Untitled - Electric Scotland

1849-53 REPORT OF THE COMMISSION 165
who was staying in the house. The Archbishop is a very kind,
unaffected old man. Before I left in the evening we all went
into the chapel, the chapel where a long line of Bishops for
many hundred years has, as you know, been consecrated and
had quiet family prayers, the Archbishop himself officiating."
At last on April 2/th, 1852, the Commissioners issued
their Report, perhaps, from a literary point of view, the
most remarkable Blue-book of our time. Arthur Stanley
had thrown himself with characteristic energy into the
compilation of its historical records, 1 and the result was a
masterly volume of the highest public
interest and im
portance. Dean Tait was recognised in the letters of
his brother Commissioners as largely responsible for its
final shape, and especially for the form of its practical re
commendations. One at least of them was indignant at
the conservative spirit he had shown.
tempted to say
"
I am almost
that I will not consent to it. I am reduced
to the difficulty of signing what I dislike ... or of
making myself an ass by not signing. It will not take
much to make me give up the whole concern." He is
conciliated, however, by Tait s reply, and writes again :
1 You
know my principle is to say what I think, and so,
being very angry with you, I said so. But I am sorry,
and you have had an opportunity of showing your better
temper, for which I thank you."
The voluminous and often argumentative character of
the Report renders it singularly difficult to give a satis
factory abstract of its recommendations, dealing, as they
do, with every department of the University. But the
subject is connected so closely with the life of Archibald
Tait that it cannot be entirely passed over. Broadly
speaking, the aim of the Commissioners was to popu
larise the University ; first by giving to its governing
These include an elaborate paper by Mr. Goldwin Smith on the
History of the Colleges and Halls of Oxford.