Lord Rosebery has appointed to the Chair of Humanity in
the University of Aberdeen his chief adviser on educational affairs—his secular chaplain, in fact—Dr. James Donaldson, Rector of the High School of Edinburgh. The selection appears to have given general satisfaction in Scotland, and particularly to the members of the teaching profession, whose head and spokesman Dr. Donaldson is. Wonders, too, seem to be ex- pected from him, as for many years he has been an ardent educational reformer. As such, he went wrong once, when he joined the reactionary movement for practically separating Scotch education from English, and keeping it permanently under the control of a Board in Edinburgh. But he has atoned for his blunder, by placing himself at the head of the new agitation for the issue of a Scotch University Executive Commission. Education apart, Dr. Donaldson is one of the few great scholars whom Scotland has of late produced. His " Critical History of Christian Litera- ture and Doctrine, from the Death of the Apostles to the Nicene Council," and the complete translation of the " Ante-Nicene Fathers," which he edited along with Professor Roberts, of St. Andrews, are without equals or seconds. He returns in the prime of life—he was born in 1831—to his native city and his original University, and a second career as a reformer and student may be before him.
Previous page
