On the Choice of Books eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 136 pages of information about On the Choice of Books.

On the Choice of Books eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 136 pages of information about On the Choice of Books.
towards me, I am now—­she having been the last of her kindred—­about to bequeath to Edinburgh University with whatever piety is in me this Craigenputtoch, which was theirs and hers, on the terms, and for the purposes, and under the conditions underwritten.  Therefore I do mortify and dispose to and in favour of the said University of Edinburgh, for the foundation and endowment of ten equal Bursaries, to be called the ‘John Welsh Bursaries,’ in the said University, heritably and irredeemably, all and whole the lands of Upper Craigenputtoch.  The said estate is not to be sold, but to be kept and administered as land, the net annual revenue of it to be divided into ten equal Bursaries, to be called, as aforesaid, the ‘John Welsh Bursaries.’  The Senatus Academicus shall bestow them on the ten applicants entering the University who, on strict and thorough examination and open competitive trial by examiners whom the Senatus will appoint for that end, are judged to show the best attainment of actual proficiency and the best likelihood of more in the department or faculty called of arts, as taught there.  Examiners to be actual professors in said faculty, the fittest whom the Senatus can select, with fit assessors or coadjutors and witnesses, if the Senatus see good, and always the report of the said examiners to be minuted and signed, and to govern the appointments made, and to be recorded therewith.  More specially I appoint that five of the ‘John Welsh Bursaries’ shall be given for the best proficiency in mathematics—­I would rather say ‘in mathesis,’ if that were a thing to be judged of from competition—­but practically above all in pure geometry, such being perennial, the symptom not only of steady application, but of a clear, methodic intellect, and offering in all epochs good promise for all manner of arts and pursuits.  The other five Bursaries I appoint to depend (for the present and indefinitely onwards) on proficiency in classical learning, that is to say, in knowledge of Latin, Greek, and English, all of these, or any two of them.  This also gives good promise of a young mind, but as I do not feel certain that it gives perennially or will perennially be thought in universities to give the best promise, I am willing that the Senatus of the University, in case of a change of its opinion on this point hereafter in the course of generations, shall bestow these latter five Bursaries on what it does then consider the most excellent proficiency in matters classical, or the best proof of a classical mind, which directs its own highest effort towards teaching and diffusing in the new generations that will come.  The Bursaries to be open to free competition of all who come to study in Edinburgh University, and who have never been of any other University, the competition to be held on or directly before or after their first matriculation there.  Bursaries to be always given on solemnly strict and faithful trial to the worthiest, or if (what in justice can never
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On the Choice of Books from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.