pared with the present system, such permis- | sion might be considered a boon, and so Mr. Gladstone endeavoured to represent it. But it would be an infinitesimal one, and clogged with restrictions that would further lessen its value. Unless the masters and tutors of such halls were admitted to the governing body of the University, they would have to live in a degraded and client-like condition, obeying laws which they had no share in making, and looked down upon by the regular Colleges. The young men educated at them would still be excluded from the great prizes of the place -the College fellowships-and their ambition confined to the barren honour of a place in the Tripos or the class-list. Living apart, and associating only with persons of their own religious persuasion, they would lose the distinguishing benefit and glory of the English University system, the opportunity of mixing freely in a large and varied society, where a man learns to be tolerant and wiseminded,―to know men as well as opinions. If, therefore, these non-Anglican halls are to have a fair chance at all, they must be put on an equal footing with the old foundations. To quiet the fears of those who think that the abolition of the present tests would make it easier to utter or teach heresy in the University, the plan has been started of retaining the test in a penal instead of a declaratory form. No one should in future be asked to sign it, but if, in his capacity of University teacher, he openly contravened it, he might be made liable to censure or punishment. Or a man might be required to declare that he would not, as a member of the University, impugn the doctrines of the Articles, or attack the Church of England. This expedient, which has frequently been employed as a compromise in similar cases in England, is that by means of which the test question at the Scotch Universities was finally disposed of. It is humiliating, and if the views of the function of the University stated in the preceding pages be correct, it is indefensible in principle. Probably, however, men would be found sufficiently willing to accept it; for it does not interfere with their freedom of thought, and demands only that abstinence from open assault which good sense and good feeling would in any case have counselled. We have already said that the fear of an attack on orthodoxy by University teachers appears to us groundless; but if any one is possessed by it, such a declaration as this would answer his purpose as well as the existing tests. The last compromise to be mentioned here is that contained in Mr. Bouverie's bill of last session. He proposed not to repeal the Act of Uniformity altogether, but to allow any College which wished to dispense with it, either permanently or for a time, to do so. The effect would be that a College of strong Church sympathies, which objected to receive a Nonconformist as fellow, might still refuse him; while another more tolerant one, might suspend the Act by a resolution or bye-law, and be then free to take the candidate who pleased them best in the examination, whether Anglican or Dissenter. The advantages of this plan are obvious. It relieves the Colleges from a restriction to which no similar lay corporation is subject elsewhere, and which obliges them, as was conspicuously the case at Cambridge not long since, to pass over men whom they are eager to elect. This restriction would be removed wherever it was felt to be one. But no College would have to fear the intrusion of unwelcome strangers, and if the existing fellows do dread the evils which have been dilated on as likely to follow the admission of Dissenters, the remedy would be in their own hands. How far those evils are probable is a matter on which, having themselves grown up under the beneficent shade of the test system, and learnt to know its virtues, they must be admitted competent to judge. If this arrangement were introduced, an arrangement the moderation and fairness of which none but the most bigoted partisan can impeach, it is probable that only two or three Colleges in each University would in the first instance avail themselves of the liberty. If it were found to answer ill, they could renounce it, and the others would be warned. If it succeeded, the objections now made would be for ever disposed of. No one, however, who looks at the present state of parties in the Church and in Parliament expects to see either this or any other compromise peaceably accepted. The warmth of the debates last session, the rigorous whipping up of members, the close division lists, the joy of the one party at its success, the scarcely less conspicuous satisfaction of the other at a defeat which was almost a victory, finally, the excitement with which the matter was discussed among University men everywhere, all showed that the question had passed into the region of party warfare, there to remain till the majority, one way or the other, becomes overwhelming. Nevertheless, it may not be too late to ask the more moderate and charitable of those who oppose the measure, to consider the probable issue of the policy they have been induced to adopt. Let us quote the conclusion of Mr. Gladstone's speech upon the second reading of Mr. Dodson's bill: "No doubt it is natural for bodies of men, and the history of all religious