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courses), is such as to drive out of all minds, except the purest and most disinterested, that just estimate of the worth and significance of knowledge which should be sedulously and reverently cultivated, and without which knowledge can never be prosecuted with any beneficial success. 'The sciences,' said Jean Paul, 'are my heaven.' In them he could expatiate with an incessant and perpetual joy; whatsoever rewards he might reap from the world in return for his devotion to them, he could thankfully accept, and proceed onwards with an encouraged spirit; but he, and all others such as he, would have deemed it a desecration to have regarded science or literature as only the convenient stepping-stones for their ambition, or to have followed them for any inferior satisfaction than that which they themselves will yield to their faithful cultivators and adherents. In Germany, it would seem that if a man will prosecute knowledge or learning for its own sake, the institutions of the country, to some extent, further him in doing so, and his poverty will be no final impediment to his attainment of honourable distinction among the learned. He has only to give proofs of a superior intelligence, and the highest posts of learned eminence are open to his acceptance. He needs no further recommendation than the superiority of his qualifications. The consequence is, that men of the highest attainments are always adequately provided for, and rise to the exact position in which they can best and most effectually carry out their undertakings. The painful probation through which many of them have to pass is not entirely an evil, since by proving themselves worthy of encouragement or promotion, they are almost certain to obtain it in due season; for it appears that all over Germany there is a constant inquiry going on respecting the qualifications and merits of men of learning and ability, and a perpetual desire and effort to obtain their services in places of influence and distinction. It is said that the prime minister of every State is always in regular correspondence with some eminent director of the learned institutions: he oversees and takes note of all their proceedings and operations, and knows the character not only of every professor, but of every pupil who gives signs of promise. He is continually purchasing books, drawings, models; treating for this or the other help or advantage to the establishment. He has his eye over all Germany; and nowhere does a man of any decided talent show himself, but he strains every nerve to acquire him—often, indeed, without success, for a similar assiduity seems to actuate every minister of education throughout the country. Many of them are in frequent communication with each other-corresponding, inquiring, negotiating; 'everywhere there seems a canvassing, less for places than for the best men to fill them.'

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By way of contrast to such a state of things, it may not be amiss to bring to mind an incident in our own literary history of the last age. A few years before the time when Heyne, after his stern novitiate, was entering upon the comfortable and reputable office which his learning had obtained for him in Göttingen, Samuel Johnson was striving to snatch a livelihood in London, by translating and performing other literary hackwork for the booksellers. It may be remembered that on one occasion the stalwart Samuel subscribed himself in a letter to Sylvanus Urban-' Yours, impransus, Sam. Johnson;' that is to say, the man was dinnerless. Harassed and heart

weary with his irksome and precarious way of life, and willing to turn himself to anything, however humble, which promised him a certain income, Johnson sought to get appointed to the mastership of a country school, to which was attached a salary of sixty pounds a year. The trustees were willing to appoint him, being well satisfied with his attainments; but the statutes of the school required that the master should have taken the degree of Master of Arts at one of the universities. Johnson had been at Oxford, but had taken no degree, inasmuch as his circumstances prevented him from continuing a sufficient length of time; though there appears to be every reason for believing that he was far enough advanced in learning to have passed a creditable examination. His scholarship, perhaps, was never of the highest order; but unquestionably degrees were taken by many students whose acquisitions were much inferior. There never was a doubt entertained as to his being amply qualified for the appointment which he sought, and only a degree was needed to enable him to obtain it. Under the circumstances, application was made in his behalf to the university of Oxford, soliciting, by way of favour, that the desired degree might be granted him, with the understanding that he was 'not afraid of the strictest examination.' There can be no question that had he been examined, he would have proved himself worthy of the required honour; but the university was so hampered by forms and practices, as to be obliged to refuse the application, or else the authorities were indisposed to help a deserving man in his extremity. Anyway, the favour asked was deemed too great a favour to be conferred. Johnson was constrained to continue working in his Egyptian task-field in London, and the heads of Oxford university lost the honour which they might have earned by befriending a praiseworthy scholar. They refused him, indeed, the serviceable credentials to which he was intrinsically entitled; and by their indolence and heedlessness they cast an unmerited slight upon the unexceptionable qualifications which he was seeking to turn honestly to account as the means of earning his daily bread.

Now, we are not prepared to say that it was not really better in the end, both for Johnson and the world, that the application here in question proved a failure, since, considering his particular temperament, his natural sluggishness, his frequent indisposition to exertion unless urged by the spur of necessity, some of his ablest writings might perhaps have never been produced; but with regard to the functions of our universities, it is not the less apparent that they offer no help to men of learning under any of the circumstances in which they most require help, but are positive hindrances to such scholars at least as, from insufficiency of means, have been irregularly educated, howsoever complete may be their scholarship; nor do they take the slightest recognition of that single-minded devotedness to intelligence which is to be found mainly among those hard-faring and struggling students who flinch not to strive and suffer out of earnest zeal for its acquisition and advancement. The universities of England superciliously ignore the existence of any scholarship that has not been derived from their on teaching. They claim to be the popes of learning, and assume a pope's infallibility, designating as heresy in letters whatsoever may not agree with their own antiquated and peculiar standards. They have the keys of the kingdom of knowledge, and into the select fellowship of the saints of thei

