VIII UNIVERSITIES : ACTUAL AND IDEAL 195 



of Aberdeen was fashioned ; and which was cer- 

 tainly a great and flourishing institution in the 

 twelfth century. 



Enthusiasts for the antiquity of one of the two 

 acknowledged parents of all Universities, indeed, 

 do not hesitate to trace the origin of the " Studium 

 Parisiense" up to that wonderful king of the 

 Franks and Lombards, Karl, surnamed the Great, 

 whom we all called Charlemagne, and believed to 

 be a Frenchman, until a learned historian, by 

 beneficent iteration, taught us better. Karl is 

 said not to have been much of a scholar himself, 

 but he had the wisdom of which knowledge is 

 only the servitor. And that wisdom enabled him 

 .to see that ignorance is one of the roots of all 

 evil. 



In the Capitulary which enjoins the foundation 

 of monasterial and cathedral schools, he says : 

 ' Right action is better than knowledge ; but in 

 order to do what is right, we must know what is 

 right." 1 An irrefragable truth, I fancy. Acting 

 upon it, the king took pretty full compulsory 

 powers, and carried into effect a really considerable 

 and effectual scheme of elementary education 

 through the length and breadth of his dominions. 



No doubt the idolaters out by the Elbe, in what 



1 "Quamvis enim melius sit bene facere quam nosse, prtus 

 tamen est nosse quam facere." "Karoli Magni Regis Con- 

 stitutio de Scholis per singula Episcopia et Monasteria instit- 

 ucndis, " addressed to the Abbot of Fulda. Baluzius, CcipUu> 

 laria Tlc/jum Fraucorum, T. i., p. 202. 



