190 UNIVERSITIES: ACTUAL AND IDEAL viii 



not yet found favour in the eyes of Academic 

 respectability; so that, when the proposal to 

 nominate me for your Rector came, I was almost 

 as mucli astonished as was Hal o' the AVvud. " who 

 fought for his own haud/' by the iilack Douglas's 

 proffer of kuighthoud. Aud I fear tliat my 

 acceptance must be taken as evidence that, less 

 wise than the Armourer of Perth, I have not yet 

 done with soldiering. 



In fact, if, for a moment, I imagined that your 

 intention was simply, in the kindness of your 

 hearts, to do me honour; and that the Rector of 

 your University, like that of some other Uni- 

 versities was one of those happy l)eings who sit 

 in glory for three years, with nothing to do for 

 it save the making of a speech, a conversation 

 with my distinguished ])redecessor soon dispelled 

 the dream. 1 found that, bv the constitution of 

 the University of Aberdeen, the incumbent of the 

 Rectorate is, if not a power, at any rate a potential 

 energy; and that, whatever may be his chances of 

 success or failure, it is his dutv to convert that 

 potential energy into a living force, directed 

 towards such ends as may seem to him conducive 

 to the welfare of the corporation of which he is 

 the theoretical head. 



I need not tell you that your late Lord Rector 

 took this view of his position, and acted upon it 

 with the comprehensive, far-seeing insight into 

 the actual condition and tendencies, not merely 