communion they admit none who do not bow in reverence to their perfections and supremacy. Now it appears to us that in respect to real catholic utility, or to the promotion of the best interests of learning, these honoured and wealthy institutions stand in quite unfavourable contrast with the more liberally-constituted universities of Germany. We repeat that in England a man like Heyne, under the same conditions of life, could not have gained a university professorship. Being hindered by his poverty from passing through the prescribed gradations of study, in conformity with collegiate systems, he could not have obtained that authoritative acknowledgment of his attainments which would be needed to qualify him to enter upon any university appointment. He would have been entirely excluded from any place or position of the kind. Yet in Germany Heyne became the foremost classical scholar of his age. There is surely some grave defect in the institutions which, in this country, would have been unable to avail themselves of a capacity so eminent. England would have lost the benefit of such a man's activity. There would have been no place for him, just as there was no degree for Samuel Johnson, unless, perhaps, as in Johnson's case, the university might have condescendingly bestowed some honorary distinction on him at a time when he had made his own way in the world, and had no longer any special need of it. Oxford favoured Johnson with a diploma when he had executed the most useful, and, everything considered, the greatest work of English scholarship that was produced in his own age-his famous English Dictionary; but it was then a greater honour to the university for Johnson to accept such a degree, than it was to Johnson to have it granted him. What he said of Chesterfield's patronage might have been as reasonably said of this university distinction— 'Had it been earlier, it had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it—till I am known, and do not want it.' All such distinctions are extremely paltry when compared with the services which a university might render to the struggling aspirants and devotees of learning, were it so constituted as to admit them to examinations, independently of residence or tests, and grant degrees or testimonials corresponding to their actual proficiency. Here, indeed, would be a noble vantage-ground wherefrom the poor and honest student might, if duly gifted and industrious, rise to honour in spite of poverty and its concomitant obstacles; it would set him in good measure square with his richer competitors; and give a freer and wider scope for the success of a manly and enterprising emulation.

In conclusion, we submit, with due respect, whether, in any contemplated enlargements of the usages and usefulness of our universities, it may not be well and possible to make some provision for the admission of our English Heynes, should any such arise, seeing that for the due and perfect prosecution of learning there should be men thoroughly and earnestly devoted to it, without respect to its conventional immunities; and while public encouragement is requisite for the furtherance of all difficult and abstruse studies, it is surely just that the same should be liberally and fairly accessible to all who may manifest any aptitude or diligence in regard to them. One thing, we think, may be affirmed with safety, which is that so long as university dignities and emoluments are

obtainable almost exclusively by the mere mechanical crammers-which, we hear it said, is quite the general rule-and so long also as these positions are sought solely or mainly out of regard for their advantages as places of mere material estimation and respectability, the condition of learning in England cannot be satisfactorily progressive, nor the universities themselves continue to be held in that high respect which formerly they merited. That cause or interest is always the best advanced which can command the willing services of those who are devoted to it with pure and disinterested intents; not that we undervalue the advantages to be derived from a regular and systematic training, but that we claim for genius, for talent and industry, wherever found, or in whomsoever they may appear, that freedom of development, that respect and honour, those privileges and those rewards, to which, by their own intrinsic merits, they are so righteously entitled.

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RAJAH BROOKE AND BORNEO.

THO

THOUGH a great deal has lately been written on the Indian Archipelago, particularly in connexion with Sir James Brooke and the pirates, nothing like an adequate knowledge of that part of the world is yet possessed by the public. This at first sight may seem surprising. An intercourse of three hundred years carried on between Europe and that portion of Asia ought to have familiarised us not merely with its geography, but likewise with its productions and inhabitants, of which, however, we are only now beginning to form something like a correct idea. And had events pursued their ordinary course, ages might still have rolled on and left us buried in profound ignorance; but the adventurous spirit of an individual, united with enlarged views and a generous philanthropy, has at length awakened the curiosity of civilisation, and rivetted it upon the Twelve Thousand Islands, so that in all probability we shall, in the course of a few years, have completely explored them, and rendered all their rich and varied resources accessible to the commerce of the West. When the Arabs first penetrated beyond the golden Chersonese, and beheld group after group studding the waters of those sunny and tranquil seas, they bestowed on that mighty Archipelago the name of the Twelve Thousand Islands, making use of a definite expression to signify an indefinite number. Geographical pedants have cavilled at the appellation, as they have at that which the same poetical people, in the first burst of admiration, gave to the Maldives. But exactness in such cases is not sought, the object being to produce deep impressions, and by exciting the fancy, to rouse and keep awake the spirit of enterprise. We shall therefore, for the sake of variety, employ the Arab phrase as a synonyme of the Indian Archipelago, having entered into the above brief statement merely to guard against misapprehension.

This immense system of islands, extending through nearly fifty-five degrees of longitude, and thirty-two of latitude, is about 3600 miles in length by 2200 in breadth. Lying on both sides of the equator, it enjoys throughout its whole extent something like perpetual summer, except where the elevation of the mountains produces a temperature approaching to that of more northern climates. It will be readily conceived that the productions of so vast an Archipelago must be extremely varied. Indeed, when the whole comes to be explored, it will probably be found that

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