CAMBRIDGE J.W. CLARK n . ^ ** V * * CAMBRIDGE BY J. W. CLARK M.A. REGISTRARY OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY NEW EDITION WITH FORTY-SIX ILLUSTRATIONS PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: SEELEY & co. LIMITED 1908 Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty Stack Annex CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE MEDIEVAL TOWN . ,, II. THE STORY OP PETERHOUSE MARKET HILL THE ,, in. GREAT ST. MARY'S CHURCH : CLARE HALL: PEMBROKE COLLEGE IV. THE EARLY HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE ,, V. THE FURTHER HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE VI. KING'S COLLEGE ,, vii. KING'S COLLEGE (continued) . PAGE 13 41 70 96 116 141 159 VIIL ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE : CHRIST'S COLLEGE 188 ,, IX. COLLEGE OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE: COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRA- RIES 207 X. GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE : QUEENS' COLLEGE : EMMANUEL COL- LEGE 224 ,, XL JESUS COLLEGE 247 ,, XII. SOCIAL LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE ' 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE* 265 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TRINITY COLLEGE GATEWAY Frontispiece. From a Drawing by George Morrow. AT PAGE GRANTCHESTER MILL 22 From a Drawing by E, Hull. GATE-HOUSE OP CAMBRIDGE CASTLE, PROM A VIEW TAKEN IN 1773 26 THE ROUND CHURCH ; OR CHURCH OP THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 30 From a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. INTERIOR OP THE CHURCH OP THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 32 From a Drawing by A. Brunei Debaines. CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE AND THE TOWER OP ST. BENET'S 34 From an Etching by A . Brunei Debaines. CORPUS BUILDINGS 38 From a Drawing by E. Hull. PETERHOUSE : EXTERIOR OF THE SOUTH SIDE OP THE PRINCIPAL COURT .... 42 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. THE OLD CONDUIT 52 From a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. MARKET HILL; WITH THE NEW CONDUIT AND ST. MARY'S CHURCH 56 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. B 9 CAMBRIDGE AT PAGE CLARE COLLEGE 88 Prom a Drawing by E. Hull. GATE OP ENTRANCE, CLARE COLLEGE, AS SEEN FROM THE INTERIOR OP THE COURT . . 90 From a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. ORIEL WINDOW OF THE LODGE, PEMBROKE COLLEGE, NOW DESTROYED, FROM THE GARDEN 92 From a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. THE GREAT COURT OP TRINITY COLLEGE . . 98 From an Etching by A . Brunei Debaines. THE GREAT GATE OF TRINITY COLLEGE . . 100 From a Drawing by A. Brunei Debaines. NEVILE'S COURT AT TRINITY COLLEGE . . 104 From an Etching by H. Toussaint. THE CAM NEAR TRINITY COLLEGE, WITH THE TOWER OF ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL . . . 112 From an Etching by A. Brunei Debaines. THE NEW COURT OF TRINITY COLLEGE . . 128 From a Drawing by E. Hull. THE AVENUE OF TRINITY COLLEGE . . . 136 From a Drawing by E. Hull. SOUTH PORCH OP KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL . 152 From a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, FROM BEYOND THE RIVER . . . 162 From an Etching by H. Toussaint. INTERIOR OF KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL . . 168 From an Etching by H. Toussaint. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE .190 From an Etching by H. Toussaint. GATE OF ENTRANCE, ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE . . 194 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. 10 ILLUSTRATIONS AT PAGE GATEWAY IN THE THIRD COURT OP ST. JOHN'S 198 From a Drawing by A. Brunei Debaines. THE OLD BRIDGE OP ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE . . 200 From, a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. THE GARDEN OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE ... 204 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. PEPYSIAN LIBRARY, MAGDALENE COLLEGE . 210 From a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. TRINITY HALL LIBRARY 214 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. CARVINGS IN TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY . . 218 From an Etching by H. Toussaint. GATE OF VIRTUE AT CAIUS COLLEGE . . . 230 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. NORTH SIDE OF THE GATE OF HONOUR, CAIUS COLLEGE 234 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. GALLERY IN THE PRESIDENT'S LODGE AT QUEENS' COLLEGE 236 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. BRIDGE OF QUEENS' COLLEGE, LOOKING NORTH 238 From a Drawing by H. Toussaint. THE LODGE OF QUEENS' COLLEGE . . . .240 From an Etching by H. Toussaint. CHAPEL AND CLOISTER OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE, FROM THE GARDEN 242 From a Drawing by A . Brunei Debaines. THE SENATE HOUSE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 244 From a Drawing by A. Brunei Debaines. EAST END OF JESUS COLLEGE CHAPEL, FROM THE NEW COURT 258 From a Drawing by A. E. Pearce. 11 CAMBRIDGE AT PAGE GATE OF ENTRANCE TO JESUS COLLEGE . . 260 From a Draining by A. E. Pearce. OUTER COURT OF JESUS COLLEGE, LOOKING TO THE SOUTH-WEST CORNER .... 262 From o Drawing by A. E. Pearce. PEITHETAIROS AND BASILEIA 266 From ' The Birds' of Aristophanes, as performed at Cambridge in 1883. PEITHETAIROS AND PROMETHEUS .... 268 From ' The Birds' of Aristophanes. THE COCK 270 From ' The Birds ' of Aristophanes. PEITHETAIROS AND EUELPIDES ATTACKED BY THE BIRDS 276 From ' The Birds ' of A ristophanes. THE SENATE HOUSE, CONFERRING DEGREES . 300 THE WOODEN SPOON . 306 12 CAMBRIDGE THE MEDIEVAL TOWN WHEN an antiquary examines a Cathedral which at first sight appears to present uniformity of design, he not unfrequently finds that the choir is of one period, the nave of another, the tran- septs of a third; all having been built long subsequently to the foundation of the primitive church, whose walls and piers must be disin- terred from underneath the statelier additions of more recent times. Those who would trace the history of one of our populous towns are obliged to pursue much the same process. The fortifications have been pulled down long ago; half the churches have served as quarries out of which the other half have been built; and though an old name of a street may here or there survive, the primitive town is hidden 13 CAMBRIDGE away under the modern one as completely as is a hermit's cell beneath the Cathedral raised to commemorate his saintly life. A University town, however, though it has outgrown its ancient limits, and been modernised in diverse ways, is less subject to change than almost any other. The colleges guard their territories with jealous care; they allow of no encroachment; they alienate no portion of the sacred soil, except on rare occasions to some other College, or to the University, for University purposes; and, moreover, they gradually acquire so much property in the town, that they can regulate, in some degree, the extent and direction of its development. Thus, though the colleges of Cambridge have been a good deal altered and enlarged since their first foundation, and even since 1690, as is proved by comparing the exist- ing structures with David Loggan's engravings, taken shortly before that year though some have even been entirely rebuilt ; yet the ancient landmarks have not been obliterated. Time has dealt gently with them on the whole; revolu- tion, notwithstanding all that has been said to the contrary, has hardly done them severer injury than the destruction of a Virgin's head 14 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN or the defacement of a royal scutcheon ; nay, even in regard of ordinary accidents, they have been singularly fortunate. In the words of Fuller : 'Whosoever shall consider in both Universities the ill contrivance of many chimnies, hollowness of hearths, shallowness of tunnels, carelessness of coals and candles, catchingness of papers, narrowness of studies, late reading and long watching of scholars, cannot but conclude that an especial providence preserveth those places. How small a matter hath sometimes made a partition betwixt the fire and the fuel? Thus an hair's breadth, fixed by a divine finger, shall prove as effectual a separation from danger as a mile's distance. And although both Universities have had sad accidents in this kind, yet neither in number or nature (since the Reformation) so destructive as in other places : so that, blessed be God, they have been rather scare-fires than hurt- fires unto them.' If, however, the town of Cambridge has been, on the whole, but little altered by comparison with other places that have increased with equal rapidity, a more thorough change has been wrought in the neighbourhood in the last fifty years than in most other parts of England in five hundred. On the one hand, the open country 15 CAMBRIDGE has been enclosed ; on the other, the Fen-land has been drained. Let us try to imagine the condition of this latter district in the Middle Age, when Cambridge was a frontier fortress on the edge of the great wild that then stretched away towards the north-east as far as the Wash. It was crossed by only one great Roman Way, the Akeman Street, which led from Cambridge to Brancaster; and even this carefully avoided the low grounds, passing from island to island with such skill in engineering that not more than nine miles of fen had to be traversed between Cambridge and the high ground of Norfolk. Right and left of this causeway stretched a sea of peat-moss, all but impassable except to those who were in the secret of its fords and by-ways, traversed by sluggish rivers, and dotted here and there with green islands, chief of which was the central eminence of Ely Isle, the holy hill of Etheldreda, the Camp of Refuge to which the Saxons fled when they made their last deter-, mined resistance to the Norman invaders. Not- withstanding all its drawbacks the agues and fevers that racked the inhabitants, the outlaws who plundered them, and the Danish invaders who could easily ascend the rivers, and burn and 16 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN murder after their manner the Fen-land must have had a beauty and interest of its own, such as is always to be found where Nature is left undisturbed, and bird, and beast, and insect multiply without the interference of man. It is all gone now. Two thousand square miles of the finest corn-land in England have replaced mere and reed-bed ; the amphibious population of the fen ' yellow-bellies,' as their neighbours of terra firma contemptuously styled them have become opulent and portly farmers, so portly indeed that a big hole in a dyke, through which the water was pouring in a storm, defying all efforts to restrain it, is said to have been effectually stopped by the simple expedient of the farmer sitting down in it ; and the soil that it was once thought impossible, if not impious, to drain, has now become so dry that in a certain hot summer a few years ago water had to be pumped into the Fen instead of out of it. Here and there, as in Wicken Fen, a few acres of primeval wilderness survive to give us some idea of what the rest once was. The ground where the marsh-fern still flourishes is sodden with black, unwholesome water ; the sedge and the reeds are breast-high ; and in summer-time c 17 CAMBRIDGE the great swallow-tailed butterflies float lazily about as they did of old. However, as Kingsley said in his beautiful rhapsody on the Fens : 'We shall have wheat and mutton instead, and no more typhus and ague ; and, it is to be hoped, no more brandy-drinking and opium-eating ; and children will live and not die. For it was a hard place to live in, the old Fen, a place where one heard of "unexampled instances of longevity," for the same reason that one hears of them in savage tribes, that few lived to old age at all, save those iron con- stitutions which nothing could break down.' No doubt the Fen was a hard taskmaster, and some of those who dwelt in it were not gentle either, for chains and collars to harness captives, and chains wherewith slaves were yoked as they worked, have been found in it; yet it had a bright side as well as a gloomy one, and parts of it were a very paradise of fertility. Here is a picture of the Isle of Ely, from the Liber Eliensis, as it appeared in the eleventh century. The speaker is a French knight who has been taken prisoner by Hereward, and having been hospitably entertained by him, returns to William's camp and describes what he had seen : 18 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN 'In our Isle men are not troubling themselves about the siege; the ploughman has not taken his hand from the plough, nor has the hunter cast aside his arrow, nor does the fowler desist from beguiling birds. If you care to hear what I have heard and seen with my own eyes, I will reveal all to you. The Isle is within itself plenteously endowed ; it is sup- plied with various kinds of herbage ; and in richness of soil surpasses the rest of England. Most delight- ful for charming fields and pastures, it is also remark- able for beasts of chase ; and is, in no ordinary way, fertile in flocks and herds. Its woods and vineyards are not worthy of equal praise ; but it is begirt by great meres and fens as though by a strong wall. In this Isle there is an abundance of domestic cattle, and a multitude of wild animals ; stags, roes, goats, and hares are found in its groves and by those fens. Moreover, there is a fair sufficiency of otters, weasels, and polecats ; which in a hard winter are caught by traps, snares, or by any other device. But what am I to say of the kinds of fishes and of fowls, both those that fly and those that swim ? In the eddies at the sluices of these meres are netted innumerable eels, large water- wolves, with pickerels, perches, roaches, burbots, and lampreys, which we call water-snakes. It is, indeed, said by many that sometimes salmon are taken there, together with the royal fish, the sturgeon. As for the birds that abide there and thereabouts, if you are not tired of listening to me, I will tell you about them, as I have told you about 19 CAMBRIDGE the rest. There are fine geese, teal, coots, didappers, water-crows, herons, and ducks, more than man can number, especially in winter or at moulting time. I have seen a hundred nay, even three hundred taken at once ; sometimes by bird-lime, sometimes in nets or snares.' This vast prodigality of life has perished with the morasses and the meres that sheltered it, and year by year, as drainage become more extensive and more thorough, the Cambridge market is more scantily furnished from the Fen. The stag, the roe, and the goat have been long extinct, and their existence is only revealed to us by the abundance of their bones that are found in the all-preserving peat. Many another animal is proved by the same evidence to have once existed in the Fen, or near it ; the gigantic aurochs, which, on the Continent, survived till the Lombard invasion of Italy ; the smaller short-horned ox ; the wild cat, marten, badger, otter, bear ; and last, but not least, beaver, in sufficient abundance to show that there must have been numerous colonies of them there. The drainage of Whittlesea Mere, completed in 1850, destroyed the last home of one of the most remarkable of British insects, the great copper 20 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN butterfly ; and of many birds also. Snipe are said to breed no longer in the Fen ; while ruffs and reeves, godwits, spoonbills, bitterns, and herons, are almost as much creatures of the past as the pelican, whose former existence is proved by a couple of his wingbones preserved in the Cambridge University Museum. On the western edge of the Fen-land, where the higher ground terminates on the left bank of the Cam in an eminence of considerable height, stood the Roman station of Camboritum. This commanding position had already been taken possession of by an earlier race, as is shown by the lofty mound called Castle Hill, probably a British earth-work. This was in- cluded within the precincts of the Roman fortifications, traces of which can still be re- cognised. They measured about 1650 feet from north to south, by 1600 feet from east to west. At this point the Akeman Street left the Fen, and was crossed, at almost right angles, by a second Roman Way, the Via Devana, which ran from Colchester to Chester. The situation of Camboritum, at the junction of two such im- portant roads, probably saved it from the de- struction which overtook so many Roman towns 21 CAMBRIDGE in the havoc of the English conquest, and caused it to be at once occupied by the conqueror. It is not to Cambridge, therefore, but to some other Roman station that Bede refers, when he relates how Sexburga, sister of Etheldreda, foundress of Ely, sent to seek a marble sarcophagus fit to contain the saint's remains. ' The brethren whom she sent,' says the historian, ' took ship and came to a certain ruined town at no great distance, which in the English tongue is called Grantacsestir ; there presently they found, hard by the walls, a white marble coffin, exquisitely wrought, with a lid of the same material.' This description does not suit Cambridge, where few Roman remains have been discovered ; but, on the other hand, it suits Grantchester exceed- ingly well, a village about three miles higher up the stream, where there is a well-marked Roman encampment, and where there was evidently an extensive cemetery, for many ancient coffins may still be seen, built into the walls of the church and churchyard. This town was appar- ently early deserted in favour of Camboritum, which, for the reasons mentioned above, was the more convenient and important station. Camboritum stood nearly opposite to the 22 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN northernmost limit of a considerable bend of the river, which is crossed by a bridge at the bottom of the hill commanded by the camp or castle. As there is evidence that the road which passes over this bridge is the southward extension of the Via Devana, it is almost certain that the river has always been crossed at the same place. In