22 THE MODERN UNIVERSITY MOVEMENT 



Our freedom from luxurious idlers is something for which we 

 may be profoundly thankful, the representation of all classes 

 of the community, of all sects, and of many nations, is, I think, 

 excellent, and the co-education of the sexes has acted most 

 advantageously on the morale of our community. 



I have not the least reason to think that, as things stand, 

 the moral tone of the new universities will compare badly 

 with that which prevails in surroundings that would seem, at 

 first sight, to be so very much more favourable than our own. 



With manners that is, with the -part of manners that 

 may be called art, it may be different. I am not one who 

 makes light of the graces of well-born men and women. 

 Who can be insusceptible to the charm of good breeding ? 

 Who will deny that there is some truth at least in the old 

 aphorism, ' manners maketh man ', in which manners and 

 morals are included under one term. Airs, affectations, 

 exclusiveness, frigidity, the cynic smile, these detestable 

 attributes of the snob who apes the gentleman, can be desired 

 for no one but good manners, they are something different. A 

 spurious kind of manners, a simulation of good breeding, is so 

 commonly the first warning of insincerity, that the real thing 

 has become suspected and undervalued, and some people 

 pride themselves on being blunt and bluff as a token of their 

 honesty. This is a distortion, excusable perhaps, but not to 

 be encouraged, and we must do what we can to add to our 

 cardinal virtues as much as possible of the graces of refinement 

 that give smoothness and sweetness to human intercourse. 



Let us now ask again in conclusion What is a university ? 



' If I were asked to describe as briefly and popularly as 

 I could what a university was, I should draw my answer 

 from its ancient designation of a Studium Generale, or " School 

 of Universal Learning ". This description implies the assem- 

 blage of strangers from all parts in one spot from all parts ; 

 else, how will you find professors and students for every 



