The above mention of "Blairs" has reference to another scheme which Bute hoped might, if carried out, fulfil the two-fold object of strengthening the position of St. Andrews, and of raising the educational standard--an object he had much at heart--of his co-religionists in Scotland. With this view he had proposed the transference to St. Andrews, and the affiliation to the university, of the College of Blairs, near Aberdeen, the training-school of the Scots Catholic clergy; and had promised substantial help both towards the acquirement of a site, and in the endowment of the new seminary. The success of such a scheme obviously depended to great extent, if not entirely, on the concurrence of the ecclesiastical authorities. They were divided on the matter, among those opposed to the plan being the then Metropolitan of Scotland, as well as the rector of the college; and finally the Holy See, much to Bute's disappointment, decided against the project. An alternative scheme, providing for the establishment in {195} the university city of a house of studies in connection with the abbey of Fort Augustus, also proved impracticable. The Benedictines were only invited to make the foundation on the understanding that, and as long as, Bute's offer was not taken advantage of by the secular clergy, and they did not see their way to accept it under those conditions. [Sidenote: 1894, Interest in the Jews] Simultaneously with the plan just referred to, Bute likewise cherished the hope of attracting to the university members of the Jewish body, in which he had always been warmly interested. He wrote as to this on June 8, 1894: Mr. Mocatta has given me a tract, and talked to me at length of the religious desolation of the young Jews who are sent to Christian schools and colleges without any provision for their own religious instruction and practices. I am trying to persuade him and others that all they seek to gain would be gained, and all they deplore avoided, by starting a Jewish college at St. Andrews. I think the idea is dawning on them.