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both lion and bull are carved in very high relief on the side, and thus viewed the animal is presented in the attitude which heralds call" passant;" while seen in front, a fifth leg is added to complete the frontal view. I stayed to witness the raising of the bull, and was startled into something like a feeling of

the presence of a living monster as its head was slowly lifted by the machinery employed. The countenances of the bull and lion are human the nose, as is the case with all the Ninevite sculptures of the same class, being Roman, thus distinguished from the straight people of Egyptian statues.

A BABY SONG.

Sweet little Enid-How did you come here-
Into this kingdom of tears and sighs?
Did you wander out of some fairy palace?
Or did you fall from the azure skies?

Did

you drop at our feet from a golden sunbeam?
Did the great stork bring you? you creature small;
Were you cradled soft in the heart of a lily?
Or hidden under a mushroom tall?

That swaying bulrush is twice your stature-
The sunflower set by the garden door
To the hollyhock whispers, "Was ever a baby
So tiny seen in the world before?'

How did you come by all your beauty?

Did an angel lend you those sweet blue eyes?
Did the fayfolk fashion those dainty fingers?
And print that dimple for our surprise?

Did the ripe peach fall on your cheek and tint it?
Did the jasmine whiten that forehead fair?
Did the red rose blush on your lips for sweetness ?
And the silkworm spin you your golden hair?
Did the wood birds teach you your wanton singing?
And the brook your laughter so wild and gay?
Were your wee feet trained to those graceful dances
In some fairy ring where you chanced to stray?

Sweet little Enid-or fay, or angel,

We blessed your coming, we bless it still;

For there was a void in our hearts, my darling,

An aching void you were sent to fill.

"What do we think you?" You know who'll tell you—
Tempt her with flowers, your childish charms—

What does she whisper? "The sweetest baby

That ever was given to mother's arms."

C. A. BURKE.

SPIRIT OF THE UNIVERSITIES.

MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFOrd,

Oct. 22, 1878.

THE restless craving after change, merely for the sake of change, which has prevailed in Oxford since the days of Dr. Jeune, who proved to demonstration that it was possible to establish a reputation by clamouring for reform, has assumed recently a very iconoclastic phase. All Souls, as I have already hinted, affords a fine scope for the genius of the reorganiser, yet even All Souls merits a better fate than to be converted into a collegiate appendage of the Bodleian Library, as was proposed in all sober sadness by a distinguished Fellow of that not ignoble institution. The annihilation of the society which defines itself as "all nonno-bodies" is a trifle if compared with the latest scheme exploited, viz., the amalgamation of Lincoln and Brasenose. These colleges stand geographically dos à dos, but socially they have little affinity. Brasenose is northern, muscular, with a twang of aristocratic flavour about, and certain historical reminiscences attaching to it of " pandemonium" clubs, and demonological séances over such merum as the Oxford wine trade will condescend to provide. Was it not at Brasenose in the last century that they invented decanters with circular bottoms, called from their shape "ox-eyes," and did not a scion of the "Phoenix" of that era, when he reeled out of the room in his cups, perpetrate the perennial joke, "Pol, me oxeydistis, amici!" Moreover, to come down to modern days, the Brasenose lyrics are not par excellence those of Heber, bishop and poet, but in praise of the college ale. Lincoln, on the contrary, an institution presided over beneficently by Mr. and Mrs. Mark Pattison, and under the mild disposition of the Logic-Professor, is a quiet unobtrusive sort of place. It bears about the same relation to Brasenose that Miss Yonge does to "Ouida," or the poet Bunn to Mr. Swinburne. A fusion, therefore, of these divergent elements would be not only unnatural, but almost absurd. The idea must have emanated not so much from the brain of a destructive as of an empiric, and I am glad to have the opportunity of qualifying it on its merits. A greater blunder than this proposition could not be perpetrated. Assuming, pro argumento, that the two colleges would amalgamate, you would gain nothing by the absorption of little Lincoln into big B.N.C. The latter college is already quite as populous as is consistent with discipline and industry, and the former would lose indefinitely by becoming indefinitely enlarged. However much it may jar against the latest academical ideal, it is none the less a truism that the smaller the college-given an adequate tutorial staff-the pleasanter are the lines of the individual undergraduate, and the better his chances in the schools. Nothing is more prejudicial both to the University and its junior members than overgrown colleges, where the tutor descends to

the level of a policeman, and "sets" take the place of society. A man, unless he be a nobleman, an athlete, a millionaire, or an embryo Conington, is lost in a huge college; and there are other reasons why the principle of herding men together in gigantic droves does not answer. Practically speaking, therefore, Brasenose and Lincoln will commit no small error by uniting in the bonds of an ill-assorted wedlock; and I trust that, if Mr. Washbourne West does not, the shade of the late VicePrincipal Chaffers will, forbid the banns.

