The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

LETTERS, TRACTS, is'i. 425fice of by the fpeaker, or condemned by the parliamentitfelf ; and that if college-men, in our days,(hould thus try to encroach upon the privilege ofparliament, they would be pilloried, or have their earschopped, or be driven like Jefuits out of the country.But, in different ages, the manners of men arefuppofed to be different ; and, to account for the a-bove difficulty, the reader will pleafe to refledl, thatthe parliament-man in queftion, was alfo a ftudent at.'the college, and was therefore fubje^f to academicaldifcipline :Befides, the greater part of the profelibrs,at the time, happened to be theologians, and everyone knows the encroaching- fpirit of that fet of men.How it came about that tfiere were then fo manytheologiansin the college, may perhaps be fonie timeihown to the public ; for thtre is a hillory in manu-'fcript, compofed from the memoirs of Clutha, containinga period of twenty one years and a half, iin*-mediately preceding the above trial: In that elaboratework, the factions in the college, the fhiftings of factions,thp chara(Ster of the feveral mailers, their differentviews, the means by which they were advanced^whether by party- work, or purcliafe, or entail, orcourt-influence, are minutely inquired into,. and defcribed; and it was from the beginning of that period,that theologians began to be numerous in the fociety,and that its character for literature began alfoto decline.Chap. 46. It will appear to the reader, even fromthe {hort 'jlketches given in the hiftory, that feveral ofthe profeflbrs made but a very poor figure in theirfpeechcs from the bench. Indeed, the fide of thequeftion they had unfortunately embraced, may, infome degree, account for the figure they made ; forthey ftood on ground where they had little or no opportunityfor the difplay either of eloquence or meanlyfenfe ; like fo mafty fierce gladiators who have notroom to wield their arms. They thought themfelvcs^N n Q