and refined liber- 
 ality of nature arising from the peculiar type 
 of education inseparably associated with the 
 existence of such a body. An even more im- 
 portant step towards the beginning of academic 
 life was taken in the public adoption of know- 
 ledge in some one of its varieties, no longer 
 
.— 113 — 
 
 as a mere dignified pastime, but as strenuous 
 occupation and means of livelihood, as the one 
 engrossing object of all the hopes, purposes, and 
 energies of existence. The Sophists thus dis- 
 covered for learning a solid ground of support, 
 and established the activity and aims of higher 
 and more spiritual being in the definite posi- 
 tion, and recognised importance of one of the 
 leading and -permanent avocations of social life. 
 The appearance of an entire class of individ- 
 uals who not only derived support, but rose 
 into fame, and princely affluence, simply by 
 means of the knowledge they were enabled to 
 convey, formed an epoch of the most momentous 
 nature in the history of Greece, and of mankind. 
 From the aptitude for a life of speculation pe- 
 culiar to a race unparalleled for ingenuity and 
 refinement of intellect, the calling of a teacher 
 of learniifg soon became the favorite and most 
 frequent pursuit of the entire people. The 
 vast numbers who in the later ages of the 
 empire devoted themselves to the profession of 
 letters afforded a subject for many ' sarcasms to 
 the satirical writers of the times. Lucian*) tells 
 us that it would be an easier matter for one 
 
 *) Bis accusatus p. 798. Hemsterhus. 
 
— 114 — 
 
 who was suddenly precipitated into a ship to 
 avoid coming in contact with timber than to es- 
 cape meeting a philosopher in a Greek city. Plu- 
 tarch, in his treatise de fraterno amore*), quotes 
 a saying of Aristarchus to the effect that, whereas 
 in former times there had been only seven sages 
 ((joqoKjTat) in all Greece, at the time at which 
 he wrote it would be difficult to find as many 
 individuals who were anything else. An un- 
 mistakeable evidence of the prominence and ex- 
 tent to which philosophers and Sophists figuied 
 in the eyes of the public is to be seen in the 
 fact of their furnishing one of the most familiar 
 characters, and standing subjects to the poets 
 of middle and later comedy. **) 
 
 §.11. The first fruits of the labours of the 
 Sophists , in so far as the progress of education 
 is concerned, are to be seen in the rise of dis- 
 tinct schools of Attic oratory. Eloquence had 
 been embraced and studied as a separate profes- 
 sion even when the sophistical movement was still 
 at its height. Antiphon***) and Lysias, both 
 of whom had gone forth from the instruction 
 
 *) p. 478. 
 
 **) See Meineoke Hist. Com. p. 288. 
 
 ***) Euhnk. opusc. De Antiphonte orat. Dietr. 
 
— 115 — 
 
 of the Sophists, while regularly practising as 
 advocates , laboured to discover the ratio of li- 
 terary excellence, and officiated as teachers of 
 eloquence in accordance with a systematic theory 
 of the art. Antiphon was regarded as the inven- 
 tor of the Attic type of forensic and political ora- 
 tory, and in Lysias, according ot an ancient cri- 
 tic*) that which seems most unstudied is in re- 
 ality most artistic. We thus perceive that the 
 higher education of the Greeks, although origin- 
 ating very much as among the Romans, and in 
 the middle ages also, in the personal inter- 
 course and oral instruction of eminent individuals, 
 is distinguished from the first by the presence 
 of that scientific and absolute character which, 
 in conjunction with strictly defined speciality 
 of application, constitutes the essential peculi- 
 arity of University instruction. 
 
 §. 12. The ancient conception of academic Rise of Attic 
 study, in which the former of these twin factors '' ' ''^°'' ^' 
 naturally predominated, received its final con- 
 summation from the vast and mighty reaction 
 called forth by the Sophists against the most 
 repulsive, and most dangerous tendencies of 
 
 *) Quoted by Gregor. Nazianz. Ep. 121. Kal to ars^vot 
 avtov XCav 8vtsx'''6v iariv. 
 
— 116 — 
 
 their system. The elements of a sound and 
 noble temper were as yet too deeply rooted iij 
 the Hellenic, and, above all, in the Athenian tem- 
 per, not to rest in rebellion against a scheme of 
 doctrine which insulted the stern search after 
 knowledge with the paltry contrivances of a jugg- 
 ling imposture , and prostituted the most godlike 
 faculties of our nature to objects the vilest and 
 most sinister.*) The vision of the Absolute 
 darkened for a time in the minds of men re- 
 vealed itself in Plato**) with a splendour and 
 certainty hitherto undreamt of, affording the 
 grandest refutation in point of fact to those 
 traffickers in lying and deceit whose refinements 
 in dishonesty all started from the notion that 
 Truth could not be known, or,, if known, could 
 not possibly be communicated. 
 Schools of §. 13. The schools of Plato and Isocrates at 
 
 Plalo andlso- . _ 
 
 craies. the period at which we have now arrived com- 
 pletely discharged the functions , of a University 
 in Athens. The most distinguished individuals 
 of the times with scarcely an exception received 
 their mental training in one, or other of these 
 
 *) Clemens Alexandr. Str. I. p. 339. Potter. 
 
 **) Compare the words of Lucian Nigrin. p. 57, 
 Hemsterhus. avxii t\ ^ikococpia, «ai Uldnav, xai. 
 'Alri&sCa. 
 
— 117 — 
 
 seminaries. Isocrates is described, and as- 
 suredly with good reason by later writers , as 
 occupying the chair of Sophistry in Athens 
 (^d'Qovov rmv A&rjvabcov)')*) and rising preemin- 
 ent from amidst a crowd of similar teachers. 
 His school, like that of Plato, embraced students 
 from the most distant Greek colonies**); and 
 many youths of noble , and even royal blood 
 are said to have belonged to their number.***) 
 As a professor of political science and rhetoric, 
 the instruction of Isocrates was attended not 
 only by those who , like Timotheus , Lycurgus, 
 Demosthenes, Hyperides , Aeschines &c. f), de- 
 sired to prepare themselves for a career of 
 practical efficiency, and distinction in the state, 
 but by the historians Theopompus and Ephorus, 
 and the tragedians Asclepiades and Theo- 
 
 *) Himerius orat. 32. §. 1 et 2. CresoU Theatr. 
 Ehetr. I. 2. 
 
 **) Cic. Brut! §. 8. 
 
 ***) e. g. Nicocles the son of Euagoras king of Cyprus, 
 t) Dionys. Hal. srspi 'laotiQ. §§. 2 et 5. Plut. X. 
 orat. vit. p. 836. Phot. Biblioth. cod. 260. Cic. de orat. 
 II. 22. Ecce tibi exortus est Isocrates, magister istorum 
 omnium, cujus e ludo, tanquam ex equo Trojano, meri 
 principes extiteruut. See also Euhnken Hist. crit. 
 orat. where the same circumstance is recorded of other 
 worthies of this j)eriod. 
 
— 118 — 
 
 dectes. If the example of Clearchus, the sub- 
 sequent tyrant of Heraclea*), may be regarded 
 as establishing the rule, the term of study oc- 
 cupied four years, and the fee for the entire 
 course amounted to a thousand drachmae.**) 
 Many of the above mentioned personages are 
 mentioned as having attended the teaching of 
 Plato likewise. Demosthenes more especially is 
 related upon good authority to have been an 
 earnest and attentive listener to the discourses 
 of the loftiest of thinkers.***) In the case of the 
 students of oratory such a course was no doubt 
 adopted with the view of giving greater ampli- 
 tude and depth of thought to the political instruc- 
 tion of Isocrates, and also from a desire to per- 
 fect themselves in acumen pf reasoning and 
 argumentative power. 
 
 §. 14. The beginnings of even the external 
 organisation of the University date from the 
 same period in the history of Athenian culture. 
 In their intimacy of relation to each other, and 
 the distinct , yet kindred manner in which they 
 
 *) Memnon tcsqI 'HQUKlsiag Muller Fr. Historicor. IL 
 p. 876. 
 
 **) Photius Bibl. p. 793. Hosch. 
 
 ***) Cic. Brutus. C. 31. Dial, de orat. §. 32. Plut. 
 X. orat. vit. p. 844. 
 
— 119 — 
 
 respectively laboured to accomplish the great 
 ends of educational discipline the schools of 
 Isocrates and Plato distinctly represent an ear- 
 lier form of the Faculties of modern academic 
 instruction. So marked and characteristically 
 important was the position they maintained that, 
 with the vitality inherent in every arrangement 
 resting upon something beyond mere individual 
 efficiency, they not only survived their original 
 founders, but, by means of a series of regularly 
 appointed successors {diadoxoi), gradually ripen- 
 ed into permanently established, and, so to 
 say, national institutions.*) 
 
 §. 15. The appearance of a philosophy un- ^rfsioiie. 
 equalled, then, or since, for sublimity of con- 
 templation, moral vitality, and rigorous acu- 
 teness of dialectic produced the usual lifegiving 
 effects of such a phenomenon upon knowledge 
 and education in all its forms. The learned and 
 philological subjects discussed by Hippias and 
 Prodicus grew under the hands of Aristotle into a 
 precision and substantiality which, when com- 
 pared with the capricious and popular character 
 they had hitherto maintained, presented a contrast 
 even more decided than that existing between 
 
 *) Dion. Halicarn. de struct, orat. §. 79. 
 
— 120 — 
 
 the ontology of Plato, and the shifting no- 
 tionalism of the Sophists. In Aristotle, more 
 especially, the science and educational culture 
 of the ancient world reached its highest con- 
 summation. Knowledge and instruction puriiied 
 and exalted above all anxiety respecting appea- 
 rances commenced in thoughtful observation, and 
 yearned upwards through steadfast toil and en- 
 ergy of intellectual effort towards the ideal trans- 
 formation*) (to aTto&avKTL^Eiv) , of humanity. 
 Discovery and advance, we are everywhere gi- 
 ven to understand, is the result, neither of a 
 priori nor a posteriori investigation exclusively, 
 but of a combination of both, or rather of a 
 prophetic foreboding and preoccupancy of ul- 
 timate principles brought into living union with 
 the most thorough mastery of individual par- 
 ticulars. **) 
 
 §.16. The admirably just and accurate concep- 
 tion of the norm of scientific progress brought to 
 light by Aristotle could not fail to give a pro- 
 digious impulse to that freer education in which, 
 as we have seen, knowledge is imparted dynami- 
 cally, and in the very act and process of its 
 
 *) Eth. Nicom. X, 7. 
 
 **) Brandis Aristoteles. p. 45. 
 
— 121 _ 
 
 own productivity. The general outlines marked 
 out in the instruction of the Sophists became 
 only the starting point for a mode of study 
 equally direct and practical, while rising im- 
 measurably in dignity, power, and amplitude, 
 in consequence its more' intimate conjunction 
 with the elements of higher speculation, and phi- 
 losophic certainty. No slight approximation to 
 the essentials of the principle of conveying the 
 widest and most elevated wisdom in and through 
 a liberal training for the forms of definite action 
 is observable in those learned institutions which 
 everywhere started into existence in the most 
 popvdous and flourishing cities of the vast em- 
 pire embraced by the language and civilization 
 of Greece under the successors of Alexander. 
 
 §.17. The Museum,*) or academic corporation Maseum of 
 
 Alexandria, 
 
 and schools 
 *) For an account of the Museum see Strabo XVII, 9. of Athens. 
 
 Fr. Gronov. De Museo Alexandriuo Thesaur. Antiq. Gr. 
 VIII, 2741—60. and L. Neocor. d. M. A. ib. 2767—78. 
 The building was situated in the quarter of Alexandria 
 called the Brychion, and formed together with the library 
 a part of the Royal Palace. That these appointments 
 possessed something of the snug and luxurious character 
 attaching to collegiate appointments in England may be 
 concluded from the words of Timon , the sceptic and sil- 
 lograph (Athenaeus I, 41.), where he describes the mem- 
 bers of this society as ' fed in the fattening cage of the 
 
— 122 — 
 
 of Alexandria, which with its Rector (iSQSvg) *), 
 its dining hall {6v00itiov), cloisters (e'lf^pa), and 
 grounds (jjteQiaatog), presents so singular acoun- 
 
 Muses.' {BoBKOvxai, Movascov iv xaXaQco.) The Museum 
 was thoroughly regarded in the light of an important 
 institution of the state, and after the subjugation of 
 Egypt by the Romans continued to be maintained by 
 the Emperors. 
 
 Poets also , as well as scholars and men of science, 
 were attached to the KVKlog , or society of the Mu- 
 seum , though probably more as a species of literary 
 pensioners than as constituting a part of the regular 
 staff of the institution. — In Boeckh (Corpus Inscr. Gr. 
 Pars XXIX. Sect. III. 47. 48.) an '0(i,rjQiv,6g irotTjiiys h 
 Movasiov is mentioned. Under the later Emperors per- 
 sons who did not reside in Alexandria were also appointed 
 members. Grafenhahn G. d. CI. Litt. III. p. 51. Zumpt 
 uber den Bestand der philosoph. Schulen in Athen. p. 20, 
 Anm. 4. — 
 
 Certain learned festivals were regularly celebrated in 
 the Museum, and bore apparently some analogy to the 
 Commemorations of the English Uniyersities. It was on 
 some annually recurring occasion of this kind that the 
 writings of the Emperor Claudius were publicly read. 
 Suet. vit. Claud, c. 42. Celebrations of this nature seem, 
 indeed, not to have been unusual in the academic life of 
 the ancients. Even the sniSsi^sLg of the Sophists were 
 succeeded by a half holiday. See Liban. nqog rag 
 Tov naiSaycoyov piaatprjfiiag p. 281. 
 
 *) So called from the fact that this official was at 
 the same time the priest, either of Apollo and the Muses, 
 
— 123 — 
 
 • 
 terpart to the external forms of English collegiate 
 
 life, was entirely organised in accordance with a 
 system of professorial Faculties. The teachers of 
 this institution, and of course the students also, 
 were distributed amongst the several departments 
 of Philosophy Medicine and Philology, a classi- 
 fication almost literally corresponding with the 
 traditional arrangements of modem Universities, 
 That this form and principle of higher educa- 
 tion was at all peculiar to the University of the 
 Ptolemies, except in so far as it exhibited the 
 most complete, and richly furnished institution 
 of the kind with which the world was then ac- 
 quainted, is the more improbable from the fact 
 that in all other respects, and especially in 
 the social and collegiate arrangements just re- 
 ferred to, the Museum of Alexandria was, we 
 find, a perfect copy of the principal schools in 
 
 or of the contiguous •mple of Serapis. It affords some 
 confirmation to the latter view of the suhject that the 
 vsmKOQOs of the temple of Serapis is expressly mentioned 
 in inscriptions as a member of this association (rdv bv 
 Movaeiat aix&b^ivcov azsXav Boeckh Corpus Inscr. XXIX. 
 §. 3. No. 4724.). The Eector of the Museum was pro- 
 bably invested with this sacerdotal office very much in 
 the same way as deaneries, and other ecclesiastical dig- 
 nities are at present attached to college appointments 
 in England; and possibly also for the pui-pose of sur- 
 
— 124 — 
 
 Athens. We have it on the clearest evidence 
 that the Peripatetics and philosophers of the 
 Academy had gradually assumed the consistency 
 of distinctly organised and corporate bodies. 
 The will of Theophrastes preserved in Diogenes 
 Laertius*) bequeathes to the sect over which 
 he presided the buildings in which he taught 
 {(iov0Eiov), (also called diaxQi^ri), with adjacent 
 grounds (tov xiJTtov xkI rov TCEQiTtatov), The 
 former is described as furnished with a library, 
 maps &c. and adorned, like the chapel (CeQov) 
 of the society, with a statue of the founderof the 
 sect, and those of certain tutelary divinities.**) 
 The individuals attached to each schools in the 
 capacity of teachers and disciples were in the 
 
 rounding him with a, certain nimbus of sanctity in the 
 eyes of the Orientals. 
 
 *) V. 51. sqq. 
 
 **) Those doubtless of Apolldi| the Muses and the 
 Graces , which by a custom derived apparently , like 
 many other peculiarities of the academic life of the 
 ancients , from the Pythagoreans, formed a regular part 
 of the furniture of the lecture rooms of philosophers and 
 Sophists. The circumstance that the number of tutelary 
 divinities was thus not unfrequently larger than that of 
 the audience is often alluded to in the bou mots and 
 epigrams of antiquity. See Jacobs Anthol. III. p. 
 279. 602. 
 
— 125 — 
 
 practice of dining together*) 'on certain regular 
 and stated occasions, a part of the arrangements 
 of the sect which Aristotle considered of so much 
 importance as himself to draw up a code of "laws 
 
 *) The avvodoi, avfinoaia and avaai'tia of the phi- 
 losophers like those politically established in certain 
 states of Greece arose out of the conception of the 
 most perfect and entire intimacy of friendship amongst 
 the individuals of whom they were composed. In the 
 words of Plutarch, such an association was regarded 
 as a Siccycoy^ sCs <pMav vno ;^a9tT0s riXsvzmaa. It 
 was designed at once to ratify , and express a degree 
 of attachment which had ripened into a union like 
 that of actual brotherhood. Every such society was 
 founded upon a supposed relationship of its .various 
 members; and like the family circle composed a, species 
 of little state (MuUers Dorians II. p. 237.) Associa- 
 tions of this nature particularly abounded in Thebes, 
 and in this circumstance we may very possibly recognise 
 a trace of the Pythagorean influences which, we know, 
 were at all times particularly powerful in that city. 
 (See Polyb. Fr. libri XX. c. 6. 6. cited by Zumpt fiber 
 den Bestand der philosoph. Schulen in Athen p. 15.) 
 So powerful was this striving after the strictest and 
 closest forms of social life in the ancient schools of 
 philosophy that attempts were made to cement their 
 union with each other by ties and interests of a still 
 stronger, more permanent, and more unmistakeably domes- 
 tic nature. Aristotle and Epicurus in their wills both 
 expressed a desire that their daughters, and those who 
 held in their affections an equivalent position, should be 
 
— 126 — 
 
 given in marriage to one of the academic fraternity, 
 Diogen. Laert. V. 9. X. 17. 
 
 The ancient Greeks seem not to have yielded to the 
 modern English in their partiality for the principle of 
 public dinners. Every regularly recurring event of natio- 
 nal importance, every association for the accomplishment 
 of some worthy common end warmed into a tone of kindly 
 good fellowship {<pi}.o<pqoavvrj), and easy familiarity, by 
 being frequently commemorated in small assemblages of a 
 convivial description. Athenaeus (Deipnosoph. V, 2.) enu- 
 merates whole classes of public avimoBia (gjuifrtxa, Srj- 
 (lotLna, &Caaoi, tpqaxQiiid, o^yscoj/ma) which are described 
 as regularly instituted by their wisest legislators and 
 statesmen. The philosophers one and all recognised this 
 national usage as furnishing a means for the accom- 
 plishment of the noblest and most exalted ends, and the 
 evaehia were adopted in every variety of forms as one 
 of the most important and effective elements of their 
 system of academic education. The evy^noeia referred 
 to a little farther on in the text seem to have been 
 composed of the mass of the students , whose number of 
 course was too great to permit of their constantly din- 
 ing with each other. The Bvaai'ria on the other hand seem 
 to have been embraced only the seniors, and so to say 
 the graduates of the school (oi avficpiXdaotpovvtsSjOvaxoXa- 
 ^ovTsg. Pint, symposiac. p. 677.), who acted as assistants, 
 and as a species of deliberative assembly in concert with 
 the chief of the sect. The discussions which took place on 
 these occasions exhibited philosophy in its lighter, gayer, 
 more genial, and more versatile moods (Plutarch sym- 
 posiac. I. pp.563. 614.). Questions were proposed, not 
 of a knotty and abstruse nature, but such as gave play 
 to ingenuity, wit, and high bred elegance of mind. — 
 
— 127 — 
 
 It was to one of those parties that the compliment ad- 
 dressed by Timotheus to Plato ' vestrae coenae non solum 
 in praesentia, sed etiam postero die jucundae sunt' (Cic. 
 Tusc. V. 100. Plut. symposiac. init.) had reference. The 
 significance of the - symposia, as a prominent part of the 
 institutions designed to promote the moral discipline of 
 the ancient schools , may be gathered from the number 
 of writings in which a similar artistic form has been 
 selected as the most suitable vehicle for the com- 
 munication of the highest and most vitally momentous 
 doctrines of philosophy (Plutarch symposiac. I. p. 612.) 
 The minor regulations observed in these meetings prob- 
 ably differed with each of the leading philosophical sects. 
 Some particulars of the code of rules adhered to by the 
 Peripatetics on certain occasions of this kind are alluded 
 to in Athenaeus Deipuosoph. XII. p. 547. We are there 
 informed that the individual appointed to superintend 
 the moral conduct of the younger members of the sect 
 remained in office for the space of one month, and when 
 about to resign his authority into the bands of his suc- 
 cessor invited those over whom he had presided to a 
 banquet to which nine obols were contributed by each 
 of the guests. Strangers and older members of the 
 school were not nnfrequently entertained on these oc- 
 casions. From the accounts given by Athenaeus and Au- 
 lus Gellius the repast seems to have been of the most 
 simple and frugal description (Noct. Att. XII. 8. Athen. 
 Deipuos. X. 14.). Under Lycon however (Athen. XII. 
 69.) it became so preposterously extravagant and lu- 
 xurious as qnite to defeat the purposes of such an insti- 
 tution, the sum contributed not sufficing to provide even 
 perfumes and garlands for the banquet. With Mene- 
 demus the opposite extreme prevailed to such a, degree 
 
— 128 — 
 
 that it became necessary for the company to take the 
 precaution of dining before hand (Diog. Laert. II. 15.). 
 This arrangement, it need hardly be mentioned, was re- 
 ceived with intense disgust on the part of the public 
 (xcxTScpQOvtiro Kviov v.al Xrj^og vtco rav Eqat^iimv 
 
 Three several associations of this nature were in exis- 
 tence amongst the Stoics. The Antipatristae, Diogenistae, 
 and Panaetiastae (Ath^. V. 2. p. 146.) , so called from 
 the successive masters of the school, Antipater of Tarsus, 
 Diogenes of Babylon, and Panaetius of Khodes. (Zumpt 
 Tiber den Bestand der philosoph. Schulen in Athen p. 15.). 
 At the Halcyonea , a feast in memory of Halcyoneus, 
 son of Antigonus Gonatas , for which funds were sup- 
 plied by that monarch, philosophers of all sects met 
 together. The duty of entertaining the company seems 
 to have been annually taken • in turn by the heads of 
 each. (Diogen. Laert. IV. 41, and V. 68. quoted by 
 Zumpt liber den B. der ph. Sch. in Athen p. 16.) 
 
 The younger members of the various schools were, as 
 before mentioned , frequently invited to assemblies of 
 this description at the house of the head of the sect 
 (Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. XVII. 8.). Much of course here 
 depended upon the social gifts and graces of the aca- 
 demic Amphitryon , and something likewise upon the 
 refinement and spiritualmindedness of his guests. The 
 philosopher Menedemus was in the habit of asking two 
 or three of the class to dinner, and inviting the rest for 
 the evening. Wary and experienced seniors, it is said, 
 contrived to hang about the door, and obtain informa- 
 tion frOm the first comers with reference to the nature 
 of the repast which awaited them , incontinently disap- 
 pearing from the scene, unless undoubted, and most trust- 
 
— 129 — 
 
 woTthy assurances of a hot substantial supper were ob- 
 tained. Athen. Beipn. X. 15. 
 
 Similar associations existed to a. very considerable 
 extent amongst the younger portion of the various philoso- 
 phic sects (convivia juvenum). They appearto have borne 
 a much greater resemblance to the Commerschen and 
 Burschenschaften of German students at the present day 
 than to the regular hall dinners of English Universities. 
 Aulus Gellius tells us that the young Romans who studied 
 the same subjects , and attended the same instructors in 
 Athens (qui Eomani in Graeciam veneramus , quique 
 easdem auditiones eosdemque doctores colebamus) formed 
 a sort of club, and regularly dined together once a 
 week (hebdomadibus lunae Noct. Att. XVIII. 4.) , and 
 on feast days. Here the office of aviiaoaia^x'^S went 
 tirough the whole body in rotation, questions of a 
 lighter nature were discussed, prizes given, fines imposed, 
 and the sum thus collected served in part to defray the 
 expences of the next coenacula (XVIII. 13.) 
 
 No ancient writer furnishes so distinct, and at the 
 same time so joyous and genial a picture of the ancient 
 academic life of Athens as the one we have just refer- 
 red to. The simple and innocent enjoyments of his 
 University period seems in the case of Aulus GeUius to 
 haye given a lasting tinge to the whole of the after exis- 
 tence of the man. He descants with infinite delight upon 
 the pleasant evening parties at the house of Taurus (Noct. 
 Att. XVn. 8.), with his lively and quick witted Athenian 
 famulus, on the tone of modesty and cheerful enjoyment 
 (hilare et modestum) , which gave relish to the simple 
 repast , and the sailing parties on the Aegean between 
 Athens and Aegina during deliciously soft summer even- 
 
 9 
 
— 130 — 
 
 (v6[ioi eviinouxd),*) for its better regulation. 
 Theophrastus, we are informed by Athenaeus, 
 expressly provided for the maintenance of this 
 custom by means of a pecuniary bequest.**) 
 The original property of the Academic school 
 had, we are told by Photius,***) been aug- 
 mented more than three hundred fold by suc- 
 cessive benefactions. The disciples of Polemo 
 are said to have established their abode in the 
 
 ings in the companionsliip of youthful friends and associa- 
 tes. (Nox fuit et Clemens mare, et anni aestas coelumque 
 liquide sereuum. Sedebamus ergo in puppi universi, et 
 lucentia sidera considerabamns.) 
 
 The eveeCtiov of Plato , we are told , consisted of 
 twenty eight (Athenaeus Deipnosoph. I. 7.). That of the 
 Perijiatetics , if we may judge from the wiUs of Theo- 
 phrastus , Strato , and Lycon , appears at first to have 
 comprised only ten members. Not only buildings, but 
 furniture and plate (crpoifiaro! xai. noTi^qia) are often 
 mentioned as bequeathed to the societies thus constituted 
 (Diog. Laert. V. 2—3. 4. 9.). 
 
 *) Kal xoig (piXoaocpois Ss fjv lm[iei.£s evvdyovBi tods 
 vsovg fist' avTcSv sipog tlvcc rszayiiBvov vofiov sv(a%fi- 
 a&ai- Tov yovv SsvoKQarovg iv 'AyiaSri[i,i(f Mai %dUv 
 'AQiaxoteXovg aviiTtozLKoi rivsg rjaav vofioi. Athen. Deip- 
 uos. V. 2. p. 186. 
 
 **) KUtsXiTcs Ss &e6ipQaarog ilg trjv zoiavzrjV evvo- 
 dov XQT^/iaza. Athen. Deipnos. V. p. 186. 
 
 ***) Biblioth. p. 565. Hoesch. See also Snid. s. v. 
 lUdzav. 
 
— 131 — 
 
 neighbourhood of the head of the school, *) and 
 the grounds of the Academy were laid out at 
 the expense of Attains king of Pergamus. **) In 
 obedience to the same general tendency Epicurus 
 made over a house and grounds to his followers, 
 and, as an additional means of strengthening 
 the sense of the bond of union and true kindred- 
 ship which held them together, ordered by 
 will a sum of money to be invested suf- 
 
 *) Diog. Laert. IV. 35. An even closer union between 
 the professor and his class seems to have prevailed at 
 Alexandria , where Gnipho is said by Suetonius (illustr. 
 gram. u. 7.) to have belonged to the contabernuim of 
 Dionysius Scythobrachion. Persaeus, the friend and 
 disciple of Zeno, is in a, similar manner said to have 
 lived in the same house with his master. Apollonius 
 Rhodius is also mentioned as (A then. Deipn.XII. 86.) hav- 
 ing resided on the same familiar footing with Callimachus, 
 and Galen (de libr. propr. I. XIX (K) p. 43.) relates that 
 when sent by his father to study under Chrysippus he 
 took up his abode along with the philosopher. See 
 Lehrs stud. Aristarchi. p. 16. Note. The sons of the 
 highest Roman nobility were occasionally boarded in the 
 houses of academic teachers. Thus Augustus when 
 studying at Apollonia resided in the family of the phi- 
 losopher Areus (Suetou. vit. Octavian. c. 89.). That 
 no such usage ordinarily existed in the later University 
 life of the Greeks is evident from Liban. Ep. 393. 
 
 **) Alluded to by Horace Ep. II. 45. Inter silvas 
 Academi quaerere verum. 
 
 9* 
 
— 132 — 
 
 ficient in amount to defray the expences of a 
 banquet to his disciples on the twentieth of 
 each month (sxaetov (iijvog rote eixaffiv) *), and 
 also on the anniversary of his birth. **) In a 
 manner precisely similar, as we learn from 
 Plutarch***), the birthday of Plato was an- 
 nually celebrated by his admirers. Of the ex- 
 treme importance attached in Athens to every- 
 thing which could contribute to give definite 
 form, and visible reality to the academic body 
 we have a remarkable instance in the cor- 
 respondence of Cicero. In one of his Epistolae 
 ad Familiares f) he requests Memmius on behalf 
 of Patro, the existing head of the Epicurean 
 sect, to waive the right already conceded by 
 the Areopagus of taking possession of the house 
 of Epicurus. Patro tenaciously insisted upon the 
 duty incumbent upon him, as didSoxog, of preser- 
 ving for the society the original seat of the 
 school (honorem, officium, testamentorum , jus, 
 Epicuri auctoritatem, Phaedri obtestationem, se- 
 
 *) Hence the term Icadistae popularly given to the 
 Epicureans. Aegid. Menag. ad Dlog. Laert. X. 18. 
 
 **) Diog. Laert. X. 10. 17. sqq. 
 
 ***) Symposiac. p. 715. -- 
 
 t) XIII. 1. 
 
— 133 — 
 
 dem, domicilium , vestigia summorum hominum 
 sibi tuenda esse dicit.) 
 
 §. 18. Any dissimilarity which existed be- 
 tween Athens and Alexandria arose doubtless 
 from the fact tha,t the latter did not exhibit the 
 anomalies and excrescencies of successive ex- 
 periments, but only came into existence at a 
 time when the results of long experience had * 
 caused the nature of these institutions to be 
 comparatively well understood. A farther dif- 
 ference is known to have been occasioned by 
 the prominence assigned to peculiar subjects of 
 study in each ■ — a circumstance perfectly analo- 
 gous with what we shall hereafter have occa- 
 sion to notice in many of the most famous 
 Universities of later times. In the three cen- 
 turies which intervened between Alexander and 
 Augustus Athens was preeminently the training 
 school for philosophy, Rhodes, on the other hand, 
 as the only Greek state of political importance in 
 which a career of grand and dignified activity 
 was open for the orator, distinguished itself in 
 the study of eloquence, while Alexadria rested its 
 fame chiefly on the excellence of its instruction 
 in Philology and Medicine.*) At a subsequent 
 
 *) Grafenhahn Gesch. der Class. Philol. im Alterthum. 
 I. p. 352. C. G. Zumpt, fiber den Bestand dei- philosoph. 
 
134 — 
 
 period the last mentioned University obtained 
 ever greater celebrity as having given birth to a 
 school of philosophers who endeavoured to com- 
 bine into a species of theosophic doctrine the 
 mental science of Europe with the more spir- 
 itual minded and profoundly human rehgions 
 
 Schulen zu Athen und die Succession der ScholarcliBB, 
 pag. 4. 
 
 In consequence of this almost exclusive celebrity in 
 one department of knowledge we find that in later ages 
 it was a frequent practice to supplement the instrnction 
 of one University by that of another. <xregory of Na- 
 zianz studied first at Caesarea, then at Alexandria and 
 finally at Athens. St. Basil visited as a student Caesa- 
 rea , Constantinople , and Athens in succession. Gregor. 
 Nazianz. orat. XX. p. 35. 
 
