THE PRINCIPALSHIP OF EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY.
THE unexpected death of Sir Alexander Grant has placed at the disposal of the Curators of Edinburgh University one of the most enviable appointments in the three Kingdoms. The Principalship of that University is not quite so good a post, from the merely pecuniary point of view, as some of the Professor- ships that are nominally inferior and officially subordinate to it. These, a, Parliamentary paper recently proved to be nearly as well endowed as a Secretaryship-of-State--with a quarter of the work and none of the worry. Moreover, one of the more favoured or fortunate of Scotch Professors can retire on a hand- some pension, at a comparatively early age, and still be of service to his University, or to the nation at large. The Rectors of Glasgow and Aberdeen Colleges at the present moment are ex-Professors. A third emeritus teacher, Professor Blackie,
seems as capable as ever he was of writing books on the Land Question, quoting Goethe, singing Burns, and rollick- ing about as a sort of buffo-Socrates between Inverness and London. But, if the Edinburgh Principal has not quite so many thousands per half-year as certain of his colleagues, he has not even their ties or duties. His single statutory duty that involves labour as well as dignity, is to preside, and, if the animal spirits of the students permit him, to deliver an Address, at the beginning of every University session. He may bury himself in the cloister like the head of an English college if he chooses. If, on the other hand, he is an active educationist, he will find in the community he lives in a thousand things to interest him, a thousand people eager for his advice. When the Lord Provost of Edinburgh was asked, some time ago, what was the chief industry of the city, his reply was " Education," and it was strictly in accordance with fact. Owing to a variety of circumstances, but above all to its being endowed, scholarshipped, and bursaried to the teeth, Edinburgh is becom- ing one large and "salubriously situated" middle-class educa- tional establishment, what in " Wilhelm Meister" is termed a Pedagogic Province. It is open to the Principal of the University to act as the unofficial Prises of that Province. Not that he need work hard, or, indeed, work at all. He is not asked or expected to be a teacher, or even an imposing per- sonality, but only a presence, the pervading presence of culture. Verily, tempera mutantor. It is almost exactly three hundred years since the Town Council of Edinburgh invited Mr. Robert Rollock, a Professor in St. Andrews, to begin teaching in the University they had started. They thoughtfully voted LI 13s. 4d. to defray the expenses of his removal from the one town to the other—by the way, the startling revelations that were made some time ago of the poverty of the oldest of the Scotch Universities seem to render it certain that the patronal successors of these Edinburgh Town Councillors would require to follow their example in the matter of subvention, if they should follow it in the matter of appointment. When the Council subsequently made Rollock Principal, they gave him 400 merks a year ; and for this he had to deliver two sermons on Sundays, besides teaching the Scriptures, Homer, and Aristotle daring the week. In the seventeenth century the annual stipend of the office was raised from forty to sixty guineas. Even Robertson the historian, who was Principal of Edinburgh University during its most brilliant period, per- formed the work of a parish clergyman as well. Now, however, the duties of the Principal are essentially formal and orna- mental, and in proportion as they have become so, the dignity and emoluments of the position have increased.
It would, of course, be presumptuous on the part of any one who has not the behind-the-scenes knowledge of the present needs of the University of Edinburgh that is possessed by the patrons of the Principalship to make other than general sug-
7gestions as to the sort of appointment they ought to make. We observe the name of Sir William Thomson mentioned in some of the Scotch newspapers in connection with the office. Cer- tainly, if mere distinction entitles to the post, no worthier successor to Sir Alexander Grant could be found than Sir. William Thomson. If the patrons of the Edinburgh Prin- cipalship wish to honour science by the appointment of Sir William Thomson, they have a precedent in the fact that the office was held by Sir David Brewster. But, if what Edin- burgh University needs at this moment is not an administrative or organising force, but a figurehead—or, as we have already said, a presence—then it is permissible to argue that a certain sort of presence or figurehead would suit her and suit the times better than another. In regard to this matter, besides, the University has already had a wise hint from one of the most eminent of her sons. Nearly nineteen years ago, Carlyle, wiled addressing the Edinburgh students as their Lord Rector, dwelt upon the doctrine that " the true University in our days is a collection of books ;" and said,—" I am not sure that I know of any University in which the whole of that fact has yet been completely taken in, and the studies moulded in complete conformity with it." The problem that Carlyle here suggests for the University founders of the future is a great and com- plicated one ; but would not its solution be aided by the ap- pointment as Principal of an existing University of one who should be a connecting-link between it and that greater Uni- versity which is " a collection of books " from being himself a distinguished writer of books ? The most successful Principal- ship in Edinburgh history was, as we have already said, that of
Robertson, and Robertson, although a clergyman and a leader of a great party in the Church of Scotland, was chiefly known in his own time as an author, and as such alone lives now. Is it not possible for the Edinburgh curators to appoint as Principal a man somewhat after the Robertson type P
Beyond question, the ideal Principal of an ideal University would be the ablest procurable exponent of culture,—culture, that is to say, in Mr. Arnold's sense, as "the best that has been known and said in the world," and which, we may add, does not allow itself to be carried away by any " stream of tendency." For, as Professor Huxley opportunely reminds us, a Universitas Shah Generalis is not "a Useful-Knowledge Society," but a " Knowledge-of-Things-in-General Society ;" and the ideal head of such a Society would be the man who has the most and best knowledge of things in general. But the patronal body of an existing and imperfect University must con- tent itself with the practicable ; and we doubt if it can perform its special work better than by doing what it can, and, as oppor- tunity offers, to prevent the institution of which it is the guardian becoming a mere " Useful-Knowledge Society," in the more materialistic sense. In discharging this duty, such a body ought hardly to appoint to a Principalship a Professor of any "useful knowledge " which, like Natural Science or Medicine, stands in no peril, at the present moment, of anything but over- appreciation. Culture, simply as culture, has yet, it is but too true, to be' established and endowed in a Universitas &tali Generalis; and it is impossible, therefore, to elevate one of its teachers from the chair of a Professor to the throne of a Principal. But it is surely possible to have represented in and by that seat the department of culture which is most prone to be popularly banned as not coming within the category of " useful knowledge." If, then. the Edinburgh authorities can see their way to appoint to the vacant Principalship a maker of books, in the sense of a master of pure literature, we conceive that they would both set a good example to patrons similarly situated, and per- form a decided service to Scotland. What valuable work might not be expected, and ought to be expected, from an enthusi- astic man of letters in such a position, set free from the more sordid anxieties of a life of struggle, able, without neg- lecting a single duty, to call nineteen-twentieths of his time his own ? Scotland is honourably distinguished for intellectual energy, intellectual sincerity, and, what Mr. Russell Lowell has happily termed, "dogged thinking." Bat, owing mainly to adverse circumstances, it has not as yet been equally dis- tinguished for intellectual urbanity. It seems to us that the Curators of Edinburgh University have it in their power, by making a wise appointment to the office which is now in their gift, to aid in supplying this national deficiency.
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