Mr. John Morley has done a most generous thing in
a very gracious way. He has decided to present the library of the late Lord Acton, which was given him by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, to the University of Cambridge. In a most interesting letter addressed to the Duke of Devonshire, the Chancellor of the University, he says that for a time " I played with the fancy of retaining it for my own use and delectation," but he soon came to the conclusion that such a collection was fitter for a public and undying institution than for any private individual. He was determined in the choice of Cambridge by the fact that "though she thrice refused Lord Acton as a learner, she afterwards welcomed him as a teacher." The library— collected by Lord Acton "to be the material for a history of Liberty, the emancipation of Conscience from Power, and the gradual substitution of Freedom for Force in the government of Ine4"—will, be feels sure, be not only a valuable instrument of knowledge, but a powerful stimulus to thought. The only emidition he imposes is that the library, which derives a unity fr'311 the guiding object of the collector, should be kept intact and in some degree apart. We can only hope that the Univer- sity of Cambridge may devise some permanent means of associating Mr. Morley's name with his gift, and that some millionaire may come forward with the funds required to erect a suitable home—say a " Morleian "—for the Acton Library.
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