Robert Halley

“ They hate the Truth with utter hatred, for they have tested her scorn. They would have sworn themselves hers, but she rejected them with disdain. And now they have taken their place as Error's knights-bachelors. Their sinister countenances are well-concealed, as in full armour they stand, fair to the eye of the inexperienced. With dazzling brilliance they advance, their plumes are bright, their devices gay, their lances sparkle in the sun ”

“ With dignity and courtesy you must lead your own, choosing only to answer to the challenge of knights; and though you deal hard blows, you must neither trample on a wounded foe, nor forget the respect which is due to a worthy opponent. But out of the battle-field or of the tournament, to all you must exercise chivalrous courtesy, bearing yourselves as true knights with deference to your elders, with respect to your equals, with good-will and kindness towards the younger. And the courtesy of the true knight called forth his valour not only for his mistress, but to aid any who were in danger. ”

“ There are amongst you those who have armed yourselves with law, as your weapon. You are champions of Truth and must not forget the virtue of Justice; without it you are no true knights. Let the true knight only wield so dangerous a weapon. Rightly are those who take it in their hands, more narrowly watched, and more severely judged than others, if in the smallest degree they forget their honor. ”

“ If combat must be—if Truth's good name and Truth's wide sway can only be maintained by constant fighting, still towards even your bitterest foe, you must not forget that courtesy is demanded of one of your degree ”

“ We offer to you, as we think, a literature unsurpassed in the world's history for extent, variety, and elevated thought; science, mental, moral and physical, true, because it is derived from a careful induction of facts and phenomena, subjective and objective, and is not the crude invention of mere theorists; art, refined and elevated, because it is the truthful expression of conceptions gained from nature, rather than the grotesque fancies of a distorted imagination. ”

“ A chosen band of knighthood, admitted by a special initiation, their honor is their best possession. One mean device, one coward's trick, one unfair blow, and the whole brotherhood of these Knights Templars is disgraced. They live to battle with oppression and with wrong. ”

“ You must not take the miser for your pattern, who hoards and never scatters, nor must it be sufficient for you to keep your retainers in comfort and the destitute from starvation; of your wealth you must scatter to the good and to the evil, denying yourselves that others may abound. ”

“ Your literary exertions have been rewarded this day by your admission to a University degree, but remember that with this new position you have incurred new responsibilities—not only in the promise and declaration you have made, but in the fact that you have received, as a trust, the setting forth before the world's eye in your own persons the advantages of a liberal education. ”

“ If these be wounded or injured before your eyes, much more if their trust be from yourselves. Truth will be shamed, for you will lack the courtesy of her knights.
But there is also required of the true bachelor, Munificence. that he should show munificence. This virtue you are called upon to exercise. With knowledge as your weapon, you will spoil many foes; yet your gains must not be wholly for yourselves. You must help to scatter, with a profuse hand, the intellectual wealth you have won. ”

“ You, as amongst the earlier graduates of this University, will doubtless have great influence upon your countrymen for good or evil; they will look to you for the fruits of Western learning, and by your lives will they judge of its results. ”