JBequest ot
1Re\). lb, d. Scabbing, 2).2)-
to tbe Xibrar^ ot tbe
"innivereit^ of ZToronto
X901
HANDBOUND AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/educationinoxforOOrogeuoft
®
EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
^o%
EDUCATION IN OXFOED:
ITS METHOD, ITS AIDS, AND ITS EEWAEDS.
BY
JAMES E. THOEOLD EOGEES, M.A.,
TOOKK PBOFESSOR OF ECOXOMIC SCIEXCB ASD STATISTICS, KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON ;
SOMETIME PUBLIC EXAMINER IN OXFORD ; AND ONE OF THE DELEGATES
OF THE OXFORD LOCAL EXAMINATIONS.
LONDON:
SMITH, ELDER AND CO., 65, CORNHILL
M.DCCC.LXI.
{_The right of Translation is reserved.']
PKEFACE.
The author of the following pages has more than one purpose in what he has written, and hopes to attract the attention of more than one class of readers.
First of all, he wishes to give information to that very large hody of persons who may think of placing their sons in the University of Oxford, but who know nothing but what is very vague about the studies of the university and the expenses of residence in it ; and still less about what are the material advantages procured by successful study, both during the time of an under- graduate, or student's career, and after he has proceeded to his degree. The author has reason to believe that any real knowledge about what Oxford is, does, and may do, is exceedingly rare ; and that, as with every other thing which may be in estimation, the tendency to unduly depreciate what we do not know anything about, is far more common than that to unduly exalt. Hence he concludes, if people knew more about what Oxford is, that it would be to the advantage of the university, and with it of the highest education, even
h
Tl PREFACE.
tliongli one speaks plainly of what seem to be faults and sliortcomings, and tries to distinguish the causes why this ancient seat of learning has such narrow influence, such slatternly energies.
Next, he intended to give his impressions of the way in which the Act of 1854 was working, and what was likely to be the result of the changes introduced six years ago. Partial as these changes are, they are vital and large. Coupled with them was the domestic legislation of 1850, in pursuance of which the new system of examinations was instituted, and which, with- out, it appears, intending to do so, seriously altered the previous method of the university, while professing to reform its ancient studies, and incorporate new ones with them. The persons who instituted these parlia- mentary and municipal changes in the government, material, and funds of the university, are very likely to be in the dark about their consequences, unless they have by accident been en rapport with academical life since those periods.
Next, the author took advantage of such occasions as were before him, according to the plan of his work, to suggest what appear to himself desirable modifica- tions in the existing management of the university, its extension, its utilization, and its social influences. He has not, he hopes, gone out of his way to introduce any theories of his own, for he has said very little which others have not said, or are not ready to endorse. If he has spoken too fully on such subjects, his apology lies in his attachment to Oxford, and his wish that
PREFACE. VII
those who should enjoy the benefits of a national univer- sity, were multiplied tenfold or twent3rfold.
For carrying out these purposes, he has, in the first place, said a little about what seems to be the meaning of education, and how preparation may be made in schools, in supplementary establishments, and in private teaching, for the requirement and the prospects of academical life and academical success. Such an account must be general ; he only hopes that it may not be merely superficial. Next, he has pointed out what are the relations in which the student stands to the university, and he has wished to separate as markedly as possible those relations to what may be called a municipal body, from those in which the undergraduate stands to this or that college, and which are, in a manner, domestic. Hence he has dealt in this part of his work with examinations, with public or pro- fessional teaching, with university prizes, and the significance of those mysterious appendages to people's names, which denote the degrees they have taken under the authority of the university or municipal body. Nor did he think this portion would be complete, if he did not annex to it his experience and his hopes of the Oxford local or middle class examinations.
As, however, an individual cannot be a member of this universit}', without being also a member of some college or hall, in which undergraduates are lodged, in part boarded, in some shape or the other taught, and form associations, in which they catch the tone and manner of the society to which they are attached ; it is neces-
VI 11 PREFACE.
sary to speak at length on these institutions. Here, of course, the information given is, as far as possible, precise and definite, though, for reasons which the reader will recognize and even anticipate, far less pre- cise and definite than could be wished. For within this subject lie the greater part of the questions natu- rally asked by parents and others in contemplating the university as a matter of interest to themselves or their children. What will the education cost? what is it w^orth ? what is the best college into which the intend- ing undergraduate can be introduced ? The reader will find a pretty uniform answer to the first of these ques- tions, a general one to the second, and a necessarily variable one to the third. The author has said as much as he thinks himself warranted in saying, and has ven- tured on a plainness of speech, which he hopes will argue his willingness to give as much information as he can ; and if the reader will be at the pains to consult them, he has annexed, partly in confirmation of his statements, and partly as a guide to an independent judgment, a series of tables, the interest in which will, he hopes, obviate the proverbial dryness of statistical accounts and arithmetical proportions. More minute and immediate information may be gathered from inquiry ; and it is well to inquire, and inquire fully and cau- tiously, before taking any definite step. The author would be sorry to fall into the mistake of affecting to give full information where it cannot be given.
Next, and lastly, the author has stated to the best of his power, and to the fullest extent of his information.
PREFACE. ix
what are the resources of these great and rich corpora- tions, and what is the destination of those trusts which the university and colleges hold for the benefit of pro- ficients, whether they be undergraduates or have taken their degree. The information is imperfect, and always must be. Colleges have a large power of self-govern- ment, and a great inclination to secrecy. This is especially true of the richer colleges, for some of the poorer ones rather made a display of their poverty on the occasion of the Commission. But most of the colleges resisted, and resisted successfully, any inquiry into the extent and nature of their estates. In all likelihood, the estimate given by the author will be censured as exao^crerated. He will be Had to be cor- rected by evidence.
The question, in short, which he has especially tried to solve may be put in the following shape. Are the social and material advantages attendant on success in academical life sufficient to warrant the certain expen- diture incurred for a degree, and the risk of failure even under the conditions of diligence and perseve- rance? The reader must judge how far this question is answered, though the author can assure him that he has done his best to answer it, both in its general aspect and in its particular bearings.
Perhaps he may be excused for fortifying the in- formation he does give, and the views he holds about the duties and destinies of the university, by mention- ing that he has lived in Oxford, almost continuously, for eighteen years. During that time he has been pupil.
X PREFACE.
teacher and examiner. Academical life has been his living. He has instructed several hundreds of under- graduates, and has been familiar with most forms of undergraduate capacity and conduct. He has had the pleasure of teaching many very able persons, and has done his best with the material of many very stupid ones.
But he has no interest, near or remote, with any college or hall, and, therefore, no prejudice. He has no motive to praise or dispraise. He is not open to the unconscious influence of habit or association, of esprit de corps, or local sympathy. His affections are to the university only — to the municipal, not to the domestic institution. The society to which he belongs is no more to him than a vehicle for keeping his name on the books of the university — that is, for retaining his academical suffrages ; and whatever preferences he has are due to an external and independent judgment. It is to the purpose to state this, because people who directly recommend any particular college are very often unable to give rational grounds for their recom- mendation, and the author would not have his indirect commendations misunderstood.
Oxford, Nov. 1860.
►
CONTENTS.
PART PAOS
I. — Inteoduction ... ... 1
n. — The Student and the Uniyersitt . , . . 22
III. — The College . . . , . .96
IV. — SCHOLAESHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND OTHER ENDOWMENTS 207
EDUCATIOJ^ IN OXFORD.
PAET I. INTRODUCTION.
There are few things about which people are so much agreed as on the value of education. Though they are not prepared very often to explain what they mean by education, and not very apt in determinirig what its value is, they assent to the general statement that it is of the highest value, without hesitation, and on all occasions. It is not difficult to explain why the precise appreciation of its value is rare, and why the precise signification of the word " education " is seldom arrived at. To make out, however, what each of these terms imports, is of prime necessity.
Education differs from information or knowledge. The latter is of a special character, the purport of which is to fit a man for bringing about certain definite results by the immediate operation of that knowledge which he possesses. We talk, indeed, of the education of a lawyer, a doctor, and a clergyman — of an engineer, a soldier, or a sailor ; generally meaning by it the information or knowledge which he has acquired for the immediate exercise of his vocation. But law,
1
2 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
medicine, divinity, mechanics, strategics, and naviga- tion, are not education. A man may possess any one of them and be well nigh illiterate, though of course some can more possibly coexist with want of education than others. One can conceive that a man may have a profound practical acquaintance with law, and be an uneducated person. Again, to quote an instance, the first Duke of Marlborough was one of the most skilful generals ever known, but he could not spell, and hardly write. Some men who have had the most marvellous aptitude and quickness in mechanical science, have been unable, from sheer ignorance, to sustain a common con- versation.
Education, on the other hand, deals with formalities. It does not so much aim at setting the mind right on particular points, as on getting the mind into the way of being right. It does not deal with matter, but with method. It purposes to train the thinking powers of man, not to fill the mind with facts. Hence, were it perfect, it would cultivate the intelligence so largely as to render easy the acquisition of any knowledge. It deals, in short, either directly or indirectly, with logical order and the reasoning powers. That it falls short of effecting what it purposes, is due to defects in its system, to defects in man's mind, to defects in this or that man's mind. As, however, its operation is not immediate, but only indirect, its best methods are frequently cavilled at as useless.
It may teach the logical method of thinking and reasoning. This, however, is generally too abstract for most minds, except they be more or less matured, and more or less informed on some one or two subjects. In place of this, then, it teaches ordinarily something, which is as exact an illustration of logical method as
INTRODUCTION. 3
can be, and which, being unfailing in its inferences, trains the mind in method, and often stores it with facts. In a greater or less degree, but in some degree at least, this inculcation of an abstract method is neces- sary for any kind of education, and even, except it be a mere knack, for information.
Reading and writing even are educational methods. The letters of the alphabet are abstract and arbitrary signs, the comprehension of which requires a certain amount of attention, and a separation, for a time at least, between the thing signified and the sign. After a time the use and formation of letters become almost mechanical arts, though this is, to be sure, the case witli all perfect methods ; for what we call a mechanical process in the mind, means a habit the exercise of which is so rapid, that we are unable to follow it, and so sure about it as not to need to follow it. Arithmetic, the science of abstract numbers, is an educational method of great and well nigh universal necessity, though it is also of great practical utility in its application to details and facts. By far the majority of people who learn ai'ithmetic fully, never need use more than its simplest rules. So, in a still more marked way, is it with geometry, and certain other familiar educational pro- cesses. To illustrate these methods, however, we need the presence of a certain number of facts, and to arrange and classify these facts we need more or less of these methods.
Now, it is plain that some of these methods have so obvious and universal a practical application that they must be possessed by everybody who wishes to carry on, except in the lowest station, the commonest business of life. Hence they are looked on as pieces of know- ledge or information, as they have a direct result. Thus
1—2
4 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
it is that the confusion commences between education and information. It is not difficult to put knowledge and method in strong contrast, but it is not easy to say where method ends and knowledge begins.
The value of education is measured by three rules. What is it worth to the individual possessing it ? What is the worth which society assigns to it ? What is its material worth, or, in other words, what advantages are connected with it, which may be reduced with greater or less exactness to pounds, shillings, and pence ? The first of these aspects of the value of education is apt to be measured by the other two ; but unless a man is to merely live by other people's good opinion, or to merely follow that which will increase his balance at his banker's, the first has a fair claim to independent consideration.
All judgments which have been worked out by a man's own mind, all general principles which have in- fluenced society, all directions of original thought, have come from the first of these values of education. In the worth of education to the individual who has it lie all the facts of human progress, and all hope of human progress. And in it, too, are all the consolations of the man himself, whether they be escape from prevalent error, or relief from the toil of labour, or the shield of a rational self-respect.
The social worth of education is not so great, indeed, as it might be, but it is very large. It is true that the immediate product of certain branches of information is so visible and so tangible that the disposition of man- kind would be to sacrifice method to knowledge, were it not for the urgency of a competition among those w^ho possess knowledge, and among whom the man who has at once method and knowledge is pretty sure to win the day. The influence of educated men on society, and
INTRODUCTION. 5
the respect of society to educated men, would be more general and more reciprocally beneficial, if more edu- cated men applied their method to the ordinary business of life. That they do not do so, is, perhaps, in great degree" the fault of those institutions where the best education is given. I have not the slightest doubt that a person who had studied successfully, as he would do if he studied honestly, at the universities, would in trade, or any other business, speedily outrun compe- titors who had not the same advantages as himself. They do so ordinarily in those occupations which they undertake. They would do so in more, were not the expenses of the university a serious impediment to their popularity.
The material advantages of education are exceedingly large. Not only is it daily more and more the case that a certain status of educational method is being required for public employment, but beyond doubt it will b© so in private employment, where offices are those of trust. But this is a small matter compared with the singular pe- cuniary aids and rewards which are attached to grammar- schools and colleges. I believe I have fair grounds for concluding that in Oxford alone these aids and rewards amount to half a million of annual income. Twenty years ago. Professor Huber set the income of the uni- versity and colleges in Oxford at more than 300,000^ per annum. I am convinced that he understated the amount very largely ; and there must be added to this, benefactions since ; the vast enhancement in the value of estates, most academical endowments being improve- able freeholds ; the proceeds of a successful and lucrative trade, that of the press ; and the income of accumulations which were not dreamt of by the diligent German. The income-tax assessment of college and university
6 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
property in Oxford alone, is 58,000^. annually. Besides these there are the exhibitions from grammar-schools, miserably and scandalously perverted as these are, but still part and parcel of those aids to what professes to be the highest education in England.
Education, and education of the highest and most universal method, is what is professedly given at the English universities. I do not pretend in this work, however, to make any reference to other systems than that prevailing in Oxford, still less to make comparisons between Oxford and its amicable rivals. There is hardly a single special branch of human learning for which a teacher is not provided in Oxford, hardly one which is taught as a science of facts.
Most people think that Oxford is a training school for clergymen. It is undoubtedly the case that by far the majority of Oxford graduates take holy orders, there being only twenty-seven per cent, of its masters of arts who are not clergymen. But Oxford does not teach clergymen. Its instruction in theology is of the scantiest and most meagre order, comprising ordinarily such in- formation as would be given by any Christian parent to the members of his household, and in the case of those who purpose entering the Church, the attendance on one or two courses of professorial lectures. These are of very little profit, not because the professors may not be willing to extend the utilities of their office, but because attendance on these lectures is merely the com- pliance with a requisition on the part of bishops. Were it not for this episcopal rule, there would not be, I believe, half a dozen hearers to each of the four divinity professors. It is true, indeed, that one of the conditions of a degree is that professed members of the English Church should be able to translate the gospels and the
INTRODUCTION. 7
Acts of the Apostles; but this is quite asmuch^ or more, an examination in Greek, than in the contents of the narrative. The bishops require a degree in most cases, and so clergymen must be trained at one of the uni- versities ; they do not require, indeed cannot get, any profound acquaintance with theology out of their can- didates, and so the clerical education, unlike any other, is supposed to be finished when a course of secular teaching, which is mainly, as I have said, a teaching of method, is gone through.
There is a popular, but I believe very shallow notion, that the course of academical instruction is not useful. It is not worth while to revive a discussion settled long since, about the relative advantages of what are called practical sciences, and what is called nuere mental culture. It is sufficient to say, that the world would go on very poorly without both. Exclusive cultivation of mere physical knowledge would leave a very intelligible gap in those moral and intellectual forces which for good or evil, but especially for good, have such weight for the collective destinies of mankind. That mere mental culture should supersede the developments of the knowledge of the material universe is unlikely ; the danger is, and has been, on the other side, and this with but one exceptional period, from the beginning of history. The advantage of an acquaintance with some branch of practical philosophy is so obvious and imme- diate that one is perpetually reminded of the risks which educational method runs in either being confounded with the knowledge of facts, or of being ignored alto- gether, or of the experts in the one branch of human science disdaining and disliking contact with the other, and men being divided as to the most fundamental securities of progress and civilization. It was with
8 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
reason that Bacon asserted that his logic of facts would equalize all intellects. But great as the vantage ground is which is promised for such learning by those simple rules of inference which he iirst called attention to, the result has been that the mere acquaintance with such a method has caused it to cease from being an engine of education properly so called.
The part played by the universities in the general education of the country, and in the moral forces which govern it, is of the last and greatest importance.
Unlike analogous establishments in continental cities, the universities are municipal bodies, possessing very large powers of self-government — powers only invaded in modern times in order to give them more flexibility, and in effect more power. Fortunately, they are not situated in large towns, where other interests ^would clash with theirs. As they receive no assistance from the public purse, and were not at any time, except in a very insignificant degree, beholden to the Crown for any of their endowments, but w^ere wholly the creations of private munificence, the interference of the State with their organization and emoluments could not take place except in pursuance of the privileges which they might possibly enjoy, wliich, by the way, are very scanty, or of their coming under the head of trust-estates, to be administered for limited, but for public purposes. The faculty of self-government is the essence of the English universities, as indeed it is of all institutions worth any- thing in the country.
Again, they educate, though they do not specially inform, the greater pai't of the English clergy, and a very large number of lay persons. Whatever else they may do, or may not do, the Enghsh clergy do more to break the fall between the rich and those who are
INTRODUCTION. 9
indifferently off than any other class in the State. By prescription and by the anomalous condition of eccle- siastical endowments, they are very poor. By education and associations they are gentlemen, and generally so by birth. Thus they act as intermediaries. And, in respect of lay persons, it is easy to point to the lawyers and statesmen who have received their educational training at the universities, to the numbers of men who have been sustained by college endowments during the arduous expectancy of professional success, however diflScult it may be to denote distinctly the part which academical education has had in the eminence and success of such personages.
Again, they present the maximum standard of an English education. With more or less success, similar institutions aim at a method of training very much akin to that which prevails at the universities. There are, it is true, gymnasia, and schools which deal with special branches of information, such as medicine, chemistry, mechanics, and the like, which subjects the university could not teach if it would, for the materials are not, and cannot be, at its disposal, and should not if it could, as by doing so, it would transgress the limits which are so justly assigned to it, as a typical place of education.
Lastly, except in very trivial and vanishing points, they inculcate an equality between all classes of students, whatever be their means, and whatever their antecedents. Social rank as part of public life, and as a stimulant to proper self-respect, has and will have its value, but degrees in it are out of place among young men who are under a common discipline. Large means at command will act powerfully upon the world at large, and secure a numerous following; but young men ought not to worship the golden image in the persons of their fellow
10 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
youths, and what is more, in Oxford at least, it does not appear that they do.
School Education. — The education given in gram- mar-schools, and they are reckoned, endowed and proprietary, in England, by hundreds, culminates in that which forms the staple of academical success. Like the colleges, they are generally the result of private bene- volence, though Eton was founded by Henry VI., Westminster, in some degree, by Henry VHL, and a few establishments were created from the wreck of monastic property by Edward YI., or rather his counsellors. But for the rest, they are mainly due to the munificence of private persons, the Crown in this country never having been noted for bestowing any portion of its wealth on learning, and generally, indeed, from the time of the Tudors, having very little wealth to bestow.
In most endowed grammar-schools, the greater part of the revenues are consumed in the payments made to the masters, and in repairs of school buildings. But there are very few which do not possess, either in addi- tion to the original endowment, or from the dispositions of the founder, or by the increased value of the school estate, certain funds for the maintenance of one or more of their scholars at one or the other of the universities. Occasionally these endowments are limited to a par- ticular university, or a particular college, but generally the recipient of the benefaction has the right of choosing his own university. In some few of the great grammar- schools alone, the amount of these exhibitions, as they are called, is more than 10,000?. a year. But I shall have more to say of these aids in the Fourth Part of this work. It is sufficient to say, that there is very little
INTRODUCTION. 11
accessible information as to the amount and destination of these revenues.
The endowed grammar-schools which are the great feeders of the universities are Eton, Westminster, Winchester, Harrow, Rugby. To these may be added Merchant Taylors', which owes its connection with the university to the fact that White, the founder of St. John's College, annexed his benefaction for the most part to this school ; and the Charter House, the exhibi- tions from which, assigned to residence in the university, are understood to be numerous and valuable. The Charter-house School, however, is well nigh the worst job in all England.
Other endowed grammar-schools supply, in greater or less degree, members to the university, by the exhibi- tions connected with them. It is almost impossible to arrive at what these exhibitions are, and it is not gene- rally worth while, as almost all endowed grammar- schools are in an unsatisfactory state, if we estimate them by their products in the Oxford examinations. In some of the greater ones, there are advantages of a social kind of no small value : school friendships and associations are more firmly retained than any other which arise subsequently ; but unless we extend the word education to that which boys get from boys, exceedingly valuable as this is, these schools, considering their opulence and their numbers, bring forth marvel- lously small academical fruit.
Of late years, schools called public, but differing nothing from private schools in their origin, have been founded on two distinct principles, and bid fair to com- pete successfully with the old public schools. There is a very considerable number of one kind, and there are two of another. The first of these is the class of
12 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
proprietary schools ; the last is that in which the sons of the clergy have differential advantages.
Proprietary schools are, in reality, schools founded on the principle of co-operation. The shareholders in these schools have a body of directors, or a committee of management, and these parties elect and dismiss their head and other masters. The advantages of the scheme are manifest, the danger in these schools being that the managing body is apt to interfere too much in those details which are best left to the head-master. There is occasionally, too, in the method of these institutions, a tendency to a slavish sectarianism, and a want of healthy feeling.
The proprietors either procure differential advantages to their own children, or receive dividends on their ad- vances. Hence they are natm-ally induced to send their own sons to these schools, and to induce others to do the like. Each proprietor is in effect a sort of private ad- vertisement to the school. The institution has no need, in the ordinary course of its existence, to pass through that period of establishing a reputation, which is the most serious obstacle to success in the efforts of private individuals. It starts, as all co-operative societies of supply start, with a goodwill of customers ready made.
In cases where the head-master is at once competent and left in great degree to his own discretion, these proprietary schools have been exceedingly successful. Though the institution is favourably placed from its very commencement, it needs diligence and continued success to hold its own. It is affected by the wholesome stimulus of competition, a spur to which the mass of public schools is insensible. If a parent wishes his son to be well taught, by far the safest place of education is a well and carefully managed proprietary school. The
INTRODUCTION. 13
reputation of some of these institutions is great and deserved, though in the face of so many doing well, it would be invidious to cite some, and wearisome to give all cases.
Similar to these proprietary schools, but differing from them in their constitution, are the two great schools of Marlborough and Rossall Hall. These in- stitutions were, I believe, set on foot mainly by the instrumentality of the present dean of Manchester. The chief characteristic in them is that the sons of clergymen are admitted at less charges than the sons of other parties. This economical error, if error it be, is committed on the avowed ground of the narrowness of clerical incomes, and the equity of providing, if possible, means for the sons of the clergy to receive that education which their parents have had before them. Many other professional bodies have followed this example. There are schools, for instance, for the sons of medical men, and for the sons of commercial travellers, in which the same dif- ferential rates are held. The idea is not an original one, having been borrowed from the graduated system pre- vailing in military schools, where there are many rates of charge. But these military schools are, unlike those which I have referred to, supported by a public grant.
Of these two schools, one is intended for the south, Marlborough ; the other for the north of England. The former is an exceedingly useful educational insti- tution, instructing as many boys as any of the public schools, and turning out a very large number of suc- cessftd candidates for college scholarships. The latter, for several reasons, has not yet developed its resources to the full. But under the working of the same princi- ples one may predict similar results.
There are very many private schools in England.
14 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
These establishments are, of course, superintended by persons of very various capacity, and with very various success. But when one reflects that there is no possible rule by which the efiiciency of the teacher in these schools can be guaranteed, or the worth of his method tested, except by means of those local examinations which the university of Oxford instituted three years ago, it is not very safe, unless from, very good private information, to entrust the education of a boy intended for the universities to any of these parties. Parents are unhappily very ill-informed on these subjects, and, to all appearance, very indifferent about information on them. Dr. This and Dr. That advertise and puff their schools, and people are taken in by the shallowest pre- tences in the most serious and important matters. Often and often have I known schoolmasters, of considerable connection and some repute, who have entered them- selves at the university, and who have attempted to pass its examinations, but who have displayed an ignorance so gross, that they have been obliged to abandon the hope of a degree in an English imiversity, and to accept, in its place, one of the German diplomas, which, if all be true that is told, are hawked about by London agents, and bestowed on parties who procure satisfactory testimonials, and send an essay, which somebody else may have written, and which, in all likelihood, no one of the German degree-mongers takes the trouble to read.
Education in all grammar-schools is pretty uniform. The Greek and Latin languages, and composition in these tongues, the composition bemg generally verse, are the staple of the education given in them. Latterly these schools have instructed their boys in aritlmietic and occasionally in the higher branches of mathematics.
INTRODUCTION. 15
Modern languages, even English, are taught but rarely, and seldom well. Physical science hardly at all ; history and its cognate branches of knowledge in a miserably barren fashion. Ordinarily, too, it is held that, consider- ing the length of time devoted to the subjects, no great progress is made in the classical languages. But per- haps when one considers the mode of teaching, that namely in a class, and the fact, that it is next to im- possible for the schoolmaster to prevent the better scholars from prompting and helping the more ignorant, or from a give-and-take system of mutual help, one does not wonder that, with few exceptions, the progress of lads in these institutions is not satisfactory. Nor does the annual examination practised in most such schools by some persons who are expected to test the proficiency of the boys, seem at all conclusive as to their progress. The best test that could be applied is the university local examinations. These, however, are described in a subsequeiit chapter.
It need hardly be said, that the personnel of the head- master in a grammar-school has the largest and most important influence upon the character and success of the boys. It is notorious that Rugby owes its reputation to Dr. Arnold, who was not, except in the eyes of those who worship him and his memory blindly, anything of a profound scholar. In the same way schools which have been drooping and declining for a long time under men of, it may be, great scholastic acquirements, revive under the direction of persons with less pretensions for learn- ing, but more administrative abilities, and more practical views. The fact is, the regime of a grammar-school is something more than books and classes, and the most successful teachers have been those who have formed habits, rather than filled heads.
16 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Most grammar-schools are presided over by masters of arts, and other graduates who have attained dis- tinction at the university to which they belong. Indeed, many of the best men at the universities migrate to schools, the office of a schoolmaster being looked for- ward to by such persons as a means of starting in life, since the material prospects of these functionaries are considerably better than what is commonly available in the university itself.
It is not possible to give any rule about the choice of a school for those boys who are by way of finally becoming members of the universities. The reputation of schools varies, and varies annually. On general principles, however, derived from the constitution of these establishments, those are most likely to be satisfactory in which the proprietary system is worked by a prudent body of directors and a competent and active head- master, and next to these the great grammar-schools, whose endowments are of sufficient value for the creation of a staff of persons fit for the offices they hold, and whose credit is strong enough to make them anxious to retain a past reputation. Last of all are private schools, the merit and hope of which are very low, and which in- deed rarely succeed in bringing about any result in supply to the university. Occasionally lads are educated at home and take a high position. I remember to have heard, that the members of one family, all of whom were of great distinction at Oxford, were all educated by their father in his country parsonage.
Boys are, as a rule, retained at grammar-schools till they are able to enter the university. The practice, which is comparatively speaking a modern one, has something to be said in its favour, but far more, I imagine, to its disadvantage.
INTRODUCTION. 17
It lias, perhaps, the advantage of keeping a youth up to the work which has ordinarily a practical value in the election to college scholarships. The examinations for these advantages generally copy what prevails in the teaching of an upper form in a grammar-school, and the lads at these schools are, it is understood, habitually drilled in the sort of papers which are set in college examinations. It by no means, however, follows that the successful competitors for college scholar- ships will make an equally successful figure in the final trials. Of course, if a college examination is perfect, it will not only estimate the present, but predict the future ; and it is understood that in one or two colleges of great credit this compound of estimate and prediction is actually effected. But, beyond doubt, the efibrts of these tests should be to discourage mere cram, the bane, and the increasing bane, of competitive education. Yet the power of the examiners, like that of the teachers, is by no means so common as examiners themselves suppose.
Again, it is not easy to find any satisfactory method for employing the last year or two, between the time when boys used to leave school — i, e. between sixteen and seventeen — and that at which they should enter the university — eighteen or nineteen. At the same time, this year is, perhaps, the most important of all in the preparation for academical life.
On the other hand, it is dangerous to immediately transfer a youth from the discipline of a school to the freedom of a college. The beginning of academical residence is very critical ; most of those who go to the bad, and many do this who graduate in the end, have their bias given them in the first term or first year of their residence.
2
18 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Again : though those boys at a school who are of marked capacity or notable perseverance get on in the course of upper-form school education, it is not clear that those of inferior capacity or less perseverance do so in a similar ratio. Discipline over the intellectual progress of great boys is not so easy. There are abundant opportunities for escaping work. In the course of things, there is no opportunity for dealing individually with minds. There are certain periods in the education of young persons when personal and indi- vidual supervision and training are of the last account. And I feel persuaded that these periods are at the begin- ning and end of the university course. To be in the upper form of a public school is a dignity suggestive to many lads of ease, and rest, and quiet days, and no more work. To be transferred to the process of an inter- mediate training for the university is a new beginning, and a fresh stimulus.
Rather a lax morality prevails in public schools as to the relations of master and pupil. There is reason to believe that this has been imported into the univer- sity in the shape of taking unfair advantage in public examinations. Boys, it is said, look on their chief as their natural enemy ; but it is just as well that this notion as regards the university should be interrupted, by bringing lads to the knowledge that the university is not a gathering of mere upper-form boys.
Education Intermediate to School and College. — One of the most useful institutions in the country is that of King's College, London. Founded in the first instance as a place of education for members of the English Church, in connection with the London Uni- versity, and in some degree, at least, in rivalry to
INTEODUCTION. 19
University College, in Gower Street, it has supplied a certain number of graduates to the metropolitan university, hut has also established a net-work of grammar-schools in connection with itself, and annually provides a very considerable body of students to the other universities. It affords a convenient opportunity for employing a year or two of time between leaving school and entry at the university, and it gives much the same instruction as that at the best Oxford and Cambridge colleges. I can only say, for my own part, that the advantages I derived from a year and a halPs study at King's College were larger and more sugges- tive than any which I ever procured from academical instruction. The professors and lecturers at King's College have to keep up their reputation by the success of their pupils.
For those whose parents live in London, the com- bination of domestic discipline with careful and sound instruction is easy and ready. And when those who do not reside in the metropolis wish to avail themselves of the benefits which such an institution gives, there are, I am informed, facilities for boarding young persons in the houses of certain parties whose names and charges are to be learned by application at the college office.
General students, as such persons are called who contemplate a degree in arts either at the London University or in Oxford or Cambridge, are instructed in Greek and Latin, mathematics, modern history, and one or more modern languages.
There are other institutions where such an interme- diate education is possible, but I am not aware of any which is specially designed for the purpose, and where the prevailing purpose of the establishment is the pre- paration for academical life.
2—2
20 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Better, however, than this system, is that of private tuition for some definite period before entry at the university, provided the instruction is obtained from those who are competent to teach, and are well up to the present tone of academical work. Best of all, when such a teacher lives in or near the precincts of the university.
No doubt private tuition has fallen somewhat into disrepute. This is due in some degree to its expen- siveness, but in a very large degree to the inefficiency of persons who take on themselves the duties of pre- paring young men for the university. There is not a country parson, however hardly he may have procured his degree himself, or however remote he may be from the present status of academical education, who does not confidently take in hand the difficult task of bring- ing up young men for entrance into the university. I have known men who have been plucked ad libitum, but do not hesitate to take these functions on themselves with the greatest equanimity.
But private instruction in the hands of competent persons is of great value for the pupil, and the more so when it takes place in the university itself. Young persons are brought in contact, under judicious super- intendence, with the dangers which beset them on entering upon college life, and they see much which they learn to avoid, as most of the fascination of those mischievous practices which ruin so many young men re- sides in the novelty of the scene which they are entering on. To keep young men in the dark, and under strong checks while they are at school and at home, and then to give them their head and their sight when discipline is impossible, and habits of self-restraint are not formed, is about the surest way of giving common temptations
INTRODUCTION. 21
an irresistible force. One of the reasons brought forward in the debates on the University Reform Act of 1859, for the establishment of private halls, was the facility they would afford for a discipline or a supervision which college authorities could neither exact nor restore. All this is secured by some time of residence in the private house of a person whose character is assured, and whose fitness may be easily ascertained.
Apart, however, from the moral reasons for such a preliminary course of instruction — and they could be multiplied, and, indeed, will suggest themselves to the mind of the reader — there are material* considerations of no small weight which belong to such a plan of procedure. An undergraduate can procure his degree at the end of three years from his matriculation. Ordi- narily he does not procure it for five. And the reason is plain. There are no means by which any college instruction will make up for inefficient preparation. Send a youth to the university without his being fit to pass the first examination at his entrance — and there are many who are unprepared — and it takes a long time for him to fit himself. He may, it is true, and often does, procure private instruction while he is an undergraduate, but this is by irregular snatches, by a superficial cram, and without lasting good. I am per- suaded that on the score of economy, both of time and money, such preparation would be amply recompensed..
PAET 11.
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY.
Periods in the Histokt of Oxford. — The period at which the valley of the Isis became a seat of national education is out of all memory or record. We have no information of the causes which led to the selec- tion of this spot, and how it came to pass that the earliest notices of it speak of the academical features of this city as habitual and familiar. No document affecting its constitution, as yet brought to light, is of an earlier date than the latter part of the reign of Henry HI., and yet we read of Henry H.'s judges dining with the masters of the schools of Oxford, in one of their progresses, as though they were parties to be mentioned without explanation or comment, as they must have been personages of distinction. The first hints given us of tlie existence of a university in Oxford, present us with the fact of its being fully and immemorially recognized as a place of education. And, similarly, the first endowments by which learning was encouraged (and academical antiquaries inform us that they are fragments of larger donations), were bestowed on the corporation, or assigned to the natives of parti- cular regions — and especially to the north of England — on the ground that the resources of these distant and im- poverished provinces could hardly find the means of aca- demical instruction. The terms " university," ^' master,"' " bachelor," are not suggestive of any period in history
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 23
from which their first mention could designate the beginnings of these familiar and definite phrases. The first merely means "corporation," and was im- ported into English bj the civil jurists. The last two are merely titles of respect common to other and very different classes of society. The origin of this ancient corporation, like the origin of the common law, is unknown, but its privileges and prestige in ancient times were as national and as accepted as they have become limited and obscure. Persons crowded into Oxford from all parts of England, in order to acquire such learning as was at that time known and taught, and the existing customs of the place gave every facility to the numbers who made use of its advan- tages.
The founder of the first college was Merton, Bishop of Rochester, who removed some students, whom he had settled in Surrey, to this university. In course of time, that is, between this period and that of the Reformation, eight other colleges were founded, and three more, which were hardly other than precarious establishments, were incorporated. But those foun- dations do not appear to have been intended to receive more than those whom the original founder or subse- quent benefactors wished to assist. The great mass of students lived in houses under the direction of a Prin- cipal, whom they elected, and who was security for the rent and other properties of the tenement which they occupied. These tenements were called Halls, and they were, in the period preceding the Reformation, exceedingly numerous.
As might have been expected from any sudden and general change, the university was seriously affected by the Reformation. The vast numbers who had been
24 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
sent during some period of their career to study in the university from the monasteries, at once ceased to ap- pear, though great endeavours were made to supply some specially authorized teaching which should be based on more rational grounds than the scholastic jargon and profitless subtleties of the earlier method. This was the time in which the great professorships of Divinity, Hebrew, and Greek were founded ; the purpose of the last two being the interpretation of the sacred text, with a view to the encouragement of a critical theology. At the same time the work of creating colleges was carried on. The existing ones purchased the sites of the ancient halls at easy rates — almost at nominal rates, since when those houses were once devoted to academical purposes they were incapable of being secularized, and three more colleges were founded within little more than thirty years. The reign of Elizabeth saw another, that of James the First two more, and finally one other arose in the last year of Anne's reign.
Meanwhile, those independent students who had filled the numerous halls of the earlier history of the university had departed. In the time of Elizabeth only eight halls remained, three of which formed so many colleges. Of these three one was at the time of its conversion into a college, little better than a ruin, and another was lost with the college into which it was converted. This unfortunate society was Hertford College, which maintained a languishing existence for nearly sixty years. The university was being gra- dually absorbed into these collegiate foundations, and nothing but a legislative Act was needed by which the existence of any independent body of students would be absolutely annulled, and the colleges with the five remaining halls become the university.
\
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 25
This Act was procured by the instrumentality of Laud, Chancellor of the University from the year 1630. Till his imprisonment by the Long Parliament he gave the most minute attention to its discipline, and while he framed statutes for its guidance, watched their main- tenance with a sort of affectionate rigour. Among others, he procured that by which it became necessary for every student and every graduate to be a member of some existing college or hall, the former being bound to reside within the walls of a college or hall, and the latter to keep his name on the books of the society. The statute created a monopoly, in which there was no competition, and from which, except by the sacrifice of academical privileges, there was no escape. This statute, interpreted subsequently with some laxity, was re-enacted at the close of the last century, and except on rare occasions, or under definite circum- stances, has been interpreted rigorously. The colleges have completely absorbed the University, though the functions of the aggregate corporation are distinct from those of the private corporations, however blended they are to general observation.
The administration of this united body was carried on by self-originated statutes, under a constitution created by Laud, in which the initiative of all measures was reserved to the heads of the colleges and halls. The con- firmation of these measures after a formal publication in a formal meeting, was left to the suffrages of the convoca- tion, that is, the aggregate of those doctors and masters who complied with the requisition of retaining their names on the books of some college or hall, and who could, on their being summoned, accept or reject, but not alter the measures proposed to them. Debate was permitted in Latin only, and the legislative power was virtually
26 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
lodged in the authorities who formed the board from which the measures emanated.
Six years ago (1854) this constitution was remodelled by Parliament. The Laudian Statutes were continued, with certain alterations, in their integrity, the chief object of the Act being to change the constitution of the colleges. The university was still left in the same negative position as before, overwhelmed by a series of powerful interests, generally harmonious, and only slightly antagonistic. In^the endeavour to liberalize the college endowments, the characteristics of the collegiate system were left unchanged, and the attempt to open the imiversity to the nation at large was confined to a clause empowering the creation of private halls, according to the ancient system, the conditions of whose existence were left to parties interested, according to the ordinary reasoning of the occupants of a monopoly, in preventing their existence at all. Unfortunately, they who might have asserted the nationality, and secured the indepen- dence of the university, were ill-informed, and the evi- dence collected by the Commissioners, from which they should have derived information, was cumbrous, dull, con- tradictory, and delusive. I have referred to these facts, in order to point out how intrinsically the university is dis- tinct from the Colleges ; how that antiquity and design, to which appeals are with great justice made, when inno- vations are deprecated, seeing that much of the reputation of Oxford rests on its appeal to sympathy with past history, are in favour of the restoration of a body of independent students, who are unconnected with the private corporations, and how the university is, in its fullest sense, national, and should be to the fullest extent coincident with the learning of the country, and Avith what ought, in the aggregate of industry and intel-
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 27
ligence, to have the largest facilities for that extension of the period of study, out of which the best service can be rendered subsequently to the community at large* And though I do not propose to make this little work generally critical, yet it becomes a necessity in the outset, when one has to distinguish matters which are confounded, to point to the cause of the confusion, that one may show how important an issue is involved in the distinction.
The University. — This corporation is known by the name of the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford. The first-named personage is generally a nobleman of considerable eminence, who is supposed to watch over the interests of those who have elected him from his seat in the House of Lords. Prac- tically, however, he does not interfere with the business of the university, those offices which reside in liira being fulfilled by a deputy, the Vice-chancellor. This personage is, in effect, the highest official in Oxford, He is not elected, but the various heads of colleges occupy the office in a rotation according to seniority, the tenure of their office being four years. The Vice-chancellor admits all persons to matriculation and degrees — to the former by virtue of his office, to the latter as the mouth- piece of Convocation.
Joined to the Vice-chancellor are two other persons, known as the Proctors. These officers, nominated annually out of the colleges and halls, are entrusted with the discipline of the students whenever they are outside the walls of the college to which they belong. Within those walls, students are supposed to be under the care of the domestic authorities. In order to carry out this discipline upon breaches of academical order
28 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
and morality, tlie Proctors are invested with certain ex- traordinary magisterial powers ; and that they may be able more effectually to provide against any incon- venience from misconduct or other causes, they have each two deputies, who exercise a delegated power nearly identical with that of the Proctors. Certain other officers of the university are also invested with partial and local powers of the same nature, and of course the functions possessed by proctors are also possessed by the Vice- chancellor, to whom there is an appeal from their sentence.
The general age of matriculation is about eighteen years. As a rule, it is unwise to enter the university at an earlier age, as younger persons are not, of course, so competent to contest for academical distinctions and prizes with their seniors. The process of matriculation is very simple. The person to be matriculated is presented to the Vice-chancellor by the authorized officer of the college or hall, at which he has to enter, is admonished to observe the statutes, and presented with a copy of them. He pays also certain fees. These are graduated according to certain ranks, a nobleman or a peer's eldest son paying 8^. ; a privileged person (the phrase will be explained hereafter), 5L ; ordinary students, 21, 8s. ; and Bible clerks and servitors, 10s. The gowns and caps worn by the matriculated person are allotted to the several ranks, the shape and material of which differ. There is the nobleman's gown, a gentleman commoner's, a commoner's, a scholar's, and a servitor's. In the first two cases the gown is made of silk and the cap of velvet. In the last cases the gown is made of stuff, and the cap of cloth. The good taste of most colleges has led them to decline receiving students distinguished by the dress of the nobleman and
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 29
gentleman commoner, and to insist on persons who might claim these dresses appearing as commoners. Practically the class of nobleman and gentleman com- moners— the term is used of the dress — is confined to Christ Church. In one or two of the halls, and at one of the colleges, advantage is taken of the greater age of students to oblige them to appear as gentleman com- moners. The largest number of these is at Magdalene Hall. By far the majority of the members of the university are what are called Commoners. All persons on the foundation of a college, who are as yet undis- tinguished by a degree, are familiarly known as Scholars, and form the second division in extent.
The subsequent relations of the student to the university consist in his annual payment of IZ. 8s, to the academical exchequer, in his undergoing examina- tions demanded by the university, previous to gradation, and in his takinor deg-rees.
Ordinarily the student proceeds to degrees in arts. This term is technical, and suggests nothing except on explanation. Should the student wish to graduate in any other faculty, he has to submit to the examinations requisite for degrees in arts, as well as to those demanded by his special faculty. These faculties are Divinity, Physic, and Law. Degrees in Divinity are practically nothing but the payment of a sum of money. Those in Law are procured by examination, and those in Physic also. As might be expected, the examination in the latter faculty is the most rigorous. There seems no reason to doubt that degrees in Law will cease tx) be taken, and it is very unlikely that Oxford will ever be a medical school. It is desirable, however, to show what is the course intended by the academical body in re- lation to this faculty, in a subsequent part of this work.
30 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
To all practical purposes, the course of study which the university prescribes, is that of Arts.
Degrees in Arts. — These degrees are two, those of Bachelor and Master. The former of these only is obtained by examination, the latter is a mere matter of time and money.
The examinations which must be undergone for the degree of bachelor of arts, are four in number. The first is called Responsions, and is popularly known as Little-go. The next is called the first public examina- tion, and is known as Moderations. The third is the second public examination ; and the fourth on one of three subjects — mathematics and physics, natural science, law and modern history. The first three must be passed by every candidate, and the choice of the last is voluntary. Different periods in the course of aca- demical standing are assigned to each examination. The responsions may be as early as the first term ; the first public examination not earlier than the seventh term; the second public examination not earlier than the eleventh term. Exception is made in favour of noblemen and privileged persons. These can, in case they are not on the foundation of any college, be exa- mined and graduate at earlier dates. Privileged persons are the sons of noblemen and the eldest sons of baronets and knights. Limits are assigned at which honours can be taken in each of three public examinations. Those in the first cannot be got later than the twelfth term ; those in the second public examination, not later than the eighteenth from matriculation. There are four terms in the year.
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 31
The Examination called Responsions. — In the computation of the sixteen terms necessary for a degree, that in which the student is entered by matriculation at the university counts as one. Immediately on his residence, he is therefore able to proffer himself for this examination, and it is to be regretted that the authorities have not sanctioned the rule, that this first probation should not precede residence, if not matriculation. A person who cannot pass responsions ought not to be at the university at all, and as no distinction is made between those who pass this examination ill and those who pass it well, the minimum which it implies might fairly be claimed from all parties who wish to make a trial for academical degrees. Much mischief would be obviated, since disappointment and expense to parents, and sloven- liness in study, arise from the absence of this preliminary test. But faihng this corrective, the examination should be passed as early as possible.
It is a feature of the Oxford schools that the subjects ' proffered by the candidates are in some degree optional. Part of the method and quantity is prescribed, but variety is left to the discretion of the individual. In this examination the optional part is the selection of the portion of a Latin and Greek author, and the choice between two books of Euclid and the rudiments of algebra. The prescribed parts are arithmetic as far as decimal ' fractions, translation from English into Latin, and a series of questions on Latin and Greek grammar. During two days the candidates are examined on paper, and then, after an alphabetical order, vivct voce; oppor- tunity being given, except in very bad cases, of re- trieving errors and making up deficiencies by fresh papers. They who satisfy the examiners receive a paper attesting their satisfaction, which paper is called
32 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
a testamur. They who fail to satisfy the examiners are said to be " plucked," a term peculiar to Oxford, but now become almost universal. Of course, the average of rejected candidates is no great guide. It amounts to about 25 per cent. At least this was my experience when I filled the office of master of the schools, the name given to the examiners in responsions or little-go.
The First Public Examination. — This examination is conducted by officers called Moderators, and is the most difficult of all those which the candidate for an ordinary degree has to undergo. As before, certain parts of the examination are optional ; the selection, as before, being left to the candidate of the poet and orator, portions of whose works he must proffer. One of these must be Latin, the other Greek, and in effect, the pass candidate generally chooses Cicero and Homer, or some tragedian. He has the option of three books of Euclid and algebra to quadratic equations, or logic. As before, he is called upon to translate English into Latin, and to answer grammatical questions on both lan- guages. Added to these, he must offer the four Gospels in Greek, and is expected to answer certain questions arising from their contents, at the discretion of the moderators. A competent acquaintance with this por- tion of the examination is indispensable, and no excel- lence can countervail the defect of this knowledge. From those who are not members of the Church of England an equivalent quantity of secular knowledge is demanded, which must be satisfactorily known before the success of the candidate can be contemplated.
Subsequently to this ordinary examination, those among the candidates who wish to pass with distinction, and who are therefore selected from the general mass.
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVEESITY. 33
are taken apart. The guide to their purpose is the number of authors they proffer, and which must include at least a poet and an orator. A far longer and more searching inquiry is made into the proficiency of these candidates, the paper work extending over nearly a week. Logic, and this especially from an analytical point of view, is required ; and great stress is laid on the exhi- bition of that scholarship which is carefully taught in schools, such as composition in prose and verse, with an empirical knowledge of grammar, and some acquaint- ance with philological theories, such, for instance, as are contained in the Cratylus and Yarronianus of Dr. Donaldson. The examination, in short, is one which would be passed most effectively by persons who had been well drilled in the upper forms of public schools. After the examination is concluded, a list is published, containing three schedules, — one of those who have acquitted themselves particularly well, an- other of those who have done so generally well, and a third of those who have done so well. The averao-e for seven years of those who have been placed in the first division is twenty-six per annum. The same knowledge of the Gospels, and facts connected with them, is required from these candidates, under the same conditions, but no amount of knowledge is allowed to affect the candidate's place on the list.
Opportunity is also afforded to parties who wish to distinguish themselves in mathematics. The material of the examination is "pure mathematics," and the classical examination, either as an ordinary pass, or with a view to being placed, must be undergone pre- viously and successfully. The candidates are ranged, as before, in schedules, with the same distinctive words to denote the degree of satisfaction which the mode-
3
34 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
rators have felt at their ^performances. The average of persons who have been placed in the highest position is eight per annum. The names in each of the schedules are arranged in alphabetical order.
The Second Public Examinations. — There are two — one compulsory, and the other elective. The former is that in Uteris humaniorihus, or, as it is popularly called, in Classics ; the other, at the option of the candi- date, is in mathematics, law, and history (modern), and physical science. The first examination, that w^hich has to be passed by all, will be dealt with first.
Here, the student who aspires to no position in the class list proffers portions of two authors, one Greek and the other Latin, as subjects for examination. The choice of authors is bounded by the condition that one must be a philosopher, the other an historian. As a consequence, the range of choice is practically limited in Latin to the philosophical writings of Cicero, if such bald gossip can be called philosophy ; and in Greek, to the works of Plato and Aristotle. Fortunately, for the credit of the school, the latter of these authors is gene- rally preferred, and, as a rule, nearly half the candidates proffer a portion of Aristotle's NicG7nachean Ethics, The history is more various ; but the popular authors are portions of Herodotus in Greek, and of Livy in Latin.
