the Rhodes scholars in residence at any given time number 180 out of a total of more than 3000 men; remember, in addition, that this small group of 180 men cannot gather strength by acting as a body, for they meet together only at the Rhodes Scholar Banquet once a year. It is obvious that as Rhodes scholars their influence can be practically nil, whatever may be their influence as individuals upon the small circle of undergraduates with which they come into contact.

Having said so much, it might appear that the present topic has already been exhausted; yet, strangely enough, there still remains a good deal to be said.

In the first place, it would seem that the presence of the Rhodes scholars is helping, however slightly, to promote a movement which has grown up within the last decade or so, viz., the tendency towards the democratization of the University at large. This statement does not imply that the Rhodes scholars are making Oxford something which it might not have become but for their advent. They are too small a body to originate an independent movement. It does not imply that the Rhodes scholars are a set of young barbarians such as Oxford feared she might be called upon to civilize when the terms of Cecil Rhodes' last will were published to the world. But it does imply that they are contributing, in a very minor way, to the promotion of a tendency which is radically transforming the character of Oxford University. In former times an Oxford education was regarded simply as a part in the life training of the ordinary man of wealth and social standing. Oxford is rapidly ceasing to be the exclusive playground of the idle rich. The majority of those who come up to Oxford now-a-days look upon their university course as the first rung in the ladder of ambition, and hope to make their

old.

progress upward in the wider sphere of the outer world after they go down both certain and easy, by winning distinction in the Oxford Honor Lists. Though many fall away from this ideal almost as soon as they have entered upon their college life, their attitude towards the University and the various phases of its activity is different from that of the men who came up a generation since; and their change of attitude is fundamentally altering the character and tone of the academic atmosphere. One does not wish to raise the question whether the new type of undergraduate is better or worse than the He is merely a different type; and since the undergraduate really determines the main current of academic feelings and influences, the change of type in the undergraduate body is exercising an extraordinary influence upon Oxford life. Now, the Rhodes scholars are pre-eminently men of the new type; they look upon their Oxford career as a means to a greater end; they hope to lay in Oxford the foundation of a successful political or professional career in the broader world to which they must ultimately return. It is not worth their while to come from the other side of the world merely to waste three years in idleness and vanity. Many among them fall victims to the enervating spirit of the place after their arrival; but the fact that they do come up to the University filled with the new ideal, enables them to press forward the general movement of their age and generation. The "Oxford Tutors" have declared that the University must become a democratic body, throw wider her doors and extend her educational system because the nation is clamoring for admission to her ranks. The truth of this assertion cannot be contested; but it is only a part of the truth. It is not the nation, but the Empire, the whole world which is contributing to the undergrad

the Rhodes Endowment is any argument for the further extension of University teaching. For example, one cannot pass from the admission that a few Rhodes scholars have taken to Forestry since the establishment of the School of Rural Economy, to the further assertion that it is desirable to establish a School of Domestic Economy; such a transition might involve the untenable assumption that a number of prospective candidates for Rhodes scholarships would abstain from entering the lists, on the ground that Oxford could not train them to assume the management of their domestic arrangements when they return to their primitive wilds, and thereby set their black "gins" or red "squaws" free to play their proper part in the great movement for the emancipation of the "sex."

(3) Finally, if after some experience of the actual operation of a new course (or, for that matter, an old one), the Trustees find that it is turned to the almost exclusive benefit of the Rhodes scholars, it might be appropriate1 for them to consider the desirability of their contributing financially to the provision of such special teaching as the particular course may require. It may be suggested that the Trustees do, in fact, recognize some such principle as this; they have given temporary assistance to the University for the purpose of establishing additional Lectureships in the courses for the degrees of M.B. and B.C.L., to which Rhodes scholars have flocked in considerable numbers.

were introduced in every circle as specimens of that new (and almost barbarous) creature, "The Rhodes Scholar." The peculiar emphasis which was laid upon that phrase gave them an alien feeling, and put them out of touch with their surroundings. Their whole demeanor became stiff, unnatural and self-conscious. Whispered and sometimes unfriendly criticism fell upon their ears; it was, therefore, inevitable that they should assume a critical and even hostile attitude towards England in general and the English undergraduate in particular. One could not help reflecting at times that the Rhodes Scholarship Scheme might ultimately defeat the object which its founder had in view; there seemed to be some risk of its promoting discord instead of harmony between England and other countries. Happily there has now grown up an entirely different state of feeling. The original discomfort and uneasiness was due to the friction involved in setting such a vast mechanism as the Rhodes Scholarship Trust at work. The wheels of the machine have settled down in their bearings; everything runs smoothly and in its proper place. The Rhodes men are no longer regarded with a curious and critical eye. Oxford has grown used to their existence, and the newcomers drop unnoticed into their appropriate positions in the scheme of college life.

One may therefore pass on from this temporary phase to the more perma

During the first few years of the actual existence of the Scheme, the position of Rhodes scholars in Oxford was by no means an enviable one. It would have been much to their advantage if they had been allowed to come unnoticed within the portals of the University. In point of fact, however, they 'One hesitates to use a stronger term.

scholars are likely to fall during the course of their Oxford career.

