SKETCH OF SIR DANIEL WILSON. 259 



high reputation which it gave him a reputation sufficiently in- 

 dicated by Hallam's opinion that the book was " the most scien- 

 tific treatment of the archaeological evidences of primitive history 

 that had ever been written " procured him the appointment, in 

 1853, to the chair of History and Literature at University College 

 in Toronto. He removed to that city, and, as one who knew him 

 and the colony in those days has written, "he brought a new 

 element into the life of the place, and indeed of the province. 

 Representing ' letters,' and winning favor to them by his eloquent 

 speech, in a community too much absorbed in business, he has 

 left his mark clear and deep on young Ontario and the whole 

 Dominion. Thousands have been consciously benefited by his 

 character, life, and works." From this time till his death, nearly 

 forty years after, his life was bound up with the interests of the 

 college. It was his boast that for thirty years he never omitted a 

 lecture. The work of his professorship harmonized with his 

 tastes, and gave him a field in which his powers were soon felt. 

 " As a lecturer in history," we are told, " he was noted for the 

 breadth and liberality of his views, and for the spirit of toleration 

 and courtesy which he displayed toward those who differed from 

 him. In archaeology and ethnology, subjects peculiarly his own, 

 he never failed to excite interest, and generally succeeded in 

 arousing no small degree of enthusiasm." 



But other and less congenial duties were frequently cast upon 

 him. The large endowment granted by the Government to the 

 secularized university was deemed by the denominational col- 

 leges an injustice and an injury to themselves. A determined 

 effort was instituted by their supporters to secure a division of it 

 among the different colleges. An appeal was made to the Legis- 

 lature, which referred the question to a committee. Before this 

 committee, Prof. Wilson, as the foremost member of University 

 College, was appointed to appear and defend the interests of his 

 college and the cause of secular education. This he did with so 

 much force of argument that the hostile attempt was promptly 

 defeated, and was never afterward renewed. All controversy was 

 distasteful to him, but when a cause dear to him was endangered, 

 and the " perf ervid Scottish temper " was once aroused, he could 

 strike heavy blows. In the present case the usual reluctance was 

 felt, but finally, he wrote, "I plucked up heart of grace, and 

 found a grim satisfaction in mauling the assailants of our college 

 militant." 



In 1880, on the death of the Rev. Dr. McCaul, who was the first 

 President of University College, Prof. Wilson was promoted to 

 that office. The position gave at last the needed opportunity for 

 the display of his remarkable energy and organizing talent, al- 

 ways directed by a judicious forethought and impelled by an un- 



