EZRA CORNELL-1864-1874 317 



brilliantly as he had ever lectured at Oxford; gave his 

 library to the university, with a large sum for its increase ; 

 lent his aid very quietly, but none the less effectually, to 

 needy and meritorious students; and steadily refused 

 then, as he has ever since done, and now does, to accept 

 a dollar of compensation. Nothing ever gave Mr. Cornell 

 more encouragement than this. For "Goldwin," as he 

 called him in his Quaker way, there was always a very 

 warm corner in his heart. 



He also found especial pleasure in many of the lecture- 

 courses established at the opening of the university. For 

 Professor Agassiz he formed a warm friendship; and 

 their discussions regarding geological questions were very 

 interesting, eliciting from Agassiz a striking tribute to 

 Mr. Cornell's closeness of observation and sagacity in 

 reasoning. The lectures on history by Goldwin Smith, 

 and on literature by James Russell Lowell, George Wil- 

 liam Curtis, and Bayard Taylor, he also enjoyed greatly. 



The scientific collections and apparatus of various sorts 

 gave him constant pleasure. I had sent from England, 

 France, and Germany a large number of charts, models, 

 and pieces of philosophical apparatus, and regarding 

 some of them had thought it best to make careful expla- 

 nations to him, in order to justify so large an expenditure ; 

 but I soon found this unnecessary. His shrewd mind 

 enabled him to understand any piece of apparatus quickly, 

 and to appreciate it fully. I have never had to deal with 

 any man whose instinct in such matters was more true. If 

 a book or scientific specimen or piece of apparatus was 

 necessary to the proper work of a department, he could 

 easily be made to see it ; and then it must come to us, no 

 matter at what cost. Like the great prince of navigators 

 in the fifteenth century, he was a man "who had the 

 taste for great things " " qui tenfa gusto en cosas 

 grandes." He felt that the university was to be great, 

 and he took his measures accordingly. His colleagues 

 generally thought him over-sanguine; and when he de- 

 clared that the university should yet have an endow- 



