It is because of
this wealth of human interest that the book must needs exercise a
powerful fascination upon those who have a craving to get some
insight into the life of their forefathers; and it is because I
believe the number of such students of history is in our times
rapidly on the increase, that I am anxious to draw attention to some
few of the many matters treated of so ably in these magnificent
volumes.
* * * * * * *
The term _University_, in its original acceptation, was used to
designate any aggregate of _persons_ associated in a political,
religious, or trading corporation, having common interests, common
privileges, and common property. The inhabitants of a town, the
members of a fraternity, the brethren of a guild, the monks or canons
of a religious house, when addressed in formal instruments, were
addressed as a _University_. Nay! when the whole body of the
faithful is appealed to as Christian men, the ordinary phrase made
use of by lay or ecclesiastical potentate, when signifying his wishes
or intentions, is "Noverit _Universitas_ vestra." A University
in this sense, regarded as an aggregate of persons, might be
localized or it might not; its members might be scattered over the
whole Christian world, or they might constitute an inner circle of
some larger community, of which they--though a _Universitas_-
formed but a part.
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