s 2 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



corner stone and the opening, is an exceedingly able and interesting: 

 docnment. The whole liistory of the university in its prominent epochs 

 is reviewed Avith nnstinted praise to the churchmen who had assisted in 

 shaping its character and with marked disapproval of all who dissented 

 from the speaker's idea of a church establishment supported by a church 

 college and both endowed by the state. The closing section is a noble 

 appeal to the ingenuous heart of youth, stimulating their ambition for 

 the highest things and for a generous fame. " Never," he says, " was 

 the demand for education so loud and anxious throughout the civilized 

 world as at present; but in this colony it may ^e said to be only com- 

 mencing. In older countries where seminaries of learning have been 

 established for centuries, the machinery exists; and it is easy to keep 

 pace with the march of intellect, by the addition of professors and 

 teachers when any new subject appears of sufficient importance to require 

 them. In this manner the universities of Europe preserve their superior 

 rank, and add daily to a debt of gratitude which the public can never 

 repay. And although some of the discoveries of modern times, in the 

 arts and sciences, more especially in mechanics, cannot be traced to them, 

 yet the more important certainly may, and, what is of still more conse- 

 quence, they have uniformly maintained the dignity of classical as 

 well as scientific attainments. It requires the aid and protection of 

 established seats of learning to give, as it were, a lasting basis to useful 

 Jcnowledge, and insure its gradual accumulation. In all these respects, 

 the universities of Europe, and especially of Great Britain, have nobly 

 discharged their duty. They have not only been the fruitful nurseries 

 of all the learned professions which adorn and "inaintain society, but they 

 have also been the asylums of learned leisure, where men who have no 

 taste for the cares and broils of worldly pursuits, might retire from the 

 troubles of public life, and aspire to a greater perfection than even an 

 ordinary intercourse with society will allow. Many such, in their soli- 

 tary chambers have attained the highest elevation in science, or by their 

 powerful writings have brought home to our hearts and understandings 

 the truths and discoveries of Christianity, and thus have become the 

 instructors and benefactors of mankind. 



'^ It is for these among otlier purposes that this institution has been 

 established. And why should it not in its turn become one of those 

 blessed asylums where men of retired hal)its may taste the sweets of 

 society, and yet converse with the illustrious dead who in past ages have 

 illuminated the world. 



" Here among our youtli we may confidently look for generous emu- 

 lation, a noble desire for highest fame, an ardent love for truth and a 

 determination to surpass in knowledge and virtue the most sanguine 



