HERTON COLLEGE AND CANADA. 489 



Ciharter, ai'e very notewortliy. They professed great gratitude to 

 the King, provided " tlie principles upon wliich it (the contemplated 

 institution) had been founded should, upon enquiry, prove to be con- 

 du.cive to the advancement of true learning and piety, and friendly 

 to the civil and religious liberty of the j^eople." They plainly had 

 their doubts. From rumours afloat they feared some peril latent in 

 the Royal gift .; and, rightly or wrongly, they determined tliat the 

 youth of the country should not be forced by any power into a train- 

 ing school controlled by any class exclusively. 



This, in principle, was the protest of Walter de Merton when, in 

 1264, he innovated on the prevailing system of education at Oxford, 

 and delivered his little band of scholars out of the hands of the 

 warring Friars. The framers of the Charter of the Canadian King's 

 College of 1842, chose only to contemplate Society as it was, or 

 rather as it had been in years bygone, when in a condition of greater 

 perfection, as they would perhaps have contended. 



The plain representatives of the people of Upper Canada, in the 

 House of Assembly, on the other hand, by a shrewd instinct, kept 

 their regards fixed more on the present, more on things as they were 

 among themselves. They were, they knew, a mingled multitude 

 ■drawn from numeroug sources, all accustomed to libei'ty and notions 

 of equality, desirous, however, of dwelling together in peace ; and 

 such a people they were likely to be in the years to come, increas- 

 ingly. Having, then, the power, they determined by law to abate 

 in time pretensions that must prove finally untenable rti whatever 

 quarter they might make their appearance. 



The Regula Mertonensis, the Merton rule — adopted in all Colleges 

 more or less, and so speedily revolutionizing the University system, 

 in Great Britain at least — was a sign that, in the histoiy of Gi'eat 

 Britain, a new era was beginning, with peculiar and increased require- 

 ments. Ever since 1264 the spirit of Walter de Merton has been 

 marching on ; and he must be obtuse indeed, who does not see that 

 the expansions, the modifications, the changes generally, which are 

 at the present time being advocated, and indeed being gradually 

 adopted in regard to education in all its branches, are, whether we 

 like them or not, the requirements of a new age — requirements of 

 the generations of men who are to succeed us, and who are destined, 

 as we trust and believe, to enjoy — under the superintendence of a 

 benign Providence — blessings of mind, body, and estate, greater even 

 sthan those which have fallen to the lot of ourselves or our forefathers. 



