484 MERTON COLLEGE AND CANADA. 



amongst the means most essential to the future welfare of the 

 University of Toronto, was that of a building alike worthy of the 

 city in which the University is situated, and of the University itself. 

 Such a building," he said, " was greatly needed, and I did not hesi- 

 tate, as the Visitor, to sanction the outlay of the money necessary 

 for the erection of the present structure. In so doing I felt con- 

 vinced that the results would fully justify the step then taken." 



He then enlarged on the benefits likely to result from the existence of 

 such a structure as the one which had been erected. " Such a build- 

 ing," he said, " is important in many respects. There is a general 

 disposition to depreciate that of which there is no outward, visible 

 sign. The existence of a building like this, of an important character, 

 co*mmensurate with the growth of the University itself, tends to 

 remove such an impression ; and in the next place the appliances 

 connected with the building are of first-rate importance, not only to 

 the pupils of the University, but also to the community amongst 

 whom the University is situated." He instanced the Library. *' A 

 few months," he said, " or at most a year or two, may pass, and the 

 room in which we are now assembled will be filled with volumes of 

 books ; and in this room the citizens of Toronto, whether they are 

 or are not members of the University, may, if they choose, seek 

 recreation and information." 



He then remarks on the infliience likely to be exerted by the 

 University Library. The ancient Library of Merton, it may be, 

 passed at the moment through his thoughts. It is worthy of remem- 

 brance here, that not only was Merton College the prototype of 

 English colleges, but Merton Library, the quaint old relic of the 

 past which we have described, was the prototype of English college 

 libraries — the first example of such an institution. It is interesting 

 to hear the testimony of a former Fellow and Tutor of Walter de 

 Merton's Society borne to the incalculable value of such a possession- 

 borne on the occasion of the establishment of a similar Library some 

 six hundred years after Walter de Merton's day, in Canada ; in a 

 region of the earth then undreamt of. 



" The influence of such a library as this," Sir Edmund Head said, 

 "is a most important matter. It is not only so with regard to what 

 the young men take away, but it is so in its general humanizing 

 spirit — in the feeling of respect for litei-ature which grows by the 

 possession of such an institution as this." He then observed on the 

 Museum : "In regard also to another room which we have just left — 