Yet another change. This one, too, is urged on the ground of expediency, and appears to contravene abstract justice most glaringly. Jesus, the appanage of the Earls of Pembroke, the college of Sir Leoline Jenkyns, has ever been nothing if not Welsh. On St. David's day the Joneses, Prices, Owens, et id genus omne, deck their caps with the odorous leek, and invoke the Deity in Celtic. The undergraduates, too, belong to a totally different class from the rest of the University. Many of them speak but indifferent English, and the story of the “Jesuit as the members of this Protestant foundation love to designate themselves who at a cricket match inquired what a glass of sherry might mean, has at all events probability for its basis. It is contended that the Principality gains nothing by its connection with Jesus College, and that Jesus College loses everything by being entangled with the Principality. On this not very ingenuous hypothesis the new Head of the College, Dr. Harper, erst the spirited Master of Sherburn School, proposes to deprive Wales of its rights in the College, and to convert it into a cosmopolitan society. Doubtless if Jesus were well rid of the aboriginal Britonwhose standard of scholarship is even lower than that of his intelligence -it would in time assume a higher position in the University. But, on the other hand, the existence of a joint-stock company styling itself the University of Wales does not afford sufficient justification for depriving the Welshmen of what small chance they possess of obtaining an academical education. I am not aware whether Dr. Harper contemplates handing over a portion of the College estates to the aforesaid academical joint-stock company; but I may remark that any such alienation of the property of an Oxford College would be morally indefensible and prac tically reprehensible. It is a difficult task to convert the raw Ŵelsh material which matriculates at Jesus into scholars and gentlemen ; nevertheless, that is the work to which Dr. Harper has set his hand, and he has energy sufficient to carry it through if he so wills.

Since my last letter two headships have fallen vacant. The Provost of Queen's, a worthy cleric, venerable in more senses than one, yet quâ Oxford the veriest nonentity, has gone, and is succeeded by Mr. Magrath, a gentleman who enjoys a widespread popularity. Oddly enough, Queen's-albeit much the reverse of a distinguished College-had a wide field of selection. There was the Falcon family, and the Principal of St. Edmund Hall, Dr. Percival of Clifton College, Professor Gandell, and others. However, Mr. Magrath is believed to be emphatically the right man, and he at all events possesses the rare merit in an academic of being singularly hard-headed. Trinity has lost her President by resignation. Mr. Samuel Wayte was a reformer in the days when reform was detested; and as such he was secretary to Lord John Russell's commission. He succeeded the late Dr. Wilson, who also resigned; and the motive which dictated his sudden abnegation of duties he was pre-eminently qualified to fulfil is still a matter of speculation. As I

write his probable successor is Mr. Woods, formerly proctor; but Professor Stubbs is in the running, as also Canon Duckworth, who is perhaps better placed where he is, but who would make a grand President.

The Master of Pembroke after all is the new Vice-Chancellor. All who remember Evan Evans as the Conservative element for so many years in a Liberal College will felicitate the University on his appointment. He had to play a very judicious part under the autocratic Jerseyman, who ruled the College with a rod of iron, and subsequently the Diocese of Peterborough with a rod of willow. The present Master gained in his tutorial days the soubriquet of "The World," and if this affords a true index of his character he is just the man to hold the reins of power in a place where tact is even more essential than talent. His friends say of him that he has achieved the highest success of which he is capable, and never yet made a mistake. It is not generally known that but for Liberal legislation he would have been compelled years ago to vacate his fellowship for a miserable Welsh benefice, and would also have been ineligible for the Mastership, which office he now adorns, and which boasts as its perquisite a canonry in Gloucester Cathedral. He is the first Vice-Chancellor within the memory of man who has not taken the doctor's degree.