 A medical degree of Alexandria was regarded as a 
 passport to professional success. Pro omni experimeiito 
 sufficiat medico ad commendandam artis auctoritatem si 
 Alexandriae se dixerit eruditum. Ammiau. Marcell. 22. 16. 
 cited hy C. Neocori Diatr. de Museo Alexandrine. Anat- 
 omy, Surgery, Botany, and Pathology were cultivated at 
 Alexandria with peculiar success. Bernhardy Grundr. 
 der Gr. Litt. I. p. 383. Respecting the important posi- 
 tion which family physicians held in the higher circles 
 at Eome during the empire see in the same work I. 
 p. 395. Persons of this class were often desribed as 
 invested with the highest dignities of state. A certafc 
 Arcadius is addressed by Himerius (orat. 33.) as 'A^ikr 
 Tgog K«i K6[irjg (i. e. Comes sacri Palatii.) 
 
100 ^ 
 
 of the East. In the third century Alexandria 
 became conspicuous as the headquarters of 
 the Eclectics and Neo-Platonists. Ammonius 
 Saccas, the preceptor of Origen, Porphyrins, Po- 
 lemon, Plotinus, and many others scarcely in- 
 ferior in renown are mentioned as having taught 
 in its schools. *) 
 
 §.19. Many of those who attended the teaching 
 of these institutions inquestionably proposed to 
 themselves no further end than the finished 
 completion of a liberal education. At a some- 
 what later period Marcus Cicero, Bibulus, Varus, 
 Messalla, Horace, Ovid &c. frequented the schools 
 of Athens very much in the same manner as 
 men of fortune at the present day attend the 
 Universities with the view of obtaining a ge- 
 neral preparation for political and literary life. 
 This however, then as now, can only have been 
 the case with a very small fraction of the aca- 
 
 *) Originating with Ammonius in Alexandria as a spe- 
 cies of mystical doctrine Neo-platonism was propagated 
 by Plotinus in Rome, maintained in Italy by the labours 
 of Amelius and Porphyrins, and finally transplanted into 
 Syria by Jambliehus. Zumpt uber den Bestand der phi- 
 losoph. Schul. zu Athen. Bernhardy Grundriss der Gr. 
 Litt. I. pp. 401 and 429. 
 
— 136 — 
 
 demic population. When we read that no less 
 than two thousand students attended the lectures 
 of Theophrastus alone, and that the number 
 of those who collected around this philosopher 
 and other teachers of suspected political hon- 
 /csty*) became so formidable that decrees were 
 passed forbidding any one to exercise such an 
 office without a special licence from the senate 
 and demos **) we cannot but conclude that the 
 great majority was composed of the youth of 
 the middle class, in combination with choicer 
 specimens of the lower orders. Persons be- 
 longing to these walks in life , however ambi- 
 tious of deriving benefit from the refining 
 influences of University education, would have 
 been utterly unable to afford the time and money 
 necessary for such an object, had there not been 
 the prospect of an adequate material compen- 
 sation, in the shape of professionally available 
 knowledge. This inference derives greater 
 
 *) Alexid. 'I^TCsvs Meinecke Fr. com. III. p. 42. 
 Diog. Laert. V. 2. 37. Niebnhr Vorles. iiber alte Gesch. 
 III. p. 118. Anm. 2. 
 
 **) The philosophers of this period were generally 
 friendly to absolutism, or at all events hostile to demo- 
 cracy. See Zumpt, iiber den Bestaud der philosoph. Sch. 
 zu Athen p. 17. Anm. 3. 
 
— 137 — 
 
 probability when we consider the very great 
 number of similar institutions which flourished 
 at the same period, each, of course, the gather- 
 ing point of a considerablo body of academic 
 students. Besides schools of high eminence in 
 Mytilene, Ephesus, Smyrna, 'Sidon*) etc., we read 
 that Apollonia**) enjoyed so high a reputation 
 for eloquence and political science as to be en- 
 trusted with the education of the heir-apparent 
 of the Roman Empire. Antioch was noted tot 
 a Museum modelled after that of the Egyptian- 
 metropolis ***) , and Tarsus boasted of gymnasia 
 and a University which Strabo does not hesitate to 
 describe as more than rivalling those of Athens 
 and Alexandria.!) There can be little doubt 
 that the philosophers j rhetoricians, and gram- 
 marians who swarmed in the princely retinues 
 of the great Roman aristocracy f f ) , and whose 
 
 *) Grafenhahn Gesch. der Class. Litt. I. pp. 334. 
 408. Respecting the number of higher schools in Asia 
 see also Bernhardy Grundr. der Gr. Litt. I. p. 398. 
 **) Sueton. vit. Octav. o. 8. 
 ***) Grafenhahn Gesch. der Class. Litt. I. p. 409. 
 f) Geogr. XrV. p. 960. ma^' vniq^s^XruiSvag zed 'A9^- 
 5/0(5 "at 'Als^avd^siav v.al si' xiva akXov zonov Svvazov 
 siitetv. 
 
 ff) A terrible picture of the inhuman treatment to 
 which many of this class were subjected in Rome is 
 
— 138 — 
 
 schools abounded in all the most wealthy and 
 populous cities of the empire east and west, 
 were prepared for their several callings in some 
 one or other of these institutions. Strabo tells 
 us that Rome was overrun with Alexandrian 
 and Syrian grammarians,*) and Juvenal des- 
 cribes one of the Quirites of the ancient stamp as 
 emigrating in sheer disgust from a city which 
 from these causes had become thoroughly and 
 utterly Greek.**) That external inducements 
 were held out amply sufficient to prevail upon 
 poor and ambitious men to qualify themselves 
 at some cost for vocations of this description 
 is evident from the wealth to which, as we are 
 
 given in Lucian de Mercede oondnctis (see especially 
 p. 702 sqq.).. The author admits however that the 
 hardships of their lot were often richly deserved (p. 700.), 
 and that the humiliations and indignities to which men 
 of learning were necessarily exposed when depending 
 for existence upon private individuals could not occur in 
 the case of those who were employed by the state (p. 
 719.) That the conversation of men of this class was 
 often highly prized , and they themselves treated with the 
 most delicate and deferential courtesy is evident from 
 the biographies of all the nobler Romans. Plut. vit. Cat. 
 pp. 224. 229. 275. 
 
 *) Geogr. XV. p. 962. 
 **) Sat. III. 1. 60. 
 
— Ida — 
 
 told , many of them rose from' extreme indigence 
 and obscurity. Suetonius in the still extant 
 fragment of his essay de claris rhetoribus , after 
 alluding to the immense number of professores 
 and doctores met with in Rome, draws attention 
 to the frequency with which individuals who 
 had distinguished as teachers of rhetoric had 
 been elevated into the senate , and advanced to 
 the highest dignities of the state.*) That the 
 profession of a philologist was occasionally at 
 least well remunerated is evident from the 
 facts recorded by the same author in his work 
 de Claris grammaticis.**) He there mentions 
 that there were at one time upwards of twenty 
 well attended schools devoted to this subject 
 at Rome , and that one fortunate individual Q. 
 Remmius Palaemon derived four hundred ses- 
 terces, or considerably above three thousand a 
 year, from instruction in philology alone. Julius 
 Caesar conferred the citizenship , together with 
 large bounties in money, and immunity from pu- 
 blic burthens,***) on distinguished rhetoricians 
 
 *) Innumerable instances are furnished in the bio- 
 graphies of later sophists. 
 **) §. 3. 
 ***) 'AzsXsia. This privilege was frequently conferred 
 upon philosophers and men of learning in the Greek 
 
— 140 — 
 
 and philologists, in order to encourage their pre- 
 sence at Rome.*) The numerous instances in 
 which distinguished grammarians were advanced 
 to offices of greater dignity and leisure fur- 
 nished probably even a more powerful incite- 
 ment to those who were desirous of embracing 
 erudition as a profession. Augustus selected 
 an individual of this class, Verrius Flaccus, as 
 the private tutor of his grandchildren, **) 
 and the practice introduced of assigning the 
 superintendance of public libraries to profes- 
 sional philologists was faithfully adhered to 
 under the later Roman Emperors.***) 
 
 §. 20. That individuals who thus enjoyed an in- 
 come not greatly below the revenues of an Eng- 
 lish Bishopric were not, asthe name might lead 
 us to imagine , . employed in teaching the acci- 
 dents of grammar, but possessed considerable 
 
 states. See Diog. L. vit. Pyrrhon. c. 5. An edict of 
 Cpnstantine quoted by Bernhardy Gr. der Gr. Litt. ex- 
 tends the enjoyment of this exemption to the wives and 
 families of deceased professors. Uxores etiam et filios 
 eorum ab omul functione , et ab omnibus mnneribus pu- 
 blicis vacare praecepimus. 
 *) Sueton. vit. Caes. c. 42. 
 **) Sueton. de cl, Gr. c. 17. 
 ***) Sueton. de cl. Gramm. c. c. 20. 21. 
 
— 141 — 
 
 pretensions to that higher and more thoughtful 
 character of the scholar which it has been re- 
 served for modern Europe to exhibit in perfec- 
 tion, is not only in itself highly probable, but 
 supported by the distinctest and most unim- 
 peachable evidence. Seneca tells us that history 
 was amongst the subjects professed by gram- 
 marians, and Cicero regards the most thorough 
 and refined perception of all that pertains to 
 the spirit and individuality of the author as 
 an indispensable requisite in those who under- 
 take to give instruction in this subject.*) Au- 
 lus Gellius abounds in instances where questions 
 of aesthetic criticism are discussed by gramma- 
 rians,**) and Suetonius asserts that rhetoric, or 
 the practical application of the principles of 
 literary excellence was also expected from such 
 individuals. — Victorinus, quoted by Graefen- 
 hahn in his history of classical literature in 
 the times of antiquity***) , sums up the difi'erent 
 heads of this subject as consisting of lectio, 
 or correctness of expression, enarratio, or ex- 
 
 *) Quoted by Passow Leben und Zeitalter von 
 Horaz p. 8. Anm. 13. 
 
 **) Noct. Att. 11. 6. IX. 9. 10. 
 ***) III. p. 27. 
 
— 142 — 
 
 position of the meaning of the author, emen- 
 datio, or criticism of the text, and aestimatio, 
 or an estimate of the artistic character of the 
 work.*) Even the name 'philologus' began 
 to be assumed in token of the varied, and 
 scientific character of the attainments of the 
 professional grammarian. The title however 
 never seems to have become frequent amongst 
 the Romans, with whom such individuals were 
 more commonly known as literati, docti, eruditi, 
 or professores.**) 
 
 §. 21. The grammatici appear to have occupied 
 a position very closely analogous to that of the 
 teachers of collegiate schools in England, and 
 the gymnasial professors in Germany. In ac- 
 cordance with this view of their character we 
 find them universally described amongst ancient 
 writers as holding a rank intermediate between 
 the elementary teachers, and the rhetorician, or 
 academic professor of literature. ***) They are 
 
 *) See also Zonoras Lex. rpKftfwxTtKj; • tj s)i,nu^la 
 rav naqa TionjTceig t£ "«' avyyqacpsvai.v mg sntxonoXv 
 i-syojisvov. Higher scholarship and criticism was known 
 araongst the Greeks as the ypafiftKTiKjj [isydXrj , or ivts- 
 Xris Grafenh. Gesch. der class. Phil. I. p. 343. 
 **J Grafenh. Gesch. der class. Phil. IV. p. 53. 
 ***) GrJifenhahn Gesch. der class. Litt. IV. 53. 
 
nvariably recognised as a liberally educated 
 ;lass of men, and their office is rarely spoken 
 )f otherwise than with the respect and deference 
 tccorded of right to a learned profession. In this 
 •aspect the grammatici Ipresent an utter contrast 
 ;o the ludimagistri (yQccjiiiatiStai*) , or teachers 
 ->i the yQttfiiiatixri fiixQ«), whose condition 
 md social status seems to have heen even more 
 jheerless and unfortunate than that of our own 
 elementary and parish schoolmasters. Persons 
 )f this class taught in the market place and 
 mder awnings (pergulae).**) The story, of 
 Virginia shows that girls also attended schools 
 It an early period of antiquity. ***) They were 
 most probably of the same rudimentary des- 
 cription, though we learn from Martial t) that 
 a later aera grown up maidens were instructed 
 in the higher branches of elegant literature. The 
 vocation of the yQanfiKtMol consisted in giving 
 finish and completion to that propaedeutic course 
 of study which the Greeks denoted as the iy- 
 
 *) Zonaras. rqafijiaTLafijg • 6 xa nQwta aroixsta Si- 
 Sdanav. Compare Snid. s. v. and Eittershus. ad P orphyr. 
 p. 7a. 
 
 **) Grafenhahn Gesch. der class. Phil. IV. p. 26. 
 ***) Perizon. ad Aeliau. III. 21. 
 t) Epigr. VIII. 3. XI. 4. 
 
xvxha (i,a9")]^ara, and which in the later ages 
 of the Roman empire was known under the 
 name of the Trivium and Quadrivium. Pas, 
 sages in. proof of this assertion are perpetually 
 met with in all ancient writers who touch upon 
 the subject of education. We will at present 
 mierely refer to Photius Biblioth., p. 563 extr. 
 Hoesch., where Pamprepius, the grammarian, is 
 described as teaching the nQoaaidsCa, in so far 
 as grammar and poetry were concerned. In 
 the same manner Clemens Alexandrinus desr 
 cribes the iyxvxkiu as simply preparatory in 
 their nature.*) 
 
 §. 22. Before possing from this portiou of 
 the subject it may not be without interest to 
 remark that Quinctilian, one of the ablest and 
 most sagacious writers who has ever treated 
 of education, strenuously and pointedly insists 
 that the study of Greek should precede that of 
 Latin. **) Even during the more cultivated 
 
 *) See also Suid. s. ilafutgejitog and 'Sl^iysvrig. 
 **) Institut. orat. I, 1, 12. A sermone Graeco puerum 
 incipere malo, quia Latinus, qui pluribus in usu est, 
 vel nobis nolentibus se praebest, simul quia disciplinis 
 quoque Graecis prius instituendus est, unde et nostrae 
 fluxerunt. Quoted by Grafenhahn Geach. der class. Phi- 
 lol. IV. p. 29. 
 
periods of the republic ■ — at least in that aera 
 which Cicero describes as the golden age of 
 Latin eloquence — all higher and more liberal 
 minded instruction in the one language was 
 held to be concomitant, and, in a manner synony.- 
 mous with a similar acquaintance with the other. 
 . The most profound and enlightened apprecia- 
 tion of the peculiar excellencies of ihe national 
 literature was thought to be alone attainable 
 when the study of Roman authors was blended 
 in a perfectly balanced and indissoluble union 
 with a knowledge of the most admirable pro- 
 ductions of those of Greece. *) 
 
 §. 23. With the more clearly defined and strictT 
 ly systematic arrangement which the different 
 portions of the educational cursus began to 
 assume shortly after the age of Aristotle we 
 find that the subjects of highest mental train- 
 ing, when considered soniewhatin the abstract, 
 and with reference to their general character 
 and tendency, are all embraced under the com- 
 mon name of philosophy. That this department 
 of knowledge was not unreasonably , regarded 
 as preeminently in accordance with the aims 
 and spirit of University study will be suf- 
 
 *) Mommseu's BQmische Geschichte Band II. p. 400. 
 
 10 
 
— 146 -s 
 
 ficiently evident from what has been previously 
 pointed out as the essential attributes of the 
 latter. We are not however to imagine (though 
 the vague and declamatory language of the 
 writers on these subjects would undoubtedly 
 favour such a conclusion) that mere metaphysics 
 ' — itself a separate and particular branch of , 
 inquiry — was intended to monopolize the un- 
 divided attention of those who frequented the 
 highest schools of intellect. Such an inference 
 is at variance with the fact that totally different 
 subjects, such as grammar, rhetoric, and med- 
 icine were actually taught in the schools of the 
 time; and, though nothing can be more natural 
 or likely than that those who mainly devoted 
 themselves to one of these subjects may have at- 
 tended instruction in another also, we know from 
 the testimony of Aulus Gellius the jealous vigi- 
 lance with which the distinct limits of the several 
 faculties were guarded. *) Philosophy therefore, 
 in passages such as these above alluded to, 
 can only be intended .to denote that absolute 
 and elevated form which every branch of 
 knowledge assumes when studied in a com- 
 prehensive spirit, and carried to the ideal per- 
 
 ^) Noct. Att. X.19. 
 
jction of its own proper nature. As bearing 
 loreover immediately upon questions deeply 
 ssociated with all that is most momentous to 
 le individual and the state, the science of 
 lind not unnaturally became the 'solar' study 
 ) all those who attended the teaching of the 
 ncient Universities not with a view to qualify 
 lemselves for any particular learned profes- 
 Lon, but simply in order to obtain that clearness 
 f intellect, and confirmed mastery of the noblest 
 rinciples of thought and action which would 
 nable them to enter upon the grander use- 
 ilness of public life with at least the condi- 
 ons of forethought and design. *) This class 
 ; must be further borne in mind was precisely 
 le one which comprised those individuals from 
 'hose biographies our acquaintance with the 
 etails of ancient Universities is mainly derived. 
 
 *) Dial, de orator. §. 30. The author of the same work 
 ills us in another passage (§. 32.) that the eloquence 
 f Cicero was due far more to the speculations of the 
 cademythan to the instruction of professional rhetorians. 
 lutarch (vit. Cic. p. 475.) informs us that such was 
 icero's own opinion {■A.ahoi noXXaing ri^Cov fir] ^tjtoqa 
 xXeiv aixov aXXa tpiloGoipov • cpvloaocpiav yccQ cog SQyov 
 jjjff'O'at, QTjTOQLK^ S' oqyavcp jjg^ff'S'at iioXi,%Bvoii,svog 
 tl tag xqslag.) Compare also Cic. Brutus c. 97. 
 
 10* 
 
— 148 — 
 
 §. 24. We must also bear in mind that from 
 the mental idiosyncrasy, and many peculiarities 
 in the social condition of the nations of clas- 
 sical antiquity the study of philosophy was far 
 from possessing with them that vague, and 
 purely abstract character now generally as- 
 sociated with the name. The frugal habits and 
 simple wants which to this day continue a lead- 
 ing feature in the common life of the nations 
 of the south of Europe were united in the case 
 of the Greeks with a passiongite desire for know- 
 ledge, and d, mobility of intellect which enabled 
 them during many ages of their history to ex- 
 hibit beyond all other nations the dignity of 
 that free and noble <j;i;o/1^ *) of which none but 
 the most gifted natures are capable. To those 
 who led an existence unfettered by any but the 
 simplest and most generally human relations, 
 who laboured not from the pressure of external 
 necessity, but from the irrepressible fullness 
 of their own productivity, in whom, in short, the 
 inward life of thought had become singularly 
 
 *) Not aqyCa. Scaliger quoted by Passow in his Le- 
 ben von Horaz. p. 21. Anm. 63. thus describes the Greets, 
 quae natio nihil paeue egisse yjdetur quam ut reperiret 
 quomodo in otio negotiosa esse posset. 
 
— 149 — 
 
 predominant over that of external circumstances, 
 the science of Being naturally became the one 
 engrossing pursuit of life, and questions of the 
 most abstruse and metaphysical nature rose into 
 a degree of immediate importance which at the 
 present day we can only conceive of as con- 
 nected with occurrences where considerations 
 of personal interest are directly involved. *) 
 With the utter and undisguised contempt into 
 which the national religion had every where 
 fallen, and the complete inadequacy of all that 
 was traditionally received to satisfy that instinc- 
 tive yearning after God to which even Homer 
 alludes**) Philosophy became to the calm and 
 noble natures of the old world very much what 
 theology and Christianity are with us, the sole 
 ground of Faith and Duty, the one healing conso- 
 
 *) That the study of philosophy possessed amongst 
 the ancients a character preeminently professional ip 
 evident from the opposition of meaning constantly in- 
 sisted on between the terms qiiloaoqiog and ISiwrrjg. Thus 
 Critias was sneered at as an ISimzrjs f'ii' ^v fpiXoaocpoig, 
 cpiXoaocpog Si iv CSicoratg (Schol. ad Plat. Tim. §. 20.) 
 The same thought is neatly expressed in an epigram of 
 the Anthology (II. p. 419. 58. Jacobs.) 
 
 **) Od. III. 48. mxvtsg Si S'sav %aTsovei,v av&Qconoi. 
 
— 150 — 
 
 lation and refuge from the sorrows , afflictions, 
 and disappointments of human existence.*) 
 
 §. 25. That more definite conceptions, and 
 above all happier results did not spring from a 
 view of academic study involving so much that 
 is sound and accurate is to be attributed to the 
 lamentable decay of all the powers of nobler 
 mental action which so rapidly succeeded to 
 the astonishing precision and certainty which 
 the scientific tendencies of the ancient world 
 had attained in Aristotle. Not only was a 
 decline of freshness and vigour speedily visible 
 in the more minutely detailed divisions into 
 which the search after truth had ramified, 
 but the central energy itself exhibited even 
 more decided signs of waning power and in- 
 tensity. Undiminished as was the national 
 tendency towards metaphysical discussion, the 
 theorists who succeeded Aristotle instead of rad- 
 iating, as it were, from central truths, and 
 endeavouring to enlarge and verify their con- 
 ceptions of the absolute by diligent study of 
 its infinite selfenactment in man and nature, ex- 
 
 *) Compare Clemens Alexandrin. Strom. I. 5. p. 330_ 
 Potter. Also VI. 17. p. 823. where philosophy is explicitly 
 declared to have served as the representative of reli- 
 gion and theology in the ancient world. 
 
— l&l — 
 
 hausted the interest of philosophic study in 
 barren and unpractical disputations, or else in 
 idly circling around positions long since finally 
 won for science. 'Even the', virilis ac rigida 
 sapientia Stoicorum, though far the noblest pro- 
 duct of later ages, and entitled to no mean 
 place in the history of thought, were, it only 
 as having first .definitely brought home to hu- 
 man consciousness the sublime Idea of Duty *) 
 — gives lamentable proof of the hopelessness 
 of the times in its cold and cheerless decla^ 
 mations on a few purely negative deductions 
 from the common places of Socratic philosophy. 
 The same degeneracy, and dearth of mental fer- 
 tility is still more renmistakeably apparent in 
 the maudlin mysticism of the Neo-platonists, and 
 in the paltry plausibility which forms the funda- 
 mental notion of the Eclectic school. 
 
 §. 26. We have dwelt at some length upon the Hig-her Edu- 
 most important stages in the rise and progress of '*'"'" 
 
 r CI X o among^st the 
 
 the principle of academic education amongst the Romans. 
 Greeks from reasons which it is hardly neces- 
 sary to enumerate in detail. Though figuring 
 to a very small extent among the men of 
 
 *) Diogen. Laert. Vit. Zeuon. §, 20. qiaal Ss Kal jtpto- 
 Tov iiaS'rJKOv mvoficcKsvai, kccI Xdyov ns^'i avzov msnoirj- 
 Kevu. 
 
— 152 — 
 
 statistics , *) and held extremely cheap amongst 
 those who reverse the old legal maxim that 
 men should be weighed, not counted,**) no 
 people reaches so far and wide in all relations 
 of mind, or has given birth and shape to so 
 much which is still operating in every civilised 
 nation as a predominating element in its life 
 of life. They at once exhibit the consummation 
 of the noblest tendencies of the old world, and 
 contain the lively germs of all that is most 
 admirable and active in the new. The history 
 of the Romans on the other hand in all that 
 concerns the developement of the schools of 
 higher intellect is scarcely distinct enough to 
 form even an episode in that of the Greeks. 
 The educational method of the more primitive 
 periods of the republic, though strongly im- 
 pressed with the masculine simplicity "and noble 
 moral nature of the people***), bears eloquent 
 
 *) Fr. A. Wolf Darstellung der Alterthumswissen- 
 schaft. p. 71. 
 
 **) Herodotus contrasts the mental greatness of the 
 Greeks with the material vasiness of Asiatic empires. 
 The latter he describes as amounting to noXXol ati&Qio- 
 Ttoi, oXCyoi avSqse- 
 ***) Most justly described by Horace as 
 
 , natura sublimis et acer, 
 
 Et spirans tragicum satis , et feliciter audens. 
 
— 153 — 
 
 testimony to that peculiar inaptitude for specu- 
 lation which rendered the Eomans, with all their 
 propensity to grave and lofty sentiment, unable 
 to receive , much less advance that highest men- ' 
 tal culture which so essentially springs from 
 the creative contemplation of the eternal. 
 
 §. 27. One of the very few who appear to 
 have theorized at all on this subject was shrewd 
 old Cato *) , who , sturdy and stubborn a spec- 
 imen as he was of the genuine old Roman 
 breed in the utmost intensity of its strongly 
 marked peculiarities, seems nevertheless, here 
 as elsewhere, to have been borne by the sheer 
 force of a prodigious understanding so far beyond 
 the narrowminded limits of his day and genera- 
 tion. The mode of education which prevailed 
 throughout the best ages of the republic has 
 been set forth in the well known and classic 
 passage of the dialogus de oratoribus com- 
 monly attributed to Tacitus. The youth after 
 
 Polybius in the same manner speaks of a certain magna- 
 nimous hardihood of design (to ii,syaX6il)VX0v kkI xaga- 
 §oXov) as a distinctively characteristic trait of the 
 Komans. 
 
 *) See Nonius and Festus in EUendt's Historia Elo- 
 quentiae Eomanae p. 21. Compare also Macrobius III. 6. 
 in Jo. Alb. Fabr. Bibl. Lat. T. I. Lib. I. c. 2. 
 
— 154 — 
 
 having completed certain courses of preliminary 
 instruction was at the approach of manhood 
 introduced to one of the eminent public men 
 of the day ; to whose person he continued at- 
 tached for a suitable period in the capacity 
 of an assistant and companion. In thus enab- 
 ling him to become insensibly, and according 
 to the advancing measure of his strength and 
 capacity more and more a co-agent in the grand- 
 est and most stirring political existence the 
 world has ever seen, where cases like the im- 
 peachment of Warren Hastings were of almost 
 constant occurrence , it is easy to perceive what 
 an incomparable training to a life of action 
 and energy would of necessity be furnished. 
 
 §. 28. Such a practice was of course only 
 adapted to the most virtuous and glorious pe- 
 riods of the commonwealth, when the general 
 grandeur and moral elevation of the times sup- 
 plied its evident deficiency in the scientific and 
 universally humanizing elements of higher edu- 
 cation. In the hideous disorder and crime which 
 finally rendered the republic insupportable, 
 when the rapine and carnage of the proscrip- 
 tions were succeeded by the scandalous ex- 
 cesses of the rabble under Clodius, and the 
 high handed violence of Caesar, the tone of 
 
— 155 — 
 
 public life, and the character of public men were 
 alike abhorrent to the spirit and purpose with 
 which the custom had been originally instituted. 
 
 §. 29. A single exception is mentioned as Cicero's infiu- 
 having then existed, and that probably the iiiost°"^°^''''°"*° 
 signal and illustrious instance ever furnished t™i! 
 of the admirable effects which were meant to 
 flow from so wisely conceived and sagaciously 
 practical a mode of educational influence. Few 
 circumstances in the life of Cicero are cal- 
 culated to give a stronger impression of the 
 atmosphere of noble and lofty thought which 
 he spread around him than the remarkably en- 
 livening power of his personal intercourse upon 
 generous youthful minds.*) The number of 
 high born and thoughtful Roman youths whom 
 he attracted around him , and inspired with 
 the loftiest principles of individual and public 
 duty is said to have given Cicero a mighty 
 power in the state at the very time when to 
 all outward appearance his political authority 
 was most completely annihilated.**) 
 
 *) The correspondence of Cicero abounds in evidences 
 of this most interesting feature in his character. Com- 
 pare, as instances taken almost at random, Ep. ad Fam. 
 II, 4 and 5. 
 
 **) 'AcpEjisvog rov ra kolvcc n^axxuv iaxoXa^s rolg ^ov- 
 
— 156 — 
 
 §. 30. A remarkable feature in the earlier 
 
 form of Roman education consisted in the 
 
 practice mentioned by Valerius Maximus *) 
 
 and Cicero of sending young patricians into 
 
 Etruria for the purpose of completing their 
 
 studies. This is no doubt rightly interpreted 
 
 by Ellendt**) as originating in the extent to 
 
 which the ceremonies, legal fictions and forms 
 
 of the Roman state were regulated in accords 
 
 ance with the Etruscan system of divination. 
 
 Endowment §. 31. Although the principle of University 
 
 by theTmpt- study made little progress, if it did not actually 
 
 lors. Athe rctrogrado, under the dominion of Rome, the ex- 
 
 naeum of the - , «-,..... . 
 
 Capitol, ternal existence oi academic institutions was then 
 Schools of^ established with a degree of solidity and perman- 
 M. Anreiius. ence wHch has exercised the most important 
 influence upon the destinies of the future civi- 
 lization of mankind. The emperors from Au- 
 gustus downwards recognised the entire system 
 of educational institutions as an integral element 
 in the organism of the state. Existing schools 
 
 Xofisvoie (piXoaotpsiv rav vsmv v.al <s%iS6v sk Tf,s 1905 
 TOVTOvg evvrfO'siag svysvsardtovg Kal Ttqcotovg ovzag av- 
 S-ig I'exvsv iv xrj noXii (liyiGTOv. Pint. vit. Cic. p. 483. 
 
 *) De Relig. I. 1. Cic. de Divinat. II. 23. quoted by 
 Lips. ad. Tac. Ann. XI. 15. 
 **) Hist. Eloquent. Rom. p. 75 sqq. 
 
— 157 — 
 
 in Rome and throughout the provinces received 
 the imperial patronage and support, new in- 
 stitutions of the same kind were founded, and 
 professional chairs (d'QovoL) either created, or, 
 if already existing, perpetuated by means of 
 endowments. Vespasian, Hadrian, both the An- 
 tonines, Marcus Aurelius, and Severus, in a 
 word, all the most virtuous, and not a few of 
 even the most sanguinary and atrocious amongst 
 the Caesars*) vied with eacH other in endea- 
 vouring to promote the interests of learning 
 in all its various forms throughout the Empire. 
 It is of course only to those who were most 
 preeminently distinguished as the patrons and 
 benefactors of the highest erudition that we 
 can at present briefly allude. Vespasian, (A. D. 
 69 — 79.) himself an admirer and connoisseur of 
 Greek literature, led the way in the appointment 
 of professors of both languages, who in addition 
 to the immunities and honours granted by for- 
 mer Emperors were paid an annual salary from 
 the imperial fisc. **) Among the eminent scholars 
 
 *) e. g. Domitiau. See Niebuhr Vorles. iiber alte 
 Gesch. m. p. 209. Sueton. vit. Dom. c. 4. 20. Com- 
 pare on the other hand Tac. vit. Agric. c. 2. 
 
 **) Ingenia et artes vel maxime fovit; primus enim 
 e fisco Latinis Graeoisque rhetoribus annua centena con- 
 
— 158 — 
 
 thus formally taken into the service of the 
 state was the celebrated Quinctilian who held 
 the professorship of eloquence for a period of 
 twenty years with an income of 100,000 sester- 
 ces , or about 700 pounds , per annum.*) Under 
 Hadrian (A. D. 117 — 138.) along with the same 
 princely munificence in the endowment of sepa- 
 rate professional chairs we behold a decided step 
 towards form and combination in the means and 
 aids to higher instruction such as previously, 
 it would seem, was unattempted at Rome. The 
 rhetoricians and men of letters who had hitherto 
 taught in virtue of public appointment to their 
 respective offices (publice docendis iuvenibus 
 magistri), instead of giving instruction in se- 
 parate schools as formerly, were gathered into 
 a collective body known as the Athenaeum**), 
 which held its sittings on the Capitol, and appears, 
 
 stituit. ctt. Sueton. vit. Vesp. c. 18. Grafenhahu Gesch. 
 der CI. Philol. III. p. 29. 
 
