The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-04 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH.

INSTALLATION OF MR CARLYLE AS RECTOR
On Monday Mr. Thomas Carlyle was installed in
office as Rector of the University of Edinburgh, and
delivered his inaugural address. The event had
been looked forward to with the keenest expectation,
and the demand for tickets was far beyond the
power of accommodation of the Music-hall. The
students, as the constituents of the Rector, espe-
cially looked forward with enthusiasm to the visit
of Mr. Carlyle, who; though not in the first instance
unanimously chosen, was at least unanimously wel-
comed. By a little after 1 o'clock the front gallery
had been filled by ladies, who were admitted by the
Rose-street entrance, and before the half -hour the
front-doors were thrown open, when the entire area
of the hall was filled in a few minutes by the stu-
dents and by graduates who had the fortune to ob-
tain tickets. The back of the platform was also
quickly filled by the overflow from the area of the
hall. The assemblage must have numbered alto-
gether about 2,200. In the interval that elapsed
before the ceremony the students amused themselves
by lively demonstrations, but at the same time keep-
ing perfect order. The academic body moved in
procession to the platform, the Rector, who wore
the robe of office, being immensely cheered.
The Rev. Dr. LEE opened the meeting with
prayer.
Mr. GIBSON, chairman of Mr. Carlyle's committee,
said—Mr. Vice-Chancellor, in the name of the
students of the University, I present to you Mr.
Carlyle as the Rector whom we have chosen. (Tre-
mendous cheering.) It would be strange indeed if
we were to omit from the list of those we wish to
honour our University's most distinguished son—
the foremost of living Scotchmen. (Loud cheers.)
More than 50 years ago he was a student in our
class-rooms, and now we rejoice that it has been our
good fortune to bring him back to you, and to give
to him the highest of all the honours we have to
bestow. (Cheers.) I beg you will install him as our
Lord Rector. (Loud cheers.)
The ceremony of presentation for the degree of
LL.D. then took place.
Professor Muirhead then severally presented
to the Vice-Chancellor, as gentlemen whom the
Senate had adjudged worthy to receive the honorary
degree of Doctor of Law, Mr. Erskine, of Linla-
then, advocate, a gentleman who had attained a
high reputation for eloquent scholarship both in
classical and Biblical literature ; Professor Huxley,
who had vindicated his claim to be regarded as one
of the most accomplished naturalists of the day ;
Dr. John Rae, who had, by personal exploration,
largely extended our knowledge of the Arctic re-
gions; Professor A. Crombie Ramsay, to whose
personal services the success of the geological survey
of the United Kingdom was mainly to be attributed ;
and Professor Tyndal, the worthy successor of
Davy, and colleague of Faraday. These gentlemen
were severally invested with the doctor's hood.
Mr. CARLYLE, when the loud applause with
which he was greeted had subsided, said—Gentle-
men, I have accepted the office you have elected me
to, and have now the duty to return thanks for the
great honour done me.. Your enthusiasm towards
me, I admit, is very beautiful in itself, however un-
desirable it may be in regard to the object of it. It
is a feeling honourable to all men, and one well
known to myself when I was.in a position analogous
to your own. I can only hope that it may endure
to the end—that noble desire to honour those whom
you think worthy of honour, and come to be more
select and discriminate in the choice of the object of
it ; for I can well understand that you will modify
your opinions of me and many things else as you go
on. (Laughter and cheers.) There are now 56
years gone last November since I first entered your
city, a boy of not quite 14-56 years ago—to attend
classes here and gain knowledge of all kinds, I know
not what, with feelings of wonder and awe-struck
expectation ; and now, after a long course, this is
what we have come to. There is something touch-
ing and tragic, and yet at the same time beautiful,
to see the third generation, as it were, of my dear
old native land rising up and saying, " Well, you are
not altogether an unworthy labourer in the vineyard;
you have toiled through a great variety of fortunes,
and have had many judges." As the old proverb
says, "He that builds by the wayside has many
masters." We must expect a variety of judges ; but
the voice of young Scotland, through you, is really
of some value to me, and I return you many thanks
for it, though I cannot describe my emotions to you,
and perhaps they will be much more conceivable if
expressed in silence. (Cheers.) 'When this office
was first proposed to me, some of you know I was
not very ambitious to accept it at first. I was taught
to believe that there were more or less certain im-
portant duties would lie in my power. This, I con-
fess, was my chief motive in going into it—at least
in reconciling the objections felt to such things ; for
if I can do anything to honour you and my dear old
Alma Mater, why should I not do so? (Loud
cheers.) Well, but on practically looking into the
matter when the office actually came into my hands,
I find it grows more and more uncertain and ab-
struse to me whether there is much real duty that I
can do at all. Hive 400 miles away from you, in
an entirely different state of things ; and my weak
health—now for many years accumulating upon me,
and a total unacquaintance with such subjects as
concern your affairs here—all this really fills me
with apprehension that there is really nothing worth
the least consideration which I can do on that score.
You may, however, depend upon it that if any such
• duty does arise in any form, I will use my most
faithful endeavour to do whatever is right and pro-
per according to the best of my judgment. (Cheers.)
In the meanwhile, the duty I have at present—
which might be very pleasant, but which is quite
the reverse, as you may fancy—is to address some
words to you.on some subjects more or less cognate
to the pursuits you are engaged in. In fact, I had
meant to throw out some loose observations—loose in
point of order I mean—in such a way as they occur
to me—the truths I have in me about the business
you are engaged in, the race you have started on,
what kind of a race it is you young gentlemen have
begun, and what sort of arena you are likely to find
in this world. I ought, I believe, according to custom
to have written that down on paper and hal it read
Out. That would have been much handier for me at
the present moment—(a laugh)— but, when I at-
tempted to write I found that I was not accustomed
to write speeches, and that I di d not get on very
well. So I flung that away, and resolved to trust
to the inspiration of the moment—just to what came
uppermost. You will therefore have to accept
what is readiest, what comes direct from the heart,
and you must just take that in compensation for
any
g°°(l Order or arrangement that there might
have been in it.
that is not true as far and that is
I will endeavour to say nothing I
can manage,
pretty much all that I
can
as
Advises, I believe engage for.
