JAMES MCGILL: A MEDLEY OF THE MAN

We've all (supposedly) heard those words ñsome may even know (but hate to admit) the old McGill school song by heart. But how many of us have a clue who the man was, other than the guy whose name sits atop our diplomas? Did you know, for instance, that McGill was "a tall, strong fellow with a sonorous voice"? Or that "he tended. . . `to corpulence in his later years' "? (No surprise there.) Or that there's no evidence that McGill "overindulged more than was common"? (But just what "common" indulgence entailed ñ this was the eighteenth century ñ is left to our imagination.)

The answers for inquiring minds can be found in a new book, James McGill of Montreal (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995), by Stanley Brice Frost, director of the History of McGill Project. This is the first published biography of McGill, and among the surprises unearthed by Frost is that McGill played such an important role in the militia and the governing of the province. Frost finds McGill to be a heroic and sympathetic "adventurer," fur trader, merchant, magistrate and militia man. As a parliamentarian in the new Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada in 1792, then in the Governor General's Executive Council, McGill and his English compatriots found themselves at loggerheads with their French peers (sound familiar?). But Frost reports that McGill, through his marriage to French Canadian widow Charlotte Guillimin, "would forge further valuable alliances with the Canadien community." Not very romantic, but at least he had foresight.

During the War of 1812, McGill was elevated to the rank of acting brigadier general in command of Montreal's militia, and the city was successfully defended in the fall of 1813. Weeks later McGill took sick, and Frost writes (maybe a tad hyperbolically), "Like Wolfe and Nelson and Brock, he died in the flush of victory."

In this biography, Frost is reluctant to touch upon the family feud which erupted after McGill's death, when his stepchildren fought in court for the £10,000 he bequeathed to found McGill College. Fortunately for us, the College won ñmarking the first in a long line of financial battles. (More dirt on those events can be found in Frost's earlier works, McGill University: For the Advancement of Learning, Volumes I and II.) But for his natural-life years, this new volume brings us some fresh insight into "our Father, oh yes, rather/James McGill."

THE WINE

Cellier James McGill, $11.95
Red and White Bordeaux Appelation ContrÙlÈe
Available at selected SAQ stores, and at the McGill Faculty Club

A press launch was recently held to launch the new James McGill red and white wines (imported from France to celebrate McGill's 175th Anniversary by our Scottish founder). A number of the University's most knowlegeable hangers on materialized.

First appeared the Great Entrepreneur, a title so derived when he ordered 50,000 volumes of a coffee-table book on the Great University. (Some are still even available for sale.) The McGill wine was wisely ordered in lesser amounts. Second was the Bank President, who had the misfortune to see his bank disappear without the help of a Wunderkind, an extraordinary feat in these days. Third was the Professor of Marketing, a representative of the Academic Community, noted for the breadth of his classes. (Only the most astute observer would notice that, whatever the title of the course, he seems to teach the same thing.) Fourth was the Visitor (not the Governor General but a fellow who had invited himself to ensure an Outside View.) Fifth was the Official Observer. Nobody knew exactly who he was but everybody knew his father. Any reader who has reached this far in the narrative will notice that, for a press launch, there were a few people lacking: that is, anyone from the press. In any event, the red wine was, we all agreed, red. It was also highly unlikely to do many people any harm. Some thought it was a little young. Others wondered about its tannin and one person made a highly embarrassing speech about the quality of its legs. All agreed the label was fine, and that the bottle was worth $11.95. The white is of higher quality than the red, having more character. I would strongly advise all who can obtain a bottle or two of the celebratory potion to organize their own tastings.

THE STATUE

Sometime next year, James McGill will re-appear on campus. No ghost, but a lifesize bronze sculpture to be erected on the lower campus. Funding has been secured from The McGill Associates, a group of philanthropic Montreal business people who are working with the Visual Arts Committee and 175th Anniversary Committee to select the sculptor, David Roper-Curzon.