R,CHARD MONCKTON MILNES was born in the year - OUDL Home

218 R. W. Macanare and do what they do thanks to their trivium or quadriviumin Oxford. But this theme is so obvious, so vast,so intangible, that we must here be content to take noteof it, and pass on. Let us concentrate attention upon thedomestic activities of the University during the periodprescribed by our title. In the 'seventies, as always, andprimarily, the University was a High School, • whichoffered a literary and scientific training, and prided itselfespecially on its paedagogic values for practical life,'that there might never be wanting a succession of fitpersons for the service of God in Church and State': anideal, which is in part a bequest of the clerical tradition,and more especially a product of the College regime.Oxford's aim has always been to educate our masters,that is, the class—or the mass—which governs thecountry, and decides its destinies. It is so now: it was so,mutatis mutandis, in the 'seventies. But this great purposeis not in itself a direct gain to Letters and Science,but rather a discomfort for them, however well it maysort with other elements in the life of the place: sports,clubs, social intercourse and friendships, for which Oxfordaffords unsurpassed opportunities. So it comes about thatOxford's primary relations with Literature are indirect,critical, propaedeutic. The University exists rather forthe conservation and study than for the production ofliterature. It appreciates and imparts the power toappreciate literature, which it does not itself produce.It devotes itself to teaching and learning, more than topoetic increment. It practises original research ratherthan original invention. If it displays some literaryactivity, its output is apt to be a contribution to knowledgerather than a gift to Belles Lettres. Its most impressiveresults in print will generally be aids to scienceor learning: word-books, text-books, commentaries, introductions,prolegomena, manuals—in short, not litera-