(A
, to Younmen,
and to all laumgehn.),
are very seldom much valued.
of advising, and very little faithful performing. And
There is a great deal
talk that does not end in any kind of action is better
I would suppressed altogether.
ou
is
olle advice I must
not, therefore, go
much into advising ; but there
give you. It is, in fact, the summary all advises,
I
and you have heard it a thousand times
but I must nevertheless let you hear it the
t hvo hu essinyedr;
and first time, for it is most intensely true,
you will believe it at present Or not—namely, that
above all things the interest of your own life de-
pends upon being diligent now, while it is called to-
(lay, in this place where you have come to get edu-
cation. Diligent ! That includes all virtues in it
that a student can ba,v9 ; I mean to include in it all
qualities that lead into the acquirement of real in-
struction and improvement in such a place. If you
will believe me, you who are young, yours is the
golden season of life. As you have heard it called, so
it verily is, the seed-time of life, in which, if you do
not sow, or if you sow tears instead of wheat, you
cannot expect to reap well afterwards, and you will
arrive at indeed little; while in the course of years,
when you come to look back, and if you have not done
what you have heard from your advisers —and among
many counsellors there is wisdom—you will bitterly
repent when it is too late. The habits of study ac-
quired at Universities are of the highest importance
in
after-life. At the season when you are in young
years the whole mind is, as it were, fluid, and is
capable of formingitself into any shape that the

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owner of the mind pleases to order it to form whichthe Romans gave the name of virtue, manhood,
itself into. The mind is in a fluid state, but it as the one thing ennobling for a man. In the literary
hardens up gradually to the consistency of rock or ages of Rome, that had very much decayed away ;
iron, and you cannot alter the habits of an old man, but stall it had retained its place among the lower
but as be has begun he will proceed to go on to the classes of the Roman people. Of the deeply religious
last. By diligence I mean,
among other things, and nature of the Greeks, along with ther beautiful and
very chiefly, honesty
in all your inquiries of what sunny effulgences of art, you have a striking proof,
you are about. Pursue your studies in the way your if you look for it. In the tragedies of Sophocles,
conscience calls honest. More and more endeavour there is a most distinct recognition of the eternal
to do. that. Keep, I mean to say, an accurate sepa- justice of Heaven, and the unfailing punishment of
ration of what you have really come to know in crime against the laws of God. I believe you will
your own minds and what is still unknown. Leave find in all histories that that has been at the head
all that on the hypothetical side of the barrier, as and foundation of them all, and that no nation that
things afterwards to be acquired, if acquired at all; did not contemplate this wonderful universe with an
and be careful not to stamp a thing as known when awestricken and reverential feeling that there was a
you do not know it. Count a thing known only great unknown, omnipotent, and all-wise, and all-
when it is stamped on your mind, so that you may virtuous Being, superintending all men in it, and all
survey it on all sides with intelligence. There is such interests in it—no nation ever came to very much,
a thing as a man endeavouring to persuade himself, nor did any man either, who forgot that. If a man
and endeavouring to persuade others, that lie knows did forget that, he forgot the most important part of
about things when he does not know more than the his mission in this world. In our own history of
outside skin of them, and he goes flourishing about England, which you will take a great deal of natural
with them. (" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) There pains to make yourselves acquainted with, you will
is also a process called cramming in some universi- find it beyond all others worthy of your study ; be-
ties--(a laugh)—that is, getting up such points of causelbelieve that the British nation—andl include
things as the examiner is likely to put questions in them the Scottish nation—produced a finer set of
about. Avoid all that as entirely unworthy of an men than any you will find it possible to get any-
honourable habit. Be modest, and humble, and where else in the world. (Applause.) I don't know
diligent in your attention to what your teachers tell in any history of Greece or Rome where you will
you, who are profoundly interested in trying to get so fine a man as Oliver Cromwell. (Applause.)
bring you forward in the right way, so far as they And we have had men worthy of memory in our
have been able to understand it. Try all things be- little corner of the island here as well as others, and
fore you in order, if possible, to understand them, our history has been strong at least in being con-
and to value them in proportion to your fitness for netted with the world itself—for if you examine well
them. Gradually see what kind of work you can you will find that John Knox was the author, as it
do, for it is the first of all problems for a man to were, of Oliver Cromwell ; that the Puritan revolu-
find out what kind of work he is to do in the uni- tion would never have
tentakn place in England at all
verse. In fact, morality as regards study is, as in if it had not been for th comn. (Applause.)
all other things, the primary consideration, and That is an arithmetical fact, and is not prompted by
overrides all others. A dishonest man cannot do national vanity on my part at all. (Laughter and
anything real, and it would be greatly better if he applause.) And it is very possible, if you look at
were tied up from doing alai such thing. He does the struggle that was going on in. England, as I
nothing but darken counsel by the words he utters. have had to do in my time, you will see that people
That is a very old doctrine, buts very true one, and were overawed with the immense impediments lying
you will find it confirmed by all the thinking men in the way. A small minority of God-fearing men in
that have ever lived i lade long series of generations the country were flying, away with any ship they
of which we are the
tt. I daresay you know could get to New England, rather than take the lion
very many of you, that it is now 700 years since by the beard. They dursn't confront the powers with
Universities were first set up in this Europe of ours. their most jest complaint to be delivered from idola-
Abelard and other people had risen up with doctrines try. They wanted to make the nation altogether
in them the people wished to hear of, and students conformable to the Hebrew Bible, which they un-
flocked towards them from all parts of the world. derstood to be according to the will of London ; and
There was no getting the thing recorded in books there could be no aim more legitimate. However,
as you may now. You had to hear him speaking they could not have got their desire fu'.filled at all
to you vocally, or else you could not learn at all if Knox had not succeeded by the firmness and
what it was that be wanted to say. And so they nobleness of his mind. For he is also of the select
gathered together the various people who had any- of the earth to me —John Knox. (Applause.)
