Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/266

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1890.-Lord Harris.

either to the smooth but steady current of official authority, o to the agitated wave of public caprice. No man of character am position, but must have had to face such moments. But if yoi have to look back on such you can now permit them to be effaces by the assurance that it is recognized on all sides that you havi pursued an upright and undeviating course from that which yoi thought right, and that having the power to train the minds, t< bend the inclination of your pupils which way you willed^ it i; now, when the effect of your training is made ap))arent, acknow ledged that your tuition has been fruitful in raising up loya citizens for the service of the State. But, Sir, if authority hai good reason to be grateful to you, not less so must those be who coming to you to be shown how to live and how to learn, hav< found a master living a moral and a virtuous life, a studem loving his books :— • " And books we know " Are a substantial world, both pnre and good " Ronnd these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood

    • Our pastime and our happiness will grow."

Loving his books, not to strain and distort their meaning for pur- poses of argument, but for the power they give him of making mort interesting, more fruitful of illustration, more easy of recollec- tion, the tuition which was his profession, not only the master not only the student, but above all a friend. Sir, I venture tc say that the unanimity which the public has indicated in approv- ing of the conferment of this degree on you to-day has been won by the large-hearted and open sympathy, not given to the insular reserve of all your countrymen to display, but which you have bestowed in overflowing measure on the resident national- ities of this country. Dr. Wordsworth, if amongst those whc have effected the reforms I have outlined, you of your modesty would not say ' quorum pars magna fui,' nevertheless youi friends must feel that ia the Councils that have initiated them yours was indeed a weighty opinion ; and gauging them fairly; and bearing in mind the influence you have had in Council, in literary education, and in training up public servants, I think I am justified in saying that you are a worthy recipient of the honours of this degree, not only as a representative of learn- ing, but also as one who has given eminent public services tc the State. Dr. Wordsworth, you are about to leave us, we trusi for your good and your greater comfort, but we hope that the separation is not to be complete, and that now and again whis- pers may reach us over the resounding sea, expressions of the thoughts aroused by the contemplation of the mountains anc lakes of that northern country so inseparably connected with th(