The examination in these authors consists in giving portions of average difficulty for translation, with ques- tions on the matter of the books, those in history being confined to facts contained in the subject, and those on philosophy being generally aimed at reproduchig a resume of the arguments used by the author in question. It need hardly be said that the philosophy elicited is of
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 35
the feeblest and most evanescent description conceivable. The real test of the examination is the power of faithful translation, a power generally acquired by a diligent use of printed translations. This portion of the work occupies a single day.
Besides this, an examination is held in divinity. The nominal range of this subject is the history of the Old and New Testaments, the Greek text of the Gospels and the Acts, and the Articles of the Church of England, with Scripture and other proofs of their authority. Till lately this portion of the examination was carried on wholly viva voce, but the author of this book, when filling the office of public examiner, was able to in- troduce, with very beneficial effects, a divinity paper, — an innovation which has been particularly successful, as well as equitable.
As before, those parties who dissent from the dis- cipline and doctrines of the Established Church are allowed to tender an equivalent; and, as in the case of the previous examination familiarly called Modera- tions, no excellence in the knowledge of this subject, or of its equivalent, is allowed to assist in the passing of tlie candidate, though it must be rigorously exacted.
It is not easy to say why the university has loaded the knowledge of divinity, as it is ordinarily called, with this discouraging condition. The only argument I have ever heard alleged in its favour is, that the sacred nature of the subject makes it improper that j^ divinity should be the ground of specific distinction, ^Liand that the reverence due to revealed truth would be ^■iSacrificed in the desire to acquire credit by the posses- ^Ksion of information on the material. But, in practice, ^»the impropriety lies in the conditions, and the irreve- rence is enhanced by the way in which the perfunctory
36 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
theology of the Oxford schools is learnt for the purpose of effecting a pass.
The knowledge exhibited by the candidates is pecu- liar. It is quite possible that persons may have a sound practical acquaintance with Christian doctrine, without possessing sufficient technical information for the satis- faction of the examiners. I have known cases in point, and those of a painful kind ; yet were the examiners to demand anything beyond a mere acquaintance with facts, were they to exact the poorest proofs of the Articles and doctrines of the English Church, they would reject candidates by wholesale. The most ludicrous errors are constantly made in the divinity examination. The most irreverent methods are resorted to for obtain- ing the bare minimum, and, of course, under such a system, the tendency is always to a minimum. A doggerel memoria technica, and a jargon of mutilated words expressive of persons or periods, are among the devices frequently resorted to for creating a temporary knowledge of Oxford divinity. I do not, of course, mean that all learn after this fashion; but some do, and the theory of the university offers the strongest inducements to all its students for adopting these pro- cesses. The only remedy for these evils lies in one of two alternatives. Either the study of theology and certificates of proficiency should be confined to the domestic organization of the colleges, or the university should incorporate excellence in this branch of know- ledge with the other proficiencies of the candidate. These alternatives are on the hypothesis that the uni- versity should in its public relation to its junior mem- bers require proofs of this knowledge from all. It is, of course, possible to make the examination distinct and voluntary.
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 37
Of course, the method of the passman's theological study, negligent as it is, is even more favourable to information than that of the candidate for honours. Loaded with other work, the knowledge of which is relative to his object — academical distinction — this kind of student is still more disinclined to lavish time on what is of no immediate avail. The depression to a minimum rate is still more marked in the honour schools. And the natural reluctance of the examiners to reject- ing a candidate for honours conduces still more to this undesirable result. As a rule, the " divinity" of a can- didate of this kind is scantier and shallower than that of an ordinary passman, and is accepted with more consideration.
As before, part of the examination is conducted viva voce, and in public, the candidates being examined in alphabetical order. The purport of this portion of the w^ork is partly to remedy the defects of the written examination, partly to make further inquiries into knowledge of facts in the history, philosophy, and divinity required from the candidates. As before, they who pass have a paper given them bearing the signa- ture of the examiners, while the names of those who fail are passed over in silence.
Certain persons who, attempting only to satisfy the examiners, do more than satisfy them, are by the prac- tice of the schools, and under the sanction of the statute, distinguished by having an honorary class — of the lowest kind, that is, the fourth- — assigned to them. Occasionally, the still larger distinction of an offer to receive such parties into the number of candidates for honours is made. A few such cases have occurred in my experience. But the offer is, as might be expected, declined, and is in effect little more than the publica-
38^ EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
tlon of the fact that such a person will be rated in the fourth class under extraordinary circumstances. Pass- men generally court this honour before examination, and regret its bestowal subsequently. As they are grouped with the lowest honour candidates, it requires explanation in order to prevent persons from imagining that they have tried higher things and signally failed. Such explanations are inconvenient and egotistical.
The Classical Examination for Honours. — Those persons whose list of authors denotes that they purpose attempting the distinctions of a classified proficiency, are examined, as in the case of the " Moderations," subsequently to the general body of ordinary passmen. The number of such persons varies, but it may be taken on the whole, under the present system, at betweeen thirty and thirty-five twice a year.
In theory the candidate has the option of the authors which he proffers for examination ; in practice the authors proffered are generally identical. They' are especially historical and philosoj)hical. The ordinary list comprises one or more of Aristotle's works — the Nicomachean Ethics invariably being offered; one or more of Plato — the Republic being specially selected ; with the Novum Organon of Bacon ; and Logic, viewed especially from a psychological aspect. To these is ordinarily added the Analogy or Sermons of Bishop Butler; and, together, they form the philosophical subjects, or, as they are called collectively, science.
The historical part of the books consists of Herodotus, Thucydides, the First Decade of Livy, and the Annals or Histories of Tacitus.
But the names of these works give a very superficial conception of the examination, and the knowledge of
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 39
tlieir contents would not alone, in the existing practice of the schools, entitle a candidate to any eminent dis- tinction. The procedure of the schools is not by authors but by subjects. Thus, papers are set seve- rally in Logic, in Moral Philosophy, in Political Philo- sophy, in the History of Philosophy, in Greek History and Antiquities, and in Roman History and Antiquities. As might be expected from the age of the candidates, the papers on Moral Philosophy are the best answered, those on Political Philosophy the worst That on Logic is of various value, but is almost always of speculative, not a practical kind ; that on the History of Philosophy still more fluciuating and uncertain. Besides tliese, the examiners require Latin prose, that is, the trans- lation of English into Latin ; and opportunity is given to show powers in Greek prose composition. Finally, the books offered are the material for a further exami- nation, passages being selected which are difficult to translate ; grammatical, philological, and other formulae being proposed in the form of short passages from these authors, and forming one of the most valuable tests of proficiency.
Of course, in so varied and searching an examination a principle of compensation is inevitably acted on. Singular ability is frequent in special subjects, average ability in all is more frequent, great ability in all is rare. This arises not only from the nature of the examination, which deals with very distinct mental powers, but from the different capacity for aggregating facts, and the further difference of the particular powers for collecting particular facts. Of coui'se the practice of diligent study, and the habit of question and answer go far towards amalgamating these powers, and as a rule those candidates are most likely to be distinguished
40 EDUCATION IN OXTOKD.
who have steadily practised the faculty of writing on questions analogous to those given in the schools.
There is a viva voce examination, open to the public, in which the candidates are further tested. The value of this part of the procedure has been gradually diminishing from various causes, which it is not neces- sary to dilate upon.
The candidates are arranged into four classes, the names being published in alphabetical order. The average of first classmen over a period of six years is a little more than twelve per annum.
The first class in classical literature represents the highest general distinction which the University can give. It deserves all that can be awarded to it by public opinion, and even more, since it implies vastly more than the highest honours which are put in parallel columns to it. It denotes years of laborious study, with the possession of extraordinary mental powers. It searches to exhaustion the stores of accumulated labour, the patient drilling of schools, and the voluntary acquisitions of painstaking research. True, it is com- parative. A larger field of candidates for university honours than that which the languishing public recan- tation of Oxford affords, and the monopoly of colleges continually narrows, would supply a far more copious, and, by implication, a far better material. But as it is, it is the estimate of the best of all the University does for, or gives to, the nation. Other classifications are only those of feeble growths in unpracticable soil, some necessarily weak, and some temporarily so from the scanty and superficial nature of their requirements.
Since the alteration of 1850, when the examination statute was remodelled, and the change was an experi- ment and is a failure in its general bearings, the ^first
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 41
class in classical literature is diminished from its pre- vious width. Scholarship has ceased to form an integral part of it, and the extent of the material of examination is diminished by a half. There is a great and a radical difference between the old and the new first class, both in the number and acquirements of the candidates.
The Optional Schools. — Mathematics have never flourished in Oxford. Distinguished persons have occa- sionally proceeded from this university, but their number is small. The subject of an ordinary exami- nation for a pass, is eithet six books of Euclid, or the " first part of algebra." As three books of Euclid are an optional portion of the pass examination under the moderators, this school is extensively preferred by passmen, a few weeks' or even days' study being all that is required for the mere pass.
In the honour examination, mixed and pure mathe- matics are subjects. The acquirements needed for high distinction in this school are considerable, and repre- sent a great deal of previous labour and training. But the number of candidates is very small, and the average of those who have been rated in the first class is,. during a period of six years, only three and two-thirds. This, too, is less than the average before the break-up of the present system by the statutes of 1850, since between the years 1847 and 1852 inclusive, the average was nearly six.
The other two schools are of a modern date, and of a more pretentious character. They affect to be in accordance with the wants of the age, and profess to be an instalment of the services which Oxford is here- after to bestow on the vast fields of physical and social
42 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
science. To judge them by their professions would be unfair, and even ludicrous, and it remains to be seen whether they will be subordinate to these gigantic pur- poses. One has only to view them now in their present aspect and present working.
There is a very general tendency, founded upon a very wholesome judgment, and very imperfect pre- mises, towards requiring special information upon defi- nite points of practical knowledge. We see in all directions how much national wealth and national greatness are due to the division of learning, as well as to the division of manual labour, and the man who affects universal information is progressively considered a quack. There certainly has never been in the his- tory' of mankind any period in which so much is done by definite application to definite subjects, none in wiiich popular judgment is so accurate upon the capacity of individuals. At the same time, better educated people can hardly get on without some acquaintance of the general facts and laws of nature and social science, the prominent phenomena of modern civilization, and the general means by which those results are gathered — results with which we are habitually familiar. These seem the utilities of knowledge, the current coin of current history.
And certainly this general information is, and in a still greater degree was, at a minimum in Oxford. It is a fact that nowhere could you find educated people who were so ill-informed as in this university. Modern history was nowhere known ; modern science was no- where studied. Parties who knew every name and fact in Herodotus could not say what was the date of the Reformation or Long Parliament, and had the most shadowy impressions of the notables in European his-
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 43
tory. Men who had learned all about the law courts and economy of Athens and Rome were ignorant of the very elements of the modem science of wealth, and of the principles of English legislation. There was good reason then for many people to lament that there was no resting-place for the study of contemporaneous philosophy and modern history, and it was tolerably certain that, when the need of knowino; somethino; was admitted, that the professors of these neglected sciences — and they existed all along — should claim attention to the expressed deficiencies of an Oxford education.
Hence arose the tAvo schools of physical or natural science and modern history and law. The former of these has always aimed at a high standard, and has asserted that it demands an intimate acquaintance with certain branches of this philosophy. Three are pre- scribed by the statutes ; mechanics, chemistry, and phy- siology ; and while the candidate for an ordinary pass is required to have a rudimentary knowledge in two at least of these, the candidate for honours is expected to possess a rudimentary knowledge in all, and a large knowledge in one of the three.
There is, of course, no education in the sense of method and training in such studies. Attempts to make the science practical have been generally failures, and it is even out of the question to expect that the candi- dates should possess any large power of estimating the principles of these inductive sciences. I have heard more than once of persons achieving the highest honours in these departments of physical philosophy with six months' reading, and, though I am quite prepared to admit that previous method has been the foundation of such success, yet I feel sure that not a single " first " in chemistry would be fit for a laboratory, a single
44 "■* EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
"first"- in physiology for the certificate of the Apothe- caries' Company, a single " first " in mechanics for the commonest functions of the commonest engineer. There is, of course, a lack of mechanical training and empi- rical knowledge which Oxford students are not willing to acquire if they could, and the university is not com- petent to give if it would. I dare say the students of this school, few as they are, acquire a power of chat- ting upon natural history and natural science. The examiners, it is true, have not had the means of awarding such distinctions as they give to many per- sons hitherto ; the number of first-class men in this department of study having been, for six years, only an average of three, and the candidates for an ordinary pass being very scanty.
The school in law and modern history has been, in point of popularity, more successful. About half choose this, and the candidates for honours are numerous.
Persons who wish to merely pass in this school have the option of proffering that period of English history which extends from the Conquest to the accession of Henry the Eighth, or that period from Henry the Eighth's accession to the reign of Anne. In the former portion the student is required to be acquainted with the law of real property ; in the latter, that of personal property and the rights of persons. No reason is given fbr this combination, and one does not see that a reason could be given. The Institutes of Justinian may be offered in lieu of either portion of law, but it seldom happens that this treatise is read. The text books are Hume and Blackstone.
The subjects offered for examination by candidates in honours, include the periods needed for passmen, and even more ; general historical knowledge being
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 45
required up to the date of the French Revolution. Each candidate is required to offer a special portion of history treated in a minute and special way. Fur- ther, he generally gives a list of books, including Hallam's historical works, portions of Gibbon, Cla- . rendon, Ranke, Robertson, and Guizot. International law may be offered, or the elements of political economy. But these subjects are not compulsory, and the highest honours may be be obtained without them. Nor is it needful that the candidate should have any acquaintance with modern languages.
It is unfortunate that no portion of this examination should necessarily include anything requiring the use of reflective or logical faculties. The school is one of mere cram. The law exhibited is, as might be expected, deplorable, and there is hardly any person who ventures on political economy. The weight of the examination lies in the knowledge of the constitutional antiquities of Hallam, and the learned platitudes of Guizot. Hence the highest honours are often obtained from very brief study, and, indeed, there is no distinction awarded by the university which is more pretentious and more delusive than this. The average of first-class men for six years is a little under six per annum.
These examinations passed, the student is permitted to take his first degree, that of Bachelor in Arts. By an ancient custom in the university, any master of arts is empowered to refuse this degree, and indeed any other degree, three times without alleging any reason ; but is required to state his reasons on the fourth rejec- tion, which are then submitted to the decision of Con- gregation— the assembly empowered to grant degrees. Practically this privilege is never acted on, except when creditors employ the offices of the university^advo-
46 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
oates — called proctors in the Yice-Chancellor's Court — to represent that the candidate is the defendant in an action for debt, a cause which the university rules to be sufficient for the postponement of the degree.
The cost of a bachelor's degree is 7/. 10s. This is exclusive of the fees paid on the occasion of each of the examinations described above, and which amount in the aggregate to 3^. 125. Fees are not returned to rejected or plucked candidates.
Besides the examinations, a certain residence in the university or its precincts, i. e. within one mile and a half from the city church — the centre of the town — is required. This amounts in the whole to twelve terms, the Oxford year containing four terms. These twelve terms equal, on an average, seventy-two weeks. For- merly sixteen terms, or four years, must have inter- vened between matriculation and the first degree, but from the example of Cambridge this period has latterly been shortened. In practice it rarely happens that students are prepared for their degree at the minimum of time. Among many reasons which may be given for this prolonged residence and prolonged expense, two are prominent ; the absence of a university matricula- tion examination, and the option afforded to the student (feebly corrected by college discipline) of presenting himself for examination at any time he pleases. An efficient matriculation examination would, I am per- suaded, ordinarily shorten residence by a full year, and a limitation of the period at which students must present themselves for examination, Avould, by keeping before them the necessary termination of their univer- sity career, save well nigli as much more from procras- tination and waste.
Only lately a custom was abrogated of levying a
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 47
very heavy fee from those persons who, presenting themselves for degrees, were possessed of 300Z. a year of their own. These unfortunates were called grand compounders. The tax was rescinded, I believe, from its having been adroitly made in one case ridiculous.
The dqgree of Master of Arts, which may be taken three years after that of bachelor, provided the name of the bachelor is continually on the books of some college or hall during the interval, and the dues to the university or college are paid, is a mere affair of money. It costs 121. About eighty per cent, of the bachelors of arts proceed to this further degree, the aggregate cost of the intermediate payments, and the fees for the degree being about 36/.
The Act of Parliament 18 & 19 Vict., under which the constitution of the university is now regulated, has rescinded by special provision the necessity, on the occasion of matriculation and the taking a bachelor's degree, of subscribing to the Thirty-nine Articles of the English Church, and certain declaratory Canons expres- sive of hostility to Popery. But the subscription and the oath to the Canons are retained for the degree of Master of Arts, though it does not appear that the university may not, if it is disposed, waive compliance with these practices. All the powers and franchises of the university are lodged in Convocation, that is, the masters of arts and doctors in all faculties except music, either immediately, as in the election of members of Parliament, and certain professors ; or indirectly, in the sanction which this body gives to bye-laws of the university prepared and proposed by a committee of the residents, styled the Hebdomadal Council.
Intermediate to Convocation and this Council, in all matters relating to the government of the university.
48 EDUCATION IX OXFORD.
is a local body called Congregation. This term was applied, previous to the Act of 1859, to an ill-defined aggregate of persons, who sanctioned the publication of decrees without, it appears, having any power to reject them. Congregation has, under the present law, cer- tain important privileges ; especially the power of debate, of suggesting amendments and improvements in what has been proposed, and in rejection on division. It also elects the Council, but the arrangement by which more than two-thirds of this committee must be selected from a small portion of the university, and the possi- bility of the remaining third being chosen from the same fraction, have caused that there is a chronic dis- agreement in almost all matters between the Council and Congregation, and have reduced the Council to the practice of overwhelming Congregation with a mass of propositions at once, in the hope, it would seem, of passing at least some portion of its proposals. The members of the Council must be resident, the members of Congregation must also be resident, with some excep- tions. As a result, the direction of academical legis- lation is more and more local, more and more charac- terized by devotion to the real or presumed interests of the colleges.
• The power of retaining the privileges of a member of Convocation is limited by certain bye-laws of the university, requiring uninterrupted holding of the name of the master or doctor on the register of the university, and on the butler's books of some college or hall. If the name is lost from either, heavy penalties are exacted for replacing it, and when these penalties have once been paid, a fresh negligence is visited with conditions of an impracticable character, unless the applicant for readmission can satisfy the authorities
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 49
that he has been innocent in the omission, when a private statute may be procured authorizing the renewal of his relations with the university.
The privileges of Convocation are purchased by an annual payment of 11. 6s. to the university, and what- ever else the discretion of the college to which the graduate belongs thinks proper or prudent to demand. The latter exaction is, of course, variable. But the aggregate is so large, that of the masters of arts, forty- five per cent, decline, after graduation, to remain mem- bers of Convocation ; for as the vast majority of these graduates are clergymen with scanty incomes and considerable claims, one may conclude that the pay- ment is a more valid motive to separation from the university, than that of indifference to the parliamentary franchise and legislative control of Convocation. Of this annual payment a portion is devoted to the income of the Bodleian Library — a thoroughly public purpose ; the remainder, and by far the largest portion, goes to meet the local rates and taxes apportioned to the 'real or supposed rental of the several colleges. It is easy to explain the origin of this arrangement, but singularly difficult to excuse its dishonesty.
I may observe, in concluding this account of the processes necessary to the attainment of the degrees of bachelor and master of arts, with the contingent honours on laborious study and original ability, that there is no definition of the age at which students may enter the university. That it is desirable for the university to limit this period, is, I think, proved from the fact that a serious objection is felt to the length of time necessarily occupied in j^reparatory labour before the labour becomes productive. Parents point to the twenty-three or tsventy-four years of preparation, as a
4
50 EDUCATION IN OXPOED.
reason for not contemplating the university as a place in which they may put their sons. Coupling this rational objection with the vulgar error of conceiving that academical instruction has no practical value, they have dechned first to consider the university as coming within the natural field of public competition, and have thence ceased to feel any interest in its characteristic merits or faults.
Practically, the age at which students graduate is determined by the canon of the Church declining holy orders to any candidates under twenty-three years of age. The majority of students contemplate the Church as the future field of their labour, and drag up the age of those who do not. It would, I think, be an excellent reform in the university, were the age of matriculation limited somewhat loosely, and that of the right of competing for honours rigorously. At present the honour schools are caricatured by the privilege afforded all persons to enter them, whatever their age may be. Thus, since 1846, four first-classes have been obtained by members of Magdalene Hall. But in each case they have been achieved by gentlemen who have entered the university late in life, and with all the advantages of faculties trained elsewhere, and trained fully. In one case the honour of a first-class was obtained by a candidate who had been for many years a master of arts of Cambridge. Opportunities such as these are a direct injury to those who at a necessarily early period of life, and with powers far less matured, have to cope at once with the difficulties of acquiring methodical skill and accumulated information.
The precise privilege accorded by degrees in arts, as in other faculties, is the right to teach. The words addressed by the Vice-chancellor to the several gra-
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 51
dilates^ are a confirmation of what the candidate has formally prayed for and Convocation has permitted. But this is the sole direct privilege of a degree. That bishops should exact the degree from those who present themselves for holy orders, is a voluntary practice of theirs, highly beneficial to the university, since without it there would not, one may assume, remain one-fifth of the present number of students ; but it is one com- pletely in their power to omit — a practice they may, and do increasingly depart from. The connection of Oxford with the bar has long since departed ; the prejudices of the pre-Reformation university leading to the study of civil as opposed to common law ; and the privilege of a call of graduates at an earlier date than that of non- graduates, having been in later times neutralized. The experimental knowledge necessary or desirable for medical study has, at a later date, but at a sufficiently remote one, transplanted the science of therapeutics from small provincial towns to the metropoHs, and nothing but vanity or dilettantism would hope to revive it in Oxford.
Whether or no it is wise or expedient to grant a monopoly of occupation to those who have passed an examination in a special phase of knowledge, is a ques- tion as yet in its infancy, when considered theoretically, and one to be decided, one may surmise, in the general way such questions are argued out, by the inductions of economic science. I make no doubt that the practical solution is in the negative. At any rate, the only profession in which the public habitually and even uniformly prefers the services of accredited persons, is that of the law, in which there was not till lately any test of the proficiency of attorneys, and is not of neces- sity any test for that of advocates. The application of
4--2
52 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
the rules of an arbitrary system, such as law is, can safely be left, according to the ordinary method of supply and demand, to the care of its machinists. But in medicine, despite the provisions of increasing acts of Parliament and the social jealousies of the craft, there are as many heresies as there are in theology.
But though one may consider that the legislative monopoly of the doctor and the lawyer — I do not mean the word offensively, as there are habitual correctives to the fact — may very well be left to its natural destiny, and that the judgment of the public is pretty correct on this point; yet the same judgment is tending with increasing determination towards exacting tests of educational proficiency. "We have heard, probably, the last cackle of the geese on the Capitol, when a formal defence has been uttered on behalf of bad spelling, and the defence has been ridiculed. But we want to know how these requisites can be weighed? We want to know more and more whether individuals are equal to the social requisites of a liberal education ? And herein lies, I imagine, the future of the university. It has supplied to the few who enter its precincts these advan- tages c^ a liberal education in the best way it can, seeing that it is crippled by the selfishness, the igno- rance, the timidity, and the obstinacy of a domestic monopoly. It showed a wiser way when it dealt with the general question of public education, and assumed what is its best and most natural power, the task of estimating the produce of schools in its local examina- tions. This movement, though it is yet in its infancy, is the harbinger of better things for the country and for itself, if, as may be hoped, the details of the process may eventually react on the discipline and method of the university itself.
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 53
Other Faculties than those of Arts. — There are three faculties in Oxford besides that of Arts : Divinity, Law, and Medicine.
Degrees in divinity are merely the payment of a sum of money. It is true that the degree of bachelor of divinity is preceded by a formal disputation, as it is called, in the divinity school ; two or more persons affecting to argue a theological thesis, one of them de- fending, the other objecting. This is a relic of the time in which such disputations were a reality, and the general body of the university attended to estimate the ability with which such a thesis was defended or im- pugned. Now it is a miserable farce. The form of the disputation is, I believe, arranged beforehand between the parties seeking a degree, the Regius Professor of Divinity sitting as moderator, with a view to controlling the dialectics of the disputants, and guiding the sym- pathies of a crowd of auditors. But the dialectics are the veriest chii)S, and the crowd is nowhere. No person graduates In divinity, one may conclude, from choice ; of old the statutes of several colleges required this degree from the Fellows, and, therefore, it was taken, but there seems little reason to doubt, that this condition beino; removed, degrees in divinity will be confined to bishops, heads of houses, and ambitious schoolmasters.
Till lately, what can be said of divinity, might equally have been said of law. Graduates in law were always such persons as the statutes of their colleges compelled to proceed in this faculty, or who wished to practise in ecclesiastical or other courts, where the rules of the civil code were accepted, or where a degree in civil law was required from the proctor or advocate, or who desired to write themselves down as doctor, and chose this faculty. Latterly, the university has instituted an examination
54 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
in civil law, and it may be possible that in future a few candidates will be found to avail themselves of its pro- visions. But in the absence of any reason for doing so, it is not very likely that the number will be large, or that civil law will ever form again a definite subject of study at the university. Still, degrees in civil law will signify some acquaintance with the subject.
The faculty of medicine has always been more re- spectable than the others. Obviously it was impossible that it should be the reward of perfunctory formalities. The examination has always been a matter of fact, and proficiency has been claimed from candidates for degrees. With a harmless and natural pedantry, the university has required an acquaintance with Hippocrates, Galen, Aretseus, and Celsus, while it has left the inquiry into the capacity of the candidate on the inductions of modern therapeutics to the discretion of the official and other examiners. There are, however, only twenty-three doctors of medicine on the books of the University of Oxford.
That such should be the case, is no matter of wonder. There is, perhaps, no profession in which the workman is more diligent in acquiring knowledge and experience ; none in which there is more active and honourable com- petition. To be great in this art, one must not only meet with those adventitious helps which bring its professors into notice, but one must show that they are not mere accidents by proof of unquestionable skill and habitual tact. Besides, the tendency of medical science is progressively more and more towards a division of labour. The most skilled among physicians are they who deal with specialities, and while these specialities demand an unremitting attention, they demand still more a wide field of observation. Reputations are
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 55
founded more upon width of particular knowledge than on the possession of general information. And equally the credit of theoretical knowledge is progressively con- fined to the study of special points in physiology and natural philosophy.
To suppose that in a country town of 35^000 inhabi- tants, there will be a sufficient field of observation, is a delusion. To imagine that medical studies can be re- called from large cities is an absurdity. The university may laudably provide for the sufficient information of its few candidates for medical degrees, and the pecu- cuniary emoluments attached to the study of thera- peutics. As long as there is, or can be, one medical student in Oxford, there should be an opportunity for him to exhibit his proficiency. But the attempt to revive the practical and extensive study of physic in Oxford, is as rational as to galvanize a corpse and call the spasm of its muscles, life.
There is, I should add, a voluntary examination in theology. Hitherto this has been a total failure. The university is now attempting to recast its statute, and it is expected that the subject will be carefully studied. But the promoters of the statute have not explained the ground of their hopes. At present, the university is coquetting with the requisites exacted by the bishops for theological learning. But there is no reason to believe that these requisites will square with Oxford studies, or that their lordships are not better judges of what they need from candidates for holy orders than the university has showed itself.
Besides the abovenamed faculties, the university grants degrees in music. These degrees are not necessarily accompanied with the study of arts, and hence do not confer academical rights on the parties invested vrith
oG EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
tliem. Of old, music was one of the subjects required from candidates for degrees in arts, and when the habit of studying the practice of harmony died out, an at- tempt was made to found a separate school of music. The plan failed, degrees having hitherto rarely been attempted, except by the college and cathedral organists. Latterly, the system has been recast, and I am informed that the degree in music represents a large acquaintance with the principles and practice of the science. But, of course, such a school as this is more an excrescence than a part of the system of Oxford studies. The connectioji of the musician with the university is of the most transient and unreal kind. Whether or no it would be possible for the professors of this art to extend their connection with Oxford, is a question which could not be solved except under very altered circumstances from those which affect the course of academical studies now. At present, though, in rare cases, parties who have graduated in arts, are found to prosecute this branch of human science, the occurrence of such events is occa- sional and explainable, and the extension of such a body of graduates is exceedingly unlikely.
The fees for bachelor in divinity and medicine are 14Z. ; for that in law, 61. 10s. ; for the doctor's degree, in all, 40Z. Bachelors of music pay 5L, and doctors 10?. But it must be added, that graduates in music have to pay the expense of performing an elaborate exercise.
Besides those degrees which are accorded for the course of study which candidates have to pass through, or which are the right of academical standing, and the voluntary expenditure of money in this purchase, some degrees are bestowed in an exceptional manner.
These are by diploma, by decree of Convocation, and
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 57
honorary ones. The first of these is a rare distinction. It is the formal degree, however, of English bishops, the practice of the university being to bestow honorary degrees on colonial bishops. It has occasionally, how- ever, been bestowed on individuals, who are, or are supposed to be, eminent for their merits or accomplish- ments, or who are high officials. The second is gene- rally that of master of arts, and is accorded to those persons wdio, having been introduced into the university without any previous connection with its studies, have, in some way or the other, been made members of the professorial staff. The third is far more common. At the Commemoration, the annual academical festival, a batch of such honorary graduates is created, the indivi- duals selected for this distinction being generally those who have some considerable external reputation. The honour, such as it is, is perhaps made a little too cheap, and now and then the patience of the university is sorely tried by the fact that the dignity of the degree — gene- rally that of doctor of civil law — is bestowed on parties who are hardly of sufficient character or credit for the distinction.
All degrees of this kmd proceed in practice from the Council, for though the Convocation has a negative voice on the choice of the Council, the voice is seldom heard ; and when it has been heard, as far as "sve can learn, it has been disregarded. Honorary degrees confer no academical privileges, though, when judiciously be- stowed, they are evidence of the appreciation felt by the university for external merit and public reputation.
Univeesity Peofessoes. — The aids afforded by the university in its corporate capacity to the student, are the lectures of the public professors. These are very
55 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
numerous, and represent well nigh all brandies or ancient and modern learning. Tliej are differently endowed, varying on this score from very large annual stipends, to comparatively small ones. The occupants of these oflSces are understood to work under the direc- tion of definite statutes, prescribing the number of the necessary lectures, and the penalties attached to the non-performance of these statutable obligations.
There are four divinity professors : the Regius pro- fessor, the Margaret professor, the professor of pastoral theology, and the professor of ecclesiastical liistory. To these may be added the professor of Hebrew, whose duties are naturally rather theological than philological. All of these professors are endowed with canonries at Christchurch. The divinity lectures are generally attended by persons who contemplate holy orders, and, as a rule, the bishops exact a certificate of attendance on one or more courses of divinity lectures from their candidates.
There are eight philological professors: the pro- fessor of Greek, the professor of Latin, the professor of Sanskrit, the professor of Anglo-Saxon, two professors of Arabic, the professor of the exegesis of Holy Scrip- ture, and the professor of modern languages. Sub- ordinate to these, are certain university teachers, wdio are bound to afford gratuitous or regulated teaching to members of the university. These are appointed seve- rally for instruction in French, German, Italian, . Spanish, and Hindustani.
There are four professors of moral and mental philo- sophy: the Waynflete professor of moral philosophy. White's professor of moral philosophy, the professor of 1 ogic, and the professor of poetry.
There are three professors of history and economics :
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 59
the Camden professor of ancient history, the Regius professor of modern history, and the professor of political economy.
There are three professors of jurisprudence: the Regius professor of civil law, the Vinerian professor of common law, and the Cliichele professor of inter- national law.
There are nine professorships of natural philosophy : that of natural philosophy, that of geometry, that of astronomy, that of hotany, that of rural economy, that of chemistry, that of experimental philosophy, that of mineralogy, that of geology.
There are four professors of physiology and thera- peutics : two of anatomy, the Regius professor of medicine, the clinical professor of medicine.
There is also a professor of music.
It will he seen, then, that the university is amply provided with the means of public instruction in the persons of its professors. In all likelihood the number will be increased hereafter by the creation of new offices.
There can be no doubt that generally the occupants of these professorships are willing and anxious to do their duty by the offices which they hold, and 'by the university which they serve. But it is equally un- doubted that professorial teaching is not effective in Oxford, and that attendance on the lectures of pro- fessors is rarely serious, and never studious.
Two causes conduce to this result in an eminent dem'ee. One of these is in the nature of thine-s. The days are gone by in which the instruction of a body of men is attained by oral teaching. Books are multiplied, and knowledge is placed in the easiest, the most striking, and the most accessible form in a host of publications which are within the reach of most persons. The pro-
60 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
fessor is apt to become a mere teacher, except he be engaged on some subject which is not generally com- mended to immediate popularit}-.
Still, the advantages of oral instruction, the oppor- tunity which it gives of question and answer, and the fact that a competent teacher is not only a book, but an index to his art, would have made it practicable, even under the altered circumstances of the present time, that very large benefits would be offered and eagerly accepted by persons with whom the possession of knowledge bears a high market value in the endow- ments bestowed on proficiency under the names of scholarships and fellowships. But there is a state of things in Oxford which thoroughly neutralizes such hopes. This is the monopoly of college tutors.
The modern sense of the words tutor and tuition, is a striking instance of the way in which the inherent meaning of terms is altered. A tutor is properly a person set over the conduct and morals of those committed to his care. A college tutor is properly a sort of academical curate, who is usually responsible for the guidance and government of youth. T|ie word has not the remotest connection with education. Tutors were licensed by the university authorities, and w^ere, like curates, removable at the discretion of these authori- ties. Now, however, this duty is merged in that of teaching, and attendance on the lectures of college tutors is always compulsory, and seldom discreet. As a consequence, the hours of public teaching are absorbed by the routine of the college lectures, and the public professor has to scramble for the scraps of the undergra- duates' time. There cannot, I believe, be conceived or imagined a more suicidal and more mischievous mono- poly than that of the college tutor. College lectures
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 61
are, as a rule, perfunctory, repressive, irritating. For one man who learns and profits by them, ten are depressed and discouraged. Under a healthier system, the fancy that a college could give adequate instruction in the various studies of the university, to the various capacities of its members, would be discerned to be the paradox which it is.
This it is which more than anything else deadens the energies of the active professor. Were it removed, though one cannot expect that the palmy days of pro- fessorial teaching could be created or revived, yet much would be done which it is now hopeless to look forward to. If, indeed, a professorship is a reward for past services, and is to be looked on as a comfortable provision for acknowledged capacity, it may be well to continue the present state of things ; but the practice of the uni- versity is strangely at variance with its statutes. On the one hand, it exacts the fulfilment of rigorous conditions from its officers, or affects to exact them; and on the other, it permits a state of things which negatives the conditions by completely emptying the lecture-rooms.
In one professorship, and one only, a provision is made that the professor should give general proof of his efficiency by the publication of one or more of his annual lectures. Perhaps it was not by accident that this rule was introduced into the statutes of the pro- fessorship of political economy, when one estimates the serious results which might ensue from erroneous teaching on this subject, provided the professor had hearers. But the rule is an admirable one in all cases ; and forms, when honestly enforced, a perpetual barrier against incompetence and sloth. Perhaps the best proof of its effects on public teacliing would be found in the list of the individuals who have held the pro-
62 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
fessorsliip of political economy, thougli the professor is elected in almost the worst way possible, by the general suffrages of Convocation, and is the worst paid of the body.
Except where special provision is made to the con- trary, professorial lectures are gratuitous. In some cases, the smallness of the stipend is the cause for this provision ; in one or two, however, this cause does not apply. An attempt to assign the right of taking fees from the audience of a professor's lectures was made several times in the past year, but failed.
For some years an attendance at two professorial courses was exacted from any candidate for a degree. As might have been expected, in the absence of any certificate on the part of the professor that the student had derived any benefit from the lectures, the attendance was regular indeed, but meant nothing more than the expenditure of so much time for the purpose of pro- curing a necessary formula. The rule was thereupon rescinded, with the consent of many among the professors themselves. Had the professors been empowered to refuse their testimonial in cases where they found that the attendance had been unprofitable, there would have been virtually two more examinations for a degree. To this, however, it need hardly be said, the colleges were unanimously averse. It is not understood that those professorial lectures which had been found useful or instructive, have suffered under the abolition of the rule, except in so far as they have lost the attendance of those whose presence was really a nuisance.
There can be no doubt that even under existing circumstances, students may derive great advantage from professorial lectures, especially if those lectures are made something more than a mere reading. Adverse
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVEKSITY. 63
as is the position in which the professors are placed, in the struggle after an undergraduate's time, this position has heen vastly improved within the last ten years. During the time that I was myself an undergraduate, attendance on professorial lectures was rare and un- profitable ; that it is better now is due to the painstaking and energy of some among those who in this later period have occupied professorial offices. But the painstaking and energy are due to moral and personal causes, which are honourable in individuals to the highest degree, but are no safe or permanent motive for future action. It is only in changing and stirring times that the ordinaiy impulses of human conduct are superseded. Even in these cases there has been previously a repression of natural action, and altered circumstances strike people with greater distinctness than they otherwise would, when such parties have been subject to incidental dis- couragement. But they who are old in easy and negli- gent habits, are very slow to discern a new state of things, and still more slowly adapt themselves to the novelty.
Provided the professor is competent and energetic, those lectures will naturally be best attended in which the teacher deals with a subject of immediate academical value. Here, as elsewhere, the pursuits of under- graduates are directed by the rewards of proficiency, and with great justice the university sets the largest prizes before the successful student of literce humaniores. As I have said above, this school not only represents the largest amount of knowledge, but the fullest habit of mental training. It is only by vulgar and ignorant people that education according to models of ancient eloquence, poetry, history, and philosophy is derided. Much, no doubt, of the labour expended on certain branches of this precious inheritance of antiquity is
64 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
wasted, and much of the detail of youthfiil study is fantastic and conventional ; but the inner spirit of the wliole thing is sound and true. The revival of letters, the restoration of a pure religion, and the gigantic vigour of that learning and energy of which modern civilization is the fruit, came from the reverent and patient study of ancient genius. What we have re- maining to us of that bygone time is as fresh as though it were written yesterday — jewels always precious, though the setting is antique ; gold of the purest coinage, though the type and the legend point to acts and per- sons who are ennobled as long as man is to be, by their being the fortunate examples of bygone but perennial worthiness.
They who^ have studied the history of human learn- ing and human progress, gather each in his degree the knowledge of how modern thought has naturally fallen into the paths worked out for it by the giants of the ancient world. The analysis of man's mind, the limit of its powers, are mapped out and defined by those men who showed in their OAvn energies the most that man could do. Constantly as men search into the meaning and extent of their own capacities, and reconstitute the principles of reason and art, are they more and more enlightened as to these restless workings by the calm, clear light, the delicate and subtle art of those masters of the Grecian world. The store of those great thinkers is far from exhausted, because far from being under- stood. They are always teaching, even from the relics of their labour ; ever suggestive when read over for the hundredth time. The more they are studied, the more they instruct. No human being has ever influenced mankind like Aristotle, in whom the philosophy of antiquity culminated, every page of whose thoughtful
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 65
writing contains well nigh the material for a volume. He invented terms, which are the watchwords in every civilized tongue, of power and patience. It is every- thing for Oxford that his thinking is academical edu- (jation; while he is taught and learnt there will be no fear that the highest forms of human learning will suffer by contact with a smattering sciolism of physical science.
Besides the larger investigation of the philosophy of Aristotle, much attention has latterly been given to that of Plato. Formerly this author was hardly read at Oxford, and the revival of the study is due mainly to one of the professors. Far inferior as he is to his pupil and rival, the subtle, soothing, gentle mysticism of Plato is at once a relief and a foil to the sterner reasonings of Aristotle.
It is particularly in the direction of philosophy that the Oxford professoriate is developing its energies, and honestly working out its duties. Not but that much is left untried. Very little is done here directly with the philosophy of art, and especially with that of rhetoric. Neither ancient nor modern history, as yet treated, have emerged from the gossip of archaeology and detail into the picture of social states, and the induction of political science. Archaeology and facts are the necessary material of the philosophy of politics, but to stop short at these preliminaries is as weak as it is to theorize without the knowledge of them. As a general sum- mary, Oxford teaching is that of knowledge, not use.
Upon these points then especially, the philosophy of ancient and modern, mental and moral science, and the analysis of economic conditions and political forms, there is reason to hope that the labours of the Oxford professoriate may be stimulated, as undergraduates con-
66 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
template a careful study of either in the present school of liter CB humaniores, and a developed and amended scheme of law and modern history. At present the former is hampered by the inherent vices of the Oxford or rather the collegiate system, and the latter is still a sham, and^ withal a superficial sham. The law, as I have already stated, is the veriest smattering in the subject, which six months in an attorney's office would put to the blush. The history is the collection of facts without principle, of details without inductions. And the remedy for this state of things is to be found, one may hope, in the labours of the professors of common, civil, and international law, in those of the professors of political economy, and of the professors of modern history. Hitherto the colleges have not been able to absorb this portion of university education into the dull routine of their appointed lectures. The student in this school must or will seek his information without the walls of his college, and from the lips of professors and private teachers, when he is unable to obtain out of books the reasonings which give life and light to juris- prudence and history.
As long, indeed, as the special study of the University of Oxford is directed towards the philosophy of human nature and human history, as long as it insists on a power of accumulating and methodizing the facts which the varying but recurring story of human thought and human action announces — and one would rue the day when this, the highest of all learning and the most use- ful of all teaching, were omitted or subordinated — so long will there be ample opportunity for the recognized teachers of the university to do the best service to the public in general, and the student in particular. The criticism of the multiform theories of philosophy and
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 67
history, the analysis of the principles of jurisprudence and economic science, are the natural field for an edu- cation, the first methodical direction of which is attempted in the abstract study of a rigorous logic, and the practice of dialectics. It is ip. the examination of these theories and principles that the professoriate may train young men, and teach elder ones. It is in appreciating the large and growing interest which the public life of this country feels in these and cognate subjects that the future duties of the professors lie.
Hitherto, it need hardly be said, we have no such labour in Oxford. Scholarship, philosophy, and history are borrowed from French and German authors. In scarce any of these has Oxford any native growth. Very little has been added to the general stock of human learning out of the vast endowments of uni- versity and collegiate income — endowments equalling the incomes of many States. The most notable among Oxford authors have hated and despised the place of their education, or at least regretted that so vast a power of stimulating causes should have eventuated in such scanty results. But with an active staff of public teachers, and a resolute determination, both within and without the walls of Oxford, to give every opportunity for entrance into this arena of academical distinction, and to unfetter the trade of learning, and the right of teaching, there can be no doubt, on the narrowest and scantiest estimate of human motives, that the future of the university would in some degree, at least, recall the past, and that while the number of students would be largely increased, the inducements to active and metho- dical study would call out in fuller measure the energies of the teacher, and secure the profit of the learner, and through him of the country at large. We should thus
5—2
68 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
find that the highest schemes of mental, moral, and political philosophy, would be not, as now, the produce of minds which have gathered conclusions experimen- tally and illogically, but would represent the patient and conscientious activity of those who have the leisure to collect facts, the inclination to order them, and the power to combine them into a coherent system.
I have made the foregoing observations, partly because it is desirable to show what is the legitimate result of that professorial system which the Act of 1854 intended, and the regulations of the commissioners worked out ; partly to denote that this system is in a state of transition ; partly to point to the causes which may nullify its objects. Without a large modification of the discipline of college lectures, and a greater freedom given to the student in the selection of the subject and the teacher of his future learning, the professoriate of these days will be a mere pageant of names, a series of well- endowed sinecures.
Besides the oral teaching of the professors, the uni- versity provides experimental instruction to its students in the public libraries and the museums which it con- tains, access to which is ready to all who wish to enjoy their benefits, either as a matter of right, or on the easy terms of an introduction.
Foremost among these institutions is the Bodleian Library. This great collection of books begins from the time of James L, in whose reign Bodley revived the library which had been, according to the tale of the middle ages, first instituted by the good Duke Humphrey of Gloucester. Bodley gathered books himself, got as many as he could from his friends, did much in stone and mortar, gave statutes to his foundation, and left the university a fair estate as a
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 69
means for maintaining the chief officer of his institution and enlarging its treasures of » learning. Since that time an annual payment from all members of the university, as well as large gifts from the funds of academical savings, have been devoted towards the same purpose. Other benefactors have bestowed much on the same institution, and the Legislature has sanc- tioned a tax on all publishers of a copy of each book printed in the kingdom, with the view of enlarging the material of this public library. From such sources as these the annual increase of the institution is very con- siderable.
The tax in question is one on authors. It is obvious in such a trade as that of publishing, that practically any impost of the kind must affect those whose payment is the last in the series of those who derive profit from a commercial transaction in which different interests are involved. The affectation of considering this tax as one laid on publishers, is either a transparent mistake, or the specious pretext for a fraud committed by unfair against fair dealers. The tax, except in very exceptional cases, is one of the lightest and least appreciable. It returns in the most convenient form to those parties who are so far mulcted of their profits, by the fact of its forming an aggregate for easy, commodious, and instructive reference. In every sense of the word, the Bodleian Library, in common with other such institutions, is of great public utility.
The library is open for longer periods of the day and year, as it appears from a return made by the present head librarian, than any other public library, except that in the British Museum. The graduates of the university have the use of the library by right, though no one is permitted to borrow a book out of the building.
70 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Undergraduates and strangers can readily obtain admis- sion, on the introduction of responsible parties. The university has for some time past sanctioned by formal statute the creation of an evening reading-room, but the authorities, with characteristic tardiness, have taken no steps to realize the statute. The fault, however, is not in the management of the library.
The catalogues are well arranged, and the discovery of any book which may be needed by the student is easy and ready. Nothing can exceed the convenience of the room, its harmony with the purposes of study, its light and quiet. The courtesy and kindness of all the officials in this great library is deserving of the gratitude of every one who has ever had occasion to use the treasures it contains. They never spare their trouble, nor grudge their valuable information. Here, at least, there is nothing which one can possibly complain of, and the facilities of this noble collection are enhanced by the admirable conduct of its staff.
Unfortunately few persons use it. Many causes •conduce to this fact. Colleges contain libraries from which books may generally be borrowed ; and the hours at which the library is open, as far as undergraduates are concerned, are absorbed by the devouring dulness of college lectures. The elder members of the univer- sity are engaged in the routine of their labour, and, perhaps, would not study if they could. There is some hope that the inducement of an evening room may change this state of things.
There is another library of the same public kind, but limited in the nature of its collection to works on physical science. This is the Radcliffe Library. It is, perhaps, less used than the Bodleian, even when one takes into consideration the narrower extent of its
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 71
selection. The Taylor Institution also contains a small number of works in modern languages, and a fair amount of rubbish. Such books as are to be had in the Taylor Institution can be taken home by parties who wish to use them, and the reading-room in this building is open in the evening. The room is seldom used, but then there is very little to use it for. The fact of the scanty use of this limited and very un- equal library, is made a reason for delaying the evening room of the Bodleian. But the cases are no way parallel.
The collections of objects of natural philosophy and art which the university contains are scattered in various places. It is expected that they will be collected into the new museum, which the university has been latterly building at so prodigal a cost that the expense of the structure has doubled the architect's estimate. At present these collections are inaccessible, in great degree in consequence of the inadequate space afforded them.
However, in natural history, at least, there are the materials of a museum inferior to few in the country. The late Dr. Buckland collected a set of geological objects of vast and varied value, the extent of which has been increased by the energy of his successor. There is a fair mineralogical museum, an increasing anatomical one, and an indifferent collection of stuffed animals. The liberality of Mr. Hope has enriched the university with an invaluable entomological series, and the growth of a complete museum of recent and fossil shells is rapid. There is abundant opportunity for a far larger study of natural history than there is ever any reason to expect will occur in Oxford. And the study of chemistry is provided for by a well-arranged laboratory.
12 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
the only part of the new museum at present in working order.
There are in Oxford the materials for a school of art. By the liberality of a private subscription, aided by a munificent gift from the late Lord Eldon, the university became possessed of a large collection of the original drawings of some of the greatest Italian masters. Be- sides these, it possesses a few pictures of no very high order of merit, but of some value. Perhaps in time to come this collection may be enlarged by gifts or bequests. Sometimes donors have bestowed pictures on colleges, with what motives, except a mistaken piety, one cannot imagine. Those which were given to Christ Church have been almost inaccessible to the public, and have been completely neglected by that corporation. On the other hand, the few pictures which have been bestowed on the university have been carefully pre- served, been freely exhibited, and, as far as possible, judiciously placed. Besides the pictures in the univer- sity galleries, the Bodleian possesses the most exquisite gems of miniature missal painting conceivable, which, like everything else the Bodleian possesses, are available for the use of parties who require or wish them.
The University Prizes. ^-The University of Oxford is not wealthy, but devotes the funds at its disposal to purely public purposes. The main source of its revenue is a successful printing trade, which it carries out as one of the patentees of a regulated monopoly, the pub- lication, namely, of Bibles and Prayer-books. From this revenue it has from time to time endowed professor- ships and founded prizes. It acts largely, however, as trustee for several endowments, generally more honour- able than lucrative, under the name of university
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVEESITY. 73
scholarships and prizes. A successful competition for certain among these is, after the honour of the univer- sity class list, the most characteristic and reputable distinction in the academical course of a student. Some of these scholarships and prizes are confined to the earlier period of a student's life, some are extended to later occasions.