It is rather a bold assertion, and one hesitates to make it, but the idea forces itself very emphatically upon one that Oxford is imparting to the Rhodes men a higher conception of sport. This does not imply any inherent moral superiority in the English undergraduate. The difference in the sporting spirit

which manifests itself in Oxford, on the one hand, and in the colonies or America, on the other, lies in this: that in Oxford the game is played principally for its own sake as a form of manly exercise, whereas in the colonial and American colleges and universities the game is played above all for the sake of victory and the downfall of one's opponent. But the causes of this difference do not redound entirely to the credit of the English undergraduate. The primary cause is that absence of enthusiasm for any ideal, be it great or small, which is settling like a blight upon the whole of English life. Slackness and indifference are too frequently regarded as the proper habit of mind; and undergraduates at the universities adopt this mental pose with irritating persistency. Again, the sense of patriotism to one's college is almost non-existent in Oxford, as compared with universities in the colonies or the United States. Esprit de corps is extraordinarily keen throughout the colonial and American collegiate bodies; the whole college thinks as one man in relation to all its sporting contests, and a defeat in the field is regarded as a direct personal humiliation by every one of its members. In Oxford, on the other hand, each game is played by its own particular set; the rest of the college takes no interest in it unless the particular match happens to be a final or semi-final in some important "tie"; and defeat certainly does not cast a gloom over the whole body. Finally, the sense of inter-collegiate rivalry is much more in evidence in the colonies and America than it is at home in England. Where university colleges do exist their number is usually small, and jealousy between the different colleges is exceedingly strong because it is much more individualized. In Oxford it is almost non-existent because the fact that the colleges are more numerous diffuses it over a wider

area.

Whatever may be the explanation of the absence of this consuming desire for victory in the sporting atmosphere of the English universities, the Rhodes scholars cannot fail to gain some benefit from their experience in a place when games are regarded in the right spirit—namely, as a form of manly enjoyment-and the issue of the contest is relegated to the background as a minor and unimportant accident. They will return to their own countries with a truer appreciation of the meaning of sport, and help to correct what is a very prevalent and unpleasant feature in colonial and American sporting life.

Finally, we come to the influence which Oxford is exercising upon the Rhodes men in the more serious branch of their life and work. It has been already stated that the vast majority come up with the fixed intention of making the most of their opportunities. A careful examination of the University class and prize lists during the last four years would show that they do not carry out this resolution. It may be contended that they do at least as well as the ordinary undergraduate; to this one may fairly reply that they ought to do far better. They come to Oxford as picked men, the best that the colonies, the United States and Germany can send to us. As a body they have not done justice either to themselves or to the countries which they represent. Again, it may be contended that Cecil Rhodes did not attach exclusive importance to scholastic distinction; he indicated a clear hostility to the mere bookworm in the elaborate scheme of selection which he devised for the guidance of his Trustees; in eschewing scholastic fame the Rhodes scholars are really carrying out the wishes of their founder. To this argument one may answer that the exclusion of the "smug" does not imply that the Rhodes scholars are to be second

rate men upon the intellectual side: they are to be good all-round men, distinguished alike for scholarship and for athletic ability. A recent critic attributes the failure of the Rhodes scholars in the examination schools, partly to the weakness of their elementary training before they come to Oxford, and partly to the fact that the requirement of compulsory Greek eliminates 75 per cent. of the ablest candidates. But the operation of these causes is not sufficient to account for the phenomenon in question. For the most part, the best men do come from the colonies and America, and the standard of ability is fairly high. Their lack of success in the University honor and prize lists is due to their declension from the high ideal of work which they bring with them to Oxford. One need not dwell at length upon the enervating climate of the place; though there are some who deny it, most of those who come to Oxford declare that they never feel really "fit" while they are here. In addition to this, climatic feature, there are certain special influences which are peculiarly unfavorable to sustained and energetic work on the part of the Rhodes scholars. In the first place, the whole scheme of life at Oxford depends upon a nice balance of work as between vacation and term time. The man who aims at distinction in the schools must devote a considerable portion of his vacation to serious reading, if he intends to take part in the social amenities of his college during the eight weeks of term. The Rhodes scholar fits in very ill with this general arrangement. Coming from distant parts of the world as he does, it is not unnatural that he should regard the University vacations as an excellent opportunity for enlarging his ideas by continental travel. The Americans in particular have been conspicuous for their devotion to foreign expeditions; many of them appear to

look upon the Rhodes Scholarship primarily in the light of an endowment for selected tourists from the United States. One must not venture to say dogmatically that the Rhodes men who have been moderately successful at Oxford, are those who denied themselves the pleasure of visiting Paris and other places of attraction until their schools were over, for one might be called upon to produce the data which would justify this assertion. But one may affirm, without much fear of contradiction, that the Rhodes scholars would do well to refrain from regarding themselves quite so prominently as students of mankind at large. In the second place, the distractions of college life in term constitute a serious stumbling-block in the Rhodes scholars' advance along the path which leads to academic fame. The majority of the men are drawn from universities in which the corporate life of a residential college is entirely unknown. Being unused to the college system, the Rhodes scholars find it exceedingly difficult to reconcile their share in it with the performance of a reasonable amount of work. Many of them are loud in their declaration that it is quite "impossible" to make any progress with their reading while they remain in college; and there is quite a strong tendency for some of them to bury themselves in lodgings in distant parts of the town. "Impossible" is not quite the word to describe the real condition; but it is undoubted that a man of sociable qualities sometimes finds a normal course of reading rather difficult to follow. What with the diversions of college life in term and the delights of continental travel in vacation, many a Rhodes scholar finds that he has fallen between two stools when the fateful hour of his trial in the examination-room approaches.

The foregoing remarks must not be taken as an implied condemnation of