We omitted to note last week that the Curators of
Edinburgh University, on the 3rd inst., filled up the Greek Chair, vacant by the resignation of Professor Blackie. The Chair is the best of Edinburgh appointments, yielding, directly and indirectly, nearly £2,000 a year ; and there were twelve candidates, most of them of the first class. The Curators, with great liberality of feeling, and possibly a little vindictiveness, passed over all Scotchmen, including Dr. Donaldson, who, besides his ad- vancing age, had given offence in the matter of the Heriot Trust, and selected Mr. S. H. Butcher, Prelector of University College, Oxford, who matriculated in 1869, and must -be less than thirty-five, but who is a singularly brilliant scholar, and is guaranteed by the Bishop of Durham as full of enthusiasm for the work. Much, of his power will be wasted, owing to the preposterous system which prevails at Edinburgh of allowing lads who scarcely know the Greek alphabet to enter the Pro- fessor's classes ; but, with Mr. Butcher at Edinburgh, Mr. Jebb at Glasgow, Mr. Geddes at Aberdeen, and Mr. Lewis Campbell at St. Andrew's, the new generation in Scotland should know Greek.
Previous page