sects and parties shows it, to make use of the day of prosperity, not, as I think true wisdom would dictate, for the purpose of accommodating difficulties and removing grounds of offence, but for the extremest assertion of every right and every privilege to which it still remains within their strength to cleave. Various bills have been proposed involving concession in one shape or another to Dissenters, and persons who desire the relaxation of tests; and it appears to me, that the readers of our discussions will have concluded with regret, if they are readers of wise and dispassionate mind, that very precious opportunities-golden opportunities have been lost of uniting and knitting together the minds and hearts of men by reasona ble concession, and that the assertion of right by majorities, which have been, perhaps, somewhat ruthlessly, and certainly sternly made, are by no means calculated to diminish those daugers which lie in the future, that they procure, indeed, the gratification of a triumph for the mo ment, but that they store up difficulties for those who are to sit on these benches in this House hereafter. With that policy of indiscriminate resistance to almost every measure aiming at relaxation or relief, I must say it is not simply as a minister of the Crown, and not only as a member sitting on this side of the House, that I decline to associate myself, but because I believe that, however sincerely, however honourably intended-and that I do not for one moment question-it is a policy no more fatal to the application of the principles of civil and social justice than to the best interests of the Church of England herself." cal exercise of power, what she might win far more easily by generosity and self-devotion.. It is not in the poor shreds of privi lege which still remain to her that her strength consists, but in the purity of her doctrines, in the zeal and learning of her ministers, in the affection of her people. As it is in the world, so is it in the University. She reigns there not by virtue of tests, which seem made to be evaded, which are sources, not of faith, but of discontent, but by the prestige of her antiquity, by her association with the upper classes of the country, by the impressiveness of her worship, by that very theological toleration which she wishes now to repudiate. By these she will reign, though all, and more than all, the changes now proposed should be accomplished. With such perennial fountains of strength, need she so dread the admission of others to benefits which will none the less be hers, because they are not hers alone? Romanizing in religion, ultra-Tory in politics That admission, however, certain as it may appear, will not be achieved without quickened activity on the part of men in Parliament and of the non-University public generally. The party within has done all that can be expected from them in urging their views by petition; it remains for members of the Legislature and their constituents to see the magnitude of the question. Hitherto the English Dissenters and the people of These are grave words, coming as they do Scotland have shown an apathy in the matfrom the most illustrious and not the least ter, which can only arise from ignorance of dutiful of the sons of the English Church, the advantages to be contended for. They but not too grave for the occasion. Why, it seem to suppose, for one thing, that the Unimay well be asked, should the clergy be al-versities are still the seat of a large partyways associated with resistance to reform? Why should the people be always alienated who will strain every nerve to oppose a by the contempt of their claims? Why, change, and, if defeated, will make the place above all, should the Church herself descend as uncomfortable as possible to the newfrom her pure and lofty seat of spiritual comers. No idea can be more unfounded. power, to become the accomplice or the tool The unfortunate constitution of the Universiof a political faction? Those are her worst ties constantly causes the wishes and opienemies who would force her into such an nions of the residents to be misrepresented. alliance, or make her believe that any tem- The governing body, which alone has the porary advantage so gained can compensate right to speak officially, is composed of all for the degradation which will surely follow. Masters of Arts whose names are on the In struggling to retain the exclusive posses- books, the overwhelming majority of whom sion of every emolument, every vestige of are country clergymen, who represent not legal privilege, every rag and tatter of legal the Oxford or Cambridge of to-day, but of power, when she might appeal so confidently some thirty or forty years ago, with all the to the liberality of her own members, is not additional prejudices which a retired and the Church, or rather the party which claims professional life is likely to engender. The to represent her, doing her best to make men Oxford Convocation is therefore not an acabelieve it is not her religious mission that is demical body at all, but a mere organ of the first in her thoughts, but her worldly wealth Anglican clergy, ignorant of the present state and sway? Unjust, indeed, such a belief of the University, and alien in feeling from may be. But it is one which canno tbut its pursuits. The