thing to teach, and formed themselves gradually What he has suffered from the ungrateful genera-
under the patronage of kings and other potentates tions that have followed him should really make us
who were anxious about the culture of their popu- humble ourselves to the dust, to think that the
lations, nobly anxious for their benefit, and became most excellent men our country has produced, to
a University. I dare say, perhaps, you have heard whom we owe everything that distinguishes us
it said that all that is greatly altered by the inven- among modern nations, should have been sneered
tion of printing, which took place about midway at and abused by people. Knox was heard by Scot-
between us and the origin of Universities. A man land—the people heard him with the marrow of
has not now to go away to where a professor is their bones—they took up his doctrine, and they
actually speaking, because in most cases he can get defied principalities and powers to move them from
his doctrine out of him through a book, and can read it. "We must have it," they said. It was at
it, and read it again and again, and study it. I that time the Puritan struggle arose in England,
don't know that I know of any way in which the and you know well that the Scottish Earls and no-
whole facts of a subject may be more completely bility, with their tenantry, marched away to Dunse-
taken in, if our studies are moulded in conformity hill, and sat down there; and just in the course of
with it. Nevertheless, Universities have, and will that struggle, when it was either to be suppressed
continue to have, an indispensable value in society or brought into greater vitality, they encamped on
—a very high value. I consider the highest interests the top of Dunse-hill-30,000 armed men, drilled
of man vitally intrusted to them. In regard to for that occasion, each regiment around its land-
theology, as you are aware, it has been the study lord, its earl, or whatever he might be called, and
of the deepest heads that have come into the world eager for Christ's Crown and Covenant. That was
—what is the nature of this stupendous universe, the signal for all England rising up into unappeas-
and what its relations to all things, as known to able determination to have the Gospel there also,
man, and as only known to the awful Author of it. and you know it went on and came to be a con-
In fact, the members of the Church keep theology test whether the Parliament or the King should rule
in a lively condition—(laughter)—for the benefit of —whether it should be old formalities and use and
the population, which is the great object of our wont, or something that had been of new con-
Universities. I consider it is the same now intrin- ceived in the souls of men—namely, a divine de-
sically, though very much forgotten, from many termination to walk according to the laws of God
causes, and not so successful as might be wished at here as the sum of all prosperity—which of these
all. (A laugh.) It remains, however, a very curious should have the mastery ; and after a long, long
truth, what has been said by observant people, agony of struggle, it was decided—the way we
that the main use of the Universities in the pre- know. I should say also of that Protectorate of
sent age' is that, after you have done with all 1 Oliver Cromwell's—notwithstanding the abuse it
your classes, the next thing is a collection of has encountered, and the denial of everybody that it
books, a great library of good books, which you , was able to get on in the world, and so on—it ap-
proceed to study and to read. What the Univer- I pears to me to have been the most salutary thing in
sities have mainly done—what I have found the the modern history of England on the whole. If Oli-
University did for me, was that it taught me to 1 ver Cromwell had continuedit out,l don't know what
read in various languages and various sciences, so lit would have come to. It would have got corrupted
that I could go into the books that treated of these I perhaps in our hands, and could not haae gone on,
things, and try anything I wanted to make myself ; but it was pure and true to the last fibre in his mind
master of gradually, as I found it suit me. What- \ —there was truth in it when he ruled over it.
ever you may think of all that, the clearest and Machiavelli has remarked, in speaking about the
most imperative duty lies on every one of you to be Romans, that democracy cannot exist anywhere in
assiduous in your reading. And learn to be good the
that wit hould be cont
orld ; as a Government it is an impossibility
readers, which is, perhaps, a More difficult thing sinued, and he goes on to prov-
than you imagine. Learn to be discriminative in ing that in his own way. Ido not ask you all to
your reading—to read all kinds of things that you follow him in all his convictions—(hear)— but it is
have an interest in, and that you find to be really to him a clear truth that it is a solecism and impossi-
fit for what you are engaged in. Of course, at the i. bility that the universal mass of men should govern
present time, in a great deal of the reading incum- themselves. He says of the Romans that they con-
bent on you you must be guided by the books re- 1 timed a long time, but it was purely in virtue of this
commended to you by your professors for assistance item in their constitution—namely, that they had all
towards
the prelections. And then, when you get the conviction in their minds that it wassolemnly ne-
out of the University, and go into studies of your \ cessary at times to appoint a Dictator—a man who
own, you will find it very important that you have ' had the power of life and death overeverything—who
selected a field, a province in which you can study degraded men out of their places, ordered them to
and work. The most unhappy of all men is the execution, and did whatever seemed to him good in
man that cannot tell what he is going to do, that has 1 the name of God above him' He was commanded to
got no work cut out for him in the world, and does take care that the Republicsuffered no detriment, and
not go into it. For work is the grand cure of all Machiavelli calculates thatthat was the thing that
the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind purified the social system from time to time, and en-
-honest work, which you intend getting done. If abled it to hang on as it did—an extremely likely
you are in a strait, a very good indication as to thing if it was composed of nothing but bad and tu-
choice—perhaps the best you could get—is a book multuous men triumphing in general over the better,
you have a great curiosity about. You are then in and all going the bad road, in fact. Well, Oliver
the readiest and best of all possible conditions to Cromwell's Protectorate, or Dictatorate if you will,
improve by that book. It is analogous to what lasted for about ten years, and you will find that no-
doctors tell us about the physical health and appe- thing that was contrary to the laws of Heaven was
tites of the patient. You must learn to distinguish allowed tolive by Oliver. (A laugh, and applause.)
between false appetite and real. There is such a For example, it was found by his Parliament, called
thing as a false appetite which will lead a man into " Barebones"—the most zealous of all Parliaments
vagaries with regard to diet, will tempt him to eat probably—(laughter)—that the Court of Chancery
spicy things which he should not eat at all, and in England was in a state that was really capable of
would not but that it is toothsome, and for the no apology—no man could getup and say that that was
moment in baseness of mind. A man ought to in- a right court. There were, I think, 15,000 or 1,500—
quire and find out what he really and truly has (laughter)—l don't really remember which, but we
appetite for—what suits his constitution ; and that, shall call it by the last—(laughter)—there werel,soo
doctors tell him, is the very thine; he ought to have cases lying in it undecided, and one of them, I remem-
in general. And so with books. As applicable ber, for alarge amount of money, was 83 years old, and
to almost all of you, I will say that it is highly it was going on still. Wigs were waving over it, and
expedient to go into history—to inquire into what lawyers taking their fees, and there was no end of it,
bas passed before you in the families of men. The upon which the Barebones people, after deliberation
history of the Romans and Greeks will first of all about it, thought it was expedient, and corn-
concern you ; and you will find that all the know- manded by the Author of Man and the Fountain of
ledge you have got will be extremely applicable to Justice, and for the true and right, to abolish the
elucidate that. There you have the most remark- court. Really, I don't know who could have dis-
able race of men in the world set before you, to say seated from that opinion. At the same time, it was
nothing of the languages which your professors can thought by those who were wiser, and had more ex-
better explain, and which, I believe, are admitted to perience of the world, that it was a very dangerous
be the most perfect orders of speech we have yet thing, and would never suit at all. The lawyers
found to exist among men. And you will find, if began to make an immense noise about it. (Laughter.)
