not so. In guiding the preferencesreforming the pursuits-exalting the studies of the chief youth of a country, he is laying his hand upon the main-springs of national greatnesshe is producing the spirit that politicians only guide he is more than legislating he is creating. How far the late Provost corresponded to this ideal of an academic governor, our readers will just now have an opportu nity of deciding. We have often offered them Chapters of College Romance;" we now solicit their attention to a 66 Chapter" not less interesting, of College Realities. Bartholomew Lloyd was born in the year 1772. He was descended from a respectable Welsh family which settled in the county of Wexford, about the end of the seventeenth century. His grandfather, the Rev. Bartholomew Lloyd, of the Abbey House of New Ross, left four surviving children, the eldest of whom, Humphrey (the father of the deceased Provost) died in the year 1786, leaving behind him a young and numerous family. The future Provost was taken under the protection of his uncle, the Rev. John Lloyd, Rector of Ferns and Kilbride, in the diocese of Ferns. This kind and excellent man, whose memory was long cherished among his parishioners, placed his young charge under the care of the Rev. John Alexander of Ross, by whom he was instructed in the course preparatory for College. But before he had reached his four teenth year, he was doubly orphaned in the loss of both his father and his uncle, and was thus left to struggle forward into life, almost wholly unaided! But his was a spirit foru ed to convert these difficulties into triumphs. In the year 1787, he arrived at that University, to which he was destined to be afterwards so signal a benefactor; and entered as a pensioner under Doctor Burrowes, the present Dean of Cork. His talents and industry soon mastered the difficulties of his position; and in 1790 he obtained the first scholarship-a proof of distinguished classical attainments. But his favourite pursuits were those of science; and the answering on which he was elected Fellow, in 1796, was long remembered in the University. We have been informed, on the best authority, that, at the examination in Physics, he answered every question proposed to him, and in the Mathe matical Examination, every question but one-an instance, we believe, almost solitary in the history of University successes. For twenty years he filled the office of a college tutor, with zeal and activity. The same union of mildness of manner, with energy of purpose, which made him at once so respected and so popular in his last and highest position, characterised him in this earlier one; and he had the pleasure (one of the keenest to a sensitive mind) of witnessing the subsequent success of many whom his teaching and his counsels educated into distinction. But labours such as these, indefatigable as he was in the performance of them, were inadequate to occupy the energies of a mind like his. Such labours are, indeed, exhausting and oppressive, to a degree little appreciated by those who talk of the ease of academic bowers, and rebuke the muteness of the "silent sister" "Under the system"-we quote from the preface to Dr. R. Robinson's Treatise on Mechanics, published in 1820-"pursued at present in Trinity College, its Fellows can scarcely be expected to de-. vote themselves to any work of research, or even of compilation; constantly employed in the duties of tuition, which ha rass the mind more than the most ab-, stract studies, they can have but little inclination, at the close of the day, to commence a new career of labour. How different is this from the state of the English Universities, where the tutors constitute a very small part of the body, and the remainder have both leisure and incitement to pursue their peculiar studies, and increase the literary fame of their Alma Mater, by their publications! In the present case," continues Dr. Robinson," the author happened to be less occupied than most of his brethren, yet he was engaged from seven to eight hours daily in academical duties, for the year during which he composed this work." The love of knowledge, however, is ingenious in discovering opportunities; and, in the midst of all his toils of tutorship, Doctor Lloyd found time for close application to his favourite mathematical sciences. His acquirements in these lofty and beautiful pursuits were at length so generally acknowledged, that on the resignation of Dr. Magee (the late archbishop of Dublin) in the year 1813, he was appointed to the vacant chair of mathematics while yet a junior fellow-a proceeding, at that time, most unusual in the Univer- Doctor Lardner then proceeds to describe the state in which Dr. Lloyd found the mathematics of the University, and continues "Such a course of study might have Dublin in the year 1712; but in the year been very proper in the University of 1812, with the accumulated discoveries of a century, the various scientific establishments of Britain and the continent, all actively cultivating physical and mathematical science in their most improved state, the continuance of such a system must have been considered disgraceful. Deeply impressed with this feeling, Dr. Lloyd, singly and unassisted, conceived and executed the most important and rapid revolution ever effected in the details of a great public institution."