Page:Whalley 1822 A vindication of the University of Edinburgh .djvu/15

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

15

same time; there are no Fellowships, either ecclesiastical or lay, and I believe, no livings, in the gift of the University; but there are bursaries or scholarships, of small amount, appropriated chiefly, if not solely; to the Divinity Students.

He might, with as much justice and propriety have asserted, that there are no Universities in Europe, except Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, because, no one forsooth, except perhaps, Salamanca, is so richly endowed; but endowment, according to Doctor Johnson, himself an Oxford man, is not a necessary ingredient, in the constitution of an University, as it has no place, whatever, in his definition.

But to return to page 6, of the observations, he says, "In the School of Edinburgh, for it is mis-called an University, the teaching is elementary, adapted to the understanding of those, who have had little previous instruction: and indeed, whoever has sat among the rabble, attending the Anatomy class, or has seen the classes, as they are called, let loose from the several lectures of the College of Edinburgh, must instantly be aware of the necessity of the instruction being placed upon this footing."