real body to be regarded recur, so long as she attempts to play in the is that of the residents, fellows, tutors, and nineteenth century, the part of the Church professors, very many of whom, as their two of the middle ages, and grasp, by a tyranni-petitions showed, desire the removal of tests, while the general spirit of almost all is a tolerant and liberal spirit, which would not repel the help of Dissenters in the work of education. The traditional bigotry of these seats of learning is not what it once was, and those whom it still enthrals are not to be found among the ablest men and the most active workers. It is hardly to be expected that a majority of the residents would as yet declare a wish to have Dissenters admitted; but the latter may be sure that if they come they will not be coldly or slightingly received. Nor is this all. The real advantages and benefits which Oxford and Cambridge offer are very imperfectly understood by the world at large. Their vast and yearly increasing revenues, once grossly abused for private ends, have within the last twenty years been arranged on a wholly new footing, devoted to educational purposes, and made real prizes of merit, setting aside in nearly every case distinctions of birth or country or previous place of education. In Oxford, between thirty and forty fellowships are given away by competition every year; in Cambridge, a number usually greater. The number of scholarships and exhibitions, whose value ranges from £30 or £40 up to £90, each College giving away three or four, it may be five or six annually, is still greater. Of these, indeed, the supply exceeds the demand; for the tutors are beginning to complain that they sometimes cannot find candidates sufficiently deserving; and any measure which would enable the University to draw her members from a wider field, would be a benefit to her no less than to the classes excluded. gathered, intercourse with whom is readily opened to every promising junior. Even the external splendours of the place must not be omitted in enumerating the influences which form the student's character, and which contribute to give him a breadth of view, a keenness of susceptibility, and what may be called a fine intellectual polish, which are among the most precious and the rarest of mental gifts and excellences. But there is another aspect of the question, which seems to us of wider import than either the relief to conscience within the Church or the act of justice to Dissenters, and that is the prospect of further measures of reform to which the abolition of tests is only the prelude. The time seems to have come, in what may fairly be called the great educational revival of our days, for the Universities to resume in some measure their old position, and again become the great educators of the country. If the subject were not too large a one to be touched upon in the conclusion of an article, it would be easy to show that in any scheme of national education, very important functions, such as The number of functions, such as no Government Board could discharge, might be intrusted to bodies so venerable, so influential, and so independ ent. The middle-class examinations may be considered as a step in this direction, and many other plans might be suggested by which the learning and culture of the old academies might be brought to bear upon the middle and lower schools of the country with the most valuable results. Nor are the benefits less clear which would flow from a change by which the education given at Oxford and Cambridge might be placed within the reach of poorer men. Class distinctions would be softened down; the Universities themselves would be invigorated; the culture and tone of feeling of the whole nation would be sensibly raised. Before, however, any part of this programme can be carried out, the barrier must be overthrown which cuts off the University from half of the people; the fetter must be broken which impedes her in the performance of her proper functions. A hundred examples prove that she will be none the less religious when a doctrinal profession is no longer a passport to her offices. That she should again become, as in the first and brightest period of her history, the intellectual leader of the country, is not to be looked for, although even now it is hard to over-estimate the value of places where science may be cultivated apart from its practical results, where learning may be pursued more deeply than by men engaged in active professions, where the real bearings of a political problem may be investigated away from the disturbing influence of party conflicts, These pecuniary prizes are, however, but a small part of the benefits which the old Universities hold out, and which no newer institution can pretend to equal. Those who bid the Roman Catholics content themselves with Oscott, and the Nonconformists with the University of London, know well enough the differences between these seminaries and those which they keep to themselves. The teaching at Oxford and Cambridge, however inferior to what it might be, is still incomparably the best to be had in England. But the teaching is the smallest part of their educational power. No other Universities in the world have social advantages at all comparable to those which the mixture of the