 *) Grafenhahn Gesch. der class. Philol. IV. p. 32. 
 Twenty years appears to have been the term of seryice 
 for public . officials of this class , . after which they were 
 entitled to retire with a pension. CresoU. Theatr. 
 Ehet. I. 8. 
 
 **) Grafenhahu Gesch. der class. Phil. IV. p. 32. 
 Bernhardy Gr. der Eoemischen Litt. p. 86. 
 
— 159 — 
 
 like the Museum of Alexandria, to have united 
 in a great measure the functions of a modern 
 academy of sciences with those of a higher 
 school. Separate lecture rooms (loca speciali- 
 ter deputata) were assigned to each instructor, 
 who was henceforward not permitted to teach 
 in private.*) The age of Marcus Aurelius (A. 
 D. 161 — 180.) is distinguished by the com- 
 plete endowment of what may now indis- 
 putably be called the University of Athens. 
 The professors of the schools of this city seem Number or 
 under this Emperor first to have received an- 
 nual salaries from the government, though' chairs 
 of Political science. Rhetoric, Philosophy, and 
 Sophistry had probably been in existence for 
 some time previously. The number of regular 
 professorships amounted to ten, of which two 
 were assigned to Rhetoric, and as many to 
 each of the leading philosophical sects, as sup- 
 posed to be represented by the Platonists, Peri- 
 patetics, Stoics, and Epicureans.*) A certain 
 
 *) Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. I. p. 68. 
 **) See Lucian Eim. §. 3. Such is the view adopted by 
 Ahreus (de Athenarum statu p. 70. as quoted by Gra- 
 fenhahn Gesch. der class. Philol. III. p. 29.) in which he 
 is opposed by Beinhardy Gr. der Gesch. der Gr. Litt. p. 
 413. and Zumpt (iiber den Bestaud der philosoph. Schul. in 
 
— 160 — 
 
 preeminence appears to have been conceded to 
 the teachers of Platonic philosophy. The chair 
 of this subject was designated as o d'Qovog 
 par excellence, and its teachers are all along 
 described as being preeminently the dia^ 
 80x01.*) This office together with lectureships 
 
 Athen. p. 26.) The latter himself howeyer admits that 
 Luciau speaks of the death of one of the two Peripate- 
 tics who held offices of this nature in Athens , (amo- 
 9avsiv zav IIiqntat7iri%mv xov i-ci^ov) and it is not 
 easy to discover any reasonwhyalargernumber of appoint- 
 ments should have been bestowed upon this sect in par- 
 ticular. 
 
 *) Wyttenbach ad Eunap. p. 44. The Academics 
 were also designated as jj a%oXri. (Suidas s. Illovxaqios 
 et ilgOK/los.) The students of the Academus seem all 
 along to have been regarded as quite the Christ church 
 men of the Athenian University. They are reproached with 
 excessive 'bumptiousness' {rvcpog) , and with puppyism as 
 exhibited in matters of dress and external deportment. 
 Ephippus (Nauag. Meinecke Fragm. Com. III. p. 332.) 
 thus describes one of the philosophic exquisites of the day. 
 
 si) ftsv fiaxaC^a ^vat' sxmv -vgixcoiiaTtt, 
 sv S' vTtotia&isLg ato/ia mioycovog ^dO-i^, 
 si) S iv TtsSCltp noSa xiO'slg vno 'gVQOv, 
 ^v^jirjs ifidvzmv laoiihqoig iUyfiaaiv, 
 oyKp TS xXaviSog sv ts&aiQaKi.0i/,ivog, 
 aXVl''' d^toxQsaov iiii.yia&slg ^aKtrj^^cc 
 aXXox^Lov , ov% oIksCov, tog ifiol SoHst^ 
 iXe^sv K. T. I. 
 
— 161 — 
 
 on grammar and criticism was held by the 
 celebrated Longinus. *) 
 
 §. 32. The appointment to these offices was na- Mode of ap- 
 turally vested in the highest instance with the po*"'">™'- 
 Emperor, though they appear generally to have 
 been bestowed in accordance with the recommen- 
 dation of the University and the town. In a de- 
 cree of Julian cited by Bernhardy**) the electoral 
 bodies are specified as consisting of the Ordo, 
 or philosophic sect, the Curiales, or municipal 
 senate, and the Optimi, or timocratic ecclesia 
 established according to Roman usage in the 
 provinces , ***) with an ultimate reference to the 
 Emperor. In the case of the philosophic pro- 
 fessorships .the initiative, and most decisive 
 stage of the process was doubtless that en- 
 trusted to the first of these associations. Pho- 
 tiusf) accordingly speaks of Isidore as at once 
 appointed to the Platonic chair by the iptjcpiGfiu 
 
 See also a similar passage in the Antaeus of Antiphanes 
 (Meineeke Fr. Com. III. p. 17.) 
 *) Wyttenbach ad Eunap. p. 28. 
 **) Grundri^s der Geschichte der 6r. Litt. p. 415. 
 The same mode of election existed at Rome also. See 
 CresoU. Theatr. Ehet. IV. I. 
 ***) Hermann Gr. Alterthumer. 
 t) Biblioth. Cod. 242. 
 
 11 
 
— 162 — 
 
 rrjs diuSoxfjg. Nor does the influence of the 
 University in the bestowal of rhetorical pro- 
 fessorships appear to have been greatly in- 
 ferior. Gregory of Nazianzus when desirous 
 of departing from Athens was detained almost 
 by main force on the part of his admirers 
 (an^l^ xarstxov). Masters and scholars are 
 described as directly offering him the gift of 
 a professional chair (cos ^i? Xoycav dcoSovtsg h 
 T^jj'^ot; xQarog). 
 Amount of §. 33. In cvery such election, whether of 
 Sophists or philosophers, a formal examination 
 {do-Mu,aaCa) was held before the most important 
 and influential inhabitants , on which occasion 
 the different candidates gave a public specimen 
 of their ability, and at the same time underwent 
 a scrutiny into their moral character.*) The 
 amount of income enjoyed by each of the above 
 mentioned principal professors is stated by Lu- 
 cian at ten thousand drachmae, or about i 400 
 a year. Philostratus **) however speaks of the 
 sophist Apollonius as receiving a talent annually 
 while occupying the chair of political oratory.***) 
 
 salaries. 
 
 *) Philostr. II. pp. 566. 567. — Morell. Luc. Eun. p. 
 352. Herasterhus. 'Wjttenbach ad Eunap. p. 79. 
 **) Vit. Sophist. II. p. 597. Morell. 
 ***) Zumpt supposes that the Tiolixiv.og ^qovoq is to 
 
— 163 — 
 
 Tatian on the other hand speaks of the payment 
 of the leading appointments as amounting to 
 twelve thousand drachmae per annum, a state- 
 ment considered by commentators as in all 
 probability more strictly correct than the sum 
 mentioned in round numbers by Lucian. *) 
 
 §. 34. The solid nucleus formed by the tenAssisiantpro- 
 endowed professorships seems gradually to have '^^^"^ ' 
 collected around it a multitude of philosophers 
 and academic teachers of every description. At 
 a later period Himerius**) speaks of parents who 
 had accompanied their sons to Athens as perfect- 
 ly bewildered by the number of sophists in that 
 city. Many of these were no doubt attached 
 to the University in the capacity of assistants 
 to the occupants of the principal chairs, a class 
 of teachers who are found in existence at the 
 
 be understood of a ehaii' tlie appointment to wticli 
 vested witli the town, as opposed to the ^aailiKog Q'qovos, 
 which was in the gift of the Crown. (See iiber den Be- 
 stand der philosoph. Schulen in Athen. p. 25. Anm. 3.) 
 The arguments adduced in favour of this opinion do not, 
 however , appear very convincing. 
 
 *) See Lucian Eunuch, p. 352. Hemster. CresoU. 
 Theatr. Ehet. II. 3. 
 
 **) Orat. XXXIII. §. 2. 
 
 11* 
 
— 164 — ' 
 
 earliest period of academic history,*) while 
 the majority, it may be conjectured, held a po- 
 sition not unlike that of the professores extra- 
 ordinarii and privatim docentes of continental 
 Universities at the present day. In the case 
 of the Sophists a broad line of distinction is. 
 throughout observable between the junior in- 
 structors and those holding the salaried ap- 
 pointments of the University. The latter glo- 
 ried in the high sounding titles of dvvarmTEQoi,, 
 koycav TVQccvvoi, fiSL^ovg, (leyakofiiGd'Oi, , drj^io- 
 TfAfts,**) eminentissimi &c. , the latter ***) 
 on the other hand are designated as ot lAar- 
 rovg, svtskatg, minores. 
 Meaning at- §■ 35. The term Sophist always employed some- 
 lached to the ^jjg^^ ya^„^gj„ and at time s bestowed upon those 
 
 term Sophist . . ■'^ ■ 
 
 at this period, philosophers who aimed at combining literary 
 elegance of expression with scientific accuracy 
 of thought, t) is henceforward used with refe- 
 rence to a class of teachers exhibiting many 
 
 *) Zumpt fiber den Bestand der philosoph. Schulen 
 in Atheu p. 6. Bernhardy Gr. der 6r. Litt. I. p. 415. 
 
 **) See Luoian Ehet. Praecept. quoted iuCresoU. IV. II. 
 BaaiXsvg iv zotg Xoyoig , tec zi&QinTia iXavvcov Toi; idyov. 
 ***) Cresoll. Tbeatr. Ehet. IV. II. 
 ■j-) Schol. Aristoph. Nub. 330. eo<piatal, ot SiSdav,aloi., 
 ■nal daoi rav cpiloGOtpav QrjTOQiKcSs tyqaipav. 
 
— 165 — 
 
 analogies with the Doctors and Masters of Arts 
 in the academic schools of the middle ages.*) 
 This circumstance is also indicated in the phrase 
 professor artium by which the Sophists are 
 known in Latin. It is worthy of notice how com- 
 pletely the invidious and contemptuous mean- 
 ing once associated with the name was lost 
 sight of in the third century. Libanius declined 
 the title of Prefect of. the palace, an honour 
 bestowed upon individuals of the very highest 
 
 *) A. Schott. Eunapii vit. extr. See also an expres- 
 sion of Philostratus quoted by Cresoll. Theatr. Ehet. 1. 1. 
 wliei'e the sophistic art is described as Jtoiijj kuI noiKiXr] 
 in its nature. Cresollius (IV, 5-) justly says of the 
 sophists 'partem omnium humaniorum literarum attigisse 
 videutur quae excellenti et perfecto oratori sunt neces- 
 saria. ' The proper meaning of the word is seen in the 
 expression which connects tc texfiKOv and to coqjtcrt- 
 Hov as equivalent terms. That the name of Sophist was 
 properly given to all who studied a subject as a profes- 
 sion, and discoursed upon it with fluency and eloquence 
 is evident from the fact that not only physicians are so 
 called by Eunapius , (compare the CaTQoaoq>iaral in Sui- 
 das) but that even at an earlier period those learned 
 Soyers of antiquity whose artistic enthusiasm is such 
 a favourite subject with the poets of later comedy are 
 known in Athenaeus as coquaral jucySLqiKoi. (Athen. III. 
 c. 60. Compare also Clemens Alexandr. Strom. I. p. 329. 
 Potter.) 
 
_ 166 — 
 
 rank. External honours of every kind, statues, 
 the citizenship, imperial edicts, honorary pse- 
 phismata, were lavishly bestowed upon dis- 
 tinguished Sophists. Their calling was regarded 
 as the steppingstone to the highest dignities of 
 state , and conferred by a codex of Theodosius 
 the social position of Vicarius, a grade equi- 
 valent to the rank of Duke or Count.*) In 
 accordance with this estimate of the dignity 
 of their office we find that the instructors of 
 higher schools regularly appeared amongst the 
 nobility and magistrates who went forth to wel- 
 come a viceroy on his arrival at the seat of 
 provincial government. **) Every circumstance 
 in short goes to prove that this expression 
 was employed at that period with precisely the 
 same eminently honourable meaning which at- 
 taches to the name of professor at the present 
 day. In the fourth century we read of the 
 public appointment at Athens of four sophists***) 
 (probably only the most eminent of the entire 
 body) in a manner precisely similar to that 
 of the philosophers previously mentioned. 
 
 *) Cresoll. Theatr. Ehet. I. 8. 
 
 **) Reisk. ad Libanii Orat. n^og 'Ava^Cvtiov p. 190. 
 ***) Liban. Tcqog xoitg ^agiiv avzov %aXovvtas p. 176. 
 
— 167 — 
 
 §. 36. The minor arrangements of the school of 
 Athens at this stage of its history no doubt cor- 
 responded in most respects -with those of the lear- 
 ned institutions of Antioch concerning which 
 such frequent and detailed accounts are furni- 
 shed in the orations and epistles of Libanius. In 
 the latter city, which is described as being at that 
 period the academic counterpart of Athens in 
 the east, the professors of rhetoric not only re- 
 ceived an annual salary (avvza^ig) from the 
 magistrates of the town,*) but were also paid 
 by fees from the class , and Libanius in pleading 
 for an increase of allowance to his colleagues 
 points to the fact that Zenobius, a teacher of 
 eminence, had received an augmentation of 
 his salary from the proceeds of the public flo- 
 main.**) The sum paid for admission to each 
 class appears to have varied greatly, and 
 poorer students seem frequently to have been 
 permitted to attend free of expence. ***) Phi- 
 lostratus, a writer of the third century, informs 
 us that inxthe school of Proclus the payment 
 of one hundred drachmae entitled the student 
 
 *) Liban. 'Avxioxtitog. p. 333. 
 **) Liban. vtisq xa>v QTjTOQav. pp. 211. 212. 213. 
 ***) Philostr. vit. Soph. II. p. 602. 
 
— 168 — 
 
 to attendance upon the course as long as he 
 thought proper, besides giving access to the 
 use of the library.*) The fee for admission 
 was paid on the first of every month, and could 
 be recovered at law ; the salary on the other 
 hand was received annually. In this manner 
 many of the Sophists are said to have amassed 
 considerable fortunes. The lectures of Chrestus 
 were attended by one hundred efifiie&oi kxqou- 
 tai, **) and Heraclides purchased an estate of 
 ten talents from the accumulated earnings of tui- 
 tion in rhetoric. The desire to secure for them- 
 selves the glory and the profit resulting from a 
 numerously attended class naturally gave rise 
 to the most furious competition on the part of 
 this class of instructors, a fact significantly at- 
 tested in the terms Xtt%"ri0%'aL and avti,xtt9"^0&ai, 
 employed with reference to Sophists professing 
 the same subject.***) Every contrivance offeree 
 and fraud was unsparingly employed on these 
 occasions, and the whole machinery of a con- 
 tested election in England of the olden time 
 was actively set in play to secure for themselves 
 
 *) Vit. Soph. II. p. 600. Morell. 
 **) Philostr. vit. Soph. II. p. 588. Morell. 
 ***) See also Liban. jrfpi r^g savrov rvjcris i-oyog, 
 p. 137. 
 
— 169 — 
 
 the attendance of the new comers to the Uni- 
 versity. *) Students were induced to pledge 
 themselves before matriculation, and agencies 
 formally established for that purpose in foreign 
 countries. The fiercest part of the struggle 
 commenced upon their arrival in Attica. No 
 expense seems to have been- spared by the prin- 
 cipals in the contest. A fictitious appearance of 
 popularity was sought to be obtained by paying 
 students to attend and applaud at lecture?**) 
 (cJvjj tmv VEcov). Bands of academic partizans 
 scoured the country in every direction, for the 
 purpose of intercepting all who entered Athens 
 by land;***) and all the mischievous activity 
 of the commissionaires and hotel touters of 
 the continent at the present day was indefa- 
 
 *) Business of this description seems to have been 
 transacted by a species of committee (xOQog} composed 
 of partizans of the respective Sophists under the gui- 
 dance of a senior {itQOazaTTjg, ajtpojfitTTjg). Photius Bibl. 
 cod. 80. CresoU. Theatr. Rhet. IV. 10. extr. Bernhardy 
 Gr. der Gr. Litt. I. p. 450. • 
 
 **) Liban. tccqI ttjs iavrov tvxrig >.6yog. p. 45. 
 ***) bqSv aKQce, nsSi.a, icxazi'ai, ovSiv otl fiij rrjg 'Attl- 
 v.rig fiiqog, r, trjg lomrjg 'ElXdSog, ctircov rav oCv-rftoqaiv 
 01 nlsicxoi, Kal yaQ xovzovg (tsfiSQiafisvovg TuCg anovSaig 
 iyovaiv. Gregor. Nazianz. 
 
— 170 — 
 
 tigably set in operation , in order to mislead and 
 bewilder the inexperienced student on his first 
 landing at the Piraeus. Libanius in describ- 
 ing his own adventures mentions that he was 
 locked up'by adherents of the opposition, and 
 not released from captivity until he had bound 
 himself by oath to attend the lectures of the 
 professor whose cause they had espoused.*) 
 The feuds between the rival candidates for po- 
 pular favour and support were zealously, entered 
 into by their respective disciples — a result 
 the more readily brought about from the fact 
 that each of the leading Sophists officiated as 
 proctor of one of the four Nations,**) into which 
 the University was divided — and the writers 
 of the day gave a most animated picture of 
 the academic combats which raged between the 
 admirers of the contending rhetoricians. ***) 
 
 *) '^ijs BTiiovBrjq T£ ijr saniQug , Kai iv xiQo'i'V ovx lov 
 ^(iovX6fi7]V • fnma rrjs vaxsqa^ag iv hiQcov av %s^Biv, av 
 ovSs rovtcov i^ovlofi-qv. Liban. ■nsql T^g savtov %v%7ii 
 Xoyog. p. 13. Compare also another passage in the same 
 speech: s^omjisv Ss Scearrjitozsg, o cogptorijs f'S'' ^lioii, 
 iv,sCvov Si iyo) arSQOfisvog , zoig t^ovai Si Xoyog ovSslg 
 rrjg ^o^g. 
 
 **) For an account of the Nations at Athens see §.57. 
 
 ***) Liban. nrspl iijg savrov rvxrig Xoyog p. 16. rovgtav 
 
 XOQ<ov iv iiiaaig Tatg 'A^i^vccig nolsfiovg, %al qonaXa, ■aw. 
 
— 171 — 
 
 §.37. The general plan of instruction seems not Mode of in 
 to have been altered from that which prevailed 
 at the time of the first endowment of the Uni- 
 versity by Aurelian. In the philosophical classes 
 lectures were delivered, at the conclusion of 
 which difficulties and objections (aa;opt«t) were 
 discussed by the professor.*) In the schools 
 of rhetoric at Antioch public harangues {[ieIetccl, 
 smdei^sig) were pronounced before the class by 
 the occupant of the chair at certain stated in- 
 tervals. This performance generally took place 
 between ten o'clock in the morning and noon 
 (nXr)&ov6rjs ayoQug.) After such an oration the 
 remainder of the day was regarded as festival or 
 half holiday. At the entrance of each lecture room 
 (nvloiv) was suspended a tablet containing no- 
 tices to the class.**) Students took copious notes 
 of the lectures in books (^sArot) ***) kept for 
 that purpose. Certain ancient authors (Demos- 
 thenes and Homer, for the most part) were 
 generally read as guides and models for ori- 
 
 aiSr]QOv Kai Xi9ovq, v.al tQavjiara. v.. x. X. Compare also 
 Epist. 527. Eunap. vit. Julian, et Proaeres. 
 *) Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. 20. II. 2. 
 **) Lucian. Hermotim. p. 750. 
 , ***) Liban. n^og Tovg ov Xeyovzug p. 293. 
 
— 172 — 
 
 ginal composition. *) The interpretation of these 
 ■writers was preceded by a discourse (TCQoXoyo^) 
 delivered by the instructor.**) That in the 
 philosophical schools a species of moral disci- 
 pline was also aimed at is evident from the 
 KQXV ^^^ evxoGfiiag tav EUL%BiQOVVtmv which 
 Athenaeus (XII, 69.) describes as existing 
 amongst the Peripatetics, in the time of Lycon, 
 the third from Aristotle (A. C. n. 269-226.). 
 This office of which we have already spoken 
 (p. 127.), seems to have been assigned to one 
 of the seniors of the sect, who remained in 
 authority for the space of thirty days, when 
 a banquet was celebrated and a successor ap- 
 pointed. 
 
 §. 38. The design of the University as an 
 initiation to all the most liberal, honourable, and 
 important forms of life has seldom been recog-' 
 nised with greater distinctness than at this 
 period. Libanius speaks of> those who attended 
 the school of Antioch as looking forward to 
 becoming occupants of municipal offices (jSor- 
 Aat), appointments in the imperial service {8ioi- 
 X1J0EIS jtolscDv) , chairs in some of the various 
 
 *) Liban. tcqoq rovg roi' naiSaycoyov ^XaaiprniCug. p. 273. 
 **) Liban. n^og TOvg ^a^i'v avxov KaP.oiJj'ras p. 179. , 
 
— 173 — 
 
 Universities (■9'povot), and to the practice of juris- 
 prudence, Roman or provincial (•9'£|U.iS , dLxai).*) 
 The general principle of all higher study is 
 no where more clearly announced than in the 
 words of Gregor of Nazianzus,**) who describes 
 it as a prosecution of all subjects as one, and 
 of each as equivalent to all (ta ndvxtt mg ev 
 a^u0x'}q6ttg, xccl avxl navtmv £xa0tov.) 
 
 §. 39. By a practice dating from the times of Two "blisses 
 
 A • 1 \ 1 1 1 1 ' 1 °^ Students. 
 
 Aristotle,***) and borrowed apparently in the 
 first instance from the Pythagoreans , f) the 
 undergraduate population of the Uni^versity, 
 in addition to the distinctions arising out of 
 national origin, and subjects of study, was di- 
 vided into two classes, one of which was en- 
 titled to the full rights of studentship, while the 
 other was regarded as merely preparing for 
 entrance into the academic body. The latter, 
 who are designated as belonging to the ftov- 
 eftov,tt) were taught in the earlier part of 
 the day, and subjected to all the coercive dis- 
 
 *) nsgl rf,g iavzov rvxrjg. p. 102. 
 **) Orat. X. 
 ***) Aul. Gell. Noct. Att. XX. 5. 
 t) Aul. GeU. Noct. Att. I. 9. 
 ft) Liban. Ep. 407. 1019. 
 
— 174 — 
 
 cipline of an inferior school,*) though the 
 vicious indulgences and outrageous feats of 
 physical force **) ascribed to them hy Libanius 
 prove that they must have attained to the age 
 of the ^nskXifpri^oi, at least. Both classes of 
 students are mentioned as being present at the 
 public orations {jiskarai,, aTCiSsi^aig) of the So- 
 phists.***) Lectures seem to have been delivered 
 in a public building, either wholly set apart, 
 or simply granted for the temporary use of the 
 University, t) Instruction was also given at 
 the residence of the professors (t« idiaum 
 &iaxQa).'\^) This however was probably only 
 the case with those who wished to add the 
 advantages of private tuition to the ordinary 
 teaching of the University. At Antioch Liba- 
 nius gave instruction in the senate house, in the 
 temple of Calliope, or in that of Apollo which 
 was situated in the suburbs of the city, fft) 
 
 *) Liban. nsql zov ranrjTog. pp.' 255 256. 
 **) Such as blanketing pedagogues, a performance 
 magniloqueutly described by Libanius in his oration niql 
 rov xdmriTOi. 
 ***) Philostr. vit. soph. II. p. 600. 
 f) Liban. vitsq twv qrjxOQCav. p. 216. 
 tt) Eunap. p. 96. 
 ttt) Liban. rospi rijg mvzov tvxrig. p. 71. argog Evard- 
 &1.0V. p. 165. 
 
— 175 — 
 
 At Athens in the siege of the city by Sylla 
 during the Mithridatic war (A. C. n. 80.) the 
 Academy and Lyceum were laid waste in com- 
 mon with the other suburbs ; and, though doubt- 
 less restored afterwards as far as possible to 
 their original condition , were never again regu- 
 larly employed for purposes of instruction; in 
 consequence, as Zumpt*) supposes, of the ad- 
 vance of malaria occasioned by the declining 
 population. Henceforward philosophers deliver- 
 ed lectures in the town. The Odeum was used 
 for purely epideictic purposes. 
 
 §. 40. Of the mutual coordination between chancciioi- 
 the various parts of which the school of uq?,°j,5jJ " 
 Athens was composed little is known with 
 certainty. The Praeses of Achaia**) is des- 
 cribed by Eunapius and Libanius as in a man- 
 ner discharging the functions of the Chancel- 
 lor of the University, though mainly, it would 
 appear , with a view to the maintenance of pub- 
 lic order , which had been disturbed beyond 
 endurance by the factions into which the aca- 
 
 *) Zumpt fiber den Bestand der phil. Schulen in Athen. 
 pp. 12. 15. 
 
 **) Eunap. vit. Julian, p. 97. Liban. nsQl rrjs savzov 
 ZVX1S Hoyog. p. 19. Bernhardy Gr. der Gr. Litt. I. 
 p. 450. 
 
— 176 — 
 
 demic world was divided. The Proconsul Car- 
 bonius is extolled by Himerius for having res- 
 tored the discipline of the University , and sup- 
 pressed the tumults for which it had at one time 
 been so notorious. The individual appointed 
 by the emperors to the Proconsulate was him- 
 self in many cases a cidevant Sophist (uTto 
 rav Gog)i6rav) , and therefore abundantly quali- 
 fied by personal acquaintance with its circum- 
 stances and conditions to superintend the go- 
 vernment of the University.*) At Antioch 
 Libanius speaks of himself as presiding over 
 four professors of rhetoric without specifying 
 his relation to those who gave instruction on 
 other subjects.**) 
 
 §. 41. Hopelessly as the graceful and elegant 
 thought of antiquity had fled from amongst 
 the generation of which we are now speaking 
 it was but natural that many instances of yoiith- 
 ful attachment and friendship in its purest and 
 most beautiful form should arise even in such 
 an aspect of the University as then existed. 
 Grregory of Nazianzus finely describes his own 
 relation to St. Basil as based upon an utter 
 
 *) Orat. IV. §. 9. 
 **) VTtiq rav QrjtOQaiv Koyog. 
 
— 177 — 
 
 absence of all mean emulation, and a devotion 
 on both sides to what was morally enobling 
 and associated with honourable hopes and pur- 
 poses for the future*). 
 
 §. 42. The munificent liberality of the Ro- Beneficial ef- 
 
 r\ 1 . 1 1 1 • 1 , , feels oflhese 
 
 man Uaesars which had given such ' extent instimuons 
 and completeness to the academic system "P"" "'= ''"=- 
 
 ralure of ihe 
 
 of the ancient world was not without many ag-e. 
 happy effects upon literature and learning in 
 the declining ages of the Empire. Athens, 
 which about the birth of Christ' had grievous- 
 ly fallen into decay, from the withdrawal of 
 the wealthiest and noblest class of students 
 to the schools of Marseilles, Milan, Apollonia, 
 and other thriving provincial towns **) be- 
 came the chief University town of the world 
 for all who were desirous of obtaining the most 
 exact and thorough training in the study of 
 
 *) k'qyov d' rjv afupovSQOig ov% oaziq avzog to irgra- 
 TSiov S%oi,, alX o-TCtog rm srSQCo tovxov TcaqaxcoQi^asiBV — 
 s'gyov d diicporsQOig rj dqszij v.cil to ^rjv TiQog tag fisi.- 
 Xovaag kl-wiSag. Orat. XX. p. 330. 
 
 **) sv if T6) Tia^ovxi xal zovg yvcoqi\>,caxaTOvg xav Pco- 
 fHixLcov TtSTCSMSv (17 MaBBccXCu) dvxX xTJg slg 'A&rjpag e.Tto- 
 S7]fiiccg iKuas ipoixdv tpLXofi,a.&eig hvxag. Strabo IV. 
 p. 248. See also Zumpt iiber die philosoph. Sch. zii 
 Athen. p. 19. Bernhardy Gr. der Eoem. Litt. p. 58. 
 
 12 
 
— 178 — 
 
 eloquence, political science and philosophy.*) 
 In the fourth century, though labouring under 
 the disadvantage of notoriously heathen predi- 
 lections, it continued to assert a species of 
 priority over the contemporary schools of Con- 
 stantinople Antioch and Berytus,**) and the 
 superior dignity of its professors is admitted 
 even by those of rival Universities. ***) Athens 
 became again the focus of learned activity in 
 an age , which , marred , as it was , by increas- 
 ing tendency to pedantry and affectation, still 
 succeeded in reviving some reminiscences of 
 the nobler past, and exhibited what has not 
 inappropriately been described as the after sum- 
 mer of Greek genius, f) 
 Evils and de- §• 42. It is not to bc denied that not only 
 fectsof ihe j^^ ^j^^ Ordinary class of publicly endowed 
 
 academic *^ i. */ 
 
 education ofschools which during the reign of Marcus Au- 
 peno -j-gij^g j^jj^ j.]jg succeeding Emperors multiplied 
 
 *) Grafenhahn Gesch. der class. Phil. IV. p. 29. 
 **) Bernhardy Gr. dcr Gr. Litt. I. p. 442. 
 ***) Liban. Ep. 1440. 1511. 
 f ) Bernhardy Gr. der Gr. Litt. I. p. 406 sqq. Lucian, 
 Longinus, and the philosophers Hermogenes, Sextus Em- 
 piricus, Plotimis, Aruobius and Lactantius may be men- 
 tioned as specimens of the writers and thinkers of this 
 period. 
 
— 179 — 
 
 to such an extent throughout the provinces of 
 the Roman Enapire, but even in those institu- 
 tions which assumed academic rank and con- 
 sequence , the instruction imparted had in a 
 great measure lost that direction of the depth 
 and fulness of philosophic principle into the 
 forms and channels furnished by the avoca- 
 tions of after life which we have pointed out 
 as the essential feature in the University study 
 of the best ages of antiquity. Even at an 
 earlier period the author of the Dialogus de 
 Oratoribus laments over the change that had 
 taken place in this respect, and does not hes- 
 itate to prefer the somewhat meagre and nar- 
 row utilitarianism of Eoman education in the 
 ruder stages of their national developement 
 to the unsubstantial generalities which in his 
 day were communicated under the name of 
 higher intellectual culture. This however was 
 no solitary or accidental occurrence, but a phae- 
 nomenon radically in harmony with the men- 
 tal condition of that entire epoch. We have 
 already alluded to the fact that the ancient 
 world in general only conceived of the Abso- 
 lute as beheld in its most general and prima 
 facie aspect. Few besides Aristotle seem to 
 have been enabled to discern that the fruitful 
 
 12* 
 
— 180 — 
 
 and advancing knowledge of the highest Entity 
 must ever take place, by means of, or at least 
 in conjunction with study of its self utterances 
 and exponents in the individual *) and concrete. 
 The contemplation of truest Being after having 
 shown itself with astonishing brilliancy and 
 power had been so speedily withdrawn that the 
 world had only become assured of the reality of 
 the latter without having time, as it were, to 
 discern and distinguish the specialities of its es- 
 sence. The utter degeneracy which had taken 
 possession of all philosophic enquiry during the 
 declining ages of the empire could not but exer- 
 cise a peculiarly baneful influence upon that no- 
 bler form of educational discipline which in an- 
 cient times more especially had its keystone and 
 
 *) That man can discern the living truth only by what 
 it affirms of itself, and not by his own intellectual scru- 
 tiny is a principle common to all the highest forms of 
 religious belief. "With the Greeks Zens was only known 
 to mortals through his self manifestation in Apollo (see 
 Hesiod. Melampod. Fr. IX. in Diinzers Fragmente der 
 epischeu Poesie der Gr. p. 55.) and in the writings of 
 the apostle whose mind and character are described as 
 peculiarly congenial with the spirit of the founder of 
 Christianity we are told that "no man hath seen God 
 at any time. The only begotten, who is in- the bosom 
 of the Father, he hath declared him." 
 
