The Victoria University opened on Wednesday, when the Duke of
Devonshire, the Chancellor, laid its charter on the table, and a grand banquet was afterwards held to celebrate its birthday. The University begins with Owens College,—which has now accumulated some £400,000,—as its central germ, with the Principal of Owens College, Dr. Greenwood, as its Vice-Chancellor, while Professor Roscoe, its most eminent scientific lecturer, is to be Pro-Vice-Chancellor, so as to act for Dr. Greenwood in his absence. The new University is founded on the collegiate idea, and is to include only students who belong to some one of the Colleges it will contain ; but its academical policy will be to give Science a fair share in the culture it fosters, without neglecting the great faculty of Arts. For this last point, Dr. Greenwood's eminence, great ability, and great enthusiasm for classical learning will be a sufficient guarantee, and we may fairly anticipate for the new University a characteristic type of culture. That type will certainly eschew all " superfine," all lackadaisical elements. Its culture will not be the culture of languid fastidiousness ; it will be the culture of busy and adventurous energy. None the less, we hope, it will be the culture also of wide knowledge and of reverent trust.
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