you read well, a pair of extremely remarkable na- All the public, the great mass of solid and well-dis-
tions shining in the records left by themselves as a posed people who had got no deep insight into such
kind of pillar to light up life in the darkness of the matters, were very adverse to it, and the president
past ages ; and it will be well worth your while if of it, old Sir Francis Rouse, who translated the
you can get into the understanding of what these Psalms—those that we sing every Sunday in the
people were and what they did. You will find a church yet—a very good man and a wise man—the
great deal of hearsay, as I have found, that does not Provost of Eton—he got the minority, or I don't
touch on the matter ;but perhaps sonic of you will know whether or no he did not persuade the majo-
get to see a Roman face to face ; you will know in rity—he at any rate got a great number of the Par-
some measure how they contrived to exist, and to liament to go to Oliver the Dictator, and lay down
paerform these feats in the world; I believe, also, their functions altogether, and declare officially with
you will find a thing not much noted, that there was their signature on Monday morning that the Parlia-
well worth reading very great deal of deep rclicrion in its form in both ment was dissolved. The thing was passed on Satur-
nations. That is noted by the wisest of historians, day night, and on Monday morning Rouse came
he was an
and particularly by Ferguson, who is particularly and said, " `ire cannot carry on the affair any
alumnus in
on Romant' history ; and Ibe
our own university.
book is a very creditable *
profoundly religious book.
He points out the
nature of the Roman people,
eir nature. They believed that Jupiter Optilmieuves
notwithstanding the wildness and ferociousness of missed had Ilis Highness." Oliver in that way bece Protector a
second time. I give you this as anti nstance that
Oliver• felt that the Parliament that had been dig-
lcoelr'ygndand , remit it into the hands of your
d been perfectly right with regard to Chan-
-Jupiter Maximus—was lord of the universe, and of abolishing
that he had appointed the Romans to become the kind of w
• hing Chancery, or reforming it in some
consideredatyh.atlitehereavas no doubt, of the propriety
it, and this is what
be
chief of men, provided they followed his commands did. He assembled 60 of the wisest lawyers to e
—to brave all difficulty, and to stand up with an found in England.
also to have the s to be ready to do and die
same sacred regard toveracit; happily, there were men great
invincible front
y,antdo the law--men ennoww,hiosuvpaplousede. t h(eA l
laawusg
ha!) much
Oliver
a s
promise, to integrity, and all the virtues that sur- said to them, "Go and examine this thing, and in
round that noblest quality of men—courage—to the name of God inform me wiaat lg. necessary to be

done with regard to it. You will see how we may
clean out the foul things in it that render it poison
to everybody." Well, they sat down then, and in
the course of six weeks—there was no public speak-
ing then, no reporting of speeches, and no trouble of
any kind ; there was just the business in hand—
they got GO propositions fixed in their minds of the
things that required to be done. And upon these GO
propositions Chancery was reconstituted and re-
modelled, and so it has lasted to our time. It had
become a nuisance, and could not have continued
much longer. That is an instance of the manner in
which things were done when a Dictatorship pre-
vailed in the country, and thatwas what the Dictator
did. Upon the whole, Ido not think that, in gene-
ral, out of common history books, you will ever get
into the real history of this country, or anything
particular which it would beseem you to know. You
may read very ingenious and very clever books by
men whom it would be the height of insolence in
me to do any other than express my respect for. But
their position is essentially sceptical. Man is unhap-
pily in that condition that he will make only a tem-
porary explanation of anything, and you will not
be able, if you are like the man, to understand how
this island came to be what it is. You will not find
it recorded in books. You will find recorded in
books a jumble of tumults, disastrous ineptitudes,
and all that kind of thing. But to get what you
want you will have to look into side sources, and
inquire in all directions. I remember getting Col-
lins' " Peerage" to read—a very poor peerage as a
work of genius, but 2n excellent book for diligence
and fidelity—l was writing on Oliver Cromwell at
the time. (Applause.) I could get no biographical
dictionary, and I thought the peerage book would
help me, at least tell whether people were old or
young, and about all persons concerned in the ac-
tions about which I wrote. I got a great deal of
help out of poor Collins. He was a diligent and
dark London bookseller of about 100 years ago,who
compiled out of all kinds of treasury chests, ar-
chieves, books that were authentic, and out of all
kinds of things out of which he could get the infor-
mation he wanted. He was a very meritorious man.
I not only found the solution of anything I wanted
there, but I began gradually to perceive this im-
mense fact, which I really advise every one of you
who read history to look out for and read for—if he
has not found it—it was that the kings of England all
the way from the Norman Conquest down to the times
of Charles I. had appointed, as far as they knew,
those who deserved to be appointed, peers. They
were all royal men, with minds full of justice and
valour and humanity, and all kinds of qualities
that are good fur men to have who ought to rule
over others. Then their genealogy was remarkable
—and there is a great deal more in genealogies than
is generally believed at present. I never heard tell
of any clever man that came out of entirely stupid
people. If you look around the families of your
acquaintance, you will see such cases in all directions.
