that, if we cannot approach it by all roads on account of our faith, we may at least approach it by some without having to incur any danger to that faith. Half a loaf is better than no bread, and it may be worth our while to accept a position which gives us the advantages of Academical examinations, distinctions, and degrees, even though we may be obliged to look to examinations and distinctions of our own as the tests and rewards of proficiency in some most important fields of study. A few prizes judiciously held out - perhaps to competitors from all the Catholic Colleges-would supply to some extent any stimulus required to prevent those fields from being disregarded. To return to our main subject, we must, of course, add other elements also which will have to be considered in the choice we may make, if it is our lot ever to have to make a choice. Without disregarding the claims of a body which has for some time, at all events, been willing to receive us when no other would do so, we shall naturally be inclined to wish for that field of * As it is well that there should be no misunderstanding as to the facts of the case, we may remark that if the two elder Universities were ever to open their examinations to non-residents, and much more, if they were to carry out the principle of granting degrees in virtue of "local examinations" of a higher grade, they would be certain to modify their requirements so as to meet the just demands of the Colleges with which they might thus be brought into connection. At present, however, there is hardly anything required at Cambridge that a Catholic might not submit to far more easily than what he submits to at London, and the same may be said at Oxford as to the two first Examinations, Responsions and Moderations, excepting, of course, the amount of "Divinity" required. A recent Catholic writer on the subject has also fallen into a mistake as to the Final Examination at Oxford, which is worth correcting, all the more, as it is based upon a curious misquotation from the interesting work of Mr. Pattison, already mentioned. Putting aside, of course, the Divinity, the Thirty-nine Articles, and the like, there is nothing at all in the Final Pass Examination, as Mr. Pattison tells us, to frighten either the "Church party" or Catholics. "I appeal," he says, "to any of the Catholic students who have taken the ordinary degree at Oxford since 1854, to say if anything has been taught them officially which has been calculated to interfere with their religious belief." He goes on with a sentence which Dr. Gillow, the author to whom we allude, has omitted to quote, though its omission has made him quite misrepresent Mr. Pattison. Dr. Gillow does not seem to be aware that it is possible (and necessary) to "pass" in Arts, i.e., Litera Humaniores, and to take the B.A. honours in the three other schools of Mathematics, History and Law, and Natural Sciences, without seeking honours in the first-mentioned school. Mr. Pattison's words are examination where our young men will meet with competitors of the highest training, and those with whom it is most creditable to measure themselves, and for that Academical distinction which ranks as the highest honour of the kind in the estimation of Englishmen. Such, as it appears to us, are the simple and obvious features of the question which, some day or other, Catholic educators may have to decide for themselves. We need only say, in conclusion, that this whole question is far too important and vital to be made the occasion for the indulgence of prejudice on the part of any one convinced of the immense and urgent necessity which exists for its speedy solution. It is too difficult to get those for whose benefit the measure which may be contemplated will have to be carried out to understand the need of a boon as yet strange to them; it is too difficult, after they have been awakened to the necessity, to supply them adequately with the inestimable treasures from which they have hitherto been in a great measure shut out-for “Nor even in the honour curriculum for the other schools is danger supposed to lurk. It is the school of Classics (Litera Humaniores) only, and specifically the philosophical subjects which have developed themselves within that school, which have alarmed the Church party. This the party must either conquer, or be content to see all the minds that come under the influences of that training-that is, all the minds of any promise that pass through Oxford hopelessly lost to them" (p. 299). Dr. Gillow leaves out the important words which we have italicised, and he begins the last sentence thus-" This party must either conquer [by expelling this philosophy from the course of teaching]." And he goes on to comment on the passage thus "The Rector of Lincoln College here assumes as a certain fact, that neither Catholics nor Tractarians can pass through the Honour Schools in Oxford without being hopelessly lost to the Catholic Church or the Tractarian party respectively" (Higher Catholic Education, p. 12). Mr. Pattison, however, does not say this, and he is only speaking of Tractarians. He is perfectly aware that honours can be gained in three other schools, or any one of them, besides the Litera Humaniores. It is true that at present this last-named school is in the highest repute, so that as a matter of fact, not a matter of necessity, "all minds of any promise" pass through it. But both the degree and the First Class can be gained without it. Moreover, it would have been better to add the remainder of Mr. Pattison's sentences-"" "They," that is, the Church party, "are beginning to turn their efforts to overhaul and remodel the method and subjects of this school. Such is the ascendancy of the party at this moment in the councils of the University, that it is possible they will be successful." We have ourselves received information which makes us think that this last statement is likely to prove correct. any one who has not either a secret fear of the spread of education, or somewhat of narrowness of mind and unwillingness to see a good done in any way but his own, to take the responsibility of opposing whatever may be practicable, provided it be not inconsistent with Catholic principles. Catholics are sometimes said by those who watch them from without to be torn by petty jealousies, and to paralyse their own forces by internal dissensions arising from the pettiest of bigotries. The taunt is not true, but it would have some foundation in fact if the great cause of Higher Education among us were embarrassed on account of objections that can never be openly expressed about places, or persons, or theories, or systems, or bodies. On the other hand, if the question be considered as practical and immediate, with the sincerest conviction of its importance, and with a resolute sacrifice of foregone conclusions, jealousics, and prejudices, it is not in reality difficult. The greatest difficulty lies in arousing the sense of the community in general to the need which all thoughtful men acknowledge so fully. That once accomplished, then, as far as is possible in the case of so small a body as the Catholic body in England at this moment, neither the pupils nor the teachers will be wanting to us. As for a new system of education, which requires to be drawn out and debated as to its first principles, the Catholic Church would not be what she is if she were in need of anything of the kind. She has her own traditions and her own method, she has long had her Universities and her learned bodies, who have made teaching their study for centuries, and who can have but little to learn from the new lights of our own time. Byand-bye, perhaps, we may have a Catholic University of our own, and the sooner the better. We must confess that we think that, if it were a possibility in our present condition, we should certainly have had it already. It is now several years since a considerable body of Catholic laymen made known at Rome their desire to seek for their children the education which they saw no means of obtaining elsewhere, even at the perilous cost of residence at the Protestant Universities. We have been sorry to see that application spoken of contemptuously, for it is always honourable for Catholics suffering under a great want to submit their honest thoughts as to the way of supplying it to the highest authorities of the Church. But we only allude to these facts as showing the strong general recognition of the need of which we are speaking, and as going very far to prove, when taken in connection with another fact-namely, that no one has practically set about the organisation of a Catholic University-that this particular mode of meeting the need is not really thought by any considerable number of practical men to be within the range of present feasibility. We are thus thrown back. upon our existing resources, and we can see no reason whatever against the conclusion that our best plan is to develope them to the utmost. It is a misfortune that the Colleges at which alone our young men can at present be trained in higher studies are not in some central position, and that the benefit of their classes must of necessity be confined to their own inmates. Such difficulties may possibly be overcome in time. But, if they are to be overcome, it must be by hearty and unselfish cooperation on the part of all who are alive to the vital interests that are at stake. Mother and Child. A hidden path among the trees, Below the path, beside the rill, Wherein her goat had drawn her there, A happy child, that happier seemed, She sang more often than she spake ; For her, all common sounds that pass |