twelve at least, and I do not think the same number could have been brought together at Trinity who would have showed such incompetence to amuse or be amused by, to teach something to or learn something from, a stranger. There is an absurd, irritating, boarding-school-like system of petty rules prevailing at most of the Oxford Colleges, making a state affair of the merest trifles, such as getting half a cold fowl from the buttery, which must belittle the minds of all concerned either in enforcing or suffering it. Confectioners are not allowed to send ice-cream to a student's rooms; it has to be smuggled in. On asking the cause of this peculiar prohibition, I was told in sober seriousness that the enactment was first made at the time of the cholera in 1832, and that as it was not the custom to alter any law at Oxford that had once been passed, it had remained in force ever since. A determined radical might attribute the backwardness of the Oxford men to the old Tory character of the University and the greater number of noblemen and rich men here than at Cambridge; nor is it improbable that these causes have something to do with it. An admirer of science and contemner of the dead languages might account for the different intellectual condition of the two Universities by the compelled study of Mathematics at Cambridge, and their almost entire absence at Oxford. But unfortunately for this solution, it happens that at Cambridge the Classical men are usually the ones most distinguished for general literary knowledge and enlightened views. Trinity, the great Classical College, is the great Whig College also, and St. John's, the nursery of Senior Wranglers, is equally the hot-bed of bigotry. Indeed it was this that always puzzled me when speculating on the subject; the general plan of the Oxford system seemed more liberal and liberalizing than that of the Cambridge. No compulsory Mathematics; what was compulsory the study of one of the most practical and acute authors, not merely of his own age, but of any age, sufficient viva voce to give readiness and confidence, yet the actual result proved just the other way, whether I relied on my own experience or trusted the testimony of others; there was far less general knowledge and love of literature, and infinitely less liberality of sentiment at Oxford than at Cambridge. Without pretending to explain the discrepancy, I shall make bold to hint at one or two things that may have something to do with it. There is one way in which the Mathematical element at Cambridge may make that University more progressive than the other. The higher branches of Mathematics certainly require and exercise originality more than Classical studies, and accordingly, the good Mathematicians who come up to Cambridge (for making a man a mathematician who is not so naturally I consider a very exceptional case, and we must therefore look rather at the influence which the Mathematicians have on the University than the influence which it has on them) may infuse more originality of thought and speculation into the whole body. Against this, however, must be set off the engrossing nature of the study of Mathematics, which demands the learner's whole concentrated attention, and gives him a perilous bias one way; but this does not apply to the Graduates and Fellows, who have leisure to turn their thoughts to other subjects. Again, there is an evident tendency at Oxford to read authors too much in reference to their matter only, so that with the exception of the Composition-and that depends in a great measure on early practice and drill—a memory of extraordinary capacity is the great reliance in the Schools. Now, our feeling at Cambridge was rather against an extraordinary memory, unless it was accompanied by extraordinary talent: as standing instead of talent, it was looked down upon, and deemed an accomplishment for a boy rather than for a man. Such a one would do better, I often heard it said, if he had not so good a memory; he depends too much upon it, and does not think enough. I suspect, too, that the absence of College examinations at which honor can be gained, and the paucity of College and University prizes at Oxford, have an unfavorable effect. Moreover, the Scholarships and Fellowships are, with some noble exceptions,* usually close; they depend on favor or locality of birthplace or school. It must happen that many good men grow tired of reading three years for a single end, without any intermediate diversion or stimulus, and are tempted into the ranks of the idle and dissipated; while those who continue their reading become cramped and rusty from the fixed pursuit. These remarks on Oxford are very imperfect and unsatisfactory, I am well aware. The incurious nature of most Oxford men, and the difficulty of getting any information out of them, must be my excuse. * Such as the Balliol Fellowships, open to the whole Usersity by examination. PRIVATE TUITION. σύν τε δύ ἐρχομένω, καὶ τε πρὸ ὁ τοῦ ἐνόησεν. ΟΝ ILIAD X. 224. N returning from my short visit to Oxford, I set to work for the English Essay, and soon after finishing and sending in my exercise (name under seal as usual) was encouraged by taking solus, the University Latin Essay Prize. Before this, however, I had started with the intention of going out next year in both Triposes, and had accordingly put on two coaches. My old friend Travis being no longer a resident, I had, recourse to a Johnian, one of the few Classical men of that College, as different a man from Travis as might be, but quite a character too in his way. He was so large and dignified in person as to have acquired the sobriquet of Jupiterin those miserable, drizzling, spitting days of which the English climate boasts an extra share, we used to appeal to him, by this name, to exercise his influence with the clerk of the weather-one of the best natured and one of the laziest of mortals: his end and occupation and pleasure seemed to be to lie all day on a sofa, writing Greek and Latin verses, which he did beautifully, or reading English poetry. For Mathematics-having to begin from the beginning, the six months before me were not too long a time—I took shelter in a great refuge of Classical men, who had a wonderful reputation for putting through incapables, and worked some thirty or forty pupils regularly. This "putting on two coaches for the last Long," is an ordinary practice; and there are few terms or vacations during which a student is not engaged with one tutor at least. Being so important a feature in the University system, private tuition demands a more particular examination and description than the occasional references to it hitherto incidentally made supply. The private tutor at an English University corresponds, as has already been observed, in many respects to the Professor at a German. The German professor is not necessarily attached to any specific chair; he receives no fixed stipend, and has not public lecture rooms; he teaches at his own house, and the number of his pupils depends on his reputation. The Cambridge private tutor is also a Graduate, who takes pupils at his rooms in numbers proportionate to his reputation and ability. And although, while the German professor is regularly licensed as such by his University, and the existence of the private tutor as such is not even officially recognized by his, still this difference is more apparent than real; for the English University has virtually licensed the tutor to instruct in a particular branch by the standing she has given him in her Examinations. Thus a high Wrangler may be considered ipso facto a competent instructor in Mathematics, and so on. But the private tutor's of fice is somewhat peculiar in the details of instruction, owing to the causes which first called the system into being and now perpetuate it. The publicity given to College and University Honors, and the importance assigned to them, have been already more than once alluded to. They exceed anything of which we have any conception in our academical institutions. True, the publicity does not come in the same way; there is no crowding to Commence |