I know that it has been the case in mine. I can
trace the father, and the son, and the grandson,
and the family stamp is quite distinctly legible upon
each of them, so that it goes for a great deal—the
hereditary principle in Government as in other
things ; and it must be recognised so soon as there
is any fixity in things. You will remark that if at
any time the genealogy of a peerage fails—if the
man that actually holds the peerage is a fool in these
earnest striking times, the man gets into mischief
and gets into treason—he gets himself extinguished
altogether, in fact. (Laughter.) From these docu-
ments of old Collins it seems that a peer conducts
himself in a solemn, good, pious, manly kind of way
when he takes leave of life, and when he has hos-
pitable habits, and is valiant in his procedure
throughout; and that in general a king, with a noble
approximation to what was right, had nominated
this man, saying, " Come you to me, sir ; come out
of the common level of the people, where you are
liable to be trampled upon ; come here and take a
district of country, and make it into your own
image more or less ; be a king under me, • and un-
derstand that that is your function." I say this is
the most divine thing that a human being can do to
other human beings, and no kind of being whatever
has so much of the character of God Almighty's
Divine Government as that thing we see that went
all over England, and that is the grand soul of
England's history. (Cheers.) It is historically true heal
that down to the time of Charles I. it was not un- 1,,
derstood that any man was made peer without hav-
ing a merit in him to constitute him a proper subject
for a peerage. In Charles I.'s time it grew to be
known or said that if a man was by birth a gentle-
man and was worth £lO,OOO a year, and bestowed
his gifts up and down among courtiers, he could be
made a peer. Under Charles 11. it went on with still
greater rapidity, andhas been going on with ever in-
creasing velocity until we see the perfect breakneck
pace at which they are now going. (A laugh.) And
now a peerage is a paltry kind of thing to what it
was in these old times. I could go into a great
many more details about things of that sort, but I
must turn to another branch of the subject. One
remark more about your reading. Ido not know
whether it has been sufficiently brought home to
you that there are two kinds of books. When a
man is reading on any kind of subject, in most de-
partments of hooks—in all books, if you take it in
a wide sense—you will find that there is a division
of good books and bad books—there is a good kind
of a book and a bad kind of a book. lam not to
assume that you are all very ill acquainted with
this ; but I may remind you that it is a very im-
portant consideration at present. It casts aside
altogether the idea that people have that if they are
reading any book—that if an ignorant man is read-
ing
any book he is doing rather better than nothing',
at all. I even call that in question. I even ven-
ture to deny it. (Laughter and cheers.) It would
be much safer and better would he have no concern
with books at all than with some of them. You
knowsupre thesesupreme,
n nobler
lee
rmy kind views.
of
people
—not
a area number,
berg,reaant
increasing number, of books that are decidedly to
him not useful. (Hear.) But he will learn atso
that a certain number of books were written by a
number, but a great number adhere more or less to
that side of things. In short, as I have written it
down somewhere else, I conceive that books are
like men's souls—divided into sheep and goats.
Some of them are
taceai
tnnQiiti.
indli
(Laughter and applause.)
cal-
culated to be of very great advantage in teaching
—in forwarding the teaching of all generations.
Others arc going down, down, doing more and more
wilder and wilder mischief. And for the rest, in
regard to all your studies here, and whatever you
may learn, you are to remember that the object is
not particular knowledge—that you are going to
get higher in technical perfections, and all that
sort of thing. There is a higher aim lies at the
rear of all that, especially among those who
are intended for literary, for speaking pursuits—
the sacred profession. You are ever to bear in mind
that there lies behind that the acquisition of what
may be called wisdom—namely, sound appreciation
and just decision as to all objects that come round
about you, and the habit of behaving with justice
and wisdom. In short—great wisdom—great is
the value of wisdom. It cannot be exaggerated.
The highest achievement of man—" Blessed is he
that getteth understanding." And that, I believe,
occasionally may be missed very easily ; but never
more easily than now, I think. If that is a failure,
all is a failure. However, I will not touch further
upon that matter. In this University I learn from
sr,manyiteoigrlvaa vbdo sip'.rtil;: . sbue
onsetnelrodtifsilaocuiettwliryne:telalvneidloenirltntiviellsghod. i,ops
eiahfonaai
that greathtv,
have charge
lecllvs
ahsi
excellentl
oroal
gui
nvldeodlrtoi
ybhif)areiyinn,loe.important,
ugsliarbeit. considerable
bevyertYhoUsengiNe.
indeed, I am happy to hear that your library is very
mucb improved since the time I knew it ; and I
hope it will go on improving more and more. You
require money to do that, and you require also
judgment in the selectors of the books—pious in-
sight into what is really for the advantage of human
souls, and the exclusion of all kinds of clap-trap
books which merely excite the astonishment of
foolish people. (Laughter.) Wise books—as much
as possible good books. As I was saying, there
appears to be a great demand for endowments—an
assiduous and praiseworthy industry for getting
new funds collected for encouraging the ingenuous
youth of Universities, especially in this chief Uni-

versity of the country. (Hear, hear.) Well, 1 en- Among others, he introduces an aerial, flighty -kind but there is an eternal sky over it ; and the blessed
tirely participate in everybody's approval of the of way, here and there a touch which grows into a beauti- sunshinr, verdure of spring, and rich autumn, and all
ful picture - a scheme of entirely mute education, at that in it too. Piety does not moan that a man should
movement. It is very desirable. I should be re-
least with no more speech than is absolutely necessary for make a sour face about things, and refuse to enjoy in mode-
sponded to, and one expects most assuredly will, what they have to do. Three of the wisest men that can be ration what his Maker has
given.
Neither do you find it
At least, if it is not, it will be shamefulto the coon- got are met to consider what is the function which tran- to have been so with old Knox. If you look into him you
try of Scotland, which never was so rich in money scends all others in importance to build up the young gene- will find a beautiful Scotch humour in him, a
and a great
s well as the
which shall be free from all that perilous stuff that grimmest and sternest truth when necessary,
as at the present moment, and never stood so much ration,
has been weighing us. down and clogging every step, and
in need of getting noble Universities to counteract deal of laughter. We find really some of the sunniest
which is the only thing we can hope to go on with if we glimpses of things come out of Knox that I have seen in
many influences that are springing up alongside of ,
would leave the world a little better, and not the worse of any man; for instance, in his "History of the Reform-
money. It should not be backward in coming for- our having been in it for those who are to follow. The man tion," whch is a book I hope every one of you will read-
ward in the way of endowments-(a laugh)-at who is the eldest of the three says to Gothe, " You give by (applause)-a glorious book. On the whole, I would bid
least, in rivalry to our rude eld barbarous ancestors, nature to the well-formed children you frequent into the world you stand up to your work, whatever it may be, and not be
as we have been pleased to call them. Such muni- a great many precious gifts, and very y those are afraid of it-not in sorrows or contradiction to yield, but
best of all developed by nature herself, with a very slight
ficence as theirs is beyond all praise, to whom I pushing on towards the goal ;and don't suppose that people •
assistance where assistance is seen to be wise and profitable, are hostile to you in the world. You will rarely find any-
am sorry to say we are not yet by any manner of and forbearance very often on the part of the overlooker body designedly doing you ill. You may feel often as if
means equal or approaching equality. (Laughter.) There of the process of education ; but there is one thing that no the whole world is obstructing you, more or less ; but you
is an overabundance of money, and sometimes I cannot child brings into the world with it, and without which all will find that to be because the world is travelling in a
help thinking that, probably, never has there been at any other things are of no use." Wilhelm, who is there beside different way from you, and rushing on in its own path.