ancient times fords were used instead of bridges, and, in fact, in the middle of the last century, when the bridge was being repaired, traces of a ford were found in this place. It may therefore be suggested that Camboritum signifies ' the ford (ritum) at the bend,' a name derived from the position of the high ground, which effectually commanded the passage of the river. In the Middle Ages the name Camboritum seems to have been either unknown or forgotten ; Grantebrigge or Cantebrigge is the only name in use, while the river, if a name more distinct than ' the running water ' is used for it, is called le Ee, or le Rhee, a name which is still applied to the upper part of its course. The name Granta reappears on Saxton's map of Cambridgeshire (1576) ; and in Spenser's Faery Queene (1590), under the form Guant : 23 CAMBRIDGE ' Next these the plenteous Ouse came far from land, By many a city and by many a towne, And many rivers taking under-hand Into his waters, as he passeth downe, (The Cle, the Were, the Guant, the Sture, the Rowne), Thence doth by Huntingdon and Cambridge flit ; My mother, Cambridge, whom, as with a crowne, He doth adorne, and is adorn'd of it With many a gentle muse and many a learned wit.' Camden, writing in 1586, recognises the Cam as well as the Granta : ' By what name writers termed this River, it is a question : some call it Granta, others Camus.' On Speed's map of Cambridgeshire (1610) the name Cam occurs alone, written twice, once above, and once below, Cambridge ;" Milton personifies it as a river-god in Lycidas (1638) : ' Next Camus, reverend sire, went footing slow, His mantle hairy and his bonnet sedge, Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe ' ; and on Loggan's map of Cambridge (1688) the words The River Cam are written out in full, without any other designation. On the other hand, so late as 1702, an Act of Parliament for improving the navigation speaks of the River Cham, alias the Grant. The usefulness of this stream to the inhabitants 24 of Cambridge whatever name they gave to it was very great. Until the beginning of the seventeenth century it supplied them, to a great extent, with water for household use ; and until the construction of railways it was the principal highway along which provender of all sorts, fuel, and heavy goods, were brought to the town. This explains the ill-feeling excited at different times as the colleges gradually acquired and closed up the lanes leading to it. We quote a graphic description of the advantages derived from the river which appears in a work called Cantabrigia Depicta, published in 1763. The name, it will be observed, is still The Grant. ' The Air of Cambridge is very healthful, and the Town plentifully supplied with excellent Water, not only from the River and Aqueduct already men- tioned, but from the numerous Springs on every Side of it ; some of them medicinal. Nor is it better supplied with Water, than it is with other neces- saries of Life. The purest Wine they receive by the Way of Lynn : Flesh, Fish, Wild-fowl, Poultry, Butter, Cheese, and all Manner of Provisions, from the adjacent country : Firing is cheap ; Coals from Seven-pence to Nine-pence a Bushel ; Turf, or rather Peat, four Shillings a Thousand ; Sedge, with which the Bakers heat their Ovens, four Shillings per D 25 CAMBRIDGE hundred Sheaves: These, together with Osiers, Reeds and Rushes used in several Trades, are daily imported by the River Grant. Great Quantities of Oil, made of Flax-Seed, Cole-Seed, Hemp and other Seeds, ground or pressed by the numerous Mills in the Isle of Ely, are brought up this River also ; and the Cakes, after the Oil is pressed out, afford the Farmer an excellent Manure to improve his Grounds. By the River also they receive 1500 or 2000 Firkins of Butter every Week, from Norfolk and the Isle of Ely, which is sent by Waggons to London : Besides which, great quantities are made in the neighbour- ing Villages, for the Use of the University and Town, and brought fresh to Market every Day, except Monday. Every Pound of this Butter is rolled, and drawn out to a Yard in Length, about the Bigness of a Walking-Cane ; which is mentioned as peculiar to this Place. The Fields near Cambridge furnish the Town with the best Saffron in Europe, which sells usually from 24 to 30 Shillings a Pound.' On the site of Roman Camboritum "William the Conqueror founded Cambridge Castle in 1068, on his return from the conquest of York ; and in the following year he took up his abode there while conducting the operations against Ely, where Hereward was commanding in person. At this time the town of Cambridge must have been almost entirely confined to the district 26 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN round the Castle, still popularly called the Burgh or Borough ; and before William came, it evidently occupied the site of the Roman station, for twenty-seven houses are said to have been destroyed by him to make way for the Castle. The fortifications were confined to the high ground, for it was clearly needless to guard even the passage of the river below. Danger was to be expected from the fen in front, not from the arable land behind, or from the open grass-covered Gogmagog Hills to the south-east, whence the great dyke, called ' Devil's Dyke,' stretched down to the river by Reche, at the entrance to Burwell Fen, a sure defence from assailants in that direction. The further history of the Castle is singularly uneventful. No deeds of arms are recorded in connection with it; it was never taken, nor, so far as we know, ever defended. In the first quarter of the fourteenth century part of it became a prison, and the rest was gradually pulled down. Edward the Third built his college of King's Hall with some of the materials ; Henry the Fifth granted stone and timbers out of it for the erection of the chapel of the same ; and in 1441 Henry the Sixth allowed the provost and scholars of 27 CAMBRIDGE King's College to make similar use of the hall and a chamber adjoining, then unroofed and ruinous. Notwithstanding these grants, the Keep is alluded to as still standing in 1553; and in 1642, when the Earl of Manchester held Cambridge for the Parliament, it appears to have been easily put into an efficient state of defence, with the help of materials seized from Clare Hall, the rebuilding of which had been begun shortly before. We read of breastworks, and bulwarks, and strong fortifications. These were again demolished at the restoration of peace; but the Gate-house remained until 1842, but little altered from the appearance it presents in our woodcut, which is copied from a view taken in 1773. The County Courts and the Gaol now occupy the site. The Castle Hill, unoccupied by buildings, is the occasional resort of sight- seers, for the sake of the fine view to be obtained from it. It used to be a favourite joke to per- suade 'freshmen' to mount it, in the hope of ' seeing the term divide,' an operation which they were led to believe was attended by certain solemn portents when the Cambridge Calendar announced that 'the term divides at midnight.' 28 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN At its first origin, then, the town of Cambridge was limited to a few houses round the Castle, and along the street leading to and from the ford at the foot of the Castle Hill. The ford, it must be remembered, must always have been of great importance, for it was the only point at which merchandise and cattle could pass the river on their way from the Eastern Counties to the Midlands. It is conceivable, therefore, that even without the Norman stronghold, and with- out the University, a town might have grown up at this spot. The origin of the University cannot be defined. It did not spring into being in any particular year, or at the bidding of any particular founder ; it grew up gradually, as a voluntary association of teachers and taught, governed by enactments framed by the body itself, and sanctioned or repealed from time to time. It used to be asserted that it owed its origin to the two great Benedictine monasteries of the Fen-land, Croy- land and Ely ; and we know that monks from the latter house did resort to Cambridge for study at a very early date. But they would hardly have gone out into the wilderness to found an institution for which Croyland or Ely 29 CAMBRIDGE would have afforded an equally suitable site; the fact that they came proves that schools must have been already in existence. More extended research in monastic archives may elicit further facts respecting the early connection of the great religious Orders with Oxford and Cam- bridge ; for the present we will be content with the fact that we owe to the convent of Ely the establishment of the collegiate system at Cam- bridge. Bishop Hugh de Balsham, who before his promotion had been sub-prior of the convent, and may have been a student in the schools of Cambridge, unquestionably founded Peterhouse in 1284. By the end of the thirteenth century the town of Cambridge had outgrown the narrow limits that were sufficient for it when the Castle was built, and had extended itself over the level ground on the opposite side of the river, to the right and left of the Roman road, the course of which is marked by the long straight street that runs through Cambridge from north to south, and is called Bridge Street, Sidney Street, and St. Andrew's Street, in different parts of its course. Nearest to the Castle, on the right of the street, stood the Hospital of St. John, founded, 30 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN in all probability, by John Frost, a burgher of Cambridge, though subsequently the Bishops of Ely, as Baker, the historian of St. John's, says, 'set up for founders and patrons' of it. Into this corporation of regular canons Hugh de Balsham introduced certain secular scholars, under the idea that they would become 'one body and one college ' (unum corpus et unum collegium), and made due provision for their maintenance independently of the brethren. The intention was excellent, the result a failure. The two sets of occupants of the house quar- relled bitterly from the first, ' the scholars being perhaps too wise, and the brethren possibly over-good,' so that they had to be separated. The scholars were removed to the very opposite end of Cambridge, where lodging was found for them outside the town, in two hostels hard by a church then called St. Peter's, which they were permitted to use as their chapel. In order to give an idea of what Cambridge was at this time, let us imagine one of these scholars, on his way from Ely to Cambridge, to ascend the Castle Hill, and let us try to realise the view spread out before him. The town was at that time rather like a pear 31 CAMBRIDGE in shape, of which the stalk would be repre- sented by the Bridge, a wooden structure of many arches. The west side was bounded by the river ; the east and south by the King's Ditch, constructed by Henry the Third for the defence of the town. It left the river just above Queens' College, and returned to it below the Great Bridge. The Roman Way ran close to the eastern limit of the town, at no great distance from the Ditch. About two hundred yards from the Bridge a second street branched off to the right, dividing the town into nearly equal divisions. This, the present Trumpington Street, was then called High Street, or High Ward. At the point where it branched off, on the left of Bridge Street, stood one of the four circular churches in England, probably even then of considerable antiquity, called St. Sepulchre's. Round it clus- tered the Jewry, a quarter of considerable extent, for it stretched along the eastern side of High Street far enough to include All Saints' Church. Opposite to this church stood the Hospital of St. John, with extensive gardens and fish-ponds behind it. Beyond the Hospital, to the south, there was a dense network of narrow lanes, 32 INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH OK THE HOLY SEPULCHRE. THE MEDIEVAL TOWN with here and there a garden, or a vineyard, or a wharf along the river bank, separating the com- pact masses of dwelling-houses which extended as far as the Carmelite Friary at the south- west angle of the town. Close to this the High Street crossed the King's Ditch by a bridge, to the north of which was Trumpington Gate, per- haps a fortified structure, as the other gates of the town may also have been. Outside this gate, at the commencement of a straggling suburb, stood the Church of St. Peter, in the midst of an extensive graveyard. Beyond it was the House of the Brethren of the Penance, or Penitence, of Jesus Christ, otherwise called ' Friars of the Sack ' ; opposite to which, on the other side of the street, was that of the White Canons of Sempringham. Had the eyes of our imaginary spectator followed the line of the boundary ditch, which must have been well marked by the broad band of unoccupied ground a sort of boulevard that extended along it, he would have seen the then newly-built House of the Augustinian Friars, with the extensive garden ground behind it, which became the Botanic Garden in the last century. Further to the east again, on the left of the Roman Way E 33 CAMBRIDGE was the House of Dominicans, or Black Friars, after whom that portion of the street was after- wards called 'Preachers' Street.' At that time the House was probably unfinished, but in later days it became an extensive pile of buildings, with a lofty church. The outline of the nave may still be traced within Emmanuel College, whose founder, Sir Walter Mildmay, in con- tempt of the old religion, boasted that he had turned the Friars' church into a dining-hall, and their refectory into a chapel. Between this and the Round Church was the Franciscan House, which even then was probably extensive, but which afterwards possessed a spacious church, which Ascham described as an ornament to the University, and of which the foundations in Fuller's time could still be traced within the precincts of Sidney Sussex College. At the Reformation the University tried to obtain a grant of it, but without success. The solid walls were gradually destroyed to build other struc- tures, as the items, ' stone from the Grey Friars,' in the accounts of more than one college, con- clusively show. These monastic buildings, ex- cept the Dominican Friary, stood close to the outskirts of the little town, but still within the 34 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN precincts. Beyond them were spacious com- mons, Cow Fen or Coe Fen, on the west; then Saint Thomas' Leas ; and lastly, the Green-croft, which extended almost from the Great Bridge to the neighbouring village of Barnwell. In the midst of it, walled about, and overshadowed by trees, stood the Benedictine nunnery of St. Rhadegund, afterwards Jesus College; while Barnwell would be rendered conspicuous by the great Priory Church of St. Giles. Let us return for a moment to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, of which we illustrate the exterior and the interior. It is reputed to be the oldest of the English round churches, and to have been consecrated in 1101, though its origin and history are alike unknown. It consists of two distinct portions ; the ancient round church, and the modern chancel and aisles. This latter portion was built in 1844, when the church then in a dilapidated and almost ruinous condition was saved from destruction by the ill-fated Cambridge Camden Society. The late Decorated style was selected by the architect, Mr. Salvin, because there appeared to be evidence that the building which it replaced had been originally constructed during that period. It once con- 35 CAMBRIDGE tained the famous stone altar, to eject which a decree of the Court of Arches was found necessary. The details of that bitter contro- versy which, for the time, divided the University into two hostile camps, are not worth reviving. The Society became the object of virulent, and most unjust, attacks, and after the secession of the Bishops and most of the principal University dignitaries, headed by the Chancellor, it was removed to London, where it flourished for many years under a new name. The round portion, which, with the addition of, perhaps, a small apsidal chancel, was the entire original structure, is forty-one feet in diameter. It is composed of a central area, nineteen feet in diameter, surrounded by an aisle, to which access is obtained through eight massive round arches, resting on cylindrical piers. These support a clerestory, forming a low round tower, to which an upper storey was added in the fifteenth century to be used as a belfry. The weight of this addition nearly ruined the older work beneath it, which was further damaged and disfigured by the intro- duction of a gallery, and the liberal use of whitewash, while the floor beneath was ob- 36 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN structed by numerous pews of various shapes and sizes. The original round-headed windows had, with one exception, been replaced by Per- pendicular insertions, and the picturesque porch was concealed beneath a tasteless penthouse of wood. These inappropriate additions were re- moved in the course of the restoration, the ancient walls were strengthened by a bed of concrete inserted beneath them, and the tower secured by iron bands. The round-headed win- dows were restored after the pattern of the one remaining, and the tower surmounted by an appropriate conical cap covered with grey North- amptonshire slates. The interior was cleared of the vulgar and unsuitable fittings, and properly repaired. It remains as a vestibule to the modern chancel, being from its shape unsuitable for the reception of seats. In our imaginary survey of Cambridge, another ancient building, probably the oldest in the town, has been omitted, the Church of St. Benedict. It stood a little to the west of the House of the Augustinian Friars; and the archaic style of its architecture suggests that it was once the church of an independent village, which was standing on the low ground before 37 CAMBRIDGE the erection of the Norman stronghold on the hill beyond the river. Modern restoration has left hardly a fragment of this early church ex- cept the square