Goldwin Smith (1823-1910) was a British-Canadian historian and journalist. After a brilliant undergraduate career he was elected to a fellowship at University College, Oxford. He threw his keen intellect and trenchant style into the cause of university reform, the leading champion of which was another fellow of University College, Arthur Penrhyn Stanley. On the Royal Commission of 1850 to inquire into the reform of the university, of which Stanley was secretary, he served as assistant-secretary; and he was secretary to the commissioners appointed by the act of 1854. In 1868, when the question of reform at Oxford was again growing acute, he published a brilliant pamphlet, entitled The Reorganization of the University of Oxford. His chief historical writings are The United Kingdom: A Political History (1899), and The United States: An Outline of Political History (1893). Other works include: Cowper (1880), Lectures and Essays (1881), Specimens of Greek Tragedy (1893) (as translator) and...