308 LETTER TO 



to propose him\ or else, that he is such a pheno- 

 menon in human shape, that there must be a 

 conspiracy among them to keep him out, lest 

 he should eclipse them all. I am sure Dr. 

 Stanger does not wish to represent himself as 

 such a person ; but I am certain that if Dr. 

 Stanger would have applied to the college, as men 

 of the first learning in every age have applied 

 to it, he would have been admitted. 39 



These were the arguments, which the by- 

 law for admitting licentiates to examination 

 furnished to Mr. Erskine, against the issuing 

 of the mandamus, upon Dr. Stanger's second 

 application. That they were the only argu- 

 ments, upon which he placed the least depend- 

 ance in preventing that writ from going forth, 

 is demonstrated by the concluding sentence of 

 his speech, in which he collects to a single point 

 the scattered tendencies of all that he had 

 before advanced. " My proposition is," said 

 Mr. Erskine, " that it is reasonable the college 

 should say ; if you are of the universities we 

 will examine you at once ; if not of the universi- 

 ties^ we do not refuse to examine you, but we 

 consider it reasonable to point out the mode 

 in which that examination should go forward ; 

 otherwise we must examine all the world : and 