(Algebraic Geometry. Preface, xxxvixxxviii.) It was while Dr. Lloyd occupied this Mr. Woodhouse effected a similar re- ner : In the year 1822, Dr. Lloyd was promoted to the chair of Natural PhiDr. Davenport. It is a sufficient proof losophy, vacant by the resignation of that his energies were not suffered to slumber in this still more important to the progress of physical science, position, that at this time he contributhis well-known treatise on Mechanical Philosophy. For a concise expression of its merits, we may refer to the unimpeachable authority of the Quarterly Review. A long and able article devoted to the work (No. lxxviii. Art. 6) concludes in these terms: "Dr. Lloyd unites the highest claims ful effort to supply, in an important part, to our gratitude, for his bold and successthis deficiency (of complete treatises).His work appears to us to be, as far as it goes and to promise in its progress still to be the most considerable work of our day; it effectually rescues us from all suspicion of our inferiority of ability to pursue these high subjects by the highest means; it exhibits powers of intellect not second to the ablest of our foreign contemporaries; and it cannot, we think, fail to exalt our scientific character abroad, and to extend the influence and progress of such studies at home.. The style unites the perfections of philosophical precision and classical elegance, and exhibits a clearness, a simplicity, and harmony, which bespeak a mind that can lift itself from its subject, and view its bearings with a comprehensive glance. There is judgment displayed in the selection of the materials which “There is something worthy of notice in the circumstances attending the introduction of what is called the new science,' into this university. Great changes in the literary and scientific arrangements of an extensive institution, are generally slowly effected, and produced by a combination of the industry and talents of a number of individuals, co-operating for the attainment of the same end. In this instance, however, the revolution was great, rapid, and the work of one man.— About the year 1811 (1813), Dr. Bartholomew Lloyd, then a junior fellow, are likely to be of most value to the stuwas elected to the professorship of mathe- dent; skill generally exhibited in their disposition and development, and origi matics." VOL. XI. I nality in moulding them so as to harmonize with the whole. We need, therefore, scarcely add, that we shall hail the appearance of the second volume, as completing the most valuable treatise on mechanics which has yet appeared in our language." The publication of a volume of Sermons (originally delivered in the College Chapel), in the year after Doctor Lloyd's promotion to the chair of Natural Philosophy, attested that the pur suits of science had not been suffered to usurp the place of still higher and holier meditations. "The subjects treated in these discourses," says the British Critic (January, 1824)," are the nature and offices of faith; the want of faith; spiritual influences; the value of the holy Scriptures, as means of grace; the rules of interpretation to be applied to the holy Scriptures; the doctrine of predestination; the doctrine of atonement; of Christ's mediation; on prayer, as means of grace; on good works, as means of grace. All these subjects are treated in the most satisfactory and convincing manner. The scriptural view of them is powerfully stated, and defended against the principal sectarian errors by a line of argument at once profound and unassail able. There are few works which can be so unreservedly recommended to the divine, for the soundness of their principles, as these discourses; and very few which display characters of such deep thinking." Our readers will perceive that, in noticing Dr. Lloyd's labours, we prefer, as much as possible, to rely upon authority not our own. The truth is, that knowing him as we did, in the intimacy of personal acquaintance, we should find it difficult to preserve a perfect impartiality in our criticisms; we are too well aware that our opinions of the writer would be perpetually swayed by our knowledge of the man. In the statements which we shall now feel it our duty to lay before the public, we must desert this rule, and speak upon our own evidence ;the nature of the statements, however (they being exclusively matters of fact), is of a kind which admits of their immediate verification by every one who takes the trouble of examining them.If we may judge from the negligent ignorance of the public, with regard to the true scope and extent of the late collegiate reforms, we may, indeed, entertain some apprehension that In 1831, Dr. Lloyd was elevated to Dr. Kyle's promotion to the Episcothe Provostship, on the occasion of pal Bench. He was now arrived at a sphere in which the authority of situation could enable him to develope and realize the views which his mind had so long been maturing; and he lost no time in applying resolutely to the important work which, in one department or another of it, occupied the short but invaluable residue of his days. As might have been expected from Dr. Lloyd's favourite tastes, the first object to which he applied himself was the advancement of the MATHEMATICAL School in our University. The Professorships