[ viii ] 



Next year you are to have a man of science, a great 

 physician who is also famous in the world of learn- 

 ing and literature. Last year you had a statesman, 

 who, though a statesman, is also a great scholar 

 and man of letters, a sage and counsellor in the 

 antique mould, of world-wide fame and unique 

 influence. 



Thus, though in himself sufficiently repre- 

 sentative of humanistic culture, Osier was 

 in this strict sense an alternate, and among 

 the fourteen earlier Presidents of the Asso- 

 ciation three had like himself been Fellows 

 of the Royal Society, which long since had 

 abandoned even the pretence of concern- 

 ing itself with classical studies which had 

 been the very basis of the Revival of Learn- 

 ing. 



The list of Presidents since the founda- 

 tion of the Association may be a matter of 

 interest to those in this country who may 

 not have been aware of the existence and 

 purposes of this organization of British 

 scholars : 



