62 UNIVERSITIES : ACTUAL AND IDEAL. [LECT. 



whose province it lies; or, at any rate, under con- 

 ditions which shall afford satisfactory proof that the 

 work is theirs. The notion may sound revolutionary, 

 but it is really very old ; for, I take it, that it lies at 

 the bottom of that presentation of a thesis by the 

 candidate for a doctorate, which has now, too often, 

 become little better than a matter of form. 



Thus far, I have endeavoured to lay before you, 

 in a too brief and imperfect manner, my views respect- 

 ing the teaching half the Magistri and Kegentes 

 of the University of the Future. Now let me turn to 

 the learning half the Scholares. 



If the Universities are to be the sanctuaries of the 

 highest culture of the country, those who would 

 enter that sanctuary, must not come with unwashed 

 hands. If the good seed is to yield its hundredfold 

 harvest, it must not be scattered amidst the stones of 

 ignorance, or the tares of undisciplined indolence and 

 wantonness. On the contrary, the soil must have 

 been carefully prepared, and the Professor should find 

 that the operations of clod -crushing, draining, and 

 weeding, and even a good deal of planting, have been 

 done by the Schoolmaster. 



That is exactly what the Professor does not find 

 in any University in the three Kingdoms that I can 

 hear of the reason of which state of things lies in 

 the extremely faulty organisation of the majority of 

 secondary Schools. Students come to the Universities 

 ill-prepared in classics and mathematics, not at all 

 prepared in anything else; and half their time is 