— 181 — 
 
 centre in that science. The spirit of philosophy 
 had so completely evaporated leaving behind a 
 mere caput mortuum of phraseology, negations, 
 and truisms that the whole serious labour of aca- 
 demic instruction eventually concentrated itself 
 upon rhetorical exercises, whose aim was di- 
 rected towards giving a certain manual dexter- 
 ity in dealing with the conventional expressions 
 for a life and efficiency which had long since 
 utterly departed.*) The inherent falsity of a 
 plan of education founded upon a system of 
 contemptible pedantry, which, bad as it was, 
 was probably the only method by which the 
 commonest rules and technical routine of ancient . 
 civilization could then be preserved, might well 
 cause a Roman like the author of the dialogue 
 referred to to sigh after any manifestation of 
 nature however coarse and illiberal.**) 
 
 §. 44. Much indeed as was accomplished dur- Effects of 
 ing the better and nobler ages of the nations of „p„",hraca- 
 classical antiquity in awakening just and fitting''™'" .^'"''y 
 conceptions of the general character and aims 
 of that life of science and thought which it is 
 the purpose of the University to organize and 
 
 *) Dial, de Orat. §. 32. 
 **J Dial, de Orat. §. 35. 
 
— 182 — 
 
 perpetuate, the actual existence of academic in- 
 stitutions in the distinct and specific form they 
 historically assume is emphatically due to the 
 political ascendancy finally achieved by Chris- 
 tianity. Full of interest and lasting instruc- 
 tion as are the records of the learned life of 
 antiquity the intellectual .culture of that period 
 depended for its existence far more upon the 
 impulse communicated by individuals, and had 
 not within itself those seeds of endless progress 
 and unfading youth which a heavendescended 
 doctrine has implanted in the civilization of mo- 
 dern Europe. The profoundly ethical spirit of the 
 new creed — the deeper and more vital grounds 
 upon which it based all the special duties of 
 life caused the truths of Christianity to become 
 inseparably intwined with the roots of politi- 
 cal and social organization. Again, in virtue of 
 its character as a system of religious Ideas va- 
 riously revealed in history, in sacred text books, 
 and in the lives and writings of a long succession 
 of semi-inspired men, speculation and learning 
 became the twin pillars of the faith so essen- 
 tially bound up with all social order. The acknow- 
 ledgement of Christianity as the religion of the 
 state in creating a demand for knowledge ab- 
 solute and historical far more vast and constant 
 
than had arisen from the spontaneous striving 
 after enlightenment of a noble and intellectual- 
 ly gifted people established the existence of 
 the institutions intended to meet those higher 
 wants upon a basis infinitely broader and more 
 enduring than they had ever previously occupied. 
 From being the luxury and charm of existence, 
 the 'liberalis oblectatio' of an elegant social circle, 
 scientific study assumed more and more the 
 character of an imperative national necessity. 
 A permanent organization was at once required 
 in order to maintain and advance the higher 
 intellectual culture necessary to the compre- 
 hension of a form of doctrine with which the 
 best interests of the state and the individual 
 were immediately involved ; and we find accord- 
 ingly that even in the failing energies of the 
 empire a degree of earnest attention was de- 
 voted by the state to the endowment and man- 
 agement of the schools of learning almost ex- 
 ceeding what we have noticed as recorded of 
 more prosperous times. Imperial edicts are 
 still extant regulating the minutest details of 
 the internal economy of the school of the Ca- 
 pitol,*) and symptoms of something even like 
 
 *) L. I. Cod. Theod. de stud. lib. tJrbis Eomae et 
 
— I>S4 — • 
 
 progress, at least in the comprehension of the 
 subject, are to be seen in a more decided dis- 
 position to give weight and emphasis to the prin- 
 ciple of professional study. In short the Uni- 
 versity, whose origin, as we have already 
 seen, was simultaneous with that of the pro- 
 fessional class, was amplified and confirmed 
 in its existence by the rise of the Christian 
 priesthood, and the more scientific character 
 assumed by legal, study in the later ages of 
 the Roman empire. 
 
 §. 45. Students before leaving the provinces 
 for Rome were obliged to obtain a written per- 
 mission from a magistrate in which their names, 
 ages, birthplaces &c. were distinctly specified. 
 On their arrival at Rome this paper was given 
 to the praefectus urbis, and afterwards to the 
 magister census. The latter enrolled the names 
 
 Constantinopol. quoted byHeerenGtesch. der class. Litt.ira 
 Mittelalter. I. p. 24. These enactments are considered 
 by Bernhardy (Grundriss der Rom. Litt. p. 91.) as hav- 
 ing originated quite as much in a spirit of despotic 
 jealousy, and an apprehension of academic tumults, as in 
 a paternal sollicitude for the welfare of the institution. 
 This conjecture receives some colour of probability from 
 the fact that students were strictly prohibited from re- 
 maining at this University beyond their twentieth year. 
 
of the various applicants in the album of the 
 University, and assigned to them their several 
 departments of study. To there they were 
 henceforward compelled strictly to adhere. *) 
 We are also informed that a record of the 
 proficiency of each student was sent in to 
 the government, in order that the latter might 
 thereby be guided in the selection of fit indi- 
 viduals for the public service.**) 
 
 §. 46. In the so-called Octagon or Tetradision Earliest the 
 founded by Constantino in the capital to which s'^oou' 
 he gave his name Theology received a preemin- 
 ence completely equivalent to that formerly ac- 
 corded to philosophy. Up to this period all 
 professional acquaintance with this most im- 
 portant subject had been obtained by means 
 the most scanty and irregular. Eminent fathers 
 and teachers of the church, by a practice re- 
 sembling that of the earlier philosophers of 
 
 *) Ut in primo statim profiteantur introitu quibus 
 potissimum studiis opeiam navare proponaut. Edict 
 quoted by Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. I. p. 75. 
 
 **) Simile.s autem breves ad seriuia mansuetudinis 
 nostrae annis singulis dirigantur quo meritis siugulorura 
 institutionibusque compertis utrum quandoque sint ne- 
 cessarii iudicemus. Edict quoted by Bulaeus Hist. Univ. 
 Par. I. p. 76. 
 
— 18b — 
 
 Greece, were wont to assemble around them a 
 small number of zealous and sympathising dis- 
 ciples to whom they communicated their con- 
 victions on the principles of Christian faith 
 and duty. Origen is especially mentioned as 
 one in whose case this mode of activity consti- 
 tuted the principal direction in which his ec- 
 clesiastical usefulness was manifested — and 
 Pamphilus of Caesarea, his adherent and per- 
 sonal friend, is said to have been the first who 
 established a regular theological school. *) The 
 bishops of the earlier church were in the prac- 
 tice of attaching to their persons a number of 
 youthful assistants, who thus served a species 
 of apprenticeship to the duties of the priest- 
 hood ; and this clerus, as it was technically call- 
 ed, became in many cases the training school 
 for aJi entire province. **) All the greatest 
 fathers of the church, Gregory of Nazianzus, 
 Chrysostom, and Augustine strenuously and 
 vehemently insisted upon the necessity of a 
 learned preparation for the duties of the sacer- 
 dotal office.***) In the course of time theolo- 
 
 *) Neander Ch. Hist. 11. 497. 
 **) Neander Ch. Hist. III. p. 213. 
 ***) Neander Ch. Hist. III. p. 211. 
 
gical seminaries seem to have grown up in the 
 neighbourhood of the chief learned institutions 
 of the day. The first of which mention is made 
 is that of Alexandria. It is a remarkahle, and 
 significant circumstance that the same city which 
 had first given form and exactness to critical 
 philology, and which at a subsequent period had 
 been distinguished as thp home and centre of 
 Neoplatonic philosophy became in a similar man- 
 ner the birth place of Christian theology. *) In 
 consequence of the high tone of intelligence 
 generally diffused throughout the population of 
 Alexandria by means of the learned institutions 
 for which the place was celebrated it was found 
 necessary in appointing the catechist, or per- 
 son designed to instruct converts, and prepare 
 the young for full admission to the church, to 
 select an individual of cultivated mind, and 
 high literary attainments.**) Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus, the instructor of Origen,***) is de- 
 scribed by Neander as being the first who in a 
 deep conviction of its necessity conceived the 
 design of investing Christian doctrine with the 
 
 *) Neander Ch. Hist. II. p. 227. 
 **) Neander Ch. Hist. II. p. 225. 
 ***) Photius Biblioth. 
 
— 188 — 
 
 conclusiveness and precision of a strictly scien- 
 tific study.*) 
 
 *) Biblical criticism was soon felt to be the basis 
 of all sound and scientific theology. The absolute ne- 
 cessity of the profoundest erudition to every one who 
 aims at an intellectual apprehension of Christian doe- 
 trine is emphatically dwelt upon by all the most eminent 
 fathers of the church. St. Basil recommends the study 
 of the ancient classics as the best introduction to' 
 the spirit and meaning of Christianity ( Grafenhahn 
 Gesch. der class. Phil. III. p. 16.). Clemens Alexan- 
 drinus not only maintained opinions identically the 
 same with reference to their general utility in this 
 respect (Strom. I. p. 360. Potter) , but regards the philo- 
 sophy of the ancients as furnishing a dialectic panoply 
 against the attacks of sophists and cavillers (id. p. 377.). 
 He maintains moreover that moral goodness is hardly 
 conceivable unless in conjunction with some degree of 
 intellectual insight (p. 343.): that knowledge is neces- 
 sary for the interpretation of the sacred word; (p. 342.) 
 and that any deficiency in this respect proportionally 
 paralyzes the power of Christianity (p. 453.). He further 
 insists that all. wisdom is from God; that the infinitely 
 varied forms of science all tend to the one highest 
 knowledge; (ibid.) and that the wisdom of the heathens, 
 though di6fering in form from Christianity, coincides with 
 it in spirit and in truth (si ncei dXlijloig dvofioioi, slvai 
 So-KOvdiv , Tip ysvst ys %al oij? Tji dXTj^Bia ofioXoyovvrat ■ 
 rj yocQ ag jjbiXog, rj mg ftf'goff ij' aig sISog rj ag yhog dg £» 
 evvsnstav • tjStj ds iial rj vtcccttj svavxia rf/ vedty ovoa, 
 
§. 47. The University established by Con- xetradision of 
 stautine was mainly instituted with a view to ""opU. ' 
 theological study,*) though enjoying also the 
 highest reputation for eminence in philosophy 
 and jurisprudence.**) Here also as in the acade- 
 mic schools of earlier antiquity instruction was 
 communicated in the usual propaedeutic sub- 
 jects composing the Trivium and Quadrivium. 
 The body of teachers consisted of twelve regular- 
 ly ordained priests {oIkov^evi,koi) under the su- 
 
 al)! afitpca ccqiiovlk fiLa' svtsixql&iiolso aQViog rm nSQixta 
 Siatfiqstai, oiioXoyovai S' a/^cpca zij ccQi&jiriTLKfi - >- - ciraQ 
 %ai iv T<p MOfff^Qj Tiavrl ra iiSQrj avfiTiavta %dv SiacpsQTjtai 
 TtQOg ai,X7jla triv Ttqog to ot-ov olKSiOTrjTa Siaifivla-ixH. 
 p. 349.) 
 
 *) Grafenhahn Gesch. der class. Phil. III. p. 30. 
 **) Bernhardy Gr. der Gr. Litt. I. pp. 440. 449. Its 
 greatest celebrity as a school of law dates in all probahi- 
 llty 'from a pei'iod considerably later than that treated 
 of in the text, and when much of what is there described 
 had undergone very considerable alterations. In the 
 reign of Theodosius II. (A. D. 425.) the school of Con- 
 stantinople seems to have been transformed into a coun- 
 terpart of that of the Capitol. We find it described as 
 containing 28 teachers of Greek and Latin literature. 
 1 philosopher, and 2 jurists. (L. 3. C. Th. de stud, 
 liberal, urbis Eomae et Constant. 14. 9. cited by Sa- 
 vigny Gesch. des E. R. I. p. 4B0.) 
 
— J au — 
 
 pervision of a rector, or president (oixovfisvixos 
 8i8a0xalos). The last mentioned office- was 
 naturally regarded as a post of the highest 
 dignity and honour. It conferred the rank of 
 privy councellor of the empire, and led imme- 
 diately to an archbishopric or the patriarchate. 
 choois §. 48. The primary importance thus assigned 
 jntt- to the highest of all professions in the Univer- 
 =""'' sity of Constantinople soon drew after it the en- 
 tire adoption of the same principle of academic 
 study in the school of Rome. In the establish- 
 ment of both these institutions political motives, 
 and a regard for the interests of the state seem 
 to have weighed largely with their imperial 
 founders. The paramount necessity on public 
 grounds of providing for the presence of a 
 clergy qualified by the highest degree of learn- 
 ing and intelligence to maintain their position, 
 as instructors of the people has been already 
 alluded to. Next in importance to the priesthood 
 stood the class of public officials, to which in a 
 despotism so strongly centralized as that of the 
 later empire all the particular and ordinary 
 functions of government were necessarily in- 
 trusted. To every one who intended to follow 
 the career of the public service an acquaintance 
 with the legal system which it woiild be, his 
 
future duty to interpret and apply was of course 
 preeminently indispensable.*) We find accord- 
 ingly that the school of the Capitol, which had 
 been originally established for the purpose of 
 providing the state with a class of able and 
 well educated officials, received under Theodo- 
 sius the completion of its design in the appoint- 
 ment of two professors (antecessores)**) of Ro- 
 man law. ***) This circumstance seems to have 
 given this institution a certain priority of rank 
 over those schools which existed in other parts 
 of the empire. Rome is invariably mentioned 
 as the resort of all persons in the provinces 
 who were desirous of obtaining a systematic 
 acquaintance with legal studies, f) This super- 
 iority was confirmed by Justinian, who in the 
 sixth century suppressed all schools of law with 
 the exception of Rome , Constantinople and Be- 
 rytus. The same measure was completed in 
 its efi'ects by the withdrawal of the salaries hi- 
 therto paid to the philosophers and grammarians 
 
 *) Liban. Ep. 1016. 
 
 **) Equiyalent to the nqosaTcoTsg , or ngOTiyovfisvot of 
 the Athenian schools. 
 ***) Heereu Gesch. der class. Litt. im Mittelalter. I. p. 26. 
 f) Savigny Gesch. des Rom. Rechts im Mittelalter. 
 I. p. 460. 
 
lyz 
 
 of Athens.*) The University of that city as 
 established by Hadrian and Aurelian, though 
 severely shaken by the incursion of the Groths 
 in the middle of the third century, had, as we 
 have already seen from Libanius, in a measure 
 recovered its former prosperity. The salaries 
 of its professors, which had been interrupted 
 under the Christian Emperors, were afterwards 
 renewed through the liberality of private bene- 
 factors.**) Under Justinian however the schools 
 of Athens were finally closed, and those of its 
 instructors who persisted in their adherence to 
 the ancient faith were compelled to seek an 
 asylum at the court of Chosroes king of Per- 
 sia. ***) Berytus had for more than a century 
 and a half before the reign of Justinian at- 
 tracted large numbers of students in conse- 
 quence of its renown as a school of jurispru- 
 dence, f) and the importance assigned to tlie 
 
 *) Heeren Gesch. der class. Litt. im Mittelalt. Pro- 
 copius Hist. Arcana quoted by Zumpt fiber den Bestand 
 der philosoph. Schulen in Athen. p. 37. 
 **) Wyttenbach ad Eunap. p. 45. 
 ***) Heeren Geschiche der class. Philol. im Mittelalt. 
 p. 63. 
 
 t) Libanius Ep. 1123. The writer, in another letter 
 (1555.) speaks of the fees at Berytus as berng- extra- 
 
study of Roman law in the Basilica, or Capi- 
 tolium of Constantinople is attested in the poems 
 of the epigrammatists of the day. *) 
 
 §.49. Fortunately for the best interests of man- Rule of the 
 kind the -wise and humane rule of the Ostrogoths n^i^^asV" 
 long ensured to the learned institutions of Italy '''='*s "P"" 
 
 I'll nil learning-. 
 
 a happier lot than seems generally to have be- 
 fallen those of the eastern empire. Even the 
 rudest infancy of the Germanic nations is dis- 
 tinguished by qualities the very reverse of 
 those which characterize the genuine barbarian. 
 The simple vigour and pregnancy of moral 
 meaning in their social life and national insti- 
 tutions had long before caused them to be 
 studied with deep interest and sympathy by 
 one of the noblest of the Romans. **) In the 
 
 Vagantly high but as compensated hy the career opened 
 to those acquainted with Roman law. 
 *) Anthol. III. 139. Jacobs. 
 
 **) The marked and peculiar fondness for the sub- 
 ject with which Tacitus lingers over all his descriptions 
 of the characteristic features, and nascent institutions of 
 the Germanic nations was very far from originating, as 
 is sometimes supposed, in any disposition to exalt the 
 itnaginary virtues of the savage state over those of 
 civilized life. It is a mistaken theory which would im- 
 pute to so thorough a specimen of the matured judgment 
 
 13 
 
— 194 — 
 
 present instance their reverential susceptibi- 
 lity for all that contained the grounds of thought 
 and inward vitality marked them out as the 
 people peculiarly destined to reillumine the 
 world, and in new and characteristic forms to 
 resuscitate the sublimest aims and energies of 
 antiquity. Not only had the Goths accepted 
 
 of a people cast in the very sternest mould of manhood 
 the faintest tendency to that abject and disgusting dei- 
 fication of the semibestial varieties of mankind, of which 
 (a few sporadic cases excepted) none seem capable but 
 the most addleheaded and incurably crotchetty portion 
 of our own public. Tacitus, we fancy, would have haii 
 little reverence for Jean Jacques Rousseau, and still 
 less for the orators and audiences of Exeter Hall. His 
 love and sympathy with the childhood of the Germanic 
 races may be compared — mutatis mutandis — with the 
 almost patriotic admiration and enthusiasm which renders 
 Polybius the most eloquent, as well as the most accurate 
 of Roman historians. Even the unbelieving author of 
 the 'Decline and Fall' seems to have been moved to a 
 momentary forgetfulness of the mean scepticism which 
 then passed for philosophy by the simple and heroic 
 virtues of the bold, yet gentle and deepsouled Germanic 
 race. Few passages in his great work are more agree- 
 ably written, and do him greater honour as a historian 
 and as a man than that in which he treats of the cha- 
 racter of the ancient Lombards , as exemplified in the 
 story of Autharis and Theudelinda (Vol. VIII. c. 45.) 
 
— 195 — 
 
 Christianity with surprising facility and readi- 
 ness, but the abstruse and intricate studies of 
 biblical criticism had been entered upon by 
 their clergy at an incredibly early period,*) 
 In Italy the University of the Capitol' seems to 
 have been an object of peculiar care to the 
 princes of the Ostrogoths. From the violent con- 
 vulsions by which the empire had long been 
 shaken to its foundations, and the perpetual 
 transference of the sovereign authority from 
 one illiterate invader to another, the mainten- 
 ance and supervision of this school seems to 
 have lapsed into the hands of the senate , in a 
 manner analogous to what had always been the 
 case with similar institutions in provincial towns. 
 In a rescript of Athalrich quoted by Heeren**) 
 the senate is called upon to take such measures 
 as should secure to every teacher in the schools 
 of liberal arts, whether grammarian, rhetorician, 
 or jurist the enjoyment of the salary of his 
 predecessor without diminution; and also to 
 guarantee to all such individuals the possession 
 
 *) Neander Ch. Hist. III. p. 182. 
 
 *«) Gesoh. der class. Litt. im Mittelalt. I. p. 68. See 
 also CresoU. Theatr. Ehet. IV. 3. and Savigny Gesch. 
 des E. R. im Mittelalt. I. p. 460. 
 
 13* 
 
— 196 — 
 
 of their appointments as long as they continued 
 capable of discharging their duties with ef- 
 ficiency. In a subsequent portion of this edict 
 it is further ordained that the payment of such 
 officials shall take place at half yearly inter- 
 vals; "ne cogatur de alieno pendere fastidio cui 
 piaculo est horarum aliquo vacasse momento.'' 
 Vestiges of higher learning, which existed most 
 probably in some distant connexion with this 
 school, occur in Kome so late as the age of 
 Gregory the Great (A. D. 590—604.). 
 
 nces §. 50. The principle of academic education 
 mic °^^ exemplified in the Universities of modem 
 of an- Europe is accompanied with much less of what 
 , of is ambiguous and perplexing than during the 
 limes. pgj,JQ^ of -which we have hitherto treated. The 
 social importance and distinctness of position 
 attained by the priesthood and clerisy natural- 
 ly contributed to give a corresponding prom- 
 inence and precision of outward form to those 
 learned institutions upon which their existence 
 so mainly depended. In the antique world, 
 ^moreover, from the universal prevalence of a 
 very high degree of civilization, the learned 
 class did not stand out in any remarkably strong 
 contrast to the rest of society. Higher schools 
 
— 197 — 
 
 arose in every city of importance, and in most 
 instances attracted notice rather in conse- 
 quence of peculiarities which they presented 
 when compared with other institutions of the 
 same kind than as distinguished from the ge- 
 neral condition of the world around them. 
 The tendency of ancient learning was towards 
 the widest distribution. It came to the sur- 
 face easily and everywhere as the manifes- 
 tation of a mental habitus completely per- 
 meating the whole social system. No pressure 
 from withovit occasioned that coalition and com- 
 bination of learned interests which we notice in 
 the Universities of early modern Europe. Few 
 circumstances could well be adduced which more 
 closely exhibit how faint was the line of dis- 
 tinction separating the learned body from the 
 mass of the community than the existence of 
 the class of itinerant sophists (TtkavTJTai.) parall- 
 el to those who occupied chairs in the Uni- 
 versities (orciSiKLOt). The former travelled about 
 from city to city lecturing upon subjects ap- 
 parently identical In nature with those which 
 entered into the regular course of academic 
 teaching. Even professors of jurisprudence 
 are said to have imparted instruction in the 
 
-^ 198 — 
 
 same peripatetic manner. This practice was 
 put an end to by Justinian. *) 
 Causes ot the §. 51. Jn the Condition of society which 
 
 uioi'e strictly . t i i i . r j -n 
 
 defined cor- cxistcd throughout the nations ot western JiiU- 
 poraieorg-ani-j.^ after the fall of the Roman Empire this 
 
 zalion of the ^ . ^ 
 
 Universities statc of things was in every respect complete- 
 
 of the middle t t rpi j. Jl i? a.7 
 
 ly reversed, ihe extreme rudeness ot the 
 great body of the population caused those 
 ■who possessed any share of enlightment to 
 stand out in the boldest relief from the rest 
 of the community , and to rank almost as a 
 superior order of beings amongst their contem- 
 poraries. The hopeless isolation to which the 
 individual scholar found himself condemned 
 in the coarseness and barbarism by which he 
 was surrounded naturally compelled those who 
 were possessed by higher impulses to seek each 
 other's society with the instinctive eagerness 
 of actual self preservation. Knowledge in the 
 ordinary circumstances of the times had become 
 so little less than impossible that active and 
 aspiring minds of every type and description 
 drawn together from all quarters by an affini- 
 ty infinitely deeper and more powerful than 
 that of the forces of material nature around 
 
 *) CresoU. Theatr. Rhet. III. 
 
— 109 — 
 
 some common rallying point, where sympathy, 
 assistance, and intellectual advancement could 
 be looked for.*) The vast extent and unanim- 
 ity of the movement which then set in towards 
 new centres of spiritual life is especially evi- 
 dent in the marvellous blending of national 
 differences which we notice in the great uni- 
 versities of those ages. Oxford, to be sure, 
 gives the most decided proof of English pith 
 and spirit in the vigour and effect with which 
 it threw itself into all questions of enlarged 
 and national import. Paris on the other hand 
 is simply the all embracing school of the one 
 universal church; and exhibits not a trace of 
 the distinctive peculiarities of the people in 
 whose midst it was established. Its most il- 
 lustrious personages are almost invariably Ger- 
 mans, Englishmen, or Italians. Scarcely a 
 single Frenchman is mentioned in the long list 
 of renowned Doctors who have rendered it 
 eternally famous. It is not until the depar- 
 
 *) Savigny Gescli. des E. E. im Mittelalter III. p. 139. 
 The diametrically opposite character of Monachism in 
 the eastern and western empires arising from causes 
 similar to those above mentioned has been pointed out 
 by Guizot in his Histoire de la civilization en France I. 
 p. 405. 
 
— 200 — 
 
 ture of its ancient glory and importance tlia,t 
 a predominance of French feeling and modes 
 of thought begins to be perceptible.*) 
 
 §. 52. This secession of the sons of light had, 
 of course, in accordance with the downright, 
 healthy, unaffected nature of those days , quite 
 as much of hatred as of love in it. Their 
 strength of fraternal affection for each other 
 was one with the heartiest antipathy and con- 
 tempt for the grosser elements with which they 
 had parted company. No where in the ancient 
 woi-ld , unless perhaps in the records of the old 
 Pythagorean bond, do we meet with any traces 
 of that inextinguishable hostility between town 
 and gown which forms so prominent and cha^ 
 racteristic a feature in the academic history of 
 modern Europe.**) In Athens, as we have 
 
 *) Eitter, Geseh. der christl. Phil. III. 
 **) With the exception perhaps of Athens, which seems 
 during the 4* century to have been a sort of scholastic 
 Donnybrook fair , Oxford in the most flourishing period 
 of its history stands quite without a rival in the re- 
 cords of academic turbulence. Constant affrays between 
 the antagonistic nationalities of north and south Eng- 
 lish , outbursts of impatience against unpopular men in 
 authority, and pugilistic encounters between Nominalists 
 and Realists, in which, by the bye, the contending dialec- 
 ticians succeeded in taking their will of each other far 
 
— 201 — 
 
 already seen, the magistrates participated in 
 the patronage of the University, and, according 
 
 more effectually than in their attempts to grapple in the re- 
 gion of pure metaphysics , lent a due admixture of comic 
 vivacity and variety to the more serious teuour of or- 
 dinary University existence. Above all the clerks of 
 Oxford , though the favourites of the nation generally, 
 seem to have been on anything but good terms with 
 their immediate neighhours of the town. "We can well 
 imagine that, feeling all the conscious importance belong- 
 ing to the sole proprietors of intelligence and refine- 
 ment, they were at no pains to conceal the most super- 
 cilious disdain for those who figured in their eyes as the 
 representatives of the opposite tendency. As the former 
 happened moreover to be bachelors for the most part , the 
 frivolous propensities incident to that uneasy condition 
 could not but give frequent occasion for grounds of far more 
 deadly offence. Old father Chaucer in some of his best and 
 broadest stories (the Milleres tale, and the Eeves tale for 
 instance) furnishes.but too much reason to conclude that 
 the ' domestic felicity ' of Oxford aldermen was often most 
 grossly invaded. Terrific town and gown riots ensued, 
 many of them assuming the form and proportiions of pitched 
 battles, and terminating with a list of killed and wounded 
 which need not fear comparison with any Parisian emeute 
 of the present century. On these occasions the tocsin for 
 the gownsmen rang from the tower of St. Mary's, and 
 a rising en masse of the peasantry of the whole coun- 
 tryside ('a numberless multitude of country clowns') in 
 some measure counterbalanced the weUknown prowess in 
 arms of these redoubtable disciples of the church mi- 
 
— 202 —^ 
 
 to Suidas *), regularly kttended the opening lec- 
 
 litant. Another fertile source of academic disorder in 
 Oxford arose out of the presence of a parasitic colony 
 of Hebrews, who had been attracted to the University 
 by the general youth and inexperience of its members. 
 Kapidly accumulating arrears of pecuniary villany had 
 swift and sudden justice meeted out to them in the 
 shape of a sound cudgelling vigorously inflicted upon 
 the whole of this respectable community. Personal 
 indignities the Israelites would make very light of, 
 and even severe bodily illusage probably occasioned less 
 anguish than the merciless fines by which, it would 
 appear, such an adventure was commonly concluded. 
 In grave Bologna this last part of the proceeding was 
 so highly approved of as to be thought worthy of being 
 reduced to a system. The Jews were annually mulcted 
 in certain moneys which served to defray the expenses 
 of an excellent dinner at which the assembled University 
 was entertained. A Jew was regarded not only as an 
 abominable 'dun', but as an unclean beast into the bar- 
 gain. Whatever may be thought of ttis estimate of the 
 character of our newly discovered Arabians , supported, 
 as it is , by the consensus gentium of some eighteen 
 hundred years, there is no lack of evidence to show 
 that our sturdy ancestors were not so regularly in the 
 wrong on these occasions as their oldwomanish des- 
 oendants_ are in the habit of assuming. That in a usu- 
 rious point of view the Jews had little to complain of 
 is evident from a law of Henry III. (1248) , in which it 
 is kindly enacted that no Jew shall exact from a scholar 
 interest to the amount of more than 40 percent. 
 *) s. 'TnatCa. 
 
^ _ 103 — 
 
 tures of the professors of philosophy, a practice 
 imitated in the case of Hypatia by those of 
 Alexandria also. The senate of Antioch was, 
 according to Libanius , like an assemblage of 
 regularly trained sophists.*) In Bologna on the 
 other hand no scholar who was a native of the 
 town was permitted to -vote in the assembly of 
 the University or hold academic office. The same 
 rule prevailed in Padua with reference to na- 
 tives of the town and Venetians. The law school 
 in Bologna was many times in danger of com- 
 plete downfall in consequence of feuds with the 
 town.**) On these occasions the scholars shook 
 off the dust from their feet and walked forth 
 from amongst the 'ignobile vulgus' swearing 
 by all that was high and sacred never again 
 to be contaminated by their company. ***) The 
 
 *) 'AvTioxiv.6s p. 3L7. 
 
 **) Savigny Gescli. des E. R. im Mittelalter. III. 
 p. 160. 
 
 ***) 'This story I could not without guilt of concealment 
 let pass, because thereby might be beheld the constancy 
 of the academicians in those times in revenging affronts 
 and abuses done to any of their party. They were always 
 so zealous in that matter that, they would have justice 
 done them, or else be gone, as from various instances 
 -will appear, especially in that of Robert Wells, a crafty 
 veterano, Baillive of Northgate Hundred' in the suburbs 
 
— 204 — 
 
 commercial consequences of this measure spee- 
 dily brought their adversaries to reason, upon 
 which a dispensation from the oath had to be ob- 
 tained from the Pope. When a reconciliation 
 was finally brought about the privileges of the 
 University were generally confirmed, or even 
 farther enlarged.*) 
 
 of Oxford. For the . truth is he did in such measure 
 confront and nose them in relation to theii' liberties in 
 that Hundred that they seriously vowed before Almighty 
 God that all scholastic exercises should cease , their 
 school doors he shut up , and their hooks be flung away, 
 unless he was punished according to his crimes. And 
 as they vowed so their desires came to pass, though not 
 to the content of all. ' (A Wood on the riot of 1248 in 
 the Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I. p. 238.) 
 
 *) The extraordinary reverence with which the Uni- 
 versity was then regarded, and the deference which the 
 loftiest and most absolute temporal powers rendered to 
 its authority may be seen in the fact that Henry H. of 
 England proposed to refer the points at issue between 
 himself and Becket to the decision of the University of 
 Paris , as represented in the Nations , or widest assem- 
 blage of the academic body. Deputies from the same 
 University sat in 1588 in the parliament at Blois amongst 
 the estates of the realm. Nor does the University ap- 
 pear to have been in the least disposed to regard these 
 tokens of respect as arising out of any stretch of cour- 
 tesy , or as at all in excess of its actual and proper 
 
— 205 — 
 
 §. 53. Sentiments of this description soon universUy 
 found expression in a system of forms and or- 
 dinances serving to mark the "existing separa- 
 tion more strongly, and to awaken a more vivid 
 consciousness of the difference between the life 
 of the academic body and that of common men. 
 The University thus acquired an intensity of 
 
 merits. Savigny tells us that the University of Paris 
 in particular not unfrequeutly carried its just sense of 
 its own dignity to a perfectly intolerable pitch of pride 
 and arrogance. On the slightest suspicion of an in- 
 fringement of its priviledges the most high handed 
 measures were resorted to. A universal strike of learned 
 labour , with threats of departure to another town , was 
 followed by commotions of the populace which the 
 government was fain to appease by such concessions as 
 the learned body was pleased to express itself satisfied 
 with. Savigny goes on to remark that " what rendered 
 the University of Paris especially powerful, nay positively 
 formidable was its poverty. The University itself, the 
 faculties, the Nations were one arid all of them poor, 
 and even the Colleges , though burdened with many ex- 
 penses could by no means be described as wealthy. The 
 University did not possess So much as a building of its 
 own, but was commonly obliged to hold its meetings in 
 the cloisteur of friendly monastic orders. Its -existence 
 and power thus assumed a purely spiritual character, 
 and was rendered permanently independent of the tem- 
 poral authority." (Gesch, des R. E. im Mittelalter. III. 
 p. 319.)' 
 