west tower, of which the upper stage is shown in our woodcut. This remark- able monument has been described with much minuteness by the Rev. D. J. Stewart, from whom the following passage is borrowed : ' The walls are about three feet thick, constructed throughout of rough stone-work, and strengthened at the quoins externally by thin blocks of hewn stone laid flat and set up on their ends in regular alternate courses an arrangement to which the name of " long-and-short work" has been given. It consists of three storeys, the lowest of which takes up about one-half of the whole building, and is finished by a plain projecting string-course. The second storey is somewhat smaller than the lower one on which it stands, and is separated from the third by another rude string-course. This latter storey has not been much meddled with. In the middle of each of the four sides there is a window, divided by a central baluster ornamented with a band of rudely carved rings, standing in the middle of the thickness of the wall, and supporting a large stone, or flat abacus, which extends completely through the wall, and from which spring two semi- circular window-heads cut out of a single stone. On 38 THE MEDIEVAL TOWN each side of this central window there is a small one of the plainest kind, with a semicircular head, wrought out of a single stone. These small windows do not range with the middle one ; their sills do not come down to the string-course ; their heads are higher, and above each, with a single exception, there is a small block of stone, whose length is about twice its width, pierced through with a round hole.' The tower is connected with the body of the church by a round-headed arch, plain and mas- sive, with capitals adorned with rudely-carved representations of animals, characteristic of early work. Of the church that once existed coeval with the tower only a few fragments remain, built here and there into more modern walls. The present nave is of the thirteenth century, and the chancel, of which the east end is shown in our etching, was built in 1872. The building, of nearly equal height, abutting against the south side of the chancel, contained origi- nally an upper and lower chapel, for the use of the students of Corpus Christi College. The former was used as a lecture-room as well as a chapel, a custom almost universal in colleges until the end of the seventeenth century. In the north wall there was a window looking into 39 CAMBRIDGE the parish chancel. This building is connected with the college by a picturesque gallery, beneath which is a four-centred archway. This was the original churchway for the parishioners, who entered the nave of their church through a porch, now destroyed, at the west end of the south aisle. The chapel and gallery were erected by Dr. Cosyn, Master of Corpus Christi College, between 1487 and 1515. 40 II THE STORY OF PETERHOUSE : THE MARKET HILL A STRANGER who walks through the college quadrangles is apt to think that the arrange- ment of their buildings was adopted deliberately upon a plan decided upon at the foundation. This very natural opinion is not, however, the true one. The college system started from small and obscure beginnings. It was impossible to foresee the extent to which it would be subse- quently developed, and in consequence the first buildings were extremely simple, and destitute of some of those distinctive features (as the entrance gate-way and the chapel) which are now the first to command attention and admira- tion. The earliest students who resorted to the University lodged where they could in the houses of the townspeople ; whence, as Dr. Caius F 41 CAMBRIDGE tells us, serious disagreement arose; for the former desired to hire lodgings at a fair price, the latter to let them at an exorbitant one. To remedy this, hostels were established, managed by a Principal appointed by the University, where food and lodging were provided at an equitable rate. Caius, writing in 1573, records the names of some twenty of these, which had been in existence within his own recollection (and he was then, he says, sixty-three years old), but at that date they had all come to an end. After the college system had been accepted they became unnecessary. Some few survived for a while, attached to special colleges as a source of revenue, as St. Austin's to King's, and St. Bernard's to Corpus Christi. Gradually, how- ever, the ground they occupied was required for collegiate extension, and the hostel was either pulled down or converted into chambers. The principal distinction between these tem- porary residences and the colleges that suc- ceeded them is, that the latter were in all cases governed by a body of statutes imposed by the founder, who further offered inducements to students to resort to his college by holding out the prospect of Scholarships and Fellowships ; 42 f. 1 w a THE STORY OF PETERHOUSE in other words, of being educated free of cost while an undergraduate, and of obtaining after- wards a provision for a life of study. Besides these, there were the poor scholars (pauperes scolares), now called 'sizars,' who were lodged as well as educated free of charge, and further allowed to make money by doing menial work. For instance, when building operations are going on, we constantly find reference to their employ- ment at daily wages. This system (which has been beneficial in its effect down to our own time, for many of our most distinguished scholars entered the University as sizars) was part of the deliberate purpose that animated the design of Walter de Merton, who may be called the founder of the whole collegiate sys- tem. He sought to attract the most capable men of all classes, and so to raise up secular schools which should check the influence of the monasteries, and through them of the Pope. Merton's code, which was followed at Peter- house and elsewhere, and that subsequently drawn up by William of Wykeham for New College at Oxford in 1400, well repay attentive study. In a series of pictures of Cambridge, however, we purpose to select those points of 43 CAMBRIDGE collegiate history that illustrate the buildings and the social life, rather than the education, which has of late been exhaustively treated of by others. Let us, therefore, return to the establishment of Peterhouse. Our illustration shows the south side next the Fellows' garden, with the Hall, and the turret-staircase that originally led to the Master's chamber. The story of the rise and progress of the buildings of this college, which we select as a type of collegiate development, affords an instructive picture of the trials and difficulties that had to be surmounted before the colleges reached their present completeness ; a development which no founder, no matter how wise and far-seeing, could ever have foreseen : ' And yet he dreain'd not : wej who every hour Build grain by grain the mass of human power, Must bow before our Master, who but stood And nursed the juices working in the bud, And might not tend the flowering ; who but fed The stream of science at the fountain-head. Now spreads the flower, now roars the stream, and we See but his hope become reality.' When Bishop Hugh de Balsham established his scholars in 1284, he obtained leave for them to use the neighbouring parish church of St. 44 THE STORY OF PETERHOUSE Peter for their devotions. This was a usual arrangement with the first colleges. Thus, Michael House, the second in order of founda- tion, used St. Michael's Church ; Clare Hall and Trinity Hall, St. John Baptist's; Gonville Hall (in its original position), St. Botolph's; King's Hall, Great St. Mary's, or, as it was then called, St. Mary's - by - the - Market. Pembroke Hall, founded in 1347, is the first college that had a chapel of its own within the precincts from the beginning. The Bishop died within two years after the foundation of Peterhouse. On his death-bed he bequeathed to his scholars 300 marks. With this sum they acquired a considerable area to the west and south of the original hostels, and built a handsome hall (aulam perpulcram), which is, substantially, the building still in use. The erection of this edifice exhausted their funds, and for more than a century they were unable to extend their buildings. Then they addressed themselves to John de Fordham, Bishop of Ely, with a humble petition, praying that the Rectory of Hinton, near Cambridge, might be appro- priated to them ; ' For,' said they, ' the revenue of our house is so small that it barely sufficeth 45 CAMBRIDGE in these days for the support of a Master and fourteen scholars, according to the ordinances of your predecessors; nor are our buildings finished, or properly furnished with the neces- sary offices.' The Bishop presently put them in possession of the church. The result of this increase of fortune soon became apparent. In 1424 we find extensive building-works in pro- gress, which may be referred to the range of chambers forming the north side of the court; and in 1431 a contract for a library is drawn up with a mason named John Wassyngle of Hinton. The extent of this room, which occu- pied nearly the whole western side of the court, can still be traced beneath the Italian front imposed upon the ancient walls in the last cen- tury ; and the spiral stone staircase by which it was approached, to construct which a workman named Reginald Ely was specially engaged, still gives access to the rooms into which it has since been divided. Having provided for their books, the scholars turned their attention to their own bodily wants, and in 1450 constructed a new kitchen, which still exists, in the south-west corner of the court, between the hall and the library. Lastly, the Master's chamber was built, 46 THE STORY OF PETERHOUSE between 1460 and 1466, with the room usually called elsewhere ' Combination Room ' or ' College Parlour,' but here 'the Stone Parlour,' beneath it. This latter, which was once remarkable for containing portraits of the principal benefactors, painted on panel, with a commemorative distich inscribed under each, remains to this day in its ancient position, though considerably enlarged and beautified. This rapid survey will have shown us that one hundred and eighty years had elapsed be- fore the familiar disposition of buildings round a quadrangle had been achieved ; and even then the fourth side was incomplete. Another cen- tury and more went by before any other build- ings were undertaken, and then (1590) the present library which makes so picturesque an appearance towards the street, with its lofty gable and projecting bay-window or rather the western portion of it, was begun in accordance with the Will of Dr. Andrew Perne, Master from 1554 to 1580. During that eventful period he had adroitly changed his opinion several times; and though on one memorable occasion in Mary's reign, to be narrated presently, he appeared to have compromised himself in favour 47 CAMBRIDGE of the Church of Rome, he managed soon after to discover new beauties in the reformed re- ligion, signed the Thirty -nine Articles, and preached a sermon before Queen Elizabeth which her Majesty was pleased warmly to approve. These changes of opinion exposed him to no little ridicule. The wits of the University added a new verb to the Latin lan- guage, pernare, 'to change one's opinion.' It became proverbial to say of a cloak that had been turned, ' It has been Perned.' The letters A.P.A.P. on the weathercock of St. Peter's Church were explained to mean ' Andrew Perne a Papist,' or 'Andrew Perne a Protestant,' according to the fancy of the reader, and the like. To his college, however, he was uniformly steadfast in his allegiance; bequeathing to it his books, with minute directions for their chaining and safe keeping, and money enough to build the new library aforesaid. Nor did he forget the University, to whose Library he was a generous contributor; indeed, if his de- fence had to be undertaken, it might be argued that his course on public occasions was dictated by a wise prudence that changes of opinion were unavoidable in such times as his, when 48 THE STORY OF PETERHOUSE the religion of the country changed three or four times in ten years; and that he trimmed in matters of outward observance in order to be at hand to help in those that were essential. During all this while the college had been content with the chancel of the parish church for a chapel. It had been rebuilt since the foundation, and joined to the college by a gallery, like that which we have seen at Corpus. In 1625, however, Dr. Matthew Wren, uncle of the celebrated architect, became Master. He, in the words of his biographer, ' seeing the publick Offices of Religion less decently per- form'd, and the Service of God depending on the Courtesy of others, for want of a convenient Oratory within the Walls of the College,' set about the erection of a separate chapel. It was consecrated March 17, 1632, but the exterior decorations and the interior fittings were not completed until some years afterwards, by Bishop Cosin, who laid himself open to bitter censure from the Puritans by the introduction of a gorgeous ceremonial, incense, Latin service- books, and the like. The cloisters, north and south of the chapel, were erected at the same time. That to the south led to the Master's G 49 CAMBRIDGE gallery, erected for his use over Dr. Perne's library. Lastly, just a century after the consecration of the chapel, a grand design was prepared for putting a front upon the college, in the most approved Italian style then in fashion. This was the work of Mr. Burrough of Caius College, afterwards Master, who has the credit of having built the Senate House. He proposed to pull down the library, with the two cloisters, and to construct in their room two piles of building of three floors each, connected with the chapel by galleries of equal height, supported on a cloister in the same style. The northernmost building was first undertaken, and is still stand- ing. Happily that cause which has averted so many architectural disasters, want of funds, came to the rescue in this instance, and the library and cloisters were saved from destruc- tion. The picturesque turret, or tower-staircase, at the junction of the Hall and Master's chambers, is a characteristic feature of early collegiate foundations. By means of it the Master could obtain access to the Combination Room (in which meetings for business were held), and to 50 THE STORY OF PETERHOUSE the Hall, without crossing the court. In some colleges the Master's chamber was so arranged that he could reach all the buildings in the same way. For to understand the collegiate system, the position of the Master, as at first constituted, must be carefully borne in mind. The very names given to him in the older statutes, Master (magister), Keeper (custos), Head (caput), not to mention the language in which his duties are defined, and the elaborate ana- logies in which he is compared to the helmsman of a ship, and to the head, the eye, and the heart of the human body, or even, as at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, to the queen-bee in a hive, all indicate that he was to be a sovereign prince, rather than a constitutional king. The care of the entire community developed upon him, and though the Deans would assist him in discipline, and the Bursars in finance, it was his duty to see that they performed theirs; in fine, he was ' to give his most earnest attention to all matters, spiritual or temporal, within or without, remotely or nearly concerning the House and the inmates thereof; and manfully to defend the rights of the House, that so the scholars might peacefully and diligently pursue 51 CAMBRIDGE their studies, without being hindered by the aforesaid cares and vexations.' This is general language; but in practice it appears that the minutest matters of daily life were referred to him; and in one college, at least, we find that at night the keys of the gates were brought to him 'upon a clogg.' At the beginning of the sixteenth century, when a more profuse hospi- tality became the fashion, a gallery was added to his chamber in most colleges. Here, as we have seen, this addition was not made until the middle of the seventeenth century. It must have greatly added to his comfort, for it en- abled him to reach the Chapel directly from his rooms. The habit of living in a separate house was a necessary consequence of the permission to marry conceded at the Reformation. A stream of clear water runs down each side of Trumpington Street as far as Pembroke College, and was at one time much used for drinking purposes. Those who benefit by it, or are attracted by the unusual appearance of running water in a town, do not know that they have to thank for it that same Dr. Perne whom we just mentioned, though he is not responsible for the double channel. Before his 52 THE OI.D CONDUIT. THE STORY OF PETERHOUSE time, though there was a public fountain in the market-place, water for domestic use could only be obtained from private wells, or directly from the river. Dr. Perne has the merit of having been the first to suggest that a supply of whole- some water might be obtained from the Nine Wells, a group of springs rising out of the chalk near Great Shelford, a village some three miles to the south. The scheme was carried out in 1610 by the joint contributions of the University, the Colleges, and the Town, ' as well for the Cleansing, Easement, Benefit, and Commodity of divers and sundry Drains and Water- Courses, belonging to divers and sundry Colleges, Halls, and Houses of Students within the University of Cambridge, as also for the cleansing and keeping sweet one common Drain or Ditch, commonly called King's Ditch, and for the avoiding of the Annoyance, Infection, and Contagion ordinarily arising thro' the Uncleanness and Annoyance thereof, to the great endammaging of the Healths and Welfare of the People of both the said Bodyes.' The plan was drawn by Edward Wright, M.A., of Gonville and Caius College, who was ac- counted the best mathematician of his day ; he also gave to Sir Hugh Middleton the plan of his New River. 