other time in Scotland the hundredth part of the money him, says, "What is that ?" " All who enter the world Each man has only an extremely good will to himself-
that now is, or even the thousandth part, for wherever Igo want it," says the eldest ; perhaps you yourself." Wilhelm which he has a right to have-and is moving on towards
*there is that gold-nuggeting (a laugh)-that prosperity. says,
" Well, tell me what it is." "It is," says the eldest, his object. Keep out of literature as a general rule, I
Many men are counting their balances by millions. Money "reverence." Ehrfurt-" Reverence !" "Honour done to should say also. (Laughter.) If you find many people
was never so abundant, and nothing that is good to be done those who are grander and better than you, without fear ; who are hard and indifferent to you in a world that you
with it. (" Hear, hear," and a laugh.) No man knows- distinct from fear." Ehrfurt-" The soul of all religion consider to be inhospitable and cruel-as often, indeed, hap-
or very few men know-what benefit to get out of his that ever has been among men or ever will be." And he pens to a tender-hearted, stirring young creature-you
money. In fact, it too often is secretly a curse to him. goes into practicality. He practically distinguishes the will also find that there are noble hearts who will look
Much better for him never to have had any. But Ido not kinds of religion that are in the world, and he makes out kindly on you, and their help will be precious to you be-
expect that generally to be believed. (Laughter.) Never- three reverences. The boys are all trained to go through yond price. You will get good and evil as you go on, and
theless, I should think it a beautiful relief to many a man certain gesticulations, to lay their hands on their breast have the success that has been appointed to you. I will
that has an honest purpose struggling in him to bequeath and look up to heaven, and they give their three reverences. wind up with a small bit of verse that is from Goethe also,
a handsome house of refuge, so to speak, for some meri- The first and simplest is that of reverence for what is and has often gone through my mind. To me it has the
torious man who may hereafter be born into the world to above ns. It is the soul of the Pagan religion ; there is I tone of a modem psalm in it in some measure. It is sweet
enable him a little to get on in his way. To do, in fact, as nothing better in man than that. Then there is reverence and clear-the clearest of sceptical men had not anything
those old Norman kings as I have described to you-to for what is around us-reverence for our equals, and to like so clear a mind as that man had-freer from cant and
raise a man out of the dirt and mud where he is getting which he attributes an immense power in the culture of misdirected notion of any kind than any man in these ages
trampled, unworthily on his part, into some kind of posi- man. The third is reverence for what is beneath us-to has been. This is what the poet says :--
tion where he may acquire the power to do some good in his learn to recognise in pain, sorrow, and contradiction, even " The Future hides in it
generation. I hope that as much as possible will be done in in those things, odious as they are to flesh and blood-to Gladness and sorrow,
that way ; that efforts will not be relaxed till the thing is learn that there lies in this a priceless blessing. And he We press still thorow ;
in a satisfactory state. At the same time in regard to the defines that as being tho soul of the Christian religion-the Nought that abides in it
classical department of things, it was to be desired that it highest of all religions-a height, as Gallo says ; and that Daunting us -Onward !
wore properly supported-that we could allow people to go is very true, even to the letter, as I consider-a height to
and devote more leisure possibly to the cultivation of parti- which the human species was fated and enabled to attain,
cular departments. We might have more of this from and from which, having once attained it, it can never re-
Scotch Universities than we have. lam bound, howe'ier, trograde. It cannot descend down below that permanently,
to say that it does not appear as if of late times endowment Gothe's idea is. Often one thinks it was good to have a
was the real soul of the matter. The English, for example, faith of that kind-that always, even in the moat de-
are the richest people for endowments on the face of the graded, sunken, and unbelieving times, he calculates there
earth for Universities : and it is a remarkable fact that will be found some few souls who will recognise what that
sincethe time of Bentley you cannot name anybody thathas meant ; and that the world, having once received it, there
gained a great name in scolarship among them, or consti- is no fear of its retrograding. He goes on then to tell us
teda point of revolution in the pursuits of men in that way. the way in which they seek to teach boys, in the sciences
The man that did thatis a man worthy of being remembered particularly, whatever the boy is fit for. Wilhelm left his
amongmen, although he may be a poorer man, and not en- own boy there, expecting they would makewhe him
h Master
dowed a Master
dowed with worldly wealth. One man that actually did of Arts, or something of that kind ;
and n
constitute a revolution was the son of a poor weaver in back for him he saw a thundering cloud of dust coming
Saxony, who edited his " Tibullus" in Dresden in the room over the plain, of which he could make nothing. It turned
of a poor comrade, and who, while he was editing his out to be a tempest of wild horses, managed by young lads
" Tibullus," had to gather his pease-cod shells on the streets who had a turn for hunting with their grooms. His own
and boil them for his dinner. That was his endowment. son was among them, and he found that the breaking of
(Laughter.) But he was recognized soon to have done a colts was the thing he was most suited for. (Laughter.)
great thing. His name was Heine. I can remember it was This' is what Gotha calls art, which I should not make
quite arevolution in my mind when I gothold of that man's clear to you by any definition unless it is clear already. (A
book on Virgil. I found that for the first time I had un- laugh.) I would not attempt to define it as music, painting,
derstood him-that he had introduced me for the first and poetry, and so on ;itis in quite a higher sense than the
time into an insight of Roman life, and pointed out the common one, and in which, lam afraid, most of our pain-
circumstances in which these were written, and here was ters, poets, and music men would not pass muster. (A.