— 206 — 
 
 internal unity , and a distinctness of corporate 
 organization infinitely beyond anything with 
 which antiquity was acquainted. Nor was the 
 consecration by which the student was formally 
 set apart to a nobler and higher mode of ex- 
 istence confined to the early period of his aca- 
 demic course. The investure with a diploma 
 and degree*) at the termination of his scho- 
 
 *) The precise time at which academic degrees were 
 first taken is involved in much obscurity. Wood men- 
 tions (Hist, and Autiq. of Oxford I. p. 50.) that St. Johli 
 of Beverley (A. D. 680) was commonly reported to have 
 been the first who held the degree of Master of arts at Ox- 
 ford. The same writer informs us that this degree had be- 
 come common in the reigns of John and Richard I. Accord- 
 ing to Bulaeus (Hist. Univ. Paris 11. pp. 256. 679. sqq.) 
 academic degrees were first instituted at Bologna. The 
 forms designative of the various orders of academic 
 dignity in that University are. stated to have been the 
 Baccalaureatus , Licentiatus , and Doctoratus. Of these 
 the last two were probably equivalent to the degrees 
 of the magister incipient, and magister socius , or regent 
 in Paris, Certain stadia, or successive courses of legal 
 study are said to have been in existence from the time of 
 Justinian, The five years devoted to the acquisition of 
 juristic knowledge were divided into the annl Justiniani, 
 Ediotales,Papinianistae, Lytae, andProlytae. The student 
 who had passed through all successively was described 
 as a Licentiatus, from the circumstance that he was consi- 
 
— 207 — 
 
 lastic career publicly attested his permanent 
 adoption into a distinct order of society, and 
 
 dered qualified to discharge the duties of an Antecessor, 
 or public professor of this subject. The practice adopted 
 in this respect by the schools of jurisprudence was af- 
 terwards transferred to theology at Paris by Peter Lom- 
 hardus. The name Bachelor is supposed by Maiden 
 (History of Universities and academic degrees p. 23.) 
 to have been borrowed from the terminology of the mi- 
 litary hierarchy of those ages, and to have denoted one 
 who had just entered upon a career of chivalry. The 
 Knight Bachelor (chevalier bachelier) fought merely in 
 his own person, while the Knight Banneret headed a 
 body of adherents who combated under his banner. 
 
 Bachelors are often styled scholars in ancient writers 
 (Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I. p. 59.), and the indivi- 
 dual invested with this degree was regarded as at the 
 utmost an imperfect graduate. At the same time, in ac- 
 cordance with the system of mutual instruction so tho- 
 roughly adopted in the schools of the middle ages , the 
 more advanced class of scholars were both encouraged 
 and commanded to perfect their own acquirements and 
 extend the educational influences of the University into 
 the minutest ramifications of the system by teaching and 
 catechising the junior members of their own body (Cre- 
 vier Histoire de I'universite' de Paris II. p. 160.). Bach- 
 elors though thus entrusted with certain tutorial functions 
 never possessed any of the legislative powers assigned 
 to the masters. 
 
 With reference to the term 'regent' previously em- 
 ployed in this note we will observe that it was incum- 
 
-, 208 — 
 
 designated liim as a member of a class whose 
 profession and avowed function in life consisted 
 in cultivating, applying, and communicating 
 knowledge in some one of its specific forms. The 
 degree admitted the graduate of the Universi- 
 ty amongst the body of 'magistri' (doctores) of 
 his own peculiar faculty, that is to say, recog- 
 nised him as competent to officiate in the ca- 
 pacity of a teacher of that branch of academic 
 learning which he had hitherto studied. This 
 division into certain professional faculties, so 
 called because represented by the body of in- 
 dividuals, each of whom had been invested with 
 the 'facultas docendi', is found in full existence 
 long before the Universities had arrived at the 
 acme of their importance. The University, as 
 Savigny observes, grew out of Theology and 
 Law in conjunction with Arts.*) The truth of 
 
 bent upon every individual who had taken the Masters 
 degree to begin (incipere), and for some time continue 
 to preside (regere) over a class in the University. After 
 having cbmpleted a course of public instruction he was 
 permitted to retire into the class of 'non regents', if so 
 disposed. Except in, very rare and exceptional cases, 
 non regent masters were excluded from all share in the 
 legislation and government of the University (Bulaeus 
 Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 420.) 
 
 *) See also BnUeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 507. In 
 
— 209 — 
 
 this observation is more than borne out by 
 the fact that the cathedral and abbey schools. 
 
 all assemblies of the University the scholars met on 
 the common ground of their studentship, or mastership 
 in Arts. A degree in this department constituted the 
 ■widest and most comprehensive category of the Univer- 
 sity student (A. WoodHist. and Antiq. of Oxford I. p. 55.). 
 ' The foundations of the University , according to Boua- 
 ventura , were laid in Arts. Law and Physics were the 
 walls, and Divinity the roof of the academic system' (id. 
 I. p. 57.). A degree in Arts was insisted upon as a 
 preliminary condition for all desirous of entering upon 
 the studies of the other Faculties (id. p. 64.). Although 
 the name of the Faculty of Arts was no doubt originally 
 suggested by those of Medicine Law and Theology (Cre- 
 yier histoire de I'universitd de Paris I. p. 99. note) the 
 importance of the first mentioned subject, as the primary 
 element of academic study, and its historical rank in the 
 genetic process of the principle of higher education was 
 attested in the part assigned to the representatives of 
 the Faculty of Arts in the public administration of the 
 University. The governing bodies in the academic state 
 of Paris consisted of two, to wit, the Nations with their 
 proctors, and the Faculties under their respective deans. 
 (Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. I. p. 250.). The Nations were 
 identical and coextensive with the faculty of Arts, the 
 only distinction being found in the fact that the former 
 term properly denoted all those members of the Uni- 
 versity who were registered in the same album, as liv- 
 ing under the same laws, observing the same usages on 
 the other hand and obeying the same head. The Fa- 
 
 14 
 
— 210 — 
 
 which contained the germs of the academic in- 
 stitutions of the north of Europe originated in 
 the very bosom of the church. The instruction 
 there imparted was designed with almost ex- 
 clusive reference to the wants of the priest- 
 hood, which constituted, not only the most ho- 
 
 ciilties on the other hand designated the hody of 
 masters who professed the same department of know- 
 ledge , without reference to national distinction. The 
 latter comprised only Doctors , the Bachelors and 
 Licentiates being included in the Nations, wherever, 
 namely they had promoted in Arts (Bulaetis Hist. 
 Univ. Par. III. p. 558.). The Faculty of Arts was for 
 a considerable time less distinctly represented as such, 
 because virtually- comprehending the whole University; 
 The importance of the former, as exhibiting the basis of 
 academic instruction , seems to have been further recog- 
 nised in the circumstance that in the assemblies of the 
 University it possessed four votes , one viz for each of 
 its component Nations, while the remaining faculties were 
 entitled Severally to but one (Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. 
 p. 566.). DubouUay aptly illustrates the respective posi- 
 tions of the Nations and the Faculties of Medicine, Law 
 and Theology by a comparison with the political con^ 
 stitution of Eome. Here was the whole community j he 
 remarks, distributed amongst three orders, the Senate, 
 Equites, and Plebs, while its suffrages were ultimately 
 taken for the most part according to the division intd 
 thirty two tribes in which all were included (Hist. Univ. 
 Par. III. p. 566.) 
 
— 211 — 
 
 npurable and important, but for many ages the 
 pnly known profession. The origin of the 
 faculty of theology in the person of Anselm of 
 Laudun, the preceptor of Abelard, gave, as Mai- 
 den justly observes,*) a new life to Paris, and 
 marks the virtual beginning of its University 
 existence. Up to this era it had ranked as a 
 mere cathedral school, inferior in celebrity and 
 importance to many similar institutions in the 
 provinces. **) There exists moreover abundant 
 evidence to prove that the type of higher educa- 
 tion set forth in the law professorships of the 
 metropolitan schools of the later Empire was 
 never wholly lost sight of in the deepest bar- ■ 
 harism of the period which intervened between 
 the decay of ancient arts and wisdom and their 
 glorified reappearance in the vaster forms of 
 modern civilization. An unbroken succession 
 is maintained from the schools just mentioned 
 until the appearance of the mediaeval Univer- 
 sities, and in every part of the chain we have 
 indisputable evidence of the existence of that 
 professional education which is so conspicuous 
 in their full maturity. Although, from the ex- 
 
 *) History of Universities and Academic degrees p. 7. 
 
 **) Crevier Histoire de I'Universit^ de Paris I. p. 111. 
 
 14* 
 
— 212 — 
 
 treme rudeness of the period, much of what was 
 merely elementary entered into the instruction 
 imparted in the schools of the earlier middle ages, 
 Law and Theology constituted the two main sub- 
 jects of ultimate study which invariably recur in 
 all the most distinguished learned institutions of 
 that epoch. The knowledge of both was almost 
 exclusively preserved amongst the clergy. Koman 
 law, as contained in works which stand in im- 
 mediate connexion with ancient literature , form- 
 ed one of the leading subjects taught in gram- 
 matical schools , and was doubtless imparted in 
 connexion with dialectics. It was owing to 
 their utility in this respect that Wipe exhort- 
 ed the Emperor Henry III. to establish similar 
 schools in Germany. At so early a period as the 
 end of the 7"^ century St. Bonitus of Auvergiie 
 is said to have been grammaticorum imbutns 
 initiis, nee non Theodosii edoctus decretis.*) In 
 A. D. 804. a school existing at York is described 
 by Alcuin where insti-uction was given in Gram- 
 mar Rhetoric and Law, and Lanfrancus (born at 
 Pavia in 1089.) is spoken of 'as ab annis pueri- 
 libus eruditus in scholis liberalium artium et 
 
 *) Savigny Gesch. des E. R. I. p. 465. 
 
— 213 — 
 
 tegum secularium ad suae morem patriae.'*) So 
 strong was the influence of the traditional type 
 inherited from the educational institutions of the 
 Roman empire that throughout the whole of 
 the middle ages jurisprudence was according to 
 Savigny one of the leading if not the chief 
 study cultivated in Universities.**) It was in- 
 deed often prosecuted to such an extent as to 
 threaten the very existence of the other aca- 
 demic faculties.***) Canon law formed an es- 
 sential part of the professional training of the 
 priesthood, and was regarded as the completion 
 of a course of theological study. We may 
 further mention that the corporate existence of 
 the several faculties is first attested by the 
 fact of their possessing public seals in 1170. 
 though we read of a decree in which mention 
 is made of the concurrence of the four faculties 
 in one common actf) at a full century pre- 
 
 *) Savigny Gesch. des R. E. I. p. 466. 
 **) Geschichte des E. E. im Mittelalter. 
 ***) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I. pp. 153. 
 151. 242. 304. Eoger Bacon assailed the value of the 
 Roman law as an element of University study, on the 
 ground of its passing no claim to universal authority. 
 Wood I. 152. 
 
 t) Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 567. Originally 
 
— 214 — 
 
 vious to this date. They do not appear how- 
 ever to have formally received a distinct posi- 
 tion until towards the middle of the IS**" centui^, 
 when the entire academic system of the middle 
 ages attained its noon in conjunction with the 
 matured perfection of the scholastic theology", 
 The mendicant monks by whom this study had 
 been prosecuted with extraordinary ardour, and 
 from whose midst the most eminent schoolmen 
 had proceeded, laid claim, with the support of 
 the Pope, to the right of holding the profes- 
 sorial appointments of the University. The 
 position of these orders, as heading the great 
 scientific movement of the age, would doubt- 
 less have at once entitled them to the privilege 
 to which they aspired, had not circumstances 
 existed which gave a peculiar and exceptional 
 character to their case. Their training was 
 not so much preeminently as exclusively theo- 
 logical to the signal neglect of that basis of 
 humanistic study upon which the University 
 has never failed to insist. They were unwil- 
 ling, and most probably, from the rules of 
 
 no doubt Masters of Arts communicated such rudimtnts 
 vt instruction as then existed on all these subjects. 
 (Maiden Hist, of Universities and academic degrees 
 i). 24. Bulaeus de Patron. 4. Nation. Univ. Par. p^ 2.) 
 
- 215'-^ 
 
 tjieir body, unable to submit to the exercises 
 of the preliminary stages of academic instruc- 
 tion. The fruits of their system may be seen 
 in the circumstance mentioned by Roger Bacon 
 4;hat in his day there were not four men of 
 learning to be met with who exhibited an ade- 
 quate acquaintance with grammar. The school- 
 men of the 12"> century had entered upon the 
 stimy of Latin litterature with lively activity 
 ..and interest. Grammar and Rhetoric had been 
 .jealously cultivated in conjunction with dia- 
 lectics, and the productions of these authors 
 ,give evidence of a by no means unsuccessful 
 attempt at combining some degree of elegance 
 and correctness of expression with accuracy 
 and fullness of thought. In the century of 
 .which we are now treating the divorce between 
 substance and the form of Philosophy was 
 complete. The writers of the period in which 
 the mendicant orders were supreme exhibit in 
 its harshest form that barbarous and uninviting 
 mode of exposition to which the scholastic 
 philosophy has been mainly indebted for the 
 neglect and oblivion into which it has subse- 
 quently fallen. Again, as representing the 
 monastic principle in its utmost force and in- 
 tensity, the mendicant monks were inevitably 
 
— 216 — 
 
 lead to aim at asserting a complete inSepeii' 
 dence of the jurisdiction of the University, and 
 to regard the welfare of this institution as 
 wholly subordinate 'to the interests of their 
 own order. The establishment of such an im- 
 perium in imperio called forth the most deter- 
 mined opposition on the part of the academic 
 body, which saw its own authority and the in- 
 terests of learning equally imperilled by the 
 aggressions of these restless and unscrupulous 
 precursors of the Jesuits. The long and violent 
 controversies which ensued seem merely to have 
 established by definite statutory enactments 
 what had all along been the tendency, if not 
 the actual usage of the University. The doc- 
 tors of theology were in the first place allowed 
 to form a distinct portion of the University. 
 Their example was soon followed by those of 
 Medecine and Canon law. Ultimately the Na- 
 tions recognized the same principle, and or- 
 ganized themselves as the Faculty of Arts. *) 
 The origin of this title is traced by Bulaeus 
 
 *) Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 357. Crevier 
 Histoire de I'Universit^ de Paris I. p. 466. 11. p. 55. 
 Savigny Gesch. dee R. R. III. p. 326. Baehringer die 
 Vorrefprmatoren des 14. und 15. Jahrh. p. 26. Eitter 
 Gesch. der Christl. Phil. III. 
 
— 217 — 
 
 to the circumstance that this department of the 
 University included an endless variety of sub- 
 jects, instead of being confined to professors 
 of a single study (ars), as was the case with 
 the other faculties.*) 
 §. 54. One of the earliest, . and most frequent- The univer- 
 
 •Tp- 1 "jji sities of the 
 
 ly recurring forms ot academic liie m the middle jij^idie ^^^^ 
 affes no less than in the times of classical an- 'i^voted their 
 
 o chief atten- 
 
 tiquity is that in which Universities ■ were tion to parti- 
 founded for the prosecution of some one par- ™^" J^^^^■'"'^ 
 ticular department of professional knowledge. 
 In the tenth century, or before the Norman con- 
 quest of England , Salerno was instituted solely 
 with reference to the cultivation of medical 
 science, and such was afterwards the case with 
 Montpellier also. Paris became peculiarly dis- 
 tinguished as the European metropolis of theo- 
 logical study. Bologna and the majority of the 
 Italian Universities enjoyed a corresponding 
 celebrity for profound acquaintance with th« 
 civil law. The Artistae, or members of the fa- 
 culty of Arts in Bologna, including in their 
 
 *) Propterea quod non unam Artem, itt caeterae fa- 
 cultates, quae uni duutaxat professioni addictae sunt, 
 sed ornnes indiscriminatim docendi et profitendi ius re- 
 tiuuerunt. (De Patronis 4. Nat. Univ. Par. p. 2.) 
 
— 218. — 
 
 number the Philosophi and Medici, or Physici, 
 were long not permitted to form a corporate 
 body (Universitas), and were always regarded 
 as subordinate to the jurists. In Padua on the 
 other hand the Medici predominated amongst 
 the Artistae, and the rector of the latter was 
 always a Medicus. *) Towards 'the end of the 
 fourteenth century the original system of in- 
 struction in Bologna was augmented by the 
 addition of a theological school. The extra- 
 neous and foreign nature of this adjunct was 
 attested in the fact of its being in all its de- 
 tails an exact copy of the University of Paris, 
 and forming an utter contrast to the admini- 
 strative arrangements of the institution to which 
 it was attached.**) 
 Influence of §. 55. So marked a predominance of the prin- 
 Greeks^^upon ^ipl® of profcssional study as we everywhere 
 the learning QQtice jq the Universities of early Christendom 
 
 of Vfestern . • i i • ii i ' -i 
 
 Europe. IS Unquestionably m no small degree to be at- 
 tributed to the influence and example of the 
 learned institutions of that fragment of the 
 Eoman empire which continued to keep alive 
 something of the traditions of antiquity until 
 
 *) Savigny Gesch. des R. E. im Mittelalter. III. p. ' 
 ■■*) Savigny Gesch. des E. E. III. p. 164. 
 
— 219 — 
 
 long after the mental life of modern times had 
 safely passed the ■worst perils of infantine 
 existence. Knowing, as we do, the extent 
 to which the art of western Europe received 
 its forms and bias from that of Byzantium, it 
 is difficult to believe that the Universities of 
 the Eastern empire did not equally serve as 
 models for institutions which were felt to 
 bear upon interests so vastly more important. 
 Nor does this conclusion rest upon grounds of 
 probability alone. In Hadrian and Theodore 
 we have instances of native Greeks appointed 
 to English archbishoprics*), and assembling 
 around them a body of disciples who doubt- 
 less perpetuated not merely the learning, but 
 also the forms and the method of instruction 
 preserved in the schools of the Byzantines. 
 Theodore, we are told, was a native of Tarsus,**) 
 and in all likelihood a graduate of the acade- 
 mic schools for which that city was so famous. 
 He is spoken of as one of the most learned 
 men of the age, and it is not, impossible that 
 
 *) Hallam hist, of the Litt. of Europe during the 
 middle ages pp. 88. 91. 
 
 **) Heeren Geschichte der class. Litt. im Mittelalter, 
 I. p. 88. 
 
— 220 — 
 
 the eminence in this respect which England is 
 subsequently described as maintaining was print 
 cipally due to bis exertions. England and Ita* 
 ly are mentioned as the only countries in the 
 western empire in which schools of higher 
 learning (universitates, studia generalia,*) aca- 
 demiae) existed before the time of Charlemagne, 
 The instruction communicated in the English 
 schools appears to have consisted of a com- 
 
 *) The term Universitas, according to Savigny, denoted 
 not the school as such, but in the true Eoman sense of 
 the word, the corporation to which the existence of the 
 school had given occasion. That this expression had no 
 reference whatever to instruction in the collective hody 
 of scientific subjects is evident from the fact that in 
 the schools of those times a universitas juristarum and 
 a universitas artistarum are repeatedly found existing 
 side by side. 
 
 As little is any such meaning to be be recognized in 
 the term studium generale often employed as an honou- 
 rable designation of the higher schools of learning. This 
 expression is found directly applied to a single faculty 
 (that of theology, for instance in the Bull of 1363.) 
 and merely had reference to the extensive aims and 
 influence of the University, as. an institution designed to 
 receive not only native but foreign scholars, and pos- 
 sessed of the right of creating doctors , whose character 
 and position would be every where recognized. (Ge- 
 schichte des E. E. im M. III. p. 380 sq.) 
 
— 221 — 
 
 bination of philological studies with theology. 
 In the institution established by Alfred at Ox- 
 ford three buildings were erected, one for twen- 
 ty grammarians, another for^ the like number 
 of philosophers , and a third for as many theo- 
 logians. So zealously was the study of Greek 
 prosecuted that Bede speaks of having met 
 with several of the disciples of Hadrian and 
 Theodore who spoke that language no less 
 fluently than English.*) 
 
 §. 56. That Roman law* was taught in the 
 schools afterwards met with in England is 
 evident from testimony already . adduced. Ad- 
 ditional proofs of the influence exerted by the 
 eastern empire upon the earlier mental culture 
 of modern Europe are fumisked in the history 
 of many of the most eminent individuals of 
 that period. John Scotus Erigena whose specula- 
 tions as expounded by Ritter and Neander sound 
 like a forecast of scholastic depth and inge- 
 nuity, and whose personal influence with Charle- 
 magne enabled him to give a decisive bent to 
 
 *) Heeren Gesoh. der class. Litt. im Mittelalt. I. 
 p. 167. See also A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxfdl-d 
 I. p. 34. where the number of each is stated at twen- 
 ty six. 
 
— 222 — 
 
 the nascent educational institutions o£ the Trans- 
 alpine continent is represented by tradition as 
 having studied in Grreece.*) Even so late as 
 the thirteenth century the same circumstance 
 is recorded of John of Basingstoke -the friend 
 of Glrosseteste. **) - The frequent fluctuations 
 and essays at intellectual progress which mani- 
 fest themselves in the history of an aera once 
 regarded as an homogeneous period of un- 
 broken spiritual night are at length beginning! 
 to be generally rec^nised. In the reigns of 
 Alfred, Charlemagne, and the German Othos, 
 the church gave tokens of a spirit not a little 
 resembling that which afterwards showed itself 
 in matured and irresistible vigour at the re- 
 formation. ***) True intellectual activity is 
 
 *) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. Cof Oxford I. p. 40. 
 Heereu Gesch. der class. Litt. im M. I. p. 170. 
 
 **) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I. p. 168. 
 Pauli Gesoli. von England HI. p. 854. 
 
 ***) Heeren Gesch. der class. Litt. im Mittelalt. I. 
 p. 123. The same period is remarkable as exhibiting a 
 powerful tendency to political organization. It is saga- 
 ciously observed by a German writer that, had the suces- 
 sors of Charlemagne been possessed of the ability re- 
 quisite for carrying out the traditional policy of their 
 dynasty, the world would in all probability have beheld 
 the rise of a sort of Caliphate of the west. 
 
— 223 — 
 
 ever accompanied by the liveliest susceptibili-t 
 ty to kindred influences from without, and the 
 temper of periods such as those headed by the 
 great princes above mentioned was peculiarly 
 favourable to an intelligent reception and study 
 of whatever remnants of ancient wisdom and 
 educational method still survived in the keeping 
 of the Byzantine Greeks. We read according- 
 ly that at this epoch, as at the revival of 
 letters in the fifteenth century, copies, of the 
 writings of ancient authors ('genuine or spurious) 
 were considered peculiarly acceptable presents 
 from the rulers of Constantinople to the so- 
 vereigns of the German empire. The Platonic 
 element, which, contrary to the notions prevalent 
 on the subject, so decidedly predominates in the 
 earlier philosophy of the schoolmen, is well 
 known to have been derived through the channel 
 of the Greek church.*) So ardent indeed was the 
 
 *) The Tiraaeus of Plato in the translation of Chal- 
 cidius was especially studied, and long continued the 
 main source from which the thinkers of the middle ages 
 derived their knowledge of Platonic philosophy. Abe- 
 lard seems to have been chiefly indebted to Macrobius 
 for such acquaintance as he possessed with this subject, 
 Traces of certain treatises of Plutarch are also met 
 with at this period. The writings of many of the Greek 
 
— 224 — 
 
 thirst for learning in the periods above mention- 
 ed that distance, national prejudice, and even 
 the fiercest animosity of religious fanatism were 
 made light of whenever a step in intellectual 
 advancement was to be gained. Irish and 
 Scottish monks were eagerly welcomed as the 
 instructors and civilizers of Germany and 
 France.*) The celebrated Gerbert, who after 
 having acted as the friend and tutor of the 
 emperor Otho the third was elevated to the 
 Papal chair (A. D. 999.) under the name of Syl- 
 vester the Second, spent a considerable portion 
 
 fathers were diligently studied; those more especially 
 of Origeu, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of 
 Nazianzus, Basilius, and in the 12tli century, the dogma- 
 tic system of Johannes Damasceuus. Amongst the Latin 
 fathers Augustin seems to have been the chief favourite. 
 
 The only portion of Aristotle's works with which the 
 schoolmen seem to have heen acquainted before the 
 middle of the 12"! century was that contained in the two 
 first books of the Organon, both of which they posses- 
 sed in translations. The knowledge of dialectics ob- 
 tained from this source was supplemented from Boethius. 
 In the beginning of the 13"i century the remaining writ- 
 ings of Aristotle became known, chiefly by means of 
 translations from the Arabic. Jews were employed in 
 preparing this versions. (Eitter Geschichte der Christ- 
 lichen Philosophic III.) 
 
 *) Neander church Hist. V. pp. 38. 58. 151. 
 
— 225 — 
 
 of his youth amongst the Moors in Spain,*) 
 whither he had betaken himself for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining an acquaintance with physi- 
 cal science, a branch of Aristotle's system to 
 which the Arabians had devoted an atten- 
 tion as exclusive as that which the schoolmen 
 bestowed upon his logical writings.**) Daniel 
 Morley or Merlac,***) a Master of Oxford, is 
 also recorded to have undertaken a pilgrimage 
 amongst the infidels in the latter half of the 
 twelfth century with the same object. The 
 knowledge thus acquired was at once caught 
 ip throughout Christendom, and made the basis 
 jf the studies of the faculty of medicine in the 
 University system. Not to dwell upon the re- 
 sults of individual zeal and activity, a constant 
 ■nterchange of opinion and feeling was main- 
 ;ained by the vast pilgrimages which formed so 
 
 *) Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 334. Heeren 
 Jesob. der class. Litt. im Mittelalt. I. p. 115. 
 **) See Eitter Geschichte der christlichen Pliilosopliie 
 II. p. 95. A school of Medicine, Philosophy and Mathe- 
 aatics existed in Bagdad, and according to Leo Africanus 
 fas attended by upwards of 6000 students. Similar in- 
 titntions flourished in Alexandria , and other cities of 
 he Saracen empire. Heeren I, p. 150. 154. 
 
 ***) A. Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford. I. p. 151. 
 
 15 
 
— 226 — 
 
 remarkable a feature in the religious life of those 
 times, and, in so far ,as intellectual interests 
 were concerned, a still more important channel 
 of communication kept open by the Recessions 
 which all along took place from the Greek comr 
 munion to that of the Latin church. *) In con- 
 sequence of the lasting and furious controversies 
 which raged throughout the Eastern section 
 of the Christian world on the subject of image 
 worship, monasteries of Greek monks were per- 
 petually maintained at Rome, and similar as- 
 sociations of religious refugees are met with 
 even as far north as Lothringia. **) Augustine, 
 the apostle of England, was selected by Gre- 
 gory the Great from a monastery of this des- 
 cription at Rome. 
 
 §. 57. The theory of an organic unity of suc- 
 cession in the various forms of academic life from 
 its first appearance in the times of classical an- 
 tiquity down to that period of the middle ages 
 in which it had developed its peculiarities in 
 their fullest integrity is further borne out by 
 
 *) Heeren Gesch. der class. Litt. im Mittelalt. I. 
 p. 349. 
 
 **) Heeren Gesch. der class. Litt. im Mittelalt. I. 
 p. 203. 
 
— 227 — 
 
 le extreme and minute coincidence observable 
 etween the internal economy of the Universi- 
 es of the eleventh and twelfth centuries with 
 lat which prevailed in the learned communities 
 f Athens and Alexandria. We have already 
 oticed how completely the features of collegiate 
 fe met with in the most perfect specimens of 
 le modern University are to be recognised in 
 le Museum of the Lagidae, itself doubtless an 
 xact and careful copy of the Academic and 
 'eripatetic societies in Athens. From the more 
 linutely detailed accounts which we possess 
 f the schools of Athens under the emperors 
 7e discover that the body of students as in 
 'aris, Oxford, and Bologna was distributed 
 imongst a certain number of nations,*) each 
 
 *) 'H (liv yccQ 'E(pa, Ka&daeQ ri yiqag, SitifpavCm eaiphg 
 lijgjjio • TTj* ds 'A^a^Cav dlrix^ diorpavxog, 'Hcpaietiav 
 IE KaxaSsiaag ilpoatpfetor aitijX&tv s| A9rjV(Sv zb v.ai 
 '.v&^amav. IJgoaiQeaio) Si^ d Tlovzog Slog kuI ra ixsivrj 
 tpoffoiHc Tovg biiiXriTocg aliinsfinsv , meiiiq ol%stov aya- 
 (■ov Tov avSqa '9'ofufiajoj^sg. TCQoacTB&Ti Se nal Bi,9vvia 
 cdea Kai 'EXltjanovTog, oaa vtcbq AvSi'ag Si.d trjg v.alov- 
 ihrig '"'"'" ■^''''''S f't' -ffKet""' ««' AvKLav TSivovra Tt^og 
 laficpvXiav Ktti tov Tavqov dtpOQt^STai,- Ai'yvitzog rs 
 tdna TTJs inl rotg Xoyoig dgx^g ^al kItjqov rjv oCusiog 
 tvzai, Kccl ooa vTcig Alyinxov iial itqhg Ai^vrjv avqoiiEva 
 
 15* 
 
— 228 — 
 
 TO T£ ayvmatov rsJ.og ?xsi y.al to olKijaifiov. Eunap. 
 vita Proaeresii. The ordinary number of nations ap- 
 pears from this passage to have been four, though two 
 seem occasionally to have been combined under a single 
 head. In the same manner the Jectures of Himerius are 
 said to have been attended by the Bithynians , Mysians, 
 Pergameans, Galatians and Egyptians (Orat. XXII.). The 
 four nations of the University of Athens are supposed 
 by Bulaeus to have been instituted in accordance with 
 the four praetorian praefectures into which the empire 
 was divided by Constantine (Hist. Univ. Par. I. p 251.). 
 
 The academic population of Paris was divided into 
 four nations, the French, English, Normans andPicards. 
 Under the French were included Spaniards, Italians and 
 Greeks.. Under the English were comprehended not only 
 all the nations of the British Isles but also Germans 
 and Scandinavians. Each nation had its own examiners, 
 beadles , register offices , archives, chapels, in short every 
 thing pertaining to the complete organization of a po- 
 litical body (Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 560.). The 
 scholars of Bologna were arranged according to the two 
 great divisions of Citramoutani and Ultramontani. The 
 former were distributed amongst seventeen, the latter 
 amongst eighteen nations. The number and names of 
 these divisions often varied according to the number of 
 students in each. Birth, not residence was considered in 
 making this distinction. The Germans enjoyed peculiar 
 privileges , on the other hand the natives of Bologna in 
 consequence of their connection with the antagonistic 
 element of the town were not permitted to form a nation 
 (Savigny Gesch. des Eom. Eechts im Mittelalter. III. 
 p. 170.) 
 
