friend, whose bankruptcy gave Jefferson what he called his coup de grâce.

Although the last year of his life threatened to end in trouble and poverty, yet before his death the State of Virginia and its grateful counties, together with friends in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, came to his relief. The spontaneous offering of help by grateful citi zens throughout a whole country gratified Jefferson beyond measure, and "closed with a cloudless sun a long and serene day of life."

OLD MONUMENT TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, NOW ON THE CAMPUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, COLUMBIA, MO.

CHAPTER XI.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA UPON SOUTHERN LIFE AND THOUGHT.

AN INQUIRY INTO ITS CAUSES AND EXTENT.

BY WILLIAM P. TRENT, M. A.

1

INTRODUCTORY.

Doctor Adams has asked me to write an essay upon the above subject to serve as a supplementary chapter to his work upon Thomas Jefferson and his relations to the University of Virginia. As an alumnus of the University, and as a modest student of institutional history, I am naturally interested in the good work Dr. Adams has undertaken, and I have not thought it right to allow any feelings of diffidence to prevent me from lending what help I can to his labors.

In studying the influences exerted by laws, by customs, or by institutions, it is by no means easy to hold the balance even; we are all inclined to forget that persuasion is not proof, or that denunciation has no place in history. I fear that mine is by no means a steady hand; but as a faulty experiment generally brings about others and, in time, the true one, I am inclined to proceed with my subject without further preface.

That the University of Virginia has had an appreciable influence upon the South goes without saying. The very fact that the institution is living and working to-day proves it. If further argument were needed, I should simply point to the creative genius of its founder, and to the fact that a professor in a sister university has worked for months over its early history. This last fact, by the way, shows the good effects of institutional studies in subduing that spirit of prejudice and captious criticism which too often alienates institutions that should work in harmony. It remains, then, for us to consider the causes, the extent, and the character of this influence.

The University of Virginia is known throughout the South as "the University," and this is my excuse for using an expression otherwise indefensible.

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Manifestly these three objects of inquiry are interdependent; it is equally manifest that we are practically confined to two fields of inves tigation. On the one hand, we may study the workings of the University, both in its history and on the spot, and from such study arrive at what seem to be the causes of the influence the existence of which we have taken for granted; on the other hand, we may follow its students into the world, watch their careers, and from thousands of particular facts obtain by induction such general conclusions as to the extent and character of their influence as a fair mind might be expected to make. When a friend of an institution endeavors to prove its usefulness, he will, as a rule, employ the first method; but it is equally the rule that he only convinces neutrals, or those who were partly inclined to his view of the matter; he will hardly silence strenuous opponents. If an appeal be made to statistics, opposition will frequently be silenced, but this, too, has limitations to its success. Unless the results obtained in the shape of statistics are given in a clear and attractive manner, they will repel neutrals and half-way friends; and, unless opponents are candid and truth-loving, the most convincing figures will be as barren of result as the mere dictum of an uninformed partisan. These are the two dangers that beset all those who would fain lay before the public the results of their institutional studies.

I.-ANALYSIS OF THE WORKINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY.

If this essay were to be published independently of Dr. Adams's monograph, I should have to devote some space to an examination of Jefferson's ideas with regard to higher education, in order to fairly begin any study of the workings of the University; but as Dr. Adams has already treated this subject ably and fully in the preceding pages, my labor in this respect will be considerably abridged. It suffices to say that the broadness of Mr. Jefferson's views and the suggestive quality of his genius are nowhere more strikingly displayed than in his choice of the lines along which the work of his favorite institution was to run. These lines the University has in the main adhered to. The combination of the monastic with the democratic spirit, the high standard and broad scope of study which he advised, the honor system of discipline, and the merging of party and sect into literary and scientific fellowship all survive in the University, and in their results bear testimony to the wisdom of the mind that first combined them.

LIST OF CAUSES OF THE UNIVERSITY'S INFLUENCE.

I shall now present to the reader a list of the causes or working forces which, in my opinion, have given extent and character to the influence of the University upon Southern life and thought. A brief discussion of each head will follow, and we shall then be brought to the second division of our subject, which corresponds to the second method of investigation before laid down.

These chief causes or working forces may be stated as follows:

(1) The continued refusal of the faculty and visitors to rest satisfied with the present standard of requirement in the several studies or with the number of subjects taught, and the constant tendency to improvement in both of these particulars.