of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy had always been held in conjunction with a senior Fellowship. We saw just now that Dr. Lloyd himself had constituted a very unusual exception to the rule.) By this arrangement, two serious evils were entailed upon the fortunes of Irish sci ence. In the first place, the Professor life when the taste for abstract science entered upon his duties at a period of is usually blunted, and when the mental vigour requisite for the pursuit of it, is generally enfeebled. Singular, indeed as all experience attests-is that devotion to "the charm severe" of these abstruse pursuits, which can resist the anxieties and the infirmities of advancing age. But secondly, in any connexion of these offices with the duties of a Fellow, there was the hourly intrusion of demands for time and attention upon a species of speculation which to be at all effective requires to be wholly uninterrupted. It is the miracle-mind of a Leibnitz or a Descartes alone, which can advance the Mathematics, and yet allow them to hold only a divided reign. Impressed with these truths, it was proposed by the Provost to separate the offices of the two professorships from every other collegiate duty, and to elect the professors from among the junior fellows. And it is very much to the credit of the senior fellows, that they cordially acquiesced in the principle of a project which transferred from their body, offices, and honors, and emoluments, it had so long possessed. Some difficulty, however, occurred for a while as to the details. It became of course necessary to augment the salaries of the professors, who were debarred of all other revenues; and they were accordingly raised to something rather below the average value of a junior fellowship; resignation of the chair being made obligatory on cooptation to a senior. The fellowship examination was also improved by the measure; a statute having been obtained enabling the Board to summon either of the professors to assist in that important examination. A part of the arrangement took immediate effect, by the appointment of Mr. Lloyd to the professorship of Natural Philosophy; and it was completed in 1835 by the election of Mr. McCullagh to the chair of Mathematics. The scientific public are already well aware of the advantages which have resulted from securing the labours of these gentlemen. The next subject to which the Provast directed his efforts was still more universally important-the advancement of the School of THEOLOGY. The academical preparation for Holy Orders had, before the alterations, been compressed into a single year; the subjects of lecture and study were of course proportionately contracted. In the year 1833, it was agreed to by the Board, at the suggestion of the Provost, that the Divinity Course should extend through two years, during the first of which Archbishop King's Lecturer with his assistants, and during e second, the Regius Professor, with his assistants, were to direct the candidate's studies. Under this regulation the studies of the first year now include the Greek Testament, the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, and the Socinian Controversy; those of the second, the History of the Church, the Criticism and Interpretation of the Bible, the Articles and Liturgy of the Church of England, and the Controversy with the Church of Rome. In order to carry out this reformed arrangement effectively, the Archbishop King's Lectureship in Divinity was placed upon the same footing with the Professorships of Mathematics and of Natural Philosophy, of which we have already spoken. "Until the year 1833 it was an annual office, and held by a Senior Fellow: the salary was also so small as to make it impossible to separate it from other places. To remedy this inconvenience, and to render the lectureship more efficient in the Divinity education of the students, the Provost and Senior Fellows have resolved, that the office of Archbishop King's Lecturer in Divinity, shall henceforth be held by a Junior Fellow, who is to resign his pupils, and to be incapable of any college offices (except that of hold the office until he shall be elected University Preacher), and to continue to a Senior Fellow, or be removed by death, resignation, deprivation, or any other cause."-Dublin University Calendar for 1834, p. 41. This important arrangement was completed to the satisfaction of every friend of learning and of the Church by the election of Dr. O'Brien to the Lectureship. The reform to which we shall next call the attention of our readers was still more extensive in its nature and operation. It was no less than a thorough remodelling of the entire UNDERGRADUATE COURSE, as well as of the mode of conducting its periodical EXAMINATIONS. The most obvious defect in the former system was the inequality of the Terms. These periods were four in number, and were defined partly in reference to the moveable feasts, and partly by the time of the year; and some of them were, accordingly, variable, not only in their times of commencing or ending, but even in their actual lengths. To this was added the still graver inconvenience, that the third, or Easter term, was far too short for the appointed course of study; while the fourth, or Trinity term, was merely nominal; and there was consequently a full fourth