— 229 — 
 
 ruled and publicly represented by a proctor of 
 its own.*) A numerous body of sophists in 
 teaching the infinitely multifarious branches of 
 knowledge which were supposed to be required 
 by the perfect orator discharged functions in 
 the highest degree analogous, as we have alrea- 
 dy seen, to those of the magistri and doctores 
 of mediaeval Universities. The admission of 
 the student into the academic body took place 
 in both cases by means of a ceremony of ma- 
 triculation (TfAeTij),** which conferred the right 
 to the title of oxola6Ti%os ^ and the privilege 
 of assuming, as its symbol, the philosophic pal- 
 lium (tQC^cav) , or gown. By an usage followed 
 even now in many Universities , this dress was 
 modified by various diversities of shape and 
 colour, in order to mark the minor divisions 
 of the academic world. The gown of the Aca- 
 demicians is said to have been of a dark gray 
 
 *) The proctor^ acted first as the representatives of 
 the Kation to the world without , secondly as judges in 
 all cases of internal litigation, and lastly as the hankers 
 and trustees of those belonging to their respective na- 
 tions. (Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Paris I. p. 252.) The proc- 
 tors of Oxford were invested with authority over masters 
 and scholars alike. 
 
 **) Phot. Biblioth. p. 110. Hoesch. 
 
— 230 — 
 
 or russet colour (cpatog), resembling probably 
 that of the mantle worne by the Capucines of 
 the present day, the sophists on the other hand 
 were clad in robes of crimson, while the Stoics 
 and Cynics were distinguished by a double 
 gown of white possibly not unlike that after- 
 wards assumed by the order of Dominicans. 
 Contrary to the practice which at present pre- 
 vails in English Universities the academic dress 
 was worne not only during residence , but even 
 while absent in the provinces.*) The act of 
 matriculation consisted in a species, of lustral 
 bath, a form not improbably suggested in the 
 first instance by the religiously mystical mean- 
 ing associated with that ceremony. At its con- 
 clusion a fee of considerable amount was paid 
 to the principal sophists, who were herein said 
 to receive the price of the gown (dB%t0&ai t^v 
 row TQipavos a^iav) and the student was form- 
 ally enrolled (sviyQci^d'T]) in the books of the 
 University. **) A ceremony of initiation, though 
 differing in outward form from that of the period 
 we are now describing, seems from its travesty 
 in Aristophanes to have been known at the very 
 
 *) Liban. £^s Evard9iov rov Kccqcc. init. 
 **) Cresoll. Theatr. Ehet. III. 16. 
 
— 231 — 
 
 earliest times of sophistic history.*) The mode 
 of instruction in the Universities of Mediaeval 
 Europe seems to have been almost identical 
 with that which prevailed in all the learned 
 institutions of antiquity. The (is^srai, diaie- 
 ^sig, (ix£[JL(iara, i,v6£ts and imdsi^eiS) hy means 
 of which the sophists , grammarians , and philo' 
 sophers of classical times were trained to their 
 respective callings, find an exact counterpart in 
 the theses , exercises , and disputations of the 
 schools of the middle ages. 
 
 §. 58. We may farther remark before taking 
 leave of this portion of the subject that the 
 two great typical forms of the academic life 
 of earlier European history are exemplified in 
 Bologna and Paris, the one the fountain and 
 headquarters of legal knowledge, the other 
 maintaining a similar position with reference 
 to theology and philosophy. The former of 
 those institutions served as the model for the 
 
 *) Aristoph. Nub. 263 sijq.. 
 
 **) To the coincidences in externals above mentioned 
 we may add the hat or symbol of the masters degree 
 the origin of'which is no doubt indicated in the epigram 
 •where a grammarian dedicates the azsyavav v.QCCtbs 
 (Jacobs e conj. atiCTiavov) amongst other insignia of his 
 office (Anthol. II. p. 52. 2. Jacobs.) 
 
— 232 — 
 
 Universities of Italy, Spain, and France (with 
 the exception of Paris), the latter for those of 
 England and Germany.*) The Italian Uni- 
 versities approximated far more closely to the 
 external form and constitution of the Byzantine 
 schools, in so far as existing records enable us 
 to discover the peculiarities of the corporate ar- 
 rangements of the latter. This resemblance is 
 especially to be recognised in the fact that the 
 University of Athens seems like Bologna to 
 have been mainly an Universitas scholarium, 
 and not magistrorum as was the case with 
 Paris. In the last mentioned University the 
 corporation consisted simply of the order of 
 teachers, and the students were only noticed 
 as the subjects of the body politic. In Bologna 
 on the other hand the sovereign power was 
 entirely vested in the rector and consiliari, or 
 representatives of the Nations. The professors 
 were regarded merely as individuals hired for 
 the purpose of giving instruction to such of the 
 students as thought fit to combine for this pur- 
 pose. The former had no vote in the meetings 
 of the University, except in those cases where 
 they had previously held the office of rector, and 
 
 *) Savigny Gesch. des R. E. im Mittelalter. III. p. 124 
 
— 233 — 
 
 were not even allowed to absent themselves 
 from the town without the permission of the 
 academic authorities.*) In Athens both forms of 
 government seem in a measure to have existed 
 along side of each other. The appointments in 
 philosophy were filled up principally by the 
 vote of the diado%ri, a body apparently corre- 
 sponding to the masters of Oxford and Paris. **) 
 The sophistical chairs on the other hand are 
 invariably described as disposed of by the av- 
 ■d-Qtanoi xal vaoi, that is to say the citizens 
 of the town, and the students of the Univer- 
 
 *) The object of this apparently singular restriction 
 was to prevent popular and possibly restless professors 
 from betaking themselves to some of the other great 
 schools of the time, and attracting thither the floating 
 and unsettled portion of the learned body, a part of 
 the population of the ancient Universities which was 
 peculiarly large. 
 
 **) It is hardly necessary to observe that 'we are here 
 speaking of the usage of the philosophic sects When they 
 had already assumed the character of regularly organized 
 and permanently established corporations. In the earlier 
 stages of their history the head of the school named 
 at his own discretion the person whom he considered 
 best qualified to succeed in his stead. Compare with 
 reference to this point a very pleasing story in Aulus 
 Gellius Noct. Att. XIII. 5. 
 
— 234 — 
 
 sity.*) An eminent instance of this circumstance 
 we have already alluded to in the case of the 
 celebrated Gregory of Nazianzus upon whom 
 the scholars of sophistry are said to have con- 
 ferred the professorship of this subject.**) 
 A curriculum §. 59. Plain and unmistakeable as is the 
 study^!xuredP™™i'^®^*^® assigned in the best ages of Uni- 
 in the ancient yersity history to philosophic study exhibiting 
 
 Universities . , ^ • i i 
 
 and in tiioseitseli as a practical and creative energy m the 
 of iiie Middle ^g^j,jQ^g fo^mg gf professional life some difficulty 
 
 ag-es. ^ •/ 
 
 may be occasioned by the circumstance that the 
 plan of instruction which we have hitherto im- 
 pugned as essentially unacademic, that namely 
 in which the highest mental culture is sought to 
 be attained by means of a course of general sub- 
 jects, appears almost invariably associated with 
 the educational arrangements of such institutions. 
 The presence of the iyxvxha (itt&TJfiKta in con- 
 nexion with all the highest teaching of ancient 
 Greece, the Trivium and Quadrivium in the 
 schools of the later empire, and the studies of 
 the Faculty of Arts in the Universities of more 
 modern times may appear somewhat iiTeconcile- 
 
 *) Eimap. vit. Proaeresii. 
 
 **) Gregor. Presbyter. See also Gregor Nazianz. de 
 vita sua carmen p. 4. ed. MorelU, 
 
— 235 — 
 
 able with the historical claims of an exclusive- 
 ly professional scheme of University instruction. 
 
 §.60. The answer to this objection is suf- Explanation 
 ficiently obvious. Passing over the learned in- °^ "^'^ "'" 
 
 _ ^ ' cumstance, 
 
 stitutions of classical antiquity, whose looser 
 organization and less strictly defined precision 
 of outline has been already alluded to, we must 
 remember that in the earlier periods of Euro- 
 pean history the University did not, as at pres- 
 ent, denote merely the culmination of a system 
 of educational institutions. It comprehended 
 nothing less than the entire literary and scienti- 
 fic life of those ages from the humblest elements 
 of rudimentary study to the loftiest flights of 
 philosophic speculation, and united the functions 
 of the preparatory school with the activity and 
 influence which alone deserve to be regarded 
 as properly its own. An irresistible argument 
 in favour of thus engrafting upon the Univer- 
 sity a mode of education not strictly in ac- 
 cordance with its nature was no doubt derived 
 from the circumstance that even when schools 
 capable of affording the necessary amount of 
 preliminary instruction had began to come into 
 existence their connexion with the University 
 was too slight and ill defined for the purposes 
 of mutual cooperation. The advanced age more- 
 
— 236 — 
 
 over of a very large proportion of those who 
 became candidates for matriculation*) strongly 
 urged the necessity of a preparatory course in 
 immediate conjunction with the University. The 
 number of those who from poverty or other 
 unfavourable circumstances had been prevented 
 from obtaining in early life the requisite ac- 
 quaintance with elementary subjects, and had 
 subsequently embraced the resolution of quali- 
 fying themselves for a learned profession would 
 then be peculiarly large, while the want of 
 books constituted an insuperable obstacle in 
 the way of any attempt at making good their 
 deficiencies by means of private study. Such 
 persons even in acquiring the rudiments of 
 scientific knowledge required to be taught upon 
 a principle totally different from that which 
 is applied in imparting instruction to children, 
 and the University, which could not afford to 
 shut its doors upon the entire body of indigent 
 scholars, was obliged to retain permanently much 
 of the furniture of those inferior and collegiate 
 schools out of which it had in so many in- 
 stances itself originally grown. ♦ 
 
 *) Savigny Gesch. des E. B. III. p. 1S8. 
 
— 237 — 
 
 §. 61. In strict accordance with the prepar- Facuiiy or 
 atory and unacademic character of the instruc- ^'■''.^°"= 
 
 •^ subordinate to 
 
 tion it proposed to convey the Faculty of ArtsH'oseofTheo- 
 ■was not recognized as coordinate with those of °Medicinr 
 Theology, Medicine, and Law until the fifteenth 
 century, at which, period its studies began to 
 assume a character essentially different from 
 that which they had hitherto maintained. Thus 
 we find that the classes of this portion of the 
 University were commonly known as the scho- 
 lae minores, to distinguish them from the scho- 
 lae majores of Law, Medicine, and Divinity.*) 
 The subject of critical philology remained so 
 completely in its infancy until shortly before 
 the Reformation that the corresponding depart- 
 ment of the University could not possibly 
 furnish scope for any higher teaching than 
 that of elementary institution. So long as clas- 
 sical learning and genei'ai erudition were con- 
 fined to the knowledge of a few ancient au- 
 
 *) Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. I. p. 97. See also Huter 
 Hist, of the Englisli Universities I. pp. 34. sqq. In 
 Paris only those Masters of Arts who lectured on Logic, 
 Physics and Metaphysics in the Kue de la Fouarre were 
 recognised as true regents. Those who taught grammar 
 were not considered as possessing this character. (Cre- 
 vier Hist, de TUniversite de Paris IV. p. 248.). 
 
— 238 — 
 
 thors, and a facility in reading and speaking 
 the ecclesiastical Latin of the period it was im- 
 possible to build up a system of professional 
 teaching with materials so scanty, and so little 
 susceptible of scientific method. The Bachelors' 
 degree , which marked the termination of this 
 preliminary course denoted, according to Hu- 
 ber*), simply a step in the school in which it 
 was taken, and held no further reference to 
 the University than as denoting the threshold 
 of legitimate academic study. At Bologna in 
 like manner the term Bachalarius designated 
 no University degree. It was conferred upon 
 a student who had lectured upon a book of 
 Canon or Civil Law, or who had formally ex- 
 pounded a passage in either. **) Of the system 
 of preparatory study which existed in connexion 
 with the academic institutions of antiquity we 
 have already spoken. We may further men- 
 tion that Olympiodorus alludes to a class of 
 students who were not yet • admitted to wear 
 the gown. ***) That this portion of the acade- 
 mic body was the same as the ax^rjtoi, spoken 
 
 *) Hist, of the English Universities I. p. 31. 
 **) Savigny Gesch. des E. E. im Mittelalter. III. p. 220. 
 
 *) Photius Bibl. p. 110. Hoesch. 
 
— 239 — 
 
 of by; Philostratus is clear from a passage in 
 the oration of Libanius vjcsq xmv Qrjxoqcav. 
 Tbey were no doubt utterly distinct from the 
 pupils of those inferior schools mentioned by 
 Himerius, ■which were designed to serve as the 
 first preparation for the teaching of the sophists. 
 Soldiers , old men, and merchants are specified 
 amongst those who attended the instruction of 
 Libanius particularly in those initiatory classes 
 which were taught in private. *) In individuals 
 of this description natives of North Britain will 
 not fail to recognize the historical prototype of 
 those Celtic Catos who may be seen commencing 
 Greek at fourscore in the junior classes of a 
 Scotch University. 
 §. 62. This subordinate position of the Facul- when was 
 
 1 J 1 J 1 J. this state of 
 
 ty of Arts was not only put an end to, but com- ^^ing-s 
 pletely reversed in the changes which took place *ang-ed. 
 in the University system at the great revival of 
 letters in the 15* century. The zeal for the 
 new world of learned research opened by the 
 discovery of the remains of the choicest and 
 most fruitful period of the past caused al- 
 most every other department of academic study 
 to be thrown into temporary oblivion and 
 
 *) Eeisk. ad Orat. Jtpos noXvv.X. init. 
 
— 240 — 
 
 neglect. Learning, whicH, in a merely po- 
 lyhistoric and 'accumulative form, it is true, 
 shewed itself most strongly in the declining 
 glories of the old world, has ever been the 
 inseparable accompaniment of the highest ge- 
 nius, and the most fruitful originality in the 
 new. The age of Charlemagne, of Petrarca, and 
 of Lessing abound in memorable examples of the 
 truth of this assertion. At each of these epochs 
 the remains of antiquity were searched into with 
 an indescribable fervour of enthusiasm, not 
 merely for the information they contained, in 
 which case their utility would soon have been 
 exhausted, but as suggesting eternal principles 
 of thought and action ■ — as a revelation for the 
 noblest life of intellect. In the days of Eras- 
 mus and the Eeformation the profession of the 
 scholar was either openly embraced, or virtual- 
 ly followed by all the most richly endowed and 
 masterly intellects of the time; and the chairs 
 of philology became in fact the most important 
 portions of the whole University course of in- 
 struction. The more elevated and academical 
 character assumed by this subject, together with 
 the greater perfection to which the lower stages 
 of the educational system were gradually brought 
 caused throughout the continent the removal 
 
— 241 — 
 
 from the University of the entire preparatory 
 course, which was henceforward completed with- 
 in the collegiate schools.*) Classical learning, 
 as the most comprehensive and rigidly exact 
 of all the sciences which deal with the results 
 of time, became the very left arm of philo- 
 sophy and academic instruction, but its study 
 in the University was confined to those who 
 intended to embrace philology as a profession. 
 
 IV. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES PROM THE FOREGOING 
 REMARKS. 
 
 §.1. A single glance at the general character PecuUav pur- 
 and economy of Oxford is sufficient to enable o^fo,;,. 
 the most ordinary observer to recognize in that 
 University the most richly furnished and hap- 
 
 *) See Discussions &c. by Sir/William Hamilton p. 410. 
 
 16 
 
— 242 — 
 
 pily organized institution for the efficient train- 
 ing of the Clergy and Clerisy of the nation 
 which an auspicious concurrence of circum- 
 stances ever called into life. In accordance 
 with the clearly defined purpose of its exis- 
 tence Oxford is in an especial manner designed 
 to qualify for the ennobling duties of their of- 
 fice the scholar, the divine, and the thinker, as 
 severally exemplifying the three great divisions 
 of the class -which is destined to promote the 
 highest education of the country. We are now 
 speaking not merely of what might, and should 
 he, but of what in a great measure actually 
 is. No one who knows the University need be 
 reminded that nineteen twentieths of those who 
 matriculate at Oxford do so with the intention 
 of entering holy orders, or else of preparing 
 themselves for acting as University tutors, or 
 as masters in collegiate schools. An Oxford 
 degree is recognized by all bishops as qualify- 
 ing candidates for ordination, and, though a 
 further examination takes place before actual 
 investure with the sacred office , the practice 
 is, we believe, of comparatively recent date, 
 and has originated mainly in the failure of 
 those entrusted with the direction of the studies 
 of the University clearly and consistently to 
 
— 243 — 
 
 carry out the principle they involve. For al- 
 though a tendency towards the three highest 
 professions is unmistakeably to be inferred from 
 the provisions of the existing plan of academic 
 education in Oxford, the intention of the scheme 
 is rather hinted at, than distinctly announced — 
 the design is sketched in faint and shadowy 
 outlines, not elaborated in detail. 
 
 §, 2. No violent or revolutionary changes No radical 
 are needed in Oxford, no alterations of the '''""5^* 
 
 ^ needed. 
 
 type of existence either in parts or whole, in 
 the colleges or in the common life of the Uni- 
 versity. Little is demanded beyond a prodi- 
 gious expansion of the existing method of in- 
 struction, a result which can be easily ac- 
 complished by simply making use of the ma- 
 terials which lie ready to our hands. Every 
 requisite for the organization of study on the 
 grandest scale, and in a form eminently noble 
 and expressive is present in prodigal profusion. 
 The mutual aptitude and affinity of the several 
 parts and elements is so decided that it needs 
 but a commencement — a point of chemical unity 
 in order to set in motion a process of life and 
 concretion which will speedily radiate through- 
 out the entire mass. The regeneration of Ox- 
 ford is to be accomplished, we believe, by 
 
 16* 
 
— 244 — 
 
 rendering it a thorough and efficient school 
 of all the leading departments of that mental 
 science which, in contradistinction to the sister 
 University, it has become the peculiar province 
 of Oxford to impart. The means of instruction 
 in theology, philosophy, and philology need only 
 be advanced from their present half indicated 
 and uncertain existence to the completeness 
 and systematic form of regular professional train- 
 ing in order to enable Oxford to renew its youth, 
 and rise per saltum to a condition worthily 
 maintaining its ancient eminence and renown. 
 Orig-in ot the §. 3. The Origin and the remedy of many 
 of the most serious evils in the present condi- 
 tion of Oxford are equally made apparent upon 
 a consideration of the rise and developement 
 of the existing collegiate system. As this form 
 of corporate existence constitutes a most inter- 
 esting peculiarity of the English Universities, 
 and is one moreover upon which erroneous im- 
 pressions are especially prevalent, a rapid 
 sketch of the leading events in the history of 
 these institutions may not be regarded as whol- 
 ly irrelevant. 
 
 §. 4. The practice of living in common in 
 houses rented from the burghers, and desig- 
 nated as hospitia, or Halls is known to have 
 
 collegiate 
 system. 
 
 Ancient 
 Halls. 
 
— 245 — 
 
 been the chief, if not the only point of differ- 
 ence between Oxford and Paris, the great centre 
 and model of the academic life of the contin- 
 ent. *) Then, as in the earlier periods of 
 classical antiquity, instruction was in a great 
 measure orally communicated, and the scholars 
 of the English University were led to coalesce 
 in these minor divisions of the entire learned 
 body, partly with a view of adding to the 
 public instruction of a favourite teacher the ad- 
 vantages of his private and familiar intercourse, 
 and partly also from a desire to draw more 
 closely the bonds of friendship and fellow feel- 
 ing amongst themselves. Although the authority 
 of the body of Masters was**) unquestionably 
 extended over these Halls, there is every reason 
 to believe that a very considerable degree of 
 
 *) Huber Hist, of the Engl. Univ. I. pp. 52. 54. 599. 
 **) Maiden Hist, of Universities and academic degrees 
 p. 81. 
 
 Even the earlier colleges of Paris exhibit a decided 
 leaning towards the characteristic distinctives of po- 
 pular government. The piior , or head of these institu- 
 tions was annually appointed by the theological students 
 who belonged to the foundation from amongst their own 
 number. Crevier Hist, de I'Universit^ de Paris II. pp. 
 161. 164. 168. 
 
— 246 — 
 
 personal liberty was enjoyed by the individual 
 students of wliom they were composed. That 
 discipline in its minor details was principally 
 maintained by agreement among the scholars 
 themselves, and not by authority from above, 
 is rendered not improbable from a circumstance 
 which has come down to our notice. We are 
 informed that the Masters publicly desired to 
 be relieved from the necessity of attending to 
 the domestic economy of the Halls. They de- 
 clined being troubled with a mass of paltry detail, 
 and formally made over all care for matters, of 
 this description to the students themselves. The 
 latter appear from all accounts to have by no 
 means neglected the due consideration of all 
 that pertained to the class of creature comforts. 
 Petitions are still extant in which they ener- 
 getically complain of fraudulent practices on 
 the part of tradesmen not a little analogous 
 to those which have come to light at the pre- 
 sent day, and solemnly implore the king that 
 improper materials should not be employed in 
 the preparation of their bread and beer, and, 
 above all, that their wine should not be diluted 
 with water.*) 
 
 *) The Oxonians of that period seem to have been 
 
— 247 — 
 
 §. 5. The portion of the English University 
 system of which we are now treating is to be 
 regarded as furnishing on the one hand a re- 
 markable instance of the fertility of political 
 genius inherent in the race, and as constituting 
 at the same time a powerful engine for accom- 
 plishing the grandest and best of purposes. As 
 so many common homes, the halls established 
 in every instance a focus of sympathy and at- 
 tachment, producing an incredibly greater in- 
 tensity of public consciousness than was pos- 
 sible in the feebler social life of the Universi- 
 ties of the continent. The rich and eventful 
 history of Oxford at this period — the healthy 
 and vigorous relation of action and reaction in 
 which it stood to Church and State are unques- 
 tionably to be attributed in a peculiar manner 
 to this circumstance. 
 
 rather noted for their jovial propensities. (See A. 
 Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford I. pp. 164. 440.) A 
 peculiar fatality seems to have attached to the vintages 
 of those times. Somehow or other we find that the 
 wine was invariably either too dear,, or too cheap, or too 
 bad, or too good. The consequences to their ancient 
 adversaries of the town were in any case very much 
 the same. 
 
— 248 — 
 
 Bursao of §. 6. The nearest approach elsewhere 
 Germ!o "uni- f^ii'iiishecl to the ancicnt Halls of Oxford is 
 versiiies. apparently to be found in some of the Bursae 
 of the earliest German Universities. Each of 
 these institutions was placed under the super- 
 vision of a master designated as the rector, or 
 conventor. Wherever the number of residents 
 became too large to be conveniently overlooked 
 by a single individual, a depute (conrector), 
 or adequate number of assistants was also 
 added. The duties of the rector were chiefly 
 limited to a general supervision over the dili- 
 gence and moral conduct of the inmates of the 
 institution. Assistance in their studies was af- 
 forded, and a certain amount of domestic in- 
 struction introduced, but in subordination to 
 the public teaching of the University. The 
 Bursae derived their name from the common 
 fund J or purse (bursae), to which all who 
 became members contributed.*) 
 Government §. 7, The entire organization of the English 
 "V'"'^"?-'*'' Universities at this stage of their developement 
 originally po- presents a far closer approximation to the forms 
 
 nular in its -, . . . « , , . 
 
 spirit and and Spirit 01 popular government than is ap- 
 
 character, 
 
 *) Discussions on philosophy by Sir William Hamilton, 
 p. 407. 599. 
 
— 249 — 
 
 parent in the character which they subsequent- 
 ly assume. The supreme power appears to 
 have been lodged with the Masters, or con- 
 gregated body of teachers of all Faculties. 
 The mass of the students was distributed, as 
 has been already mentioned, into the two Na- 
 tions of Northmen and Southmen (clercs Nourrois 
 at clercs Sourrois), each under a procurator, or 
 proctor of its own. The union between Masters 
 and scholars was rendered more perfect through 
 the medium of the seniors of the latter, a class 
 belonging in a manner to both, and outwardly 
 forming a part of the undergraduate popula- 
 tion of the University, while attached by every 
 consideration of future interest to the Masters 
 amongst whom they were soon to be promoted. 
 Foundations, fellowships, and the whole machin- 
 ery of the collegiate system exhibited as yet 
 scarcely the feeblest rudiments of existence. 
 
 §. 8. The decline of the ecclesiastic domin- 
 ion in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
 sketched forth by Ranke in outlines so striking 
 and effective, and the simultaneous decay of 
 scholastic philosophy told heavily upon the 
 learned institutions of all Christendom. In Ox- 
 ford this ' darkening of the powers ■ of heaven ' 
 was attended with a variety of calamitous cir- 
 
— 250 — 
 
 cumstances which speedily entailed the uttef 
 ruin of the state of things we have above at- 
 tempted to describe. The immense diminution 
 which at once took place in the attendance 
 upon the University cut off the Masters from 
 their previous means of support, while by nar- 
 rowing the prospect of future employment it 
 operated no less disadvantageously upon the 
 interests of the junior portion of the academic 
 .-^ / world. All classes con^cted with Oxford were 
 reduced to a condition of hopeless penury and 
 distress which attracted the attention of noble 
 and benevolent individuals who had themselves 
 doubtless been attached to the University in 
 some capacity or other during the season of 
 its prosperity. Houses were thus purchased and 
 funds assigned for the relief of the most pres- 
 sing bodily necessities of the poorest class of 
 scholars. The students who became recipients 
 of such charitable bequests were designated as 
 socii, or fellows, in consequence of their par- 
 ticipating in the benefits of the common fund, 
 and belonged for the most part to certain specie 
 fied Faculties. The design of the founders in 
 disposing of the sums bequeathed was evident- 
 
 *) Huber Hist, of the Eng. Univ. I. p. 177. 
 
— 251 — 
 
 ly to maintain as many as possible, and the 
 support thus furnished was originally intended 
 to last only throughout the continuance of the 
 course of University study. Inasmuch however 
 as the students who frequented the University 
 during this period generally belonged to the ec- 
 clesiastic order, and possessed no means of 
 support beyond the assistance above described, 
 it gradually became a tacitly understood ar- 
 rangement that the maintenance afforded by 
 the college should not be withdrawn from 
 persons of this description until such . time as * 
 they should have succeeded, in obtaining a 
 benefice. 
 
 §. 9. Charitable institutions of this nature Earnest coi- 
 had begun to come into existence even wheUf^^^^ \hose 
 the Universitv was at the height of its grandeur "f *^ u^^i^n 
 
 •' ° ° _ Universities. 
 
 and renown. Merton, University, and Oriel (the 
 two first more especially) date from the period 
 when Oxford stood at the very zenith of its an- 
 cient glory and influence. They occupied how- 
 ever a position which was no doubt very subor- 
 dinate when compared with that of the Halls, and 
 
 *) According to Wood provision had been made for 
 
 supplying th? wants of poor scholars so early as the 
 
 time of Alfred. Hist, and An.tiq. of Oxford I. pp. 42. 
 184. 185. 
 
— 252 — 
 
 were probably established in imitation of the col- 
 leges already existing in Paris and Bologna. The 
 account given by Savigny of these institutions 
 as they existed in the Italian Universities thor- 
 oughly corresponds with the original character 
 of the colleges in Oxford. He describes them 
 as societies of poor students living in common 
 under a superintendent, and supported by en- 
 dowments. 
 Origin of col- §.10. At Paris in consequence of the high 
 prices occasioned by the prodigious concourse of 
 students, charitable endowments to meet the 
 necessities of the most indigent portion of the 
 academic population had existed from very early 
 times. *) In the eleventh century we read that 
 king Robert instituted a college for the main- 
 tenance of one hundred poor clerks. **) In the 
 middle of the thirteenth century the college of 
 the Sorbonne was founded by Robert of Sorbonne 
 in Champagne for sixteen poor students in theo- 
 logy, four from each of the nations into which 
 the academic world of Paris was divided.***) 
 
 leg^es atParis. 
 
 *) Sir W. Hamilton Discussions p. 403. 
 **) Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 392. 
 ***) Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 224. Crevier 
 Hist, de rUuiversite de Paris I. p. 495. 
 
— 253 — 
 
 The Dominicans, Franciscans and otiier religious 
 orders early provided free lodgings for those 
 of their number who resorted to the University, 
 furnishing at the same time small stipends for 
 defraying their other most necessary expenses.*) 
 These establishments were known as Inns, 
 Entries, Hostels, Halls or Colleges, the latter 
 term being generally restricted to endowments 
 which provided for the support of a number of 
 graduates. The arrangements for the main- 
 tenance of discipline in those institutions gene- 
 rally resembled those of the Bursaries of the 
 German Universities as above described. 
 
 §. 11. The fourteenth century seems every- Founded in 
 where to have been peculiarly prolific in simi- ^^Xrl'dm- 
 lar endowments. At Paris the celebrated col-ing' ^^^ i** 
 
 . , cenlury. 
 
 leges of Navarre and du Plessis date their 
 origin from this period. Duboullay not inaptly 
 compares the zeal and munificence directed 
 towards the maintenance of declining learning 
 by means of the endowment of colleges from 
 the middle of the thirteenth to the end of the 
 fifteenth centuries with that which had led to 
 
 *) Crevier Hist, de I'Universite de Paris I. p. 487. 
 
— 254 — 
 
 the founding of monasteries in more ancient 
 times.*) 
 Extinciion of §. 12. In Oxford the relief thus furnished 
 ^'^'offord '"'"^^s ^0 striking and so urgently called for that 
 bequests of the same kind increased in number 
 and importance, until, with the gradual disap- 
 pearance of the other constituents of the former 
 academic state, the fellowships and colleges 
 alone remained as the skeleton and frame work 
 of University existence.**) During the reigns 
 of Henry the seventh and Henry the eighth 
 the Halls which had formerly composed the 
 basis of the whole social organization of the 
 University fell into utter decay, and became 
 little more than a supplement of the colleges. ***) 
 With the extinction of the Halls there arose a 
 practice of augmenting the revenues of the 
 various colleges by receiving wealthier students 
 as boarders; and the existence of the class of 
 students known under the name of 'commoners' 
 was thus originated. In the fifteenth century 
 
 *) Haec igitur fuit pietas hujus seculi non monaste- 
 ria fundare ut superioribus seculis factitatum est , sed 
 collegia pauperum scholarum. Hist. Univ. Par. III. p. 659. 
 
 **) Huber Hist, of the Eng. Univ. I. p. 177. 
 ***) Wood Hist, and Antiq. of Oxford, 
 
— 255 — 
 
 fellowships were no longer endowed for the 
 purpose of assisting mere stu'dents through their 
 respective courses of study, but as a permanent 
 means of subsistence to poor young men of 
 the clerical order who had evinced a taste for 
 learned pursuits, and the degree of Master was 
 henceforth made a necessary condition for hold- 
 ing such appointments.*) 
 
 §. 13. So radical an alteration in the con- chang-eofthe 
 dition and social constitution of the academic ''^^"0°^^^^'"/ 
 body was not of course unattended by cor- 
 responding changes in the system of that 
 scientific education whose furtherance con- 
 stitutes the primary and essential purpose — 
 the one chief end of University existence. A 
 thorough dissolution of the professional Faculties 
 at once ensued. **) The legal Inns of court were 
 at an early period transferred to London. Phi- 
 losophy had long since become a barren contest 
 of words ; ***) in fine nothing of the former plan 
 of study remained in existence beyond the 
 preparatory course, and such a meagre outline 
 
 *) Huber Hist, of the Eng. Univ. I. p. 204. 
 **) Huber Hist, of the Eng. Univ. I. p. 158. 
 ***) Ritter Geschichte, der christlichen Philosophie III. 
 p. 63. 
 