The earliest endowments which bygone liberaHty afforded to study and learning were, as has been already stated, donations to the university. Gradually, and by steps which cannot be traced, these donations were limited to the students of particular houses. In later time they formed part of the foundation of some among the earliest colleges, such as those of Exeter, Balliol, University. At the time of the Reformation, and, indeed, for some time after, there were no estates held in trust by the university for the general body of its members, without distinction of college or hall, and with a view to the promotion of learning among inde- pendent students.
The first gift to the university in which provision was made for parties who were not possessed of any college emolument was that of Lord Craven, in 1647. He intended his scholars, whom he endowed, for that time, munificently, to be unattached to the foundations of any college — the statute, grounded on his bequest, excluding foundation members from the advantage of his liberality. Latterly, this was interpreted to apply to those only who were not scholars or fellows of any college at the time of their election. The bequest was also clogged with the condition of a preference to the name or kindred of the founder.
. After certain changes, in which the leading features of the founder's will were preserved, the whole scheme
74 EDUCATION IN OXPORD.
was remodelled by the commissioners under tlie Univer-^ sity Reform Act, and the new plan is to come into effect on the avoidance of the present occupants. In point of stipend, the Craven is the most valuable of all the university scholarships — of those, at least, which are open to undergraduates. Where it has been procured by examination, its possession has always been a cre- ditable achievement ; but the limitation to non-founda- tioners, and the preference to founder's kin, have hitherto made the field of competition narrow and the occupancy ambiguous. A student might have been a Craven scholar without being better than an ordinary passman. Hence, any inference from the possession of the scholarship would be fallacious, without an explana- tion of the circumstances under which the election took place.
More than a hundred years after this bequest, certain fellowships and scholarships were founded by Mr. Viner, for the study of common law. This gentleman, how- ever, nullified his gift by permitting the election of the scholars to Convocation. Hence the scholars were chosen without any consideration of their knowledge of common law, or without any pledge that they would study it. As a consequence, numbers of Vinerian scholars used the endowment as a means for eking out a fellowship, and finally took orders without having learned an atom of the common law of England. This state of things was, however, changed in the last few years, and the election has become the consequence of an examination. Hereafter there will be an annual election, and the scholai'ship will be held for five years, with a stipend of 35 Z. per annum.
The other university scholarships are much later in point of time, the gift which gave the first stimulus to
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVEESITY. 75
this valuable and satisfactory form of academical emolu- ment having been that of the late Dean of Westminster, Dr. Ireland. Dr. Ireland had himself been a servitor at Christ Church, had owed his education to the coarse beneficence of that kind of dotation, and repaid thou- sandfold the advantages he had received.
He founded four scholarships of thirty pounds a year on the widest possible basis, no preferential claim being admissible. The right of competition is contmued during the whole of an undergraduate's ordinary career, that is, till his sixteenth term, so that every matriculated person has four chances. The tenure of the scholar- ship is for four years, and though the material of the examination is that of school learning, and is therefore so far narrow, the credit attaching to the successful candidate is deservedly large.
Soon after this foundation, the university created from its own resources an annual mathematical scholarship modelled on the plan of Dean Ireland's scholarship. Subsequently, however, the scheme was altered, and in place of a single mathematical scholarship, two were framed, one for juniors, that is, for persons who had not exceeded the ninth term from their matriculation, and one for bachelors who have not exceeded their twenty- sixth. The tenure of each scholarship is for two years, and the value of the senior and junior scholarships are respectively 40Z. and 30^. per annum.
A biennial scholarship in mathematics was also founded by Dr. Johnson. It is of small value, and has generally been obtained by the senior mathematical scholar of the year. The proceeds of this scholarship are expended in books, which must be theological or classical.
Some of the relics of the foundation of Hertford
76 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
College were made into a prize by George the Fourtli, for the encouragement of Latin learning, candidates being limited to the second year from their matricula- tion. The scholarship, which is annual, and only enures to the occupier for the year of his election, is of the same value for that year as Dean Ireland's scholar- ship, and is also a prize denoting the great acquirement of the successful candidate in the ordinary school learning of Latin.
In connection with the Taylor Institute, the purport of which is the teaching of the modern languages, four scholarships have been founded, each of which, of the value of 2 51. annually, is tenable for two years. These scholarships have been in existence for two years only.
In the years 1831 and 1832, certain Hebrew scholar- ships were founded, two by Mrs. Kennicott, and three by Mr. and Dr. Pusey with Dr. Ellerton. As those on Mrs. Kennicott's foundation may be held for four years, the election takes place at irregular intervals ; but those on the Pusey and Ellerton foundation are elected annually. The former are limited to the year after which the candidate has taken the degree of B.A. ; the latter can be contended for by parties who are under the degree of M.A. or B.C.L., or who, having taken this degree, are not more than twenty-five years of age. The scholarships are of about the same value as the Ireland scholarship.
There are also two scholarships for the study of Sanskrit, which are tenable, if certain conditions of a stringent character as to residence and age are fulfilled, for four years, and are annually worth 50^.
Besides these benefactions, there is a valuable scholar- ship attached to the study of law, which originated in a
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVEESITY. 77
testimonial declaratory of the sense entertained by the university of Lord Eldon's political services, amounting to 2001. a year, and three for the study of medicine, derived from the remodelling of Dr. RadclifFe's bequest for travelling fellows. These also are equal to 200Z. a year each, the necessity of residence abroad during some part of the tenancy being exacted from the occupiers of these emoluments. The electors of the Eldon scholarship are certain parties who act as trustees to the fund, but who are bound in the exercise of their patronage to consider a series of conditions derived from the academical distinctions of the candidates. The appointment to the RadclifFe fellowship is the consequence of an examination in medical and other science, with the additional provision that candidates shall already have been tested in the first class in natural science. In either case the scholars are bound to proceed respectively to the status of barrister and physician. Generally speak- ing, the condition has been fulfilled, and the object of the foundation accomplished by the parties who have been invested with these advantages.
For nearly a century there have been certain prizes bestowed for compositions in prose and verse. At present they are regularly awarded from a fund derived from a bequest of Sir Roger Newdigate, and from the liberahty of the Chancellor of the University. They are of the annual value of 20Z., and when once obtained cannot be a second time successfully competed for. They are four in number : two for verse ; Latin and English, limited to undergraduates ; and two for prose ; Latin and English, assigned to bachelors of arts. The successful prizes are recited at the annual festival of the university which goes by the name of the Comme- moration. In case the compositions are not of sufficient
78 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
merit, no prize is awarded, a circumstance which has occurred four times within the last twenty years. Naturally the number of competitors for the Newdigate is much larger than that for any other of the prizes. Young poets are plentiful.
The institution of these prizes has been followed by that of others, the earliest, after them, having been some on divinity. Either from incompetence or from indif- ference, it has frequently happened that no prize has been bestowed from the bequest of Dr. EUerton and Mrs. Denyer.
Latterly the fashion of prizes by way of testimo- nials to eminent names in literature has obtained in Oxford. The death of Dr. Arnold was made the occasion of founding a prize to his memory, the subject being alternately one in ancient and modern history, and the successful candidate — the period of his candi- dature is limited to eight years from matriculation — receives 42 Z. from the fund. Similarly, on the death of the late Dean of Christ Church, Dr. Gaisford, a double prize for Greek prose and verse was instituted out of a subscription collected in his honour. Lord Stanhope has also bestowed on the university an annual prize of 201, for an essay on some point of modem his- tory, within certain chronological limits.
On the whole success in competition for university prizes, as is the case with that for university scholar- ships, is understood to be highly creditable to the candidates. Nevertheless, in working out the general purposes of academical study, the direction in which prizes have been bestowed is either too much that of merely testing school work, or of giving an external impetus to studies which are either novel or languish- ing. And it is to be hoped, as there are other equally
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 79
important portions of the general theory of academical education, that more of such prizes may be forthcoming on these subjects.
It does not follow that those persons who have been successful in the competition for university prizes should have also made a good figure in the university class lists. No doubt, as a rule, they do, especially when they have appeared as prize essayists in English and Latin. But the examination in Uteris humaniorihus, or, as it is commonly called, but very vaguely, in Classics, is far more general than any subject for a xmiversity prize is or could be. It is necessary to state this fact, since it has been a feature in the details of late acade- mical reform, to put the prize essays on the same foot- ins: with a first class.
Subjoined is a table containing an account of matri- culations and degrees of bachelor and master of arts respectively for the last twenty years, divided into quinquennial periods. The obvious inferences are : —
1. That there has been a considerable diminution in the numbers of the university on the last two averages, when one estimates the matriculations, and that this becomes more serious and important when one con- siders the vast increase of national wealth during the last twenty years. In this period the real value of imports and exports, the best test of national wealth, has more than doubled, and it may fairly be argued that if the University of Oxford had been commen- surately appreciated according to the development of national prosperity, that it would have shown a very different set of figures from those appended.
2. That of the parties who have matriculated during the last twenty years, about 73*3 per cent, have pro- ceeded to the degree of bachelor of arts. The bache-
80
EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
lors, when compared with matriculations, must bo sought for in the fourth year from the matriculations, the masters in the seventh. Thus the bachelors of 1853 and the masters of 1856 correspond to the matri- culations of 1849. In this year the number of matricu- lations was the largest during the whole period, 443 ; the bachelors and masters in the respective years being also most numerous^ i.e, severally 354 and 261.^
3. The quinquennial average shows a steady increase in the amount of masters of arts. This result is pro- bably due to the greater facilities which railway com- munication has afforded members of the university in coming to Oxford for the purpose of graduating, and in the increased value of the parliamentary suffrage. Latterly, also, the removal of certain impediments in the way of proceeding to this degree, and especially that of the compulsory three weeks' residence, has tended to increase the number of these graduates.
Year. |
Matricula- tions. |
B.A. |
M.A. |
Year. |
Matricula- tions, |
B.A. |
M.A. |
1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 |
396 441 379 390 398 |
254 272 287 280 284 |
194 200 179 181 234 |
1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 Average 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 Average |
409 359 413 406 393 |
305 306 300 354 258 |
196 204 256 247 198 |
Average.. |
400-8 |
275-4 |
197-6 |
396 |
304-6 |
220-2 |
|
1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 |
438 411 406 412 443 |
281 303 252 273 298 |
208 201 240 196 201 |
* 344 385 380 399 419 |
236 291 269 277 300 |
189 261 241 234 258 |
|
Average.. |
422 |
281-6 |
209-2 |
385-4 |
274-6 1 236-6 |
Matriculations. B.A. Total for 20 years 8,021 5,681
M.A. 4,318
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 81
Oxford Local Examinations.-— No sketch of Oxford education would be other than very imperfect which did not take into account the remarkable and truly national movement of 1857, in what have been called middle-class or local examinations. This work of the university has been so singular and important, has been so characteristic in its value, and, with very explicable exceptions, so appreciated by those who were able to avail themselves of it, that it bids fair to be a solution of a very practical kind to a vast social difficulty, and a serious social inconvenience. It was no less than the bringing to bear on the general education of the country those tests, and maybe those influences, which this university could so ably use, and so disinterestedly employ. It is impossible to exaggerate the merits of the movement, and it is quite out of one's power to predict the action and reaction of the process which was accepted, not without hesitation, but, in some degree, by surprise on the part of the university. For though Oxford does not in any sense, except the most indirect, educate the general body of the nation, yet the university does not practically educate its own members ; it does by them, except in so far as the professors teach, no more than estimate the product of education by other parties, and of various but assimilated kinds.
Everybody knows that an elaborate and organized governmental system is employed to scrutinize the profitable employment of national funds in the esta- blishment and working of those schools which are aided by educational grants. These grants form an important and increasing charge in the annual estimates ; and from the pecuhar disposition of the English nation to recognize and deal exceptionally with those parties who are, or are presumed to be, in need of what may
6
82 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
be called public or parliamentary charity, the schools which are maintained by these grants are rapidly ap- proaching perfection in the capacity of teachers, in the means of instruction afforded to the poor, and in the selection of the best and ablest from the ranks of those who are taught, with a view of their being made school- masters and schoolmistresses, under the name and with the allowances of pupil teachers. No one can read the reports of the school inspectors without recognizing that an elaborate and highly efficient organization is at work on the system of instruction adopted and maintained for the children of the poor. No one can doubt that the police of the system, so to speak, is eifective and exact, and that the product is as elaborately usefal as the time and material of the pupils can supply. Probably, too, in the whole range of public questions there is not one on which the general opinions of public men are so agreed, as on the principle of national education, as applied to the poorer classes. If governmental charity is excusable, this is the most excusable form of it. That differences should occur as to the wisdom of sectional as opposed to secular national education is only a part of the great question which is still agitating men, and which is as yet unsolved — the advantage, namely, or disadvan- tage of a public recognition of religious differences.
Again, there are certain persons whose fitness is certified by definite general or special tests. The uni- versities examine their own students, and determine their qualifications, unfortunately in the main only for one of the professions which educated men fill — that, namely, of the Church. The benefit which the credit of the university examinations bestows on the clergy of the English Church is incalculable. After one deducts the natural de- preciation of gossip and party spirit, there is on all hands
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 83
admitted the fact, that the clergy of the English establishment are not only the most highly educated ecclesiastics in the world, but, as a body, the best in- formed men on general subjects in England. To them, more than to any other body of men, the special and most valuable features of English better-class society are due. The 'most ordinary acquaintance with the social history of England is conclusive on this point. Never may be much better, but always better on all social points than the landed and other wealthy property-holders of England, it is by their means especially, that the satyrs and drunkards of a late age have been raised to the signal social decency of the present time. This object has indirectly at least, and not a little directly, been produced by the universities and their standards of education and intellectual refinement Not, indeed, that the terms of the social equation are not numerous, and supplied from very diiferent sources ; but among them none has been more dominant in the product than the influence of academic estimates on the many moral agents with whom the university annually supplies the country. But waiving the question of the public value of social influence of such persons, there is plainly a conclusive- ness given to the reality of their educational status by the certificate of a degree.
Similarly the effect produced upon the few members of the legal profession who receive a university educa- tion is relatively effective on the whole class. The influence is waning indeed, in the progressive diminution of numbers in students from the university who graduate at the Inns of Court. So,. also, the education of country gentlemen, though far less academical than it once was, is, to a certain extent, provided for by the standards taken in those who have graduated at Oxford and Cambridge.
6—2
84 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
But there is a vast mass of education of which there is no effective test. By far the largest number of those who are educated at public schools enter on their special branches of study when they leave those schools. In professional hfe, and in the upper walks of trade, the age at which general education ceases is from seventeen to eighteen. In the ordinary business of trade and agriculture, it ceases at from fourteen to fifteen. Hitherto the tests by which the capacity of teachers and the infor- mation imparted to the pupils are estimated, have been of the most meagre and unsatisfactory kind. The power of parents to determine the most important conceivable thing — the best means and the best places for the instruction of their children — ^was either absolutely wanting or totally empirical. Hence there is nothing in which incompe- tence has been more loud and pretentious than in scholastic business. The most successful schoolmaster was often, and is often, far from being the most capable person, but the most unblushing and impudent charlatan. The road to profit lay in puffs and advertisements.
Now the chief use of advertisements is the instruc- tion of the purchaser in the place where he can pro- cure, at prices which he can comprehend, goods which he can estimate the value of. But an advertisement is a delusion or a guess, when it puts forward the sale of that which persons are quite unable to appreciate. And education — that is, the special powers of individuals to educate — is one of those things about which parents are very apt to be misinformed and mistaken. It is true, indeed, that they can ordinarily estimate the common routine of proficiency in commercial requi- sites— that is to say, the knowledge of reading, spelling, writing, and rudimentary arithmetic ; but the method of teaching the way in which what is known has been
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 85
imparted, and the extent to which this has systemati- cally been put into the minds of young persons, they take on faith, and are perpetually deceived in. It was tolerably well understood, indeed, that the ordinary teaching of schools was unsatisfactory, and that an inquiry into it would reveal some significant and serious facts. The real want of information about it was most of all felt by the schoolmasters themselves, whose in- terest it was to have their goods tested by capable and critical judges, that they might have some appeal in the midst of the clumsy competition of persons very unequally competent, for the custom of persons singu- larly incapable to form an accurate judgment about the worth of the commodity. It was of the last importance to such persons that they should be supplied with this desideratum — a test, that is to say, of the value of their method and their teaching, and this by some unmis- takeable authority.
Any governmental inspection was out of the question. There is nothing in which there is a stronger, and one may say a more rational, dislike to government inter- ference than in the education of one's own children. There is not only an indefinite suspicion of it, but in the minds of those who have formed a judgment, the continental system is one m which small advantages of uniformity and regularity iire purchased at the serious cost of the sacrifice of independence and parental autho- rity. Even in the necessary intrusion of government inspection into the system of national education, care is taken that the possible prejudices of parents during the education of their children from public charity should not be shocked by an educational method which was wholly secular. The distinctions of religious bodies have been preserved and stereotyped in the
S6 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
inspection ; far more, one may be certain, from jealousy of any attempt at centralization, than from a belief that religious truth was likely to be compromised by a merely secular method.
Now it is obvious that no body could be found whose capacity could more completely satisfy the want, and whose position could more fully negative this jealousy, than the universities. It was plain that these institu- tions, dealing with a form of education tj^-pically perfect, and with a range of information actually universal, could test in the best possible way the results of an instruction which, after all, is in a small and inferior degree a copy of that which prevails at these corpora- tions. And, on the other hand, the universities were by way, if of anything, certainly not to absorb the schools into their system ; but to look on them at the best as likely to supply from their better scholars, more and better instructed students. Their position was at once that which would create confidence and disarm suspicion.
Besides, it was seen that in the case of elder youths the examinations which the university might give would meet another and very important necessity, that, namely, of exacting sufficient educational proofs from those persons who contemplate professional specialties. Medical men and attorneys are invested by the Legis- lature with peculiar and exclusive privileges, such, indeed, as are accorded to no other professional men. As a consequence the field of competition, though suffi- ciently wide for the practitioner, is more or less narrowed for the public. But it is not desirable, what- ever may be the view entertained about the wisdom of granting legislative sanction to professional privileges, that such persons should be in matters of ordinary
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 87
education, inconveniently ignorant. Hence the medical profession long since, and the legal lately, has demanded proofs of the general education of those persons who were by way of entering the practice of either profes- sion. But the union of this general examination with the special one was awkward and deceptive, and no one doubts that the decision on it would be on every ground better lodged in the hands of such persons as are found in the universities, whose competency and candour are beyond question.
Furthermore, there was seen to be an opportunity for the uiniversities to set, by their stamp of proficiency, ^ sign upon candidates for employment in public offices and in the public companies. Whatever be the merits of the examinations for government offices, the assimila- tion, in degree at least, of these examinations to those held in the universities was pretty suggestive of the source from whence the style of examination was drawn ; and, on the other hand, few persons would doubt that, were such examinations conducted by the university, there would be, for those who desired it, a great advan- tage purchasable at a cheap rate ; and in government appointments, at least, a certainty that the universities would be candid judges of proficiency, as they were disinterested and unprejudiced in matters of immediate or temporary party feeling and political patronage.
There was, therefore, combined, in the acceptance of any project for creating, by the spontaneous working of the university in the direction of these voluntary , examinations, the satisfaction of several important in- terests and the solution of several social problems. On the one hand there might be derived an easy, cheap, and expeditious way for determining the proficiency of youths, and this as a proof to parents and a test to
88 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
schoolmasters. On the other, there was the opportunity for the public to be satisfied of the general capacity of persons seeking employment and deserving it, as far as any merely intellectual test could estimate these deserts. And, above all, there was a conviction that the uni- versities were at once able to do the work and placed far above any interested considerations in accepting an office of such public value and of so delicate a nature. That the Convocation of Oxford took upon itself the task was as surprising as it was public-spirited ; and one may be confident that the real nature and direction of the move- ment will be yearly more fully appreciated and acted on.
The credit of the movement is immediately due to Mr. Acland, and Dr. Temple, the present head-master of Rugby. It was furthered by the late warden of New College, Dr. Williams, at that time vice-chancellor of the university, and the master of Pembroke, the present vice-chancellor. A statute was passed embo- dying the principles of a double examination for seniors and juniors, and the grant of a title — that, namely, of Associate in Arts, A. A. — to the former. Provision was made also for the creation of a board of delegates, who might carry the measure into eflPect, by framing regula- tions, and elaborating details. The result was a scheme mainly founded on the form of a tentative examination held at Exeter in the summer of 1857, and which is already fully in the possession of the public and those interested in the plan.
It is well known that the scheme was favourably accepted by the persons for whom it was designed. The numbers presenting themselves for examination were very large in the first year, and though, owing in great part to crude notions about the tendency of the move- ment, and to the disappointment felt at the large pro-
' THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 89
portion of failures, the numbers fell off slightly in the following year, yet the plan was an obvious success, because it was a great boon. Very soon the University of Cambridge followed in the wake of that of Oxford, though with less numbers ; and even the University of Durham entered the field.
The system of these local examinations had to contend against some jealousies and some vulgarities. The former of these proceeded especially from the dislike felt by many persons in Oxford, and a considerable majority of the Senate in Cambridge to the grant of any title to the senior candidates. The sister university has more than once refused to grant anything more than a certificate of proficiency, and lately the majority against any step towards an amalgamation with the Oxford scheme has been more decisive than the arguments alleged for the refusal to grant a title.
These arguments have chiefly been, that there was reason to expect a confusion between any title and those degrees which the universities bestow as the mingled claims of residence and proficiency. It was held that persons would mistake A. A. for B.A. But such a mistake would be very short-lived. That it would be made at all, was a strong expression of the opinion that the country had ceased to comprehend, because it had ceased to value, academical degrees. The best way to escape from any such error would, it appears, consist in familiarizing the public with inferior but analogous dis- tinctions. One might as well refuse to coin silver because people had but a feeble appreciation of the value of gold.
Another reason was, that the grant of a title to youths under eighteen would promote and stereotype vanity in the young. It is difficult, indeed, to see how they who are acquainted with the history of the universities could
90 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
allege so childish an argument. Not long since, the ordi- nary age at which the degree of B.A. was taken was hardly more than that which now forms the maximum age for the seniors' examination. Besides, even if altered circumstances are a plausible ground of objection to a different title or status, one may be sure that the precise value of that embodied in the formula A. A. would very soon be put at its proper rate. Scandals and mistakes lie in dark places, which need to be enlightened. And, after all, youthful vanity is sensitive enough, and deals timidly with its capital. Carry out the principle, and all emulation is bad. Intensify it, and the competition which is favoured by acknowledged merits is absurd. Better give no distinction, for fear it should be abused. Better omit all praise, lest it should terminate in morbid self-esteem.
Another objection was taken to the scheme of a far less rational kind. It was supposed that the popular name, that of *' middle-class examinations " (which, by the way, w^as no phrase of the university, but one im- ported from the Exeter experiment), implied a class of persons below, forsooth, the average social condition of most youths in public and private schools. The process was not designed or fitted for the sons of gentle- men; and some small schoolmasters actually alleged this as a ground for declining to take advantage of the university scheme.
Of course, it is inevitably the case in a social state like that of England, where there are a variety of grades, more or less simply marked, into all of which every in- telligent and well-conducted person may enter, that there should be an affectation of social rank and a mannerism of gentility. Indeed, these pretensions are the stock-in- trade of comedy-makers, novelists, and character writers.
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 91
The thin dignity of Mrs. Jones verms Mrs. Smith, and of both versus Mrs. Brown, are stereotyped realities. The spirit of mock distinction is most rampant, when people torture patronymics into all varieties of spelling, or introduce additions to their names which have no proper place in their pedigree. The ass tries to snip his ears, the goose to spread his poor stumpy tail into the peacock's orb.
Half the boys in England are turned in this way into premature prigs. The healthy equality of youth is dwarfed by those coddling vulgarities. True self-respect is lost in the wretched and valueless tinsel of sham self- created rank.
Far better was the old fashion of the ancient world, in which, long before the rules of a more humanizing faith had ignored these paltry distinctions, we read of how all were taught in the same school, served in the same ranks, were drilled to the same method, were instructed in the doctrine of mutual dependence. The discipline was far more healthy, and men quite as digni- fied. They sought for reasons on which they should rest pretensions. There is, as far as I know, only one way to spell Pericles, Alcibiades, Socrates — a good many ways of spelling Smith.
I have my hopes that good sense and good manners will meet the absurdity of these insulated affectations. Liberty and equality are, I am fully persuaded, incom- patibles ; but the reasonable inequalities of social life, and they are great conveniences to many people, are not to be multiplied by self-created distinctions.
The number of candidates for the several certificates in the first year w^as — seniors, 401 ; juniors, 750. In the second, 299 seniors, 597 juniors. In the present year, the seniors are 300, the juniors 589. Of those who
92 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
obtained certificates in the first year, 150 were seniors, 280 juniors. In the second, 151 seniors, 332 juniors. In the third, 152 and 346.
The primary objects of the examination were the supplying a test of ordinary educational proficiency, and of enabling young persons to exhibit special know- ledge on special subjects. As these special subjects are not practically capable of distinction in the juniors, the product of the several subjects proffered was grouped together, the estimate being collective. In the case of the seniors it was conceived that there was sufficient specialty in direction of those studies which youths of sixteen to eighteen are engaged on, to justify a distri- butive estimate. But it is not quite settled wdiether this principle of distinction was a wise one, even on the admission that such persons are engaged in specialties of a sufficiently distinct kind.
The great ^evil of the distributive method is the un- equal value of the several sections. If this unequal Talue were a mattei* of such notoriety as to make the estimate of those who stand in the highest place in one subject, as compared with those w^ho are similarly situated in another, easy, much of the evil would be obviated. But in the general darkness of the parties primarily interested, i.e. parents, there is no reason to believe that the distinction of classified subjects, accord- ing to their intrinsic worth, would be fairly or satisfac- torily settled. Again, so eminently is the practical aptitude of persons to particular branches of knowledge, and the thumb rule of ready habit at once the worthiest part of the knowledge, and the most difiicult to test in an examination, that we would hardly believe that any certificate of proficiency in the scientific part of the subject, would guarantee a useful acquaintance with it.
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 93
It is the hardest thing conceivable to devise an exami- nation which shall be satisfactory in any knowledge the immediate value of which resides in empirical skill. And this, hard as it is in the case of men who are taking certificates of professional skill, is still harder with boys whose knowledge, at the best, is little more than headwork. I have referred before to this in speaking of the Oxford school of natural science.
Another difficulty of a serious character is the posi- tion of theological knowledge in the examination of seniors and juniors. To have exacted membership with the Church of England from all candidates would have been, one may be permitted to assert, to imperil, if not to negative, the whole value of the movement as a national one. It was necessary, then, to leave to those who are not members of the Church of England, or who do not think fit to declare themselves such, an oppor- tunity of avoiding an examination in the distinctive doctrines which the Church accepts and endorses. At the same time it would have been impossible to examine — even had it been desirable — in the various tenets of various religious bodies. The third course, that of pro- viding an examination which would be passed by all. Churchmen and Dissenters equally, though adopted by Cambridge, was unsatisfactory in theory, and no less in practice : in the former, because no scheme could be wide enough to include all persons, who might possibly wish to be examined ; in the latter, because so general a material is not religious knowledge, but moral philo- sophy, since the acceptance of this part of the examina- tion implies an admission of its authoritative character. The fact that such an examination was almost uni- versally accepted by the Cambridge candidates is no argument against the inherent inconveniences of the
94 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
course adopted in the sister university. There is not likely to be an objection to an examination in a diluted revelation, and so much of a moral creed as society generally admits ; but this is not theology in any sense of the word. The gist of an examination in the general truths of natm^al and a few tenets of revealed religion exists in the ordinary acceptance of them ; were it not for this, were a religious examination a merely intel- lectual process, an atheist might as properly satisfy a test of theological proficiency as the most devout and consistent believer. If, however, the general agreement of various religious bodies is to be the minimum of dog- matic examination, one is at a loss to see on what principle the university is able to determine the minimum.
But, in the case of Oxford, the course pursued — and one might multiply arguments about the unsatisfactory character of the Cambridge plan — was different enough, and distinct enough, but still marked by serious incon- veniences. The miiversity wished to examine in the teaching only of the Church of England, and to exact compliance with this condition, unless under a definite statement of non-conformity. The former regulation, on the hypothesis of a divinity examination at all, was reasonable and safe enough, when accompanied by cer- tain compensating provisions ; the latter is one, the wisdom of which is open to grave doubts, and the propriety of which is, I think, still more questionable.
This compensation is a classification of those candi- dates whose divinity examination may be satisfactory. Without such a classification the tendency of the quan- tum offered is and must be, in the nature of things, to a minimum. The university scheme has been accepted because it is the supply of a popular want. But the acceptance of the supply is always measured
THE STUDENT AND THE UNIVERSITY. 95
by the want. Now, one of the characteristic features of the demand was the system of classes. This is bestowed in all branches of knowledge except one, that is, the knowledge of divinity, in other words, the material of a religious education. As a consequence, there was no incentive to exertion in a mere pass, and the amount of knowledge actually proffered has been in the three years of the movement markedly declining. Unless the classification of candidates is adopted, one may expect to see this deficiency increase.
The hardship supposed to be entailed on the children of dissenting parents, who are unable to show the results of their particular teaching, is, I think, exaggerated. After all, religious instruction, communicated on con- scientious grounds, and with a view to the moral culture of youth, is very different from that information which forms the material for question and answer, and a formal examination.
To exact compliance with a condition which asserts recusancy or dissent is, in my opinion, unwise and im- proper. With a fortuitous wisdom, the Legislature has declined to deny the right of church-membership in pursuance of overt acts of schism, or non-conformity. And, as this view of the Legislature has been imported into the Oxford Reform Bill, it is not desirable, or even proper, that the regulations of the university should be narrower than public convictions. There is a national church, the width of whose doctrines and, in great degree, of whose discipline is sufficient for even an argumentative conformity. It would be an evil day if the beneficent working of its present activity were ex- changed for that narrow exclusiveness which exti-eme men advocate, and which God's providence and man's common sense have hitherto successfully repelled.
PAET IIL
THE COLLEGE.
I HAVE attempted to show in the foregoing pages what are the relations in which an undergraduate stands to the University of Oxford, what is the process which he goes through in obtaining his degree, and what in general is the relative value of the various distinctions in the various faculties of Arts, Divinity, Law, and Physic. I have ventured occasionally on some few cri- ticisms in the course of this detail, more, indeed, by way of explaining anomalies and connecting facts, than because I was willing to discuss these anomalies and facts, or from the feeling that the criticism was in any way exhausted, or suggested improvement totally ex- pounded. And I have appended to this account a state- ment of the extraordinary and important movement of 1857, in the so-called local or middle-class examina- tions, because I felt sure, although this is no way a part of Oxford education, properly so called, that the systematic instruction of the great body of the middle, classes would be increasingly influenced and finally distinctly directed from the limits and the divisions assigned, or to be assigned, to it by the Oxford de- legates.
The next part of the work before me is to designate the relations in which an undergraduate stands to his college, that institution which appearing subsequently —
THE COLLEGE. 97
tliougli at a very remote period — to the university, lias finally absorbed it, though in several points it is even now distinct from it. Every undergraduate must be attached to, and for a considerable time reside within the walls of a college ; and every graduate must, by a bye-law of the university, remain a member of a college, under the penalty of losing all academical privileges direct or indirect. The direct privileges are the right to interfere, on occasion arising, with the self-government of the university ; the indirect, is the parliamentary suffrage of those who are technically called members of Convocation, that is, masters of arts and doctors in the several faculties. These privileges are preserved by the payment of an annual fine, the proceeds of which are distributed partly to the general purposes of the uni- versity, partly to the relief of those institutions in which the so-called foundation members have all the authority, and reap all the benefits.
There are nineteen colleges in Oxford, and five halls. There is a nominal equality between the colleges and the halls, but a marked practical disadvantage in the position of the latter institutions. The explanation of this fact will come hereafter. It is only necessary to state here, that the members of halls labour under so many serious inconveniences that at present it is a loss to be connected with them.
As institutions, the halls are of earlier date than the colleges. There were, we are told, more than three hmidred of these establishments in the pre-Reformation period. But such places of education have long since been merged in colleges, or have been aliened to private individuals, with the exception of the five which now remain, and which seem to have accidentally escaped the fate of their kindred, generally by the fact of their
7
98 EDUCATION IX OXFOED.
having been connected directly or indirectly with some college.
The characteristic features of a college are, that it is an aggregate corporation, empowered by charter to hold lands and tenements, and governed by statutes administered by a head and fellows. They have nearly all been the creation of private benefactions, and originally the buildings of the society were in- tended, and only provided accommodation, for such parties as were designated by the founder as the recipients of his endowment. In one college — All Souls — this rule holds good still, no person being admitted to that society who is not a member of the foundation. But in all other colleges, either from remote periods, or sometimes within the memory of the present genera- tion, extraneous persons have been permitted to become members of the society, on payment of such charges as the college thought proper, on conditions of a more or less stringent kind, and occasionally on the under- standing that they appeared in the society, or, as it is technically called, on its books, as of those higher academical grades named noblemen and gentlemen commoners.
The Head of a College is known by various names. He is president, warden, master, rector, principal, pro- vost, as the case may be. In one society he is called the dean ; this personage, the head of Christ Church, being also the chief dignitary of the cathedral church. In all cases but the latter, the head of the college is elected from the fellows on the occasion of a vacancy, and almost always by them. The Dean of Christ Church being at once an ecclesiastical and an academical officer, is nominated by the Crown, the foundation which he rules being an endowment of Henry the Eighth — if.
THE COLLEGE. 99
indeed, it can be called his endowment, since it repre- sents the relics of a far more extensive scheme, which Wolsey contemplated and planned, and for which he provided funds. Suspended at Wolsey's disgrace, the college was reconstructed by the king.
Previous to the Act of 1854, the choice of the fellows on the vacancy of the headship was restricted, and occasionally confined to the members of some particular foundation. Now, however, the choice of the fellows is free, and they are generally empowered to elect a head out of other societies as well as their own. There is no reason to believe that the permission will be acted on, for there is, naturally enough, a considerable esprit de corps among the members of any particular society, and it would never probably happen that any stranger, however meritorious, would be preferred to one of the society, however incompetent the members of the society may be out of whom to make a choice.
The functions of a head of a college are rather to reign than to govern. As far as possible the fellows would endeavour, and succeed in their endeavours, to prevent any increase of his authority over themselves, and the tendency of their relations to him, both by pre- cedent and by their mutual combination, is to limit that authority which the head has previously possessed. Over undergraduates, however, the authority of the head is absolute, though in all likelihood this authority would not be arbitrarily exercised without discontent on the part of the subordinate authorities, and perhaps without provoking an appeal to the Visitor. The visitor is an individual — generally of high official rank — to whom the founder of the college assigned the business of interpreting his statutes, and enforcing obedience to them, when any member of the society is, or fancies
7-2
100 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
liimself, aggrieved. Most of the visitors are bishops. Thus, the Bishop of Winchester is visitor to five colleges, and others to a less amount. The Crown is visitor to three among the colleges, and one is liable to the appel- lant jurisdiction of a nobleman.
The heads of halls, called Principals, are nominated by the Chancellor of the University. This privilege of the chancellor is a usurpation, but one of ancient date, having been procured by Leicester, chancellor in Elizabeth's reign. The farce of an election is, how- ever, enacted when a nomination is made. As a rule, heads of halls are persons of ability and pretensions. These personages have a far more active set of func- tions to fulfil than the heads of colleges, since they are not neutralized by the fellow^s ; and, indeed, unless possessed of private means, are considerably dependent upon the numbers of their undergraduates for their income. The head of a hall, however, like the head of a college, seldom takes any part in the instruction of the undergraduate members of his society. These duties are delegated to a vice-principal, and occasionally to additional teachers. One of the headships of the halls is in the patronage of a corporation — Queen's College.
Halls have no endowments. Neither are they cor- porate bodies. The fragments of academical patronage which they possess, are held for them in trust by the university. In one of them, Magdalene Hall, the annual income from estates given for their benefit is said to be considerable.
By the statutes of the university, no change can be made in the tariff of the expenses to which Aularians, that is to say, members of halls, are subject, without the consent of the members of the society. Like many
THE COLLEGE. 101
other statutes of the university, this regulation is either ignored or systematically broken, and the members of these societies are liable to whatever charges the ca- price, negligence, or necessities of the head may impose. Imposts which emanate from an irresponsible head are in their nature endowed with a marvellous vitality, and are continued often after the necessity for which they arose has ceased, or are imposed for considerations which are utterly incongruous with the nature and extent of the impost. This, however, will be seen to be almost as characteristic of colleges in their relations to undergraduate members.
It has been stated before that no person could be a member of the university unless he resided within the walls of a college or hall. When halls were numerous and easily created, and when sites were procurable at cheap rates, as in early times, this condition was no hardship, but rather a benefit, as it gave an opportunity for discipline in turbident times, by rigidly marking off academical from private or civic arrangements. But when the ancient halls were lost, the condition, enacted first by Laud, that every graduate or undergraduate should be a member of some existing college or hall, tended to produce a state of things in which the uni- versity would be practically closed to all, except persons of fair income, or possessed of eleemosynary emolu- ments— a result but very slightly and temporarily modified by an affected supervision over expenditure. It has been said that, at the beginning of the present century, the rule had fallen into disuse, but has revived by the urgent representations of those colleges where incapacity or misfortune had caused their walls to be empty of all but the foundationers. Since that time, the statute has been rigidly enforced, and all under-
102 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
graduates are required to reside twelve terms, or three years, within the walls of a college or hall. After that they are free to live out of college, and, indeed, are, as a rule, obliged to quit their rooms. The only excep- tions to the rigour of this regulation, are the cases of those young persons who live with their parents within the precincts of the university, and of those whose age the vice-chancellor considers is a sufficient guarantee for their powers of self-control. The former are very few indeed, the latter are those exceptional middle-aged persons who enter at one or two of the halls, and one of the colleges, as gentlemen commoners.
It is not easy to conceive a scheme which is more likely to prevent the enlargement of the university, the improvement of study in the place, and of the practical faculties of its recognized teachers, than this statutable monopoly of the existing colleges and halls. Freed from all considerations, except those of merely filling their sets of rooms, the authorities of these societies enjoy all the advantages which the prestige and endowments of the university possess, without any claim being made upon their energies beyond the routine of the books they read when they were undergraduates themselves, and the traditional jargon of college lectures. Nothing but the rivalry of one or two among the colleges raises this state of things above the dead level of a uniform dulness. And the consequences on the relations be- tween the university and the country are even more deplorable. With a population greatly increased, and with national wealth almost enlarged by one-half, if not actually doubled ; with general and special education still more extensively enlarged within these twenty years, the number of undergraduates in the university has absolutely declined within this period, and the sym-
THE COLLEGE. 103
pathies of the nation with its ancient academies have grown weaker and weaker. Men care less and less for academical distinctions, know less and less of academical learning, feel less and less the immediate influence of an academical training, and the connection between the universities and the Church bids fair to be the sole remaining link between the country and its noblest corporation. When these things are commented on, the general answer given in favour of maintaining the monopoly of the colleges, is the superior moral training which their domestic system affords. The statement' begs the question, and the fact is problematical. There is no reason to believe that life within the walls of a college is provocative of morality. Perhaps it may even be dangerous to it. At any rate, the direct in- fluence of college authorities on the practice of under- graduates, is confined to a discipline wliich turns religion into a penalty, and instruction into a routine. Com- pulsory attendance on Divine service in college chapels does not, as a fact, induce great reverence for the holiest thino;s, but rather suc^fvests a sort of tabulated quittance of formal observances. The very phrase, commonly used to denote obedience to these require- ments, is no direct evidence towards the favourable effects of the discipline. ^' Keeping chapels " is a remote metaphor for praying in God's house.
Equally so is the case with college lectures. I can confidently state that these performances are almost universally quoted by undergraduates with contempt and dislike. It is very often with great injustice that young men criticise the perfunctory attendance on a conscientious college lecturer. But the limitation of liis time, by a programme which is arbitrary, and often unsuitable, is apt to produce in the undergraduate's
104 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
mind a sense of utter weariness or of active irritation. People are unwilling to learn perforce, and many a man, who has taught to the best of his power, is baffled in its results by the unwillingness of those who think his lecture a bore, and his authority a tyranny.
Nor is one prepared to think much more highly of the domestic supervision of college authorities. It is true that there is a standing rule in all colleges to the effect that no egress is permitted from colleges after nine at night, when the gates are shut, and that all entrance after that hour is noted and fined. This, how- ever, and an occasional interference with an occasional uproar within the college, are all that the direct dis- cipline of the institution enforces on its junior members. But for the rest there is not, and I honestly believe cannot be, any remedy. Gambling and drinking may go on within a college to a far greater extent, for a far longer time, and with far more ruinous effects, than they could without a college. And though it may be the case that the latter of these vices has declined of late years, yet I have been told, on the authority of a respectable Oxford tradesman, that the number of packs of cards which he has supplied to the members of a particular college, in one term, is something quite incredible. Nothing but constant interference or es- pionage could prevent such practices, — methods impos- sible or mischievous. Of course, there are cases in which the college tutor has that singular tact by which the confidence of young men is won over to their good, and an influence is exerted which is invaluable, because it is critical and permanent. But such powers are as extraordinary as they are eminent. Nay, I should almost say that they occur in spite of, and not in the least in pursuance of, the system of college life. Fur-
THE COLLEGE, 105
ther, thej rarely affect more than a few. Indeed, with the general mass of men, especially young men, deference to a rational and honoured authority is seldom given, and given with increasing hesitation, except under ex- ceptional circumstances. Personal influence is, I believe, far more difficult in the case of youths than in that of grown men ; and this comes from the fact, that where impulses are strong characters are variable, and personal influence is accorded to those who have the gift of dis- cerning characters. Again, there is less common ground between the several parties than there is when men of similar experience, but unequal powers and abihties, come into collision. But, in addition to the natural difficulty of assimilating on this fashion minds and feelings so remote from each other as those of a college authority and an undergraduate, the sharp line drawn between what is called in Oxford a " don," and a young man, increases the unlikelihood of these reciprocal influences. Graduates are here, when brought into relations with imdergraduates, " upon parade." There is the obvious and easy acquisition of a formal stiffness, and the difficult and cautious habit of conscientious tact. What wonder if, with no ordinary motives to accept the letter labour, that most older Oxford men adopt the former sloth ?
I have dwelt upon these facts, in the beginning of what I am now saying, because just as the colleges have absorbed the university, so the monopoly of education and of the locus standi of education has brought about and perpetuates several evils. First, the limitation of the university and the inexpansiveness of its existing in- stitutions; next, the elimination of almost all the human motives which would lead- the man in authority — the teacher — into making the most of his opportunities, and adopting a general appreciation of his duties ; third.
106 EDUCATION IN OXFOllD.
the facility witli which temptations are brought before young men, from the absence of anything like domestic control in that state of things which most familiarly aflPects it ; and, lastly, the difficulties which lie in the way of a healthful influence over the minds of those whose moral and intellectual good is that which the colleges aflPect to consider their peculiar care.
Matkiculation. — When a college is in high reputa- tion, and a variety of circumstances conduce to par- ticular reputations of pai-ticular colleges, it is not easy to procure enrolment among the members. In some cases, several years must pass between the notice given of the intention of a parent to send his son to one of these colleges in high repute and his consequent residence. The law of residence within the walls of a college makes entrance occasionally very difficult. The monopoly of education enables the authorities in these establishments to prescribe, in the case of those who are anxious to enter their walls, a considerable amount of patience, and to entail no little disappointment. Of course, no rational objection can be made to any rule which the domestic discipline and academical interests of a college pre- scribe. The only hardship resides in the system which prevents any education in any place except those build- ings which, from their limited extent, constitute a narrow monopoly, and in which privilege is a stimu- lant of nothing but mediocrity.
Everybody who has paid the least attention to the facts, as they at present exist in Oxford, must be aware that certain colleges have a very high reputation for success in academical distinctions, and that among these none takes so high a place as Balliol. The position, indeed, which colleges severally have in academical
THE COLLEGE. 107
honours and prizes will be found in the tables subjoined to this portion of my work, and to which the reader is referred for information.
In case a parent desires to matriculate his son at one of these particularly reputable colleges, it will be needful that he should give notice of his intention to the head of that college some years previously, and it is safe to do so four or five years before the time at which it is intended that the residence should com- mence. Not but that it often happens, in those colleges even which are most select, that an occasional scarcity of applicants for matriculation may render it easy to get a person in without such long notice ; but the opportunity is rare, and should not be depended on. It is far better to secure, as far as may be, an opening at some future and rather remote period. I am quite aware that this necessity is an evil and a great one, because it may often happen that persons are undecided about sending their sons to the university till long after the period which I have designated as that in which application should be made ; but it is not possible to provide a remedy against such a state of things. The privilege of matriculation at a reputable college is, and will be, a matter of competition, and, therefore, must follow, as the area is limited by the statute to which I have so often referred, the ordinary rule of supply and demand.
Notice being given, then, to the head of a college to the effect that it is wished that an individual should enter a particular college at some future time, it is understood that the head registers such applications; and when the time comes at which the residence is to commence, notice is given to the parent that his son may become a candidate for matriculation.
108 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
But it by no means follows, when the candidate is summoned, that he will be entered at the college in question. Most colleges in any repute demand a cer- tain amount of proficiency on the part of the person who contemplates belonging to their society — knowledge which is tested by a matriculation examination. Rea- sonable self-interest, and, indirectly, the well-being of the university depend on this rule. It is obviously undesirable that persons should come to Oxford that they may learn everything about the subjects in which a degree denotes a certain proficiency. The more such incompetent persons there are, the more surely is the ordinary standard lowered. And even if the univer- sity, as is to be desired, were to institute a matricula- tion examination for itself, it would still be a judicious measure for colleges to have their own rule about the competency of their undergraduate members. And it is more to be regretted that the university has not sanctioned this matriculation examination, because there is great suspicion — though I fully believe an unfounded suspicion — that the standard of the college examination is variable, and regulated by the amount of candidates presenting themselves. I say unfounded, because it is so obviously the interest of a college that it should have hopeful undergraduates, that nothing would be more suicidal than to import a number of persons whose attainments are scanty and abilities unpromising. Of course, when a college is but scantily filled, and mem- bers are needed, the standard is necessarily low, and the examination itself in all likelihood a farce ; but, then, this is no more than would be the case when a college matriculates members without examination at all.
In some colleges the matriculation examination is
THE COLLEGE. 109
very severe, and tlie standard is systematically high. This, we are informed, is particularly the case at Balliol, But in point of fact this college has the reputation, and the deserved reputation, of very considerable products ; and it is not to be wondered at that it should, like most sensible manufacturers of products, take some guarantee to the goodness of its raw material. It has indeed been said, with a pardonable exaggeration, that a matricula- tion at Balliol is as good as a scholarship elsewhere; in other words, that it denotes an equal amount of knowledge with that ordinarily required for a scholar- ship.
I am not acquainted with any college which does not require a formal examination of its undergraduates before matriculation. Some of the halls even demand the fulfilment of this condition. In the largest of them, however, namely, Magdalene Hall, no examination is required, and consequently many persons matriculate at this society who are unable to procure their degree, or who expend an immoderately long time over it. The gentlemen commoners of Christ Church are also exempt from the operation of this domestic rule. Of course the same effect is to be expected in this case as at a hall where no examination is held at entrance. But the body of gentlemen commoners is small in Christ Church, and a considerable portion of them does not care to graduate at all, but merely spends an idle year or two in Oxford, and sets a bad example.
It may be taken for granted that the general rule in these private examinations for matriculation is to make the standard of proficiency equivalent, or nearly equi- valent— the quantum being more or less — to what is ordinarily exacted from a candidate for the certificate of satisfying the examiners for responsions, or little go.
110 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
By this I mean acquaintance with the grammar of the Greek or Latin languages, expressed in the power of translating at sight, and of giving evidence of knowing the principles and rules of the construction of sentences, moderate capability in the translation of English into Latin, and familiarity wi^h the method of arithmetic, of the rudiments of algebra, and the first four books of Euclid. This will be, as a rule, the outline of the examination. In some colleges the questions will be more severe. But it is impossible to determine what is the amount of knowledge required in these sub- jects for the satisfaction of the domestic authorities of any college. This varies with the college, and in all likelihood with the numbers generally pressing for admission, and the ordinary status of the parties matri- culated at the several colleges. It may, in short, be a very severe examination, and it may be a most formal one.
There is a practice in Balliol, and maybe in some other colleges of high reputation, to reserve a number of vacancies for those parties who distinguish them- selves at the scholarship examination, but who are not yet members of the university, and have not given their names in as expecting to be members of the college. In these cases the promise which is shown in the examination is met by an offer of immediate matriculation on the part of the college. As notice is given that such a reservation is customary at the college, no fault can be found with the arrangement, though it may happen that persons may be disappointed. Even were no notice given of the reservation, but merely a general "understanding was afforded that the colleace would matriculate those candidates who are hopeful in preference to any others, the rule, though
THE COLLEGE. Ill
not perhaps a prudent one, would still be bona fide and appreciable.
