ong the river's bank, in which
the students for centuries took their recreation, which Alcuin seems to
mention in his farewell verses to Paris, and which has given a name to
the great Abbey of St. Germain-des-Pres. For long years it was devoted
to the purposes of innocent and healthy enjoyment; but evil times came
on the University; disorder arose within its precincts, and the fair
meadow became the scene of party brawls; heresy stalked through Europe,
and Germany and England no longer sending their contingent of students,
a heavy debt was the consequence to the academical body. To let their
land was the only resource left to them: buildings rose upon it, and
spread along the green sod, and the country at length became town.
Great was the grief and indignation of the doctors and masters, when
this catastrophe occurred. "A wretched sight," said the Proctor of the
German nation, "a wretched sight, to witness the sale of that ancient
manor, whither the Muses were wont to wander for retirement and
pleasure. Whither shall the youthful student now betake himself, what
relief will he find for his eyes, wearied with intense reading, now
that the pleasant stream is taken from him?" Two centuries and more
have passed since this complaint was uttered; and time has shown that
the outward calamity, which it recorded, was but the emblem of the
great moral revolution, which was to follow; till the institution
itself has followed its green meadows, into the region of things which
once were and now are not.

And in like manner, when they were first contemplating a University in
Belgium, some centuries ago, "Many," says Lipsius, "suggested Mechlin,
as an abode salubrious and clean, but Louvain was preferred, as for
other reasons, so because no city seemed from the disposition of place
and people, more suitable for learned leisure. Who will not approve
the decision? Can a site be healthier or more pleasant? The
atmosphere pure and cheerful; the spaces open and delightful; meadows,
fields, vines, groves, nay, I may say, a _rus in urbe_. Ascend and
walk round the walls; what do you look down upon? Does not the
wonderful and delightful variety smooth the brow and soothe the mind?
You have corn, and apples, and grapes; sheep and oxen; and birds
chirping or singing. Now carry your feet or your eyes beyond the
walls; there are streamlets, the river meandering along;
country-houses, convents, the superb fortress; copses or woods fill