The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-24 00:00:00

'YB

of freemen in the world; while some man, in whose de-
livery no fault could be detected, except the one defect of
that earnest conviction which lloscius himself could not
teach if the man has not got it, would be indeed admired as
a firework, but would never guide like a star. As it is in
the House of Commons, which is but the representative of
the national mind, so it is with all life throughout these
nations. The earnest man wins way for himself, and
earnestness and truth go together.
Sir Edward then offered to the students a few maxims
for their conduct through life :

Never affect (he said) to he other than you are—either
richer or wiser. Never be ashamed to say "I do not know."
Men will then believe you when you say, " I do know."
Never be ashamed to say, whether as applied to time or
money, " I cannot afford it "—" I cannot afford to waste an
hour in the idleness to which you invite me—l cannot afford
the guinea you ask me to throw away." Once establish
yourself and your mode of life as what they really are. and
your foot is on solid ground, whether for the gradual step
onward, or for the sudden spring over a precipice. From
these maxims let me deduce another—learn to say, " No "
. .

with decision; " Yes" with cantion—" No " with decision
whenever it meets a temptation ; " Yes " with caution
whenever it implies a promise. A promise once given is a
bond inviolable. A man is already of consequence in the
world when it is known that we can implicitly rely upon him.
I have frequently seen in life a person preferred to a long
list of applicants for some important charge which lifts him
at once into station and fortune merely because he has this
reputation, that when he says he knows a thing, lie knows
it ; and when he says he will do a thing, he will do it.

Sir Edward Lytton then stet3d that he should
place the sum of fifty guineas in the hands of the
professors, leaving it to their discretion to select such
subjects as experience may suggest most useful or
pleasing to the general body of the students. In
addition he proposed to the highest class of the
scholars a prize of thirty guineas to the candidate
who will most worthily render into lyrics, Greek or
Latin at the choice of the competitors, one of the
immortal songs of Robert Burns. Sir Edward
concluded his address in the following words:—
To you—to the men of your generation—is consigned
the latter half of that century which your fathers enriched
with such stores, and adorned with such trophies. Before
your energies spreads a dominion never compassed by the
eagle of the Cesare, extending from the first well-spring
of civilisation under Indian palm•trees to the last vent of
its redundant flow amidst Australian pastures. To your
aid science contributes inventions which would have seemed
to your progenitors fables as wild as the wings of Diedalus
or tl►e talisman of Abaris. To you the earth is daily re-
vealing new mines of gold, and the heavens are vouch.
safing new stores of intellectual light. Legislation for you
has solved many of the problems that perplexed your
fathers; and questions which at the dawn of th►s century
threatened to rend society are now peacefully settled.
Compared with those who have gone before you, you have
little to reform—you have infinitely more to peril. Such
is the account which the trustees for half the century have
rendered to those who are born to enjoy the inheritance of
the half that follows. Filled with a sense of that magni-
ficent bequest, and of the sublime responsibility it in-
volves, go forth, students of Glasgow, and be in your turn
the administrators of time, for the approval of Providence
and for the benefit of man.

The Lord Rector then sat down amidst reiterated
and rapturous cheers.
In the evening Sir Edward Lytton was entertained
at a public dinner in the Corporation-hall. The
Lord Provost was in the chair.
After the usual loyal and complimentary toasts
had been drunk, the Lord Provost in a highly eulo-
gistic speech invited the assembly to join with him
in giving a hearty welcome and dedicating a flowing
bumper to the health of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.
Sir EDWARD in replying said that the Roman
emperor wished that Rome had a single neck that be
might strika it through at a blow :

I wish Glasgow had one single hand, that I might grasp
it in one grateful pressure—that it has not is my only re•
gret. I was received with so much love by the learning of
our famous university that the remembrance of it will last
as long as I exist, and I am received to-night by the wealth
and the enterprise of this great city with unexampled
splendour, elegance, and refinement; but, when I beard
that national air which just preceded my rising, I could
not help deeply regretting that the shortness of my stay
does not allow me also to wake acquaintance with the
great mass of the population of Glasgow, including her
mechanics.
The speaker referred to one of his predecessors in
the Lord Rectorship of the University, the poet
Campbell, and said:--
I knew him as a personal friend, and could appreciate
that nable mind so exquisitely sensitive, and that heart
which was so shy of revealing itself to strangers, but which
always expanded more to those with whom he felt he could
interchange hopes and sentiments. When he was elected
by the students of Glasgow to the office of Lord Rector, I
can conceive no one to whom that elevation could give
the emotion of so much pride and primitive affection. I
envy him the feeling of pride when he came back to the
scenes of his youth, after having gained the admiration of
his fellowmen. and had learned the truth of the saying,
" 'tis distance lends enchantment to the view ;" and after
having indicated in the richness of his song the pleasures
of that hope for which he had lingered, and which was then
realised.
The Earl of ELGIN proposed " The Success of the
rniversities." lie panegyrised the university system,

'tll 13R1ss.

saying that they were democratic in the best sense of
the word, while they were also essentially Con-
servative.
After some other toasts the assembly separated.

lib..