ON THE PROSPECT OF ADMITTING WOMEN TO THE UNIVERSITY. NOT far removed from Granta's ancient towers, How now, my children, what is this my eye A crowd of women break upon my ease What folly this, what worse than idle cry, Equal with us the sex has ever stood, Endued with cap and gown and woman-hood. What else is sought?-though doubtless there might be Something appropriate in a Poll degree, And, to be candid, precedent might show A Grace t' have passed the Senate long ago. No more will satisfy our modern Miss, Who, spite of grammar, will no more surrender Scoffs at sex viri as the ancient rule, And claims an equal place in Hall and School. A well-loved son who, ere while, culled my reeds, If these should seek the Academic grove, What direful change each cloistered Hall would prove! When February's days are twenty-nine, Prospect of Admitting Women to the University. 201 Banns, everywhere, instead of bands, prevail, Acute, obtuse, in various degrees; Plain, superficial, and skew-surface, all, See, where they pass with pedant gesture by, The vision stirs my mud, as when I feel Till every maid becomes a Somerville; And female grace, concealed by learned scowl, Has fall'n a victim to Minerva's owl. And he, vain man, who should presume t' address Some spinster clad in rarer comeliness, Would find in such equality, at best, 66 A couple" that can never keep at rest. See then, my children, that with steady face He said; and straightway sank beneath the stream; And still the dead dogs floated to the sea. F. H. D. ITALY. WONDER how far people in England are aware of the advantages of their own happy climate, as compared to that of the favoured land of Italy: if they don't know the difference, let them try, and they will soon appreciate the circumstances of their natural position. In Rome, as late even as the beginning of November, the heat of the sun will be found so intense that nothing but stone walls can resist its fury. It rages over St. Peter's, till the whole surface of the Piazza stands out whitened in the blaze. It scorches on the Pincian hill; it smites down the Corso, and searches every nook of the ruins, till there is not a spot of shelter left, except under the shadow of the immense Colosseum. Add to this, that the paved streets reflect an universal glare scarcely less blinding than the sun itself, and it will readily be understood that to walk any distance in the middle of the day would be wholly out of the question. If you attempt to do it, soon you feel your knees shake and totter as though you were going to sink down crushed into the ground under the oppression of the heat. A low fever frequently follows, not a severe one, but enough to keep a person at home for several days. When December begins, there is a sudden jump from summer to winter. The mornings and evenings are now become extremely cold, the change of temperature on the same day being very great. At noon, perhaps, you are able to sit with the windows open, and in a few hours you are obliged to wrap in furs and great coat; for, by a pleasing fiction, fires, even in winter, are supposed to be unnecessary: and certainly, in many chambers the significant absence of a grate seems to speak to the general prevalence of such a theory. The windows, moreover, being large and loose, and the floors being constructed of stone or marble, augment considerably the bitterness of the cold. The consequence is that many of the poorer sort among the natives are found to be suffering severely from rheumatic attacks, and occasionally even to be lamed for life. In short, if an Englishman wishes to gain an idea of the temperature to which those patients have been subjected, let him get himself shut up in a cellar or a vault for one winter's evening, and when he falls back fainting with cold, and praying to be taken, if only to Siberia, for a change, let him know that he has reached the Italian climax. However, spring and warmth return in February, though even then the north and east winds, which are often present with a hot sun, are likely to be injurious. The rains also, as the days lengthen, are frequent and abundant. Wet weather, at this period, has been known to continue for one, two, and even three months at a time, without the intermission of a single fine day. We have cold rain and warm rain, drenching rain and drizzling rain, but always rain. Now the comparative advantages of the English climate are manifest at once. We suffer an extreme neither of heat nor cold, but enjoy a nice breezy weather which admits of exercise in the open air at any hour of the day, and all the year round. The skies may be changeable, but the rains are neither heavy nor are they cruelly prolonged from week to week. It is true that the air of Rome is so sweet and pure that a morning walk feels not less exhilarating than a plunge in the sea. Yet, on the whole, I should think that as far as climate is concerned, both for the healthy person and the invalid, it would be pleasanter to remain in England. For every other reason, I should recommend an early visit and a prolonged residence in the Eternal City. There are three routes from France into Italy, one through Savoy, by diligence over Mount Cenis, and thence to Turin and Genoa; another along the coast under the Maritime Alps, by way of Nice, to Genoa. These roads offer great advantages to those who wish to avoid a rough sea passage, but are somewhat complicated for the unpractised traveller. There is a third and a simpler route, the one which I chose, direct by sea from Marseilles. Here I embarked on board the steamer "Vatican," which was bound for the Papal States. The decks were thronged by people all going to Rome, but who represented in their appearance the manners and costume of many and various nations. On one side you might recognise the Doctor in Divinity, and the young scholar fresh from Oxford, on the other, the theological student or the Priest of the Catholic Church: here a troop of French soldiers, there a knot of monks and friars, whose only dress appeared to be the long serge gown, the belt of rope, and wooden sandals: close by, a group of young converts going out to be educated in a Roman College: poor young fellows, they did not seem to speak a word of "the language," and were probably separated for ever from their own homes: I pitied them when I saw their fresh English faces under the broad shovel hat, and wished them another fate; but, to the best of their belief, they had devoted all their soul and strength to the service of their God, and who can promise to do better? My travelling companion, with whom I had made acquaintance at the hotel, was a dignitary of the Catholic Church, fresh from an interview with Cardinal Wiseman, and about to offer himself in a still more august presence. Among other things he told me that the Cardinal could preach with eloquence in five languages, but that, for depth of classical erudition, Dr. Newman was probably the best scholar in the Church of Rome, which I thought no slight compliment to an English University. We were bound for Civita Vecchia, the chief seaport in the Papal territory, and the voyage was expected to occupy something less than thirty-six hours. We were soon in the Gulf of Lyons, the passage of which is generally rather rough, as it certainly proved on the present occasion. The waves seemed to be rolling every way at once, and made the vessel writhe and wriggle in such a manner that you must have feared she would break to pieces, if indeed your attention was not already fully occupied by your own physical suffering. The sickness was general and severe, especially among the party of French soldiers: I watched them sitting on the deck, rocking to and fro in agony. As the outward signs of the torment increased, and as the "vin d'ordinaire" came streaming from their martial lips, it struck me that if any country at any time dreaded their invasion, an insular position would be in more ways than one a most effectual guarantee for its security. However during the latter part of the voyage the waters grew calm, and for a whole day there was not a speck of a cloud in the sky. Though it was now November the weather was warm as an English June, and when the night closed in, the cabin was so hot that I was glad to be able to return on deck. The sky was beautiful and the stars were shining: I found the soldiers fast asleep, their tortures at an end, and not a sound or a stir among them. They |