53 CAMBRIDGE At this time the conduit, of which we give a woodcut, was erected on the Market Hill. It is popularly called Hobson's Conduit, from a mis- taken notion that that celebrated carrier built it, or contributed largely to it. This, however, was not the case. His benefactions to the water- supply of the town were conferred by his will in 1630. This conduit is no longer in its original position. In 1849 an accidental fire, which could not have been more beneficial had it been the result of deliberate design, destroyed a block of houses between the chancel of St. Mary's and the Market Hill. The ground on which they had stood was acquired by the Corporation, and the present spacious Market Place laid out. The old conduit then appeared to civic eyes too poor a structure for so large a space, and it was removed to the end of Trumpington Street, where the stream from the Nine Wells enters Cambridge. The present Gothic structure was set up on the centre of the enlarged Market Hill in 1855. This improvement has deprived the Market Place of the air of antiquity that it once pos- sessed, and other changes have done away with many interesting associations. The Cross, which stood at the south-western corner, disappeared 54 THE MARKET HILL about 1786, and the Tolbooth in 1790. The street on the north side, called Rose Crescent, marks the site of the Rose Tavern, which enjoyed a considerable reputation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In Pepys' time it appears to have been noted for good wine, to judge from the quantity that he and his friends consumed at it, and the frequent allusions to it in his diaries. In 1768, when the King of Denmark, husband of George the Third's sister, the un- fortunate Caroline Matilda, visited the Uni- versity, attended among other persons by his physician, Dr. Struensee, who was destined shortly after to achieve so tragic a notoriety, he stayed at the Rose, and from a window that looked on the Market Place saw the fireworks and illuminations given in his honour by the town. Professor Pryme records in his Auto- biographical Recollections that in his under- graduate days (about 1799) there was a room set apart in the Rose Inn as a Coffee-house, to which men resorted to take tea or coffee on summer evenings when there was no fire in their rooms. On the west side the principal object is Great St. Mary's Church, which with the Senate House and Schools, separated from 55 CAMBRIDGE it only by a street, is the centre of University Life, as the Town Hall is of Civic Life. Is it too wild a stretch of fancy to imagine that the changes which removed the material obstacles that separated these two great groups of build- ings may foreshadow the speedy removal of the differences that have so long severed the two bodies to whom they belong ? Inconvenient as the old Market Place was, it had witnessed several curious scenes. In 1382, just a hundred years after the foundation of Peterhouse, the first great explosion of feeling against College encroachments culminated in a serious riot. The ringleader, one James de Grantchester, with the connivance, it is said, of the Mayor, who ought to have known better, got together an armed mob. They first sacked and burnt the houses of the University officials ; then they burst open the gates of Corpus Christi College, which they pillaged; and lastly, pro- ceeding to St. Mary's Church, they possessed themselves of the common chest of the Uni- versity. From this repository they extracted the charter, bulls, and other muniments, which they carried off in triumph into the Market Place. There they broke the seals of the 56 THE MARKET HILL charters with clubs ; after which they piled up a huge bonfire, and burnt them all, amid the rejoicings of the populace. An old woman, named Margaret Sterr, gathering up the ashes, scattered them to the winds, exclaiming, ' Away with the learning of the clerks ! away with it ! ' It was at the old Cross in the Market that the Duke of Northumberland's attempt to make poor Lady Jane Grey queen came to a conclusion in which the ludicrous was strangely blended with the tragic. He left London on July 14, 1553, by order of the Council, with 8000 Foot and 2000 Horse, intending to intercept, and if possible, to capture, the Lady Mary, who was known to be on her way to London. He reached Cambridge on the following evening, and send- ing for some Heads of Colleges, and Dr. Sandys, Master of St. Catharine's and Vice Chancellor, bade them sup with him. After supper he desired Sandys to preach before him in the University Church on the next day, which was Sunday. The Doctor, not daring to refuse, went home sorely perplexed what to say. He rose at three o'clock in the morning, took up a Bible, and holding it before him, earnestly prayed to God that it might fall open at a suitable text. H 57 CAMBRIDGE The book opening at the first chapter of Joshua, he caught sight of the words, 'And they an- swered Joshua, saying, All that thou com- mandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee ; only the Lord thy God be with thee, as He was with Moses.' These words he ' handled so wisely, and so warily, that his enemies got not so full advantage against him as they expected,' says Fuller. On the Monday morning the Duke went to Bury, having learnt that Mary had retired to Framlingham, in Suffolk. The reinforcements that ought to have met him at Newmarket did not come ; his men began to desert; and he received from the Council 'letters of discomfort.' Thereupon he returned to Cambridge, where presently he learnt that the Council had proclaimed Mary queen. The shadow of his coming doom must have fallen upon him when he heard the news ; but he seems to have imagined that by prompt acceptance of the situation he might save his life. Once more he sent for Dr. Sandys, perhaps out of a chivalrous wish to do what he could to save one whom he had so deeply compromised, 58 THE MARKET HILL and telling him that Queen Mary was a merciful woman, and that he looked for a general pardon, bade him go with him and proclaim her. The other gave him scant comfort: 'My life,' he answered, 'is not dear to me, neither have I said or done anything that urgeth my con- science. But be you assured that you shall never escape death, for if she would save you, those that now rule will kill you.' Nevertheless, at about five o'clock, the Duke repaired to the Market Cross with such nobles as were with him, and calling for a herald, proclaimed Mary queen, throwing up his cap with the rest. A few hours afterwards, he was arrested in King's College, where he was staying, by Roger Slegge, Ser- jeant-at-Arms, and on the following day con- veyed a prisoner to London, where he was soon after executed. Four years later another event befell in the same place, which showed what clemency even the dead had to expect from the advisers of Mary Tudor. In 1549 two eminent German divines, Martin Bucer and Paul Fagius, had been sent to Cambridge by Edward the Sixth to lecture in Divinity and Hebrew. Both died shortly after, and were buried in Cambridge ; 59 Fagius in St. Michael's, and Bucer in St Mary's. Three thousand persons attended Bucer's funeral. Dr. Matthew Parker, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, preached the ser- mon; and the learned of the University laid epitaphs on the grave. The doctrines taught by these divines in their lectures were no doubt heretical in the eyes of Roman Catholics; and consequently, when Queen Mary sent Com- missioners to visit the University in January, 1557, the very first decision arrived at by the Vice Chancellor (Dr. Andrew Perne) and the Heads, who were probably anxious to gain the goodwill of the Visitors, was, that suit should be made with them 'by the University, that Bucer might be taken upp and ordered accord- ing to the law, and likewise P. Fagius.' The Visitors, nothing loth, proceeded to the tedious formalities of the citation and condemnation of these obstinate heretics. At the third citation Dr. Perne preached before them in St. Mary's. Many sermons remarkable for bad taste have been delivered in that building, and much strange doctrine. Even in our own time a Bedell of the University has been heard to say that he had attended the sermons twice on every Sunday 60 THE MARKET HILL for forty years, and was thankful that he was still a Christian. On no other day, however, let us hope, have sacred words been so mis- applied as they were on that when Dr. Perne selected, of all texts in the Bible, a verse from the Psalms, 'Behold how good and pleasant a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in unity ! ' By the 6th of February all legal forms had been satisfied, the bodies had been exhumed, and were guarded by the Mayor and Corporation armed. Early in the morning the Visitors, attended by the University and the town, paraded the principal streets in procession. The Bishop of Chester, gorgeously vested, bore the Host aloft under a canopy supported by four doctors. The Heads of colleges, the Mayor, and the Aldermen, carried lighted torches. As they went they chanted the hymn, ' Salve festa dies.' One untoward incident marred the success of the display. As they came opposite to the Falcon Inn in Petty Cury, the canopy caught fire, combustibles having been thrown upon it, as was thought, from a window. When they reached the Market Place all was ready. A great post had been set up in the centre of it, and a heap of wood laid ready. 61 CAMBRIDGE On their arrival the chests containing the bodies were set up on end and bound to the post with iron chains, as if the heretics had been alive. The fuel was set on fire, and as it flared up a number of books that had been condemned were cast into it, a great crowd looking on, for it happened to be market-day, and the town was thronged with country folk. The fire was scarcely out when the Bishop of Lincoln, one of the Visitors, repaired to St. Mary's, and there preached for full three hours, setting forth Bucer's ' wyckedness and hereticall doctryn.' Verily, if martyrs have not been burnt in Cambridge as they were in Oxford, the occasion, and not the will, was wanting. In times more modern than those we have been recording, the Market Place has witnessed many another bonfire, many a hard-fought contest, and much effusion of blood. Happily the blood has flowed from no part more vital than the nose ; the bonfires have commemorated only royal anniversaries, or pacific triumphs such as the victory of Smith over Jones for the distinguished honour of representing a ward on the Town Council; and the battles have been exercises in the ' noble art of self-defence ' 62 THE MARKET HILL between townspeople and undergraduates ' Town ' and ' Gown,' as they are usually denominated in Cambridge. Most of these Homeric encounters have been consigned to oblivion, like the kings who lived before Agamemnon, for lack of a bard who should hymn the deeds of daring done on either side. One, however, has been snatched out of the darkness in which the rest lie buried and for- gotten, for it found a Homer in the late Mr. Tom Taylor. Macaulay himself could hardly have been angry at the use made of his metre and his manner in these amusing verses, which we proceed to quote. Their fun and good- humour will form an agreeable contrast to the sadness of the last story which we have told. We shall premise that the events com- memorated befell on this wise. In March, 1846, an American dwarf called General Tom Thumb was exhibited in Cambridge. He was shown in the morning for half-a-crown, and in the evening for one shilling, the latter ex- hibition being intended for the townspeople, the former for members of the University, who are popularly believed in Cambridge to be the possessors of boundless wealth. But even as 63 CAMBRIDGE that ingenious contriver of a hen-house, who made a large door for the hens and a small door for the chickens, found that all the birds preferred to use the larger one, so did the promoter of this exhibition behold his room empty in the morning, and crowded in the evening, not with shopkeepers, but with under- graduates. What great events from little causes spring ! The burghers, indignant at what they regarded as an invasion of their rights, hustled the undergraduates, the undergraduates hustled the burghers; the fight, from a skirmish on the first night, became a battle on the second, and on the third a deliberately organised trial of strength between the opposing forces. It ended in a complete defeat of the under- graduates ; indeed, we have heard that they turned tail and ran away, but this we regard as a base calumny. The weight of the other side, aided by the truncheons of the police, probably decided the fortunes of the day; anyhow, the gownsmen fled through Rose Cres- cent into Trinity Street, hotly pursued. When they reached Trinity College, the great gate was opened to admit them, by that time a disordered and grievously wounded mass of 64 THE MARKET HILL men belonging to various colleges and there they passed the night, uncomfortable, but safe. Not long afterwards, the following ballad appeared. The names are of course fictitious, but at the time it was easy to recognise the originals, and the incidents alluded to. THE FIGHT OF THE CRESCENT A LAY OF MODERN CAMBRIDGE ' The sturdy undergraduates Are pouring in amain, Up through the fair Rose Crescent, The Market Place to gain ; From many a wild wine-party, From many a sober tea, From the distant halls of Downing, And the courts of Trinity. ' From lowly Queens' quadrangle Where muffins are the go : From Magd'lene famed for fast men, From Cath'rine famed for slow : From Caius, where anxious proctors To keep the gates shut try : From Clare, where dons chivalrous Unlock them on the sly. ' There be twenty chosen gownsmen, The foremost of the band, Pupils of Sambo Sutton, To keep the Crescent stand : I 65 CAMBRIDGE They can't run if they wished it, Perforce they bear the brunt, For the gownsmen in the rear rank Push the gownsmen in the front. ' And all within the Market Place, And Market Hill along, The townsmen, far as words can go, Come it uncommon strong. But as yet no nose is bleeding, As yet no man is down ; For the gownsmen funk the townsmen, And the townsmen funk the gown. ' When lo ! a cad comes brimful Of bravery and beer ; " To arms ! to arms ! the borough Police will soon be here ! " Through Market Street to eastward Each townsman turned his eye, And saw the hats and truncheons Rise fast along the sky. ' And plainly and more plainly, Now may each gownsman know, By form and face, by port and pace, Each big blue-coated foe. There in the front, fierce Freestone, Be-whiskered, may be seen ; And stalwart Serjeant Seabrook, With buttons bright and clean ; And Buggins of the mutton fist, And Muggins with the fearful twist, And Hobbs, famed for his waving curls And Dobbs, adored by servant girls, And gruff Inspector Greene. 66 THE MARKET HILL 1 Then out spake a Fellow-commoner, In voice both sad and slow, And darkly looked he on his friends, And darkly on the foe : ' ' They '11 be too many for us, Ten to one against the Gown ; Unless we get to Trinity We '11 be wolloped by the Town." 1 Then out spake brave Fitz- Wiggins, Though a small-college man : "To keep the Crescent 'gainst the cads I '11 do the best I can ; And if none will stand beside me, Alone I '11 face the snobs, Despite fierce Freestone's truncheon, And the staves of Hobbs and Dobbs ! 1 Then out spake Sir Tom Noddy, A son of Trinity : " Lo ! I will stand at thy right hand, And the Crescent keep with thee." And out spake Merrypebbles, A Johnian was he : " I will abide at thy left side, And the Crescent keep with thee." ' Fitz-Wiggins floored fierce Freestone, Tom Noddy levelled Hobbs, And cheerful Merrypebbles Blacked both the eyes of Dobbs ; And the aggravated townsmen Stand all aghast to see On the flags the unconscious Peelers, In the Pass the dauntless Three. 