interpretation ; and ithas gone on in all manner of develop- laugh.) He considers that the highest pitch to which
ment, and has spread out into other countries. Upon the human culture can go ; and he watches with great industry
whole, there is one reason why endowments are not given how it is to be brought about with men who have a turn
now as they were in old days, when they founded abbeys, for it. Very wise and beautiful it is. It gives one an idea
colleges, and all kinds of things of that descriptton, with that something greatly better is possible for a man in the
such success as we;know. All that has changed now. Why world. I confess it seems to me it is a shadow of what
that has decayed away may in part be that people have be- will come, unless the world is to come to a conclusion that
come doebtful that colleges are now the real sources of is perfectly frightful; some kind of scheme of education
that which I call wisdom, whether they are anything more like that, presided over by the wisest and most sacred men
-anything much more-than a cultivating of man in the that can be got in the world, and watching from a dis-
specific arts. In fact, there has been a suspicion of that 1 tance-a training in practicality at every turn ; no speech
kind in the world for a long time. (A laugh.) What is lin it except speech that is to be followed by action, for
an old saying; an old proverb, "An ounce of mother-wit that ought to be the rule as nearly as possible among
is worth a pound of clergy." (Laughter.) There is a them. For rarely should men speak at all unless it is to
suspicion that a man is perhaps not nearly so wise as he say that thing that is to be done ; and let him go and
looks, or because he has poured out speech so copiously. do his part in it, and say no more about it. I should
(Laughter.) When the seven free Acts on which the old I say there is nothing in the world you can conceive so diffi-
Universities were based came to be modified a little, in cult, prima fade, as that of getting a set of men gathered
order to be convenient for or to promote the wants of me- together-rough, rude, and ignorant people. Gather
dern society-though, perhaps, some of them are obsolete them together, promise them a shilling a clay ; rank them
enough even yet for some of us-there arose a fear that up, give them very severe and sharp drill, and by bullying
mere vocality, mere culture of speech, if that is what comes and drill-for the word drill seems as if it meant the treat-
out of a man, though he may be a great speaker, an elo- ment that would force them to learn-they learn what it
quent orator, yet there is no real substance there- if that is necessary to learn ; and there is the man, a piece of an
is what is required and aimed at by the man himself, and animated machine, a wonder of wonders to look at. He
by the community that set him upon becoming a learned will go and obey one man, and walk into the cannon's
man. Maid-servants, I hear people complaining, are mouth for him, and do anything whatever that is com-
getting instructed in the " elegies," and so on, and aro manded of him by his general officer. And I believe all
apparently totally ignorant of brewing, boiling, manner of things in this way could be done if there were
and baking-(loud laughter)-above all things, not anything like the same attention bestowed. Very many
taught what is necessary to be known, from the highest to things could be regimented and organized into the mute
the lowest-strict obedience, humility, and correct moral system ;of education that Gothe evidently adumbrates
conduct. Oh, it is a dismal chapter, all that, if one went there. But I believe, when people look into it, it will be
into it ! What has been done by rushing after fine speech ? found that they will not be very long in trying to make
I have written down some very fierce things about that, some efforts in that direction ; for the saving of human
perhaps considerably more emphatic than I would wish labour, and the avoidance of human misery, would be un-
hem to be now, but they are deeply my conviction. (Hear, accountable if it were set about and begun even in part.
There is very great necessity indeed for getting a Alas! it is painful to think how very far away it is - any
.re more silent than we are. It seems to me the finest fulfilment of such things; for I need not hide from you
nations in the world-the English and the American-are young gentlemen-and that is one of the last things lam
going all away into wind and tongue. (Applause and going to tell you-that you have got into a very troublous
laughter.) But it will appear sufficiently tragical by-and- epoch of the world; and I don't think you will find it im-
by, long after lam away out of it. Silence is the eternal prove the footing you have, though you have many ad-
duty of a man. Ho won't get to any real understanding of vantages which we had not. 'You have careers open to
what is complex, and what is more than any other pertinent you, by public examinations and so on, which is a thing
to his interests, without maintaining silence. "Watch the much to be approved, and which we hope to see perfected
tongue" is a very old precept, and a most true ono. Ido more and more. All' that was entirely unknown in ray
not want to discourage any of you from your Demosthenes, time, and you have many things to recognize as advan-
and your studies of the niceties of language, and all that. tages. But you will find the ways of the world more
Believe me, 'value that as much as much any of you. I con- anarchical than ever, I think. As far as I have noticed,
eider it a very graceful thing and a proper thing for every revolution has come upon us. We have got into the age
human creature to know what the implement which he of revolutions. All kinds of things are coming to be sub-
uses in communicating his thoughts is, and how to make j jetted to fire, as it were ; hotter and hotter the wind rises
the very utmost of it. I want you to study Demosthenes around everything. Curious to say, now in Oxford and
and know all his excellences. At the same time, I must say other places that used to seem to lie at anchor in the stream
that speech does not seem to me, on the whole, to have of time, regardless of all changes, they are getting into the
turned to any good account. Why tell me that a man highest humour of mutation, and all sorts of new ideas are
is a fine speaker if it is not the truth that he is speaking ? getting afloat. It is evident that whatever is not made of
Phocion, who did not speak at all, was a great deal nearer asbestos will have to be burnt in this world. It willnot stand
hitting the mark than Demosthenes. (Laughter.) He used the heat it is getting exposed to. And in saying that, it
to tell the Athenians, "You can't fight Philip. You have is but saying in other words that we are in an epoch of
not the slightest chance with him. He is a man who holds anarchy-anarchy plus the constable. (Laughter.) There
his tongue ; he has great disciplined armies ; he can brag is nobody that picks one's pocket without some policeman
anybody you like in your cities here ; and he is going on being ready to take him up. (Renewed laughter.) But in
steadily with an unvarying aim towards his object ; and he I every other thing he is the son, not of Cosmos, but of
will infallibly beat any kind cf men such as you, going on Chaos. He is a disobedient, and reckless, and altogether a
raging from shore to shore with all that rampant non- waste kind of object-a commonplace man in these epochs ;
sense." Demosthenes said to him one day, " The and the wiser kind of man-the select, of whom I hope you
Athenians will get mad some day and kill you." " Yes,', will be part-has more and more a set time to it to look
Phocion says, "when they are mad, and you as soon as they forward, and will require to move with double wisdom ; .
get sane again." (Laughter and applause.) It is also told and will find, in short, that the crooked things that he has
about him going to Messina on some deputation that the to pull straight in his even life for round about, wheiever
Athenians wanted on some kind of matter of an intricate lie may be, are manifold, and will task all his strength
and contentious nature that Phocion went with some story wherever he may go. But why should I complain of that
in his mouth to speak about. He was a man of few words either ?-for that is the thing a man is born to in all epochs.