(2) The substitution of the elective for the curricular system of in struction.

(3) The honor system of discipline.

(4) The even balance held between sects and parties.

(5) The high qualifications, both mental and moral, of the men chosen as instructors.

(6) The unique position of the University in the South; a position largely brought about by the existence of the above-mentioned causes, and by others to be stated hereafter.

STRIVING AFTER BETTER RESULTS.

We shall now consider the first claim made for the University. In 1826 the faculty consisted of eight professors, occupying the fol. lowing chairs: Ancient languages, modern languages (including Anglo. Saxon-see page 92), mathematics, natural philosophy, natural history, anatomy and medicine, moral philosophy, and law. I am informed by the present chairman of the faculty, Col. Charles S. Venable (to whom I am indebted for kind assistance), that the examinations held during the first years of the University were as searching and thorough, in proportion to the extent of the course, as those now in vogue, and of the thoroughness of the latter I am qualified to speak by experience. In 1827 the medical department was organized and the work distributed to three professors; in 1859 there were four professors and a special demonstrator of anatomy. Although there have been few clinical advantages connected with this school, the thoroughness of its teaching has never failed to attract students, and the men who obtain its diploma are uniformly suc. cessful in any college they may subsequently attend. In 1851 an adjunct professor of law was appointed, who became a full professor in 1854. In 1856 the chair of ancient languages was superseded by two new chairs, those of Latin and of Greek and Hebrew. In 1857 the school of history and general literature was established. Since that time the faculty has been enlarged by the appointment of professors in applied mathematics, in natural history and geology, in analytical chemistry, in English, in scientific agriculture, zoology, and botany, and in practical astronomy. The professor of moral philosophy had long ago delivered lectures on political economy; but in 1882 this subject was handed over to the professor of history, whose school is now known as that of historical science. In 1887 the faculty consisted of nineteen full professors, to whom may be added five special instructors. All this indicates a natural and steady growth; chairs have been created to meet the needs of the

time; there has been no rush or over-eagerness to make a display of high-sounding names on the pages of the catalogue.

If inquiry be directed to the workings of these several schools, a conformity to the laws of evolution will be discovered which would, I suspect, fairly shock the professors in charge. Attention has already been called to the strictness of the early examinations. The method of class-instruction has always been by lectures, supplemented by textbook work. Of course the horrible state of secondary education throughout the South cramped and retarded the development of the early schools; but when University graduates betook themselves to this labor-craving field, an advance in method and scope of teaching became possible an advance characterized by the same natural and steady growth to which I before alluded. For want of space I am not able to particularize upon this subject; but when I come to speak of Dr. Gessner Harrison, who succeeded Mr. George Long in the chair of ancient languages, we shall see that the philological work of Bopp was being made familiar to students in the University of Virginia at a time when not even the professors of other colleges in this country had realized the immense importance of the great German's undertaking. The chair of moral philosophy might be selected as another example of this academical evolution, if I may be allowed the phrase. Within my own memory two lectures a week have been added to this course.

EVOLUTION OF DEGREES.

If attention be turned to the degrees awarded by the University, the same spirit of adaptation to the needs of the time will be perceived, perhaps, however, in a less degree. It was early recognized by the founders of the University that an institution was needed, upon the thor. oughness of whose work the utmost reliance could be placed. A glance at the state of secondary education proved this. Thoughtful men were beginning to see that it was folly to intrust their children to teachers whose want of qualification would only be discovered after they had ruined the minds of their pupils. Hence it was that Princeton was crowded with Southern students; and hence it was that Mr. Jefferson and his coadjutors determined that their new University, by giving its honors only to the highly meritorious should send forth men stamped with a seal-ready and able to assist in the regeneration of culture and learning, not only in Virginia, but thronghout the entire South.

At first an attempt was made to drop the long-established academical titles, save that of M. D., and to adopt the simple title of graduate U. V., the name of the school or schools in which the student had been "declared eminent" being expressed in his "certificate," which was to be "attested" by the particular professor. This is certainly the most striking-probably the only instance of a lack of "sweetness and light" on the part of the founders of the University; but it gives one pleas ure to see how quickly they recognized their mistake and how prompt