University and College systems gives; in no other is so large a number of intellectual men In the smaller Colleges at Cambridge the fellowships are not directly competed for; but as they are almost invariably given to those who have most distinguished themselves in the University examinations, they are not less truly prizes of merit. where, in the common meeting ground of all studies, the relations of the several branches of human knowledge and their methods may be most fitly discussed. But, admitting the narrower scope of her present duties, enough is left to make her welfare a matter of the most vital interest to all of us. In the Middle Ages she was national, and it was because the learning and intelligence of the whole people centred in her that her mission was so great and so beneficent. She was then the constant foe of Ultramontanism, as well as the foremost leader of domestic progress. That position she cannot indeed resume, nor is it to be wished that she should; but she may still confer incalculable benefits on the people, if released from the control of a party, which, while it cherishes all that was worst and weakest in the medieval system, sets itself to oppose the spirit, of which the mediæval University was the chosen seat, the spirit of progress and intelligence. To the modern University that spirit may again return, when, by ceasing to be a sectarian, she has become a national institution, and when the removal of obsolete restrictions has set her once more free for her own great work of education. ART. V.—1. A Map of the Chain of Mont Blanc, from a Survey by A. ADAMS REILLY, Esq. Privately Photographed, 1864. 2. The Alpine Journal. the great De Saussure (though he lived far later than either), to find that parties of active young Englishmen, fresh from barristers' chambers and mercantile counting-houses, stroll unconcernedly amongst the "seracs of the glaciers of Géant and Bossons, start one morning à l'improviste for the summit of Mont Blanc, and cross as many dangerous cols, and ascend as many aiguilles in one week as the sedate Genevese (more frugal in his excitements) thought of undertaking in a twelvemonth. We say nothing here of the spirit of feminine adventure, of bivouacs at the Tacul, and of pic-nics at the Jardin; these are every-day matters. It is refreshing to think that while fashion and civilisation have altered so much, Nature in her stupendous constancy remains unchanged. A new road or bridge may make a scar here or there, but the trace is lost amidst the gigantic scenery around; cultivation may be pressed a little higher than formerly, but the eternal hills and the inex baustible ice-floods keep their own without challenge. The voice of gay or of discordant music, the rattle of equipages, and the many-tongued voice of the crowd, assembled out of every nation under heaven, are altogether but as an inaudible whisper in the boundlessness of that mountain space, whose echoes can resound only to the crash of thunder, the ill-boding fitful noise of distant cataracts, and the roar of the icy avalanche. Happily, we say, there are some things which human art cannot utterly spoil. Of these Chamouni (by which we mean the Alpine district of which it is the capital) is Vol. I. 1864. one. 8vo. Longman and Co. 3. Scenes from the Snow Fields of Mont Blanc. By EDMUND T. COLEMAN, Esq. With Coloured Lithographs by VINCENT BROOKS. Folio. 1859. Longman and Co. COULD Windham and Pococke revisit Chamouni in the year of grace 1865, after their sleep of a century, no doubt they would be somewhat astonished. Instead of the poor cabaret, with its bush hanging out as a sign, they would find luxurious hotels, thronged by wealthy and fashionable parties, and placarded with advertisements in English of the "Chamouni Hotels Company (Limited); capital, £100,000!" Not less would the pious Saint François de Sales be scandalized to find his priory defunct, and a place of English Protestant worship built not far from the massive Catholic church erected during his episcopacy. But it may be doubted whether the consternation of these worthies would not be exceeded by that of To return for a few moments to Windham and Pococke. Their visit to Chamouni and Montanvert took place in June, 1741. It was related with much simplicity and absence of exaggeration, in a letter from Mr. Windham to his friend M. Arlaud, a landscapepainter at Geneva, which was published later (1743) as a small quarto pamphlet, in English, which appears to be rare, as but a single copy has ever fallen uuder the notice of the present writer. It is quite true, in a general sense, that Windham and his companions were the discoverers of Chamouni. Unquestionably, a Priory had existed there for several centuries previously. It had been visited by bishops and other dignified clergy in the course of their ecclesiastical journeys; the valley was inhabited and cultivated, had an annual fair, and traded with the neighbouring town of Sallenches in agricultural produce. But all this did not bring it within the ken of the general outer world, or even of the more curious prying travellers and naturalists, the Simlers, the Merians, the Fatios, the Wagners, and the Scheuchzers, not to mention foreigners, such as Burnett and Addison.