-no unveracity ; and after he had gone on telling the story He is born to expend every particle of strength that God
a certain time there was one burst of interruption. One Almighty has given him in doing the work he finds he is fit
man interrupted with something he tried to answer, and for-to stand it out to the last breath of life, and do his
then another ; and, finally, the people began bragging and , best. We are called upon to do that ; and the reward we
bawling, and no end of debate, till it ended in the want of all get-which we are perfectly sure of if we have merited it
power in the people to say any more. Phocion drew back is that we have got the work done, or at least that
altogether, struck dumb, and would not speak another word tried to do the work; for that is a great blessing in itself ;
to any man ; and he left it to them to decide in any way I and I should say there is not very much more reward than
they liked. It appears to me there is a kind of eloquence that going on in this world. If the man gets meat and
in that which is equal to anything Demosthenes ever said I clothes, what matters it whether he have £lO,OOO or
-" Take your own way and let me out altogether." £10,000,000, or £7O a year. He can get meat and clothes
(Applause.) All these considerations, and manifold more I for that ; and he will find very little difference intrinsically
connected with them-innumerable considerations,resulting lifhe is a wise man. I warmly second the advice of the
from observation of the world at this moment-have led I wisest of men-" Don't be ambitious ; don't be at all too
many people to doubt of the salutary effect of vocal educe- desirous of success ;be loyal and modest." Cut down the
tion altogether. Ido not mean to say it should be entirely proud towering thoughts that you get into you, or see they
excluded; but I look to something that will take hold of be pure as well as high. There is a nobler ambition than
the matter much more closely, and not allow it to slip out of the gaining of all California would be, or the getting of all
our fingers, and remain worse than it was. For if a good the suffrages that are on the planet just now. (Loud and
speaker-an eloquent speaker-is not speaking the truth, is I prolonged cheers.) Finally, gentlemen, I have one ad-
there a more horrid kind of object in creation ? (Loud vice to give you, which is practically of very great im-
cheers.) Of such speech I hear all manner and kind of portance, though a very humble one. I have no doubt
people say it is excellent; but I carevery little about how he you will have among you people ardently bent to con-
said it, provided I understand it, and it be true. Excellent eider life cheap, for the purpose of getting forward in
speaker! but what if he is telling me things that are untrue, what they are aiming at of high ; and you aro to consider
that are not the fact about it-if he has formed a wrong throughout, much more than is done at present, that health
judgment about it-if he has no judgment in his mind to is a thing to be attended to 'continually-that you are
form a right conclusion in regard to the matter ? An ex- to• regard that as the very highest of all temporal things
cellent speaker of that kindis, asit were, saying, "Ho, every for you. (Applause.) There is no kind of achievement
one that wants to be persuaded of the thing that is not true, you could make in the world that is equal to perfect health.
come hither." (Great laughter and applause.) I would What are nuggets, and millions? The French financier
recommend you to be very chary of that kind of excellent said, " Alas ! why is there no sleep to bo sold ?" Sleep was
speech. (Renewed laughter.) Well, all that being the too not in the market at any quotation. (Laughter and ap-
well-known product of our method of vocal education- plause.) It is a curious thing that I remarked long ago,
the mouth merely operating on the tongue of the pupil, and and often turned in my head, that the old word for "holy"
teaching him, to wag it in a particular way-(laughter)-it in the German language-' heilig-also means " healthy."
had made a great many thinking men entertain a very And so Ileilbronn means
holy well," or " healthy-well."
great distrust of this not very salutary way of proce- We have in the Scotch " hale ;" and, I suppose, our English
dupe, and they have longed for some kind of practical word
" whole"- with a " w" all of one piece, without any
way of working but the business. There would be room whole in it-is the same word. I find that you could not
for a great deal of description about it if I went into it; get any better definition of what "holy" really is than
but I most content myself with saying that the most re- " (Applauselt completely healthy." Mens sana in corpore
markable piece of reading that you may bo recommended to sano. .) A man with his intellect a clear, plain,
take and try if you can study is a book by Gothe-one of geometric mirror, brilliantly sensitive of all objects and
his last books, which he wrote when he was an old man, impressions around it, and imagining all things in their
about 70 years of age- I think and the most beautiful he correct preportions-not twisted up into convex or con-
ever wrote, full of mild wisdom, which is found to be cave, and distorting everything, so that he cannot see the
very touching by those who have eyes to discern and hearts truth of the matter without endless groping end manipu-
to feel it. It is one of the pieces in "Wilhelm Meister's lation-healthy, clear, and free, and all round about him.
Travels." Irread it through many years ago; and of course We never can attain that at all. In fact, the operations
I had to read into h very hard when I was translating it- we have got into are destructive of it. You cannot, if you
(applause)-and it has always dwelt in my mind as about the are going into any decisive intellectual operation-if you
most remarkable bit of writing that I have known to are going to write a book-at least, I never could-without
be executed in these late centuries. I have often said- getting decidedly made ill by it, and really you must if it is
there are ten pages of been my your business- ad you
the musexpenset follow oof health. ut what you
Only re-
al at-
nly rule, I would ra bihan have w
ther have written tns at
al the books thathave appeared since I came into the world. member at all times to get back as fast as possible out of it
(Cheers.) Deep, deep is the meaning of what is said there. into health, and regard the real equilibrium as the centre
They turn on the Christian religion and the religious phe- of things. You should always look at the heilig, which
nomena of Christian life-altogether sketched out in the means holy, and holy means healthy. Well, that old
most airy, graceful, delicately-wise kind of way, so etymology-what a lesson it is against certain gloomy
as to keep himself out of the common controversies of austere, aesthetic people, that have gone about as if this
the street and of the forum, yet to indicate what was world were all a dismal prison-house. It has, indeed,
the result of things ho had been long meditating upon. A got all the ugly things in it that I have been alluding- to

" And solemn before us,
Veiled, the dark Portal ;
Goal of all mortal :
Stars silent rest o'er us—
Graves under us silent.
" While earnest thou gazest,
Comes boding of terror,
Comes phantasm and error
Perplexes the bravest
With doubt and misgiving.

" But heard are the voices,
Heard are the Sages,
The works an' the Ages :
' Choose well, your choice
Brief and yet endless.

" Here eyes do regard you
In Eternity's stillness:
Here is all fulness,
Ye brave, to reward you :
Work, and despair not.' "
One last word. Wir heissen euch hoffen —We bid you be
of hope. Adieu for this time. (Mr. Carlyle resumed his
seat amid loud and prolonged applause, after speaking for
an hour and a half.)
The benediction was then pronounced, and the assem-
blage separated, Mr. Carlyle being followed to his lodging
by an enthusiastic band of students.