67 CAMBRIDGE And on the leaguered Crescent, Was none would brave attack ; But those behind cried " Forward ! " And those in front cried " Back ! " ' Meanwhile their legs the gownsmen Right manfully have plied : And now they Ve got to Trinity, And the gates are opened wide. "Come back, come back, Fitz- Wiggins," Loud cried they from the gate ; "Back, Noddy ! Merrypebbles, Back, or you '11 be too late ! " ' But the police are on them, And their truncheons thick they ply ; Now the Fates save brave Fitz- Wiggins, What a terrible black eye ! Though Merrypebbles' head be The thickest in the ring, It scarce can 'scape unbroken, Such staves must make it ring. ' Alone stood Sir Tom Noddy, But constant still in mind ; Policeman pitching in before, And Trinity behind. " Down with him 1" cried false Seabrook, As he mopped his bloody face ; " Now yield thee," cried the Inspector, " Now yield thee to our grace ! " ' But brave Tom Noddy never deigned An answer, no, not he ; But he floored the Inspector neatly As a man might wish to see. 68 THE MARKET HILL And through the storming townsmen And the irate police, He fights his passage manfully, And he wins the gate in peace. ' And now, his gown in ribbons, In the crowded court he stands, And " to call upon him the next day" Receives the Dean's commands. And then with shouts and clappings, And hip, hip, hurrah, loud, He passes on unto his rooms, Borne by the admiring crowd. ' But he was rusticated By the Dons, that very night ; And when he showed them his black eye, They said it served him right. But long at our wine parties We '11 remember how, like bricks, Stout Noddy kept the Crescent In eighteen forty- six.' 69 Ill GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH : CLARE HALL: PEMBROKE COLLEGE THE Church of St. Mary the Great, of which the chancel and tower were shown in our last illus- tration, demands a more detailed consideration than we were enabled to give to it when describ- ing the Market Place. It is not only the largest, but on many grounds the most interesting, church in Cambridge. Though completed at a time when medieval architecture was declining , and though we see it now in a somewhat muti- lated condition without the vestry that once stood on the south side of the chancel, and with- out the tracery that once filled the windows of the aisles, it is still a dignified building. To members of the University it is hallowed by associations that go far to efface any architec- tural shortcomings; but the most indifferent 70 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH observer could hardly fail to admire the lofty nave, admirably lighted by the twenty windows of the clerestory, and still preserving its ancient roof of carved oak ; or to acknowledge that the tower, though inferior in beauty to that of the sister church at Oxford, is yet massive and well- proportioned. The first connection of the church with the University is lost in that obscurity which neces- sarily hangs over events separated from our own times by five or six centuries. In all probability it was an arrangement dictated, in the first instance, by convenience, and subsequently maintained by respect for ancient usage. And, when we find secular ceremonies habitually held in St. Mary's, we must remember that the peculiar respect with which churches are now regarded is a sentiment wholly of modern growth. Throughout the Middle Ages cathedrals and churches, being the largest buildings in the towns, were used for all purposes for which a large covered space was required. The altar alone was regarded as a sacred spot which might not be profaned by uiiconsecrated hands, and the neighbourhood of which was an inviolable sanctuary. In many cases the formal ceremony 71 CAMBRIDGE of consecration did not extend beyond the slab on which Mass was celebrated ; and this, made of some material more precious than the table of which it formed a part, was often consecrated by the Pope or by a Bishop at a distance. Gradually the sacred character of the altar extended to the part of the church in which it stood, and the chancel was fenced off by a screen or railing, as a place more holy than the rest of the church; but the naves were still used for secular purposes until the Reformation, and in many cases down to the days of Archbishop Laud. This medieval sentiment lasted in Cam- bridge longer than elsewhere. College chapels were used for meetings, acts, disputations, lec- tures, and even for dramatic performances, quite to the end of the seventeenth century. A sur- vival of this custom subsists to the present day in certain colleges, where declamations, no matter on what subject, are delivered in the chapel. The most remarkable instance of what nowadays would be regarded as frightful pro- fanity, but which evidently conveyed no such idea to our forefathers, occurred at the recep- tion of Queen Elizabeth at King's College, where the Society had no large apartment at their dis- 72 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH posal except the chapel. They therefore turned the nave, or ante-chapel, into a hall of audience ; and there, on the evening of Sunday, August 6, 1564, after service, performed before Her Majesty a play by Plautus in the original Latin. An additional justification of this treatment of college chapels is to be found in the fact, that in the case of many of them there is no evidence that they were ever consecrated, even so far as the altar was concerned. A licence, permitting the more solemn offices of religion to be per- formed within their walls, was obtained from the bishop of the diocese, and sometimes even from the Pope ; but this was not considered to preclude the use of them for secular purposes. The introduction of the contrary sentiment is seen in the language of the formal Act of Conse- cration of those erected in later times, in which it is usual to specify the intention of the college to c separate the building for ever from all common and profane uses.' There is evidence that St. Mary's was in exist- ence so early as 1204, when King John granted it to Thomas de Chimeleye ; and in the last quarter of that century we find it already used by the University as their ordinary place of K 73 CAMBRIDGE assemblage, and its bells rung to call the members together, for which purpose those of St. Benedict's were also employed on extra- ordinary occasions. In 1290 it was burnt, with several of the surrounding houses, the cata- strophe being ascribed, as usual at that period, to the malice of the Jews. It did not, however, take long to place it in such a state of repair that it could again be used for service, for in 1303 the first notice of regular University sermons occurs. It was, however, either rebuilt or extensively repaired soon afterwards, for ' the building of St. Mary's Church' was proceeding in 1315, and the altar was consecrated afresh in 1351. In 1342 King Edward in. gave the advow- son to his foundation of King's Hall, whence it passed to Trinity College, the present patrons. Three different bodies are therefore interested in the church : the Master and Fellows of Trinity, the Parish, and the University; a divided, and sometimes conflicting, authority, which has occasionally been productive of no small amount of discord. Towards the end of the fifteenth century the old church was so much decayed, and so incommodious, that the University under- took to rebuild it, little thinking of the length of 74 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH time the work would take, the sum it would cost, or the difficulty of obtaining funds. ' All Church work,' says Fuller, ' is slow ; the mention of St. Mary's mindeth me of Church work indeed, so long was it from the founding to the finishing thereof.' Dr. Caius relates, in his History of the Uni- versity, that the first stone of the new church was laid in 1478, and that it took forty-one years to build, having been completed in 1519. This statement probably applies to the present nave, for we find from the Proctors Accounts that the University continued to use some part of the church probably the chancel for service. This must have been of considerable size, for John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, preached before the Uni- versity there in 1488. It is recorded that the discourse was ' good and persuasive ' (bonum et blandum sermonem), and that it lasted from one o'clock to half-past three, a precedent which has happily not been followed by the Bishop's successors in that pulpit. Congregations and Commencements were held during the rebuild- ing in the churches of the Austin and Grey Friars. The first stone of the tower was laid on Monday the 16th of May 1491, at a quarter to 75 CAMBRIDGE seven o'clock in the evening. * Would that some kind friend would finish it ! ' is the aspiration of Dr. Caius, in recording the tardy completion of the nave; but though the worthy doctor lived for fifty-four years after that event, he left the tower still not more than half built. The tale of its slow and halting progress is curious and instructive. In 1515 it had not risen as high as the roof of the nave, and was thatched with sedge. The bells, however, were then hung up in it. The parish books show that it advanced slowly after this date ; and in 1536 the great west window, a noble specimen of Perpendicular architecture, was glazed. In 1544 one 'Father Rotheram ' was paid fourpence ' for viewing the steeple.' He was probably an architect, and the result of his inspection was a fresh outburst of building activity in the following year, with materials from the dissolved monasteries, whose churches were eagerly seized upon and used as quarries. "We meet with payments for ' stone at the Black Friers,' ' 20 lodes of slate from the late Austen Fryers,' ' two lodes of lyme from the late White Fryers,' and the like. In 1576 the west porch an elegant composition in the cinque- cento style, which was unfortunately replaced 76 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH in 1850 by the present meaningless door from a design by Sir G. G. Scott was erected, chiefly through the munificence of Sir Walter Mildmay, founder of Emmanuel College, who contributed to it twenty tons of freestone, taken probably from some of the Dominican buildings. At about this time it was contemplated to complete the tower by a spire eighty feet high, to be built out of the materials of Thorney Abbey in Hunting- donshire, and stone contributed by Sir Walter Mildmay from the oolite quarries at King's Cliffe in Northamptonshire. For some unknown, and much to be regretted, cause, this design was abandoned. The work which had been so tedi- ously prolonged was now drawing to a close at last. In 1593 the parish authorities, weary of the long delay, took the matter into their own hands, and agreed to finish the building of the steeple. This they accomplished in 1596, when the bells were all runge oute and never afore.' Twelve years later, in 1608, the tower was finally completed by the addition of the cresting, and of the stone balls surmounting the towers, as shown in Loggan's print. This was the work of Robert Grumbold, master-mason of Clare Hall, to whose good taste part, at least, of the design of that 77 CAMBRIDGE College is due. The cresting has long since dis- appeared, but the balls remained until 1842, when, by the ill-advised zeal of some hot-headed members of the Camden Society, they were thrown down. They were not in themselves beautiful, but they served to mark the interest- ing historical fact that the tower, begun, as we have seen, when Gothic architecture was a living style, had not been completed until that now called Jacobean was in fashion, and on that account were well worthy of preservation. During the building of the church, and during the longer period of one hundred and seventeen years that elapsed from the foundation to the completion of the tower, the University had made great exertions and sacrifices to obtain funds. Dr. Caius records that 795, 2s. Id. was raised by subscription. Among the subscribers were the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard the Third; King Henry the Seventh, and his mother, the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby; Dr. Barrow, Chancellor of the Household to King Richard the Third, who gave 240 for the roof and windows ; John Alcock, Bishop of Ely ; thirty priors and abbots of religious houses throughout England ; and 78 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH several bishops. The smaller sums given vary from ten pounds to one shilling. The University contributed, between 1478 and 1519, the large sum of 555, 2s. Id., equal to at least 5000 at the present day. In order to obtain funds the Uni- versity had been obliged to have recourse to the extraordinary expedient of sending the Proctors on a journey round the country to collect money. They were absent for twenty days. The letters that they carried were composed by Roger Skelton, Poet Laureate, in terms, we may sup- pose, of moving supplication. Unfortunately none of these compositions have been preserved. This was at the beginning of the work. Subse- quently the usual means of obtaining money were resorted to. The affluent were besieged with begging-letters ; and collections were made at the public Commencements, and in the dif- ferent colleges. James Tabor, Registrar of the University in 1600, records : 'The steeple was not finished when I came to Cambridge, but was covered with Thacke, and then Mr. Pooley Apothecary first, and after him John Warren, undertooke the worke, and had collections in the several Colledges. I well remember in Ben- nett Coll. where I was first Pentioner, as Pentioners 79 CAMBRIDGE we all gave at the first collection 2s a peece, Fellows 10s a peece, and Scholars of the house 18d a peece, Fellow Commoners 5s a peece, or more as their Tutors thought fitting. And so a second collection when that would not serve : and these two contributions, with money usually gathered of strangers at Com- mencements, could not be lesse than about 800 or 1000.' The completion of the Tower was, unfortu- nately, signalised by the death of John Warren. The occurrence is commemorated by the follow- ing curious epitaph in the church : A speaking stone Reason may chaunce to blame ; But did it knowe Those ashes here do lie Which brought the Stones That hid the Steeple's shame, It would affirm There were no Reason why Stones should not speake Before theyr Builder die. For here John Warren Sleeps among the dead Who with the Church His own Life finished. ANNO DOMINI 1608 Dec. 17. As our business is with the church as con- nected with the University rather than as an 80 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH ecclesiastical structure, we will pass over the curious accounts that have been preserved of the splendid rood-loft completed in 1523, only to be destroyed by order of Archbishop Parker in 1564; of the putting up and pulling down of altars according as Mary or Elizabeth occupied the throne ; of the ' wiping ' of ' ymages ' out of the windows ; and of the sums realised by the sale of vestments and furniture. 1 The first gal- lery for the accommodation of the University authorities was set up in 1610, for the use of the Doctors. At that time the Bachelors and Scholars all stood, under pain of paying a fine of 3s. 4d. apiece if adult; if not, of being 'openly corrected in the comon scholes with the rodde ' : and it was the privilege of those who had taken superior degrees to listen to the sermons with their heads covered. To this day in St. Mary's it is customary to listen to the ' bidding prayer ' standing, and not to kneel when the Lord's Prayer is said after it, but only to cover the face with a hat or cap. The following curious pic- ture of the condition of the church, and of the 1 I must acknowledge my obligations to Messrs. Sanders and Venables' Historical and Architectural Notes on Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge. Cam. Antiq. Soc. Octavo Publica- tions, No. X. L 81 CAMBRIDGE use to which it was put by the University, is extracted from a statement forwarded to Arch- bishop Laud in 1636 : ' St. Mary's Church at every great Commencement is made a Theater, and the Prevaricatour's Stage, wherein he Acts and setts forth his prophane and scurrilous jests besides diverse other abuses and disorders then suffered in that place. All the year after a parte of it is made a Lumber House for y e Materials of y e Scaffolds, for Bookbinders' dry Fats, for aumerie Cupboards, and such like implements, which they know not readily where else to put. The West windows are half blinded up with a Cobler's and a Bookbinder's Shop. At the East end are In- croachments made by diverse Houses, and the Vestry is lately unleaded (they say) with purpose to let it ruine or to pull it down. The Seats many of them are lately cooped up high with wainscot. 'The Service Pulpit is sett up in the midst, a good distance below the Chauncell, and looks full to the Belfrie, so that all Service, second Service and all, (if any be) is there and performed that way. 'The Service there (which is done by Trin. Coll.) is commonly posted over and cut short at y e pleasure of him that is sent thither to read it. ' When the University comes in for the Sermon the chancell (the higher part of it) is filled with boyes and Townsmen, and otherwhiles (thereafter as the 82 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH Preacher is) with Toivnswomen also, all in a rude heap betwixt y e Doctors and ye Altar. In y e Bodie of the church Men, Women, and Scholers thrust together promiscuously, but in y e place onely before y e Pulpit, ivhich they call ye Cock Pitt, and which they leave somewhat free for masters to sitt in. The rest of y e churche is taken up by the Townsmen of y e Parrishe and their families, which is one reason among others that many Scholers pretend for not coming to this churche. Tradesmen and prentices will be covered when the University is bare.' It had been customary, from the earliest times, to fit up St. Mary's Church for the ceremonies usual at degrees with temporary galleries and platforms, the extent and number of which depended on the importance of the ceremony. At Queen Elizabeth's visit the stage extended from the tower-arch to the chancel. We shall not attempt, on this occasion, to describe the curious system by which every candidate for a degree was obliged to keep one or more ' acts ' and ' opponencies ' ; that is, to maintain a thesis of his own, and to controvert one propounded by another. Besides these ' acts,' the University at the great Commencement deliberately ap- pointed a person to the office of Prcevaricator, or Varier. He was expected to 'vary' the ques- 83 CAMBRIDGE tions proposed, to set them in a ludicrous light, and in the course of his speech to allude to topics of the day, and even to indulge in personalities. He usually spoke in Latin, but English verse might occasionally be introduced ; and when another form of buffoonery, called a ' Musick Speech,' was allowed, it was wholly in English. Such a ' chartered libertine ' as this might easily make himself intolerable. Even the most famous of the ' Musick Speeches,' that spoken by Dr. Roger Long, afterwards Master of Pembroke, in 1714, is a strange composition for a learned body to have listened to on a solemn public occasion, and there are some lines in it too gross for quotation. The Commence- ment on this occasion was attended by Thoresby, the well-known antiquary. He records in his diary that ' the Prsevaricator's speech was smart and ingenious, attended with volleys of hurras : the vocal music, etc., was curious.' The whole ceremony occupied seven or eight hours. The following extract will give an idea of Dr. Long's humour. At a previous Commencement the conduct of the ladies had been thought inde- corous, and in consequence they were condemned to sit in the chancel as a punishment : 84 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH ' The humble Petition of the Ladies, who are all ready to be eaten up with the Spleen, To think they are to be lock'd up in the Chancel, where they can neither see nor be seen ; But must sit i' the Dumps by themselves all stew'd and pent up, And can only peep through the Lattice like so many Chickens in a Coop ; Whereas last Commencement the Ladies had a Gallery provided near enough To see the Heads sleep, and the Fellow-Commoners take Snuff. 