IL] UNIVERSITIES : ACTUAL AND IDEAL. 63 



spent in learning that which they ought to have 

 known when they came. 



I sometimes hear it said that the Scottish Uni- 

 versities differ from the English, in being to a much 

 greater extent places of comparatively elementary 

 education for a younger class of students. But it 

 would seem doubtful if any great difference of this 

 kind really exists ; for a high authority, himself Head 

 of an English College, has solemnly affirmed that : 

 " Elementary teaching of youths under twenty is now 

 the only function performed by the University ;" and 

 that Colleges are "boarding schools in which the 

 elements of the learned languages are taught to 

 youths." 1 



This is not the first time that I have quoted those 

 remarkable assertions. I should like to engrave them 

 in public view, for they have not been refuted ; and 

 I am convinced that if their import is once clearly 

 apprehended, they will play no mean part when the 

 question of University reorganisation, with a view to 

 practical measures, comes on for discussion. You are 

 not responsible for this anomalous state of affairs 

 now; but, as you pass into active life and acquire the 

 political influence to which your education and your 

 position should entitle you, you will become respon- 

 sible for it, unless each in his sphere does his best to 

 alter it, by insisting on the improvement of secondary 

 Schools. 



Your present responsibility is of another, though 



1 " Suggestions for Academical Organisation, with Especial Refer- 

 ence to Oxford." By the Rector of Lincoln. 