* It appears to be unquestionable, however surprising, that the cultivated men of Geneva had never yet thought of penetrating to the foot of that noble snowy range, which forms one of the chief glories of their landscape; nay, they believed that the mass of the glaciers lay to the north instead of the south of Chamouni; that is to say, between Chamouni and Sixt. J. C. Fatio de Duillier, a Genevese of some reputation, and a member of the Royal Society of London (where, however, his brother Nicholas was better known), although he estimated with considerable accuracy the height of Mont Blanc from trigonometrical measures taken at a distance, propagated these errors, and manifested the same incredible absence of curiosity. This was in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Chamouni and the district of Mont Blanc were to all intents and purposes (save ecclesiastical) unknown to the outer world until Windham's journey; and its subsequent notoriety is directly traceable to that alone. So that our modern guide-books (such as Mr. Murray's and Mr. Ball's) have gone somewhat towards the opposite extreme from the older ones of Ebel and Reichard, when they represent Chamouni to have been well known to strangers at the period to which we refer. Windham and Pococke were both remarkable men; and we think it not without interest for our readers to note a few particulars respecting the society of Englishmen who thus invaded the peaceful valley which has since become so celebrated. Pococke, the best known of the group, had just returned from his important travels in the East, which had lasted from 1737 to 1741, when, happening to pass through Geneva, he became associated with a party of his countrymen, who for several winters had made that city their home. This intelligent and cultivated society consisted of William Windham of Felbrigg, in Norfolk, father of the statesman who was the contemporary and colleague of Pitt; his tutor Benjamin Stillingfleet, the naturalist; Lord Haddington and his brother Mr. Baillie, with their tutor Mr. Williamson, an eminent but somewhat eccentric scholar; Mr. Aldborough Neville, an ancestor of the present Lord Braybrooke; Robert Price, a man of great worth and accomplishment, father of Uvedale Price; Mr. Chetwynd; and last of all Pococke, as already mentioned, who joined, but did not originate the expedition. All those above named, except Mr. Williamson (whose health did not allow it) took part in the excursion to Chamouni. But Windham was the leader, for which post his alert, muscular, and ardent temperament well fitted him. He is described as having been tall, thin, and narrow-chested, yet eminently handsome, so fond of athletic sport as to have been known in London as "boxing Windham." He rather affected the air of a gay man of fashion, impatient of restraint, yet he was an excellent linguist, and was acquainted besides with the sciences and fine arts to an extent of which few believed him capable. Had he lived a hundred years later, he must inevitably have been first President of the Alpine Club. He was exemplary in private life, and several of his friends have recorded the attachment which he inspired; especially his tutor Stillingfleet, both in prose and verse.* Windham and Price both died in 1761; Pococke in 1765, having previously become an Irish bishop. Next to Windham, Price and Stillingfleet seem to have taken most interest in the expedition to Chamouni; the former acted as draughtsman, the latter as naturalist. It is stated in a Swiss publication that Pococke amazed the population of Sallenches by appearing in the dress of an Arabian Emir, an account which seems scarcely probable. The journey was undertaken in June, 1741, and occupied seven days. The first they slept at BonneChamouni knew more of the outer world than ville; the second at Servoz; the third, they the outer world knew of Chamouni. The natives, proceeded to Chamouni, visited Montanvert, with what appears to be the instinct of the Savoy- descended on the glacier, and returned to ard and the dwellers in the Piedmontese valleys, Chamouni to sleep. The fourth day they slept even at that early period, went abroad in the prime of life to learn trades and make money in at foreign countries, but generally returned to settle and to die in their native glens. Let us here say, once for all, that we adhere to the good old-fashioned spelling of Chamouni, sanctioned by De Saussure, in preference to the modern official corruption of Chamonix. The derivation of the name is ascribed by Captain Sherwill, with great probability, to the Latin words campus munitus, by which it is designated in an early monastic charter. And it is interesting to find in Scheuchzer's map of Switzerland, antecedent to the time of Windham, that the spelling is given Chammuny, approaching still nearer to the Latin. Sallenches, the fifth at Bonneville. There is no exaggeration to be found in the narrative. Considering the unfrequented nature of the country, and the size and character of the party, it was natural for them to take their own servants, horses, provisions, and a tent. *See Literary Life of Benjamin Stillingfleet, 3 vols. 1811. From this interesting work we have extracted these particulars of Windham. Had it not appeared too great a digression, some account of the other members of this remarkable group of men might have been added |