'Tis true for every Particular how 'twas order'd then we can't so certainly know, Because none of us can remember so long as Sixteen Years ago ; Yet we believe they were more civil to the Ladies then, and good Reason why, For if we all stay'd at home your Commencement wou'dn't be worth a Fly : For at Oxford last Year this is certainly Matter of Fact, That the Sight of the Ladies and the Music made the best Part of their Act. Now you should consider some of us have been at a very great Expence To rig our selves out, in order to see the Doctors commence : We've been forc'd with our Manteau-makers to hold many a Consultation, To know whether Mourning or Colours wou'd be most like to be in Fashion : We've sent to Town to know what Kind of Heads and Ruffles the Ladies wore, And have rais'd the Price of Whalebone higher than 'twas before ; 85 CAMBRIDGE We've got Intelligence from Church, the Park, the Front-box and the Ring, And to grace St. Mary's now wou'dn't make our Cloaths up in the Spring. In Flounces and Furbelows many Experiments have been try'd, And many an old Gown and Petticoat new scour'd and dy'd. Some of us for these three Months have scarce been able to rest, For studying what sort of Complexion wou'd become us best; And several of us have almost pinch'd our selves to Death with going straight lac'd, That we might look fuller in the Chest, and more slender in the Waste. And isn't it now intolerable after all this Pains and Cost To be coop'd up out of Sight, and have all our Finery lost? ' The convenience of these stages for the accom- modation of a large assemblage probably led to the erection of side-galleries in 1735, which were paid for out of a legacy from the munificent Mr. William Worts. At the same time the Uni- versity rearranged the central space called in a former extract 'the Cock-Pit,' and down to a few years ago 'the Pit,' where the Masters of Arts sat on benches placed sideways. At the west entrance of this enclosure, right in the centre of the church, a gigantic pulpit was erected, with reading-desk and clerk's desk to 86 GREAT SAINT MARY'S CHURCH match a portentous mass of woodwork, so lofty that the preacher stood nearly on the same level as the occupants of the galleries. It was octagonal in form, like the lower stage of a pagoda; and it was ascended by an internal staircase, an arrangement that produced a most ludicrous effect, for the preacher, solemnly con- ducted by one of the Esquire Bedells to the foot of the towering structure, disappeared for a few moments, and then was seen slowly emerging at the top, head foremost. At this time the chancel was separated from the nave by what Cole calls 'a beautiful and lofty Screen, with a Canopy and Spire Work,' which had been set up in 1640. Within this the Heads, Doctors, and other University dignitaries, were seated on stalls, arranged in two rows along the north and south walls, as at present. But, about 1757, these great persons had apparently become discontented with what they regarded as an inferior position, and, as Cole records : 'By the advice and contrivance of my worthy friend James Bui-rough, late one of y e Esquier Bedels, and now Master of Gonville and Cains College, the Chancel is quite altered, and y e Church appears to much less advantage than it used to 87 CAMBRIDGE look ; for the Stalls and Fine Screen are taken down in the Chancell, and a Gallery built with an arched top of Wainscot, highly ornamented indeed with Mosaic carving, but very absurd in the design : both as the Doctors who sit there are generally old men, sometimes goutified, and not well able to get upstairs, and also are made to turn their backs on the Altar, which is not so decent, especially in an University.' This wonderful gallery, officially termed 'the Throne' or the 'Doctors' Gallery,' but by a rather profane, and very silly, pun, always spoken of familiarly as ' Golgotha? was a large room. It occupied the whole width, and about half the length, of the chancel, and was fitted with seats rising in tiers one above the other. The back was formed of large panels of oak. The Vice-Chancellor sat in a capacious arm-chair in the centre of the front row. It should be mentioned that the tower-arch also was blocked by the organ, which had a gallery in front of it. This latter affected to be of stone and in the Gothic style, but was really of plaster. When a popular preacher occupied the pulpit, and the church was quite full, it must be admitted that the effect was good, and members of the Uni- versity could see and hear exceedingly well. 88 CLARE HALL But those who had planned the arrangement had forgotten, or did not care to remember, that a church is built for other purposes than to hear sermons in, and Archdeacon Hare did not speak too strongly when he called St. Mary's 'an example of the world turned topsy-turvy.' However, when the late energetic Vicar, the Rev. H. R. Luard, undertook to get 'Golgotha' and its accompaniments removed, he encoun- tered much vexatious opposition from all parties interested in the church. The old difficulties in obtaining funds were renewed. It took ten years to get 3300 together ; and the present excellent and decorous arrangements were not completed until 1864. In speaking of the completion of the tower of St. Mary's we mentioned Clare Hall. This beautiful college, which more than any other in the University has the appearance of having been built at one time, was really the work of more than two centuries. The east side of the quadrangle was begun in 1638, after a furious controversy with its powerful neighbour, King's College, respecting its position, for it had pre- viously stood close to the street, in a line with the east end of the existing chapel. The Society M 89 CAMBRIDGE of Clare Hall, being anxious to set their college back seventy feet from the street, asked King's College to grant them part of their Butt Close, that they might have ground for recreation on the left bank of the Cam. In order to be sure of obtaining this, they procured a royal mandate, directing King's College to grant their request, without waiting for the answer of that college. Indignant at this want of confidence, King's College commenced an interchange of bitter invectives with Clare Hall, which are not a little amusing. Here is a specimen. It must be remembered that by King's College, the Old Court,, opposite to Clare as it was then placed, is meant. * The Answer of Clare-Hall to certaine Reasons of Kings College touching Butt-close. 1 1. To the first we answer : 1. That y e annoyance of y e windes gathering betweene y 6 Chappell and our Colledge is farre greater and more detriment to y fc Chappell, then any benefitt which they can imagine to receiue by y e shelter of our Colledge from wind and Sunne. '2. That y e Colledge of Clare-hall being sett so neare as now it is, they will not only be sheltered from wind and sunne, but much deprived both of ayre and light. 90 GATE OF ENTRANCE, CLARE COLLEGE. CLARE HALL '3. That y e removeall of Clare Hall 70 feet west- ward will take away little or no considerable privacy from their gardens and walkes : for y* one of their gardens is farre remote, and y e nearer fenced with a very high wall, and a vine spread upon a long frame, under which they doe and may privately walke.' A Reply of King's Colledge to y e Ansiver of Clare- Hall. ' 1. The wind so gathering breeds no detriment to our Chappell, nor did ever putt us to any reparacions there. The upper battlements indeed at y e west end haue sometimes suffered from y e wind, but y e wind could not there be straightned by Clare Hall, w ch scarce reacheth to y e fourth part of y e height. ' 2. No whit at all, for our lower Story hath few windowes y* way : the other are so high y* Clare- Hall darkens them not, and hath windowes so large y* both for light and ayre no Chambers in any Coll. exceed them. ' 3. The farther garden is not farre remote, being scarce 25 yards distant from their intended building ; y e nearer is on one side fenced w th a high wall indeed, but y l wall is fraudulently alleaged by them, and beside y e purpose ; for y l wall y l stands betweene their view and y e garden is not much aboue 6 foot in height ; and y l we haue any vine or frame there to walke under is manifestly untrue.' 91 CAMBRIDGE At last a royal letter settled the controversy, and Clare Hall obtained the ground they coveted. The east and south sides were finished in 1642. Soon afterwards the work was interrupted by the Civil War, and when Evelyn visited Cam- bridge in 1654 he remarked of this college : ' Clare-Hall is of a new and noble designe, but not finish'd.' Work on the west side, begun in 1640, was not resumed until 1662. It went on slowly, for by the end of 1669 the southern half only, with the gate leading towards the bridge, had been completed. The north side was built between 1683 and 1689; the north half of the west side between 1705 and 1715 ; and the chapel between 1763 and 1769. Our illustration shows the gate of entrance in the east front, as seen from the interior of the court. The style of the earlier portions is transitional between the Elizabethan and the Renaissance ; and in the buildings erected subsequently, though the classical fashions of a later time are apparent, the earlier style has been so skilfully followed that the harmony of the general effect is not disturbed. Clare Hall was founded originally in 1326, and refounded in 1338 by Elizabeth de Burgh, 92 ORIEL WINDOW OF THE LODGE, PEMBROKE COLLEGE, NOW DESTROYED. PEMBROKE COLLEGE Lady Clare. The first half of the same century witnessed the foundation of two other colleges King's Hall, founded by Edward the Third in 1337 ; and Pembroke Hall, founded by Marie de St. Paul in 1347. She was daughter of Guy de Chatillon, Comte de St. Paul in France ; and married Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who is said to have been killed in a tournament on his wedding day, though truth compels us to state that he really died prosaically in his bed three years afterwards. King's Hall was after- wards developed into Trinity College by Henry the Eighth. These noble and royal founders have been happily commemorated by Gray in his Installation Ode : ' Great Edward, with the lilies on his brow From haughty Gallia torn, And sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn That wept her bleeding Love, and princely Clare, And Anjou's heroine, and the paler rose, The rival of her crown and of her woes, And either Henry there, The murder'd saint, and the majestic lord, That broke the bonds of Rome.' It was in Pembroke that Gray himself resided from 1756 till his death in 1771. He had previously lived at Peterhouse, where he had 93 CAMBRIDGE been made the victim of a practical joke. He was very much afraid of fire, and had been careful to provide himself with a rope-ladder of the proper length to reach from his window to the ground. Some young men who lived on the same staircase raised an alarm of fire one night. Gray hastily attached his ladder, and descended ; not, however, on to the ground, but into a water- butt that his mischievous young friends had placed to receive him. This outrage on a dis- tinguished man of letters does not appear to have aroused either sympathy or indignation in those rough roystering days. Gray laid a formal complaint before the authorities of Peterhouse ; and, soon after, ' not thinking that his remonstrance was sufficiently attended to,' as Mason puts it, sought more congenial quarters on the opposite side of the street. ' I left my lodgings,' he writes to Wharton, 'because the rooms were noisy, and the people of the house uncivil; this is all I would chuse to have said about it.' At that time Dr. Roger Long, with whom Gray had been intimate for some years, was Master of Pembroke, and he and the Fellows received the fugitive poet, with as much defer- ence, he says, as if he had been Mary de Valence 94 PEMBROKE COLLEGE in person. The rooms he is believed to have occupied are on the ground-floor at the west end of the ' Hitcham Building,' which forms the south side of the second court. Above them are those subsequently occupied by William Pitt. With the exception of this court which the hand of the spoiler has spared but little remains of the college of his day ; the old Master's lodge, the old hall, and the south side of the principal quadrangle, have all been pulled down within the last few years. We forbear to express an opinion on a proceeding that has already excited many recriminations, but confine ourselves to perpetuating, as far as we can, the beautiful oriel of the old lodge, with its quaint garden. The chapel, on the left of the picture, was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, nephew of Dr. Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely, who built it as a thank-offering to God for his deliverance from the Tower in 1659, after an imprisonment of eighteen years, and ' in a grate- ful remembrance of his first education which was in that Place received.' 95 IV THE EARLY HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE ' To the glory of God and advantage of the realm, for the promotion of science, philosophy, liberal arts, and theology,' Henry vin. founded Trinity College. It has been the good fortune of the House to have been represented at nearly all periods of its existence by men who have been impressed with the full significance of these weighty words. In consequence, the history of Trinity College has been, to a great extent, the history of the University. Within its walls have originated the majority of those schemes for the promotion of a liberal educa- tion which have enabled Cambridge to keep a foremost place in science and literature; while the College itself, by encouraging among its members a variety of studies, and thoroughness in each, has been saved from those ignoble and 96 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE harrowing controversies into which less widely- cultured bodies are prone to fall, and so to fritter away their lives and waste their educa- tional opportunities. Hence it is that the College can rehearse so grand a roll of names, names of men famous in theology, in science, in literature, in public life, such as no other College in either University can put forward; hence also the reassuring fact that up to the present time there has been no sign of degene- racy, no hint ' That greatness hath no charter as of yore, And men revolt from claims of sovereign lore, And the bold majesty of mental strife Hath lost its force in our distracted life ; And though the circles widen, fainter gleam All new emotions on the mirror-stream.' The motives that animated Henry vin. to establish this splendid foundation have not been recorded. There is a tradition that it was due to the suggestion of Dr. John Redman, one of his chaplains, who was the last Master of King's Hall, and became the first Master of Trinity College an appointment which shows that the King did not propose to destroy, but only to extend, the foundation of his predecessors ; but it seems more probable to account for it on the N 97 CAMBRIDGE supposition that Henry desired to mark the age of that Reformation, to which he had himself so largely contributed, by some signal effort in the cause of education, on a grander scale and with larger endowments than the world had yet witnessed, so as to leave no cause for regretting the loss of the monasteries on the ground of the diminution of facilities for learning, which it had been part of their system to encourage. It is likely, too, that he may have wished to leave behind him in Cambridge a more endur- ing fame than his predecessor, Henry vi., was likely to acquire by King's College, or even than the Lady Margaret by her flourishing College of St. John's. That education in a far wider sense than was usual at that time was intended by him is clear from the full statement of his views in the preamble to the charter. After referring to the special reasons he had to be thankful to Almighty God for peace at home, for successful wars abroad, and, above all, for the introduction of the pure truth of Chris- tianity into his kingdom, and the defence of it against the heresies and wicked abuses of the Papacy on the one hand and unbelief on the other, he sets forth his intention of founding a 98 a o HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE college 'to the glory and honour of Almighty God, and of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, for increase and strengthening of Christianity, extirpation of error, development and perpetua- tion of religion, cultivation of wholesome study in all departments of learning, knowledge of languages, education of youth in piety, virtue, self-restraint, and knowledge, charity towards the poor, and relief of the afflicted and dis- tressed.' Could any scheme for a liberal educa- tion have then been devised upon a wider, or less sectarian base than this, or one better able to maintain itself among changes of opinion and altered modes of thought ? It is probable that the very general expressions of this care- fully-worded charter saved the College in Queen Mary's reign ; for no personal feeling on her part in favour of her father's schemes could have protected an institution endowed mainly out of the suppressed monasteries, had the objects of its foundation been more narrow. As it was, so far from suppressing it or despoiling it, she was enabled to increase its revenues by further endowments derived from the same sources. A description of the site on which the present 99 CAMBRIDGE stately quadrangles stand, and of the small collegiate institutions that occupied it institu- tions so small that the microscope of archaeo- logical research has to put on a very high power indeed to discover the existence of some of them is full of instruction. Like the faggot of sticks in the old fable, when united and amalga- mated, their strength is unassailable; but in- dividually they were powerless for any good result, and would probably have fallen into irremediable ruin had not a strong hand bound them together. As a general rule, reform comes better from within; but there are occasions when it can only be effected by judicious inter- ference from without. It is easy to imagine the clamour that must have been excited by Henry the Eighth's drastic measures. Unless academic nature was very different indeed in those days from what it is at present, there must have been much talk of vested rights and founders' wills ; but could those who first estab- lished the hostels and colleges that he absorbed now witness the result, it is difficult not to be- lieve that they would applaud the strong-willed king whose sweeping policy abolished their well- meant but feeble establishments. 