stant atmosphere or the "godless" Queen's Colleges; and
since Ireland is mainly a Catholic country, and the National University
has not yet created a tradition, it is clear that not much can be
gleaned on the subject of Irish ideas of moral training from Irish
universities.

Yet Trinity College is well worth study, for in it we have a free
growth, typifying both in its virtues and in its defects the ruling
Protestant class, landed and professional. Here, unquestionably, the
chief moral influence is that of the Church, felt, as at Oxford,
directly through the chapel services and sermons, and indirectly through
the presence of a large body of theological students. The second of
these influences is specially strong in Dublin, because these students
have an organisation of their own in the University Theological Society,
and also because the work of the Divinity School at Dublin comprises
much that is done in England by the training colleges. I should
therefore be inclined to put the positive influence of dogmatic religion
higher at Dublin than at Oxford.

On the other hand, the vaguer humanitarian enthusiasms which are more or
less allied to Socialism, and with which the High Church party
willingly allies itself, have, I think, much less hold in Trinity than
at the English universities; though the movement which sends so many
brilliant young Englishmen into work (temporary or permanent) in the
East End of London has its parallel in the recently organised Social
Service Society, which attempts something for the reclamation of Dublin
slums. Again, in regard to more definitely political aspirations, Irish
Protestants are somewhat unfortunately situated. Trinity as a whole has
no sympathy with the ideals that appeal to Ireland as a nation, and it
always seems to lack first-hand touch with the best English thought,
whether Liberal or Tory. This isolation from the main movement of Irish
thought and feeling on the one hand, and on the other, this enforced
separation from the current of English life, keep the place a little
old-fashioned; and to generate enthusiasm, ideals and feelings need a
certain freshness. If it be held (as I should hold) that a university's
main moral function is to produce enthusiasts rather than merely decent
citizens, in this respect, I think, Trinity fails.

In regard to the less direct influences, a good deal may be noted. The
general trend of life in Trinity is towards frugality, just as at Oxford
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