— 256 — 
 
 of the rudiments of theological doctrine as 
 would continue to survive among the ignorant 
 and slothful residents of a decayed religious 
 town. 
 Eng-iami and §. 14. Everj circumstance recorded of this 
 *Univer°sme!'P^"°^ of the history of Oxford goes to prove 
 in the ag-e of that the coUegcs were not* originally instituted 
 with any of that reference to intellectual culture 
 which held in union the members of the ancient 
 Halls. *) They were simple endowed charitable 
 institutions attached to the University, and 
 their whole internal economy was far more 
 strongly tinged with a religious than with an 
 academic character. The principals of these 
 societies were chosen, then as now,**) with no 
 reference to intellectual qualifications, and 
 though certain exercises were enjoined upon 
 the fellows while yet in the preparatory stage of 
 scholars , or learners , they appear to have been 
 of infrequent occurrence, and of an extreme- 
 ly insignificant nature. During the earlier pe- 
 riods of the collegiate system the scholars be- 
 longing to these associations pursued their 
 
 *) Huber Hist, of the Engl. Univ. I. p. 207. Sir W. 
 Hamilton discussions &c. p. 442. 
 
 **) Sir W. Hamilton discussions &c. p. 443. 
 
— 257 — 
 
 studies. in the lecture rooms of the University. 
 Even at that later stage of the history of Ox- 
 ford when fellowships began to assume more 
 of the character which they exhibit at the 
 present day the duties connected with these 
 appointments appear to have been entirely re- 
 ligious, or rather sacerdotal in their nature. 
 Tuition, wherever it was afforded, appears to 
 have proceeded wholly from the impulses of 
 individual inclination.*) The active intercourse 
 opened up between England and Italy in the 
 time of the reformation, and the powerful 
 stimulus imparted to all the functions of higher 
 humanity by the revival of classical learning 
 seems to have nowhere exercised an influence 
 more happy and lifegiving than in Oxford. 
 Many exquisitely refined and highly cultivated 
 intellects appeared to resuscitate the half for- 
 gotten fame of the learned metropolis of Eng- 
 land, and the letters of Erasmus abound in ex- 
 pressions of wonder and delight at the pro- 
 found erudition, elegant tastes, and noble human- 
 ity which he discovered in the Universities, and 
 at the court of the Tudors.**) We finding him 
 
 *) Huber Hist, of the Engl. Univ. I. p. 215. 
 **) Tantum humanitatis atque eruditionis hie offendi, 
 
 17 
 
— 258 — 
 
 giving utterance to these sentiments, not merely 
 in his correspondence with Englishmen, but in 
 communications with friends on the continent, 
 in which of course he was less likely to be 
 led into hyperbole from motives of courtesy. 
 In a letter to Jacobus Banisius (Brussels 1519.) 
 he goes so far as to say that the court exhibited 
 a larger number of scholarly men than any 
 University (aula regis plus habet hominum 
 eruditorum quam uUa academia), and in another 
 epistle of the same date addressed to the arch- 
 bishop of Mens we read that "apud Anglos 
 triumphant bona litera. Rex ipse cum sua re- 
 gina Cardinales ambo, Episcopi ferme omnes 
 toto pectore tuentur, favent, alunt ornantque." 
 Want of space does not permit us to adduce 
 many other .passages in which he expresses him- 
 
 non illius protritae ac trivialis, sed reconditae, exactae, 
 antiquae, Latinae Graecaeque, ut iam Italiam, nisi vi- 
 sendi gratia , baud multmn desiderem. Coletum meuin 
 quiim audio Platonem ipsum mihi videor audire. In 
 Groeino quis ilium absolutum discipliuarum orbem non 
 miretur? Linacri judicio quid acutius, quid altius, quid 
 emunctius? Thomae Mori ingeuio quid unquam finxit 
 natura vel moUius, vel dulcius, vel felicius? Iam quid 
 ego reliquum catalogum recenseam? Mirum est dicta 
 quam hie passim, quam dense veterum literarum seges 
 efflorescat. Ep, ad. Eobertum Piscatorem. (V. 2.) 
 
— 259 — 
 
 self with equal warmth and emphasis. When- 
 ever he recurs to the subject of his residence 
 in England, which is very frequently the case, 
 he descants with enthusiasm upon the accom- 
 plishments and personal character of those with 
 whom he had there become acquainted. *) 
 
 *) The impartial severity of historic truth compels 
 us to add however that subtler and more sediictive in- 
 fluences appear to have contributed to that deliciously 
 roseate hue with which everything in England is in- 
 vested in the eyes of Erasmus. This sprightliest and 
 most delightful of scholars and reformers seems from his 
 own admission to have been caressed amongst the fe- 
 minine portion of English society in a style, and to an 
 extent which would send a thrill of hatred through the 
 bosom of the most envied pet parson of existing times. 
 A quiet and confidential note to a poetic friend , Eaustus 
 Andrelinus , gives us a glimpse into the small life of 
 the day , and fully accounts for those rapturous associa- 
 tions which caused even our climate to come in for a 
 share of his eulogy. "Tu quoque si sapis hue advolabis. 
 Quid ita te juvat hominem tam uasutum inter merdas 
 Gallicas consenescere? Sed retinet te tua podagra. Ut 
 ea, te salvo, pereat male! Quanquam si Britannia dotes 
 satis pernosses, Eauste, nae tu alatis pedibus hue ac- 
 curreres ; et , si podagra tua non sineret , Daedalum te 
 fieri optares. Nam, ut e plurimis unum quiddam attiugam, 
 sunt hie nymphae divinis vultibus , blandae, faciles , et 
 quas tu tuis Camenis facile anteponas; est praeterea 
 mps nunquam satis laudatus. Sive quo venias, omnium 
 
 17* 
 
— 260 — 
 
 Amongst the European celebrities of this period 
 we find the, names of many Oxonians, and it 
 may well be doubted whether the peculiarly poe- 
 tic spirit which breaths around the events and 
 personages of the Elizabethan period, as well 
 as the antique elevation of character and gran- 
 deur of resolve which distinguished the men 
 of the commonwealth is not more to be at- 
 tributed to the influences direct and indirect 
 of the Universities, as the twin fountain heads 
 of English philology, and of that nobler life to 
 which the knowledge of classical antiquity has 
 ever been the chief, if not the only highway*) 
 than historians have commonly recorded. 
 
 osculis exciperis; sire discedas aliquo, osculis dimitteris: 
 redis? redduntursuavia; venituradte? propinantur suavia ; 
 disceditur a te? dividuntur basia; occurritur alicubi? ba- 
 siatur affatim ; denique quocumqiie te moveas suaviorum 
 plena sunt omnia. Quae si' tu, Fauste, gustasses semel 
 quam sint moUicula, quam fragrantia, profecto cuperes 
 non decennium .solum, lit Solon fecit, sed ad mortem us- 
 que in Anglia peregrinari. Caetera coram jooabimur." 
 Erasmus cunningly attempts to pass off what he had 
 experienced as merely the general custom of the country. 
 This however is evidently a mere blind , and adopted in 
 order to avoid the egotism of recounting- a most in- 
 vidious instance of personal good fortune. 
 
 *) Der Weg zum hohereu Leben, der uur durch das 
 Alterthum fiihrt. Niebuhr an den Freiherrn von Stein. 
 
— 261 — 
 
 §. 15. Eminent however as were the attain- No improve- 
 ments of these individuals , inspiring- and in- '"™* '". *''° 
 
 ' jr o collegiate 
 
 vigorating as their example and personal in-sysum then 
 fluence can hardly fail to have proved, the 
 forms and spirit of the semimonastic institutions 
 which composed all that remained of the old 
 academic organization of Oxford was intrinsical- 
 ly too unfavourable to learned industry and 
 free- research to admit of any permanent or 
 extensive triumph over the torpor and sterility 
 which seems finally to have taken possession 
 of the University. No radical change was ef- 
 fected in the character and purposes of the col- 
 leges. The relation between scholar and teacher 
 continued to be extremely lax and undefined. 
 Tuition, with the exception of the nugatory 
 exercises prescribed by the college authorities, 
 was, in the mass of the fellows at least, aban- 
 doned to the accidents of individual fancy. 
 Enthusiastic admirers of the newly discovered 
 lore for a time gathered around them assem- 
 blages of kindred spirits from amongst the 
 younger members of the University, but no 
 abiding traces seem to have been left in the 
 shape of new institutions, or even of any very 
 decided modification of the collegiate system. 
 §. 16. In the learned and ably developed ex- 
 
— 262 — 
 
 position of this subject from which the above 
 account has in a great measure been compiled 
 no graduate of Oxford will fail to discover the 
 fullest explanation of the abuses and anomalies 
 which at present so completely overload and 
 obscure the groundform of academic life in 
 that University. "With the exception of the 
 change from abject poverty to a plethora of 
 wealth every other feature of the picture above 
 given remains unaltered. The absence of any 
 strict and well defined principle of connection 
 between collegiate and University study,' the 
 scanty extent to which the resources in men 
 possessed by all the colleges are taken advan- 
 tage of for the purpose of supplying adequate 
 and efficient tuition, the monstrously absurd 
 and unmeaning restrictions upon the competition 
 for fellowships, and the generally puerile an'd 
 imperfect character of the instruction imparted, 
 all at this day give distinctest evidence of an 
 institution founded with no direct reference to 
 learning, and which, though supplemented with 
 a tutorial element, has never yet been so far 
 diverted from its original character as thorough- 
 ly and skillfully to serve the purposes of higher 
 intellectual ti'aining. 
 
— 263 — 
 
 §, 17. That a searching revision and reform Portions of 
 of many portions of such a system is impera-*^y°,'/J_^'J^'^'i'; 
 tively called for the bare statement of its lead- ■■'='1''''''= to be 
 ing pecularities will suffice to show. Every '^''uumiy"'^ 
 portion of the collegiate economy which is '>''°''sii''ti- 
 based upon the original design of a religious j 
 poorhouse should at once be done away with, 
 or at best only suffered to exist in the emptiest 
 of commemorative forms. Historical antecedents 
 arising out of such a conception can possess 
 no intrinsic value or dignity whatsoever, while 
 seriously interfering with interests for too mo- 
 mentous to be sacrificed in the smallest par- 
 ticular to mere antiquarian sentiment. They 
 spring from a condition of the University which 
 can only be regarded as abnormal, if not posi- 
 tively degrading. The period of the academic 
 past to which they refer furnishes no examples 
 of action beyond the munificence of their humane 
 and venerable founders. The charitable pur- 
 poses which the collegiate system was original- 
 ly intended to serve are now, of course, not only 
 not fulfilled, but directly reserved. From being 
 semiliterary asylums for ecclesiastic paupers 
 they have become so luxurious and expensive as 
 to exclude all below the wealthiest portion of 
 the professional classes. A persistance in sta- 
 
— 264 — 
 
 tutary regulations whicli derive their whole 
 pertinency from such a design is therefore 
 simply nonsensical. Far mote respect would 
 be rendered to the memory of founders and 
 benefactors by interpreting their intentions in 
 such a manner as to meet the permanent require- 
 ments of the University, and to accomplish high 
 patriotic ends, than by a slavish adherence to 
 the letter of their injunctions which can at the 
 utmost amount to a keeping of the promise to 
 the ear, while flagrantly breaking it to the sense. 
 §. 18. In proceeding to consider the practical 
 measures suggested by the foregoing inquiry 
 no one will of course expect us to furnish any 
 thing approaching to an elaborate exposition 
 iiccount of the particulars of a scheme of col- 
 lege reform. All that can be required is a 
 clear and well defined statement of the guid- 
 ing principles which in any and every move- 
 ment in this direction should rigidly be ad- 
 hered to. While preserving, and, if possible, 
 even deponing individual differences the col- 
 leges of Oxford should be iransformed sing- 
 ly and collectively in accordance with one 
 common design, that of serving as the most 
 perfect and .admirably instituted schools of 
 learning and higher mental science which ex- 
 
— 265 — 
 
 ifiting circumstances admit of. The remark 
 may sound truistic, but past experience shows 
 that it is not wholly superfluous. All the ar- 
 rangements of these societies should be remo- 
 delled with the view of accomplishing the 
 greatest amount of 'work' attainable by the 
 strictest economy of labour, and the most scien- 
 tific application of all the resources they can 
 respectively command. The social organization 
 of college life should not only be retained, 
 but even more widely extended by the forma- 
 tion of offshoots in the form of halls, under 
 the superintendence of one or more of the col- 
 lege tutors, a plan which we are happy to learn 
 has already in some instances been adopted. 
 Mean and uninteresting as may have been the 
 origin of the collegiate system, the general form 
 of its social arrangements not only coincides 
 with, but completes that life in community 
 which ranks so high as a means, and an end — 
 as an essential agency, and ultimate purpose of 
 all education. The college with its appointments 
 thrown open to the widest competition, with 
 distinct departments of learning and science 
 assigned to its several officials, and relieved 
 from that incubus of oligarchical administration 
 which an ancient .writer justly describes as 
 
— 266 — 
 
 peculiarly at enmity with all good*) would simp^ 
 ly become a vastly expanded, and more perfect: 
 variety of the ancient Hall. As such, it would 
 furnish a most admirably calculated system of 
 means and appliances for conveying' that mo- 
 ral discipline which the English schools of 
 learning even in the rudest and most primitive 
 periods of their existence wisely recognised as 
 constituting one of the two. leading objects of 
 all University instruction.**) 
 Assig-nment §• 19- ^0 chaugo in the present system is, 
 or disiinct ^g conccive , more loudly called for than that 
 
 subjects of T 1 . . r\ 
 
 study to the methodical reorganisation of College study to 
 ~lhToi- which we have previously alluded. The fellow- 
 '■^so- ships of every college should be distributed 
 among the different divisions of Theology, 
 Scholarship, and Philosophy in a manner pro- 
 portionate to the relative importance of each. 
 In the subject with which the writer happens 
 to be more immediately conversant two ap- 
 
 *) Thuc. III. 62. 07CSQ Ss iari vofioig v.al rm acocp^o- 
 vsarata ivavTicotccxov, dvvdaxiia oXiycav avd^mv sixs ta 
 nQccyfiara, 
 
 **) 'AvayKaiov zov tsXslov avSqa iial &s(aQT]ziv,ov stvai 
 rmv ovTcov, y.al tcqcckzi-v.ov rmv Ssovrmv. Plat, de placitiS 
 philosophor. p. 874. Eeiske. 
 
— 267 — 
 
 pointments of this nature might in each of the 
 colleges be assigned to Greek criticism, and 
 as many to a similarly exact acquaintance with 
 the laws of grammatical expression in Latin. 
 A fifth and sixth might in the same manner 
 he given to individuals whose especial office 
 it should be to impart skill in composition, 
 and a practical acquaintance with both the 
 learned languages. The history of Greece would 
 serve as the subject professed by a seventh, 
 with a corresponding tutor for that of Rome. 
 Archaeology, and the interpretation of the 
 monumental remains of the two great nations 
 of the past would in the same manner furnish 
 an ample field for the exertions of an addi- 
 tional instructor. Prodigal and visionary as 
 such a portioning out of the means of educa- 
 tion in a single department is, we fear, likely 
 to seem, so large is the number of fellowships 
 in all the principal Colleges that were an ana- 
 logous method of distribution applied in the 
 case of Divinity and Philosophy there would 
 in most cases still remain a large surplus for 
 which it would be difficult to find University 
 employment. The immense resources of Ox- 
 ford in this respect will be apparent to every 
 one who gives a glance at the Calendar for the 
 
— 268 — 
 
 year. St. Johns it will be seen contains not 
 less than fifty fellowships, New College se- 
 venty, Magdalen thirty, Exeter twenty five, 
 Merton twenty four, Brasenose, Pembroke and 
 Corpus each possess twenty, Worcester nine- 
 teen, Oriel and Jesus eighteen, Wadham fifteen, 
 Balliol, Trinity, Lincoln, and University twelve 
 respectively. In a word there is scarcely one 
 of these institutions which does not contain 
 within itself means more than sufficient for 
 affording instruction in every subdivision of 
 that class of sciences which Oxford is more 
 especially designed to represent. 
 
 Orig-inai con- §• 20. It is a circumstance worthy of remark 
 siituiion of ^jjg^^ -jj ^jjg collee-iate establishment founded by 
 
 Christ Cliiirch. ° •' 
 
 Wolsey on a scale of such characteristic mag- 
 nificence and splendour we perceive an entire 
 abandonment of the almshouse prototype, and 
 a thorough adaptation of collegiate forms to 
 the purposes of an almost purely intellectual 
 culture. Christ church, according to the original 
 design, was intended to comprise the educational 
 furniture of an entire University. The college 
 here stood to the University in very much the 
 same relation which the family holds to the 
 state. It exhibited in miniature the great out- 
 
— 269 — 
 
 lines of the principal institutions, and. leading 
 tendencies of its sublimer counterpart, and thus 
 brought home to the individual in concentrated 
 and tangible form the most universal and es- 
 sential influences of the vast and magnificent 
 whole into the complex of which he would other- 
 wise have entered as a mere unconscious atom. 
 §. 21. The course of instruction enjoined 
 by the original statutes was strictly professional 
 with the usual adjunct of a preparatory course. 
 A body of professores puhlici were appointed in 
 Divinity, the Civil and Canon Law, Medicine, 
 the Liberal Arts, and Humanity, who, though, 
 especially attached to Christ Church, were 
 bound to read publicly before the students 
 of the entire University. In correspondence 
 with the above Wolsey also created a class of 
 professores domesiici, whose duty it was to give 
 private instruction to undergraduate members 
 of the college in Philosophy, Logic, Sophistry, 
 and Humanity.*) 
 
 *) Many of the most remarkable features in the scheme 
 of Wolsey are evidently suggested by the collegiate 
 system which had then developed itself with such re- 
 markable perfection and success at Paris. The colleges 
 of Paris were , as Christ church was meant to be, Uui- 
 
— 270 — 
 
 Reiaiiou §. 22. The design of this institution derives 
 which profes- ^(j^jg^j, interest from the attempt which it 
 
 sonal should ■*■ ^ 
 
 bear to tutor- exhibits to comblne a scheme of collegiate with 
 "'University teaching. In this , as in every other 
 instance of wise political adjustment; harmonious 
 coexistence ; and community of action can re- 
 sult from no rude approximation to a mere 
 arithmetical mean. It can only spring from 
 that judicious distribution of the suum cuique 
 which is founded upon a delicate and acutely 
 
 versities in miniature. They were all devoted to par- 
 ticular Faculties , or departments of Faculties. The 
 Sorhonue, for example, comprised the whole instruction, 
 acts, and excercises of the theological school, and thus 
 became convertible with the theological Faculty of Paris. 
 Eegent masters nominated and controlled by their Fa- 
 culties were appointed as lecturers in each of the several 
 colleges. These lectures were ultimately thrown open 
 to members of other colleges, and to those University 
 students who belonged to no college at all. In the lat- 
 ter half of the fifteenth century the colleges de plein 
 exercise in the Faculty of Arts amounted to eighteen in 
 number. ' There were about eighty smaller colleges (pe- 
 tits colleges) which provided their scholars with food 
 and lodging, but only taught them the elements of philo- 
 logy, sending them to the greater colleges for all higher 
 learning. (Discussions on philosophy etc. by Sir W. 
 Hamilton, p. 402.) 
 
— 271 — 
 
 discerned discrimination*) of the essential pe- 
 culiarities and distinctive virtues of each. Were 
 more thought and study expended upon the 
 endeavour closely and accurately to determine 
 the respective provinces of the University and 
 the college, the result would be that, instead of 
 producing, as at present, a dead lock on the 
 way to all improvement, they would be found 
 to lend each other the most energetic and im- 
 portant aid in accomplishing the high ends of 
 that education which each calculated so es- 
 sentially to promote. Collegiate appointments 
 are evidently meant to furnish a class of tutorial 
 professors corresponding to the professores do- 
 mestici above mentioned, and bearing some re- 
 semblance to the privatim docentes of contin- 
 ental Universities, though far more vitally one 
 with the University, and occupying a station 
 of infinitely greater honour and responsibility. 
 Offices of this nature would naturally serve as 
 an apprenticeship and stepping stone to the 
 more commanding position, and ampler influence 
 of the professor publicus, or University lecturer. 
 •The latter again, should be to the learned body 
 
 *) Aristot. Eth. Nic. V. t. 8. Plut. Symposiac. p. 718. 
 Beisk. 
 
— 272 — 
 
 of the University generally very much, what 
 bishops are to the church. They should be 
 called upon to exercise a leadership and super- 
 vision over the Masters and scholars who belong 
 to the Faculties they respectively represent. 
 Appointments of this description should be re- 
 garded as the prizes of the University, and 
 as such would be filled up from the foremost 
 and most conspicuously useful of the whole tu- 
 torial body. 
 
 §. 23. The real, every day work of the Uni- 
 versity should, we believe, now as heretofore be 
 accomplished within the college walls, and 
 under the more individually applied and search- 
 ing examination of tutorial teaching. Wider 
 general views, new revolutions of systems of 
 truth , broad aspects of the future of science 
 would remain the especial province of the pro- 
 fessor. Detail is invariably irksome, if not 
 wholly thrown away upon a large audience 
 however composed, and for this reason public 
 lectures can never be made the basis of a 
 severe and thorough system of academic educa- 
 tion. The office of professor in this more re- 
 stricted acceptation of the term is one which 
 few are capable of supporting with dignity and 
 real usefulness. Few are enabled to turn the 
 
— 273 — 
 
 cathedra to any higher end than that of exciting 
 talkativeness, instead of awakening Ideas. The 
 farthest range of observation had need be 
 sought through before we can hope to find one 
 ■Whose eloquence and greatness of personal 
 character gives promise of that grand oratorical 
 power of permanently impressing the masses — 
 who can evoke, direct, and embody those vast 
 and incalculable potencies which live latent 
 in all the nobler specimens of collective hu- 
 manity. 
 
 §. 24. We have already seen that the actual The Umver- 
 requirements of higher study, and the uniform ^''^^^^J'^pre^ 
 practice of the most instructive periods of thep^i^e for the 
 
 1 1 T • ^ 1 XT ■ M'^sters de- 
 
 past demonstrate that the education oi the Uni- gree. 
 
 vfirsity is properly concerned with the masters 
 dkqree alone. That part of its teaching which 
 is intended to qualify candidates for the degree 
 oi Bachelor of Arts has ever been an excrescence 
 upon the system, a departure from the prin- 
 ciple of academic instruction, in condescension 
 to the educational imperfections of earlier times. 
 Without being prepared to advocate the ex- 
 pediency of entirely abolishing this portion of 
 the existing course we cannot but think that 
 a much closer approximation to the rigour of 
 academic study is both possible and desirable 
 
 18 
 
— 274 — 
 
 at a time when all preparatory instruction can 
 be, and in a great measure is imparted in col- 
 legiate schools. At the same time with a ques- 
 tion so grave aud momentous as that of sb: 
 iecting the occupation of after life it may wfill 
 be doubted whether a species of academic no- 
 viciate would not under all circumstances be 
 advisable. Every good purpose however which 
 could possibly be answered by retaining 'the 
 studies of such a preparatory course would be 
 quite as well attained in one half the period 
 now assigned to it. That in so doing we should 
 in reality return to the principle of former 
 times is moreover evident from the extremely 
 childish age at which this part of education 
 was then completed. The statutes of the Uni- 
 versity, and the biography of distinguished men 
 show that in the earlier epochs of English 
 history the degree of Bachelor of Arts was 
 commonly taken about the same age as that 
 at which matriculation occurs at present.*) 
 
 *) Thus we find it enacted in the University of Paris 
 that every determining Bachelor, or candidate after pre- 
 paration for the degree of Bachelor of Arts , must be at 
 least twelve years of age. Bulaeus Hist. Univ. Par. II. 
 p. 677. 
 
— 275 — 
 
 §. 25. The subjects taught in this introduc- Subjects 
 tion to the intellectual life of the University '''''''' ''^""l'' 
 
 J be required 
 
 should be exactly those which are most uni-from cancu- 
 versal in their bearings, and lead most com- ' y/che"™-? ° 
 jiletely as the prelude and portals to the entire degree. 
 universe of scientific culture. In other words 
 the stjidies of this period should remain very 
 much what they actually are. Classical Philology, 
 Mathematics, and Logic are, it is almost need- 
 lessi to say, the very threshold and access to 
 all learned study whatsoever. In Mathematics 
 we behold of course the great Organon of phy- 
 sical science in all its departments. Logic again 
 in a' manner no less universal furnishes the 
 student with a canon of thought and utterance 
 on every topic. An exact acquaintance with 
 the learned languages may be regarded as 
 equally indispensable were it only from the fact 
 that the text books and masterpieces in Theo- 
 logy, Philosophy, History, and Eloquence, that 
 is to say in all the most momentous subjects 
 of human meditation: and inquiry are con- 
 tained in those tongues. Opportunities and 
 inducements which would not be wanting 
 would amply suffice to fill up and adorn 
 tl^e existing frame work with many ligh- 
 ter accomplishments, and much general infor- 
 
 18* 
 
— 276 — 
 
 mation. All this however would be wisely- 
 abandoned to the tastes and interests of the in- 
 dividual student. The requirements of the 
 University, even where bare admission intp 
 the lists of citizenship is concerned, should bear 
 the same stamp of austere simplicity and simple 
 minded adherence to essentials which charac- 
 terises her own proper teaching. 
 
 §. 26. We may here take an opportunity of 
 considering a practical difficulty which may 
 seem to place no trifling limit to the applica- 
 tion of that plan of study for which we have 
 claimed the widest and most unconditional va- 
 lidity. A system of instruction so entirely 
 based upon the strongest determination of ail 
 the powers of will and intellect upon subjects 
 destined to maintain their paramount import- 
 ance throughout the whole duration of suc- 
 ceeding life, may not appear in accordance 
 with the requirements of that numerically 
 small, but politically and socially most import- 
 ant body, who from circumstances of wealth 
 and station are relieved from all anxiety on 
 the score of a future maintenance, and conse- 
 quently are under no immediate necessity of 
 acquiring an acquaintance with a single de- 
 partment of knowledge so exact as to enable 
 
— 277 — 
 
 them to find therein the one and only means 
 of maintaining existence bodily as well as spi- 
 ritual. Admitting that a considerable deviation 
 from the strict rule of academic instruction 
 seems all along to have been conceded in the 
 case of students of the class here referred to 
 we cannot help more than doubting whether 
 a decided departure from a principle so uni- 
 versally human, and so essentially associated 
 with the life and the efficiency of the Univers- 
 ity can in any instance be either necessary or 
 desirable. Life with the higher classes, if 
 possessed of either dignity or character, must 
 exhibit the same statuelike firmness of outline, 
 and be directed with equal accuracy upon 
 clearly comprehended, and heartily embraced 
 objects as in the case of the more ontwardly 
 restricted, and less fortunefavoured portion 
 of mankind. The certainty and distinctness 
 of design elsewhere imparted to existence by 
 the unyielding data of external circumstances 
 will be all the more strongly asserted in those 
 who cherish the sentiments naturally sug^ 
 gested by illustrious birth and dignified social 
 station, as resulting from the free choice of a 
 position essentially distinguished from all that 
 is mean and common place, and evincing a 
 
— 278 — 
 
 spontaneous recognition of the noblest and 
 iittest uses of the factors of worldly power and 
 influence. Political life and action, to which 
 persons of this class are more especially invit- 
 ed, exhibits itself in the greatest variety of 
 individual types , each mentally reflected and 
 summed up in a corresponding system of scien- 
 tific study. The student who looks forward 
 to a parliamentary career as the occupation of 
 his future life need be no more embarrassed in 
 selecting the branches of knowledge to which 
 he should devote especial attention while a 
 member of the University than his academic 
 associate who makes choice of the vocation of 
 the scholar or the divine. Nature, and the 
 nisus of mental growth, as exhibited in the 
 form of personal preference, will guide indivi- 
 duals of the class first mentioned, as it dots 
 all others, to the studies corresponding with 
 the form of public usefulness in which they 
 likely to shine hereafter. Political science, Mo- 
 ral Philosophy, History, or some other of the 
 infinite multiplicity of topics embraced und^r 
 the general category of 'Arts, at once suggest 
 themselves as indicating the class of studies 
 to which such persons would naturally devote 
 their attention, while the Masters degree in 
 
— 279 — 
 
 one or other of these subjects would give pub- 
 lic testimony to the legitimate completion of 
 their academic career. 
 
 V. 
 
 UNlrERSITY SYSTEM OF GERMANY. ITS LEADING 
 EXCELLENCIES AND DEFECTS. 
 
 i'§. 1. As regards the general type and 
 caaracter of academic study we should discard 
 me of the most weighty and convincing argu- 
 ments in favor of that strict unity of aim 
 T:pon which we so earnestly insist as the vital 
 pinciple of education in its noblest and most 
 prfect form if we did not draw attention to 
 tie fact that it is precisely to the presence of 
 tiis principle that the learned institutions of 
 (rermany are indebted for their unrivalled 
 •minence in the academic world of the existing 
 aera. It is not however without many misgiv- 
 ings that we point to [this example of the 
 
— 280 — 
 
 workings of the plan we advocate, striking 
 and incontrovertable as it is, well knowing 
 how fatal such an allusion is likely to prove 
 to its practical success with the people of this^ 
 country. It is in vain we fear to urge upoji 
 those who are so much the slaves of names, 
 and so determined to be deceived that of ill 
 countries in the civilized world Germany flr- 
 nishes the richest field of observation in iall 
 that relates to learning and learned institutims, 
 and that, at all events, there would be jess 
 discredit in discovering and adapting a prinaple 
 than in shamelessly plundering its results. 'For 
 it is not a little remarkable that one nowleip 
 hears so many silly sneers at the great fam 
 of our continental kinsfolk than in the countr 
 where scarcely any thing above a newspap€ 
 has appeared for half a century which does nc 
 owe its reputation to the most wholesale, an 
 often most impudent appropriation of tb 
 learned labours of the Germans. 
 
 German §• 2. We are, we trust, far from being ii 
 Universities discriminate admirers of everything Teutonic 
 
 Iramed upon j ^d 
 
 the same ge- In the lajid of Luthor at the present day, al 
 in the best and brightest ages of ancient' story, 
 there are multi thyrsigeri, pauci Bacchi. At the 
 
 neral design 
 as our own 
 
_ 281 — 
 
 same time jicijidod'ai, qaov rj (iLneMd-m. It is 
 easier to pick holes in a great character indivi- 
 dual or national than to imitate one tithe of its 
 excellence. A man, a people, and a tendency, 
 are to be estimated, not by incidental frailties, 
 and occasional, or even frequent mistakes , but 
 by the amount and character of the good they 
 ultimately leave behind them. The chaff is 
 scattered to the winds, the grain is garnered 
 up by the Fates for ever. As regards our- 
 selves, if we studied the Germans more, and 
 stole from them less, it would fare all the bet- 
 ter with the interests of mental enlightenment, 
 arid none the worse with those of our own 
 originality. It is a poor and feeble counterfeit 
 of independence which dares not venture to 
 learn from the experience of others, and whose 
 only chance of intellectual fertility depends 
 upon the abandonment of every attempt at as- 
 similation from without. 'Vicini quo pacto 
 niteant in id animum advertito. Caveto alienam 
 disciplinam temere contemnas ', is the advice of 
 one of the most originalminded and strongly 
 defined characters in a people whose place 
 in history has been preeminently won by 
 force of intellect, and grandeur of practical 
 
— 282 — 
 
 power.*) "The man/' says Schelling, "who 
 most in a condition to produce is the pars 
 of all others from whom learning and studio 
 receptivity demands the smallest amount 
 self sacrifice."**) No where is this ohstins 
 refusal to study and profit by the example 
 other European nations so peculiarly sensele 
 as when exhibiting itself in the shape of o 
 jection to reforms suggested by the Germ 
 Universities. In point of general economy the 
 institutions present throughout the greatest ; 
 finity to our own, with which, as we have : 
 ready seen, they are identical in point of o 
 ginal design, the model in both instances ha 
 ing been derived from the University of Par 
 Defective as §'3. The acadcmic system of Germany wi 
 regards pi^r- ^escrves our most thoughtful consideration, le 
 
 poses of in- *-■ ' • 
 
 siruction. howcvor as regards external form , or the pi 
 of instruction pursued, both of which are sing 
 larly bald and meagre, than with reference 
 the method of prosecuting learned and scie 
 
 *) Cato de re rustiea c. 1. Compare also Polyb. '' 
 25 extr. 'Aya&ol yag, si ■x.aC xivsg BtBQOt, fisraXaP 
 f'9'jj, v-al ^Tjlcoaai to ^sXtiov v.a\ 'PcoiiaCoi. 
 