But there is not, as I am informed, any ground for the ordinary charge laid to this college that the autho- rities are in the habit of postponing long existent claims to matriculation for the sake of kidnapping all the best commoners they can. With the exception of the reserve — and of this, as I have said, due notice is given — the authorities of this college invariably keep good faith with the parties who have notified their intention of sending their sons to the society, subject always to the rule that the candidate for matriculation is duly qualified accord- ins: to what it is asserted is an invariable standard. Of course, when this examination is genuine there will be disappointment. Parents, and especially ill-informed parents, almost always rate the capacity and attain- ments of their children at a higher status than is justified by facts, or proved on inquiry. And it is with such persons as these that the greatest disappointment arises.
It is customary for colleges to afiix a variable limit to the age at which they will matriculate applicants. As a rule, this would not be more than twenty. They who are much senior to this must seek some society whose limit is less rigidly retained, and these will generally be such as have small numbers in proportion to their accommodation. When the age is, as people would say, advanced, that is, from twenty-five upwards, parties can rarely matriculate except as gentlemen commoners ; and at present no society appears to admit such persons, except Worcester, and Magdalene HalL In the former of these societies they are fellow com- moners, that is, they associate with the fellows. In the latter they have the sole privilege of paying higher fees.
112 EDUCATION IN OXIORD.
If the ordeal of a matriculation examination is passed through successfully, or the college accepts the under- graduate without inquiry into his capabilities, the next process is that of his appearing before the vice-chan- cellor to be admitted as a member of the university. This admission may take place at any time, even in the vacation, though, for certain reasons, matriculations rarely occur except in term time. Of these the prin- cipal is, that the term in which an undergraduate is matriculated counts for one of the series he has to keep towards taking his degree, and this without the necessity of further residence. Another reason is, that many colleges do not admit undergraduates except at specified times. What these times are may be learned from the head of the college, from the vicegerent, or the dean. -The last-named officer is the person by whom the matriculating parties are presented to the vice-chancellor.
The reader will remember that there are four acade- mical terms in the year, and that sixteen of these terms — the number has lately been reduced to twelve — were necessary to the taking of a degree. But these twelve must be spent in residence. Now the occasions on which examinations may be passed for the degree are fixed at two periods in the year — after Easter, that is to say, and after Michaelmas. If the undergraduate matriculates, then, before the long vacation, or in the term immediately following Christmas, he can graduate in his twelfth term; and at the same time the oppor- tunities given him for being an honours' candidate are lengthened to his eighteenth term — the maximum period of standing permitted by the existing statutes of the university. If, on the other hand, he matriculates in the Easter or Michaelmas term, he can proffer
THE COLLEGE. 113
himself for his degree in his thirteenth term ; and he is barred from the honour schools after his seventeenth. As, therefore, it is desirable to shorten the time of residence, if the student is ambitious of a common pass only, or to lengthen the period of study if he contem- plates graduating in honours, it is worth while before matriculation takes place to consider which of the two alternatives is to be preferred. As a rule, however, one may observe, that if an undergraduate is properly prepared before he enters the university, there is no doubt that he will do as well in the shorter as he would in the longer period. Delay in presenting oneself for an examination generally means idleness, except in those cases in which residence has been an occasion of rudi- mentary as well as of advanced study.
Residence and College Discipline. — As I have already stated several times, residence must be within the walls of a college or hall, except under extraor- dinary circumstances.
The rooms which are assigned by the college autho- rities are of very different kinds in point of conve- nience. When the undergraduates are freshmen, as they are familiarly called, they have to put up with small and inconvenient apartments, situated, ordinarily, in the highest story of the buildings. After a time, they have the choice of better rooms, as vacancies occur in them, though, occasionally, residence is completed in the chambers in which it has commenced. As the fur- niture is the property, of the undergraduate, and the expense of paymg for furniture is larger as the rooms are more desirable, it is sometimes necessary to put up with the inconvenience for the sake of economy ; and, as a rule, the system on which the succession to the
8
114 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
furniture of an outgoing tenant is either by a valuation — which is paid by the incoming tenant, or by a rude system, according to which the former pays two-thirds of what was paid by the latter.
The rent of rooms is generally low, and generally •uniform. The rooms, as has been observed, are unfur- nished ; and the tenant has to pay rates and taxes, besides some nondescript charges, called college or hall dues, which, in all likelihood, form a building fund for the general purposes of the college. Rent varies from 61. 8l year to 16Z., or even more; but the rate is exceed- ingly moderate. A very dishonest practice prevails, or did prevail, in some societies, of levying room rent, as well as other charges, during the time of non-residence, or even after the necessary period of intramural resi- dence was over, and the undergraduate was allowed, or rather compelled, to go out of college. It is generally, however, abandoned now ; but it existed at the time of my undergraduate residence at Magdalene Hall, and, I am informed, exists there still ; and though it may be argued that the practice merely meant that 161. a year was claimed for rooms instead of 12Z., yet the fashion of short weight and short measure, to which the prac- tice is strikingly analogous, has never, I believe, been defended on customary grounds, except by people who cultivate a very low sense of even the morality of expe- diency.
In many colleges undergraduates, according to ancient custom, are assigned to the personal supervision of a tutor. This word, as I have before said, has quite passed away from its earlier meaning, which is a legal one. It implies guardianship, the protection of the weaker by the stronger, whether the weakness of the former be that of age or sex. When employed by
THE COLLEGE. 115
the university in bygone times, it denoted that the tutor was responsible for the conduct, and, in some degree, for the morals of his pupil, in much the same way as a curate, or other ecclesiastical personage, was responsible for the personal character of his parishioners. At the time, too, when residence was begun at very early years, and the universities were, in reality, so many public schools, the word had a practical, as well as legal, significance. The tutor was the academical guardian of the boy who was in- trusted to* the discipline of a college life ; and though we have, perhaps, at present reached the maximum age at which young men will be subjected to the studies of a college life, because it is the age at which persons ordinarily enter, after a long course of train- ing, on the active duties of a professional life, yet the maximum has only been recently obtained, and many persons are even now engaged in the work of Oxford instruction who are contemporaries of the system in which youths, fully two years younger than the ordi- nary average of the present time, entered on the Oxford curriculum.
Of course, the tutor has long ceased to be the agent for the moral information of undergraduates. That he should have ceased to stand in this position is due to a variety of causes. The prominent feature of modern times — personal independence — is the latest among these causes. More mature years, the greater difficulty of personal control, the improved canon of social morality, and, above all, the monopoly of the colleges, have singly and collectively been sufficient to do away with the ancient system of authority and dependence. All the authority that remains is, from one point of view, con- ventional, and, from the other, capricious. The college
8—2
116 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
tutor administers the prescribed discipline of the college, and the undergraduate submits to it, in some degree, because he has the wit to see that rules — even arbitrary rules — are necessary ; and because he is going through a routine which has a social value, at least, and, in many cases, a value of a different and more tangible kind, and to which the routine, and all its incidents, are a temporary necessity, if not a rational discipline.
College tutors, in point of fact, if they would only un- derstand it, are in an unfortunate and abnormal position. Though they are hypothetically trusted with pastoral functions, they are checked by the difficulty of dealing with individual minds, and chilled by that absence of all reasonable motives for exertion which a safe monopoly is sure to effect. And though there is evidence of indi- viduals taking on themselves the voluntary labour of personal influence for individual benefit, yet the old bane of inadequate impulses to labour is sure to infect even the most earnest men with the poison of mannerism and the unwisdom of onesidedness. With an antiquated law to administer, they are shut out from modifying it, by the rigour of precedent, and the barrier of imperfect sympathies. Men who live in Oxford see that the in- fluence of seniors on juniors is rapidly getting less and less, and this while the old forms of dependence seem as stubborn as ever they were. That college tutors should have become college lecturers, is a natural product of the system, but a product the nature and effect of which I cannot discuss here, though I hope hereafter to say some thin 0^ about it.
The characteristic parts of college discipline are: the rule that undergraduates should be confined to college after nine in the ^evening, a rule which has been modified into a fine for being out of college after that hour, or what
THE COLLEGE. 117
is teclinically called " knocking in," no undergraduate of the society being permitted to go out of college after that hour; the general condition of residence, that all parties under the degree of B.A. should attend college chapel as a formal requisition, at least once a day ; and the compulsion laid on them of attending college lectures, according to a scheme which is ordinarily put out at the beginning of the term. It is upon the violation of these rules, that the college authorities ordinarily exercise their official power. To these may be added, the penalties on the occurrence of marked ignorance and indolence — being plucked, as it is called — in any examination; and any other evidence of misconduct with which the do- mestic discipline of the college visits its members with heavier or lighter hand, according to the strength or weakness of the domestic executive.
When an undergraduate has resided twelve terms in college, he is, as I have stated, allowed, or rather, obliged, to give up his rooms. Afterwards, if he needs to reside in Oxford, he lodges in private houses. These houses are, however, under a strict discipline. The occupiers of them are obliged to consent to certain con- ditions, on the non-fulfilment of which their licence is forfeited, and they are what is technically called dis- commoned. The force of this process is, that no member of the university is suffered, under penalties, to make any negotiation or contract with them. Lat- terly an attempt was made to render these conditions more strict, and to enforce them on resident bachelors of arts. The plan failed, as a needless stretch of discipline over senior men. The chief conditions com- prised in the formal obligation laid on lodging-house keepers are : the rule that their doors should be closed after nine, that no egress or ingress be permitted
118 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
without the knowledge of the master of the house, and tliat a register of such egress and ingress should be furnished, according to the rule laid down by the undergraduate's college, to those officials under whose discipline he may be.
Lodgings are far from expensive in Oxford, and when one considers that the season of the place, so to speak, is less than six months in a year, and that during two or three of these months lodgings are rarely occupied, the lowness of the charge is even more remarkable. Many circumstances, however, conduce to this. CoUege servants, in the first place, are generally the owners of lodging-houses, and seek to add to an income, respect- able already in amount, by the casualties of occupancy by undergraduates. Few, if any, live by letting lodgings. Next to these are the tradesmen, many of whom, occupying the ground floor of their houses for business purposes, live themselves in the suburbs of the city or the villages adjacent to it, and put some house- keeper or other in charge of the upper rooms. Again, as undergraduates always dine in college, and as they are not, in theory at least, permitted to procure any food or drink, which the college supplies them with, elsewhere, the attendance on the inmates is very scanty, and the cooking next to nothing. Hence the establish- ment of a lodging-house keeper is of the narrowest kind, one female servant is often all that is needed for several persons, and the capital of the owner of the lodging-house is invested in little more than rent and furniture.
There is no reason to believe that vices of a particular character are assignable to the residence of under- graduates in Oxford lodgings, but direct evidence to the contrary. I can at least assert, that during the four
THE COLLEGE. 119
years in wliich I liave had some pastoral work in one of the largest of the villages near Oxford, from which \illage numbers of domestic servants in Oxford come, that I have never met with more than one or two persons who, having been domestic servants, have fallen into evil courses; and m these few cases the offender has been the keeper of tlie lodging-house and not his inmates. The ordinary agents of these results are, as far as I can learn, shopmen and folks little above the original station of these unfortunates.
Attendance at college chapel is a means of discipline, secured by the evidence of a bead-roll, and enforced by penalties. The list is kept, in most cases, by the Bible clerks, who employ the time while the lessons are read in noting the presence of those who are in chapel. In some colleges, however, this unseemly practice is abandoned, and one of the college servants is charged with the duty of taking note of the attendance as the several individuals enter the chapel doors. The prayers used are ordinarily the full service of the Enghsh Church; in one of the colleges only, I believe, is there any deviation from this practice, a practice directed by the Act of Uniformity. But in Christ Church there is a special service, much shorter than the common form of prayer, and this service is in Latin. On particular days, too, the service is performed in the Welsh language at Jesus College, this society being mainly composed of natives of the Principality. Prayers are said, as a rule, at half-past-seven or eight in the morning, and from half-past-four to five in the evening. In Christ Church, however, evening prayers are said at a late hour.
In four of the colleges the service is choral, either by the tenor of its foundation, or by some subsequent arrangement. These colleges are Magdalene, New,
120 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Christ Church, and St. John. But another service is provided at Magdalene and Christ Church, at which undergraduates are commonly present. Some other colleges, as Queen's and Exeter, have latterly established a choral service, but the practice is novel and perhaps precarious. At any rate, there is no provision made for the choral service in the older or later statutes of these colleges, and the formation of the choir has been a voluntary effort.
Prima facie, the practice of making religious worship a portion of domestic discipline, seems likely to neutralize the sense of religion for the sake of enforcing a formal obedience. And this is no doubt a frequent effect of compulsory attendance. But there may be, and are beyond question, many undergraduates to whom the office of daily prayers is an encouragement, a comfort, and a means of moral and religious strength. Perhaps all the good of the service would be obtained if atten- dance were allowed to be voluntary.
College lectures are also, as I have observed, a means of discipline as well as of instruction. They are, I conceive, far more powerful for the former than for the latter effect. I have already commented on the causes which lead to their being perfunctory and dull. If a college lecturer makes them better than ordinary, it is supererogatory, and due to -his own conscientiousness and activity. But colleges are drained of their best men, who quit Oxford for schools and other extraneous work ; and while the least efficient of the seniors clincr to the lecture, which they have read for so many years, the rest of the lectureships are in the hands of younger masters, who are eager to get away from a work which is destitute of all ordinary human motives. Besides, no college, except under the rarest circumstances, employs
THE COLLEGE. 121
any person on its staff, except he happen to be a fellow of the society, and the most vital interests of under- graduates would be, and indeed are, habitually over- looked, to carry out the rigour of a rule which seeks to avoid offence by the sacrifice of duty and principle.
Of course there are marked exceptions to these functional mediocrities. There are many persons in Oxford who conscientiously and laboriously further the moral improvement, as well as the intellectural culture of the undergraduates under their care. But they do so in despite of, and not in pursuance of the state of things under which they live and work. Their " noble rage " is repressed by the decorous feebleness which surrounds them. And that I may not seem to have stated what is not apparent to any but myself, or to a few, any of my readers who chooses to peruse the articles contributed, some years ago, by Sir W. Hamilton to the Edinburgh Review, will see the case stated far more strongly than I have stated it ; and any one who takes occasion to question the first half-dozen Oxford graduates whom he meets, will find that what Hamilton reprehended has not passed away, but is just as characteristic as ever.
Habits of Undergeaduate Life. — Many farcical novels have been written on the practices of young men at college, and some few serious ones. Attempts, too, have been made from time to time to describe the temptations and the results of the necessary training for an Oxford degree ; and even the cumbrous volume of evidence procured by the Royal Commissioners, prior to the Act of 1854, contains some few notices of what young men are and do in Oxford, and how they spend their time. None ^of these accounts, how-
122 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
ever, give any accurate information on the subject ; and from the very various motives which bring persons to the university, as well as from the very various characters congregated in it, it is not hkely that more than the most general features of academical life can be depicted.
Oxford undergraduates are no worse, but, in many traits, far better than most aggregates of young men. The discipline of the university — I do not mean by this the colleges — has something to do with this, the tradi- tions of the place vastly more. Undergraduates have their own laws, and their own customary rales of social life, and these, though often formal and priggish, are very effective and very useful. Their code of honour, it is true, is a little one-sided, and their notions of right and wrong somewhat defective and partial, but they have both code and notions. They do not mind run- ning into debt, and they are apt to waste their money and time — money often procured by great domestic sacrifices, and time which is the most critical in their lives; but they are ordinarily truthful, decorous, and high-spirited. They are great admirers of courage and endurance, and have those virtues themselves in the fullest degree', and they feel a sincere respect for those painstaking members of their own body who achieve academical distinctions.' I never heard that an Ox- ford undergraduate was guilty of an act of cruelty, or that he offered an insult to a woman. Further, to use a bygone political phrase, they are, as a rule, strong Tories ; not because, I take it, they have any profound respect for authority, but because they are strongly infected with what has been called the gentlemanly heresy. Nothing, perhaps, has more contributed to the contempt felt by Oxford men for Oxford tradesmen
THE COLLEGE. 123
than the touting and servility of the latter. When it comes to pass that men shall no longer be ashamed of an honest calling, and shall not prosecute it by forms which argue lack of self-respect and independence, tlie last relics of this social barbarism will, I imagine, be found in tlie cringing and supple petitioners for under- graduate custom.
But whatever may be the feelings of Oxford under- graduates towards what is without their own body, and however contemptuous is the mannerism of academical freemasonry, there is not a particle of this feehng shown towards any of their own body whose antecedents are below the ordmary rank from which most educated persons come. It is no reproach to a young man, and not the most distant allusion is ever made to the fact, that he has come of low origin. The best position in the university is repeatedly taken by persons whose parents are, socially speaking, in a very humble grade. So thoroughly republican in this direction is the feeling of the place, that external social differences are rarely remembered even against arrogance and presumption. There are, it is true, affectations about particular col- leges, and the members of one society pretend now and then to look down on other societies, but the feeling is collective, not towards individuals. And in this charac- teristic, Oxford undergraduate life contrasts in the most favourable way with any other social arrangement and social practice which can be named elsewhere. There is no place, I repeat, where antecedent social differences are so little counted on as here. And this is the more remarkable, because the existing statutes of the univer- sity put some de^nite premiums on social rank, and have a distinct leaning towards vulgar kinds of tuft-hunting. Where men's rank, or supposed rank, is distinguished
124 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
by dress and privilege, the most odious form of servility- is encouraged.
Along with this general sense of equality, there is a strong esprit de corps in the members of particular colleges. This feeling does not spring, I repeat, from reverence towards the authorities of these institutions, and very little from association, but eminently from the habitual cultivation of local affections. The most rollicking muscularity has a very warm interest in the intellectual prowess of his college ; and the most secluded student is in a very unhealthy frame of mind, if he feels no pleasure in the victories of his college boat, and his college cricket club. And though, in after life, this sympathy is resuscitated for unreasonable electioneering predilections, yet it is, on the whole, a wholesome and rational feeling. There are very few men to whom, whether the time has been well or ill spent, whether there is great satisfaction or great regret felt at the way in which the four years have passed, who do not fully comprehend that those four years were the happiest and healthiest of his life. One's university is worth loving, with all its inequalities and shortcomings ; one's college is worth loving, too, despite its management ; and so natural is the feeling, that the exception to it cannot be the fault of the man, but must be of the place and its governors.
The most natural distinction which can be drawn between one set of undergraduates and another, is that of those who read, and those who do not — in other words, of those who intend that their academical educa- tion should be the means of a step in life, above that which is attained by an ordinary degree. Every uni- versity distinction has its value, and if rightly used, like any other capital, will return its profits. The
THE COLLEGE. 125
extremes are, of course, an ordinary degree, and the fullest honours which the university assigns.
An education which extends over four years, and in which the competitive process which lies at its termina- tion is the consummation, is an admirable test of per- severance and industry — the main elements here, as elsewhere, of success, — but is a very strong trial of patience to those who are unable to realize the future. It is not easy for young men who have their head given to them, after years of domestic and school restraint, to anticipate the benefits of a voluntary dis- ciphne. Hence it is, and will be constantly the case, that young men who have achieved nothing in Oxford are found foremost in after life. The stimulus of a remote advantage is the least effective when motives, by the very nature of things, vary. And hitherto the theory of the university examinations has no way fur- thered, but rather damped these prospective energies. Nor, as might be expected, has the collegiate system of domestic training done much to supply the lack of motive, or remove the natural hindrances of thought- lessness and negligence.
Parents, too, have been much to blame. If they insisted on their sons testing their own powers and work, by appearing in the lists of competitors for acade- mical honours, they would largely profit their children and strengthen the hands of the university. In the nature of things, as this nature works at present, the direct control of the university and college on a young man's time is weaker and weaker, and the indirect in- fluence of academical distinctions is far less appreciable than it should be. But here, as elsewhere, parents exhibit the most culpable indifference to the best in- terests of their own chikh-en, and suffer the most sacred
126 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
obligations which lie upon them to be deputed to the chance impulses of the pupil, and the scanty influences of the teacher. They would not, as has been said of old over and over again, trust the supervision of their pecuniary concerns to the irresponsible and unsupported agency of others ; but in what is of the largest concern to them they are slovenly and incautious to the last degree.
Reading men are, as may be expected, the most orderly and well-conducted of the general body of undergraduates. But there are other persons, and they form a numerous body, whose character is very com- mendable. These are the individuals whose abilities are not of such a kind as to secure them any position, or any very marked one, in the intellectual trials of the university, but whose character or training makes them averse to its vices. Such men are a credit to Oxford, and of great practical service to those with whom they associate. Without any affectation of purism, they give a high tone to the morality and manners of the place.
I never heard of any person whose health was seriously injured by over-reading, if, indeed, it was injured at all by the process. Novelists represent these alarming results in their fictitious narratives, but the health of yovtng men is injured by a vast many prac- tices, which cannot be conveniently confessed to, while the most reputable among the causes which might injure health is a passionate attachment to study. I should listen with great incredulity to any person who alleged that his health had given way to over-much mental exertion. Where we do know that great efforts are made, and a great strain is put on the intellectual powers, we do not find that these formidable results
THE COLLEGE. 127
ensue. And it is the more necessary that we should understand how little reality there is in the charge upon study of its producing physical debility, because this is a point on which parents, and especially mothers, are habitually deluded. I have often heard parents, sensible folks in their way, deprecate the toil over books during an undergraduate's residence, and urge upon their children not to ruin their powers by an over-eager pursuit after knowledge ; but these good people are not able to quote authentic cases of the deplorable effects of this single excess. Hard reading cannot be pursued without weariness, and weariness is rest, and slip-slop reading is no task, but a mere relaxation.
Along with systematic indolence, the worst vices of undergraduate life are drinking and gambling. The former vice is, in pursuance of the practice of society generally, very much on the decline, and the last few years have seen a marked and important improvement in this respect ; but the latter practice is, I am informed, on the increase. Every occasion in which the theory of chances can be applied is material for this fashion. Boat races, horse races, billiard matches, cricket matches — a thousand and one things are available for the wildest application of the doctrine of probabilities. It is said, however, that one necessary term in the equation of this propensity is often wanting. Men do not meet their liabilities. I am not sure whether this is the case or no ; but, if it be, indifference to the dishonour of default is a considerable corrective to the passion.
The out-door amusements of undergraduates are some-
CD
times excessive, but generally very sensible. Boat-racing and cricket, tennis and racket, are favom^ite sports. As a rule, the occupations of Oxford men are muscular and fatiguing. Many men play billiards, and, as usual, the
128 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
constant habitues of this amusement are among the most disreputable persons to be found. Everybody knows that no game presents more convenient opportunities for the dishonest dissimulation of skill ; but, of course, where everybody is known, there are, comparatively speaking, few occasions on which the wily errors of a practised player may be turned to pigeoning.
As may be expected, the worst discipline is found in those societies where there is scanty supervision, or a divided and contradictory authority, or the presence of undergraduates who are not amenable to academical penalties, because they are indifferent to them. Where young men are left entirely to their own discretion, without any authority residing within the walls, as at Magdalene Hall, there is not likely to be any great sobriety of demeanour ; or if there be, it is from the fact that the junior members themselves establish a quasi Committee of Public Safety. Where, again, as at Christ Church, the preposterous combination of a disunited capitular body, and a staff of tutors without personal authority, represents what should be the domestic control of a large body of young men, one is not pre- pared to expect any very good product. And the evil is increased, hypothetically at least, by the fact of there being a large number of undergraduates habitually at Chi'ist Church, who do not, and perhaps do not intend to, take their degree or even pass any examination. It is in vain that the university arms its officers with penalties, and the college affects to exercise discipline over such persons. They leave the university if they are threatened with a crisis ; and as they would have been no better for its instruction, so they are no worse for its punishments. But they are a very great nuisance during the interval.
THE COLLEGE. 129
There are, indeed, persons who argue that these irregular members of the University are advantageous, by their bare presence, to the interests of the body itself, because they will hereafter look back to the casual years of their Oxford residence with affection and consideration. But in truth nothing but the worst parts of the University system, that is to say, those parts which rely on jobbing, are helped even possibly by the fact that those gentlemen have had free quarters for a year or two in Oxford. And in all likelihood they look back on those times in after life as a delusion, and maybe as a swindle. People who do not graduate at their University are ordinarily shy of acknowledging a previous connection with it. The University needs not, or ought not to need, the chance support of a mere squirearchy. It is very doubtful whether the Univer- sity ever gets any support except when the support assumes the form of political obstructiveness.
That the University will have to rely on itself for its place in the respect of the country is plain to the meanest capacity. Even if a great corporation whose public merits lie in the advancement of learning, had a million patrons, such a corporation, in these days at least, is happily on its trial. The grace of self-govern- ment is only durante bene placito, however long the sentence may be postponed by party considerations. Reform is progressive, and the smallest innovation is a breach in the dyke. No delusion can be more mis- chievous than the very common one, that there is such a thing as a final change. Unless men move onwards in the practice of their public duties, when they have once been made subject to the rule of public opinion, there will soon be an end of their voluntari- ness. Men must prove their usefulness, or the eyes of
9
130 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
society are permanently fixed on tlie vanishing point of their utility.
What Oxford has lost, and what it is still losing, — I speak for Oxford only — as the mother of English learning is not to be calculated. What it may even now regain if it sets itself diligently to its duties is more intelligible. How, one by one, its ancient univer- sality has past away, is the saddest fact in its past history, and the largest difficulty in its present posi- tion. But no recovery is likely by strengthening the monopoly of what is, after all, an aggregate of lodging- houses.
College and Universitt Seaeching. — The instruc- tion of undergraduates is partly compulsory, partly voluntary. Compulsory instruction is afforded by college tutors and college lecturers, voluntary instruc- tion by University professors and a class of teachers to which I shall particularly advert in the next chapter.
In some colleges an undergraduate is committed to the charge of a tutor, who is supposed to be responsible in some degree for the studies and conduct of his pupil. But the connection is exceedingly slight, and has a continual tendency to become slighter. The system is, in short, a relic of what once existed universally, and to which, as I have already stated above, the name tutor points. Till late years, or comparatively late years, the relations of the pupil to the tutor were included in the fact that the tutor formed a sort of intermediary to the head of the college, and in part a delegate, and that the pupil received religious instruction from the tutor, who was a kind of academical curate. But no other education was provided by the college, beyond the incident of some established lecturers. The
THE COLLEGE. 131
present position of the college tutor was created by the voluntary efforts of some conscientious persons in the first place, and has been stereotyped by the interests of others in the second.
There is no radical difference existing between the col- lege tutor and college lecturer. The phrases have come to mean that the tutor is generally one of the senior officers of the establishment, the lecturer one of those who has latterly been placed on the staff. The lecturer is by way of becoming a tutor. Tutors are appointed by the head of the college, though custom rarely allows the passing by any one of the fellows who is even decently competent for his functions, a competence measured by his position in the cl^ss schools. The nomination is always from the fellows, except when there occurs an absolute deficiency of proficient persons among that body, and ordinarly the tutor is deprived of his office on marriage, though, in exceptional cases, the office is retain ed by married men. But there are, it appears, no means by which an incompetent tutor can be superseded or divested of his office, or if there be, I am not aware of these means being adopted. It is not therefore necessary that the senior tutors should be very able persons. The older members of the University or- dinarily migrate to other spheres of labour, as schools, and the like, since the income of a college tutor is generally small, and dependent on celibacy ; while men who wait on in Oxford in college employment, are naturally not so active as those who leave it.
The lectures of a college tutor are addressed to a class of variable numbers, are more or less catechetical, and on a considerable variety of subjects. Generally, however, one of the tutors takes on himself the office of instruction in grammar and in translation from Latin
9—2
132 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
and Greek to English, and of composition in those languages ; another gives lectures on philosophy accom- panying some text book, a third deals with history. Some colleges have no mathematical lecturer, but the great majority, in later years, have added this office to their staff. Very few colleges offer instruction in modern history or physical science.
The pupils attending the lecture translate a portion of the author who is taken as a text book, the teacher select- ing at his discretion the person who is to translate, in order, if possible, to secure the previous preparation by the whole class. But no precaution can prevent the slovenly method of preparation, the use of translations, and the most superficial knowledge of the contents, and even of the grammar of the author. It is almost needless to say that the lecture naturally tends towards the calibre of the worst informed person in the room. The teacher corrects the errors of translation, and adds observations of his own, more or less valuable, according as he has made the author his particular study, and as he is competent to illustrate the book, the style, and the matter to which it refers. The hearers are supposed to take notes. Of course there is greater opportunity for taking notes when the subject treated of by the author involves something besides art or grammar. I am not aware that criticism on the style, the spirit, the psychological significance of the ancient drama, or the ancient narrative forms part of a college lecture. It did not in my time, and I have seen no trace of it since. Nor is instruction in grammar more than empirical knowledge. The analogies of language, and the logic of construction are not taught in these lectures. The teacher's ambition is bounded by the formularies of accidence, and the traditional rules of Greek and Latin syntax. In history.
THE COLLEGE. 133
also, ethnological and geographical instructions are not afforded, still less is the political philosophy of the author expounded. The text of the author is all that is illustrated, and this more by requiring more or less exact translation, than by any original criticism. In philosophy, however, there is rather more scope for particular instruction. But even here it is very rare that any large view is taken of the author's meaning. The practice, and the laudable practice, of requiring acquain- tance with the text, generally supersedes any investiga- tion of the matter and its criticism.
The product of the term's work is tested by a domestic examination, called collections. AU undergraduates who have not passed the final university examination are required to submit to this piece of discipline. This domestic institution is, however, of very scanty utility. The colleges have not adopted the very sensible rule of similar institutions in Cambridge, that, namely, of giving terminal annual prizes for proficiency. Hence, and for other causes, these collections are looked on by undergra- duates more as a piece of discipline, conscientiousness in the submission to which is visited with no reward, and negligence with no penalty beyond a scolding. Very rarely does it occur, that the only real punishment annexed to a shabby performance in these examinations is inflicted, the loss, namely, of term, and very often does it occur that the punishment is deserved. But to inflict it would be simply a vicarious penalty; the undergraduate's parents would be mulcted for the sloth of the son, and maybe for the carelessness of the tutor.
Annexed is a list of the colleges with the number of tutors in each, the number of subjects for which tutors are appointed, and the school honours acquired by those
134
EDUCATION IN OXTORD.
tutors. It is perhaps the fairest way in which I can give materials for judging the present status of the several colleges, when taken in connection with other tabular statements.
Colleges.* |
.si |
t |
Cm II |
o p |
g-2 IS |
p |
||
University ......... |
4 5 3 8 3 3 2 3 3 4 2 7 4 5 5 3 3 3 1 2 1 1 1 |
1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 "l "l 1 1 1 1 |
"i "i |
1 |
3 5 3 6 3 2 1 2 2 4 2 2 4 3 2 2 2 1 i* |
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 "l "l 1 1 1 1 |
... ... 1 |
|
Balliol |
||||||||
Merton |
||||||||
Exeter. |
||||||||
Oriel |
||||||||
Queen's |
||||||||
New |
||||||||
Lincoln |
||||||||
All Souls JVIaigdalene |
... |
|||||||
Brasenose |
||||||||
Corpus |
||||||||
Christ Church .... Trinity |
1 |
|||||||
St. John's |
||||||||
Jesus Wadham |
1 |
|||||||
Pembroke |
||||||||
Worcester ^. Halls: — St. Mary |
... |
|||||||
Magdalene |
||||||||
New Inn St. Alban's |
... |
|||||||
St. Edmund Litton's |
1 |
|||||||
But here, as elsewhere, I must caution my reader against an error into which he may be drawn by such statistics as I can give. It is one inherent in all tabu-
* The figures come from the Oxford Calendar, the lists in which are furnished by the college authorities.
THE COLLEGE. 135
lated summaries by which general inferences are sug- gested, and in which only one or two of the constituents of the product can be exhibited. Anybody can see what academical honours a college tutor has acquired, but no one can estimate what are the capacities which he possesses of imparting the knowledge he has, still less of what he has done by way of improving a stock, the amount of which was taken possibly many years ago. In the imperfect state in which we are, and must be left, about a vast many of the elements of administrative capacity, such statistics afford, even in combination with others, only qualified inferences. But as far as they go they are just. They stand in precisely the same logical position as any other inference from any other competitive examination, are possessed of the same value, and open to the same objections. In the present state of inquiry, they are all that can be aimed at ; but it is but fair that one should point out their worth and their weakness, though the country at large, and equally the University, assigns, as a rule, a final value to these bygone trials of comparative acquisition.
The public teaching of the university is that by professors. I have already adverted to this part of the academical system, in the first portion of this work.
Attendance on professorial instruction is rarely of much value before the latter portion of an undergra- duate's residence in Oxford. The earlier trials to which his acquirements are subjected, are so exclusively of school-learning, that the diffuse generalities of a profes- sorial lecture are rarely of any service in the acquisition of what I have already stated to be empirical knowledge. Nor would it be possible, unless the professor became, as he is said to be, in the Scotch universities, a mere schoolmaster, that the lectures he gives could become
136 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
in the slightest degree serviceable for the earlier public examinations.
But when these earlier trials are over, and the final examinations are all that remain for the student, the aid of professorial teaching is appreciable, and if some of its present inconveniences are eliminated will be very con- siderable. Not but that under the best of circumstances, its value will be qualified, and necessarily supplemented by other assistance. In the nature of things, the pro- fessor's class is larger than the college tutor's, and very distinct firom the personal relations of the private tutor. Still more marked is the character of his teaching. It is eminently of generalities, of matters which make a vast show, which can be of infinite value, and which may become, and often do become, in the pupil's head a mere gabble of platitudes. There is nothing, as we are daily more and more aware, more easy than the reputa- tion procured by the knowledge of general principles. Much of the reproach cast on learning is due to the confusion between the voluble retail of propositions taken at second-hand and the patient aggregation of these propositions from a careful induction of particulars. And, of late years, Oxford learning has been seriously impaired by a deference to the facilities of acquiring these generalities. The fashion of the time is, perhaps, in favour of these wide formularies ; but they are, unless accompanied with a large inward training, mere parrot phrases, which are worse than useless. There is some- thing in the whimsical wish that penal servitude without the option of a fine, should be visited on those who are always referring one to first principles, and who habitually talk of subjective and objective.
All this, however, which suggests contingent evils as associated with the professorial system when applied to
THE COLLEGE. 137
the practical objects of academical education, must be understood to refer to that portion of it only which belongs to the ordinary curriculum of an Oxford degree. When the student aspires to an acquaintance with modern languages and physical philosophy, the public teaching of Oxford supplies all that can be desired or even procured. At no time and in no place fiave the various professorships of physics been filled with more intelligent, competent, and, what is far more to the pur- pose, more conscientious teachers. The interests of physical science cannot be entrusted to more diligent and energetic keeping than they are at present ; and though the habits of the university, and the natural suspicion felt towards an active band of innovators on the ancient studies of Oxford, the smart of an extrava- gant expenditure on the museum just erected for the purposes of this new philosophy, and the well-defined impression that this is not, and will not be, the place for any practical or large development of natural science, have made the professors of these mysteries at once painstaking and vigorous in advancing their favourite studies ; yet one may fairly say, that whatever they can do towards making their knowledo;e available and their lectures attractive, will be certainly done to the full, and in the most solid manner.
Most colleges have libraries, which are open under certain restrictions to all members of their societies. There is no difficulty, however, in procuring admission to the Bodleian, if an undergraduate requires the assist- ance of any books which are too expensive for his purchase, or are not procurable in the college stock. But few young men employ the University library. This is mainly due to the fact that the Bodleian is open only at those times when undergraduates and graduates.
138 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
pupils and tutors, are engaged in their respective occu- pations. Perhaps, when the long-expected reading- room is provided (and these conveniences are accorded with singular slowness in the University), more persons will be found to employ the advantages which the Uni- versity library affords. At the same time it must be remembered that much of the reading of undergraduates is gathered from a very small range of books, that in- terpretations and commentaries on those books are oral or traditional, and that there is little immediate profit in studies which lie outside the narrow course of academical instruction, since they would not be tested by academical examination or invested with academical distinction. Teacher, pupil, and examiner act and re- act upon each other.
Private Tuition. — A very large number of resident graduates occupy themselves in Oxford as private tutors. There is nothing remarkable in the fact, for the private teacher is the most ancient institution in the place, from which professors are an offshoot, and on which college tuition is a late usurpation. The terms of a degree are a licence to teach, whatever the degree may be ; the special subject in which the graduate is empowered to instruct others being definitively stated in the terms by which he is invested with his academical status.
But, even if the private tutor could not claim cus- tomary antiquity and a formal recognition of his func- tions, the exigencies of a natural demand would call him into existence. He is wanted for the work of the place; and if college instruction were ever so much improved, and professorial teaching made ever so effec- tive, the inevitable result of a larger competition for
THE COLLEGE. 139
academical honours would only call forth the energies of a larger body of private tutors. As a proof of this, there is no college in which so efficient and laborious a staff of college tutors can be found as at Balliol, there is no college which has for the last twenty years come near it in the acquisition of academical honours, and there is certainly none, the undergraduates of which read so steadily with private tutors. And beyond doubt, now that this college has very wisely made a rule, which, by the way, should have been made for the whole University, that every undergraduate shall, under pain of dismissal, appear in the final school, not as a candidates for a pass, but for a class ; it will inevitably follow, that a still larger number of Balliol under- graduates wiU seek the services of those men who give private and personal instruction. It betrays an utter ignorance of the nature of things, and of the ordinary rules which regulate every kind of competition, when college tutors affect to dissuade undergraduates from the use of private tutors, on the plea that college lectures are sufficient for the purpose. The better the college lecture is, the more need is there for private instruction ; and if, as sometimes may be the case, the college lecture is wholly wortliless, there is still a need of private instruction, though for a different reason. No doubt, to a person of very large abilities, a private tutor may not be necessary, and especially is this the case when such persons do, from indolence or per- versity, decline to compete for academical honours ; but it may well be doubted whether, in such cases as these, the assistance of college lectures is at all appreciable in the product. Of course, if college tutors act volun- tarily as private tutors to their undergraduates, the case is different ; but such voluntary action is rare, is pre-
140 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
carious ; and in default of ordinary human motives — those, namely, in which the services rendered are repaid by a pecuniary equivalent — is not over trustworthy. At any rate, these exceptional cases are no calculable diminution to the general rule.
It is not difficult to detect the cause of this use of private tutors, though their employment adds largely, in many cases, to the expenditure of an undergraduate's career. To most men a degree, to some a class, is the object of Oxford residence and study. Now, for the degree there are a vast many candidates whose abilities or previous education preclude them from any hope, as at present constituted, of academical distinction. To such persons, the earlier the degree is gotten, the less is the total of academical expenses. And though the general ignorance of pass-men exercises a very depress- ing effect on the examination schools, yet the tendency of these schools is inevitably to exact as much as can safely be demanded from the candidates for a degree. The quantity, in short, sufficient for a pass is, even without the knowledge or the will of the examiner, comparative. Thus, at present, there is less virtually required from the undergraduate than there was prior to the change of 1850. A common degree is certainly worth less, if the general public were able to appre- ciate it. In those days, undergraduates habitually read for six months with a private tutor, previous to appear- ing for their degree ; and I can safely assert, from my own extensive experience as a private tutor, acquired far more knowledge of a solid kind than they now do in the slip- slop quality of a very much diminished quantity. The office of the private tutor, to mere pass-men, has, for all good, passed away ; the work now gone through on this score, being the veriest cram which the ingenuity of
THE COLLEGE. 141
the tutor can furnish his pupil with, in order that he may, so to speak, dodge the examiner. This is not the fault of the tutor, as silly people think, but it is the fault of the University which has prepared an examina- tion, the details of which are to be got up in this trumpery, superficial manner. To blame the tutor is as reasonable a thing as it would be to blame an advocate, who uses the best of his skill and experience in defeating the application of a particular law to a particular person, who happens to be his client. Any person who has any experience of the practical ope- ration of such a state of things, is aware that the ingenuity of the advocate is as much a profit to the future action of the legislator as it is immediately to his client.
The case is still stronger in the private tuition of the class man. Here competition is far more charac- teristically the feature of the examination. Beyond doubt the amount required of the class men has been constantly increasing during the prevalence of the old system, up to the time in which it was superseded by that of 1853, when the classification of 1850 began to apply to the final schools. And with equal certainty have the modified and scantier quantities proffered at present, been higher in point of quality within the limits assigned to them, and subsequently created for them than they were at first. Nor does this fact take away from what I have said elsewhere, about the unsatisfactory nature of the present class schools. Scholarship, it is true, is progressively enfeebled, a careful acquaintance with books is getting rarer, and the substitution of general principles, general knowledge, crude criticism on events, and a gossip of philosophy has been but a poor recom- pense for what has been lost in these matters. But
142 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
nevertheless more of these novelties are acquired, stored Tip, and reproduced under the pressure of the examiners' requirements, and the inevitable tendency to a larger standard of quantity and quality. Though candidates for honours are put into classes, the limit of knowledge required for each class shifts insensibly, and continually verges towards more ample claims. The system, in short, though nominally formal and uniform also, is practically and really competitive, and the examiner is not only true to his own function, but is carrying out the principles of his office and duty, when he seeks continually to raise the general standard for the class schools and the examiners.
And now that there is added to the ambition of distinction in the class schools, the palpable and material advantage of an open competition for those fellowships which are being flung among the successful competitors for academical honours; and the old fashion according to which petty caprices, social affectations, and personal influences had far more to do with the disposal of fellow- ships, than intellectual or moral worth, is passing away, the preparation for such a competition will yearly become more severe, and the study more careful and laborious. It is under such circumstances as reasonable to expect that undergraduates will be content with the coUege or professorial lecture, when they are alive to what is at the end of their academical course, as to conceive a manufacturer will put up with antiquated macliinery and unskilled labour, when the most delicate appliances of invention, and the readiest skill in work- manship are absolute essentials to fortune, and a manifest economy of capital. And they w^hose interests are most bound up in the ultimate success of undergraduates, parents, namely, and friends, may be well assured that
THE COLLEGE. 143
in the catalogue of academical expenses there is none which returns more abundant profit upon outlay than the cost of a private tutor. Over and over again it happens, that a parsimony on this score, or an ill-advised notion that collegiate instruction is fully enough for all the exigencies of academical education and its degree, have been stultified by the fact, that undergraduates who should under proper teaching and moderate pains have taken their degree in the shortest time allowed by the statutes of the university, have remained in Oxford for two or three years longer than was necessary, frittering away the most important period of their life, wasting money which has been provided for themby many domestic sacrifices, and acquiring habits of sloth in preparation, and of indifierence at what ought to be the most serious misfortune and the greatest shame to a right-minded youth, the disgrace of being plucked on one's presenting oneself for a creditable qualification. There is nothing, I am persuaded, in the whole course of an under- graduate's career which is more damaging to him, than the being forced into, or being led into the miserable habit of searching out the minimum of duties, and trying to dodge claims on his capacity, which the university, for its own credit and his good, exacts from him,
A college tutor ought never to be trusted with the answer to the question: Ought my son to have a private tutor ? The best men have their amour propre, and the most conscientious college teacher is tetchy about any doubt as to the efficiency of his instruction. And naturally enough : he has no credit, or but little, if his pupil succeeds, because his share in the success is divided among others, nor has he any scandal at his failure, because the same process of distribution relieves
144 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
him from the collective inconvenience, and from any sense of personal inefficiency. But were he and all his colleagues ever so clever, ever so good, ever so efficient as teachers, the inevitable necessity of personal instruc- tion in matters of such large importance as a class is, or should be, are a total hindrance to his supplying all that is needed to the candidate.
The expense of a private tutor, when compared with the highest rate of college tuition, is considerable. If the pupil reads an hour every other day with his teacher the fee is lOl. for two months (eight weeks), tlie ordinary duration of the term ; if every day the fee is double. Few persons, however, use a tutor's assistance every day, or when they do, employ these services under the immediate pressure of an examination. ,The fees are settled by custom ; and it is perhaps fair to add, that a very moderate income as a private tutors implies, not only from the nature of his labours, but from the fact that his services are required periodically only, and ordinarily with considerable intervals of comparative inaction, that he is working very hard.
There is a perfect free trade, a competition between private tutors. Occasionally, it is true, the recommenda- tions of college authorities have considerable weight with certain undergraduates; but in the majority of cases, and certainly in the best men, both as tutors and pupils, this has but little to do with the success of a private teacher. He stands on his own merits; and though young men are sometimes apt to prefer the services of persons about their own age, and fresh from the schools, in preference to those who have had larger experience, yet one is well enough aware that this is frequently paralleled in other occupations, and is quite within the calculations of an open competition.
THE COLLEGE. 145
Naturally, too, there are various kinds of private tutors. Any one who takes the trouble to read the slang novels of Oxford life, in which it would seem that the main business of undergraduates is to indulge in riot and debauchery, will find caricatures of the fast private tutor, who crams his pupil in divinity by a profane jargon, and stuffs his head with a memoria technica for the schools. But such an evil — enormously exaggerated in the publications I refer to — >is but part and parcel of the ordinary features of competitive occu- pations. There are young men in the university who are a scandal to it, and there are, maybe, teachers who assimilate their teaching to the capacity and character of those whom they prepare. But if this be the case — and I am by no means by way of saying that it is, except in a very modified degree — it is, I repeat, the fault of the university which makes such teaching possible ; and whatever this teaching may be, it certainly has no resemblance to the coarse bufibonery which characterizes college novels. People who read them may safely disbelieve them.
As the choice of the pupil is free, so the relations of teacher to his pupil are personal and often intimate. These relations are, however, but temporary ; and not so frequently as might be is there exercised influence over undergraduates by these teachers, which is the more profitable as it is entirely voluntary. That these relations are not more intimate and advantageous, is far more the fault of parents than of undergraduates. It would be highly desirable if parents, leaving their sons in Oxford to make choice of their tutor, w^ould establish some relations between themselves and him. I can speak from experience of the happy effects which have occurred when this confidence has been given and
10
146 • EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
claimed, and of the mutual advantage of an intercourse authorized on this fashion.
But even apart from this rare incident, and it is to be regretted that it is rare, there is no occupation, despite its laborious nature and comparative uncertain- ties, despite its responsibilities and its anxieties, more grateful to well-meaning persons than that between pupil and private teacher. It is no small pleasure to watch the gradual progress of an educated intelligence, to mark how the several steps of an elaborate system of logic, of psychology, of moral philosophy, and of political science are developed in the mind of those who receive implicitly with a view to understanding completely what they receive. There is no occasion in which the authority of the teacher is so thoroughly tempered and so completely corrected by the rational acquiescence of the pupil. There is no occasion on which one has so fully the satisfaction of working out one's own train of thought before the inquiring mind of an interested hearer, where one is more sure that plainness of language and accuracy of detail are neces- sary, and where logomachies are less profitable. It is as though one were anxiously watching from a central mountain top, and saw, one by one, the beacons in a long line receiving and transmitting the light oneself has set up.
I am confident in saying that Oxford is indebted to the private teachers within it for well nigh all its developments in learning. On many grounds they have not been so extensive as might be desired, and they are still less known than extensive. But this is the only part of the academical system to which the wholesome stimulus of competition is appUed; and com- petition, be it remembered, regulated by the fact of its
THE COLLEGE. 147
being affected by other more lucrative callings, as well as the fact that it requires a certain acknowledged pro- ficiency for its exercise. Most of our best thinkers have spent years in the service of private teaching, and there, if they have got them, is to be found the origin of the careful analysis and lucid exposition which belongs to the strongest and healthiest mind. Pity it is that when they get used to their work they leave it for more profitable, if not more grateful, employment ; and that the best teachers of young men are obliged to quit their station for the instruction of boys. Pity it is still more, that this large power for the moral govern- ment of youth is, by its being onesided and partial in its influences, less effective for the great ends it might serve, and occasionally does serve, in pursuance of relations which, beginning fi*om the best source, volun- tary confidence, do affect intellectual training, and might affect personal character.
Eeadino for Examinations. — Period at which the Degrees should be taken. — Pass and Class. — I am not in the present chapter, by way of giving any advice to undergraduates as to the method that they should adopt in preparing themselves for examination, nor of prescribing what is the time at which it is advisable for persons who contemplate honours to proffer themselves as candidates ; nor, again, of enter- ing into the comparative capacities of undergraduates, the books they should read, the school they should prefer to compete in, the tests by which they may dis- cover whether the bent of their genius lies in the direp- tion of classical learning, of historical research, of mathematical deductions, of physical philosophy. They must find these things out for themselves; nor do I
10—2
148 , EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
think, were I ever so competent to deal abstractedly with all these questions, that much profit would ensue to the reader from my attempting to give him directions for the solution of these personal inquiries.