100 THE GREAT GATE OF TRINITY COLLEGE. HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE When Henry vui. founded Trinity College the ground was occupied by two colleges King's Hall and Michael House and several hostels. The names of seven at least of these have been preserved. They were not all in existence in 1548, having been in some instances absorbed by their neighbours; but their posi- tion has been put beyond all doubt by recent re- searches. They were Gregory's Hostel, Crouched Hostel, Physwick Hostel, St. Margaret's Hostel, Tyled Hostel, Garret or St. Gerard's Hostel, and Ovyng's Inn. The main course of the River Cam was the same then as now, but a branch of it ran from the end of Garret Hostel Lane to a point near the north end of the present Library, separating off an oval piece of common ground, called Garret Hostel Waste. Neither this waste, however, which is now the green in front of the Library, nor any of the ground occupied by the avenue and walks, was at that time the property of the College. Of the site on the right bank of the river, the northern half where the Great Gate, Chapel, Bowling Green, and Master's Lodge now stand was occupied by the buildings of King's Hall, and by a wharf called ' Dame Nichol's Hy the,' or ' Cornhy the.' 101 CAMBRIDGE A lane leading to this wharf started from a point in High Street close to the present Great Gate, thence crossed the Great Court diagonally, and so reached the river close to the junction of the above-mentioned stream with it. This lane was called the ' King's Childer Lane,' ' King's Hall Lane,' or simply ' Road to Dame Nichol's Hythe.' It was further used for the conduit-pipe which supplied the convent of the Franciscans, on whose site Sidney College was subsequently built, and which now supplies the Fountain in the middle of the Great Court of Trinity College, and the tap at the Great Gate, still so largely used by the neighbours. This latter supply is of great antiquity, for in the fourteenth century we find the occupier of the house close to it called William Atte-Conduit a combination with which we are more familiar in the names of At wood and Atwater. The southern half of the site was subdivided into two nearly equal parts by a lane which ran from north to south. It started from the point in the present Trinity Lane where the ' Queens' Gate' now stands, and ran northwards until it met the previously mentioned lane. Accord- ing to Dr. Caius, it was called 'le foule lane.' 102 At the time of the foundation of King's Hall it provided a more direct communication be- tween Milne Street and Bridge Street than exists at present through Trinity Lane ; but when Dr. Caius wrote, the eastern half of King's Hall Lane had been absorbed by that college, and ' le f oule lane ' was the only means of access to Dame Nichol's Hythe. The traffic through it was probably considerable ; whence the un- savoury designation by which it has become known to posterity. Lastly, the piece of ground between the south-western portion of the site and Garret Hostel Lane was occupied by the two hostels of Ovyng and Garret. Of the nine institutions above mentioned the oldest was Michael House, founded in 1324 by Hervey de Stanton, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Edward n. As was the case with most early colleges, the founder established his scholars, who were only seven in number at the begin- ning, in an ordinary dwelling-house, which he had bought for a hundred marks from Roger de Buttetourte. Subsequently, as benefactions accrued to them, a hall, a kitchen, and ranges of chambers were constructed, with a conspicu- ous gate of entrance from the highway, now 103 CAMBRIDGE called Trinity Lane, directly opposite to the end of Milne Street. The court could not have measured more than one hundred feet from east to west, by fifty feet from north to south ; yet room was found for a Master, eight Fellows, three Chaplains, and four Bible Clerks, besides undergraduates and servants. The hall was on the west side, and there is reason to believe that it was preserved until near the end of the eighteenth century, and that it is the building with a high roof, buttresses, and an oriel win- dow, shown by Loggan in his view of Trinity College, at the south-west corner of the Great Court. The community had no chapel of their own, but, down to the time of their absorption in Trinity College, continued to use the church of St. Michael for their devotions. Besides the dedication to St. Michael, the house was estab- lished in honour of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, St. Mary, and All Saints. It is there- fore from this small establishment that the name of Trinity College was in all probability derived. Physwick Hostel occupied the ground at the corner of Foul Lane and Trinity Lane, opposite to Michael House. It derived its name from a 104 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE Bedell of the University, William Physwick, who bequeathed it to Caius College, or, as it was then called, Gonville Hall, in 1393. In the middle of the following century it absorbed St. Margaret's Hostel, a smaller establishment ad- joining it on the north. The entire extent of the ground thus occupied could not have measured more than two hundred feet by one hundred and fifty. This limited extent, however, did not prevent Physwick Hostel from acquiring considerable celebrity. It was managed in rather a different way from other hostels, as Dr. Caius has recorded with some minuteness in his history : ' It was not let out to hire,' he says, ' as the others were, but remained the private property of Gonville Hall. It was a tiny college (pusillum collegium) rather than a hostel, into which the superabundant youth of Caius College could overflow as into a colony. It was administered by two Principals the one exterior, the other interior who managed the finances, and directed the studies of the in- mates. The former was appointed by the Master of Caius College, the latter elected by the students themselves, who were between thirty and forty in number. It flourished and maintained its reputa- tion for many years, educating many eminent and O 105 CAMBRIDGE learned men, some of whom were summoned to fill honourable positions in the parent college, others to hold offices of state.' The curious arrangement which provided that the selection of one of the Principals should be made by those whom he was to instruct, is quite without parallel in university institutions. One would like to know something more about it ; what limitations, if any, were imposed upon their choice; and whether the Head of Caius College was allowed a veto upon the regula- tions of the hostel, or made suggestions as to the course of study to be adopted there. With- out some such control life might have been pleasant in Physwick Hostel, but could hardly have been profitable according to academic ideas. Of the other hostels whose position has not yet been mentioned, we know that St. Katharine's Hostel stood next to Physwick Hostel to the east; that Tyled Hostel was in High Street (now Trinity Street); and that Crouched Hostel and Gregory's Hostel, which stood north of Michael House, were afterwards united under the latter name. All were pro- bably small buildings, perhaps only single houses, let out to individuals for the accommo- 106 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE dation of students. They are only worth men- tioning as showing the number of these in- stitutions that were once in existence, before the establishment of colleges rendered them unnecessary. The ancestor in direct line of Trinity College, and the most important, though not the most ancient, foundation, was King's Hall. In 1317 we find King Edward II. maintaining scholars at Cambridge, whom he addresses as ' our dear clerks, John de Baggeshote and twelve other children of our chapel at the University of Cambridge'; and in 1336 King Edward in. pur- chased for them a dwelling-house and garden of Robert de Croyland. His charter, dated 7th of October, 1337, mentions thirty-two scholars. The house, to be called the King's Hall of Scholars, or King's Hall, is described as 'near the Hospital of St. John ' ; and has been ascer- tained with tolerable certainty to have occupied a considerable part of the eastern half of the northern division of the site of Trinity College. It must have been of larger size than medieval houses in general, for it was capable, without alteration, of containing the scholars and their Master. The Master only had a room to him- 107 CAMBRIDGE self; from two to six scholars were lodged in each of the others. These scholars were pro- bably sent to college at about the age when modern boys go to a public school; and their position was not very different from that of boys on the foundation of Eton or Winchester. They were clothed and fed at the royal expense ; and the accounts that have come down to us, copies of which were sent by the Master to the King, record every detail of their expenditure. So minute are these accounts giving all the names of the inmates of the house, down to the cook's son, a lad called 'petite Wille' that it would not be difficult, had we time and space enough, to reproduce almost all the daily doings of the inmates: how they lived, what they ate, and what they drank. We may per- haps attempt this on some future occasion. It is usual to suppose that medieval living was coarse and rough; but, at any rate, they had table-cloths and napkins in hall ; and their food was plentiful and varied. A few random ex- tracts from one of these volumes (ranging from 1337 to 1351) are all that we have space for now. In the first place, we find yearly charges for the scholars' robes and furs (pro robis et furruris), 108 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE which it appears they had sometimes consider- able difficulty in procuring, for in 1342 special mention is made of an expenditure of nearly five pounds, ' when suit was made for our gowns'; and the refusal of some Fellows to contribute is noticed with no little acrimony. In this year there is a curious entry : ' For knives and pen-cases and ink-horns given to our friends at court, 18s. 2d.' Knives were apparently considered the most acceptable pre- sents for gaining a person's goodwill ; for hardly a year passes without a charge for them, with the names of those to whom they were given. The brewery and the stable are frequently mentioned, and great care was taken of the garden; in each year we meet with charges for seeds, usually parsley and garlic, and for work done to the vines. A piece of ground was specially set apart for their cultivation, and entries such as the following are frequent: 'To one pruning the vineyard, Id.' The cul- ture of vines was pretty general in Cambridge and the neighbourhood in the fourteenth cen- tury. There are references to it in most early college accounts ; and at Ely a certain sunny slope is called ' the vineyard ' to this day. There 109 CAMBRIDGE is, however, no hint that amateur wine-making was ever attempted ; or that a college butler of those days ever commended his liquors with 'The port, sir, I know is good, for I made it myself.' On the contrary, there is ample evi- dence that red wine (vinum rubeum, le claret) was imported yearly from abroad. At King's College the founder made hospitable provision for the supply of two casks of Gascony wine every year ; and a charge for making ' verjuice ' from the college grapes shows that vinegar for salads was probably the only liquid they pro- duced. Numerous entries for poles and posts and frames for the vines point to their use in providing shady retreats from the summer sun. The study of a few of the early codes of college statutes, joined to that of such account-books as these, shows that every college was intended to contain within the precincts all that was necessary for the religion, the studies, and the recreation of the inmates, as in a modern public school. The most minute directions for the dress and deportment of the scholars are given in the statutes. A precedent for this had been set by Walter de Merton at Oxford, who pre- scribes generally that his scholars are to be 110 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE dressed decorously, to cultivate seemly behav- iour, to be quiet in Hall and listen to a reader, or, if obliged to address each other, to speak Latin. These directions were elaborated in sub- sequent codes at Cambridge. Special vanities in dress are forbidden by name ; such as, red or green shoes, girdles enriched with gold or silver, rings on the fingers, swords and daggers, long hair or beards ; neither dogs, falcons, nor hawks might be kept, nor tournaments attended. At King's College no scholar might go beyond the gates unless accompanied by a Fellow, another scholar, or a servant. Latin is to be used at meals ; but at King's Hall French was permitted as an alternative. The Bible, however, was to be read aloud during dinner, so that the culti- vation of colloquial Latin could not have made much progress. In contrast to this severity of discipline, the comfort and economical living of the students was everywhere considered. Their bread was baked, and their beer brewed, within the College walls. Salt provisions were much used, and on fast- days salt fish. This was bought in large quantities at Lynn Mart or Ely Fair, and stowed in the College storehouse till required. Their clothes were washed in the 111 CAMBRIDGE College laundry, and their chins shaved by the College barber. Exercise was provided accord- ing to the extent of the grounds. A College with a large garden could find room for archery. Of the sixteen older Colleges thirteen had bowl- ing-greens, nine had tennis-courts, and eight had both. In the winter the performance of plays took place. These were usually the classi- cal compositions of Plautus or Terence, but in later times an original comedy was occasionally permitted. It is time, however, to leave these domestic details, and return to the buildings. It was not long before the limits of Robert de Croyland's messuage proved too narrow for the community, and by the beginning of Richard the Second's reign we find them engaged in building operations. Colleges especially newly- founded ones do not build rapidly, and it was not until 1425 that the usual quadrangular area was completed. This was a diminutive court about forty feet square, on the northern limit of the site, just behind the north-west corner of the present chapel. Small as it was, it con- tained all the necessary offices hall, oratory, parlour, kitchen, bakehouse and access to these different buildings was obtained from a cloister. 112 THE CAM NKAR TRINITY COI.LKOK, WITH THE TOWER OK ST. JOHN'S CHAI'EI.. HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE In a few years the west side of the college was prolonged southwards as far as the boundary lane, and returned along it eastwards. Opposite to 'Foul Lane' a large gateway with four turrets was constructed, adorned with the royal arms, and a figure of a king, carved in stone and painted. This is the statue of King Edward in., TERTIUS EDWABDUS FAMA SUPER JETHERA NOTUS, as the inscription records which gave its name to the gate, and which is still to be seen in a seventeenth-century niche adorning the mutilated remnants of the original structure. Up to the middle of Edward the Fourth's reign the parish churches of All Saints and St. Mary's had been used by the king's scholars for their devotions, but they then built a chapel private to themselves. There is reason to believe that it stood, in part, on the same ground as the existing chapel does, and some fragments of its walls are probably imbedded in the more modern ones. Lastly, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, an ex- tension of the site towards the south having been at last effected, and the eastern half of the old 'King's Hall Lane' closed, the founda- tion of the splendid gate of entrance was laid, p 113 CAMBRIDGE It was not completed until 1535, and was the last work executed by the community of King's Hall before their dissolution. When the union of the colleges, whose history and position we have thus briefly traced, had been brought about, the old thoroughfares were closed, and the new college found itself in possession of a number of buildings, scattered over the area of the Great Court, but not con- nected together by any unity of plan. The Society possessed, besides various buildings in which their members might be lodged, at least three halls, but only one chapel, of no great size, no convenient master's lodge, and no regular ranges of chambers suitable for a com- munity consisting, probably, of about three hundred persons. After executing a number of necessary repairs, they built a proper lodging for the Master. Next, the chapel was under- taken, which was begun in 1555, and completed, or at any rate the eastern portion of it, in 1564, as the date on the eastern gable shows. There is a tradition that the founder had himself in- tended to build a chapel in this position ; and it is unquestionable that Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth both interested themselves in its pro- 114 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE gress. We may console ourselves, therefore, when the beauty of the building is called in question, as it often is, by reflecting that the design may have been suggested by Henry viii., and was certainly carried out by his daughters. 