 **) Gerade dem, der am ehesten zu produciren 
 Stande ist, das Lernen am wehigsten VerlSugnu'ng kosi 
 kann. Schelling Acad. Vorles. p. 50. 
 
— 283 — 
 
 tific inquiry. It sheds more light on those 
 functions of the schools of learning which re- 
 late to the advancement of science, and the 
 dissemination of general enlightenment, than 
 on those which are designed to promote the 
 moral elevation, and intellectual progress of 
 the individual student. No one can have formed 
 any practical acquaintance with the academic 
 institutions of Germany without having his at- 
 tention drawn to the extremely secondary im- 
 portance which the class and its duties occupy 
 in the eyes of the professor. As to the indi- 
 vidual student no steps whatever are taken to 
 ascertain whether he in any degree benefits 
 from, or even comprehends the import of what 
 he listens to — a circumstance which must ren- 
 der professorial prelections almost utterly useless 
 to a large portion of the audience, especially in 
 those subjects where the loss of a single step 
 involves the sacrifice of all that follows. Nor 
 is this deficiency on the part of the instructor 
 at all remedied by any peculiarity in the mode 
 of reception by his hearers. Of these all 
 the most industrious are far too much engros- 
 sed in the mere drudgery of transcribing the 
 lecture word for word as it falls from/ the lips 
 of the professor to have a moments leisure for 
 
— 284 — 
 
 estimating the truth and import of what ha 
 been propounded to them. Even in those cassE 
 and they are any thing but few and far between 
 where the lecture is not a mere excerpt o 
 treatises long since published, upon which th 
 professor bases his fame and position, am 
 where of course a sum far less in amoim 
 than the entrance fee would put the studeu 
 in complete possession of the entire course 
 there is something so clumsy and unskilfu 
 as well as mindless in this mechanical quil] 
 driving that in a country more fertile in es 
 pedients for economizing time and labour w 
 are positive the whole system would long ag 
 have been superseded by some simple com 
 bination of steam and machinery. A few oi 
 dinary lawyers clerks, for that matter, or 
 single newspaper reporter would accomplish a 
 that could be desired with a saving of wee 
 and tear on the part of more refined and cu 
 tivated intellects for which the world woul 
 have reason to be grateful. 
 
 §. 4. Perhaps the greatest objection to th: 
 system of academic instruction is to be foun 
 however in the dreary, formless formalism in! 
 which it infallibly degenerates. The fact : 
 that the professorships in German Universiti( 
 
— .285 — 
 
 have gradually settled down into something 
 not unlike what fellowships of Oxford and 
 Cambridge would become with the condition 
 of delivering a course of lectures in each 
 session attached to their tenure, and are vir- 
 tually little more than a provision by the state 
 for the maintenance of a number of eminent 
 individuals in circumstances favourable to the 
 prosecution of learned and scientific investiga- 
 tion. The tie which under this system con- 
 nects the professor with the University is ex- 
 tremely slight and nominal. By far the greatest 
 share of his time and attention is given to 
 bookmaking. He is an instructor, not so much 
 of academic youth, as of the world at large. 
 Whether this may or may not be the far higher 
 function of the two, we will not attempt 
 to determine. It is quite enough for our pre- 
 sent purpose that the University, in its closer 
 connexion with the immediate and daily edu- 
 cational wants of the nation, is something quite 
 distinct from the scientific institute; and that 
 in a system where all that relates to instruction 
 is thrown so completely into the back ground 
 the essential objects of the former can not be 
 said to be properly attained. 
 
 §. 5. That the professor of the University 
 
— 286 — 
 
 is in an especial manner called upon to bea 
 himself conspicuously in the van of discover; 
 none are more deeply persuaded than oiirselveE 
 Not only does this lie in the very notion o 
 the University, as the fountain and centre o 
 speculative life, from which the highest though 
 of the nation proceeds, and to which it returns 
 but even with reference to mere educationa 
 efficiency it is evident that nothing will giv( 
 the professor so powerful a hold upon the mindi 
 of his class as when he approves himself ii 
 advance, not merely of their transient im 
 maturity, but of the scientific attainments o: 
 the entire age. At the same time there cai 
 be little doubt that by entirely sinking th( 
 character and functions of the instructor i: 
 those of the solitary investigator a most im 
 portant duty is left unfulfilled with little or n( 
 proportionate advantage to the cause of know 
 ledge. Nay farther there is every reason to con 
 elude that the portion of time withdrawn fron 
 private study would be amply compensated b] 
 the healthier tone and mental freshness whici 
 could not fail to be derived from contact undei 
 circumstances peculiarly favourable with th( 
 most intelligent and generous portion of th( 
 youth of the country. No one who has hac 
 
— 287 — 
 
 any experience of oral tuition even in its 
 humblest and most uninviting form can have 
 failed to discover the deep meaning of the old 
 adage docendo disces. On these occasions in- 
 finite as may be the advantage derived by the 
 pupil the balance of gain will, we believe, 
 always be found on the side of the instructor. 
 
 §. 6. Negative and imperfect as is the Admirably 
 system of the German Universities in its mode ,rj,^'ot°ing.°h 
 of dealing with the student, in its method of advance of 
 
 ,,. ., . . ^ -1 • 1.. /. science. 
 
 dealing with science it exhibits qualities oi a 
 very different order. The ultimate and essential 
 principle of that organon of scientific research 
 which has been applied by the Germans with 
 such signal success in the region of ontologic 
 and historic knowledge, we will not take upon 
 us to define. The discovery and analysis of 
 such a principle would demand an intellect 
 scarcely less profound and capacious than that 
 of him who possesses it. A brief notice of its 
 more external and striking peculiarities may not 
 however be altogether without interest. 
 
 §. 7. First and foremost is to be reckoned 
 that eminently philosophical sjfiving after the 
 cause and absolute ground of the individual 
 instance which is so honourably distinctive of 
 the historians and critics of Germany. This 
 
— 288 — 
 
 circumstance has been justly noticed by tl 
 celebrated Hermann, who in contrasting th 
 labours of one of the most eminent and illui 
 trious of English scholars with those of hi 
 own countrymen remarks that while th 
 Englishman is generally contented with poin 
 ing out the fact, the G-erman is never satisfie 
 until he has discovered the reason. In all th 
 most highly trained and thoughtful intellects th 
 presence of an unexplained and isolated phenc 
 menon operates as a stimulus to internal act 
 vity. There is a sense of insufficiency an 
 self contradiction as it were in the existene 
 of a fact not viewed as suggestive of a un: 
 vei'sal truth. 
 
 §. 8. Closely connected with this powerfi 
 bias, towards the establishment of philosophi 
 ratio we also notice in German scholars a pi 
 culiarly deep sense of the intrinsic dignity c 
 science irrespective of any ulterior advantagf 
 to be derived from its pursuit. AVith thei 
 knowledge is valued, not in proportion as 
 may prove available as the handmaid to mechai 
 ical inventions , or as enabling us to compas 
 other material ends, but as itself constituting i' 
 own exceeding great reward. So reverentii 
 is their worship of science that the honoi 
 
— 289 — 
 
 and majesty of the Idea is recognized in the 
 meanest and most .insignificant of its genuine 
 phaenomena. Every thing which properly and 
 fitly becomes the object of scientific inquiry, how- 
 ever minute and seemingly trivial it may be, is 
 to them invested with a worth and importance 
 identical in kind, though, of course, inferior in 
 degree with that which attaches to objects the 
 most vast and imposing. Its nature and pro- 
 perties are studied with a degree of interest 
 and enthusiasm scarcely inferior to that awa- 
 kened by the loftiest objects of human specu- 
 lation. In no other country, and scarcely at 
 any other period in the history of human cul- 
 ture do we meet with so admirable' a combina- 
 tion of judicious caution with masterly freedom 
 and daring, of laborious and infinitesimal ac- 
 curacy with the highest sweep of imaginative 
 eloquence. The correspondance is still extant in 
 which the great Wilhelm von Humboldt, another 
 Aristotle in the range and luminous sagacity 
 of his scientific insight, keenly discusses with 
 F. A. Wolf the most microscopic details 
 of Homeric criticism*), and exhibits the live- 
 liest and most indefatigable ardour in hunt- 
 
 *) Gesammelte Werke von W. v. Humboldt. V. 
 
 19 
 
— 290 — 
 
 ing out from the dreary prolixity of schoHastt 
 and lexicographers the evidence for the ac 
 centuation of a word, or the direction in whicl 
 a breathing should be turned. On this subjec 
 Humboldt most justly remarks that in scienc( 
 nothing is insignificant ; and that the small onlj 
 then becomes contemptible when the great ii 
 neglected. 
 
 §. 9. An immediate result of this earnesi 
 and intense practical worship of knowledge ii 
 to be seen in the organised division and syste 
 matic prosecution of science which forms s( 
 peculiar and striking a feature in the learnec 
 world of Germany. No where are the mani 
 fold advantages of an orderly arrangement o: 
 study so powerfully exemplified. The scholar! 
 of ihsit country secure to themselves and t( 
 the cause to which they devote themselvei 
 with a zeal and enthusiasm so genuine no 
 merely the dexterity afforded by the mechani 
 cal division of labour, but the power and in 
 splration of the soundest and most lofty concep 
 tion of the central Truth carried into eael 
 and all of its departments. This creative blend 
 ing of the universal with the particular, an( 
 silent , it may be, but none the less ever presen 
 carrying up of the individual and special to thdsi 
 
— 291 — 
 
 deeper realities from which it derives life and 
 significance gives to their learned labours a 
 genial comprehensiveness of view founded upon 
 a vigour and accuracy of detail which will 
 render the Germans like the Greeks before 
 them a lasting lesson and pattern to all who 
 have 'eyes to see or heart to understand'. 
 
 VI. 
 
 GENERAL ADVANTAGES TO BE ANTICIPATED FEOM 
 A REFORM OF THE UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 §. 1. There are few signs of the times we Faults o:th 
 live in which augiir' worse for the future his-^,^"f^'^.'''^,°ji^ 
 tory of this country than the proverbial indif- present day. 
 ference with which we are in the habit of con- 
 templating our own manifest inferiority to 
 other countries, and to our own former selves 
 in matters vitally associated with the very worth- 
 iest ends of existence without making an effort 
 to do away with a state of things so discre- 
 
 19* 
 
— 292 — 
 
 ditable. This utter dq>L?.oxalia , and deadnessti 
 honourable ambition is deeply connected wit] 
 the ascendancy which the maxims and spiri 
 of trade have attained over the present ge 
 neration of Englishmen. The low opinioi 
 entertained of a purely and solely mercantili 
 community by all the greatest statesmen of anti 
 quity, and the still more sacred authority whic] 
 tells us that 'we can not serve God and Mam 
 mon' is day by day more strongly confirmee 
 in the debasing effects of such a policy upoi 
 one of the most magnanimous and magnificen 
 types of national character which history hai 
 ever exhibited. 
 Properly §. 2. This vulgarmindcd insensibility ti 
 speaking- p^" jjjnrjjgj, ^nd morc lasting considerations thai 
 
 culiar to one o o 
 
 portion of the those which relate Jo the lowest individua 
 y. gjjJQyjjjgj^^. g^jj^ advantage points to a temporar 
 relaxing of the nobler springs of action, am 
 an ebb of national spirit, less however as it exist 
 in the masses of the community, whose natur 
 must ever be somewhat animal and thoughl 
 less, than in those higher regions of societ; 
 where leisure and education have been confer 
 red with the evident intent of enabling thei 
 possessors to keep before the nation the in 
 tense reality of interests which would othei 
 
— 293 — 
 
 wise remain mere moonshine to the majority 
 of those of whom it is composed. 
 
 §.3. Take them for all in all the character 
 of the English at the present day is, we 
 are firmly persuaded, the most estimable and 
 amiable the world has ever seen. The com- 
 mon people are, to say the least, more un- 
 affectedly truthful and righthearted , more 
 easy to deal with, as well as better behav- 
 ed, and of infinitely better capacity, than the 
 same class of any other country in existence. 
 The general type of character met with in 
 every day life is not only preeminently healthy 
 and wholesome, but abounds to no ordinary 
 extent in elements of a peculiarly choice and 
 felicitous description. The delight of all classes 
 of Englishmen in manly sports, the heartiness 
 and relish with which each individual enters 
 into the avocations of life, the perfection of 
 sterling worth, and finish of substantial solidity 
 which characterizes every article of English 
 workmanship are each of them in their way 
 no mean evidences of that freshness of feeling, 
 and genuine enjoyment of activity which lie at 
 the root of every genial and truly poetic tem- 
 perament. Nature certainly has not been nig- 
 gard of her best bounties to the race. Rich 
 
- 294 — 
 
 Yeins run brightly intermingling with a broad 
 and massive substratum of solidly useful vir- 
 tues, It is not till looking beyond generally 
 auspicious circumstances, and the mechanical 
 round of ordinary life we seek for evidence of 
 that higher excellence which is the result of 
 personal conviction, and independent resolution, 
 which cannot be inherited , but must be indivi- 
 dually won that grounds for disappointment 
 and criticism become apparent. The English 
 character in the. phase upon which it seems 
 now to have entered certainly exhibits an ex- 
 traordinary deficiency in all those aims and 
 faculties which constitute mans proper human- 
 ity, and in virtue of which he is something 
 more than merely the most perfectly organised 
 specimen of the genus mammalia. As com- 
 pared with the great nations of the past, and 
 those which stand foremost in the world of 
 the present*) they evince little capacity for se- 
 
 *) "With all the frivolity and profligacy of the French 
 character it is impossible to be long in that country 
 without detecting in the social atmosphere the distinct 
 presence of something more essentially entitled to re- 
 spect, and more worthy of an European people than 
 ought that comes within the circle in which the domin- 
 ant portion of the English are well content to live, and 
 
— 295 — 
 
 riovis or elevated thought, an irresistible pre- 
 dilection for odd, and at the same time un- 
 
 move, and have their being. A rare and penetrating 
 intelligence, scieutifio precision and consistency, a magna- 
 nimous ability and vastness of scale in all undertakings 
 of public interest, together with the liveliest suscepti- 
 bility on the point of honour are powerfully determin- 
 ing principles in the present no less than in the past 
 existence of the French nation. No one will long rule 
 in France whose policy does not eminently fultil one or 
 other of these requirements. In England on the other 
 hand , if we except such feelings and faculties as are 
 called into play in 'business', that is to say, in buying, 
 and selling, and bookkeeping, a distorted and trumpery 
 sentimentality is almost the only impulse of general 
 action which is worth speaking of, or which a prudent 
 and practical politician could at all venture to recognise. 
 Even when regarded individually how purely exceptional 
 a case is it when we meet with an Englishman who ex- 
 hibits any thing of that homage for mind so Universal 
 in France or gives trace of the faintest conception of a 
 higher culture than that exemplified in the mannerism 
 and conventionalities of the fashionable class. 
 
 We are the more unreserved on this subject from the 
 conviction that the faults and deficiencies here alluded 
 to are vitally connected with the abeyance into which 
 university education has practically fallen in England 
 — a result attributable partly to the imperfect nature 
 of the instruction imparted in those institutions which 
 hold academic rank and consequence, and still more to 
 the small portion of the community which partakes of 
 
— 296 — 
 
 speakably humdrum and shallow delusions, an 
 ignoble indifference for reputation, with a cor- 
 responding absence of any desire to excel*). 
 In short the prevailing mode of thinking is to 
 say the least unaspiring and commonminded 
 to excess. The expression of mental physio- 
 nomy, without being coarse or sordid, is es- 
 sentially ordinary and unimpressive. With in- 
 
 the benefits of such education as even they afford. We 
 do not helieye that Englishmen are naturally at all less 
 open than other nations to generous emotions or enlarged 
 and highminded modes of thought. The very reverse 
 is the fact. The inanity of head and heart so prevalent 
 in the upper classes arises from a want of education 
 thoroughly corresponding with that which is the acknow- 
 ledged cause of the degradation of the lower. Ignorance, 
 and an utter want of that mental culture which leads 
 in the profoundeet sense to the homo sum humani nihil 
 a me alienum puto lie at the root of the narrow minded 
 finality and unmeaning exclusiveness which so strikingly 
 and completely separates the majority of the English 
 from the sympathies of mankind. On the other hand 
 the graver faults of the nation all spring from the ab- 
 sence of any ideal , and the consequent acceptance of a 
 poor, capricious, and external standard in place of those 
 eternal principles of Truth and Duty which it is one 
 of the leading objects of the University to awaken and 
 establish. 
 
 *) contemptu famae contemnuntur virtutes. Tacitus. 
 Ann. IV. 38. 
 
— 297 — 
 
 finite cleverness and an overflowing measure 
 of honest good feeling, and zealous, though 
 somewhat bustling benevolence, that finer re- 
 verence, and those higher gifts of intellect 
 which lend interest and dignity to character are 
 absent, and uncared for. In few Christian 
 countries is that type of human nature where, 
 in the words of Niebuhr, Nichts bleibt als ein 
 gewinn- und genusssuchendes Thier, und der 
 Geist verschwindet *) , so completely in the 
 ascendant, and those who represent it so little 
 rebuked by the life and conversation of their 
 betters. The miserable littleness of our par- 
 liamentary history in the war just conluded, 
 and the corruption and injustice which seem 
 inveterately rooted in so many of the most 
 important branches of the public service are 
 obvious, though by no means solitary instances, 
 of an incompetency adequately to appreciate 
 high duties, and of the absence of even a re- 
 spectable admixture of the ingredient furnished 
 by that prouder and more powerful form of 
 character, without which good intentions on 
 the part of the community generally will avail 
 
 *) where man becomes a mere pleasure and profit- 
 seeking animal, and the soul has departed. 
 
— 298 — 
 
 as little in promoting the welfare of the. nation 
 as , divines tell us , they accomplish in securing 
 the salvation of the sinner. 
 ■ho very re- §. 4. There js a notion commonly abroad — 
 iiXricdcht-^°*^°'^^ strikingly illustrative of the inglorious 
 acter of the style of thinking now prevalent in England — 
 peo°pic. *^^^ ^^^^ deficiency in high moral and willing- 
 ness to be inferior in all that constitutes 
 Gods image in man is originally and essen- 
 tially English. Elsewhere, to be sure, the 'his- 
 tory of nations has ever been the judgment of 
 nations'. Every other people which has risen 
 to permanent victory and dominion, whose 
 triumphs have been any thing more than a 
 passing scourge of the sins of their neighbours 
 has achieved a positive claim to authority, or 
 has at all events been conspicuous for qualities 
 which awaken respect and admiration rather 
 than aversion and disgust. With us however 
 it is quite the reverse. We are, and have 
 been from first to last utterly unconscious 
 of, and unconcerned about any thing beyond 
 the ledger and the shop board, possessing no 
 mental accomplishment of a higher order than 
 mere acquisitiveness, or the Thersites like talent 
 for buffoonery and carricature, 'We have all 
 along blundered into greatness,' and there is 
 
— 299 — 
 
 consequently no reason for desiring any change 
 in qualities which have practically worked so 
 well. *) This impression rests upon an entire mis- 
 take in point of fact. The blunders and baseness 
 of the past have contributed marvellously little 
 to the greatness, such as it is, of the present. 
 That in the most glorious ages of English his- 
 tory the character of the actual numerical ma- 
 jority considered simply by itself was every 
 whit as much limited to physical instinct as it 
 now is, and perhaps even more so, is a remark 
 which amounts no more than the truism that in 
 all times, places, and circumstances whatsoever 
 the great outlines of human nature and com- 
 ponents of human society remain substantially 
 the same. Making all due allowances for this 
 sympathetic bond of identity in kind an in- 
 finitely varied state of individual diversities in 
 ascending and descending degrees of excellence, 
 according to the spirit and temper prevalent in 
 the small tonegiving circles of society, is un- 
 
 *) Compare the following by way of contrast: riji' tijs 
 Tiolscas Svvajiiv ■xa&' rjiis^av iQyo) ■S'ScoftSKous, ■xal i^a- 
 amg yiyvo^svovg ctvT-^g, v.cd, ovav vfiiv fisyaXrj So^ri 
 ilvai sv&vjioviisvovg, on. tolficovtsg , iial yvyvcaaKOvvsg 
 TC SsovTCC, Tial iv roig SQyoig alaxvvofisvoi avSqsg avxa 
 hrrjaavTO. Thuc. II. 43. 
 
— 300 — 
 
 mistakeably evident. The annals of England 
 unfold an endlessly varying series of the rich- 
 est pictures , in which the most vigorous mental 
 initiation is swayed and guided by a profoundly 
 generous humanity, and a peculiarly exquisite 
 beauty of thought and feeling. The age of 
 Elizabeth, which perhaps more than any other 
 gave the impulse that has borne us onward 
 ever since, exhibits a most interesting union of 
 the gravest wisdom with all the grace and 
 charm of poetic inspiration, while the still 
 greater epoch which succeeded abounds in 
 characters who have become the very types 
 and symbols of the cpo^sQov xaXlog of austere 
 decision of will, and masterly ability of intellect. 
 Even in periods less signally renowned, and 
 garded by the rest of mankind with less un- 
 mingled wonder and respect the orators and 
 statesmen who set their stamp on the baser 
 and more sluggish material of the times ex- 
 hibit a character very different from that of 
 the stockjobbing, tradesmanhearted 'Anglo- 
 saxon' of the present generation, who in the 
 midst of unexampled prosperity has so rapidly 
 succeeded in demolishing the great name that 
 they left behind them. Nor was this merely 
 the case with the guiding intellects of the 
 
— 301. — 
 
 nation. The immediate agents in establishing 
 our name and empire, the Nelsons and Olives 
 of our history, have almost invariably exhib- 
 ited in word and deed the most impassioned 
 and imaginative type of practical genius. 
 
 §. 5. Individuals of the same high mental 
 order, and with aims not less serious and noble 
 continue to exist in England in numbers, or 
 the road downwards would assuredly have been 
 more brief and sudden than it has hitherto 
 proved. *) Their presence however is unknoM'n 
 
 *) Though the mention of examples may be somewhat 
 superfluous we cannot resist the temptation of confirm- 
 ing the above assertion by reference to what we con- 
 sider as emphatically the gem of the literature of the 
 day. We allude to 'The Saints Tragedy', a work 
 which, after all, no other country but England could 
 have produced. Nothing in any recent literature with 
 which we are acquainted can approach this singularly 
 beautiful poem in that glorified sanctification of human 
 suffering {iid9aQai,s rmv Tia^rnidxcov), and that vivid ear- 
 nestness without which art becomes an effeminate pas- 
 time , and the poet a somewhat more presentable species 
 of fiddler. The appearance from time to time of a book 
 of this description is really needed to prevent one from 
 rushing out into the wildness — ultra Sauromatas — 
 from the miscreant hero worship, peace societies , Uncle 
 Tomfoolery, and other mental epidemies to which the 
 
— 302 — 
 
 and unfelt in the freskening energy and eleva- 
 tion of sentiment which suclr minds are meant 
 to communicate to the ordinary life of the na- 
 tion. The opposite and more ignoble tendencies 
 remain in undisputed mastery of 'the situation/ 
 from the fact that they alone are fully organiz- 
 ed and distinctly represented, while the most 
 precious elements of national felicity and pro- 
 gress lie dispersed and comparatively power- 
 less. Those who impersonate such principles 
 are, with few exceptions, driven into literary 
 cliques when living , and only recognized when 
 dead in order to be pilloried in the paltriest 
 of statues. 
 Moral and §• 6. No moasurcs Can be conceived more ■ 
 public iniiii- -yyjgely calculated to renew that temper of high 
 
 ence which •' . jr o 
 
 properly falls rcsolvo which cnablcs a nation to enact his- 
 "versiiy!" ^^^7 ! ^^^ ^^ which England is in an especial 
 manner indebted for its greatness than such 
 a reform of our University system as would 
 enable those institutions signally and thorough- 
 ly to perform the part allotted to them in the 
 workings of the state. The fruits of the Uni- 
 
 vulgar and weakminded of all countries, and those of 
 our own in particular seem so strangely and inveterately 
 subject. 
 
— 303 — 
 
 versity are to be found not only in a more re- 
 fined humanity, but in a more severely mas- 
 culine type of will and intellect, and the rees- 
 tablishment of our schools of higher learning 
 upon a sound basis of academic study may be 
 regarded as one of the surest means of reviv- 
 ing and keeping alive in the leading classes 
 of the country those absolute principles of- 
 thought and action the consciousness and re- 
 verence for which seems so greatly to have 
 abandoned us. 
 
 §. 7. The momentous political results which 
 would necessarily be produced by an institution 
 gathering around itself on all more important 
 emergencies the scattered elements of highest 
 intelligence, and lending a collective voice and 
 individuality to the choicest portion of the pro- 
 fessional body are too obvious to require 
 mention in detail. An immediate effect of the 
 more positive and external reality thus given 
 to the learned class would be felt in the fact 
 that the wisdom and education of the country 
 would bring to . bear upon government some- 
 thing of that external pressure which is at present 
 the exclusive prerogative of its fanaticism and 
 cupidity. It is surely not too much to hope 
 
— 304 — 
 
 that the presence in the councils of the nation 
 thus accorded to a section of the community 
 whose distinguishing characteristic is that per- 
 ception of essentials which is the ground and 
 condition of all design would lend guidance 
 and precision to the consideration of a most 
 important class of public measures. Questions, 
 like that of education, are perpetually forcing 
 themselves upon the notice of the country, 
 where a deeper philosophy, and an appreciation 
 of interests stretching too far into the Unseen 
 and eternal ever to be apprehended by Parlia- 
 ment or constituencies is absolutely needed to 
 meet urgent and immediate national require- 
 ments. The rude shocks of experience are 
 causing us to open our eyes to the real value 
 of that unreasoning empiricism which consti- 
 tuted the sole ground of our fancied practical 
 superiority. We are beginning to discover that 
 unless accompanied by a corresponding measure 
 of intellectual insight and forethought any at- 
 tempt at action leans simply to a scuffle in the 
 dark. There is consequently a chance that 
 the influence of such a body as .that above men- 
 tioned would in some degree be permitted to 
 remedy that utter absence of thought and prin- 
 
— 305 — 
 
 ciple whicL. lies at the bottom of so much of 
 the political blundering in England.* 
 
 §. 8. Most of the later attempts at general 
 legislation which have proceeded from the fami- 
 ly of nations to which we belong seem, when 
 viewed in the light of history, to labour under 
 one serious defect , that viz. of being framed 
 
 *) "Sir, it is not a pleasant consideration, but nothing 
 in the world can read so awful and instructive a lesson, 
 as the conduct of ministers in this business, upon the 
 mischief of not having large and liberal ideas in the 
 management of great affairs. Never have the servants 
 of the state looked at the whole of your complicated in- 
 terests in one connected view. They have taken things 
 by bits and scraps , some at one time and one pretence, 
 and some at another just as they pressed without any 
 Sort of regard to theii- relations and dependencies. They 
 never had any kind of system right or wrong, but only 
 invented occasionally some miserable tale for the day, 
 in order meanly to sneak out of difficulties into which 
 they had proudly strutted. By such management, by 
 the irresistible operation of feeble councils , so paltry a 
 sum as three pence in the eyes of a financier, so iu- 
 siguificaut an article as tea in the eyes of a philosopher 
 have shaken the pillars of a commercial empire that 
 circled the whole globe." Burke, speech on American 
 taxation. There could scarcely be a more graphic pic- 
 ture than the above of English legislation at the present 
 day on all points save those of commercial policy. 
 
 20 
 
— 306 — 
 
 upon too low an estimate of the ends of po- 
 litical existence. Public questions and interests 
 have long been dealt with in accordance with 
 a view of the state which utterly ignores the 
 truest and most essential objects for which it 
 is instituted. The grandest expression of hu- 
 man existence and action, the support and 
 subject of the loftiest tendencies and most 
 sacred emotions, the personality above self, 
 which is instinctively regarded as the highest 
 object of devotion and duty, and an such 
 anthem as 'God save the Queen' is in practice 
 and principle regarded simply as a joint stock 
 association for the mutual insurance of life and 
 property. It is with reference to these mean 
 and inadequate notions of the social polity, 
 and the errors which naturally spring from so 
 tame and unworthy a conception of the state) 
 that the University, as a convocation and per- 
 manent committee of the clerisy, would prove 
 especially valuable, and do good patriotic service 
 to the nation. Opinions of the kind above al- 
 luded to are in one form or other too congenial 
 and too deeply engrained in the habits of thinking 
 which characterize the industrious and respect-; 
 able, but not high minded class who are now the 
 possessors of power to be ever directly eradicated. 
 
— 307 — 
 
 The only means of securing the due ascendancy 
 in the nation of higher tendencies and interests 
 than those which minds of this order can ever 
 be made to comprehend would be by modify- 
 ing, and to a certain extent counterbalancing the 
 preponderance of the coarser and commercial 
 elements by the concentrated influence of a 
 more intelligent, and more nobly thinking por- 
 tion of the community. It is hardly necessary 
 to mention how utterly improbable it is that in 
 this country such a class would exhibit any of 
 ■ that disorderly and revolutionary spirit by which 
 the academic institutions of the continent have 
 foolishly made shipwreck of great opportunities 
 of public benefit. On taxes and imposts, and 
 all those matters of minor detail which form 
 the topics of ordinary legislation their common 
 and united opinion would rarely, if ever, be 
 expressed. They would naturally ascend into 
 the position of the chorus in the drama confirm- 
 ing the absolute truths imperilled by the pas- 
 sionate vehemence of the personages more pro- 
 minent, an the stage, and thus giving as it were 
 a back ground of eternity to the picture, but 
 seldom actively -interfering in the action of the 
 piece. The analogy of the past history of the 
 University, and the characteristic soberminded- 
 
 . 20* 
 
-^ 308 — 
 
 ness of educated Englishmen gives every war- 
 ranty that the prevailing tone of their political 
 sentiments would have the strongest bias towards 
 enlightened conservatism, and that the organ- 
 ization of the learned class would have the ef- 
 fect, not only of enriching public life with a 
 new type of corporate existence, but of furnish- 
 ing an additional safeguard of political order. 
 Actual and bona fide democracy has ever from 
 the days of Plato until now been an object of 
 unmingled disgust and contempt to all wise 
 and scholarly natures; 'Ev itdSf] yij to ^il- • 
 xiOtov ivdvriov ttj dfjiioxQatia was the re- 
 mark of one who spoke not without some ex- 
 perience of the subject, and in this country we 
 are tod well, and often made acquainted with 
 its inherent folly aiid blackguardism ever to 
 become enamoured of a scheme of government 
 which so inevitably drags into the kennel that 
 sacred form of common Unity in which the 
 very humblest was meant to recognise an image 
 and a consummation of the dignity and limit- 
 less power of the nature in which he particit 
 pates. 
 
 §. 9. The vast and manifold ends which the 
 University is destined to serve are not less 
 signally conspicuous in the more general re- 
 
— 309 — 
 
 lations to the state here briefly touched upon 
 than in those directly educational purposes 
 which formed the subject of an earlier portion 
 of this treatise. Schools of this order are 
 meant not only to unfold the highest of human 
 faculties in the individual, but to collect and 
 lead irresistibly upon common objects the most 
 cultivated intelligence of the times. Their 
 office is in every way an eternal one, and in 
 the grossminded utilitarianism of this age and 
 nation, they are called upon to encounter a 
 form of barbarism infinitely more hateful 
 and essentially inimical to all hightoned ex- 
 cellence of mind and character, than the 
 honest , undisguised ruffianism which at a more 
 youthful epoch of their existence they so nobly 
 succeeded in humanising. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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