Commons expressed a decisive opinion on the issue. Now that the Government has received its directions, action must follow. But the debate in the House of Lords a few days later has shown that the breeding interests may take a line which will, if adopted by the Government, still operate against Canadian cattle. They now lay all their stress upon an adequate quarantine before cattle are admitted. This is a legitimate precaution, and is enforced by the Canadian Government itself upon imported cattle. But quarantine may be made so expensive as to nullify the freedom to import. In the interests of goodwill it is to be hoped that quarantine regulations will be as little burdensome as is compatible with safety.

The removal of the embargo will, it is hoped, in some degree compensate the Canadian farmer for the restriction of his market to the south. But high authorities-on both sides of the water-appear to be doubtful whether the new market will prove to be of great importance. High railway and shipping rates have made the carrying of cattle a much more expensive business than it was in the eighties and nineties.

A. S. F.

BOOK REVIEWS.

The Manuale Scholarium, an Original Account of Life in the Mediaeval University, translated from the Latin by Robert Francis Seybolt, Ph.D., Harv. Univ. Press, 1921. Pp. 122.

This anonymous late fifteenth century students' handbook has hitherto been known to English readers only through references in the works of various historians of the university movement and an abridged chapter in Coulton's Mediaeval Garner; nor has it ever before been completely rendered into any modern language. For the publication of a translation alone, Professor Seybolt would have deserved our thanks. To have added a considerable body of admirable notes explaining passages otherwise obscure, is to place the reader under a double debt of gratitude. The translation is from the edition of F. Zarncke, of whose work Die Deutschen Universitäten im Mittelalter (Leips. 1857) it occupies forty-eight pages. As this old work is not generally available in America we can only regret that the present volume has not been extended to include the original text; an addition which would not have made it exceed two hundred pages in all, and would have rendered it a priceless treasure.

The Manuale consists of a series of eighteen brief, racy dialogues, held, with one exception, between two students of Heidelberg, who exchange questions and information on a variety of student concerns. The useful advice which it is the purpose of the booklet to convey, is spiced for the studentreader's palate by much merry banter. Like the humour of the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum of a generation later, that of these dialogues is rather broad than subtle. Some portions would produce a fair number of laughs per minute if offered on the vaudeville stage to-day. The Second Chapter is the celebrated description of the depositio cornuum, or initiation, by which the beanus (yellow beak, or as we should say, greenhorn) or recently arrived freshman, becomes a scholaris, or undergraduate student. Of this it may be said that the author

has not merely recorded a familiar rowdy and rollicking student scene: he has given it a distinct dramatic quality.

The translation has been made with 'rather free use of student colloquialism' in order, as the translator explains, "to preserve . . . the university setting and the adolescent spirit of the dramatis personae, as well as to cope with the problem presented by the bad Latin, and the etymological vagaries of the unknown author.' So we meet with such familiarities as 'shut up!', 'go 'way!', 'old scout', 'old sport'; and`'sis ergo taciturnus' is rendered 'keep it under your hat.'

The Manuale will remind the modern undergraduate that in spirit and behaviour he is much like, while in methods and mental outlook he is far different from, his predecessor of four and a half centuries ago.

JOHN T. MCNEILL.

*

McGill and its Story, 1821-1921, by Cyrus Macmillan. Oxford University Press, London, New York, Toronto, 1921. Pp. 304.

In this record of her century of history Professor Macmillan has rendered timely and valuable service to his university. Those acquainted with twentieth century McGill, and with the rapid rise of new Canadian universities in recent years, must be impressed on reading the early chapters of this book with the profound contrasts between life in this country to-day and a century ago. It seemed for many years that the academic orphan child of James McGill would perish of neglect or abuse. The foundation date, 1821, is really of comparatively slight importance in the story. In that year, indeed, the university obtained her charter. The foundation endowment had been made available by the death of the founder eight years before. But a series of obstacles had slowly to be overcome before any real progress could be made. The Royal Institution, guardian of the trust, only attained definite organization in 1818. Relatives of the founder's French-Canadian wife tried to maintain possession of Burnside Place: it was finally secured by process of law in 1829. Still followed years of distressing poverty and lack of equip

ment and accommodation. Only in 1833 did the first graduate obtain his degree. The first building constructed for the university was opened ten years later; by that time, thirty years from McGill's death, there were twenty students in attendance. The institution remained a dwindling infant, making no measurable contribution to Canadian life till 1855. If there was heroism and vision in those days among the friends of McGill the officials seem very rarely to have shown evidence of either. The first Principal, Bishop G. J. Mountain (1824-1835) is a respected but ineffectual figure in her history. His successor's days were days not only of small things, but of small thoughts. Grave defects in the organization of the board of governors were among the causes of the distressing situation of the university. Amendments of the Charter brought some improvement in 1852: none too soon, for the buildings had been abandoned and some of the professors dismissed. Freed from the control of Downing Street and supplied with governors resident near enough to attend meetings, McGill then entered upon a new era, and began at last to fulfil her founder's dream. Dr. Macmillan reminds us that Montreal was a small town early in the century: and other accounts, such as Greig's Hochelaga Depicta, 1839, confirm the impression of a primitive community. We should not expect the record of rapid growth which a century later, for example, falls to the lot of McGill's Pacific daughter, the University of British Columbia.

The book may be said to have two heroes, James McGill and Sir William Dawson. The founder's life was that of a typical, sturdy, genial and adaptable Scot who amassed a fortune in the fur trade and yet retained an interest in the agencies of culture. From the comparatively scant materials the author has succeeded in making this early benefactor a living personality, moving among his contemporaries as a man of force and charm. For the genesis of the McGill bequest due credit is given to the influence of his friend the young Anglican cleric from Aberdeen who afterwards became Bishop Strachan. A nearer and more imposing figure is that of the great Nova Scotian whose devotion to the university during his long principalship (1855-1893) is the most important

factor in the solid and continuous growth of McGill in the latter half of the century. The career and policy of Principal Dawson are charmingly and sympathetically depicted. The 70's brought security and expansion, and in Dawson's later days the university had assumed a national significance.

Though obviously prepared for the centenary occasion, the work bears the character of sound history, being based on first-hand documents which have evidently been carefully studied. Footnotes are lacking, but the documents cited or quoted are usually indicated in the text. Early scenes, and prominent persons of the story, are presented in excellent cuts. The work is not exhaustive, and on many points the curious reader will desire more information than is supplied. We are not told, for instance, how the appointment of Dawson came about. A feature of exceptional interest is the account given in Chapter VIII of 'College Life in Mid-Century.' One is surprised to find McGill student life three-quarters of a century since a thing remote and unfamiliar, almost as entirely by-gone as that of the Middle Ages; and one wonders whether the contemporary archives of Queen's or Toronto would disclose a similar set of student customs.

JOHN T. MCNEILL.

My Discovery of England, by Stephen Leacock. S. B. Gundy, Toronto: $1.50.

What impels visitors to become didactic? The mildest man seems to be seized with a missionary fervour as he disembarks. This is not Mr. Leacock's way. His burlesque manner wraps up a great deal of shrewd criticism, which he dispenses with even justice to both sides of the water. He is a humourist with whom his victims laugh. How admirable is his description of the 'live-wire' professor with his executive ability and his hope of being promoted to a soap-factory! Perhaps the best of Mr. Leacock's chapters-if we except that on Oxford-is the comparison of the British and American press. Even the editor of the Spectator, after a careful explanation of his position, would enjoy the burlesque of his correspondence column. 'We call a murderer a "thug" or a