Several gentlemen of considerable experience have attempted the discussion of these matters. As may be expected, the result is either a series of generalities or a scheme as practicable as the bed of Procrustes. No writing ever raises such hopes, and ever disappoints them more fully, no, not even a newspaper, as a guide to students in reading for university honours. Without exception, works of this kind are and must be delusive. And as long as no two minds are exactly constituted alike, so long will this kind of advice be nugatory. Further, even if one could make minds as uniform as possible in power and material, the numerous con- tingencies of training, physical continuity, actual know- ledge, and the like, would still create a variety which no generalities can practically unite. Everybody must find out for himself what is the best method of dis- covering his own powers, and, which is generally antecedent to the discovery, giving those powers the fullest opportunity of development. No one, I hon- estly believe, would ever rely on a guide to university honours, except he were of such capacity as not to attain them at all. The writers of these works are, as may be expected, composing an autobiography of them- selves during their course of study, and are still occupied with the process by which they themselves have won their position.
It is worth while, however, for the sake of parents and parties interested in another way with the proceed- ings of young men in Oxford, to state briefly what reading for examinations is, and to say a little about
THE COLLEGE. 149
the other topics which are put at the head of this chapter.
That system of the university which leaves it op- tional with undergraduates to appear as ordinary pass- men or as candidates for honours, inevitably suggests to the majority of men that they should accept the former alternative. The distinction destroys, in many persons' minds, all inducements to careful study. It bids a young man weigh himself before he is, as he must be, weighed by others. And though this is an excellent moral rule in certain cases, yet, in the determination as to our own resolution in postponing present pleasure or care for immediate regularity and study, with a view to subsequent distinction, it may be doubted whether the university does not put a premium on sloth. At any rate, the effect of the practice is that few, very few men, out of the mass of undergraduates — and these undergraduates are, or are supposed to be, the pick of public schools — read for academical honours. Of course there is no remedy for this but the abolition of the line which separates pass from class, the rating all can- didates for degree in classes, and by implication, ex- tending the number of the classes. But until this regulation is accepted, these motives against reading for honours will have their way.
Furthermore, that alteration of the university sys- tem, which allows a class list to intervene between the first public examination and the final one, is, as I have already said, a strong inducement to decline the attempt at honours in the final school. If the candidate is rated in the highest place under this examination, he is un- willing to risk this position by a second trial : if, on the other hand, he takes a low place, he is discouraged from a further attempt. These causes have, therefore.
150 EDUCATION IN OXEORD.
effected that, in the first place, but a small portion, from one-third to one-fourth of the candidates for a degree appeared in the class schools; and on the subsequent alteration of the examination statute to its present pro- portions and regulations, the number of candidates has sunk to one-tenth.
I repeat these circumstances, because they show the effect of bad legislation, and are, as far as I know, the immediate explanation of the singular phenomenon, that in a university whose characteristic studies are classical learning, the number of those who read in any sys- tematic way is progi'essively declining, and to expound the reason why so large a proportion of Oxford students, are content with an unadorned degree.
A common degree may be attained with care by any person of average abilities and ordinary school aquire- ments, by the work of about an hour or two daily. The vast majority of pass-men do not read so much. They go into lectures, as I have observed, and the scanty knowledge they have may be kept alive by the routine which they undergo ; but for real reading, six weeks' or a month's exercise at the text of the author, and the matter of his writing in some cases — the former procured by translations, and the latter by a process of cramming — is all that is ordinarily given to each exami- nation, because it is really all that is required. The rest of an undergraduate's time is occupied in those pursuits which gratify his tastes, develop his muscles, improve his manners, draw upon his funds, or in any other way, bring about what his father meant him to achieve at the university, or, perhaps, did not mean him to achieve. Of course, all these advantages may be procured in company with a considerable amount of real knowledge and mental training; and though they
THE COLLEGE. 151
are exceedingly valuable, they could be gotten by virtue of any aggregation of young men, and are not any part of the academical theory. It is worth while to mention this, because many of those who uphold the details of the university and collegiate system, assign these results to academical influences.
The reader, therefore, will be prepared for the con- clusion at which I arrive from the facts of the present academical system, that as long as this prevails — and indeed after its alteration, in case there be no intention on the part of the undergraduate to compete for any academical honours which are worth having — that he should attempt his degree at the earliest possible period, and pass, or attempt to pass, every examination as soon as the university allows him.
The earliest period at which an undergraduate can attempt his responsions or little go is his second term, that is,*he can, if there be, as there ordinarily will be, an examination for this certificate of proficiency, appear for it in the first term of his residence. Then, in his seventh term, he can proffer himself for the " first public exami- nation," known as moderations ; and in his twelfth, for his final examination. In plain English, he can get his degree, and ought to get it, in two years and a half, or three years at the outside, from the date of his matricu- lation. He should not, however, be sent to Oxford until he is fully able to pass his responsions ; and his education has been a fi:aud, or a nullity, if he is not competent for this. If parents would only insist on their sons presenting themselves for these examinations, in case they do not desire and expect that honours should be attempted, they would be fulfilHng, far more fully than they imagine, their duty towards their chil- dre n ; they would strengthen the authority of the
152 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
university, they would save a vast amount of money, and obviate a vast amount of idleness, folly, and vice.
On the other hand, considerable latitude as to time should be accorded to those parties who desire to dis- tinguish themselves in the class schools. No one, I repeat, can advise them what to read, beyond what the practice of the university commends, experience of the schools sanctions, and their own capacity qualifies. More time must be given, and more money must be spent. And no wonder; the prize is great. The training is, if wholesome, invaluable. The material value of a good class is not in process of depreciation, but inevitably in the ascendant. The moral value of a habit of study, and the steady contemplation of a remote object of acknowledged worth, is greater still. It would be well if parents not only recommended, but insisted on, 'the trial being made. There is no one who, handled judiciously, and who follows the course designed for him, and approved by his own experience, who would not be bettered in the process. If there be any persons who would not, and could not, be improved by steady and systematic study, the university is, I con- ceive, no fitting place for them, and they, I am sure, are neither ornament or profit to the university. I can safely say that I have seen, both in my experience as a teacher and as an examiner, hundreds of young men to whom the university and* its teachings would have been the means of great knowledge and sound method, but who have lost those opportunities, for lack, I imagine, of discreet firmness on the part of their parents, and rational advice on that of their academical guardians.
Expenditure. — ^Next to the question of the ultimate utility of an academical education, and before it with a
THE COLLEGE. 153
very large class of persons who might, a priori, be anxious to avail themselves on behalf of their children of the ad- vantages, moral, social, intellectual, and material, which three or four years' study at Oxford would aiford, that of the necessary expenditure holds its place. On this point there is a very general and a very well-founded alarm. It is ordinarily understood to be enormous. Each year of academical life is known — and the academical year is only twenty-four weeks — to cost half as much as, very often, the whole family of the undergraduate is main- tained at. Many a clergyman, with an income of four hundred a year, or thereabouts, wishing that one of his sons, at least, should have the same education, and per- haps follow the same profession, as his father, begins to save, and pinch his family, from the very boyhood of the son, in order that he may accumulate enough for a liberal education at Oxford. England is cram full of daily histories, more touching in the voluntary privations of fathers, and mothers, and daughters, for the sake of one who is to inherit his father's position, than the most pathetic passages of novels. Derived from these priva- tions, out of the wanton forgetfulness of the son, and the uncomplaining patience of his family, out of the misery of evil example, and the facility and width of its con- tagion, incidents have occurred of a far more tragic cast than the world knows, and perhaps would care to know, since the tragic sense h strongly infected with flunkeyism. If folks could tell where to gather it from, and how to get at the facts, they might be overwhelmed with materials for those sentimental sorrows which well- off people enjoy, and philanthropic novelists profit by.
Many people who, knowing that there are facilities for ruin or vicarious suffering, as the case may be, in the discipline of Oxford, which no other place of educa-
154 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
tion can lay claim to, either ignorantly or carelessly defend its domestic institutions, and point to individual cases in which there have been great results with great economy of means, and a just appreciation of an under- graduate's duties and opportunities. As well quote the occasional success of wild speculation, in the forgetful- ness of the larger amount of mischief and loss. The defence is the gambler's reason. It does not meet the real charge, that there are more young men of fair hopes, and more than average powers, at the university of Oxford, who do not succeed at all, or whose success is dispropor- tionately small, than in any other institution where per- sons are gathered together for the purposes of education.
The academical year is ordinarily twenty- four weeks. That is to say, no undergraduate need reside longer than this period in each of the three years which make up the amount of time required by the university for his degree ; and, indeed, must get permission — a permission seldom granted except in Easter — to reside in Oxford during vacations. That is, the whole period required by the Oxford statutes is seventy-two weeks at the most. By peculiar management it may be limited to sixty-four weeks.
It can rarely happen that the annual expenditure of an undergraduate's residence is less than 200/. I have inquired over and over again, and with invariably the same answer. I do not mean to say that there have not been cases in which this amount has proved to be much above what has been expended ; but for one case of an economy below the limit, there are twenty or more above it. There are found, it is true, young men whose conscientiousness, or self-respect, or indifference to the social habits of the place, or absorption in study, and the like, keep within a narrow expenditure. But
THE COLLEGE. 155
the cases are exceptional. The tendency is the other way. Such economy means that an undergraduate is above his fellows in his tastes and character, and no account can be taken of such moral monsters in a dis- quisition on the ordinary practice of young men. The great majority will go in the same way with each other; and it is well if the limit which I have assigned is rigidly kept to. It is at least ample.
Out of this annual expenditure, college bills amomit to between 801. and 1007. These bills include tuition provided by the college, rent of rooms (unfurnished, the furniture being purchased and transferred on entering and leaving rooms) ; kitchen and buttery— -the former of these two providing dinner, the latter commons and beer. . The college does not supply the undergraduate with tea, coffee, sugar. Most colleges arrange for the undergraduates' washing and coals, and these items are included in the bill. Besides these, a fixed sum is paid for servants, besides a variable gratuity, left to the dis- cretion of the undergraduate. This division of servants' payments is a wise regulation, as the supply may be stopped in case the servants neglect their duties. The servants paid voluntarily by the undergraduate are the scout, porter, bedmaker, messenger, and shoe- cleaner, and the amounts paid to each vary from IL to 25. 6d, a term, more or less, according to the custom of the college. These items will make the expenditure up to 100^. or 120Z. a year.
For the remainder, it goes to clothes, travelling, wine, pictures, horses, or whatever other articles the under- graduate needs or fancies, and it is in these that expen- diture is extravagant or economical. Of course, they who receive much company in their rooms raise the college bill to a larger amount than what I have de-
156 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
noted ; but, in the ordinary course of things, note is taken of lavish college expenditure, and a limit put upon it by the domestic authorities. The check is not so stringent as might be, for it is, of course, necessary for this supervision that the college tutor should be vigilant and active, and that the relations of those undergraduates whose expenditure ought to be care- fully checked should communicate their wishes to the authorities of the college. Parents are ordinarily far more to be blamed for the extravagance of their sons in the university than they are aware of, or would be willing to admit.
The great cause of this large expenditure, on the part of the average number of undergraduates, is the same as that of the extravagant and ruinous prodigality of others — the force, namely, of example ; and the un- likelihood of any one young man being better — or, indeed, much worse — than the conduct of the general body of young men. .Shut up within the walls of one building, with very little virtual superintendence of their conduct, and scarce any of their expenditure, the limits to extravagance and foolish waste are found only in the taste of the majority. Too old for the coarse authority of a pedagogue, and too young for the dis- cretion of their own time and means, the facility for going wrong is not so surprising as the fact of so many doing well. Oxford is shut to the nation, and the most powerful means for producing the large influences of liberal education over an extended, and increasingly extended, area are sacrificed, as has been already said, to the monopoly of the colleges, who boast of their domestic institutions with little evidence and less reason in their favour.
It is not difficult to discover what direction under-
THE COLLEGE. 157
graduate extravagance takes, if one is at the pains to cast one's eye over an Oxford directory, or trades' list, and get a knowledge of the multitudinous hangers-on to the colleges. There is a very considerable floating population in Oxford, which has what is technically called no occupation, but which is really engaged in ministering to the boating, cricketing, and horse-riding pastimes of the place. Some portion of this population might naturally be expected in every place where there are masses of young men aggregated, and the world could not go on without tailors and hosiers. But the amount of such parties is a marked and suggestive feature in the economical history of Oxford. At first sight, it would appear that the object of the university was the enjoyment of social pleasures and athletic amusements.
That parents contribute largely to the follies of their own children during the time of their undergraduate career, even when they deprecate the follies themselves, would be a matter of which they, on their own part, would be conscious, if they cared to investigate the general details of necessary expenditure and voluntary expense. But it is the misfortune or the fault of most parents that they think their duty is fulfilled, if they simply accept the status quo nunc of academical institutions, and determine whether, on its ordinary conditions, and with its ulterior advantages, they think it desirable to incur the estimated outlay on an academical education. They omit two important acts of common prudence, which together would do more to expand to the fullest, and afterwards to force another kind of expansion of the university, when its present resources for the ac- commodation of undergraduates is overpast. These are : putting themselves en rapport^ so to speak, with the
158 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
necessary expenditure of the place ; and the other is, after having defined the limit of expenditure which they, can afford, employing supervision of a qualified kind, either from a college, or, better, if it could be from a private tutor.
Until, then, parents commend themselves to the con- sideration of what goes on in the university to which they send their sons, or would like to send them, there is little hope of any great diminution of ordinary, and little more hope of a prevention to extraordinary expenditure. There is no reason to believe, judging by the obvious moral effects of a monopoly, and a sufficient supply from a permanent demand — such as that of the general requi- site on the part of bishops of graduation at a university — ^that the colleges will reform themselves in the par- ticular of expense. There is no human motive why they should; and, as has been elsewhere stated, one cannot rely on the exceptional and rare occurrence of active, self-denying superintendence, when the superin- tendence is voluntary. It is idle to expect anything from human nature, unless it be roused by stimulants and checked by safeguards. Neither of these are to be discovered in the decorous uniformity of college life and college authority.
But the negligence of parents is not the sole cause of this large expenditure and occasional extravagance. There are certain relations m which a particular class of trade stands in Oxford to the undergraduates, which contribute very powerfully towards these evils. This trade is that which unites, naturally enough, high prices with extraordinary facilities of credit, and which is espe- cially directed towards supplying those who ought not to have the latter, and ought not to afford the former.
The credit system in Oxford, though less characteristic
THE COLLEGE. 159
than it used to be, is still a marked feature in academical life. Every undergraduate can get any amount of goods lie likes — within conceivable limits — from any number of tradesmen. I presume that, in the long run, such business is lucrative and safe, but it must be at very considerable sacrifices to the purchaser. At any rate, Oxford credit has been known over and over again to be, in after life, a mill-stone round the neck of those who have spent a short time in the university. I have known persons of forty or fifty years old who have not yet escaped from its consequences. In fact, many tradesmen habitually suggest that amounts need not be settled till after the degree is taken, and the existing privileges of the University Court are a great protection to their kind of business.
By a statute of the university, no one can be presented to his degree, pendente lite. Hence it is in the power of any creditor to enter an action against his debtor, at any time, even immediately before his graduation, and so expose him to the disgrace and scandal of having his degree refused in open Convocation. Of course, this privilege is rarely taken, the practice of trade in Oxford not being to disturb a coimection with a particular college or colleges, by pressing the settlement of claims in so summary a manner. But the indirect influence of the regulation is large, and payments of account, with virtual or actual acknowledgments of the whole debt, are the natural consequences of the statute.
It sometimes happens, however, that tradesmen bring actions in the University Court. This court, elsewhere described, is, a priori, the very worst vehicle for the dis- charge of justice between suitors. Its business is neces- sarily small, its fees must be large, and its judgments may be partial. So evil was its reputation, that while
160 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
tlie jurisdiction which it possesses was by a clause in the University Act of 1854 retained, it was enacted that it should be assimilated to the county courts in procedure, and that the judges should frame a body of regulations for its guidance. Neither assimilation nor regulations have, as far as I have heard, been forthcoming.
It must inevitably be the case where a judge being resident on the spot is one of a body which is in a normal state of antagonism to another corporation, and is there- fore disposed to concede in what does not immediately concern that portion of his own body which is brought into collision with the other corporation, that there is a very definite tendency towards conciliation, even to the verge of unfairness in his judicial procedure. There is quite enough to dispute about, between the authorities of the university and city, without importing into these disputes the wretched squabbles between undergraduates and tradesmen. Besides, a privilege, such as a peculiar court, is odious; and, in order to retain even a shadow of popularity, it must make a sacrifice of interests. When those interests are other people's, the surrender is easy; but the justice of the procedure may be sadly marred.
The most ludicrous stories are told of the judgments of bygone assessors in the Vice-Chancellor's Court. I have heard of one who ruled against two receipts pleaded in bar of an action for debt, that it was more likely that the undergraduate should have forgotten to send the money than that the tradesman should have given false evidence. I have heard of one who habitually decided according to the fact of a particular proctor, i.e, an advocate, being retained, and who gave private interviews to plaintiff's. And as for the rules of the civil code having been the basis of ordinary judg-
THE COLLEGE. 161
ments, I imagine that the assessor did not, verj pro- bably, know the names of the treatises comprising those codes, and certainly not their contents. The Vice-Chancellor's Court is a remnant of barbaric feudalism, tempered by a mild disinclination to oiffend plaintiffs.
I do not pretend to discuss the vexed question of how far it would be well that short periods should constitute legal limitations, but I am sure that the best moral arguments which could be alleged, and maybe the best economical ones also, might be gathered from the facts of those actions which are brought on the part of those tradesmen whose dealings are ordinarily with young men, and more particularly with young men at the university. And this more especially from the circum- stance that when cases of this kind are decided by juries, in suits brought against the guardians of infants, there is so marvellous an elasticity in the interpretation of the phrase " necessaries," that one is disposed to doubt whether juries should be trusted with more than the fact of the contract, but that the meaning of the word should be left to the discretion of the judge.
Many remedies have been suggested for the preven- tion of the credit system, of which the best seems to be that which makes Oxford debts subject to the equitable judgment of a magistrate appointed for that purpose, and without appeal except to the Court of Queen's Bench. And this form of equitable jurisprudence is the more rational in a place like Oxford, where very many transactions bear so questionable an aspect as to suggest that the ordinary process > of trade has been made a stalking-horse for the practice of money-lending at exorbitant rates. I am well aware, from cases that have come to my own knowledge, that such transac-
U
162 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
tions have been effected under the colour of legitimate trade.
Whatever, then, may be the causes which lead to the large expenditure necessary for an academical degree, the fact remains the same. It may be the case that some persons are willing to make that degree the measure of a certain age, in which the business of life is protracted ; and of a certain cost ; and to argue that the value of the degree is to be estimated by the time it takes to achieve it, and the money payments neces- sary to procure it. But, in effect, a conventional value founded on so artificial a rule is at best temporary, and will inevitably be superseded sooner or later by some other means or by an external reformation. It is im- possible that the credit of the highest English educa- tion should be made to rest on the facts that it is com- pleted at twenty-three years of age, and at the charge of 1,000Z., or thereabouts. Many, very many, will decline to compete for it on these terms, and they wha wish for it will, by the creation of other institutions, or by the force of a public estimate of the product, be disposed to seek similar advantages elsewhere, at a less overwhelming cost. At the same time, even under the present circumstances, the reader will, it is to be hoped, find, as he goes on with this work, that there are mate- rial advantages still connected with the university education of no inconsiderable amount.
At present let us consider the effect of this large expenditure on those who do come to the university, and the indirect hardship inflicted on those who do not. There are two evils which result from the conscious- ness that the members of the university are limited by dearness and monopoly. These are laziness and one- sidedness. Not only is it true, where exclusiveness is
THE COLLEGE. 163
the rule of those who profit by any calling, that the numbers of those who are customers of that calling are narrowed to an extent which would not have naturally been contemplated, but they who enter into the field are, by the same cause, indisposed to exert themselves. There are many young men in Oxford who want the stimulus of competing numbers. Sup- pose it were possible that persons could be examined in the Oxford schools who had not been submitted to the parental despotism of college life, and that such persons bore away the prizes of academical distinction. The obvious effect of such competing agencies would be the activity of those who are being deprived of their reputation by the energies of other teaching and other methods.
Again, with all its equality, the tendency of under- graduate collegiate life is to onesidedness. That men leave the university with but a scanty comprehension of the varying conditions about them, and with narrow stereotyped views, is so general an impression that it cannot be false. The views of such men are, to use a cant phrase, shoppy. They cannot ordinarily escape the clumsiness engendered by a single aspect of human action and human motives. They make a world of their own, which is habitually eclipsed by larger worlds. And nowhere is this felt so painfully as in that profession which the university prepares so largely for. The energies and self-denial of parochial clergy- men are beyond praise, while their tact and judgment are too often below contempt, and their practice, even in the most familiar parts of their duty, and the most ordinary details of social life, exposes them in the worst manner to the alternations of fraud and suspicion. Nor is it wonderful when one reflects on that utter lack of
11—2
164 EDUCATION IN OXFORD,
anytliiiig like a dialectical education, and familiarity with the realities of modern society which is discernible so openly and so perpetually in the course of an acade- mical curriculum. Some one has spoken of this igno- rance of the details of social life, and the relations of the clergyman with his people, under the name of the " gentlemanly heresy." This tact, which should have come elsewhere, must subsequently be picked up by experience and inconvenience, if it is gotten at all, since the fruits of what might have been once learned in Oxford, are often gone for ever by being missed at the proper time.
Still more formidable, however, is the effect on those who do not come to the university. Of these, numbers are, no doubt, prevented by the expense attending an academical curriculum. Yet nothing is more alien to the genius of the university than such a hindrance. Whatever developments there may have been made in the doctrine that the raising oneself from the lowest social position to the highest is the best right of liberty and civilization, this power, or privilege, or right, or whatever else it may be called, is the most ancient characteristic of the miiversity of Oxford. It was emphatically the means whereby poverty was able, out of the diligent attendance to letters, to raise itself, per saltum, to the most reputable social state. And such a privilege has only been broken in upon since the com- , mencement of the present century, though it has gone on decreasino; till the cjeneral bodv of those who in old times mounted to eminence by their academical labours have been excluded from the university, in pursuance of the worst and most artificial condition, the very poverty which it was the first object of the collegiate foundations to relieve and sustain. It is a hardship
THE COLLEGE. 165
not tlie less real because so long ignored, and a hard- ship of the highest order, that men are deterred on pecuniary grounds from attempting that which their intelligence and their industry give them abundant war- ranty to hope. This right of poor men to come to Oxford is very different from the right which has often been claimed for them, and, in my opinion, under the present Act, wisely resisted, that, namely, of poverty beincT a claim to colleo;e emoluments. It is doubtful whether such a privilege, that is, the privilege based on mere poverty, is equitable, and it is perfectly certain that the interpretation of the privilege would be nothing but an endless job, as it was before the negation of the pre- vious sj^stem was imported into the Act.
It is, as might be expected, disastrous to the univer- sity. As has been already said, in the face of a vast increase of material wealth and of population, the num- bers at the university have not only been stationary for the last twenty years, but have actually, in some degree, retrograded. The institutions of the place are beginning to feel the effect of putting impediments in the way of great abilities with insufficient means, by the great decline in popular estimation which Oxford has experienced.
But it is even more disastrous to the nation. Out of those who have been enabled, through the medium of the university, to set a mark upon their ability, in- .telligence, and industry, and thereupon to approach the larger duties of a higher, and reasonably higher, station, England, in old times, gathered her jurists, her states- men, her churchmen. It must be supposed that the education given is the best of its kind, and the distri- bution of academical distinctions equitable and appre- ciable. But when the field of choice is progressively narrowed, other sources supply the deficiency, though, it
166 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
may be, in an inferior degree. It is inevitable that they should. Yet the means by which proficiency should be tested, when it is not tested by a demonstration of actual knowledge at some one great time, but by an estimate of a series of facts spread over a large space of time, are rare, capricious, uncertain. We do not educate the best of God's gifts, natural quickness and conscientious in^ dustry, in what we confidently assert is the best way, because we have walled round the domains of know- ledge by a cordon of narrow fortresses, and provided that no one should enter, except he be possessed of a golden key.
The Compakative Merits of diffeeent Colleges. — One of the commonest questions people ask is — " To what college shall I send my son?" — and it is a ques- tion to which it is far from easy to give an answer. Indeed, the determination of the question must be due in general to accident or prejudice. People; who have themselves been at a particular college, have ordinarily esprit de corps enough to advise their own, when the querist has no means of arriving at a conclusion for himself. Again, colleges have local and particular connections. For instance, Exeter has a large west country connection, and a very considerable clerical one. Balliol and University are strongly occupied by a Scotch and north of England connection. Jesus is almost entirely Welch. Trinity is powerfully Wyke- hamist. Queen's was, and, maybe, is, eminently limited to Cumberland, Northumberland, and Westmoreland. Brasenose is a good deal beholden to Manchester and its neighbourhood. And so, in their degree, with the rest. This peculiarity is due, as a rule, to the fact that the foundation of the college in question was limited to
THE COLLEGE. 167
some particular district ; and tliougli, generally speak- ing, these exceptional preferences are abolished, yet the effect of the abolition is not remote enough to be re- cognized. Besides, the alterations which affected the foundation members were not extended to those unin- corporated benefactions which are known by the name of exhibitions. For instance, some of the best Balliol men are the exhibitioners from Glasgow University. These exhibitions were founded by Snell and Warner, with a view to promote episcopacy in Scotland, at some period before the Revolution of 1688. I am not aware whether they have subserved that purpose, or whether the^ rigour of the Presbyterian discipline has been con- tented by the acceptance of valuable eleemosynary aid, and has received the endowment, while ignoring its pro- visions. But whether or no, it is certain that the most promising students in the University of Glasgow are annually drafi;ed off to Balliol, to the great advantage of that college in particular, and the university in general. Such an election tends powerfully to produce and main- tain the reputation of a college, and, similarly, hmitations of exhibitions, in favour of particular colleges, though the academical distinctions of their occupants may often be anything but large, have a very marked effect in maintaining the numbers of the college to which they are attached.
Of course, it is not difficult for any person to answer the question of the comparative merits of different col- leges in certain special cases, and in certain obvious phenomena. Balliol, judged by the standard of the class lists and university prizes, is a far better college than Christ Church or Brasenose, or, indeed, any other in Oxford. So with others in an inferior degree.
I have added to this chapter certain tables of a
168 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
statistical character, which, as others of the same kind, must be accepted with certain limitations and explana- tions. In truth, one cannot observe with too much frequency that the estimate of any product, which is based on statistical returns, is liable to a fallacy, derived from the fact that the product is a quantity, in the analysis of which all the forces are seldom discriminated and reckoned. Thus the accompanying tables will point to an extraordinary number of first-class men in Balliol. No doubt Balliol is the most distinguished college, and not only is it far beyond all others during the last twenty years, but is far beyond any parallel of any other college at any other period. But this pro- duct is, at least, as much due to the excellence of the material entered at Balliol, as to the subsequent training in that institution. Young men do not come to Oxford in a state of ignorance. They have been j^repared with more or less exactness, care, and success for a long period of years, and it needs no proof that similar abilities, tasks, and acquirements are apt, all other influ- ences being equal, to gravitate to the same centre of activity. I do not, of course, mention this to the dis- paragement of the coUege, which must command the respect and good will of all who are anxious for the preservation and increase of learning in Oxford, but because, in common fairness, one is bound to state what hindrance there may be to an absolute inference from tabular statements.
The tables annexed contain, then: — 1st. The number of undergraduates at each college and hall during the last twenty years. 2nd. Quinquennial statements of the number of first-class men obtained in each college and hall, in classics and mathematics, during the last twenty years. 3rd. Similar returns for a similar period
THE COLLEGE. 169
in university prizes. 4th. Number of matriculations and admissions in each college and hall during the last twenty years, distinguishing scholars from commoners. 5 th. Number of rooms available for undergraduates in each college or hall.
Now, though these tables will not entirely explain why it is that certain colleges are far ahead of others in all the distinctions which the university affords, yet they do show some very important particulars, and point to the remarkable incongruity between the num- bers on the books of several colleges and the number of honours acquired by those who have matriculated at this or that institution. And it must be added, that a further research into the migrations from Balliol to other colleges, by such persons as, having been matricu- lated at the former college, subsequently procure a footing on the foundation of other societies, would have added considerably to the list of those persons who have been distinguished at this society. But the discovery of such names would have been very difficult, and the result would have been of little practical value.
I shall take for granted, then, that the reader will be enabled to draw his own inferences from the tables which I have presented to him, and to conclude, as far as such tables can be the basis of inference, about the present and past position of the several institutions. It will be seen, of course, that the whole of this tabular exposition is founded on the presumption that the pro- duct of the class schools, and of university prizes, is the most obvious test of the nature and character of each particular college.
170
EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
TABLE I.
Number q/'UNDEEGRADiiATES in each College and Hall during
Colleges: —
University
Balliol.
Merton
Exeter
Oriel
Qsaeea's «
New
Lincoln
AU Souls
Magdalene
Brasenose
Corpus
Christ Church
Trinity
St. John's
Jesus
Wadham
Pembroke
Worcester
Halls: —
St. Mary
Magdalene
New Inn
St. Alban
St. Edmund .. Litton's
1841. |
1842. |
1843. |
1844. |
1845. |
1846. |
1847. |
1848. |
1849. |
51 |
62 |
64 |
65 |
68 |
60 |
64 |
65 |
62 |
80 40 |
77 43 |
83 41 |
82 38 |
85 37 |
82 36 |
80 40 |
86 36 |
88 36 |
135 |
124 |
126 |
107 |
118 |
129 |
136 |
135 |
120 |
80 81 22 48 |
79 93 18 52 |
81 75 17 57 |
73 67 15 59 |
72 71 13 54 |
77 73 20 54 |
76 61 20 48 |
80 73 18 57 |
74 7S 20 56 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
15 |
14 |
18 |
17 |
16 |
17 |
23 |
23 |
20 |
101 |
114 |
120 |
102 |
91 |
93 |
92 |
104 |
97 |
18 |
17 |
19 |
17 |
17 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
23 |
182 |
189 |
204 |
196 |
192 |
187 |
195 |
191 |
193 |
85 |
92 |
84 |
77 |
64 |
67 |
73 |
80 |
75 |
59 |
68 |
71 |
66 |
70 |
63 |
70 |
67 |
67 |
48 |
44 |
44 |
42 |
43 |
47 |
50 |
56 |
52 |
86 |
85 |
80 |
73 |
77 |
83 |
92 |
86 |
81 |
42 |
48 |
49 |
45 |
50 |
63 |
69 |
71 |
78 |
87 |
90 |
95 |
101 |
94 |
98 |
96 |
102 |
107 |
30 |
28 |
33 |
32 |
30 |
31 |
31 |
33 |
33 |
85 |
102 |
88 |
79 |
104 |
96 |
81 |
86 |
97 |
31 15 |
24 9 |
28 7 |
27 7 |
28 10 |
32 10 |
22 8 |
27 8 |
19 9 |
26 |
25 |
22 |
23 |
33 |
34 |
32 |
32 |
33 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
THE COLLEGE.
171
TABLE L
the last Twenty Years. Taken from the UNiVBasiTT Calendab.
Colleges: —
University
Balliol
Merton
Exeter ,...
Oriel
Queen's
New
Lincoln
All Souls
Magdalene
Brasenose
Corpus
Christ Church
Trinity
St. John's
Jesus
Wadham
Pembroke
Worcester
Halls: —
St. Mary ,
Magdalene ,
New Inn ,
St. Alban ,
St. Edmund ... Litton's
1851
69 92 43
133 87 82 23 55 3 17 74 19
187 69 62 51 83 72 85
54
106 21
7 24
1852.
65
82
43 137
82
64
28
53 4
20
77
17 168
73
71
47
81
74
99
53
102 11
7 17
1853
61
83
43 142
77
58
34
51 4
17
72
25 184
60
62
44
79
77
98
1854.; 1855.
i
70 81 48
137 86 48 29 45 4 28 86. 29
188 66 61 48 76 75
106
29 87 10 4 14
65 84 46
126 78 54 23 51 4 32 90 30
192 70 68 46 83 79
115
32
92
11
3
7
1856
77 90 43
126 77 49 23 42 4 35 81 33
202 64 63 47 86 78
106
1857.! 1858,
71 87 44 137 74 53 26 41 4 30 83 41 216 66 72 45 82 71 89
18 92 11
9 17
4
69 98 39 145 74 56 26 37 4 42 90 41 211 77 63 42 83 59 83
12 90
6 10 23
6
1859.
73
106 45 162 85 47 26 41 4 38 84 47 214 83 56 41 85 63 75
16 85
5 10 22
7
101 45 171 87 63 34 40 4 55 99 47 211 81 49 44 72 66 68
18
73
6
9
22
5
172
EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
TABLE 11.
Quinquennial Statements of the Number o/First Classmen obtained by each College and Hall /or the last Twenty Years, and general Total of First Classjien in Mathematics for the same Period.
Colleges: — University ...
Balliol
Merton
Exeter
Oriel
Queen's
New
Lincoln
All Souls
Magdalene ...
Brasenose
Corpus
Clirist Church
Trinity
St John's
Jesus
Wadham
Pembroke
Worcester
Halls r —
St. Mary
Magdalene ...
New Inn
St. Alban
St. Edmund...
Total...
Classics.
1840-44
48
1S45-49. 1850-54. 1855-59. 2o7ears
54
71
8 21 1 1 1 3
55
21
57 6 8 7
10 4
14
4
4 11 18 14 11
1 11
6 11
2 6 1 1
228
THE COLLEGE.
173
TABLE IIL
Uniteksity Prizes * obtained in each College and Hall during the last Twenty Years.
Colleges :- University. Balliol Merton ... |
1 1 1 2 2 8 I |
02 1 8 1 2 2 |
i ... 1 ... |
1 ■p. 2 3 |
1 1 2 |
5 •-3 S 1 :^ 2 1 |
1 |
c c |
1 DC |
1 1 w 3 3 |
{A o H 1 1 |
i o 1 2 |
1 3 3 |
3 1 13 |
1 4 4 1 1 I 2 |
i 1 a 3 8 1 2 |
1 ■I 1 2 1 1 4 1 3 |
i 1 2 |
i < 3 |
1 i c tn 1 |
■ 00 .2 '5 O 5 |
4 £ 26 67 7 |
Exeter |
... |
^^ |
1 |
1 |
... |
2 1 1 |
1 |
5 2 5 |
19 |
|||||||||||||
Oriel |
1 |
... |
... |
10 |
||||||||||||||||||
Queen's ... |
1 |
2 |
1 1 |
1 |
1 1 1 |
9.0 |
||||||||||||||||
New |
1 |
... |
6 |
|||||||||||||||||||
Lincoln ... |
... |
1 |
7 |
13 |
||||||||||||||||||
All Souls... |
||||||||||||||||||||||
Magdalene . Erasenose |
2 |
1 |
2 1 3 1 |
1 |
1 3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2 1 |
1 2 2 1 |
13 |
|||||||||||
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 1 |
... |
1 1 |
1 1 |
1 |
1 |
11 |
|||||||||||||
Corpus ... Christ Ch. . |
1. 3 |
1 1 3 |
14 |
|||||||||||||||||||
2 1 |
1 |
... |
13 |
|||||||||||||||||||
, Trinity ... St. John's |
1 |
1 |
1 |
19. |
||||||||||||||||||
5 2 2 |
2 1 |
3 |
8 |
2 |
... |
... |
9^ |
|||||||||||||||
Jesus |
2 1 1 |
1 1 |
7 |
|||||||||||||||||||
Wadham... |
1 1 |
... |
1 1 |
3 |
3 1 1 |
... |
2 1 |
2 3 |
1 |
1 |
... |
14 |
||||||||||
Pembroke . |
10 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
Worcester . |
1 |
1 |
... |
8 |
||||||||||||||||||
Halls:-— St. Mary... |
1 |
... |
... |
9 |
||||||||||||||||||
Magdalene Jsew Inn.. |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
||||||||||||||||||
1 1 |
1 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
St Alban |
! |
1 |
||||||||||||||||||||
St Edmd |
il |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|||||||||||||||||
■ |
' |
"■ |
" |
' |
. 1 |
1 |
* The dates denote the period at which tie prize was founded.
174
EDUCATION m OXFORD.
TABLE IV. - - - - - Matriculations and Entries at each College and Hall,
1840. |
1841. |
1842. |
1843. |
1844. |
1845. |
1846. |
1847. |
1848. |
||||||||||
Colleges : — |
s. |
c. |
s. |
c. |
S. |
C. |
s. |
C. |
S. |
C. |
s. |
c. |
S. |
C. |
S. |
c. |
s. |
C. |
University . |
3 |
9 |
2 |
20 |
3 |
16 |
4 |
16 |
2 |
20 |
2 |
11 |
3 |
19 |
3 |
18 |
3 |
13 |
■Ralliol |
3 |
14 |
2 |
20 |
3 |
22 |
2 |
23 |
2 |
20 |
2 |
20 |
2 |
20 |
3 |
22 |
2 |
23 |
Merton |
5 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
4 |
... |
5 |
8 |
4 |
9 |
5 |
7 |
4 |
8 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Exeter |
3 |
30 |
3 |
35 |
3 |
21 |
5 |
35 |
2 |
43 |
2 |
41 |
4 |
39 |
2 |
80 |
2 |
32 |
Oriel |
18 |
17 |
22 |
21 |
19 |
16 |
21 |
14 |
18 |
|||||||||
Queen's |
21 |
9 |
25 |
1 |
13 |
4 |
17 |
3 |
20 |
5 |
20 |
2 |
8 |
3 |
32 |
4 |
20 |
|
New |
3 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
8 |
3 |
||||||
Lincoln |
11 |
2 |
7 |
9 |
12 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
8 |
2 |
11 |
7 |
12 |
8 |
11 |
6 |
10 |
|
All Souls ... |
1 |
... |
1 |
... |
1 |
... |
2 |
... |
1 |
... |
1 |
... |
... |
1 |
... |
1 |
... |
|
Magdalene . |
4 |
... |
3 |
2 |
9 |
1 |
5 |
... |
3 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
Brasenose... |
27 |
6 |
29 |
6 |
20 |
7 |
19 |
5 |
22 |
11 |
24 |
6 |
24 |
8 |
16 |
6 |
19 |
|
Corpus |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
3 |
6 |
1 |
|
Christ Ch.... |
60 |
6 |
54 |
6 |
51 |
9 |
45 |
8 |
48 |
10 |
44 |
9 |
42 |
11 |
52 |
15 |
48 |
|
Trinity |
21 |
5 |
24 |
1 |
19 |
5 |
13 |
2 |
14 |
3 |
22 |
4 |
10 |
2 |
18 |
3 |
12 |
|
St. John's... |
13 |
5 |
21 |
5 |
12 |
2 |
10 |
2 |
14 |
2 |
20 |
3 |
16 |
2 |
11 |
2 |
18 |
|
Jesus |
4 |
10 |
1 |
11 |
4 |
8 |
2 |
12 |
3 |
13 |
7 |
14 |
4 |
11 |
2 |
16 |
1 |
10 |
Wadham ... |
... |
24 |
2 |
18 |
1 ■ |
20 |
2 |
20 |
3 |
18 |
... |
29 |
4 |
24 |
4 |
17 |
3 |
17 |
Pembroke... |
11 |
9 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
4 |
25 |
2 |
22 |
2 |
12 |
... |
22 |
|
Worcester . |
3 |
20 |
1 |
26 |
3 |
27 |
2 |
25 |
4 |
17 |
3 |
27 |
2 |
28 |
2 |
27 |
2 |
30 |
Halls: — |
||||||||||||||||||
St. Mary ... |
... |
16 |
... |
7 |
... |
13 |
... |
18 |
... |
9 |
... |
11 |
... |
16 |
... |
13 |
... |
14 |
Magdalene . |
... |
20 |
... |
28 |
... |
25 |
... |
11 |
... |
25 |
... |
19 |
... |
16 |
... |
25 |
... |
30 |
New Inn ... |
... |
13 |
... |
8 |
12 |
8 |
... |
10 |
... |
15 |
... |
6 |
... |
8 |
6 |
|||
St. Alban... |
... |
5 |
... |
2 |
... |
... |
... |
4 |
... |
4 |
3 |
... |
1 |
... |
2 |
2 |
||
St. Edmund |
... |
6 |
... |
8 |
6 |
... |
7 |
... |
12 |
... |
10 |
... |
5 |
10 |
... |
7 |
||
Litton's |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
" |
THE COLLEGE.
175
TABLE lY. distinguishing Foundationers (s.)froin Commoners (c.)
1849. |
1850. |
1851. |
1852. |
1853. |
1854. |
1855. |
1856. |
1857. |
1858. |
1859. |
|||||||||||
s. |
C. |
s. |
c. |
s. |
c. |
s. |
c. |
s. |
c. |
s. |
c. |
s. |
c. |
s. |
C. |
S. |
C. |
8. |
c. |
s. |
C. |
5 |
20 |
1 |
19 |
2 |
15 |
3 |
19 |
6 |
12 |
3 |
18 |
3 |
17 |
5 |
17 |
5 |
13 |
2 |
11 |
2 |
21 |
3 |
23 |
2 |
23 |
3 |
10 |
4 |
26 |
2 |
14 |
2 |
19 |
3 |
23 |
2 |
19 |
2 |
24 |
3 |
27 |
3 |
16 |
4 |
9 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
6 |
7 |
6 |
11 |
5 |
10 |
■5 |
5 |
7 |
5 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
8 |
6 |
|
2 |
41 |
4 |
37 |
2 |
35 |
4 |
40 |
27 |
1 |
25 |
3 |
34 |
3 |
42 |
5 |
37 |
3 |
49 |
6 |
50 |
|
... |
20 |
... |
27 |
16 |
... |
14 |
4 |
22 |
2 |
17 |
2 |
20 |
2 |
12 |
... |
17 |
4 |
24 |
2 |
17 |
|
4 |
25 |
6 |
13 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
12 |
... |
14 |
7 |
25 |
1 |
6 |
6 |
11 |
1 |
9 |
5 |
9 |
4 |
22 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
3 |
10 |
3 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
9 |
5 |
|
4 |
14 |
6 |
14 |
3 |
8 |
12 |
8 |
5 |
4 |
9 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
|
2 |
... |
... |
... |
1 |
... |
2 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
1 |
... |
1 |
3 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
||
4 |
... |
4 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
... |
4 |
10 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
11 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
13 |
|
7 |
22 |
8 |
17 |
8 |
15 |
5 |
16 |
9 |
27 |
8 |
14 |
5 |
10 |
6 |
14 |
6 |
25 |
5 |
14 |
6 |
20 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
... |
3 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
10 |
2 |
13 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
9 |
4 |
10 |
5 |
42 |
5 |
49 |
6 |
41 |
6 |
57 |
8 |
48 |
7 |
54 |
3 |
55 |
6 |
55 |
3 |
53 |
6 |
58 |
6 |
50 |
2 |
23 |
1 |
19 |
6 |
13 |
2 |
13 |
3 |
22 |
3 |
16 |
3 |
9 |
3 |
19 |
5 |
20 |
2 |
22 |
2 |
13 |
2 |
12 |
2 |
19 |
4 |
18 |
2 |
12 |
1 |
15 |
4 |
20 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
12 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
9 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
13 |
4 |
9 |
1 |
11 |
4 |
16 |
2 |
15 |
2 |
10 |
4 |
9 |
3 |
10 |
2 |
12 |
5 |
10 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
23 |
2 |
23 |
2 |
23 |
4 |
15 |
3 |
16 |
3 |
26 |
2 |
18 |
5 |
10 |
2 |
19 |
3 |
23 |
... |
13 |
1 |
25 |
... |
14 |
5 |
21 |
2 |
22 |
1 |
25 |
1 |
16 |
3 |
14 |
2 |
18 |
2 |
13 |
4 |
11 |
1 |
20 |
5 |
31 |
2 |
25 |
2 |
22 |
4 |
27 |
4 |
30 |
6 |
23 |
1 |
14 |
3 |
14 |
5 |
12 |
1 |
13 |
2 |
14 |
20 |
28 |
14 |
12 |
14 |
9 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
8 |
|||||||||||
41 |
... |
23 |
17 |
... |
23 |
... |
19 |
... |
28 |
... |
23 |
... |
22 |
... |
22 |
... |
18 |
... |
14 |
||
10 |
... |
9 |
■ |
1 |
... |
4 |
... |
4 |
6 |
... |
1 |
... |
5 |
... |
1 |
... |
4 |
... |
2 |
||
1 |
... |
3 |
... |
2 |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
... |
9 |
... |
1 |
... |
1 |
... |
3 |
|||
7 |
... |
2 |
4 ... |
... |
2 |
... |
5 |
... |
3 |
... |
11 3 |
... |
5 2 |
... |
7 3 |
... |
3 1 |
... |
6 2 |
176
EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
TABLE V.
Rooms available for Undergraduates.
Colleges. Rooms.
University 53
Balliol 64
Merton 31
Exeter 119*
Oriel 55
Queen's 84
New 35
Lincoln 40
All Souls 4
Magdalene 50
Brasenose 75
Corpus 35
Christ Olmrch 159t
Trinity 61
Colleges. Rooms.
St. John's 56
Jesus 50
Wadham 62:{:
Pembroke 61
Worcester 67§
Halls.
St. Mary 30
Magdalene 41
New Inn 11
St. Alban 10
St. Edmund 27
Total 1,280
That other considerations enter into the fact of a young man's being sent to Oxford, I am perfectly well aware. That these considerations constitute the sum of many people's objects, I am equally alive to. Social position, the fact of acquiring a particular tone and manner, the influence of association, and the possibility of the student's acquiring some valuable acquaintances, and a definite locus standi with persons to whom it is desirable that he should be known, are very valid reasons with many persons. Some of these will never, it is likely, be ineffective, but some have progressively become inoperative. The days of patronage — mere patronage, that is to say, the promoting of inefficient or less efficient men to offices of trust and reputation — are, it is plain, rapidly passing away. The potency of noble friendships, and the value of hanging on to Lord Tom and Lord Harry, are at a discount. However strong
* Including eight sets borrowed from Jesus College, f Including "students' " rooms. J Including four Fellows' sets. § Including five Fellows' sets.
THE COLLEGE. 177
toadyism may be even now-a-days, tlie adept in the art has seldom much profit beyond the approval of his own conscience.
Besides, these indirect advantages, were they ever so powerful, are completely compatible with that to which they may be and ought to be subordinate. The uni- versity should not be a place for sowing wild oats in — a mere playground for noisy and ignorant boobies. That such people are permitted and encouraged is a mischief and a scandal. They are a snare to their companions, and a hindrance to the w^ell-being of the place. It would be well if w^e were rid of them ; and the hypocritical argum.ent that it is beneficial to those persons that they have had a year or two's stay in' Oxford, and that they become a power to the university by the rallying round it of those who have been edu- cated within its precincts, is as contemptible as it is false. The real meaning of such reasoning is that such persons pay well for the room they occupy. Meanwhile, they frighten a far more valuable class of persons from en- trance into the university, and drag down the education and character of those who do belong to Oxford.
COMPAEATIVE MeRITS OF COLLEGES AND HaLLS. —
The reader may remember, from what has been stated before, that the halls are the most ancient places of academical education, and that they were originally in- stitutions in which the students elected their head, and governed the details of the society in matters of ex- penditure and the like. Indeed, the latter privilege is existent still by statute, and there is even now a form of election on the death or avoidance of a principal; though, as the nomination of the head has been usurped to the Chancellor since the time of Leicester's chancel-
12
178 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
lorship, tlie election, except for the sake of being a record of a better state of things, is a mere farce. As it is, the head of a hall has no more interest in his society than a lessee has in the future destiny of the land which he holds for a term of years.
Before the Act of 1854, the halls were tolerably pro- sperous. A great many people came to Oxford who would not come now, in consequence of peculiar advan- tages derived from local preferences and kindred to the founder. Hence there was a superfluity of numbers by the side of accommodation. Besides, it was the fashion, in the time antecedent to that change, to send away young men from the colleges who were stupid, ill-behaved, or refractory. It is difficult to see on what principle of morality an institution which had accepted tlie education of an undergraduate could dismiss him when it found that his mind was weak ; or, what is equally possible, college instruction was inadequate to iit him for his degree. And it is even more difficult to determine on what ground it was argued that A. B., whose conduct made him unfit for a particular college, should be fit for another society, and should depart with a testimonium of merit. Perhaps, it was that cheap conscientiousness which will not take the trouble of doing a general duty, but cherishes a particular and unsacrificing benevolence.
Out of this practice three of the halls derived their inmates. These were St. Mary Hall, Alban Hall, New Inn Hall. The last-named institution was actually fitted up for the purpose by the late principal. Dr. Cramer, who, it is said, took the principalship on con- dition of making the buildings available. It was seldom the case that any person matriculated at these societies. 'The inmates were the outcasts of more orderly colleges.
THE COLLEGE. 179
The cost of living at them was, by the ordinary scale, enormous. They contained, no doubt, a pleasant and varied society ; but it was not in that time ordinarily thought well of, even when estimated by the coarse rule of undergraduate proprieties. The institutions were called refuges for the destitute, and residence in them was almost as costly as a sponging-house to an in- solvent.
