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ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
livered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his inaugural address, and 
adapting to you, say, “ I have been long enough among you to know that some 
are already fighting with a mature and manful courage the battle of life. 
When you feel yourselves lonely amidst the crowd, when for a moment you 
are disheartened by that difficulty which is the rude and rocking cradle of 
every kind of excellence—when conscious of the pinch of poverty and 
self-denial, be also conscious that a sleepless eye is watching you from 
above; that your honest efforts are assisted, your humble prayers are heard, 
and all things are working together for your good. Is not this the line of 
faith which walks by your side from your rising in the morning to your 
lying down at night—which lights up for you the cheerless world, and 
transfigures all that you encounter, whatever be its outward form, with hues 
brought down from heaven ? These considerations are applicable to all of 
you. You are all in training here for educated life, for circles limited per¬ 
haps, but yet circles of social influence and responsibility. Some of you 
may be chosen to greater distinctions and heavier trials— 
“ And when he dies he bears a lofty name, 
A light, a landmark, on the cliffs of fame.” 
And, gentlemen, the hope of an enduring fame is without doubt a powerful 
incentive to virtuous action, and you may suffer it to float before you as a 
vision of refreshment, second always, and second with long interval, to your 
conscience and the will of God. For an enduring fame is one stamped by 
the judgment of the future, that future which dispels illusions and smashes 
idols into dust. Little of what is criminal, little of what is idle, can endure 
even the first touch of the ordeal; it seems as though this purging power, 
following at the heels of man and trying his work, were a witness and a 
harbinger of the great and final account. So, then, the thirst of an enduring 
fame is near akin to the love of true excellence.” 
My easy chair! How pleasant it will be when, at the close of day the star- 
studded curtains of night are being drawn around, that I rest myself in thee, 
and, reflecting on scenes and events gone by, I am reminded of those who pre¬ 
sented thee. And then looking on the moving hands of the Indicator of passing 
time before me, I am told that a few more of their revolutions at most will be 
all I shall witness upon earth. Thoughts such as these will make me both 
a wiser and a better man. Nor will the admonition be lessened when exa¬ 
mining the Creator’s works by the aid of this instrument, the Microscope; 
for as much His power is seen in the markings on the insect’s wiug as in the 
ponderous form of the mighty leviathan. Small and great are with Him 
terms unknown. 
“ c To Him no high, no low, no rich, no poor; 
He fills, He bounds, connects and equals all.’ 
Thus, gentlemen, have you furnished me with means wherewith to add 
comfort and happiness to the declining years of my life, ere the grasshopper 
becomes a burden and desire shall fail, “ or the pitcher be broken at the 
fountain, or the wheel at the cistern.” 
To you, Mr. Noakes, as the exponent of the feelings of your fellow-pupils, 
I beg to express my acknowledgments. Admirably have you performed 
your allotted task, and with all you have said I concur, only I could wish 
that I merited the high encomiums you have been pleased to pass upon me. 
To the Secretary, to the Committee, and to all present, my best thanks 
are not only due, but sincerely given. Kindnesses such as these that have 
accompanied your last best gift will ever be remembered by me. They will 
awaken pleasing reminiscences, only to end with life. Again, and again, and 
again, I thank you. May it be yours to make the best of both worlds, that 
which now is and that which is to conic; and with this I conclude, for I 
