406 CANADA IN THE BODLEIAN. 



To one he sent a regiment ; for why ? 

 That learned body wantfid loyalty. 

 To th' other he sent books, as well discerning 

 How much that loyal body wanted learning." 



At the time of my last visit to the Public Library at Cambridge, my 

 attention had not been turned to the point dwelt on in this paper. 

 During the few hours that I was enabled to spend in that vast labyrinth 

 of books, unsurpassed by the Bodleian itself in its air of venerableness 

 and in the richness of its treasures, I was engaged in obtaining momen- 

 tary glimpses of a Cicero de Officiis, printed by Faust in 1466; a 

 manuscript of the Bible, in English, of the year 1430 ; the Catholicon, 

 printed in 1460, by Guttenberg; a copy of Coverdale's Bible, and a 

 multitude of Caxtons. Otherwise, a volume of contemporary academic 

 exercises of the date of 1760, fellow to that accidentally stumbled on 

 at Oxford, might readily have been found. The shapes, style and 

 flavour of the pieces would, without doubt, have resembled those of 

 the samples that have been supplied to the reader with sufficient abun- 

 dance from the " Pietas Oxoniensis.'' I find evidence of the existence 

 of the Cambridge volume, in an epigram to be read among those in the 

 " Elegant Extracts.'' Por the sake of a piquant antithesis, an epigram- 

 matist will, as all the world knows, say almost anything. The assertion 

 of this writer, therefore, that the Cambridge productions on this occa- 

 sion were inferior to the Oxford ones, both being bad, has not much 

 weight. It is entitled '' The Friendly Contest," and reads thus : 



" "While Cam and Isis their sad tribute bring 



Of rival grief, to weep their pious King, 



The bards of Isis half had been forgot, 



Had not the sons of Cam in pity wrote ; 



From their learned brothers they took off the curse, 



And proved their verse not bad by writing worse." 



It is certain that Cambridge erected a magnificent statue of George 

 the Second, of life size, in marble. It stands to this day on a pedestal 

 in the Senate-house, on the left side as the visitor passes up to the 

 Chancellor's chair. The sculptor's name was Wilton. I have spoken 

 of this statue before, on more than one public occasion. It represents 

 the King, according to the taste of the age, in the dress or undress of 

 a Roman imperator. He leans on a truncated column, round which 

 obliquely passes a series of medals commemorative of military successes; 

 and he encircles with his right arm a globe duly marked with meridian 