The other two halls, Magdalene and St. Edmund, were not of this character. The latter always had, as will be seen from a reference to tlie tables annexed to the foregoing section, well nigh as many undergra- duates as it could hold. The society had the reputation of being one of what is technically called the Evangelical school ; and, perhaps, it owed, in some degree, its num- bers to this reputation. But it had the advantage of possessing a vice-principal of very high character, of very respectable attainments, and of sterling conscien- tiousness. He was a member of the society by the way, a rare wisdom in tlie management of a hall. He worked well nigh all his life with the people whom he taught, and at the close of his days received a tardy acknowledgment of his services from the present Bishop of Winchester. In all likelihood, however, the connec- tion of St. Edmund Hall with Queen's College (the principalship of it and a valuable living are in the gift of the college, and descend, like any other kind of patronage, through the Fellows of that society in order) was, in some degree, the cause of its numbers ; at any rate, it declined in quantity when that college declined.
Magdalene Hall has always had a large supply of undergraduates, and did, on the whole, rank fifth in the scale of quantity. It has succeeded to this state of things from a considerable antecedent and even historical
12—2
180 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
connection. Under tlie present circumstances, apart from its connection, the popularity of its principal had no small weight in increasing its inmates. Besides, it had three open scholarships, of considerable value, in the time when there were very few of such commodi- ties. There have always been, too, a copious body of elderly people, as the phrase goes, in Oxford, who have gravitated to this society, under the form of gentleman commoners. And it is fortunate for the reputation of the society that they have ; for, out of six first-class men, during the last twenty years, three have been gentleman commoners, one a scholar, and two com- moners. The open scholarships have not generally had the effect of producing this distinction. Since the be- ginning of the foundation only one has achieved this place, and that case is at the commencement of the limits which I have assigned to the tables, namely, 1840. With all the halls, however, matters were seriously changed when the Act of 1854 came into operation. The numbers, as will be seen, declined in nearly all these societies, and no doubt they are likely to decline still more. Nothing can have been a greater miscalcu- lation than the expectation commonly entertained by the framers of that Act, that the development of its principle would lead to the formation of new halls. The writer of these pages urged that, wise and necessary as the pro- visions of that Act were, they would inevitably tend to the damage of the old halls, and that the creation of new ones would necessitate a far more searching and total change than anything which the legislature con- templated, or than the university was likely to initiate. And this was due to the peculiar institutions of the university, to the distribution of property within the boundaries of the city, and to the constitutions of the
THE COLLEGE. 181
halls themselves. With the former of these conditions I shall have to deal shortly ; with the latter, at present. Halls are entirely under the management of the principal. He is practically irresponsible, the appeal to the chancellor, whose nominee he ordinarily is, being only that to any other visitor, and therefore long since inoperative. He has no interest in the society beyond the fact of its being a means of income, nor does he affect any interest.. Sometimes the only real value which his headship is to him, 'is a house in Oxford, and the position given him by reason of his office. He is but remotely concerned in the credit or disrepute of the members of the society of which he is head. He takes ordinarily no part in the instruction of the inmates of his hall, and but little in their discipline. He nominates strangers to all offices of trust and authority in the society, and never thinks that those who belong to the hall have any claim upon him for the discharge of the ordinary functions of college tutor or lecturer. Except for trivial matters, no person who has distinguished himself at a hall is employed in its management. He can appoint and displace these officers at his pleasure. They are wholly dependent on the discretion or caprice of the principal ; and generally the nomination of a new head is followed by the dismissal of those who had been hitherto engaged by his predecessor. In a college, the authority of the head is largely modified by the resist- ance of those who work the college, and is ordinarily neutralized; but in a hall, the head is, if he wills, absolute as long as he lives. He can turn his hall into a private house, or a set of chambers for strangers, if he wills. The heads of halls are generally the occupants of other offices. Of those at present in this position, two are university professors, two hold countr}- livings.
182 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
and the remaining one is a fellow of a college, and the rector of an Oxford parish. In the last-named case, the headship was held immediately before the present occupant by the registrar of the university, and before him by a canon of Christ Church. Depending but little on the success of the establishment over which they preside, their interest in the well-doing of its members is naturally languid. They have no feeling for a society to which their relations are wholly fiscal. They generally remain members in name, and almost always in sympathy with the society from which they were taken to fill the office of head. All, with the exception of the head of Magdalene Hall, keep their names on the books of their parent college.
That peculiar esprit de corps which is so character- istic of the colleges is wholly wanting in the halls. The members of these societies have the least possible con- nection with the place of their education after its period is over. There are very few among them, I apprehend, who do not regret that they ever had to do with the institutions in question. And no wonder, for their sympathies with their society are exceedingly slender.
Furthermore, the instruction is indifferent in point of quantity. In my time, there was but one lecturer in Magdalene Hall, though it had between eighty and one hundred undergraduate members. And this can easily be understood, when one remembers that the office of teacher depends on the caprice, and is determined by the decease or promotion, of the existing head. Men will not take a precarious office unless they are well paid for it; and as the amount received for college tuition is pretty much regulated by custom, the proceeds from this source of income cannot conveniently be dis- tributed among many recipients.
I
THE COLLEGE. 18^
The discipline is also likely to be bad. Most of the halls have, it is true, an officer resident in the walls of the society. But in the largest of the present halls, Magdalene, all the tutors are married, and reside at a distance. The undergraduates are left entirely to their own discretion. But witlun the walls of a college, disci- pline, such as it is, is, I conceive, far more important than instruction. At any rate, the culture may be procured from without, while the aggregation of a large number of young men in one building, without any supervision at all, is not likely to result in anything but disorder. On the whole, then, it is, in my opinion, a great misfortune to any person that he should be a member of a hall. While an undergraduate, as com- pared with the member of a college, he lives as expensively, he is taught less carefully, and he is over- looked less steadily. When he has taken his degree, he is at a still greater disadvantage, for all the officers of the institution at which he has graduated are indif- ferent to his fiiture well-doing. And as in a college there is a perpetual desire to promote the fortunes of those who have been members of the society, so the utter absence of this desire in a hall is something more than a negation in the competition of the university; it is a positive hindrance and loss.
Of late three of the halls have attempted, as I am informed, a greater economy of expenditure than pre- vailed in them before the Act of 1854. This at any rate was necessitated by that event. Had not some reform taken place, they would have been empty. In one of these the experiment was founded on a private benefaction ; in another, it is a voluntary act on the pai't of the principal; in a third, it was urged upon that authority and accepted by him. But it is too early to
184 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
predict anything from the trial. Certainly very large advantages are needed in the way of economy and dis- cipline to counterbalance the inconveniences resulting from membership in a hall.
I should therefore strongly dissuade any parent from sending his son to any existing hall. In their present state there is none of that esprit de corps which^, in some degree at least, stimulates the energies of a college, and none of that competitive spirit which would result from a larger interest, and a larger stake being invested by the authorities in the welfare of the society. I can understand, even under the depressing circumstances which would affect the attempt to create independent centres of education in Oxford, that unshackled activity would do a great deal, even against the prestige of the existing colleges. I can readily imagine a state of thincTs in which a vast influx of students mixrlit be expected in the university ; but I cannot conceive any practical good likely to arrive from the slovenly despotism of a head who has larger interests elsewhere, and none in the society which he governs. It would be well for the university if the buildings of the halls were handed over to the nearest college, and infinitely advantageous for the inmates of those buildings.
Private Halls. — By a provision in the Act of 1854, the university in Convocation was empowered to make regulations, under which private halls might be instituted. It does not appear that parliamentary sanction was necessary for this purpose, for the uni- versity had, by its ancient statutes, full power for the creation of these establishments. It must be understood, then, that the seeming proviso was an exhortation or a command on the part of the legislature, intended to
THE COLLEGE. 185
promote action on tlie part of the university. The result was a statute in the following terms.
It will be seen that the facilities for opening a hall are very considerably limited by the condition of previous residence in the university, a condition the reason of which it is hard to find, except it be in the jealousy felt at the possibility of these institutions. But there are other circumstances which make the creation of these halls very unlikely, and their want of success all but certain.
When the legislature sanctioned the establishment of private halls, one among the reasons given for the provision in the Act was the convenience which would be added for the residence of young persons of large means or large expectations in the home of some person who would give more attention to their conduct than can be looked for, or even desired, in a college. But no one has as yet availed himself of the licence for this purpose, and no parent has initiated such a step for his own son.
Another reason assigned for the change, was the facility it would afford for the extension of the university. Such an argument betrays a singular ignorance of the university, the colleges, and the hindrances in the way of developing this enlargement, on the condition of residence within the walls of any one building. Of course it was implied that private halls could be carried on with greater economy than colleges or any existing institution of the kind. This, however, is far from being likely, and the ignorance of such a state of things is one of painful significance, arguing as it does the absence of any information, and one might almost say interest, in the domestic svstem of the colleges, and the peculiar circumstances which affect the tenure and possession of houses or other available sites, within those
186 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
precincts which form the local limits of the university. It is sufficient here to say that only two private halls have been attempted; that one of them was a failure from the beginning, one person only having belonged to it, who had migrated from a college in consequence of having failed to pass his examination ; and that the other, though it has continued for some years, and has been presided over by one of the ablest and most competent members of the university, has never had more than seven members, and it is not likely to be remunerative to its head.
There are, however, many grounds on which the institution of private halls was not likely to be successfuL One of them is the advantageous position of the existing colleges in respect of their buildings, and the comparative cheapness of rooms within their walls. For many years, as I have elsewhere observed, the colleges and halls have contrived to fasten the burden of one part of their local taxation on the general body of the university, and till lately the colleges and halls were extra-parochial, and therefore not liable to the relief of the poor. Nay, even after a special Act of Parliament was procured — the necessary consequence of many years of incessant squabbling — by which the colleges Tvere rated, the largest of them has taken advantage of the general provisions for the rating of extra-parochial places, has made itself a parish, and of course has no paupers to maintain. But with the greater part of Oxford, that at least which falls within the limits of the united parishes, and in which there is union rating, the poor- rates are very high, and form a very considerable item in the charges of house-rent. And when there are added to these material advantaf]:es attached to the college, the large moral ones of prestige, habit, and the
I
THE COXLEGE. 187
like, there must be a far greater number of persons seeking admission to the university than at present, before the candidates apply themselves to the masters of licensed private halls. But all things considered, the number of matriculations has declined, and to me, it seems, is declining.
Again, it is not easy to get a fitting house for the establishment of a private hall. These institutions would naturally be set up in those parts of the city which are easy of access to academical buildings and the ordinary conveniences of the university. But by far the greater portion of the limited area is the property of corporations. The number of freeholds is singularly small. I have not been able to arrive at the exact proportions, but I am informed by some persons on whose experience I can place the fullest reliance, that seven-tenths, at least, of the area available for building purposes, within the natural limits of the academical structures, is the property of the colleges or the city. Now such corporations are not capitalists, nor are they improving landlords. They live, so to speak, from hand to mouth, will do nothing, and can do nothing. Any person who walks down the principal streets of Oxford can distinguish, at a glance, the few freeholds from the numerous tenements held on lease. The latter are old, shabby, low, and inconvenient. The streets, I admit, are made to look picturesque enough, by their tumble-down structures of the Stuart period, but the buildings themselves are hardly available for any but the rudest purposes. And if the colleges had the will to grant long leases, they have not the power. They were ordinarily restricted to a period of forty years, a limit rational enough in the days of Elizabeth, when houses were well nigh worthless, and college authorities had
188 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
fallen into the common vice of corporations of granting long leases at large fines and nominal rents, but in the present time, when the tendency is in another direction, the hindrance to improvement is inconceivable. And in those few cases in which the colleges have procured private powers of longer leasing, the disinclination felt towards the tenure, or the extravagant ground-rents required, have made nugatory these offers of longer leases. Moreover, the evident disposition on the part of colleges to resume their leases, and to grant tenancies at will, is a great bar to any occupation of their estates for building purposes. The old system of renewable tenancy, on the payment of a fine, was a hindrance to improvement, because the tenant was in constant danger of being called upon to pay interest for his own outlay ; but it was not worse than that which seems now likely to prevail, the letting houses by landlords who have no funds with which to improve, or even to repair. Except on the prospect of slovenly overlooking, corporations are the worst landlords conceivable.
For these and other grounds which it is not necessary here to make mention of, I do not, for my part, think that the establishment of private halls is likely to be a success. One only direction, in which it was at all likely to be available, was in the provision for Non- conformists. But it need hardly be observed that this result, though anticipated in the Act of 1854, has not taken place. The subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, that is to say, in other words, to all and every part of the political and social, as well as to the religious, formulae of the Church of England, is required from all masters of arts ; and none but masters of arts, or other members of Convocation, can be the heads of private halls. Now, I do not mean to say that one could
THE COLLEGE. 189
not find among the masters of arts many persons who would have no hesitation in accepting Nonconformists within their houses, as, indeed, some of the colleges have accepted a few. But I have great doubts whether parents, who strongly or conscientiously believed in the special tenets of the several Protestant sects, would entrust their children to the care of a person who was bound to derive his domestic services from the Book of Common Prayer, in default of taking them to some neighbouring church or college chapel, unless it were on the part of those who believed that their creed Avas too diverse from that of the Establishment to suffer risk by contact. Hence none, I believe, but Roman Catholics and Jews have as yet matriculated in Oxford.
Prospects of Nonconformists at Oxford. — The Act of 1854 — and it was a characteristic feature of the law and a special motive in legislation — took away the necessity of subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles and the three clauses in the twenty-seventh Canon, from all persons who matriculated or proceeded to the degree of bachelor of arts. In other words, the ad- mission of Dissenters to the education of the university was indirectly conceded. Those persons had been all along admitted to Cambridge, by the fact that the above-named subscription was not required at matri- culation ; and the consequence has been that several Nonconformists have been educated at Cambridge, and achieved high honours in the schools of the sister university, though they are prevented from gradua- tion. No part, however, of the government scheme excited such hostility in Oxford as this, and against the possible contingencies of it several precautions were
190 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
taken. Compensative amounts of book learning were provided for in the examination of Dissenters, and, as I Lave already stated, tlie creation of private halls was rigorously limited to resident or quasi-resident masterg of arts, whose method of religious instruction was to be guided by the formulae of the Established Church. At any rate, one cannot see how the teaching was to be of a general kind, while the prayers were of formal orthodoxy.
Of course, the admission of Dissenters to the several colleges rests with the authorities of those several estabhshments. One does not see, except on the com- plete destruction of the privilege of self-government, how the legislature could prescribe that nonconformists should demand admission to these private institutions. The legislature, in short, provided that these persons should be able to graduate, but could not, or would not, supply them with the means of graduation; in other words, take precautions for providing opportunities for study in Oxford, apart from any connection with exist- ing colleges and halls. Yet, without this opportunity being given, one does not see how any practical result could possibly ensue from the licence of graduation afforded to nonconformists. And, be it observed, the graduation is only initiative; the claim of nominal orthodoxy is exacted from all persons, without excep- tion, who wish to become members of Convocation ; of those, in short, who desire to attain to that position in connection with the university, which is certainly in- tended to be the ultimate object to which all previous processes are subsidiary.
I do not criticize at length this narrow and barren privilege. I think its limitation illiberal, and I tliink it is unwise. I see no reason why religious tests should
THE COLLEGE. 191
be exacted from those who claim academical distinc- tions, any more than from those who aim at a social or political status. I do not, and dare not, believe that the fullest liberty to others can, by any possibility, be harmful to the English Church. However rigorous may be the standard of orthodoxy in the ministry of the Estabhshment, I cannot see with what propriety a minute rule of faith should be exacted from her lay members, still less why those who do not profess alle- j^iance to her should be debarred from the membership with the secular distinctions of that university which should be tlie pride, as it surely is the property, of the whole nation. I never yet heard of the aristocracy of letters, or of royal roads to learnmg, or that the limitation of the prerogative of learning to theological conformity was a strong stimulus to either learning or conformity.
While there are, however, overwhelming reasons to be given why Nonconformists should be admitted to the fullest privileges of the university, it does not seem to me that they can fairly claim the endowments of the colleges, or even the right to reside within them. The former of these would be, in the majority of cases at least, in direct contravention of the founder's intention, and would be, therefore, bad faith to bygone bene- factors. After all, if one departs from established formulas, one does not, and cannot, exclude any one. Admit a Protestant Dissenter, and you should admit a Jew, a Mahommedan, a heathen, to academical en- dowments. I cannot see what power can honestly and equitably draw a line. Toleration is not width, but inclusiveness. The least Hmit on its extension is the destruction of its essence.
Furthermore, residence within a college is what I think nonconformists could not reasonably ask for, or
192 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
the authorities of a college wisely grant. These places are societies in which familiar intercourse is more or less compulsory. We who live in Oxford, after periods of polemical disputations, have ordinarily been to out- ward appearance indifferent and uniform in our theo- logical generalities. In so narrow and limited a society we cannot afford to differ, which is to quarrel. The odium tlieologicum needs, to make it even tolerable, a wider area than Oxford affords. Where it exists it is only in barren minds and unsocial tempers. And I am persuaded that the social difficulty of nonconformity is, among liberal-minded Oxford men, the largest objec- tion to its being brought into familiar intercourse with the acceptance of Anglican doctrines. Hide it as people will, professions of Protestant belief are now-a- days far more based on social orders than on any deeper foundation ; far more maintained by social isolation than by rational argumentation. Few people, I apprehend, who are informed about the strength of divers sects have any doubt of this fact, however disagreeable it may seem to enthusiasts and advocates. And where those social difficulties do not apply, I am quite sure that Oxford collectively, and Oxford men individually, can challenge comparison with any others on the ground of liberality. Intolerance crops out in the most unlikely regions, even in the hunting ground of the most vigorous voluntaryism.
The whole of the Oxford colleges are the gifts of private munificence. It is true that one of them is nominally a royal foundation. But, in fact, Christ Church was far more really endowed by its first founder, Wolsey, than by its second founder, Henry the Eighth. The present college is but a skeleton of the vast place which Wolsey schemed, and which he
THE COLLEGE. . 193
heaped with wealth. It passed through the exchequer of the bluff king, and came out with less even of the metal it went in with, than the coinage which came from the royal mint of that age possessed of silver. Parliament, too, has done nothing in the w^ay of endow- ment for Oxford. Some scanty professorships were put on the civil list, but they were more than met by the proceeds of the stamps on matriculations and degrees.
Were it not for the monopoly that the colleges cling to, and the hindrances they put in the way of persons using the university cheaply — w^ere it not for the fact that they have grasped at and retain the whole autho- rity of this great corporation — no difficulty could reason- ably be made at their own discipline, however capricious it may be, within their own walls. It is in the fact that no person can make use of Oxford, except as a member of an existing college or hall, or as the member of an impossible establishment, based on a rash and unprofitable private speculation, that the true hardship and reaUy public wrong consists.
There is then, in my judgment, no remedy by which all persons can avail themselves, wdthout distinction, of academical instruction in Oxford, than by the removal of the following obstructions. There must be accorded a power of becoming members of the university without the necessity of residence in any existing college or hall, the university providing, as it can from its privi- leges, against any want of discipline among such mem- bers— a discipline which may be searching, but neces- sary, and no more a reasonable ground of objection to those wdio reside within its compass than the discipline of a camp is to those who think proper to inhabit it. And if it be thought imperative that domestic control should be exercised over those students who gather to
13
llWb EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
the university — a control I confess to thinking metapho- rical, unreal, and nugatory — it will become necessary for the larger interests of education, that some legis- lative Act should enable the purchase of freeholds within the limits of the university, as defined by Act of Parliament. The dead hand is the blight of this place, as would easily be found on inquiry. The gifts made with a view to foster learning have been its heaviest hindrance ; the wealth with which letters have been endowed has made this alma mater the veriest stepmother to genius and labour.
Future Prospects of the University of Oxford. — If my reader has followed the facts, and argued from the figures which I have laid down in what I have written, he will not be at a loss to divine what is likely to take place in the further history of this place. And what has to be said in a subsequent part of this work will not materially modify the necessary inferences from what has been said. The very large assistance rendered to those who are competent to hold the foun- dation scholarships and exhibitions provided in Oxford, will not seriously affect those who are compelled to consider the future advantages of an expenditure of a very great amount, at a time of life when large and hitherto unproductive outlay has been made, and at an age which is so critical for good or evil. The course of education in Oxford must be estimated not only by its social but by its material value, and this is what is the great difficulty in the extension of the numbers who enter the university. Can we, in short, get any guarantee that this education will promote the moral and material interests of those who spend so many valuable years in its acquisition ?
THE COLLEGE. 195
I t^ke for granted that in itself that education is of the liighest order. Few persons disparage it but those who are ignorant and self-conceited. After all, by far the largest amount of what people learn does not tend to a direct, but to an indirect, utility. It seldom happens that they who study mathematics need to use them. The simplest rules of arithmetic meet the ordinary business of life. The empirical knowledge of grammar is sufficient for the general purposes of educated intercourse. Few persons make a practical use of historical knowledge. Physical science is com- monly an amusement, rarely an occupation. And similarly in what it is the fashion to call a higher style of education, the usefulness of its prodnct lies in its method, and the display of its facts is called pedantry. Now there is nothing more difficult .than to give a true estimate of the relative values of what indirectly con- tributes to education, and yet nothing more easy and specious than to censure knowledge which has no immediate and obvious application. Of com-se they who do not possess it, and from whom its indirect operation is hidden, are by way of denouncing its sup- posed advantages. Perhaps the uniform testimony of those who have received a liberal education is more conclusive than the dissatisfaction and dislike of those who have not procured this specialty. Perhaps, how- ever, this statement that the worth of an Oxford educa- tion, when it is of the highest order, is specially eminent, will but be .understood by a reference to a series of obvious and, at the same time, important facts.
For some few years now — years sufficiently long to test the material submitted to that form of inquiry which the government has instituted, and the legisla-
13—2
196 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
ture indirectly sanctioned — public employment has-been guarded from the danger of nomination by the form of a specific examination. In some departments of the public service, the rule detur digniori has been inter- preted by the giver of, and not by the nominee to, official occupation. In other words, examination has been exercised upon those who have been named for place ; though all candidates, except those who have been fortunate enough to get their claims endorsed by members of Parliament, and such folk, have been pre- cluded from giving proof of proficiency. Since, how- ever, the individuals who form the legislative and executive body have insisted on retaining the power of nomination, and the pleasure of being bored by their political friends and supporters, rather than of con- sidering the rational method by which the public service might, apparently, best be carried out, it would not be just to governmental officials, and still less to the uni- versities, to compare the status of those who fill respon- sible public offices with the best specimens of academical education.
But in one, and that a notable case, this provisional system of examination has not prevailed, and there are annually thrown open to absolute public competition the various offices in the Indian Civil Service. Yet, on looking at the list of those who succeeded and those who failed last year in the competition for these offices, — offices, we are assured, of considerable immediate, and very great progressive value ; which have been puffed with great vigour, and which, no doubt, w^ould have been reasonably estimated without the puffing; there is not to be found a single first-class among the successful competitors, though all who approached in some degree to that status have been placed, and placed well, in the
THE COLLEGE. 197
published lists. No doubt, if the best Oxford men had entered the lists, they would have distanced their com- petitors, when one sees how much was done by second, third, and fourth rate ones. Why it is that the best men do not compete for these offices is no part of the present purpose to inquire. It is a sufficient proof of the goodness of an Oxford education when one is able to point out that the best men do not try, and that their inferiors generally succeed. Yet, with this significant proof of what might be done with the superior material of an Oxford education, one is, on inquiry into costs, a good deal startled at the ordinary estimate of the university and its functions. This estimate is one from facts.
It is tolerably plain that the influence, claims, or whatever else one pleases to call it, of the university have declined. It is a small matter that the number of students is absolutely fewer than it was twenty years ago, were it not for the prodigious development of national wealth, of national education, and of public morality. Add to this the increasing competition for employment, and the large impulse given to the desires after progressively higher social rank, and no external circumstances can explain the decreasing popularity of the universities. But, one by one, the university has lost its hold on the great professions, or is losing its hold. It is no longer needful for a judge to be a graduate; and, though one is far from asserting that his legal powers are diminished by the lack of acade- mical training, yet one shrewdly suspects that his tone and manners might now and then have been mended if he had had the advantage of certain educational asso- ciations. One deplores its being conceived that any public functionary of great dignity and official repute can dispense with being a scholar and a gentleman. At
198 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
any. rate, the necessity of accredited education — I do not mean information — is being increasingly recognized in all public employment of a far lower kind. I con- clude that the Civil Service and Indian examinations, the presumably searching inquiry into the competence of officers in the Queen's service, and the like, are, not intended merely to exclude those who cannot read, write, and cast accounts, or to relieve members of Parliament from the scandal of giving or the odium of refusing nominations to those who are wholly unfit to receive them. There is some inconsistency in the claim on subordinates, that they should be educated men, and the remission to dignitaries of any such condition.
In the same way, the direct influence of the univer- sity on the destinies of Churchmen has of late years become slighter. I am not aware of any period in the modern history of the English Church in which two bishops have been successively appointed from the roll of Oxford graduates, whose names are not found in the class list. But a bishop ought to be able to translate the Greek Testament. It seems to be a misfortune to the Establishment, when it is not thought necessary that learning should be an element in the acknowledged capacities of its chief officers. The greatest human glory of Protestantism — at least, its first promoters thought so — is that it claims the allegiance of learning to its inferences and judgments. And the claims that the dignitaries of the Church should be taken from the best sons of the university seems to me to be a corporate right of the highest rank, and the most indisputable equity. And as such claims could not be disputed, so I do not think they can be ignored, if the universities did their work. Piety, to be sure, and activity have very far more urgent rights than learning ; but why not
THE COLLEGE. 199
have both ? Are they naturally or commonly separate among the clergy ?
It is not my business to point out how the material interests of those who now-a-days enter into holy orders are modified by the negligence shown in these and other matters to tlie claims of learning, or how a bastard priestcraft is encouraged by modern practice. But the increase of subordinate places of clerical education is a notable and acknowledged fact. They have generally originated on the ground of economy. I do not dis- parage the endeavours of conscientious people in sup- plying a want severely felt for the services of men who are inadequately paid. But I am sure" that the natural tendency of theological seminaries is vulgarity and .narrow-mindedness. I am convinced that the advan- tages of supervision and special training are more than counterbalanced by mannerism and esoteric sympathies. Nay, I am strongly inclined to disbelieve in the value of supervision, when exercised over youths of twenty-three years old and upwards. The plants that hold their own are not bred in a hothouse.
The remedy for this evil is found, I believe, in the cheapening of education at the universities. People cannot afford the present cost. They ought not to afford it. On the commonest ground of prudence, it is absurd to spend 1,000^. on what is, materially speaking, a problematical good, unless there be abundant funds to meet such an outlay. And yet the University of Oxford, were it not as a nursery of Churchmen, would be nowhere. If once the claim on the part of the bishops of an academical education were remitted, the university would be denuded of the great majority of its students. Yet the date of this remission does not seem to be very far distant. When the ancient connection is
200 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
once invaded, it is not long before it is weakened and finally set aside.
A powerful contributory to this result will be rapidly efficient from the reconstruction of the colleges. Under the former institutions, by far the largest proportion of collegiate endowments were assigned to special, and generally narrow, localities — to particular schools and particular families. With few exceptions, the first of these limitations has been done away with, and, without exception, the last is. The succession from schools, too, has been much modified. Absolute nominations are, generally speaking, no longer possible. These nominations, in the better-endowed schools, are promised to children in their cradle. The emoluments in some of the older and richer foundations were as close a matter of patronage as the election to a pocket borough before the Reform Bill. You can trace, if you will, particular families in certain schools or colleges, who, from their having taken care to possess a permanent interest in the shape of some fellow, or the like, on the books of any one college, were the perpetual occupants of these charities. These parties rarely distinguished them- selves in the university, seldom were much public credit to the society which provided for them, but they swelled the numbers of the university. They are passing away ; and though one does not regret their departure, they leave a notable vacancy.
With rare exceptions, the local endowments were absorbed by the sons of clergymen. These persons were, perhaps, better educated than the squires or rich tradesmen's sons; they were certainly better informed of the advantages to which they were born. So thoroughly were the old foundations understood to be endowments in which there was practically no competi-
THE COLLEGE. 201
tlon, that husbands used to take — so it was said — their wives to favoured villages that they might lie-in there. Now these preferences are generally annulled, and with them a large class of persons will be incompetent to maintain their children in Oxford, or unwilling to prepare them for an open and competitive examination.
The^ preference, occasionally the absolute limitation, to the members of a particular family, was another source of supply. Whatever may be the physical law which checks the geometrical increase of individual stocks, it is certain that in many cases it was found almost impossible to find candidates for these offices. Several of the fellowships at Pembroke stood vacant for years, for lack of founder's kin. In some colleges the preferential claim was enlarged by the discovery of a remote common ancestor. Sometimes the preference was formally set aside. In one college the founder's kin was enormously large. Hence the visitor limited the right to half the foimdation. But it may be doubted whether the ingenious antiquary who drew up the pedigrees was not satisfied by proofs of descent which would have hardly been legal evidence. How- ever, be this as it may, the claim is gone ; and it cannot but be the case, that many persons who would have otherwise entered at Oxford on this score will be deterred from the attempt.
Again, the very few opportunities for open election had brought about a thoroughly well-adapted system of intrigue, and a complete departure from the spirit of statutes, the letter of which, in some points, was affectedly kept. This applied to the best colleges in its degree, and was characteristic of the worst. All Souls and Merton were by foundation well nigh as open as any, but they were systematically filled by the younger sons
20t EDUCxVTION IN OXFORD.
of noblemen and squires. It is needless to observe that these gentlemen were not endowed with any great stock of academical learning. The scandal, indeed, of these and other such establishments precipitated the Act of 1854. Thej were monasteries without devotion, learn- ing, activity, or utility. Now such persons as these will, except under very altered circumstances, hardly frequent the university in future ; and though we may not feel acute regret at losing their presence, they may, and must, be missed in an aggregate of numbers.
Now, if we set against the diminutions in numbers — and the list of such cases might have been extended — the mere fact of open competition for academical emolu- ments in Oxford, large, characteristic, and valuable as they are, it will not be difficult to anticipate a great decline in the external appearance of its prosperity. One is prepared for fewer students from the very fact that many, very many, will be unable to hold their own in the university. The difficulty has been for some time felt, and some plans have been suggested for its amend- ment. One of my own friends, one of the best and worthiest of Oxford men, the late Rev. Charles Marriott, of Oriel College, had his plans of poor men's colleges, even before the Oxford Reform Act. It was a happy thing for him that he did not try them, for they would have failed, and added one more to the many burdens under which his great powers finally broke down. The dif- ficulty will now be intensified and become more alarm- ing, not from the absence of worthless people, but from the inherent vices of the collegiate system.
I do not believe that literature is prosecuted for the sake of a prize assigned to it at some particular period in the career of the student. I do not think that large endowments are any secui'ity for the possession of that
THE COLLEGE. 205
which forms the staple article in reward for which these very endowments are bestowed. I look at the poverty of the German universities, and I find their fruits are extraordinary, and universal. I find my own university, the richest in the world, far richer in its income than all the universities of continental Europe, from St. Peters- burg to Cadiz, far behind, in its literary labours, some of the smallest and most modern establishments in the pettiest German principality or dukedom. But withal I think, under two conditions, that this ancient and noble foundation, the most characteristic and national in its aims which can be conceived, would be as far before the worth of foreign academies as it is far behind it now.
These are the recognition of the rights of this corpo- ration in the distribution of public employment and in the domain of public service, and the provision of a truly national, that is to say, a cheap education. I am aware that the practice in foreign countries, of seeking for public men in the various universities, has been charged with the evil of bureaucratic pedantry ; but, in the first place, institutions do not make men, but are made by them; and in the next, the English univer- sities are not the creatures of official mannerism, but are independent and self-governing, though indefinitely liable to the force of pubhc opinion. But, unfortunately, that self-government has, in Oxford at least, been turned to the suicidal advantage of a specious monopoly. One cannot hope that the universities can claim what is their natural due, until they fulfil their natural duties. If they would initiate the cheap education of which I speak, they would be, as they were even in the darkest periods of English history, the centres of its enlighten- ment and true progress.
An Oxford education costs a thousand pounds. It
204 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
might be done for a hundred. Of course, this implies the permission to reside in Oxford, without being attached to any college or hall, to choose one's own residence, one's own scale of charges, to avail oneself of the gratuitous — it ought to be gratuitous, or nearly so — education of the public teachers and professors, and to submit to the discipline of the university, a discipline easily extended and readily enforced.
Many and many a young man prepares himself for the medical profession in London, at the cost of a pound a week for board and lodgings. Both items are 25 per cent, dearer in London than in Oxford. What can be done there can be done here. Twenty-four weeks' residence is all that is needed here in a year. The necessary cost, even on a London estimate, is therefore, on this head, 72Z. The university fees are, collectively, about 15Z. more, and some of these even are indefensible. Examination fees are 31. ISs, 6d, Professor's lectures are entirely or nearly gratuitous.
Now, here is the material for a cheap education of the highest class. Here is that in inert perfection which our forefathers, for a series of ages, laboured to effect They, it is true, founded colleges for poor men. These colleges have wholly departed — and by a natural and unblameable process — from the purpose of their founders, and are now the chief impediments in the way of that which bygone generosity and self-sacrifice, or vanity, or superstition, or what you please, wished to procure. Now-a-days, when we have quiet days, and in some degree a fair estimate of literary labour, the endowment is well enough as an honour or a help, as corks are to a young swimmer, in the struggle of life. The university is better than its riches, and many men do without the latter, who owe all in life to the former.
THE COLLEGE. 205
NoWj mark the consequence of an altered state of things. Oxford has numerous professors who are utterly unoccupied. They are engaged in spasmodic efforts at getting hearers, and are forced against their will into lazy apathy. As a whole, the public teaching of the university is unwillingly contemptible. One must either pity the men who have no one to teach, or one must despise the men who continue the same func- tional gabble to successive aspirants for a certificate. Some of the ablest Oxford professors lecture to women and strangers. I have gone in to a lecture on a subject of the profoundest interest, and I have seen there three or four Fellows and so forth of the lecturer's college, one or two citizens, and an ambitious undergraduate, who took notes for ten minutes, and slept for fifty. It is in vain that founders of professorships annex penalties to a slovenly performance of public offices. Under existing circumstances, one cannot find a remedy : but permit something beside college monopolies, and the laziest professorial sinecurist will be forced into activity or resignation. The creation of an independent order of students is the very life of the Oxford professoriate, and is the only way in which it can escape from a destruc- tive experiment.
Look through the annals of English literature, through the biographies of English worthies, and find how it has been that honest labour has brought forward, under such a state of things as I wish might be revived, the yearnings of native enterprise. Why are such men debarred from their best right, a university education ? Why should their powers be straitened by the miserable selfishness of a shortsighted monopoly, backed by the affectation of the impossible discipline of the colleges?
206 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
The best discipline, as it exists at present in Oxford, is that of the proctors.
I know that there are men who think that Oxford exists for the sake of squires and boobies. I know that there are people w4io measure the value of education by the rude and coarse rule of what it costs, instead of by what it does. Many people have drunk of the ashes of the golden calf, and have gathered a vigorous flunkey- ism by the draught. I do not envy them the enjoy- ment, provided they derive an unobstructive pleasure. But one would not wish to waste time in arguing with them.
PAET IV.
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND OTHER ENDOWMENTS.
I DESIGN in tliis concluding portion of my work to give a succinct account of those emoluments which ai'e attached to the several colleges, and to one or two of the halls, as far as information for the purpose is available. It is in these endowments that the largest modifications were effected by the Act of 1854, and these, by way of making the benefactions of founders more accessible to the community at large, more conducive to the interests of learning, and more equitable in their distribution than heretofore. Hence, as a rule, the changes of the Act, carried out by the instrumentality of a board of com- missioners, in joint action with the authorities of the several colleges, were based on a uniform principle, or set of principles.
The ancient colleges were founded at very different times, and with very different purposes. The funds of those which are nominally the most ancient — Uni- versity and Balliol — had originally a widely different object from that which they assumed after successive alterations in their application, having been apparently, in the first instance, temporary benefactions. The collegiate system began with Merton, the founder of the college which bears his name. But it is easy to give some general classification, under which the
208 EDUCATION IN OXPORD.
several colleges might be ranged, and the several endowments distinguished.
First, then, there were, and still are, two grand di\'i- sions, into one of which all academical emoluments will be arranged. There are those which are intended to aid in the maintenance of an undergraduate, and those which are the rewards of a graduate. These emoluments are ordinarily distinguished as scholarships and fellowships, but there are other phrases used to denote the former of these advantages, such as exhibitions, when the annual stipend does not form part of the college founda- tion ; and again, in Christ Church, studentships ; and in Magdalene, demyships. So in Merton, the scholar- ship is called a postmaster, a corruption, it appears, of the low Latin word portionista. On the other hand, the graduate students of Christ Chui'ch correspond in the main to fellows elsewhere.
Properly speaking, the only endowments which are ordinarily reckoned among the scholarships and ex- hibitions of the several colleges are those, the funds of which are managed and distributed by the college. But there is a very large and well nigh unknown income derived from schools, and occasionally from corporate bodies, which is virtually academical. For instance, most of the great London companies elect exhibitioners to certain literary charities. So again, almost all en- dowed grammar-schools, and not a few unendowed ones, have exhibitions annexed to their foundation, or deed of management, which are occasionally of very large value. Nay, certain insurance companies have actually attached the foundation of scholarships to their schemes. Li most of these cases, the college or hall to which the recipient is attached is a matter of free choice, and frequently the university also. An attempt w^as made some years
1
SCIIOLAESHIPS, TELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 209
ago to systematize information on this subject, in a work called the Liber Scholasticus, but I am not aware how far the enumeration was correct, still less whether it was exhaustive. Most grammar-schools, however, make their advantages known by advertisement. Still, be this as it may, the assistance rendered undergraduates by these corporations is very large, and very notable.
Again, some of the scholarships attached to colleges were, and some still are, elected from a favoured school. In these cases the college had, or had not, as the case might be, the power of rejecting an unfit candidate. Of late years, colleges have asserted and acted on the right of rejection, but ordinarily, in a time not remotely distant, the election was a matter of course, and the college examination a matter of form. At any rate, if it were not so, it is difficult to account for some elections. And, on the other hand, some scholarships were entirely at the disposal of the college authorities, and were disposed of by a more or less equitable exami- nation.
Preferential claims were founded either on the attach- ment of the scholarship to the candidates of a certain school, or to birth in a particular region, or to kinship with the founder. By far the larger amount of scholar- ships were of the first and second kind. Sometimes the preference was absolute ; that is, no election could be made except a qualified candidate presented himself. Sometimes it was relative, that is to say, other things being equal, the choice was to fall on the favoured region or kinsman. The natural tendency was to make relative preferences absolute. But, as a matter of fact, those colleges which have, of late years, been in greatest repute were wise enough to reverse the process and reduce the preferential claim to a minimum.
14
210 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Again, wlien tlie college elected, it sometimes was the rule that the fellows should, in their turn, nominate the scholars. It is needless to observe that such nominations were almost always of near relations. Thus, till the recent Reform Act, the canons of Christ Church habitually nominated their sons to studentships. So I have been informed, prior to the changes introduced by the late master of Balliol, the fellows nominated the scholars, who, in turn, succeeded without examination to vacant fellowships. Of course these colleges made the largest figure in the class schools in wliich there was an open election.
So much for the scholarships whose ordinary duration was five years when they were terminable, which the great majority were not, but a step to a fellowship after a time more or less protracted. Fellows were ordinarily elected absolutely from the scholars. In some cases this was a provision of the foundation. Occasionally it was an innovation on the part of the corporation. In no case, I imagine, could the statutes of the college be cited in favour of the absolute election of the senior scholar. Such elections from scholar to fellow prevailed at Corpus, Wadham, Magdalene, Queen's, Worcester, Jesus, Pem- broke, and, generally, at Trinity.
Sometimes there were no scholars at all. This was the case at All Souls, and originally at Merton, Balliol, University, Lincoln, Brasenose, Oriel, Exeter. At this last college there was generally no rule that the fellow should have graduated, and hence Exeter had the ad- vantage of being able to elect promising undergraduates who were near their final examination. Where scholars were added subsequently to the foundation, the custom of absolute election from the roll of scholars did not prevail.
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 211
Sometimes there was no effectual distinction between scholars and fellows. In these cases the scholars were- almost nniformlj elected from some school, and, after a probation of two years or upwards, were admitted as actual fellows. Nothing now short of inability to achieve a common degree was any hindrance to the retention of the fellowship. This was the characteristic of New Col- lege, St. John's, and Christ Church. The election to fel- lowships was either by express provision of statutes, or, by successive innovations, closer than in the case of scho- larships. Till late years, the condition of the under- graduate fellow of New College vf as still more quit of academical obligations, since he took his degree without examination at all.
As regards duration: the condition of celibacy was^ attached to all scholarships and fellowships, with the single exception of Radcliffe's travelling fellows. This condition was originally, I imagine, an act of fortuitous wisdom, and has its beginning in the compulsory celibacy of the Roman clergy. But it is a wise rule ; the reasons against it being gathered from ex- ceptional cases, and being really very shallow^, and quite discordant with the very purpose of these emolu- ments.
Generally speaking, the fellowship was a freehold,, those which at first were temporary ha^ang been made permanent in the great majority of cases. But in some colleges the fellows were superannuated after a particu- lar period. The most notable example of this rule was at Wadham. Much may be said in favour of this provision, but modern legislation has made the discus- sion of it unimportant, since the rule is everywhere rescinded.
Very few fellowships have been created since the
14—2
212 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
foundation of Worcester College, and those tliat have been date from a recent period.
Most fellowships were limited to persons in holy orders, and were, after a time, vacated on failure of compliance with this condition.
Annexed is a table, giving in the first column the number of fellows in the several colleges before the alterations consequent upon the Act of 1854, and in the successive columns, marked with the years 1840-1859 inclusive, the number of successions to fellowships during twenty years. The comprehension of the table, however, requires a few cautions.
In the cases of New College, Christ Church, and St. John's, it must be remembered that the numbers 70, 101, and 50 represent scholars as well as fellows. It was not possible to distinguish them, unless one had excluded from the list of fellows all undergraduates. Next, it must be borne in mind that undergraduate fellows were eligible at Exeter. It must be understood, too, that three of the fellowships at University, eight at Queen's, and all at Wadham were terminable. Two at Pembroke were in the same condition, but the occupants were re-eligible, and have been re-elected. Some of the fellows at this latter cojlege could not be filled up for want of candidates. The total suc- cession in twenty years will be represented by the decimal 1*427.
SCHOLAHSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC.
213
^'^ ^S J^"» ~o 3 »^;^' f^^ "^ X re f' 3
I 3 g.^ CH= 2.5 §35 ^^ ^ i iiS-^Sl g 3 S p"^ ^ S a ^ 2 p- -
2 o o" ro
No. of Fellows.
rf^- hscotstocntscoos
1840.
• I-" to H- CO • CS rfi.
OS 03 • 03 CO to
1841.
lf>. m H- C5
!-■ )-■ to In9 Ul to to
1842.
• to to o
tOCnOt>-t|i>*>.tO»f>.t-i
1843.
• 00i-'OnlO4»'i-'0303'
1844.
to • CO ^
to* COi—OJtOtOi-'' to*
1845.
• to'io !*>> CO
OTtOt-lOrf».03tO. • H-
1846.
to I-* to ►-' O tfl
to to • 03 or • 03
1847.
H-tO- i—lOOti-'lOCOlO' ^0303« rf>.i-r
1848.
tott^to* otcoi— i-icotoiorfi^to
I 1849.
^ to • to !-■ to to
1850.
• to '-' • tf*- to o^ to
«0 CT to 03 to
1851.
tOtO'-tOO»i— iJi.H-'COt-'OSH-OOCOCOH-
1852.
00lOtOO>tOt->^H-.-.i-iH-
1853.
(-•tOi— to- ^03- tOrfi-. 05. tOifi.
1854.
CO- 03*'rfi.tO>-'CS^tOi—
1855.
i-i ,f^ to • --I
to 03 • . cn 03
1856.
H-H-i-'. C»i-i0303^OtP-'i-'
—' ■ to H- CO H- •
1857.
1858.
to 03 to • I--
to I-- to H-
1859.
Total.
1214
EDUCATION m OXFOKD.
Annexed is also the number and value (nominal) of the several benefices held by the different colleges : —
Colleges. |
i 3* |
Jl |
i |
|
« |
> |
"E- |
if |
|
£ |
£ |
|||
University... |
10 |
5,062 |
... |
! |
Balliol |
20 17 |
6,186 5,865 |
..'. |
|
Merton |
||||
Exeter |
16 |
8,134 4,533 12,280 |
||
Oriel |
13 27 |
... |
1 |
|
Queen's |
||||
New |
37 |
16,554 4,016 |
||
Lincoln |
11 |
|||
All Souls ... |
17 |
7,835 |
||
Magdalene... |
36 |
12,517 |
... |
|
Brasenose ... |
24 |
11,278 |
22 |
4,879 |
Corpus |
22 |
10,215 |
... |
|
Christ Ch. ... |
89 |
21,232 |
||
Trinity |
8 |
3,701 |
... |
Colleges.
St. John's ...
Jesus ,
1 Wadham .... Pembroke ... Worcester .., University [ of Oxford I
Total .., Canonries, &c. (say) Glebe, &c. .
Total .
441
£ 14,865 6,939 5.174 4,024 2,759
1,611
169,209 14,400 17,000
200.609
These tables of the number and value of college and •university livings need, however, some correction. Those are not reckoned of which no return is made as to the amount of income. It must be remembered that returns are ordinarily of tithe-rent charge, and do not include glebe. Some college livings, too, are of veiy small nominal amomit, but are not by any means, there- fore, of small annual value. The livings at Christ Church, though the most numerous, are, on the whole, the poorest. The second list of livings connected with Brasenose are assigned to Hulme's exhibitions. They are, on the whole, apparently of small value, but this appearance is, as I have observed, delusive.
It will be seen that rapid succession to fellowships does not, as might have been expected, go with a large number of livings, but that the precise reverse has been the case. Those colleges are best endowed with livings
SCHOLARSHIPS, TELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 215
whose succession has been the slowest, with one excep- tion. The best and largest number of benefices are at New College and St. John's. But in these colleges the succession to fellowships has been very slow. This fact may, perhaps, be accounted for by the practice which prevailed before the Act of 1854 in these two colleges, of the absolute and immediate succession of nominees from public schools, who had no need of study during their undergraduate life, and eventually no prospect, except in waiting for a college living. Now that this state of things has been altered, or is in course of alteration, there is reason to believe that the succes- sion will be more rapid than elsewhere. The same circumstance also applies, in a modified degree at least, to Magdalene College, where the practice of absolute succession had been substituted for election. Here the succession was slow, though the benefices were nume- rous and valuable. It is understood that the nominal value of the Magdalene College benefices is far below their real value, owing to some late legacies to the college.
The reader will remember that the state of things suggested by the annexed table represents what is passing away. Though to appearance less in number, college emoluments and expectancies will be far more available and far more valuable in reality, when the full operation of recent changes comes to be felt. Several colleges, too, are empowered to augment the number of their benefices by the employment of incidental or regular accumulations in the funds of the society.
In many cases the head of the college is also pos sessor of a benefice. This takes place in Exeter, Oriel, Merton, New, Lincoln, All Souls, Trinity, and St. John's colleges ; and at Magdalene and St. Edmund
216 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
halls. The officers of one college are a dean and canons, and thus are possessed of large and nnreturned advantages. One of the professors holds a benefice, and two of the heads of houses are possessed respec- tively of canonries in Gloucester and Rochester cathe- drals.
Endowments before the Act. — Scholarships. — In a previous part of this work, when I compared the colleges together by certain statistical tables, in which the several circumstances which seemed to contribute to the particular reputations of colleges were aggregated, one of the statements which was made bore on the number of matriculations and other admissions among the body of undergraduates, with a distinction between scholars or incorporated members of the foundation, and commoners, or those who were not connected with any corporate endowment, but ostensibly living at their own charges. This table of course implies the annual succession to those benefactions which are apparently ]]! tended for undergraduates, though it often happened that the benefactions in question were enjoyed by gra- duates, who were occasionally of very considerable standing. In this table scholarships and Bible clerk- ships were included, and also those exhibitions which the college specially designated. Those scholarship exhibitions formed a considerable portion of the aggre- gate in Lincoln College, and latterly in Balliol, the college in its returns having been at the pains to specify the individuals who enjoyed those emoluments. On the other hand, no distinction till latterly was made between scholars and commoners at Oriel College, and hence the reader will not find till latterly any specified number of scholars in this society.
