A LIBERAL EDUCATION 61 



of its place and relation to other bodies; of its general 

 structure, and of its great features — winds, tides, mountains, 

 plains; of the chief forms of the vegetable and animal 

 worlds, of the varieties of man. It is the peg upon w^hich 

 the greatest quantity of useful and entertaining scientific 

 information can be suspended. 



Literature is not upon the College programme; but I hope 

 some day to see it there. For literature is the greatest of all 

 sources of refined pleasure, and one of the great uses of a 

 liberal education is to enable us to enjoy that pleasure. 

 There is scope enough for the purposes of liberal education 

 in the study of the rich treasures of our owm language alone. 

 All that is needed is direction, and the cultivation of a re- 

 fined taste by attention to sound criticism. But there is no 

 reason why French and German should not be mastered suf- 

 ficiently to read what is worth reading in those languages 

 with pleasure and with profit. 



And finally, by and by, we must have History; treated not 

 as a succession of battles and dynasties; not as a series of 

 biographies; not as evidence that Providence has always 

 been on the side of either Whigs or Tories; but as the devel- 

 opment of man in times past, and in other conditions than 

 our own. 



But, as it is one of the principles of our College to be self- 

 supporting, the public must lead, and we must follow, in 

 these matters. If my hearers take to heart what I have said 

 about liberal education, they will desire these things, and I 

 doubt not we shall be able to supply them. But we must 

 wait till the demand is made. 



