IL] TTNIVEBSITIES : ACTUAL AND IDEAL. 35 



may have been somewhat different, the effects have 

 been similar ; and you see how much more substantial 

 an entity is the Very Reverend the Principal, analogue, 

 if not homologue, of the Principals of King's College, 

 than the Rector, lineal representative of the ancient 

 monarchs of the University, though now, little more 

 than a " king of shreds and patches." 



Do not suppose that, in thus briefly tracing the 

 process of University metamorphosis, I have had any 

 intention of quarrelling with its results. Practically, 

 it seems to me that the broad changes effected in 1858 

 have given the Scottish Universities a very liberal 

 constitution, with as much real approximation to the 

 primitive state of things as is at all desirable. If 

 your fat kine have eaten the lean, they have not lain 

 down to chew the cud ever since. The Scottish Uni- 

 versities, like the English, have diverged widely enough 

 from their primitive model ; but I cannot help think- 

 ing that the northern form has remained more faithful 

 to its original, not only in constitution, but, what is 

 more to the purpose, in view of the cry for change, 

 in the practical application of the endowments con- 

 nected with it. 



In Aberdeen, these endowments are numerous, but 

 so small that, taken altogether, they are not equal to 

 the revenue of a single third-rate English college. 

 They are scholarships, not fellowships; aids to do 

 work not rewards for such work as it lies within the 

 reach of an ordinary, or even an extraordinary, young 

 man to do. You do not think that passing a respect- 

 able examination is a fair equivalent for an income, 



