MERTON COLLEGE AND CANADA. 457 



require, was still given to the Society, — in anticipation probably of 

 troublous times occurring again. 



Nine years ago, — viz : in 1864, tbe memorable year of the Sliaks- 

 peare Tercentenary, — the members of Merton College celebrated, on 

 the 14th of June, the Sexcentenary of the foundation of their Society. 

 How many regions are there outside of happy England in which 

 Societies, literary, political, or otherwise, can shew a continuous 

 corporate existence of six hundred years 1 



Three hundi-ed years before the birth of Shakspeare, the Donius 

 Sdiolarium de Merton existed, in embryo at least, at Oxford. When 

 the poet rambled about Oxford, as we know he did, in his journey- 

 ings between London and Stratford, and looked in at the gateways 

 of the several Colleges, as any inquisitive stranger would do at the 

 present day, he would, in point of antiquity, regard Merton College, 

 the identical Merton College which we see now, as ive should regard 

 •a building or institution founded in the middle of the reign of Eliza- 

 beth. In Shakspeare's time, the days of the king who followed next 

 after John would seem tolerably remote, but easily grasped and 

 reproduced with a vivid reality by such a mind as Shakspeare's, as 

 we can see in his tragedy of King John. 



But the chief point of interest about Merton College is not the 

 ■antiquity of the Society of which it is the home. The great distinc- 

 tion of the College is this : that it was the first embodiment in Europe 

 of a new system of training for the youth of a country — the system 

 which has, by successive steps, developed into what is known as the 

 English College or University system, which among the educational 

 systems of Europe continues to be unique. 



Walter de Merton is held to have been an enlightened innovator 

 in respect of education. When he lived, what are technically called 

 "Universities" had been instituted at different points on the conti- 

 nent of Europe for about fifty or eighty years (reckoning from the 

 time of Abelard's lectures in Paris). They were incorporations of 

 .scholars and teachers, privileged by emperors, kings or popes, with 

 peculiar jurisdiction in the tow;ns where they were respectively 

 situated ; which towns, as a rule, became the centres of great disor- 

 der. Young people flocked in thousands to attend the lectures of 

 this teacher and that. In this way Oxford was thronged. In the 

 meantime, discipline was feebly maintained. Brawls and fights 

 ((battles they might even be called in some cases) were the order of 