I have to record with regret the demise of an estimable resident. Colonel Chambers, reader of Hindustani and Persian, was at Rugby under Arnold, and for nearly twenty years instructed chance pupils in Oriental languages. The University conferred upon him the degree of M.A. (honoris caus), and he honestly deserved this small recognition of his services. He was emphatically not only a soldier, but a student, and long years of military life never dimmed the love of books implanted in his breast by the greatest of English schoolmasters.

TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

Oct. 21, 1878.

In spite of the financial depression throughout the country, the entry of freshmen is a very good one. There are 167 at Trinity, 111 at St. John's. It is rather surprising, however, to find that at Pembroke the number is smaller than last year. Last year general attention was attracted to the fact that a brilliant future for Pembroke seemed likely to be founded on its honourable past. It appeared probable that the completion of its fine new buildings would mark the commencement of a new age. The general tone of the College had been winning the respect of every one. It was a College which might be recommended with confidence to inquirers in the country, as one which had always held its own in the field of academical honours, and of which the undergraduates were gentlemen in the full sense of the word, without the taint of that idleness and extravagance which have spoiled the career of so many. There is, happily, no need to use the past tense in saying all this. It is true of the present moment.

There seems to be much esprit de corps about all Pembroke men, and no one loves his old college better, or is more loved there in

return, than the present occupant of the episcopal throne of Ely, whom it did us all good to see in the University pulpit yesterday. Every year some man, noted for his power of appealing to the emotions, is chosen to preach the first sermon in the full October term-this often goes by the name of the "freshmen's sermon." And yesterday Dr. Woodford, after arguing for the existence of moral intuitions and for the native capacity of the human mind to grasp the reality of Divine things-speaking, as he said, rather as a Bishop of the Church of God than as a member of the University-eloquently urged those just commencing their University course to do justice to the Divine teaching of their earlier life. On these occasions Dr. Vaughan, of the Temple, has often preached to congregations much more densely packed than that of yesterday, but last year he announced (no one knew why) that he was not likely to be again the preacher.

Strange as may seem the association of the name of Dixie with that of Ecclesiastical History, it appears probable that they are to be permanently associated. Emmanuel College has come out with a proposal to devote part of the revenues of its valuable Dixie foundation to the institution of a new Professorship, to be called the Dixie Professorship of Ecclesiastical History. All here who are interested in historical scholarship must feel that they are living in good days indeed, for this generation has already seen so many and great things done. The Historical Tripos, the Kaye Prize Essay, and the Lightfoot Scholarships have been founded. One, at least, of the Hulsean Prizes and the last awarded Kaye Prize have been won by very valuable essays. Never has the Regius Professor of Modern History been a more illustrious scholar; never has history received greater indirect encouragement from the occupants of other chairs. The Hulsean Essay of 1876, by the bye, is expected soon to be published, and the anticipations as to its worth are very high indeed. It has leaked out that the competition in which it was victorious was a severe one, and it can hardly be but that the age of the Emperor Julian in the hands of a student of great and many-sided culture will be admirably treated of.

In a thoughtful paper upon "The Long Vacation," just published, Mr. R. T. Wright, late Fellow and Tutor of Christ's, discusses the awkward subject, to which I alluded in my letter written in August. Mr. Wright pleads for the establishment (permissively only) of an additional term in July and August, which might be counted in the residence required for a degree. The admission to the examination for graduation would be earlier in the case of the man who chose to keep the new summer terms; but it would not be necessary to admit him to the degree earlier than those of equal standing with himself. body of voluntary lecturers could easily be got together, Mr. Wright thinks, from among those graduates who might wish to be in residence, and "many lecturers would consider the opportunity of occasionally taking their long holiday in the winter or spring, an advantage of no inconsiderable importance." The scheme, which is carefully worked out, is worthy of attentive consideration.

A

Professor Skeat has this afternoon given his inaugural lecture in the Senate House upon the study of Anglo-Saxon. Commencing by reminding his hearers that some 230 years ago Sir Henry Spelman founded an Anglo-Saxon lectureship in the University, he went on to speak of the great impetus to the knowledge of Anglo-Saxon which

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