of the subject matter of the course in which the student was not lectured at all. To remedy these evils, a new statute was obtained by the Provost, with the concurrence of the Board, in the beginning of the year 1833, by which the terms were declared to be three in number, and were fixed in reference solely to the time of the year. After reciting the reasons for alteration which we have hinted, the statute determines-that Hilary Term commence on January 10, and end on March 25; that Trinity Term begin April 15, and end on June 30; and that the third, or Michaelmas, Term commence on October 10th, and terminate on December 20th-the examinations (no longer "the quarterly examinations" of our youth) being held at the opening of each term and Hilary or Trinity Terms being enlarged a week whenever the Easter festival occurs in either. By this simple but valuable regulation, the Terms are now adequate to their subjects, and the benefits of tutorship and lecturing are equally extended to every part of the course. This alteration required a corresponding alteration in the distribution of study. The Provost did not neglect the opportunity which the change afforded, of remedying the defects of the former course. In the department of Science, alterations had been progressively made as knowledge advanced; many new works had been incorporated into the elementary system; and (in a great measure, as we have seen, owing to the Provost's own earlier labours) the level of scientific attainment was fully equal to that of either of the English Universities. Here, therefore, the changes required were few. But the classical course demanded a complete regeneration. In its original form it laboured under many defects; and except at the time of the introduction of the Greek Tragedians (an addition, if we mistake not, attributable to the late Bishop of Ferns during his university career,*) its state had scarcely ever come under revision. The changes which have been adopted we cannot now find room to specify; nor perhaps upon such a point can any reformation expect to unite the suffrages of all varieties of tastes. Each lover of ancient literature covenants for the author who has most delighted his own particular habits of thought; some bring all the force of early associations to fortify their demands or their reproaches-they talk of Herodotus or Pindar, they think of the happiness of their youth. Such special preferences apart, we believe that no competent critic can deny that the course now presents a fair specimen of the excellencies of Greek and Roman litera ture. On the great principle that taste is rather to be stimulated than satisfied, variety is sought in the choice of authors, and it is only the greatest names that are suffered to demand of even the higher class of students a knowledge of their entire writings. : We have said "of the higher class." And this reminds us that we have still to notice perhaps the most important of the undergraduate alterations; we mean the adaptation of the course to two classes of students. Our readers are aware that the same extent of preparation was formerly required for every student at examination; an extent too great for the lower, too contracted for the higher grade of candidates. The result was necessary, and is well-known the former read little or nothing, despairing of the ability to read all; the latter lashing their intellects continually round a circle too narrow for their energies, wasted themselves upon quibbles, trifles, and wordcatching, in default of better employment. The course is now twofold; the one part (inferior in extent to the former) is required of all students; the latter (much more extended than the former) is proposed to those who seek for Academic honors. The Examinations are correspondingly regulated. When all the students have been examined together, and for the usual time, in the elementary course, the Examiner of each division separates those whom he deems qualified, and recommends them for honors. Thus (instead of the precarious and unjust system of exclusive divisions) the leaders of the class are all brought together for two days of trial: a court of examiners determines their merits; and in this double process almost all possibilities of partiality or accident are excluded. To secure the equity, and increase the solemnity, of the examination, the students at large and the public are admitted. In the final or Degree Examination, the most important of the whole series, an alteration has been effected which We are happy to perceive that the Irish public, more especially its ecclesiastical public, are manifesting by the munificence of their subscriptions to the Elrington Theological Prize, their affectionate reverence for the memory of this great divine, sound politician, and excellent man. We have no doubt that in realizing any measure which can tend to the advancement of theological science, they are fulfilling the warmest wishes of the illustrious deceased; while they are adding a new instance to many others of that glorious privilege which great worth possesses, of making its memory do the work it has itself ceased to perform-of leaving a great Reputation to be, as it were, its proxy in the labour of good-of extending by the indirect influence of a Name the principles it no longer exists to exemplify! |