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 217
Now on taking a calendar at random, that for in- stance of 1851, whicli is before the late changes at the university, I find that there were, excluding exhibitions, 375 scholarships in Oxford. This number, I must observe, includes all those fellows of New College, Christ Church, and St. John's, who are below the degree of M.A. But it does not include the exhi- bitioners, for the reason that only some of them are given, and it is only on some of these that one could get any return. Any account, then, with so very large an unknown quantity, would be delusive. But I have no doubt that the exhibitions attached to the several colleges were as many as the scholarships, and those attached to endowed grammar-schools, city companies, and the like, as many more. Nor should I hesitate In assertinor that before the Act of 1854 there were well nigh 1,200 endowments attached to the colleges, or enjoyed by members of them. Those endowments varied in every conceivable particular. Some were of very considerable value, as 120?. a year, and even more; some were of almost nominal value, as bl., and even less. Some were open to all candidates, some assigned to narrow local limits, decayed schools, and particular families. Some were of very short duration, the limit being within a particular time, a particular age, or a particular academical standing; some were, either virtually or by usurpation, of an indefinite dura- tion. Some were procured by examination, some by an affectation of examination, some by accident, most by favour. Most were limited by the condition of poverty on the part of the recipient ; few were given in pursuance of that condition, except when the recipient was subjected to an inferior position or called upon to exercise disagreeable duties. There was, in short.
218 EDUCATION IN OXPORD.
every conceivable variety in the tenure> the credit, the difficulty, the value, the continuity of those several benefactions, in not one of which save those which were limited to the kin of the founder, or to the sons of certain professional persons, did the grantor intend anything but the cultivation of religion and learning, however much his conditions may have accidentally impaired the former or frustrated the latter.
It is, of course, very plain that this large distribution of academical endowments must have had some very remarkable results — results suggestive of far more powerful impulses than any enumeration of a part among these emoluments would satisfactorily account for. The greater part of the funds destined for the sustentation of undergraduates at the university was unknown, and, in some degree, is unknown still; and still more imknown were the parties who enjoyed those benefits. But, if we remember that, on my calculation, well nigh 1,200 separate endowments were bestowed upon little more than 1,400 or 1,500 undergraduates, we shall see that few of those who ordinarily resided in Oxford were actually and entirely at their own charges. Further, it is plain that while there existed, in the great majority of cases, preferential claims to these pecuniary aids, that very many persons relied on these aids for an academical education, and that very many, without these aids, would have never come to the university at all. Again, the presence of exhibitions of great value, at endowed grammar-schools, has not been suggestive of any very excellent instruction at these schools, or of any very great capacity on the part of those who have enjoyed them. Ordinarily, the edu- cation of an endowed dammar-school is the worst
SCHOLARSHIPS, PELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 219
conceivable, and tlie most successful among the places where boys are taught, are proprietary establishments, or those which are of the nature of proprietary ones. It is a very striking fact that colleges, which could adopt the rule of cceteris paribus in the case of endowments from favoured schools, but did so un- willingly, were constantly obliged to throw open their scholarships to general competition, because the average of school nominees was so wretchedly bad. Of course, this rejection was not practicable in those very nume- rous cases in which the nominee chose his own uni- versity or college.
Now, let us see what is the effect of the University Act on these endowments. I have distinguished them into three classes. 1st. Those which form part of the corporate revenues of the college, the election to which, and the disposition of which, was in the hands of the college authorities, and who therefore ordinarily opened their election, in appearance at least, to as large a field of candidates as they could find or aggregate. These were the scholars proper. 2nd. Those exhibitions which were limited to particular colleges, though the candidates were, maybe, supplied from some particular schools, or were chosen from the number of those who wxre already on the books of the college. Something is known about these, since the college was ordinarily the trustee of the endowment in question. 3rd. Those which were confined to particular schools or particular but extra-academical electors, and about which, the colleges and the university, except indirectly, knew nothing, since the choice of the college or the uni- versity is left to the exhibitioner's discretion.
Now, the whole of those who come under the first class have passed through the melting pot of the
220 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
university commissioners. Most of those of the second have also. None, or next to none, of the third have, they being dealt with, as occasion arises, by the Charity Commissioners, and frequently set on a thoroughly new footing, along with the school which they are connected with, by some scheme w^hich has emanated from some functionary or other in the Court of Chancery. Nor, indeed, does the disquisition on these last come properly into any account given of the university, except in so far as it serves to point out how very much they who ,are studying in Oxford are beholden to an immense and unknown extent of eleemosynary aid.
Preference to kindred has been wholly swept way. Generally speaking, too, local claims are abrogated. The exceptions to this latter alteration will be given hereafter in detail.
Hence, in the great majority of cases, those scholar- ships which are attached to the several colleges in aid of those who seek education in the university, are open to general competition, the only limitation being ordinarily that of age, which can rarely be more advanced than twenty. Poverty, that unknown quantity, is no longer a claim. A duke's son, or a millionnaire's, has as much right to compete as the son of the poorest and meanest man, and no more. Any person who is born in the condition of allegiance may be elected. Illegitimate children, generally excluded by college statutes, are, as a rule, equally competent with others. The chance of success in the competition is determined by the knowledge and abilities of the candidate, and the skill of the college examiner in detecting the present powers and the future capacities of the examinees. The general theory of the recent changes is absolute equality among the candidates, and absolute equity on the part of the
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 221
examiners ; the latter condition being presumably guaranteed, and not without reason, by the interest which the college will feel in the reputation of those whom it places in the advantageous position of founda- tion members.
It is clear, then, that the Act of 1854 recognizes in the electors to the several emoluments which are attached and to be attached to the several colleges, the position, the duties, and, as far as possible, the liabilities of those who would legally be described as the instruments of active trusts. The examiners for college scholarships are supposed to be by way of giving true deliverance upon the merits of those who are submitted to their choice. According to their powers, I make no doubt they do ; though it happens, not unfrequently, that their judgment is singularly fallible. The reason of this is, I think, due to some defects in their system of examination — to some errors of judgment in their general method of surveying can- didates, which should be, but is not, purely abstract, and about which I shall have to say a little in a future paragraph.
I have mentioned that, on a consideration of a par- ticular year, I set do^vn the number of scholarships at 375, previous to the Act of 1854. But, as that Act has made a very large difference in the nature of these emoluments, on the ground of their local extension, so it has made a very great extension on the score of quantity.
Previous to this Act, some of the colleges had the wit to see that the creation of open scholarships was the only hope of it being possible that the individual college would take a fair position in the class schools. They admired the wholesome innovation at Balliol, but
222 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
followed it only by the foundation of open by the side of close scholarships. One of the earliest of these was University College.
The commissioners, as we have seen, dealt generally with the difficulty of turning an absolute preference into a competitive examination. It did away with even a cceteris paribus preference, on the general moral ground that the conservative tendency of corporations is so marked and so entire as to turn even the slightest preferential rule into an absolutely exclusive one. Con- servatism is a negative notion ; and as no human action can be wholly negative, the necessary impulse of this feelino; or set of feelinirs was exclusiveness.
But it did more than this. Rightly judging, on the hypothesis of the advantage derived from gifts for lite- rary purposes, that these gifts were far more effective when bestowed on undergraduates, and maybe knowing that the ultimate tendency of these endowments — which, under the name of fellowships, are rewards imposing no duty and no labour on their recipients — was a pleasing but an inert mental state, they suppressed fellowships for the sake of enlarfjino; the number and increasino; the stipends of the scholars or undergraduate members of the university. The extent to which this was carried will be seen hereafter.
I may state here that those gifts which were less than a century in remoteness were, as far as regards pre- ferences to founder's kin and local claims, left unchanged. It is possible for people to endow particular spots of the earth's surface, and particular families over the earth, or particular professional occupations, with the same sort of premiums which generally ruled in the university before the Act ; but the benefaction must be temporary.
The greatest hardship in the redistribution of acade-
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 223
mical endowments was the abolition of family claims. It was tangible, and it was fair. A paterfamilias my- self, I am, I confess, hardly used in being annulled in the person of my children of a convenient privilege at a foundation, the claimants at which were not incon- veniently numerous. We may be dunces and fools ; we may not be fit for open competition. But, then, on the other hand, we founded the college (I speak for the ancestor), and left by far the largest share to the general public. We might be bye fellows ; we might, in our decree, share the benefaction of our ancestor, without claiming, except on the ground of distinctive and irre- spective merits, the administration of the charity w^ith which our own folk have endowed the nation. " One would not, like King Lear, give all." And it must be remembered that the perpetuity, if it can be called so, which the founder secured to his family, was no act of vanity or arrogance, no perpetual entail either legally or equitably, but one rather of humility. It was pardon- able, nay, laudable, that the giver should provide for his own ; and when out of his wealth and abundance he ministered, as he thought, to the needs of others, who shall blame him if, knowing that riches take to them- selves wings and fly away, he had forethought for his own poor kinsfolk and descendants, in the place which his own munificence had endowed ? The day is gone by, I take it, when people will found colleges, or give benefactions for literary purposes; and I make no doubt that this rude disclaimer of a title to preference, in a hmited number of cases, under a rule that the advan- tage bestowed should not constitute a right to claim interference with the educational functions of the college, will do more to prevent gifts than any other proviso in the new Act.
224 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Much has been said by the advocates of no change, and the successful advocates of total change, about the intentions of the founder. In many cases these were obvious and intelligible ; in some they were temporary and mutable ; in some they were capricious, and would, in all likelihood, be disclaimed now-a-days, were it pos- sible, by the benefactors themselves. Thus, the rule that no persons should be elected except from those counties where the donor possessed estates was one of the last kind. The regulation that provision should be made for the northern counties because they were ravaged and impoverished by the incursions of the Scots, is happily set aside by an improvement in the social state and political relations of two nations now made one. But the rule, that the founder's kin should not need the liberality which the benefactor himself bestowed on others, seems to me to be natural on the one side, and grateful on the other. It is easy to say that the provision was perverted, but checks could have easily been devised. It is very obvious to say that families increase in geometrical ratio ; but this is a mathematical position, not a matter of fact — assumed, indeed, by economists as a general tendency in popula- tion, but known by genealogists to be largely corrected in its application. If, indeed, the geometrical increase is the rule, where is the evil in competition from a large body of applicants? If the descendants are few and needy, is it not just that they should share, as they were expressly intended to share, their ancestor's dotation ? It is natural, but not honest, that a man without a grandfather should claim the estate of him who has one. And, it may be observed, the privilege of founding a college open for the general public was only granted on payment of heavy fines to the Crown. The reader may
SCHOLAKSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 225
find, for instance, in the Paston letters that the fine on amortisement equalled, in some cases, the fee simple of the lands, and this was the age in which some of the richest colleges were founded.
The condition of preference in a greater or less degree to founders' kin applied to Balliol (long since omitted). New, All Souls, Brasenose, Corpus, St. John's, Wadham, Pembroke, and Worcester. It may have been the case with other colleges, but it ruled in the above-named up to the time when the statutes were reconstituted. In those founded since 1760 the preference of the founder's kin is almost uniformly a condition.
Endowments with Limitation. — Though the com- missioners appointed to administer the Act of 1854 made short work with the preferential claims of founders' kin, and, generally speaking, with those attached to particular places, some were left which are attached to certain districts and to certain schools (the preference being ordinarily based on the union of local schools with birth in particular places), or to schools apart from places, and to the sons of certain professional persons. As far as the information is available, I shall make use of it in the present section.
The scholarships at University are all open, and without limitation ; and are ten in number, of the annual value of 601.
There are fifteen exhibitions. Three preferentially attached to certain Yorkshire schools ; four to the gram- mar-schools of Rochester and Maidstone ; two in the gift of Lord Leicester's heirs, i.e. Elizabeth's Leicester; two connected with the Charter-house ; two bestowed on the Bible clerks ; and two on those members of the college who are proficients in mathematics.
15
226 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
At Balliol there are ten open scholarships worth about *76l, per annum.
There are also fourteen Scotch exhibitions, ten of which are elected from Glasgow University; five scholars from Tiverton school, besides exhibitions; two exhibitions of \00l. 2l year attached to the college, besides some exhibitions for Tiverton and Ludlow.
There are fourteen postmasters (scholars) of Merton, with four other scholars, all of which, with the exception of two limited to Eton foundationers, are open.
There are ten open scholarships at Exeter College. Ten others are limited to persons born or educated in the diocese of Exeter, and two to persons born in the Channel Islands, or educated at the so-called Victoria and Elizabeth colleges at Jersey and Guernsey. But the limitation is in favour only of those who are properly qualified.
The college has also twenty exhibitions, limited generally to the western counties, and one fellowship in the gift of the dean and chapter of Exeter.
Oriel College has ten or more open scholarships of the value of 60?. per annum with rooms. It has also eighteen exhibitions, also generally open.
Queen's has fifteen scholarships which are open. But it has several valuable exhibitions annexed to birth or education in "Westmoreland, Cumberland, and York- shire. St. Bees, Carlisle, Appleby, Kendal, Kirkby Lonsdale, and Whitehaven schools are thus favoured. Queen's has also an exhibition assigned to natives of Middlesex. Queen's College is particularly rich in exhibitions.
New College has thirty scholarships limited to Winchester grammar-school. Six of these are'elected annually at the school from those who have been educated
J
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 227
there, whether foundationers or not. Of its thirty fellows, fifteen are limited to those who have heen twelve terms at New College, or two years at Winchester school. The college is also peculiar in having from eight to ten choral scholars, whose duty is to take part in the college chapel services, and who are, therefore, specially examined in music. The value of the New College scholarships is not less than 90Z. per annum, including rooms.
Lincoln has eighteen open scholarships and one limited to the county of Bucks. These are of no less value than 501. per annum.
All Souls educates no undergraduates except (ordi- narily) four Bible clerks.
Magdalene has forty demyships liable to no limitation, except that, when vacancies occur, one must be filled up by proficients in mathematical, and another by those in physical science. It has also twenty ex- hibitions.
Brasenose has six scholarships for Manchester, Marl- borough, and Hereford, worth 521. per annum ; twelve of 361. 8s. ; and four of 36Z. 85. for Manchester alone. The limitation is to persons properly qualified. It has also some open scholarships of indeterminate number, and of 601. annual value.
It has fifteen exhibitions of 155^. per annum assigned to members of the college of not less than three years' standing, and a large amount of ecclesiastical preferment annexed to these and previous exhibitioners, which is distributed at the discretion of the founder's trustees. Three exhibitions have also been founded at the college for the support of the sons of poor and deserving clergy- men, or of poor laymen. All these exhibitions imply that the tenant contemplates taking holy orders.
15—2
228 EDUCATION IX OXFORD.
Corpus has twenty open scliolarsliips, and seven open exhibitions.
Christ Church has fifty-two junior students; of these, twenty-one are limited to Westminster school, and are tenable for seven years. The remaining thirty-one are open, but every third and sixth vacancy is assigned to proficiency in mathematical and physical science. Christ Church has also a number of exhibitions in the gift of the chapter, and a peculiar body of students called Servitors.
Trinity has thirteen open scholarships and certain exhibitions, one of which is assigned to Winchester students.
St. John's College has not been hitherto reconstituted, but is in course of modification. At present its emolu- ments are confined to Merchant Taylors', Coventry, Bristol, Reading, and Tunbridge schools, with a preference of founders' kin in six of its fifty scholars or fellows.
It has also four fellowships limited to the kin of the founder Mr.Fereday, or, in default, to natives of Stafford- shire, or, failing the competency of these preferential parties, to any person. Mr. Fereday granted his fellow- ship for fourteen years with power of re-election.
Jesus College has, or will have, twenty-four scholar- ships, the annual value of which is 80/. Of these, twenty are limited to the Principality and Monmouth- shire, two to the Channel Islands, and two are open. Persons educated in certain Welsh schools, L e, Aber- gavenny, Bangor, Beaumaris, Bottwnog, and Cowbridge for four years are eligible equally with those born in Wales.
A moiety of the fellowships is limited to natives of Wales and Monmouthshire, and two of the fellows must be proficients in the Welsh language.
SCHOLARSHIPS, TELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 229
The college has a vast number of valuable exhibi- tions, limited, as before, to natives of the Principality and Monmouthshire.
Wadham has fifteen open scholarships, and several exhibitions, open also to general competition. The scholarships are of not less than 42Z. annual value.
Pembroke has twelve or more scholars, five of whom are from Abingdon school, two years' education at the school constituting eligibility ; two limited, as in. the case of Exeter and Jesus College, to the Channel Islands, and the Channel Island schools ; and the others open. The scholarships are worth 501 a year and rooms.
The college has also ten exhibitions, which it calls unincorporated scholarships; one of which is Channel Island, one connected with the Charter-house, one with Eton; two open; and four respectively assigned to Gloucester, Cheltenham, Northleach, and Chipping Campden schools.
Worcester has fifteen scholars ; six annexed to Broms- grove school, one to Staffordshire, five to clergymen's sons, and three open. They are, or will be, worth 501, per annum, with rooms.
It has four Bromsgrove school exhibitions, two for Charter-house, and one for Yorkshire.
All the fellows on one foundation, that of Mrs. Eaton (their number is indeterminate), must be the sons of clergymen of the Established Church of England and Ireland.
Two of the halls possess certain benefactions. There are three scholarships at Magdalene Hall, founded a few years ago by a Mr. Lusby; and one, of small amount, derived from a subscription in honour of Dr. Macbride. It holds also some exhibitions limited generally to Worcester school.
230 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
St. Mary's Hall has some scholarships founded by a Dr. Dyke, limited to three of the western counties, and one by a Dr. Nowell.
I am not aware of any permanent endowment attached to the other three halls.
In the previous account given of the number of scho- larships at a particular date, 1851, it will be remembered that 375 were of this character. But this number included the Bible clerks, a body of which I shall make further mention, and who are about two in number, on the average, in each college. Omitting these, the number created by the new Act is 370. But this number omits all mention of those which will appear at St. John's College after its reconstitution, and specifies only the number generally, as at present existent. In all likelihood the amount will finally reach 400 or upwards, besides new exhibitions which are by way of being created, and which are now, as a rule, not to be held with scholarships.
The annual value of the scholarships at different col- leges is very various. Some are as low in annual value as 40 guineas, or even less ; others as high as 90^., or even more. The value of the scholarship is generally, and ought always to be, announced in tlie advertisement of vacancies.
But though the nominal number of scholarships is not much higher than it was before the Act of 1854, the succession, which is the real point to be considered, is far more rapid. At the present time even, there is a demy at Magdalene who graduated twenty-two years ago, and a scholar of Worcester who took the same position eighteen years since. In the ordinary course of things, persons who were necessarily, or by innovation, elected from the roll of scholars, had to wait many
SCHOLAKSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 231
years for their fellowship, and of course kept others out.
All this has been altered. Very few scholarships are at present tenable for more than five years, the candidate being, ipso facto, superannuated at this date, or at an earlier period. Let it then be understood, that the average is five years. It will follow then, that not less than eighty scholarships will annually be available for competition, the majority of which number is with- out limitation; and taking these scholarships at the average value of Q61. per annum, the resources in the hands of the colleges for the encouragement of promising students equals 26,000Z. a year, 5,200/. of which is annually open to competition, apart from what is at least double in amount, the unincorporated and school exhibitions. The university is entrusted to distribute, for the same purpose, the sum of 1,835/. in annual income, 766 Z. of which is annually competed for.
If, then, we include with the endowments attached to the fomidation of each college, those exhibitions which are connected with a college or a school, and estimate them at the rate which I have stated on inquiry to represent the proportions which they bear to each other, there is, or will be, I make no doubt, no less than a sum of 80,000Z. per annum bestowed on those who desire, or receive, as the case may be, eleemosynary aid in Oxford as undergraduates.
The annual value of the fellowships and college headships, buildings included, is at least 140,000/. We shall, under the new Act, have decennial returns — at least they must be laid before the visitor — of the income of each college.
The annual value of ecclesiastical benefices connected with the colleges is at least 200,000/., and the income of
232 . EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
the university, including its trust estates, will bring the gross total to not much less than 5 00,000 Z. per annum. Not much less than a moiety of this sum is expended in pensions — that is to say, in assistance or reward without service or labour being rendered on behalf of the stipend. I do not mean that the stipend is not, or rather will not be, deserved ; but it is absolutely irrespective of any return for the future on the part of the recipient.
This great annual income is thrown, in the main, open to the country at large. With the smaller portion of it, the expenditure of a considerable sum is needed as an addition to the help afforded. With the larger part, the condition of a degree in the university, or an incorporation from Cambridge or Dublin universities — academical reciprocities do not include Durham and London — is needed besides certain other obligations antecedent and subsequent on the election to the endow- ments in question, on which I shall comment in a subse- quent paragraph.
People are not, I believe, aware of how largely literature is endowed in England and how much more fully it will be endowed in time to come, when the tenants of those fellowships which are of a restricted character have passed away. It is true that the endow- ment is limited by conditions imposed on candidates for collegiate emoluments, and by occupants after election. And, perhaps, no reform or change in the existing state of the colleges would have been more serviceable and more beneficent than a permission granted, or maybe an obligation laid on the authorities of those institu- tions, to allow moderate pensions from their funds to those persons, and there are too many of them, who, after a long and useful life of literary toil, need and
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 233
deserve pecuniary assistance in the evening of their clays.
Endowments of the Nature of Scholarships. — There are, as has been already stated, intrinsic diiffer- ences in the eligibility and reputation of those emolu- ments attached to foundations. These differences do not arise from the greater or less capacity and profi- ciency of the recipient, but from the real or presumed social status attached to the aid in question. In other words, there are poor scholars who derive assistance from certain more or less permanent funds in connec- tion with or out of the general revenues of the different colleges.
These persons are called, as the case may be, Bible Clerks or Servitors. As is usual with phrases denot- ing the relation of persons to official rank and duty, these terms have totally departed from their original meaning. The Bible clerk was in old time (after the Reformation, however, I presume, for I have found no trace of the office before that time) the person who, while the rest of the society were at their common meals, read some portion of Scripture, with a view to the checking indifferent or ordinary conversation. It is well known that such a practice prevailed in most monasteries during the time of refection, or meals - taking ; and in all likelihood the custom was induced from this source upon the reformed colleges. In modern times, these duties evaporated or were com- muted into that of marking attendance at chapel, a function which has been latterly, in many societies, committed, as it should have been long since, to the porter or chapel door-keeper.
The servitor (he exists at present at one college only.
234 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
Christ Church) is the relict of a very numerous and important class of persons. In those times when per- sonal servitude was no discredit, and the relations between ranks were based upon the subordination of juniors to seniors, as much as upon that of mean to noble blood, the performance of functions which would now-a-days be thought servile was familiar and natural. In all likelihood when the founder of a college pro- vided, as he sometimes did, maintenance for both scholars and fellows, the scholars were the personal servants of the fellows. Hence in the old accounts of colleges one may read of many kinds of such subordi- nates, who worked out by menial service the necessary period of their academical career under the names of servitores, hatellarii, and the like, nor is it more than a century since such persons ceased to be general in the university.
These servitors were known, as was the fashion, by a peculiar dress. They wore a square cap without any tassel, and a gown of stuff, without certain plaited work on portions of it. These distinctions have been latterly done away with, either in whole or part. They dined after the other students, on the broken meat of the superior tables, served up in savage fashion; and it was the custom that on some special occasions they should bring a dish to the high table in memory of their previous servile condition, and their present inferiority ; a custom remitted about twenty years ago. They naturally formed a society by themselves.
There are thirteen or more servitors at Christ Church. It is understood that the advantages of a pecuniary kind attached to the office or benefaction which they enjoy are considerable. Some of these servitors have achieved very creditable positions in their society. Not long
SCHOLAESHIPS, PELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 235
since one of the number obtained a double first-class. But as regarded any future position in the college, that is to say, the place of one of the students, L e, fellows, of the college, it was rigorously denied them. The individual to whom I refer was refused a studentship by the late dean, notwithstanding his high academical position. Similar cases are recorded. The only pro- spect before a servitor was that of becoming one of the college chaplains, an office analogous but inferior to the minor canons of cathedrals, with the ultimate prospect of a college living, which has been refused by all the students in succession.
The exclusion of those who have been servitors at Christ Church from the hope cf any emolument or reward in their own college has been rescinded, among some other practices of that society, by the provisions embodied in the ordinances' under the Act of 1854. One cannot comment too strongly on the meanness and vulgarity which created and endowed the precedents on which the previous rule was founded, or fail io recog- nize how readily corporate authorities create and defend any practice which is elastic in one direction and rigid in another.
Ordinarily servitors were the sons of poor clergymen. Sometimes, but rarely, they w^ere the sons of college servants, and inferior tradesmen.
Much may be said in favour of granting pecuniary assistance to those whose antecedents naturally entitle them to look forward to the same social grade as their parents, but whose means are not adequate to the expense, or whose abilities and acquirements are not such as to give them a fair prospect of competing on equal terms for open scholarships. Except on tlie broad rule that such aid must, in the vast aggregate of cases.
236 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
where the poverty of parents precludes the hope of academical education, be capricious and arbitrary, the disposition to succour and promote the future prospects of such individuals is laudable and kindly. But no such reason can be alleged for the caprice of selecting persons whose manners, social position, and intelligence do not warrant their expecting any better status than that in which they were born, and putting such parties into what finally will be an anomalous and extraordi- nary social superiority. It is not just, sensible, or prudent, and not even benevolent. Such people are apt to be ashamed of their immediate kindred, have suggested to them by the very circumstances of their rise in life that they should be supple and cringing, rarely warrant the exceptional generosity shown them by subsequent usefulness, and certainly are the objects of a choice for w^hich no cause can be given but per- sonal favour and unreasoning patronage. While it is the duty of the university and its colleges to give as broad an opportunity as possible for persons who wish to avail themselves of academical education, however poor their circumstances and mean their birth may be, it is as surely its duty to rest the claims of candidates for its pecmiiary aid on as few and as equitable principles of distribution as can possibly be framed.
At those colleges where a musical service forms part of the foundation, there are to be found a body of indi- viduals who are responsible for the due performance of choral functions. The only corporations in which this forms a fundamental part of the establishment are Christ Church, Magdalene, New College, and St. John's. In the first and last of these, the men's parts are per- formed by the same sort of persons as one ordinarily finds in cathedral and capitular foundations, under the
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 237
name of lay vicars, or singing men. In Magdalene and New, some, at least, of tliese offices are filled by under- graduates ; and in the last named of these societies, the college has very wisely created a class of choral scholars, with a view, we may presume, to the formation of an educated body of musical experts. Those portions of the service which must be performed by clergymen are supplied in Christ Church by the chaplains, and in Magdalene and New by persons holding the same title, but in a different position, because not forming a part of what ordinarily constitutes a cathedral establishment. On the other hand, the colleges maintain social dif- ferences between the chaplains and the fellows.
Besides these, each of the above-named colleges has a body of choristers. In St. John's the boys have, I believe, no education beyond the necessary musical training ; but in the other societies the boys are care- fully and efficiently instructed by proper teachers. Within the last twenty years the Christ Church choristers were the servants of the chaplains ; and as the servitors were fed on the broken meat of the noblemen and gentlemen commoners, so these boys fought and scrambled for the fragments of the chaplain's table. The alteration, I am told, was made at the earnest and repeated expostulation of the chaplains themselves, who induced the authorities of Christ Church, if not to feel a sense of duty or decency, at least to comprehend its existence in others.
The president and fellows of IVIagdalene collected the boys into a home, under the care of a master, whom they allowed to take additional boarders, and to create a sort of 2;rammar-school. It is understood that the advantages belonging to a chorister's office in Magdalene College are, both immediately and prospectivelv, very
238 EDUCATION IN OXPORD.
considerable, and there is no small competition for election into their number. At New College, the choristers have long been collected in one house, and placed under proper supervision ; and here, again, great and beneficial changes have been introduced into the instruction and management of the children. It is generally the case that choristers, if they take well to learning, and are otherwise promising, fill subsequently the place of clerks or choral scholars, and will, on the whole, have a progressively improvable condition. Sometimes exhibitions are specially attached to the order of choristers.
The PniNCiPLES on which Elections to Scholae- SHIPS ARE Made. — In the vast majority of instances, those acquirements are tested in scholarship examina- tions which are ordinarily cultivated in grammar- schools ; and conversely grammar-schools make it their business to train their youths up to what is the general or traditional form of college examinations. They act reciprocally on one another. Underlying this process, however, it is generally understood that the examiners at the several colleges frame their judgment of a candi- date's merits, not only in what they see in his present information, but what they can predict from his abilities will be likely to secure a good place in the final exami- nation in the classical school. The prediction is, how- ever, very frequently falsified, and that, not merely from a wrong judgment on the part of the examiners, but from circumstances connected with the future career of the individual who is elected to the scholarship in question.
Very few opportunities were given in Oxford for the study of mathematics, and very few aids afforded to
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 239
those whose taste or abilities made them proficients in this branch of knowledge. It was always the case, however, that particular attention was paid to mathe- matics at Merton College ; and in the election of postmasters — the scholars of this college — places were always reserved to those who showed marked profi- ciency on this subject. Merton, though a very small college, has had more mathematical first-class men, during the last twenty years, than any other establish- ment in Oxford.
Latterly, however, the reconstitution of the several colleges has introduced a change in this respect. Special studentships are reserved to undergraduates in Christ Church, and demyships in Magdalene, for pro- ficients in mathematics. Such a provision is very laudable and very suggestive. With a folly which is strangely contrasted with this wisdom, a folly so marked as to make the wisdom seem fortuitous, studentships and demyships are reserved in these two societies for proficiency in physical science, the unlikeliest thing that schoolboys could have even a bare smattering in. But of this hereafter.
In the ordinary course of things, the college adver- tises its vacant scholarship some weeks, or even months, before the day of election, the day being sometimes fixed and sometimes variable. The advertisement is generally inserted in a newspaper called the Oxford Uni- versity Herald, a paper which I should imagine has the smallest circulation of any periodical in existence. From this, or by the announcement of their correspondents, it gets with some irregularity into The Times and other newspapers of wide circulation, and from which, one may conclude, the general public derives its infor- mation.
240 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
It has lately been the fashion to specify, along with the fact of the vacancy or vacancies, the annual value and other advantages of the scholarship in question, to state the limitations, whatever they may be, under which candidates are admitted, and the requisite testimonials and the like which must be transmitted or presented to the head or vicegerent of the college or hall in question.
These conditions are generally — 1. Age, which is seldom more than twenty years. 2. Baptism, which must be certified by copies from the church register. 3. Marriage of the parents of the candidate, a condition almost universal before the Act of 1854, but seldom exacted now. 4. Evidence of good character. 5. A formal memorial from the candidate praying permission to stand, and generally demanded in the form of a Latin letter. 6. In exceptional cases, evidence of local claims, poverty, or special descent ; the latter generally from persons in holy orders. As there are about 30,000 clergymen of the Established Church, the latter con- dition is a tolerably wide one.
The examination of the candidates is mainly on paper, but partly viva voce. It ordinarily lasts four or five days, and is, or is intended to be, as searching as possible.
It may be stated generally that an examination for a scholarship awarded to proficiency in classical acquire- ments, or, in other words, to that which is relative to the Oxford first-class, comprises an inquiry into the candidate's knowledge of the Greek and Latin lan- guages. This is tested in four or five ways. 1st. By translations of difficult portions of authors in these two tongues into English, the passages being selected, with more or less care and judgment, from those books which
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 241
are not ordinarily read at schools. 2nd. Translation from English prose into Latin and Greek prose. 3rd. Translation into Latin and Greek verse, the Latin verse being generally elegiac or lyrical, the Greek iambic measures. 4th. Questions on empirical Greek and Latin grammar. 5th. Original essays.
These tests are of very various real and hypothetical value. Unfortunately, they do not always coincide. By far the safest test is that of Latin prose, and of English translation, when the translation is estimated by exactness and facility. But these portions of the examinations are seldom weighed at so high a rate as some others.
The labour of reading over a vast amount of rubbish has brought the test of essay writing into disfavour. But where it has been made, and it is said in some cases still to be made, a critical test, its value is very- great as a prediction of capacity.
Unfortunately, however, the English universities and the English grammar-schools, in their reciprocal action on each other, have given an enormous and utterly disproportionate value to the faculty of stringing to- irether Greek and Latin verses. I do not know how the custom arose, but it is a very old one. I remember to have read how, shortly after Eton College was founded, one of the younger Fastens, in the collection of these letters, sends his father from Eton a miserable doggrel couplet, which he announces with great pride as his own composition ; and so I conclude that, in this school at least, the fashion of verse-writing, as a means of education, is antecedent to the revival of classical literature.
As it is, the power of writing Greek and Latin verses is as fair and critical a test of the present and future
16
242 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
capacities of the candidate, as dancing on tlie tiglit-rope or playing a piano would be. The power is exceptional, and except in those cases in which there is a far more ample and safe mode of forming an estimate, is wholly worthless. However, it is of great hypothetical weight, and will be perhaps till college examiners get to be a little sensible of the utter inutility of their favourite test.
The examination is not conducted according to the plan which prevails in public competitive ones. In these — by the way, the university has indorsed this practice by its rule in the "local examinations" — the candidate is only known by a number, the most abstract and therefore the least suspicious way conceivable. There is no evidence that there are not other influences at work beyond an estimate of work done, and pro- spective hopes. Yet I make no doubt that, practically, the election is equitable. The interests of colleges are getting to be so very much committed in the future of its scholars as to make favouritism, generally speaking, unsafe and unwise. But it would be well to adopt the rule of public examinations elsewhere.
And this is the more to the purpose because, without doubt, a very different principle prevailed before the Act of 1854. With the exception of certain marked and well-known societies, I do not beheve that an election under the old system was ever bond fide. And, in fact, whenever the very smallest element of patronage is mixed up with the form of an open election, it is wonderful to see with what tenacity people who have to give cling to the right of arbitrary choice, and disclaim the practice of choosing arbitrarily. It is not easy to account for this on the ground of the satisfaction which people feel at denying themselves the pleasure or the profit of the licence to
SCHOLAESHIPS, TELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 243
•enjoy a furtive iniquity. All evidence is against the likelihood that people will do what is righteous, when they have the privilege of committing irresponsible in- justice. And certainly no evidence can be more con- clusive than that gathered from the contrast between the solemn injunctions of academical benefactors — in- junctions fortified as far as may be with oaths and penalties — and the marked breach of injunctions, viola- tion of oaths, and inutility of penalties against fraudulent preferences.
There is, however, a practical difference between the intrinsic estimate of scholarships, which is immediately derived from the class schools. It is plain, since Balliol has achieved fifty-seven first-class men in twenty years, and Jesus College only one, that a scholarship at the latter college is less significant than a matriculation at the former. And the same fact will apply in its degree to other societies, when contrasted with Balliol College, and with one another. That an undergraduate gained a college scholarship is no evidence in his favour, and it will not, though improved evidence, be a very conclusive kind of it now.
Hence any information as to the relative values of scholarships and the comparative scale of merit attached to success in these trials would be impracticable. In the first place, it would be interminable; in the next, fluctuating. The best test is that of the class schools. But this test is a remote one. Apart from other circumstances, in estimating the merit of a college election, one is met by the problem of how far the college examiner was up to his work, and competent to determine the present and predict the future.
However, with all their difficulties in detail, one may have some confidence in the election of scholars on the
16—2
244 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
estimate of classical and mathematical proficiency. These matters represent the labour of many years, and the competitive processes of schools, misguided often and mistaken, but still competitive.
Far different is it with the ridiculous sciolism which has created scholarships for physical science. If it be understood, and this maybe was the intention of this provision, that physical science will be taught in schools, the revolution in ordinary school education would be ludicrous, inconvenient, and mischievous. One may safely say that the change will not take place. And in default of such a change, what does the provision mean ? why, merely that some advertising or informed schoolmaster will teach one or two of his boys a smat- tering of chemistry and physiology, and with very trifling pains will get the credit of having put one of his pupils into a scholarship ranked on equal terms with what is the result of many years' patient learning and careful com- petitive instruction. The capital of your mere student in physical science is the smallest conceivable. Social reputations in older life may be founded on the scantiest possessions in it. Scholarship reputations in boys will rest upon still scantier qualifications. Nay, I have already heard of a candidate and a successful one for a physical science scholarship, who was unable to obtain a far less valuable exhibition, in his own college, for proficiency in the subject for which he got his scholar- ship, because he was not up to the mark, or because the cram of his examination work had evaporated.
Elections to Fellowships. — Fellowships were ap- parently, in the early history of the university, con- ferred on its junior members. In some colleges, as New and St. John's, these offices were possessed by
SCHOLAESHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 245
youths on their quitting school. The same or a similar state of things prevailed at Christ Church, where the reader will remember they are known by the name of Students. There was no distinction between the under- graduate fellows and others, except the accidental one of seniors and juniors, and the period of probation, which, however, equally affected all who were admitted to the emoluments of a fellow for a longer or shorter period. At Exeter, too, though it does not appear that freshmen could be elected to a fellowship, under- graduates were. But, with these exceptions, the prac- tice was uniformly to elect those only who had taken the degree of B. A.
Again, the conditions annexed to all fellowships were pretty uniform. In the first place, they were almost always obliged to reside. Leave of absence from Oxford was only granted on rare and urgent occasions, at the recommendation of the highest authority, and for short periods only of time. It does not appear that this residence involved any duties, except those implied in residence, namely, that the fellows should addict them- selves to study. But the practice of exacting residence has long' fallen into desuetude, and the obligation to study has been very generally ignored.
In the next place, the fellow was obliged to proceed to ordinary academical degrees, and, in certain cases, to degrees in some particular faculty. Occasionally, the number of fellows was parcelled out into those which should graduate in arts, divinity, or law. The signifi- cance of this rule, which prevailed in New College, St. John's, All Souls, and to a certain extent in Magdalene, was the exaction from the fellow of a particular course of reading. Of course, when the exercises for superior degrees became a farce, and academical education was
246 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
concluded with the degree of B.A., the necessity of taking this degree was rested solely on the pecuniary disabilities, or the removal from the list of fellows, as the case may be, of those who neglected to fulfil the condition.
Furthermore, the condition of celibacy was attached, either expressly or by implication, to all fellowships. The only exception, as far as I am aware, to this con- dition was in the case of Radcliffe's travelling fellow- ships, which were held by students in medicine, and terminable at the conclusion of ten years. Occasionally the founder excluded ipso facto from his benefaction those who had engaged themselves to be married — qui sponsalia contraxerint. Fox did so at Corpus. But this rule fell into disuse. Most fellows of colleges are, or have been engaged to be, married, and have suffered from the nausea of deferred hope. The heads, too, of the colleges were generally required to be celibates, but gradually have been relieved from this condition, the last case in which the limitation was remitted havino; been that of the headship of Wadham, in the present generation. It is easy to see the reason of the rule — the founders have purposed that the recipients of their henefaction should live together. Fox, in his statutes to Corpus, expressly compares his college to a hive.
In by far the largest number of cases the fellows were called upon, after a given time, to take holy orders. In some colleges only one or two lay fellows were allowed. In some, all must eventually take priest's orders. In two it appears that no such rule existed. These were Merton and All Souls. The former case is marked, because Merton was undoubtedly the founder of the collegiate system. The latter college was, how- ever, in reality, a chantry, which, by some strange acci
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 247
dent, survived the fate of its brethren at the Reformation. In order, moreover, to secure that the fellow should take holy orders, the statutes ordinarily required that he should graduate in theology, and proof must be given on presentation for degrees in theology that the appli- cant is in priest's orders. The conflicting interests of different persons on the foundation caused that these rules should be pretty correctly kept.
Very few fellowships were open to general competi- tion. They were at Balliol, with the exception of two. They were in a very few cases at Oriel. But they were in no other society. Local restrictions of a more or less narrow character, previous connection with the college, kinship with the founder, and similar regula- tions, made the real field of competition exceedingly scanty in its dimensions.
The electors were bound by their statutes to choose such persons as would promote the interests of the college, and with them those of religion and learning. This obligation was commonly construed in such a way as to render incompatible what the founder conceived was harmonious. Perhaps, the interests of the college even were not finally considered. At any rate, those elections which were professedly most open were seldom free from suspicion. The examination was little more than the thin cover of a foregone conclusion — a veiled sophism. The writer well remembers, in the case of a particular college, in which it was possible to elect undergraduate fellows, that two vacancies occurred and were duly advertised as open to general competition — at least competition as general as was in those days ordinarily possible. He told an individual, who was then and is now of considerable note in Oxford, that two undergraduates whom he named would be elected ; and.
248 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
of course, was answered it was no sucli thing, and that the examination would be bond fide. From ten to fifteen first-class men were candidates. The two undergra- duates were elected, and both got second-classes a year after their election. But of such elections one might relate dozens, even when there was the affectation of an elaborate examination. Nothing, in short, was more characterized by dishonesty and jobbing than Oxford fellowship elections before the Act of 1854. Nothing was more thoroughly dissimilar from the reality than the appearance of an open election, and nothing which seems creditable is less intrinsically creditable than the fact of a man's being one of those fellows under the old system.
Since the Act of 1854, new statutes have been pro- mulgated and confirmed for all the colleges but one. This last, however, that, namely, of St. John, is in the course of being reconstructed. The alterations gene- rally made in the statutes are marked and tolerably uniform.
Undergraduate fellows are absolutely done away with. The mischief induced by permitting young men, in the impossibility of exacting strict discipline, to look forward with certainty to a provision for life, is so obvious and was so great, that the Commissioners could not but do away with it. Thus in those colleges where these undergraduate were mixed up with graduate fel- lows, a line is drawn, and those below it are the tenants of terminable scholarships.
Again, the necessary election of fellows from scho- lars, which prevailed at Queen's, New College, Corpus, Trinity (generally), Balliol (in its close fellowships), Jesus, Pembroke, Wadham, University (in part), Wor- cester, and Magdalene (by usurpation) is done away
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 249
with. Scholars have now no larger claim on the electors than any strangers to the society.
Further, kindred to the founder is no longer any right Generally, too, local, school, and professional claims are annulled. The exceptions are fifteen fellow- ships at New College, and a moiety at Jesus. In the former case the candidates must have been members of New College, or persons educated at Winchester in the first place, and in the latter, natives of the Principality or Monmouthshire.
Two fellowships only, I believe, are in the gift of extra-academical parties. One at Exeter is bestowed by the dean and chapter, another at Lincoln by the bishop of that see.
Certain fellowships at Worcester are still limited to sons of clergymen of the Church of England.
Residence is no longer required. There is, indeed, provision made in the several statutes that it may be exacted at the discretion of the head, on pain of forfei- ture by the fellow. But as the exercise of this discre- tion must be exceptional, and will certainly seem like persecution, one may safely conclude that the occurrence of it will be rare.
The head may be nominated or elected from other persons than those who have been fellows. In some colleges the fellows had the liberty of choosing an alien member for their head. But I never heard of the privilege being employed more than once, and this was two or three generations ago at Balliol. But it was a proper thing to put this licence into the hands of the college.
The fellows must remain sinjrle durinoj the time of their tenure. In most cases a year after the marriage is allowed to the fellow, and is called his year of grace.
250 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
The fellows must be members of the Church of England. Any act which may be legitimately con- strued as at variance with her communion, or in dero- gation of her teaching and discipline, is held to - be overt, and to warrant dismissal from the list of fellows. There is no great reason to believe that this rule would be enforced with any rigour on laymen, at least it is ordinarily understood not to be very terrible to clergymen. Of course an actual secession is another affair. The condition of church membership is in- tended to be a law, but is probably little better than a protest.
On the other hand, terminable fellowships are abolished. These existed absolutely in Wadham and Queen's, and optionally in University and Pembroke. There is an optional terminability in the new fellowships of St. John's, but these fellowships, having been very lately founded, are an exception to the Act.
Again, the necessity of proceeding to degrees in divinity, law, and the like, is done away with. No penalties are affixed to those who do not graduate in special subjects. There is no doubt that this rule will have a powerful effect on the number of law and divinity graduates.
Finally, there is a large infusion of laymen among the fellows of the newly framed colleges. It is not possible to say how many there are, because the number of fellowships is perpetually and will be perpetually changing. Still it seems to be intended that the educa- tion of undergraduates, the discipline of the college, and all matters bearing on its relations to the university, should be in clerical hands. Hence when the number of clerical fellows falls below a certain amount, provi- sion is made, either that the next elected person should
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 251
be in full orders, or that one or more of the lay fellows should vacate their offices and pensions.
A fellow is disabled from holding his fellowship, and if it happen before, from standing for a fellowship, if he has a certain amount of personal income. This regulation is supposed to preserve the intentions of founders in excluding those who were not by their circumstances in need of eleemosjnnary endowments. It is doubtful whether the rule will be maintained; it is certain that it has already been broken. The amount is generally 500Z. per annum of stock, land, &c., and an ecclesiastical benefice of 3001. per annum net. One does not see on what grounds this large difference is made, except it be that the clergyman ought to be poor.
If a fellow accepts a college living, his fellowship is avoided. But this rule does not hold good, if the living has been refused successively by all clerical fellows.
One fellowship in every college may be assigned to distinguished persons, even though they are married or otherwise disabled. They must, however, have had an honorary degree, or one by diploma conferred on them, or must be professors in the university. Two such fellowships have been bestowed, so to speak, in commendam. But no college can give more than one such fellowship away.
The Commissioners instituted what I cannot help call- ing the silly practice of creating honorary fellowships. Nothing but an absurd vanity can desire such a dis- tinction, a vanity prevalent enough, and mischievous enough in the Church. Not many such have been bestowed. They have been instituted, however, rather plentifully at Christ Church; but one supposes it is because this society desires patrons.
252 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
Most of the colleges have contributed largely from their revenues to the endowment of professorships. In some cases the assignment has been made, in some it is to be made, the university in Convocation being ap- pointed the judge of whether the offer or the direction of the offer is desirable for the general purposes of instruction. Thus, Magdalene is to found four such offices. Queen's has consented to endow Sedley's pro- fessor ; Oriel, the Regius professor of modern history ; Wadham, that of experimental philosophy ; Corpus, that of Latin : the necessary funds for these purposes being derived from the suppression of fellowshij)s. All Souls has already created one, a professor of inter- national law, and is by way of accumulating funds for another.
It will be seen, then, that by the omission of certain conditions of birth and the like, the relaxation of those rules which affected the person who had been elected in the choice of his profession, and by the permission of non-residence, that fellowships, looked at from a pecu- niary point of view, will be far more valuable; and looked at by the facilities afforded for candidates, and the pretty uniform rule attaching to them of detur digniorif that they will be more accessible to the general body of literary persons who have graduated at the university. Furthermore, it is likely that these facili- ties of acquirement, largeness of tenure, and freedom, comparatively speaking, from subsequent conditions, will have a tendency towards making the succession more rapid, and of considerably increasing the advan- tages derived to the clerical fellows from college livings. They present, in short, a mass of emoluments to pains- taking and successful labour, on those subjects which form part of the academical curriculum which are
253
well worthy of the knowledge and interest of the public at large.
It is of great interest, however, to know on what principle the election is made, and is likely to be made for the future.
First of all then, the Commissioners have universally ruled that the election should be made according to merit, and have left, as indeed they must have left, the judgment about the merits of the several candidates in the hands of the head and fellows of the respective societies into which the candidates desire election. But the head and fellows are bound in conscience to act as trustees, and to make their election in accordance with the conditions of the trust which they administer.
Such an election implies an examination. This examination is, to be sure, at the discretion of the electors, but it naturally flows into the same channel with that which the university prescribes in the honour schools, and which acts as a check upon error or unfair- ness in the election. The colleges are empowered to make any subject the material of their examination; and there is nothing to prevent any particular college from giving a preference to proficiency in mathematics, modern history, or physical science, and there is no doubt that, in course of time, such preferences will be occasionally made.
On the presumption that the examination for a fellow- ship is generally identical with that in the honour schools, the previous status of the examinee in that school, and, thereupon, recognized acquaintance with the material on which the candidate's claims are rested, is ordinarily a great guide to the head and fellows for electing into colleges. This prejudice in favour of those who have stood well in these examinations is as natural as it is
254 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
just. The public examiners are far better judges of individual and relative proficiency than any elective body in Oxford.
One cannot ever expect to see that elections, in which so close a personal relation subsists, or is sup- posed to subsist, between the several members of a college, will be ever rested absolutely on the intel- lectual powers and learning of the candidates, however much it may be the duty of electors to make their election on this ground only. Yet the scandals of the old system will be avoided, in great degree, and will be still more inoperative, if it ever comes to pass, as the writer earnestly hopes it may come to pass, that the monopoly of the colleges is done away. The external stimulant of a body of independent students will do more to purge colleges of the remaining tendencies towards favouritism and incompetence than any other process.
There is one college in which the rights of the electors are modified. This is All Souls. Here, no person can be a candidate, unless he shall have gained a first-class — by which is not meant a so-called first- class in moderations, a phrase the university has care- fully avoided — in the final examination, or have pro- cured one of the university prizes or scholarships. One must assign this limitation on the powers of the All Souls' fellows to the fact that no endowment was more scandalously mismanaged and perverted than that of this society before its late changes. Candidates might have been elected from any part of the province of Oanterbmy, with certain preferences to the kindred of the founder. Chichele himself was the son and brother of London tradesmen. But, in course of time, the college became a club for younger^ sons of peers
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 255
and country gentlemen. Sometimes these persons had worked well and achieved academical honours, for, thirty or forty years ago, it was the fashion for noble- men and country gentlemen to be scholars ; but the college had, latterly, elected common passmen, if they could only show a sufficient social position. In 1851, they had two first-class men among their number, and the majority of the rest had only a common degree.
