The sun., 1902-01-26

fused to take the oath Of allegiance to King
william-retired TO Oxford 70 find sympathy
and society, and formed little junto for
the reception and discussion OF dispatches
from 81, Germain's.
Besides the historical causes. there were
other circumstances peculiar 10 the first
half OF the eighteenth century which aided
Oxford In becoming the great capital OF
Jacobite England Owing to the badness
and insecurity Of the roads that led TO Lon
don, the English provincial towns possessed
great importance and Oxford was n pro-
vincial centre with which no rival could
compete. Here the youth fresh from the
dulness and ignorance OF the country
could find all the excess, the life. the re-
fnement Of town. The prejudices which
the neophyte encountered In the Tory
atmosphere Of the place were but the coun-
terparts Of his own. "All that chivalry and
noble feeling had suggested in favor OF
the exiled race was now confirmed by the
sanction Of those whom he must have looked
up 20 as the men OF learning and religion.
He could not give the lie to the Whig attorney
Of his native town who contrastcd the
ignorance Of the Jacobites with the men
OF letters who rallied round the Constitution.
The men OF letters whom the freshmen
met In the High or the Broad were Jacobites
to q man. II was no wonder that Oxford
thus reinforced became the focus OF dis
loyalty to the House Of Hanover; that.
after abdicating her functionof the guardian
Of religion, as the nurse OF learning, she
came forward as the defiant champion Of n
retrograde and senseless Jacobtism"
With the accession Of George ILL.,. how
ever, Jacobitism disappeared like dream.
Tory principles now gained the asoen-
dency at Oxford, and the current Of royal
favor was at once diverted from Cam
bridge TO the older university. The Car
dinal OF York was sneered at as pretender
in the town which had toasted his father
and grandfather. as the King over the
water and the zeal that had backed the
most odious OF causes now backed George
III in the most odious OF wars, the war with
America. Deaneries and bishoprics fell
In a shower among the Heads OF Houses
and a stream Of addresses-againstW Wilkes,
against Catholic Emancipation against
anything that the King hatod-evinced
the gratitude OF the University.
Green had intended to supplement the
papers which are here collected with a
series on the educational position Of Ok
ford In tho eighteenth century, but they
seem never TO have been written. They
are not. at all events, included In the vol
ume before us. We have, however, the
testimony OF Gibbon. of De Quincy and
of Lord Malmesbury on that subject
With the dawn Of the nineteenth century
the awakening from tho torpor or tho
preceding hundred years was start
ling and decisive. II 100 witnessed the
University's greatest inactivity and deg
radiation. 1900 saw the first beginnin gs Of
that system Of examinations which led
the way TO higher and nobler intellectual
efforts. 1t must also be recognized that, II
religion during the earlier years Of the
eighteenth century seemed dormant within
the walls of Oxford. the middle OF the CEN
tury sent forth Wesley and Whitefeld
TO SOW the seed which may almost be said
10 have saved England from the fate Of her
sister countries Of the Continent.