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    Mr . W . Dissenters have , we think , rather been prone to the opposite fault from that with which he charges them , and have suffered from attempting to make their institutions too much like the universities ; and they have bcien respectable and prosperous , in proportion as they have known , and adhered

    to their own proper character . In magnificence it will readily be conceded that they are as much inferior to Cambridge , as Cambridge is to Oxford , but they are adapted to the wants and the means of those to whom they belong , and are the fruits of their generous and voluntary zeal . " Parva , sed apta rhihi , sed milli obnpxia" . *

    Xbe Dissenters are as read y to acknowledge the errors which have caused the decline of their academical institutions , as Mr . W . to lav them to their charge . Yet some of the vicissitudes to which he alludes had no connexion with this cause . The removal

    oj the academy from Daventry ( for it still exists ) was owing to the conscientious scruples which made its able and exemplary ( would that the time were more remote when we might say its venerable !) Theological Tutor resign his charge . Before we can allow Mr . W « to exult over the errors which

    caused the decline of Harrington and Hackney , we must request him to answer us this question : vVouId either of our ainiversities have been at this moipent in . existence , if they must have fallen , as soon as the opinion of the public pronounced , that their professors ipade sinecures of their offices , that

    their discipline was imperfect ^ nd relaxet } , and their plans of study antiquated and barbarous ? We are very sure that this question cannot be honestly answered in the affirmative ; and ipfco what thsn does their boasted pernetuity resolve itself , but into a power i ^ hQWrip 6 u ^ agains t public disapprobation , pi * slowly admitting the light

    whip a has long pervaded every place besides , of being the last strong-hold of epcpjoded prejudices ? It is the natural tendency f > f the independent revenues ajFjfi exc | u ^ iye priviteges possessed by ymiyersjiues , to majke the , m all this ; and if ( Ox £ o | f 4 _ i 8 sifperior to Salamanca , it is less owing to any difference in her

    own constitution , than to that free and m&nly national spirit , € > f wjiich she . has ? Aridsto ' s Wcriptfrm bvet UU owa trotlte . . ... , r

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    been reluctarul y compelled to inhale a portion—which has quickened her iit . dolent circulation , and sweetened the acrid humours of her bigotry—a spirit

    which has been cherished chiefl y by those vyho have never been either within her walls , or those of her sister University , and which she herself ha * done her utmost to extinguish .

    To the imagination there is no doubt something imposing in ? an institution , whose identity is prolonged through sn many reigns and centuries ; and he who has walked up the High-street of Oxford , without feeling such emotions , may assure hi nisei f that he -was not

    born to be an orator or a poet . Trie judgment , however , pronounces , that changes which destroy the chain of antiquarian associations , may be useful and even necessary . Founders bequeath their prejudiced and partial views along with their estates , and take upon theitt

    to legislate for future ages , of whose condition and wants they can have no conception : institutions which each successive age forrnfc for itself will be adapted to the wants of each . In the mortality of the individual ; Providence has taken a method to break the entail

    of error and prejudice ; and frequent renovations seem necessary to produce a similar effect on public institutions . The boasted perpetuity of endowed and chartered bodies is generally only the immortality of a ' Sfmtdbrug—a perpetuity of decrepitude , an eternity of dotage .

    Academical establishments among the Dissenters have risen and fallen during the last fifty years , but the i > i ' ssent ~ ing principle survives their vicissitudes , and re-appears with undiminished vigour . It is the same undying , though transmigrating spirit , that has

    successivel y animated them , which still lives in those , from which the present ge- » neration . and the next must expect a supply of ministers , to carry 6 n the work of recalling Christians to the undivided worship of the One True God ; and if , as is reasonable to hope , some

    portion of original imperfection have been left behind , ifi every mortal vehicle which it has occupied , we have warrant for expecting tnat they will attain to a longer term than their predecessors . -We are , however , far from saying to thfem , > estoi& perpetuw y the failure of some pujst applications of the piouf wisft HNgHt ; , 8 c $ tti : to have # > nj v ^ jcj It i ^ tp * J > hr ^^^

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    ^ 0 Review .- ^ Wmnewrigltt on the Pursuits qf ' Cambrid ge ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1816, page 410, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2454/page/38/