The late warden, however, informed the Commis- sioners that, in his opinion, the fellowships were granted at All Souls for merit. It does not appear, however, that any person agreed with him.
When a fellow is elected, he has generally to pass a year, and sometimes a longer period, on probation. During this time he is ordinarily obliged to reside in Oxford, in order, we may presume, that the college authorities may see whether his conduct is such as to warrant his permanently remaining a member of the society. I am not aware of a probationer having ever failed of confirmation in his fellowship, for many years past. Such cases are on record, however. This lenity is strongly contrasted with the rigour shown in demand- ing, or professing to demand, conclusive proof of the character of candidates. Yet it would be hardly pos- sible for all probationary fellows to satisfy the moral sense of their electors.
By the present statutes of each college, fellows may be expelled, on formal complaint, for any gross immo- rality, or for ceasing to profess accordance with the doctrines of the Church of England. Many persons, in time past, have resigned their fellowships on the latter ground, and generally because they have joined the communion of the Roman Church. A few, however, have quitted the emoluments of their coUege from
256 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
becoming conscientious Dissenters. I never heard of a fellow who was expelled for immorality, and I have certainly known of some who deserved to be. In all cases where penalties are enforced, or even threatened, there is an appeal to the visitor.
The succession to fellowships must, in the nature of things, become progressively more rapid. The number of fellowships is in some degree diminished; and, under their new constitutions, they will be of a larger income, taken individually. But, on the other hand, the dis- proportionate pecuniary advantages belonging to the senior fellows, which operated as a constant inducement to retain them, will cease. There will be a large in- crease of lay fellows — so large, beyond doubt, as to always press on the maximum amount. And the reason is obvious, because, in the great majority of cases, the material prospects of a clergyman are exceedingly small. This will cause fewer persons to be qualified for college livings. Since, also, the rule of merit is to supersede local and family claims entirely, and will interrupt per- sonal favour in a great degree, the persons admitted to the benefactions will be, one may certainly conclude, more active and intelligent than formerly. Now, such persons are not apt to remain single.
The succession in twenty years, under the old system, was represented by the decimal 1*43, or nearly 15 to 20, in twenty years. I make no doubt that, hereafter, it will be so much more rapid as to induce a mutation every ten years. The number of fellowships under the new constitution will be about 350.
There will, therefore, on the foregoing hypothesis, be in Oxford an annual supply of 35 freehold pensions granted, almost uniformly, to young men of twenty- two to twenty-five years old, each of about the annual value
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 257
of 230?., without duty, either special or local, and with no subsequent obligation or condition, except celibacy and conformity. These fellowships will be bestowed on the precedent condition of a degree, and with the concurrent condition of that sort of satisfaction which the Oxford schools exact in the first place, and a private college examination endorses in the other. There is, I apprehend, no occupation which provides more social and material advantages than those offered by the college emoluments in Oxford, under the existing state of things.
The Celibacy of Fellows, the Condition of Church Membership, and their Freehold Nature. — The circumstances which belong to fellowships have been matters of considerable dispute. Many persons are found who dispute the wisdom of the first condition, and a very large section of nonconformists deny the justice of the second. Again, the advantage which the occupant of a fellowship has in possessing a tenancy for life is a matter of consideration, even though the con- tinuity has been extended to those foundations the en- joyment of which was in former times terminable.
I have already adverted to the likelihood that the condition of celibacy was originally an accident, due to the fact that the pre-Reformation colleges were generally founded for the secular clergy, to whom, as well as to monks, marriage was forbidden. It is well known, also, that the marriage of clergymen was viewed for a long time after the Reformation with great disfavour, and that the superiority of a celibate state was a charac- teristic tenet of Laud and his school. However this may have operated, it is clear that it became or was made a rule in the foundation of the post-Reformation
17
258 EDUCATION IN OXFOED.
colleges that fellowships should be vacated by marriage, and it will be remembered that there is only one college in Oxford which was not brought directly or indirectly under the influence and control of Laud.
The arguments in favour of retaining the condition of celibacy are — 1. That it ensures a quick succession. No doubt, if persons could marry, and retain so de- sirable a' freehold as a fellowship is, the senior fellows would all be married — as, indeed, they are at Trinity College, Dublin, an4 St. Mary's, Winchester. There would always be a considerable number of fellowships occupied by such persons, and the succession would be about, maybe, one-third what it now is or rather will be. 2. That it ensures the presence of a number of resident tutors, who can under the same roof superin- tend the moral control of the young men within the college. This, no doubt, is an exceedingly powerful argument. No one would wish that a body of young men should be aggregated witliin a building, and then left entirely to their own sense of discretion and de-- corum. Still, it must be observed that very few of the fellows do reside, and still fewer will reside when the new constitutions have their full play. Taken, how- ever, with the first reason, it is obvious that very few persons would be found, if all fellows might marry, who could live within the walls. 3. The moral influence exercised on the fellow himself. This, again, is a very important reason. Few men make up their mind to a single life; and it is found frequently to be the case that, great as are the conveniences, comforts, and luxuries of college life, they are readily resigned by the best men, in order to have a home. The condition of celibacy is an indirect method of making a fellowship terminable. It operates as a stimulus to labour and
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 259
energy upon a body of men who would naturally be indisposed to any labour or energy at all. 4. It creates society among educated men, to whom such a state of things would be difficult, if not impossible, were they married. A college is a club, so to speak, the members of which have more or less to live together. It may be doubted, however, whether the life of a common room is provocative of much intercommunion of ideas.
I am not aware of any very good argument against enforcing celibacy. Generally folks look on such a rule with what is partly a suspicion of its moral bearing, partly a notion that it infringes a natural right. No doubt a man has a right to marry. But most rights are largely invaded, and happily invaded, by social con- siderations. No doubt single men are less moral than married ones — at least it is ordinarily assumed 'that they are ; but it may be questioned whether that per- son should not only be condoned, but rewarded, who asserts his inability to fulfil what is at once a recognized obligation and a moral duty. I think that by the same rule, a man might be claimed to be maintained by society who has a distaste or dislike to an employ- ment which he is able to follow, and which might be a means of subsistence to him. People argue about the propriety of marriage from the practice of the most imprudent, and about the necessities and conveniences of domestic life from the practice of those who have the means of rightly enjoying them.
Something, it is true, may be said from the fact, that a long life in college unfits a man for occupation else- where ; that, in short, an old fellow of a college forms a very clumsy and inefficient parochial clergyman, sadly deficient in tact, and rarely able to deal with the very
17—2
260 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
great difficulties which increase upon the incumbents of parishes. But this belongs particularly .to a state of things which is passing away, and which must hold but slightly in future. Besides, it might be met by another remedy than that of allowing fellows who had occupied their fellowship for such and such a number of years to marry and retain it.
Nothing, I am persuaded, but sentimental reasons can be alleged for making fellowships into freeholds. People picture to themselves aged fellows of colleges thrust out upon the world with poverty instead of a comfortable maintenance. But if a man cannot, after a tenure of twelve or fifteen years, sufficiently settle himself in life, as no longer to need eleemosynary aid, he never deserved to have it. A fellowship should be considered as a help to start in a profession or professions where merit is slowly, though, in the end, surely appreciated, not as a benefaction for life. It should not be the end of academical existence. There are numbers of men ruined by having fellowships, because, knowing they have a permanent provision, they are negligent in their subsequent exertions. And any hardship which could occur, as it might occur, to fellows by the determination of their fellowships might be met in the case of clerical fellows by continuing the right of presentation to livings after the fellowship had terminated, and, as I have suggested, by granting pensions to those who, having been fellows, were reduced by misfortune or disease to narrow circumstances. A fellowship is to a man in the prime of life and reputation often a positive evil. Who does not know that the most useless and unsatisfactory members of society are those who have small patri- monies, sufficient to keep them going, but not so little as that other stimulants to exertion may affect them?
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 261
It was very well when proficiency and industry in letters were neglected or unrewarded, that persons should have permanent fellowships, but it may be doubted whether what was once a rational method may not in these times totally defeat its own purposes.
No person can hold a fellowship unless he be, and remain, a member of the Established Church, that is, unless he professes his agreement with its discipline and doctrines. This arrangement has been impugned by many nonconformists on the ground that it is not equitable to annex theological conditions to the occupa- tion of literary rewards.
It is not, I think, easy to meet this reasoning when one is simply supplied with an argument from the will or intention of the founder. It is true that there is a vast difference between the succession of the present English Establishment to that which ruled previous to the Reformation, and the relations of the English Esta- blishment to the body of nonconformists. It is true that exact conformity with the religion of the State was prescribed or implied in the subsequent foundations, not only by the legal disabilites under which nonconformists •were, but by the generally expressed condition that the fellows should take holy orders. It is true, moreover, that an honest declaration of disagreement from the doctrine and discipline of the English Church is a more commendable act than the acceptance of a benefaction under the continual operation of the doctrine of reserve. But even apart from the specious argument derived from the changed circumstances of the time, and the fact that long since it has been impossible for the statutes of founders to be literally observed, the violent and total change introduced in the year 1854, and subsequently, renders any appeal to the founders' intentions inoperative.
262 EDUCATION IN OXFORD.
and any disclaimer of the abstract right of noncon- formists impertinent. On the mere view of abstract justice. Dissenters have as fair a claim to academical emoluments as professed Churchmen.
The real difficulty, and with it the real answer to these claims — setting aside the unlikelihood of the Church quitting its hold, except under strong compulsion, of what has been so markedly her own for more than three hundred years — is the social difficulty to which I have before adverted, when speaking of the prospects of Dissenters as to admission into the existing colleges. If there were an infusion of confessedly nonconformist fellows, one might, I think, securely bid adieu to any- thing like peace and quietness among them. The effect would be, I am sure, a destructive discord. People in Oxford can well enough, and painfully enough, re- member the blind and furious bigotry of contending parties, though both professed themselves staunch members and special representatives of the Church of England ; but it is not easy to conceive what would be the result of a collision between those who, at any rate, assert their connection with the Establishment and those who hold it to be a delusion, or a usurpation, or a tyranny, or a heresy, or whatever else they may be dis- posed to designate it. A college is more or less a home, more or less an imitation of domestic or common life. With the friendliest feeling towards those who differ with him on theological points, one might demur to familiar intercourse, and still more to compulsory association, with those who have marked religious dif- ferences with one. At any rate, that feeling is one of general indifference wdiich disclaims a preference to the company of those who agree with him.
But in its degree this claim is met, though not in an
SCHOLARSHIPS, EELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 263
overt way, by the large infusion of tlie lay element in the body of fellows. It is notorious that the ties which annex laymen to the English Church are fewer and slighter than those which unite the clergy to her. It has loncp since been ruled that what is bindino; on the latter is inoperative on the former, and that a kyman may ignore what a parson must defend and uphold. Nay, the tendency of the present time, if one can take some of the most influential reasoning to be conclusive, is to a progressively increasing laxity. We are told that non- conformists are, in the eye of the law. Churchmen, and that they ought to be invariably considered such.
Something may be stated here by the way, as a defence for the retention of so many clerical fellowships and an explanation for the grievance felt in the abolition of so many more. It is certainly difficult to see how the framers of the report, on which the Act of 1854 was founded, harmonized their reasoning as to the creation of lay fellowships with their favourite argument for change, that of benefit to the society by the introduction of a better class of men. It is not likely that lay fellows will be resident in Oxford, nor is it desirable that they should be. They will seek their fortunes elsewhere, and will return nothing for the aid they receive. They do so now, and they will more largely hereafter.
The best argument for the retention of clerical fellow- ships is to be found in the poverty of the Church. No one, I repeat, chooses the Church as a profession on accomit of the material advantages incident to it, unless these have been mapped out for him already. By far the largest portion of that ecclesiastical wealth which people say is so prodigious, is in the hands of private individuals, bought and. sold openly at a high per cent, of purchase, and as accessible to the body of those who
264 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
are in holy orders, as any man's balance at his banker's is to his neighbour. For the rest it is ordinarily the prize of political interest, of relationship to official patrons, or of active partizans. A man may be as wise, as eloquent, as active, as self-denying as man can be, nay, he may throw large human learning into the sum of his accomplishments, and remain as a clergyman unnoticed and poor. He labours under political and social disabilities. His choice of a profession is irre- vocable, though he may have mistaken his capacities and resources. He cannot get his living out of the Church, and he cannot get his living in it. He has, it is true, a barren social precedence, constantly imitated, frequently denied, and always watched with distrust and jealousy. It is through the college fellowships, directly and indirectly, that the reputation and numbers of the clergy, their learning and devotedness, are constantly supplied in spite of these prodigious disadvantages. It is by means of these endowments that men rise by the force of self-denial and will, if not to the eminence which patronage bestows, to the independence and usefulness which conscientiousness effects.
Future of the Univeesity. — What may in time to come be the work of this ancient and richly endowed seat of learning, will depend upon the wisdom with which it adapts itself to the wants of the age, the judg- ment with which it exercises its invaluable privilege of self-government, and the liberality with which it admits students into its arms, and gifts them with its emolu- ments. That these emoluments will increase indefinitely in value, is plain, as the resources of the colleges are almost invariably derived from real estates, let in many cases at rents most disadvantageous to the colleges.
SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS, ETC. 265
so disadvantageous, indeed, as to suggest to many tenants that their occupancy gave them a right to demand compulsory enfranchisement. In some of the richer colleges, it is notorious that land is let at half its value, and that leases, held under these corporations, are often worth half as much as freeholds. College estates, it is likely, will never be managed so judiciously as those of private individuals, but by a system of liberal leases, at rack-rent, they might be prodigiously enhanced in value. The custom, however, of renewal on fines is fast dying out, and the revenues of the colleges will be increased proportionately.
In many points the direct tendency of the university is to meet the needs of the time by cautious conces- sions. With very diiferent views as to points of detail, most Oxford men are agreed in considering that what now forms the staple of academical instruction should be retained. It has stood the test of centuries, it is prolific of useful men, and it is due to other causes than those which are derived from it, that it has not pro- duced great scholars and profound thinkers. Whatever may be their faults and shortcomings, no national insti- tutions are so pure in their practice and so conscien- tious in their public life as the universities. The worst jobbing in the worst times at the worst college was integrity itself by the side of the dishonesty with which the emoluments of endowed grammar-schools have been administered.
That the universities should exercise an increasing control over the education of the country must, it appears, result from their secularization, their accom- modation to modern habits of thought, and their public acts. It is not necessary that conformity should hence- forth be the condition of academical distinction. Ox-
266 EDUCATION IN OXFOKD.
ford has accepted the importunate wooing of physical science, and recompensed it with a prodigal self- sacrifice. It has initiated a voluntary system of school inspection. It has even opened its arms, at the earnest request of some among its body and a few of those without it, to medicine and mechanics, the nymphs who have either jilted it long ago, or disdained its addresses.
The universities have done much for the present, are doing more, and are strong in the past. They have heen for centuries the nurseries of English youth, and have been democratic both in their meanness and in their dignity. The dawn of English history exhibits the prime of their rude strength ; their pedigree begins with that of the national liberties, and their domestic struggles coincide in all points with the best and worst ages of the national character.
THE END.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY SMITH, ELDER AND CO.,
XITTLE GREEN ARBOUR COURT, OLD BAILEY, E.C-
65, Cornhill, London^ January, 1861.
NEW AND STANDARD WORKS
PUBLISHED BY
SMITH, ELDER AND CO.
IN THE PRESS.
A New Work on Domestic Medicine
Including the latest Discoveries in Medical Science. By John Gardner, M.D.
Demy 8vo.
The First Volume of a History of England ;
From the Earliest Period to the Present Time. To be completed in Six Volumes 8vo.
By J. A. St. John.
This Volume will bring do^vn the narrative to the death of WiUiam the
Conqueror.
*^* The principal object of this History is to exhibit the progress of English Civihzation as developed in the action of Government, and the condition of the People ; the advance of Religion, bcience, and Literature, and the expansion of otir vast colonial system.
Mr. St. John has made fiill use of fhe new and valuable materials for English History contained in the State Paper Office.
The Tragedy of Life. By John H. Brenten.
In Two Vols.
A New Novel.
By the Author of "Cousin Stella.' In Two Vols.
New and Standard Works published by
Agnes Tremorne. By I. Blagden.
In Two Vols.
The Conduct of Life. By Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Author of " Essays," " Eepresentative Men," &c. Post 8vo, price 6«. cloth. %* Also a Cheap Edition, price Is. cloth.
Legends from Fairy Land. By Holme Lee,
Author of " Against Wind and Tide," " Sylvan Holt's Daughter." Fcap 8vo, with Eight Illustrations by H. Sanderson, price 3s. 6c?. cloth.
Shakspere and his Birthplace. By Jolm R. Wise.
With 22 Illustrations by W. J. Linton. Crown 8to. Printed on Toned Paper, and handsomely bound in ornamental cloth, gilt edges, price 7s. 6d.
Turkish Life and Character. By Walter Thornbury,
Author of "Life in Spain," &c. &c. Two Volumes, with Eight Tinted Illustrations, price 21s. cloth.
Scripture Lands in connection with their History :
With an Appendix : and Extracts from a Journal kept during an Eastern Tour in 1856-57.
By the Rev. G. S. Brew, Author of " Scripture Studies," &c Post 8vo, with a Map, price 10s. 6c?. cloth.
Smith, Elder and Co,, 65, Cornhill, London,
Egypt in its Biblical Relations. By the Rev, J. Foulkes Jones.
Post 8vo, price 75. 6rf. cloth.
Bermuda :
Its Histoiy, Geology, Climate, Products, Agriculture, &c. &c. By Theodore L. Godet, M.D.
Post 8vo, price 9*. cloth.
Education in Oxford :
Its Method, its Aids, and its Rewards* By James E. Thorold Rogers, M.A.
Post 8vo, price 6.<?. cloth.
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.
History of the Venetian Republic :
Her Rise, lier Greatness, and her Civilization.
By W. Carew Hazlitt.
Complete in 4 vols. 8vo, with Illustra- tions, price 2Z. 16s., cloth.
*^* Volumes HI. and TV. may be had separately.
Life of Schleiermacber,
As unfolded in his Autobiography and Letters.
Translated from the Gei^man hy Frederica Rowan.
Two vols., post 8vo, with Portrait. Price One Guinea, cloth.
The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt.
Revised hy Himself with addi- tional Chapters hy his Eldest Son.
One vol., post 8yo, with a Portrait engraved on Steel from an Original DraAving. Price 7s. 6d. cloth.
The Life of Charlotte Bronte (Currer Bell).
By Mrs. GaskelL
Fourth Edition, revised, one vol., with a Portrait of Miss Bronte and a View of Haworth Parsonage. Price 7s. 6rf. ; morocco elegant, 14s.
New and Standard Works published hy
The Life of Edmond Malone
(Editor of Shakspeare) ; with Selections from his MS. Anec- dotes.
By Sir James Prior ^
Author of the "Life of Edmund Burke," "Life of Oliver Goldsmith."
Demy 8vo, with Portrait, price 14s. cloth.
Eobert Owen and his Social Philosophy.
By William Lucas Sargant,
Author of " Social Linovators and their
Schemes."
1 vol., post 8vo. 10s. 6c?. cloth.
Shelley Memorials.
Edited hy Lady Shelley.
Second Edition. In one vol., post 8vo.
Price 7s. 6c?. cloth.
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS.
A Visit to the Philippine Isles in 1858-59.
By Si?^ John Bowring,
Governor of Honj^ Kong, and H.M.'s Plenipotentiary in China.
Demy 8vo, with numerous Illustrations, price 18s. cloth.
Heathen and Holy Lands ;
Or, Sunny Days on the Sal ween, Nile, and Jordan.
By Captain J. P. Briggs, Bengal Army.
Post 8vo, price 12s. cloth.
Narrative of the Mission to Ava.
By Captain Henry Yule, Bengal Engineers.
Imperial 8vo, with Twentj'-four Plates (Twelve coloured), Fifty Woodcuts, and Four Maps. Elegantly bound in cloth, with gilt edges, price 2?. 12s. 6d.
Through Norway with a Knapsack.
By W. M. Williams.
With Six Coloured Views. Second Edition, post 8vo, price 12s. cloth.
Voyage to Japan,
Kamtschatka, Siberia, Tartarj, and the Coast of China, in H.M.S. Barracouta.
By J. M. Tronson, B.N. 8vo, with Charts and Views. 18s. cloth.
To Cuba and Back.
By B. H. Dana^
Author of " Two Years before the Mast," &c.
Post 8vo, price 7s. cloth.
Life and Liberty in
America.
By Dr. C. Mackay.
Second Edition, 2 vols., post 8vo, with Ten Tinted Illustrations, price 21s.
Smith, Elder and Co,, 65, Cornliill, London.
WORKS OF MR. RUSKIN.
Modern Painters.
Now complete in five vols., Imperial 8vo, with 84 Engravings on Steel, and 216 on Wood, chiefly from Drawings by the Author.
"With Index to the whole Work.
Price 8Z. 6s. M., in cloth.
EACH VOLIJMB MAY BE HAD SEPAEATELY.
Vol.
L, 6th Edition. OF GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND OF TRUTH.
Price 18s. cloth. Vol, n., 4th Edition. OF THE IMAGINATIVE AND THEORETIC
FACULTIES. Price 105. Qd. cloth. Vol. in. OF MANY THINGS. With Eighteen Illustrations drawn by the
Author, and engraved on Steel. Price 38s. cloth. Vol. IV. ON MOUNTAIN BEAUTY. With Thirty-five Illustrations
engraved on Steel, and 116 Woodcuts, drawn by the Author.
Price 2/. 10s. cloth. Vol. V. OF LEAF BEAUTY ; OF CLOUD BEAUTY ; OF IDEAS OF
RELATION. With Thirty- six Engravings on Steel, and 100 on
Wood. Price 2l. 10s. With Index to the five volumes.
The Stones of Venice.
Complete in Three Volumes, Imperial 8vo, with Fifty-three Plates and numerous Woodcuts, drawn by the Author. Price 5/. 15s. 6g?. cloth.
EACH VOLUME MAY BE HAD SEPARATELY.
Vol. I. The FOUNDATIONS, with 21 Plates.
Price 21. 2s. 2nd Edition. Vol. II. THE SEA STORIES, with 20 Plates.
Price 21. 2s. Vol. III. THE FALL, with 12 Plates. Price
II. Us.M.
The Seven Lamps of Architecture.
Second Edition, with Fourteen Plates drawn by the Author. Imp. 8vo. Price 1/. Is. cloth.
Lectures on Architecture and Painting.
With Fourteen Cuts, drawn by the Author. Second Edition, crown 8vo. Price 8s. %d. cloth.
The Two Paths :
Being Lectures on Art, and its relation to Manufactures and Decoration.
One vol., crown 8vo, with Two Steel Engravings. Price 7s. 6c?. cloth.
The Elements of Drawing.
Sixth Thousand, crown 8vo,with Illus- trations drawn by the Author. Price 7s. 6d. cloth.
The Elements of Perspective.
With 80 Diagrams, crown 8vo. Price 3s. 6c?. cloth.
The Political Economy of Art
Price 2s, 6(/. cloth.
New and Standard Works published hy
RELICIOUS
Sermons :
By the late Rev. Fred. W. Robertson, Incumbent of Trinity Chapel, Brighton.
First Series. — Eighth Edition, post
8vo. Price 9s. cloth. Second Series. — Seventh Edition.
Price 9s. cloth. Third Series. — Fifth Edition, post
8vo, with Portrait. Price 9s. cloth.
Expositions of St. Paul's
Epistles to the Corinthians.
By the late Rev. Fred. W. Robertson.
Second Edition. One thick Volume,
post 8vo. Price 10s. 6rf. cloth.
Lectures and Addresses.
By the late Rev. Fred. W. Robertson. Post Svo. Price 7s. 6rf. cloth.
Sermons .
Preached at Lincoln's Inn Chapel. By the Rev. F. D. Maurice, M.A.
First Series, 2 vols., post Svo, price
21s. cloth. Second Series, 2 vols., post Svo,
price 21s. cloth. Third Series, 2 vols., post Svo,
price 21s. cloth.
The Province of Eeason ;
A Reply to Mr. Mansell's Bampton Lecture.
By John Young, LL.D., Edin., Author of "The Mystery; or. Evil
and God." Post Svo. Price 6s. cloth.
"Is it not Written?"
Being the Testimony of Scripture against the Errors of Romanism.
By the Rev. Edward S. Pryce. Post Svo. Price 6s. cloth.
Historic Notes
On the Old and New Testament.
By Samuel Sharpe.
3rd and Revised Edition. Svo. 7s. cl.
Tauler's Life and Sermons.
Translated by Miss Susanna
Winkworth.
With Preface by Rev. C. Kingsley.
Small 4to, printed on Tinted Paper,
and bound in Antique Style, with
red edges, suitable for a Present.
Price 7s. 6rf.
Testimony to the Truth of Christianity.
Fourth Edition, fcap Svo. 3s. cloth.
Quakerism, Past and Present :
Being an Inquiry into the Causes of its Decline.
By John S. Rowntree. Post Svo. Price 5s. cloth. %♦ This Essay gained the First Prize of One Hundred Guineas offered for the best Essay on the subject.
The Peculium :
An Essay on the Causes of the Decline of the Society of Friends.
By Thomas Hancock. Post Svo. Price 5s. cloth. *i* This Essay gained the Second Prize of Fifty Guineas, which was after- wards increased to One Hundred.
Women of Christianity
Exemplary for Piety and Charity.
By Julia Kavanagh.
Post Svo, with Portraits. Price 5s. in
embossed cloth.
Smith, Elder and Co., 65, Cornhill, London,
WORKS ON INDIA AND THE EAST.
The Wild Sports of India.
By Capt. Henry Shakespear. Post 8vo. Price 10s. cloth.
Christianity in India.
By John William Kaye. 8vo. Price 16s. cloth.
The Sanitary Condition of Indian Jails.
By Joseph Ewart, M.D.j
Bengal Medical Service.
"With Plans, 8vo. Price 16.9. cloth.
District Duties during the Kevolt
In the North- West Provinces of India.
By H. Dundas Robertson,
Bengal Civil Service.
Post Svo, with a Map. Price 9*. cloth.
Campaigning Experiences
In Rajpootana and Central India during the Suppression of the
Mutiny in 1857-8.
By Mrs. Henry Duherly,
Author of "A Journal kept during
the Russian War."
Post Svo, with Map. Price 10s. 6</.
cloth.
Narrative of the Mutinies in Oude.
By Captain G. Hutchinson^
Military Secretary, Oude.
Published by Authority. Post 8vo.
Price 10s. cloth.
Personal Adventures
During the Indian Rebellion in Rohil- cund, Futtehghur, and Oude.
By W. Edwards, Esq., B.C.S.
Fourth Edition, post Svo. cloth.
Price 6s.
A Lady's Escape from Gwalior
During the Mutinies of 1857.
By Mrs. Coopland.
Post Svo. Price 10s. 6c?.
The Crisis in the Punjab.
By Frederick H. Cooper, Esq.,
C.S., Umritsir.
Post Svo, with Map. Price 7s. 6c?.
cloth.
Views and Opinions of Gen. Jacob, C.B.
Edited by Captain Lewis Pelly. Demy Svo. Price 12s. cloth.
The Theory of Caste,
By B. A. Irving.
Svo. 5s. cloth.
Papers of the late Lord Metcalfe.
By John William Kaye. Demy Svo. Price 16s. cloth.
British Rule in India.
By Harriet Martineau. Sixth Thousand. Price 2s. 6c?. cloth.
The English in India :
Being the Early History of the Fac- tory at Surat, of Bombay. By Philip Anderson, A.M. Second Edition, Svo. Price 14s. cloth.
Life in Ancient India.
By Mrs. Spier. With Sixty Illustrations by G. Schaep. Svo. Price 15s., elegantly bound in
cloth, gilt edges.
8
New and Standard Works puhlisJied by
The Parsees :
Their History, Eeligion, Manners, and Customs.
By Dosabhoy Framjee. Post 8vo. Price lO*. cloth.
Tiger Shooting in India.
By Lieutenant William Rice,
25th Bombay N.I.
Super-royal 8vo. With Twelve Plates
in Chromo-lithography. 10s. 6d cloth.
Indian Scenes and Characters,
By Prince Alexis Soltykoff. Sixteen Plates in Tinted Lithography,
with Descriptions. Edited by E. B. Eastwick, Esq., F.R.S. Colombier folio. Prints, 10s. ; proofs
(only Fifty Copies printed), 15s.
The Cauvery, Kistnah, and Godavery :
Being a Report on the Works con- structed on those Rivers, for the Irrigation of Provinces in the Pre- sidency of Madras.
By R. Baird Smith, F.G.S., Lieut.-Col. Bengal Engineers, &c. &c. Demy 8vo, with 19 Plans. 28s. cloth.
The Bhilsa Topes ;
Or, Buddhist Monuments of Central India.
By Major Cunningham.
One Yol. 8vo, with Thirty-three Plates.
Price 30s. cloth.
The Chinese and their Rebellions.
By Thomas Taylor Meadows.
One thick volume, 8vo, with Maps.
Price 18s. cloth.
Hong Kong to Manilla.
By Henry T. Ellis, R.N.
Post 8vo, with Fourteen Illustrations.
i'rice 12s. cloth.
The Defence of Lucknow.
By Captain Thomas F. Wilson,
13th Bengal N.I.
Assistant Adjutant- General.
Sixth Thousand. With Plan. Small post 8vo. Price 2s. 6(f.
Eight Months' Campaign
Against the Bengal Sepoys during the Mutiny, 1857.
By Colonel George Bourchier, C.B. Bengal Horse Artillery.
With Plans. Post 8vo. Price 7s. ed. cloth.
The Commerce of India with Europe,
And its Political Effects.
By B. A. Irving, Esq.
Post 8vo. Price 7s. 6d. cloth.
Land Tax of India.
According to the Moohummudan Law.
By JSr. B. E. Baillie, Esq.
8vo. Price 6s. cloth.
Moohummudan Law of
Sale.
By N. B. E. Baillie, Esq.
8vo. Price 14s. cloth.
Moohummudan Law of Inheritance.
By N. B. E. Baillie, Esq. 8vo. Price 8s. cloth.
The Vital Statistics
Of the European and Native Armies
in India.
By Joseph Ewart, M.D.
Bengal Medical Service.
Demy 8vo. Price 9s. cloth.
Smith, Elder and Co., Q5, Cornhill, London.
MISCELLANEOUS.
On the Strength of Nations.
Bi/ Andrew Bisset, 31. A.
Post 8vo. Price 9s. cloth.
Social Innovators and their Schemes.
By William Lucas Sargant. Post 8vo. Price 10*. 6d cloth.
Ethica ;
Or, Characteristics of Men, Manners, and Books.
By Arthur Lloyd Windsor. Demy 8vo. Price 12s. cloth.
Slavery Doomed ;
Or, the Contest between Free and Slave Labour in the United States.
By Frederick Milns Edge. Post Svo. Price 6s. cloth.
Life of Lord Metcalfe.
By John William Kaye.
New Edition, in Two Vols., post Svo,
with Portrait. Price 12s. cloth.
Life of Sir John Malcolm, G.C.B.
By John William Kaye.
Two Vols. Svo, with Portrait.
Price 36s. cloth.
The Autobiography of Lutfullah.
A Mohamedan Gentleman ; with an
Account of his Visit to England.
Edited by E. B. Eastwick, Esq.
Third Edition, small post Svo.
Price 5s. cloth.
The Life of Mahomet.
And History of Islam to the Era of the Hegira.
By W. Muir, Esq., Bengal C.S. Vols. 1 and 2. Svo. Price 32s. cloth.
Annals of British Legislation :
A Classified Summary of Parliamentary Papers.
Edited by Leone Levi. The yearly issue consists of 1,000 pages, super- royal Svo, and the Sub- scription is Two Guineas, payable in advance. The Eorty-second Part is just issued, commencing the Third Year's Issue. Vols. I. to IV. may be had. Price 41. 4s. cloth.
A Handbook of Average.
With a Chapter on Arbitration.
By Manley Hopkins.
Second Edition, Revised and brought
down to the present time. Svo. Price 15s. cloth; 17s. 6<f. half- bound law calf.
Manual of the Mercantile Law
Of Great Britain and Ireland. By Leone Levi, Esq. Svo. Price 12s. cloth.
Handbook of British Maritime Law.
By Morice. Svo. Price 5s. cloth.
Commercial Law of the World.
By Leone Levi. Two vols, royal 4to. Price SZ. cloth.
Gunnery in 1858 :
A Treatise on Rifles, Cannon, and Sporting Arms.
By William Greener,
Author of " The Gun."
Demy Svo, with Illustrations.
Price 14s. cloth.
10
New and Standard Works published by
Sea Officer's Manual.
By Captain Alfred Parish.
Second Edition. Small post 8vo
Price 5s. cloth.
Victoria,
And the Australian Gold Mines in 1 85 7 .
By William Westgarth. Post Svo, with Maps, 10s. 6c?. cloth.
' New Zealand and its Colonization.
By William Swainson, Esq. Demy Svo. Price 14*. cloth.
The Education of the Human Eace.
Now first Translated from the
German of Lessing. Fcap. Svo, antique cloth. Price As.
Germany and the Tyrol.
By Sir John Forbes.
Post Svo, with Map and View.
Price 10s. 6o?. cloth.
Life in Spain.
By Walter Thornbury.
Two Vols, post Svo, with Eight Tinted
Illustrations, price 2\s.
Life in Tuscany.
By Mabel Sharman Crawford.
With Two Views, post Svo.
Price 10s. 6c?. cloth.
Captivity of Russian Princesses in the Caucasus.
Translated from the Russian by
H. S. Edwards.
With an authentic Portrait of Shamil,
a Plan of his House, and a Map.
Post Svo, price 10s. &d. cloth.
The Life of J. Deacon Hume.
By the Rev. Charles Badham. Post Svo. Price 9s. cloth.
Kesults of Astronomical Observations
Made at the Cape of Good Hope.
By Sir John Herschel.
4 to, with Plates. Price 4/. 4s. cloth.
Geological Observations
On Coral Reefs, Volcanic Islands, and on South America.
By Charles Darwin^ Esq.
With Maps, Plates and Woodcuts.
Price 10s. 6rf. cloth.
On the Treatment of the
Insane.
By John Conolly^ M.D,
Demy Svo. Price 14s, cloth.
Visit to Salt Lake.
Being a Journey across the Plains to the Mormon Settlements at Utah.
By William Chandless.
Post Svo, with a Map. 2s. 6rf. cloth.
The Eed Eiver Settlement.
By Alexander Ross. One vol. post Svo. Price 5s. cloth.
Fur Hunters of the West.
By Alexander Ross.
post Svo, with Map and
Two vols. Plate.
Price 10s. 6c?. cloth.
The Columbia Kiver.
By Alexander Ross. Post Svo. Price 2s. 6rf. cloth.
Smith, Elder and Co., ^5, CornJiill, London.
11
Hints for Investing Money.
By Francis Playford. Second Edition, post 8vo. 2s. 6d. cloth.
Men, Women, and Books.
By Leigh Hunt. Two vols. Price 10s. cloth.
Table Talk. By Leigh Hunt. Price 3s. ed. cloth.
Goethe's Conversations with Eckermann.
Translated by John Oxenford. Two vols, post 8vo. Price 5s. cloth.
True Law of Population.
By Thomas Douhleday. Third Edition, 8vo. Price 6s. cloth.
England and her Soldiers.
By Harriet Martineau. With Three Plates of Illustrative Dia- grams. 1 vol. crown Svo, price 9s. cloth.
Grammar and Dictionary of the Malay Language.
By John Crawfurd^ Esq. Two vols. Svo. Price 36s. cloth.
Turkish Campaign in Asia.
By Charles Duncan, Esq. Post Svo. Price 2s. 6rf. cloth.
Poetics :
An Essay on Poetry.
By E. S. Dallas.
I'ost Svo. Price 2s. 6(/. cloth.
Juvenile Delinquency.
The Prize Essays.
By M. Hill and C. F. Cornwallis.
Post Svo. Price 6s. cloth.
The Endowed Schools of
Ireland.
By Harriet Martineau.
Svo. Price 3s. 6rf. cloth boards.
European Kevolutions
of 1848.
By E. S. Cayley, Esq.
Crown Svo. Price 6s. cloth.
The Court of Henry VIII. :
Being a Selection of the Despatches of Sebastian Giustinian, Venetian Ambassador, 1515-1519.
Translated by Rawdon Brown. Two vols, crown Svo. Price 21s. cloth.
Traits and Stories of Anglo-Indian Life.
By Captain Addison. With Eight Illustrations. 2s. 6rf. cloth.
Infanticide in India.
By Dr. John Wilson. Demy Svo. Price 12s.
Indian Exchange Tables.
By J. H Roberts.
Svo. Second Edition, enlarged.
Price 10s. 6c?. cloth.
The Turkish Interpreter:
A Grammar of the Turkish Language.
By Major Boyd.
Svo. Price 12s.
Eusso-Turkish Campaigns
of 1828-9.
By Colonel Chesney,
R.A., D.C.L.,F.R.S.
Third Edition, Post Svo, with Maps.
Price 12s. cloth.
The Militiaman.
With Two Etcliings, by John Leech. Post Svo. Price 9s. cloth.
12
New and Standard Works published by
Military Forces and Insti- tutions of Great Britain.
Bi/ H. Byerly Thompson. 8vo. Price 5s. cloth.
Wit and Humour.
By Leigh Hunt. Price 5s. cloth.
Jar of Honey from Hybla.
By Leigh Hunt. Price 5s. cloth.
National Sontrs and Legends of Ko^imania.
Translated by E. C. Grenville
Murray^ Esq. With Music, crown 8vo. Price 2s. &d.
On Abscess in the Liver.
By E. J. Waring, M.D. 8vo. Price 3s. 6d.
Manual of Therapeutics.
By E. J. Waring, M.D. Fcap Svo. Price 12s. 6d. cloth.
Zoology of South Africa.
By Dr. Andrew Smith. Royal 4to, cloth, with Coloured Plates.
MAMMALIA £3
AVES 7
REPTILIA 5
PISCES 2
INVERTEBRATE 1
THE
Botany of the Himalaya.
By Dr. Forbes Royle.
Two vols. roy. 4to, clotli, with Coloured
Plates. Reduced to 5/. 5 s.
Memorandums in Ireland.
By Sir John Forbes. Two vols, post Svo. Price 1/. Is. cloth.
The Oxford Museum.
By H. W. Acland, M.D.,
and J. Ruskin, A.M.
Post Svo, with Tliree Illustrations.
Price 2s. 6d. cloth.
The Argentine Provinces.
By William McCann, Esq.
Two vols, post Svo, with Illustrations.
Price 24s. cloth.
Travels in Assam.
By Major John Butler. One vol. Svo, with Plates. 12s. cloth.
Life of Sir Kobert Peel.
By Thomas Doubleday. Two vols. Svo. Price 18s. cloth.
Woman in France.
By Julia Kavanogh.
Two vols, post Svo, with Portraits.
Price 12s. cloth.
The Novitiate ;
Or, the Jesuit in Training.
By Andrew Steinmetz.
Third Edition, post Svo. 2s. %d. cloth.
Signs of the Times ;
Or, The Dangers to Religious Liberty
in the Present Day.
By Chevalier Bunsen.
Translated by Miss S. Winkworth.
One vol. Svo. Price 5s. cloth.
Principles of Agriculture;
Especially Tropical. By B. Lovell Phillips, M.D. Demy Svo. Price 7s, &d. cloth.
William Burke the Author of Junius.
By Jelinger C. Symons, Square. Price 3s. 6d. cl.
Antiquities of Kertch,
And Researches in the Cimmerian Bosphorus. By Duncan McPherson. M.D., Of the Madras Army, F.R.G.S., M.A.I. Imperial 4to, with Fourteen Plates and numerous Illustrations, includ- ing Eight Coloured Fac-Similes of Reliques of Antique Art. Price Two Guineas.
Smithy Elder and Co, Q5, Comhill, London,
13
i^
FICTION.
Lavinia.
By the Author of " Doctor An- tonio," " Lorenzo Benoni," &c. Three Vols.
The Wortlebank Diary :
With Stories from Kathie Brande's
Portfolio.
B?/ Holme Lee,
Author of "Against Wind and Tide,"
" Sylvan Holt's Daughter," &c.
Three Vols.
Over~thrCliffs.
JB^ Mrs. Chanter, Author of " Ferny Combes." 2 vols.
Scarsdale ;
Or, Life on the Lancashire and York- shire Border Thirty Years ago. 3 Vols.
Esmond.
By W. M. Thackeray.
A New Edition, being the third, in
1 vol. crown 8vo. Price 6*. cloth.
Herbert Chauncey:
A Man more Sinned against than
Sinning.
By Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Bart.,
Author of " Below the Surface."
In 3 vols.
Transformation ;
Or, the Romance of Monte Beni.
By Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Author of the " Scarlet Letter," &c.
Third Edition. Li 3 vols.
The Firstborn.
By the Author of ''My Lady:' Three volumes.
Netley Hall;
or, the Wife's Sister. Eoolscap 8vo. 6s., cloth.
Confidences.
By the Author of " Rita:'
Cousin Stella;
Or, Conflict.
By the Author of " Violet Bank:'
Three volumes.
Phantastes :
A Faerie Romance for Men and
Women.
By George Macdonald.
Post 8vo. Price 10s. 6rf. cloth.
Against Wind and Tide.
By Holme Lee,
Author of " Sylvan Holt's Daughter."
Three volumes.
Grey more :
A Story of Country Life. Three volumes.
The Cousins' Courtship.
By John R. Wise. Two vols.
The Fool of Quality.
By Henry Brooke. New and Revised Edition, with Biogra- phical Preface by the Rev. Chas. KiNGSLEY, Rector of Eversley. Two vi Is., post 8vo, with Portrait of tlie Author, price 21*.
Trust for Trust.
By A. J. Barroivclijfe,
Author of "Amberhill."
Three volumes.
Ellen Kaymond;
Or, Ups and Downs.
By Mrs. Vidal,
Author of " Tales for the Bush," &c.
Three volumes.
14
New and Standard Works published hy
CHEAP SERIES OF POPULAR WORKS.
Transformation.
By Nathaniel Hawthorne. Price 2s. 6rf. cloth.
The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt.
Price 2s. 6rf. cloth.
Price 2s. 6rf. each vol. WOEKS OF THE BRONTE SISTEES.
By Currer Bell. The Professor.
To which are added the Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Now first collected.
Jane Eyre. Shirley. Yillette.
Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey.
By Ellis and Acton Bell. With Memoir by Cukrer Bell.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
By Acton Bell. Life of Charlotte Bronte
(Currer Bell), By Mrs. Gas/cell.
Lectures on the English Humourists
Of the Eighteenth Century.
By W. M. Thackeray,
Author of " Vanity Fair," " Esmond,"
« The Virginians," &c.
Price 2s. &d. cloth.
ThTrWn.
By Leigh Hunt.
With Forty-five Engravings.
Price 2s. 6c?. cloth.
Kathie Brande :
The Fireside History of a Quiet Life.
By Holme Lee,
Author of " Sylvan Holt's Daughter."
Price 2s. 6(/. cloth.
Below the Surface. By Sir A. H Elton, Bart., M.P. Price 2s. 6rf. cloth.
British India.
By Harriet Martineau. Price 2s. %d. cloth.
Italian Campaigns of General Bonaparte.
By George Hooper. With a Map. Price 2s. 6</. cloth.
Deerbrook.
By Harriet Martineau. Price 2s. 6^ cloth.
Tales of the Colonies.
By Charles Rowcroft. 2s. erf. cloth.
A Lost Love.
By Ashford Owen. 2s. cloth.
Romantic Tales
(Including " Avillion ")
By the Author of " John Halijax,
Gentleman.''^ 2s. erf. cloth.
Domestic Stories.
By the same Author. 2s. erf. cloth.
After Dark.
By Wilkie Collins. 2s. erf. cloth.
School for Fathers.
By Talbot Gwynne. 2s. cloth.
Paul Ferroll.
Fourth Edition. Price 2s. cloth.
Smith, Elder and Co, Q5, Comhill, London,
15
JUVENILE AND EDUCATIONAL.
The Parents' Cabinet
Of Amusement and Instruction for Young Persons.
New Edition, revised, in Twelve Shil- ling Volumes, with numerous Illus- trations.
*^* The work is now complete in 4 vols, extra cloth, gilt edges, at 3s. 6d. each ; or in 6 vols, extra cloth, gilt edges, at 2s, 6c?. each.
Every volume is complete in itself, and sold separately.
By the Author of " Round the Fire," &c. I.
Round the Fire:
Six Stories for Young Readers.
Square 16mo, with Four Illustrations.
Price 2s, 6c?. cloth.
II.
Unica :
A Story for a Sunday Afternoon. With Four Illustrations. 2s. 6d. cloth.
III.
Old Gingerbread and the Schoolboys.
With Four Coloured Plates. 2s. 6d. cl.
Willie's Birthday:
Showing how a Little Boy did*^what he
Liked, and how he Enjoyed it.
With Four Illustrations. 2s. cloth.
Willie's Eest:
A Sunday Story. With Four Illustrations. 2s. cloth.
Vi.
Uncle Jack, the Fault Killer.
With Four Illustrations. 2s. Gd. cloth.
Legends from Fairy Land.
By Holme Lee,
Author of " Kathie Brande," " Sylvan
Holt's Daughter," &c. With Eight Illustrations. 3s. %d. cloth.
The King of the Golden River ;
Or, the Black Brothers.
By John Euskin, M.A,
Third Edition, with 22 Illustrations hy
Bichard Doyle. Price 2s. 6c?.
Elementary Works on Social Economy.
By William Ellis. Uniform in foolscap 8vo, half-hound.
I.-OUTLINES OF SOCIAL ECONOMY. l«.6<f. II.— PROGRESSIVE LESSONS IN SOCIAL
SCIENCE. III.— INTRODUCTION TO THE SOCIAL
SCIENCES. 2«. IV.-OUTLINES OY THE UNDERSTANDING. 2s. v.— WHAT AM I ? WHERE AM I P WHAT OUGHT I TO DO ? &c. Is. sewed.
Eeligion in Common Life.
By William Ellis. Post 8vo. Price 7s. 6d cloth.
Books for the Blind.
Printed in raised Roman letters, at the Glasgow Asylum.
Ehymes for Little Ones.
With 16 Illustrations. Is. 6d cloth.
Stories from the Parlour Printing Press.
By the Authors of the " Parent's
Cabinet.^''
Fcap 8vo. Price 2s. cloth.
Juvenile Miscellany.
Six Engravings. Price 2s. %d. cloth.
16 . Smithy Elder and Co.^s New and Standard Works.
POETRY.
Homely Ballads
For the Working Man's Fireside.
Bi/ Mary SewelL
Ninth Thousand. Post 8vo, cloth, Is,
Christ's Company and other Poems.
By Richard Watson Dixon, M.A. Fcap 8vo, price .5s. cloth.
A Man's Heart : a Poem.
By Dr. Charles Mackay.
Author of " Life and Liberty in
America."
Post 8vo. Price 5s. cloth.
The Six Legends of King Goldenstar.
By the late Anna Bradstreet. Fcap 8vo. Price 5s.
Magdalene : a Poem.
Fcap 8vo. Price Is.
Hannibal; a Drama.
Fcap 8yo. Price 5s. cloth.
Memories of Merton.
By John Bruce Norton. Fcap 8vo. Price 5s. cloth.
Stanzas.
By Archibald York. Fcap 8vo. Price 2s. 6rf. cloth.
Stories in Verse for the Street and Lane :
Being the Second Series of " Homely Ballads for the Working Man's Fireside." By Mrs. Sewell. Post 8vo. Cloth, price Is.
Edwin and Ethelburga :
A Drama.
By Frederick W. Wyon.
Fcap 8vo. Price 4s. cloth.
Shelley ; and other Poems.
By John Alfred Lang ford. Fcap. 8vo. Price 5s. cloth.
THE CORNHILL MAGAZINE.
Edited by W, M, Thackeray,
Price One Shilling Monthly, with Illustrations.
A NEW STORY, BY MR. THACKERAY,
ENTITLED
"THE ADVENTURE&^F PHILIP ON HIS WAY THROUGH THE WORLD,
SHOWING WHO R0^:D HDI, W^HO helped him, and who passed him BY;"
To he continued "iroughout Sixteen Numbers, commenced on the First of Jamiai^.
Volumes I. and II., each containing 768 pages of Letterpress, with 12 Illustrations, 40 Vignettes and Diagrams, and a Chart, is now ready, handsomely bound in Embossed Cloth. Price Is. 6d.
For the convenience of Subscribers, the Embossed Cloth Cover for the Volume will be sold separately, price One Shilling.
Reading Covers for separate Numbers have also been prepared, price Sixpence in plain Cloth, or One Shilling and Sixpence in French Morocco.
London : Printed by Smith, Elder and Co., Little Gre«n Arbour Court, Old Bailey, E.G.
ft
a a-
jfL O 3> CD
^«
o •