115 THE FURTHER HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE THE Great Court of Trinity College, of which we have already given an illustration, is the largest in either University, having an area of 90,180 square feet ; while that of Christ Church, Oxford, the next largest, with which it is natural to compare it, has an area of only 74,520 square feet. Nor is it in mere size that the Cambridge quadrangle is superior. The irregularity both of its dimensions and of the position of its buildings produces a more pleas- ing architectural effect than the formal correct- ness of Wolsey's design at Oxford. Though at first sight it appears to be completely regular, it is in reality exactly the reverse. The sides that are opposite to each other are not of the same length, none of the angles are right angles, and the fountain is not placed at the intersec- tion of the diagonals. In criticising the two 116 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE quadrangles, however, it must be remembered that that of Christ Church was never completed by the founder, and has since been added to and altered in a very unsuitable manner ; while the success of the Great Court of Trinity is due to a fortunate accident rather than to a deliberate effort of genius on the part of the architect. The transformation of the Great Court is due entirely to the taste and energy of Dr. Thomas Nevile, who became Master in 1593. He, as Fuller quaintly puts it, ' answering his anagram most heavenly, and practising his own illusive motto, ne vile velisj not only transformed the incongruous buildings into the stately order we admire at present, but erected, at his own charge, the additional court which still bears his name. He called to his aid an experienced architect, Ralph Symons, who had built Em- manuel College (1584-86), and who afterwards built Sidney Sussex College (1596-98), and the second court of St. John's College (1598-1602). Under his direction those portions of the older collegiate structures that could not be incor- porated into a quadrangular arrangement were pulled down, and the eastern and western sides of the quadrangle, with the Queens' Gate in the 117 latter, were erected. One portion alone of the older buildings was considered either too beautiful, or too historically interesting, to be wholly swept away. The Gate of Edward in. was then standing at the end of a range of chambers projecting into the area of the court at right angles to the chapel. It was obviously necessary to pull it down, but, in order to preserve at least the facade, it was erected afresh against the west end of the chapel, the west window of which was blocked to receive it. To Nevile we owe also the lovely fountain, erected in 1602, the Hall, erected in 1604, and the northern half of the Master's lodge, with the dining-room and large drawing- room over it. An additional storey was added to the great gate, with the statue of Henry vin. on the exterior, and those of King James, his Queen, and Prince Charles, on the interior. Nevile must further be thanked for the acquisi- tion of the ground on which the New Court now stands, and of the spacious gardens beyond the river, where the avenue of lime-trees was afterwards planted the portion between the bridge and the road, in 1674, and that between the college and the bridge, in 1716. The distant spire of the village church of Coton was for- 118 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE merly visible at the end of this delightful arcade of trees, framed in green foliage, whence the avenue used to be pointed to as a type of a College Fellowship being a long, but not un- pleasant road, with a church at the end of it. But 'the old order changeth, giving place to new ' ; and ecclesiastical rewards are no longer looked forward to as the natural close of a successful academic career. The Hall, the west side of which is well shown in the drawing which illustrates our last chapter, was copied, with certain alterations, from that of the Middle Temple. The same illustration exhibits the plan of Dr. Nevile's Court, which is a building of two floors, raised upon the arcades of a spacious and well-proportioned cloister. When first built, each side was subdivided by pilasters into compartments of four arches each. They were richly ornamented, and must have broken the uniformity of the wall in a very agreeable manner. Other and smaller pilasters divided the windows of the first floor. These latter were alternately solid, and pierced to receive the spouts which discharged the rain- water, not, as at present, into drains, but on to the floor of the court below. The second storey 119 CAMBRIDGE was finished off by a series of picturesque gables, one over each window. These details have been preserved to us in one of Loggan's admirable views, taken in or about 1688, without which their existence would never have been suspected. In 1755 the stone of which the walls were built had become decayed, and the whole structure was considered dangerous. Mr. Essex, a local architect, whose life was spent in destroying that which ought to have been preserved, was called in ; and under his direction the walls were securely built, the whole system of decora- tion was swept away, and the picturesque gables were replaced by a balustrade of a heavy classical character, whose only merit is that it harmonises exceedingly well with that of the Library on the west side of the Court. It should be mentioned that Nevile's Court was originally shorter by two compartments, or eight arcades, than it is at present. These were supplied by the munificence of Sir Thomas Sclater, Mr. Humphry Babington, and other benefactors, aided by the College funds, after the erection of the Library which was com- menced by the exertions of Dr. Barrow, Master, in 1675. The architect was Sir Christopher 120 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE Wren. A contemporary annalist records the following curious story respecting it : ' They say that Dr. Barrow pressed the Heads of the University to build a Theatre, it being a Profana- tion and Scandal that the Speeches should be had in the University Church, and that also be deformed with Scaffolds and denied with rude Crowds and Outcries. This Matter was formally considered at a Council of the Heads, and Arguments of Difficulty and want of Supplies went strong against it. Dr. Barrow assured them that if they made a sorry Building, they might fail of Contributions ; but if they made it very magnificent and stately, and at least exceeding that at Oxford, all Gentlemen of their Interest would generously contribute. But sage Caution prevailed, and the Matter, at that Time, was wholly laid aside. Dr. Barrow was piqued at this Pusillanimity, and declared that he would go straight to his College, and lay out the Foundations of a Building to enlarge his back- court, and close it with a stately Library, which should be more magnificent and costly than what he had proposed to them, and doubted not but, upon the Interest of his College, in a short Time to bring it to Perfection. And he was as good as his Word, for that very Afternoon, he, with his Gardiners and Servants, staked out the very Foundation upon which the Building now stands : and the admirable Disposition and Proportion on the Inside is such as touches the very Soul of any one who first sees it.' Q 121 CAMBRIDGE A more noble repository for books it would be hard to find. The great architect fortunately condescended to design the book-cases, desks, seats, and other internal fittings; so that the interior, as well as the exterior, bears the im- press of his perfect taste and excellent judg- ment. The floor is paved with black and white marble, set in squares; and ranged along the sides, against the cases, are marble busts of the chief worthies of the College, many due to the chisel of Roubiliac, among which those of the naturalists, Ray and Willoughby, are pre- eminent for beauty of execution. At the end furthest from the door, in the middle of the central space, is the statue of Lord Byron by Thorwaldsen, originally intended for West- minster Abbey. It has been objected that Lord Byron is not the greatest name in literature that Trinity College could produce, and that therefore the place of honour in the library should not be assigned to him. When a sculptor can execute a finer statue of a greater man, it will be time to dethrone him. Meanwhile, let the work of art remain, a fitting companion to the busts that had been put there before it. The Great Court remained as Nevile left it 122 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE until the Mastership of Dr. Richard Bentley (1700-1742), a period which has achieved an unfortunate notoriety for a series of the most extraordinary and bitter disputes between the Master and the Fellows. At the time of Bentley 's appointment to this important office, he had just triumphantly routed a formidable array of wits and critics who had ventured to assert the genuineness of the Epistles of Phalaris. It was admitted by those best qualified to pronounce an opinion that Bentley's victory was crushing and complete ; nor does it now appear that he overstepped the proper limits of literary controversy. At the time, however, his opponents did not know when they were beaten. An anonymous pamphleteer took refuge in abuse, and brought out A Short Account of Dr. Bentley s Humanity and Justice to those Authors ivho have written before him, etc., etc.; and another, Dr. Garth, affected to consider Bentley's adversary, Mr. Boyle, as the victor in the fray. In his poem, The Dis- pensary, the following couplet occurs : ' So diamonds take a lustre from their foil, And to a Bentley 'tis we owe a Boyle.' Bentley's once famous Dissertation has long 123 CAMBRIDGE since taken its place in the list of books that are much talked of but little read ; and he is better known in Cambridge by the undignified squabbles that disgraced his Mastership, or by the bitter lines of Pope, who, in the Dunciad, makes him introduce himself to Dullness as ' Thy mighty Scholiast, whose unwearied pains Made Horace dull and humbled Milton's strains ; Turn what they will to verse, their toil is vain, Critics like me shall make it prose again.' It might have been expected that the Master- ship of such a college as Trinity would have been regarded by a man of his studious habits as a peaceful haven, where he might pursue his favourite occupations for the rest of his life without let or hindrance. The result, however, was exactly the reverse. From the very com- mencement of his tenure of office, he set himself in opposition to the Fellows ; and from that time until his death he worked amidst the din of incessant battle, rather than in that serene atmosphere of University existence, which is popularly believed to be unruffled by the tem- pests that agitate the outer world. It must be admitted that it would have required no ordinary tact and temper to make his appointment the 124 success that the advisers of the Crown intended it to be. He was from the first unpopular, as a member of St. John's College ; and he did not improve matters by replying to a congratula- tion in the words of the Psalm, ' By the help of my God I have leaped over the wall.' Again, he was sent to Trinity as a reformer. The college had been declining in numbers and re- putation for some years ; the kindness and good-nature of the two preceding Masters, Dr. North and Dr. Montague, had produced a re- laxation of discipline, which had in turn caused both good manners and literature to decline ; appointments to Fellowships and Scholarships had been made from favour of the ruling powers, and not from merit only, as should have been the case then, and has always been the case since ; and, lastly, education was in a transi- tional state the old learning of the schoolmen was neglected and despised, and a more vigorous system having not yet been adopted, the college was in an intermediate state of torpor, from which it needed a vigorous intellect to awaken it. Those, however, who are content to doze away their lives in an easy routine are certain to resent the passionate eagerness of a thorough 125 CAMBRIDGE reformer. Interference from any one would, at that time, have encountered violent opposi- tion at Trinity. But a college of which Newton and Cotes were Fellows would soon have de- clared itself on the side of literary and scientific progress ; and it is sad to think of the oppor- tunity that Bentley missed, thanks to his own perverse and headstrong character. For it is clear that, notwithstanding all that happened, there was a party ready to support him on all occasions so long as support was possible ; and that party consisted of the best and most learned men in the University. The story of Dr. Bentley's career has been admirably told by Bishop Monk. 1 In his clear and accurate narrative the reader who desires to know more about this dismal period will be able to follow the shifting fortunes of the com- batants: Bentley's first attacks upon a society that he heartily despised, and for a time frightened into abject submission ; the appear- ance of Serjeant Miller on the scene, under whose valiant leadership the Fellows turned the 1 The Life of Richard Bentley, D.D., Master of Trinity College.. By James Henry Monk, D.D., Lord Bishop of Gloucester. 2 vols., 8vo. London, 1833. 126 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE tide of war against their enemy by an appeal to the Master's Visitor, Bishop Moore of Ely ; Bentley's hairbreadth escape from deprivation by the sudden death of the Bishop, followed shortly afterwards by that of the Queen ; down to the humiliation of the Doctor on a totally different count by an overwhelming vote of the Senate, when, on the 17th of October 1718, a grace for degrading him was carried by a majority of fifty-eight votes, and, as a con- temporary diarist records, ' The great Dr. Bentley was reduced to be a bare Harry-Soph, being not able to gain above fifty votes in the whole University ; though a great many did indeed stay away, that they might not offend him by voting against him; yet one hundred and eight appeared against him.' The dispute began over a complete repair to the Master's Lodge, which involved external as well as internal changes, for Bentley insisted upon the introduction of sash-windows towards the Great Court ; and further, without specific authority from the Seniors, built the handsome staircase which leads to the first floor. When these alterations were first proposed, it was stated by him that they would cost 300 or 400, 127 CAMBRIDGE at least so it was said; and when at last the expense was found to be three or four times that amount, the Seniors, who had meanwhile become greatly irritated against Bentley for his arro- gant assumption of imperial power, disregard of themselves, and seclusion from the society of the Fellows, refused to sanction the payment. It was on this occasion that he inquired 'whether they had forgotten his rusty sword ? ' and when the Bursar forbade the workmen to proceed, he told him ' he would send him into the country to feed his turkeys.' Shortly after this the indig- nant Master showed the College that he could use his sword to some effect; for he went the length of refusing his sanction to the election of any Fellow to a College Preachership (which was at that time necessary in order to hold Church preferment together with a Fellowship) until the money was paid. After a resistance of two years, the Seniors yielded. Bentley's next great architectural work was the internal deco- ration of the Chapel, with oak panelling and stalls, and an organ, built by the celebrated Father Smith. The Fellows were persuaded to subscribe a year's dividend each ; an unfortunate measure for them, for in the years 1703 and 1704, 128 ^r-^ ^yCj 1 fwfill' 'Jilt , o > y f HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE owing to the great expenses of the College, only half a dividend had been received. They, there- fore, found their income anticipated, and actual distress was the result in several cases. All the comfort they got, however, from their pitiless tyrant was that ' he expected their complaints, but that it would be all one twenty years hence.' Shortly after this, in consequence of an attempt to alter the system of dividends, thirty of the Fellows plucked up courage, and drew out a case against their Master, which they submitted to the Bishop of Ely. It is a most curious and entertaining document, being thrown into an interrogative form, as the following paragraphs show : ' WHY did you according to your own Will and Pleasure cause so many and so large Rooms to be wainscotted in your said Lodge, which could only be designed to entertain Boarders therein for your private Gain, and make many other costly and need- less Alterations and Additions, and that without the Advice, Consent, or Direction of the Senior Fellows, or the Bursars, or either of them, as the said College- Statutes require ? ' WHY were the several Punishments, Disgraces, and Injuries, imposed on several Fellows, and many Scholars, during your Mastership, without any 11 129 CAMBRIDGE hearing, statutable Convictions, or Authority ; and that in an insolent manner, by saying, Hie est Indus jocusque, you were not warm yet, or to that Effect ? ' WHY did you use scurrilous Words and Language to several of the Fellows, particularly by calling Mr. Eden an Ass, and Mr. Rasely the College Dog, and by telling Mr. Cock he would die in his Shoes, and calling many others Fools and Sots and other scur- rilous Names ; and also use several other Expressions contrary to the 20th Chapter of the said College Statutes, as Farewell Peace to Trinity College, and many others of the like Nature ? ' WHY did you prophanely and blasphemously use and apply several Expressions in Scripture ? As, He that honours me, I ivill honour. I set Life or Death before you, choose you whether, or to that effect ? ' To this challenge Bentley was not slow in replying. He presently drew up, in the form of a Letter to the Bishop of Ely, a bitter invec- tive against those who had presumed to prefer against him a complaint, which he politely describes as ' the last struggle and effort of vice and idleness against virtue, learning, and good discipline.' Here, however, we must conclude our brief narrative of this great quarrel, which, as it lasted for nearly forty years, illustrated and augmented by numerous controversial pamphlets by both actors and spectators, is an almost 130 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE inexhaustible mine for the study of academic opinions and customs of that time. The classical facade imposed upon the Lodge by Bentley lasted till 1842, when the Mastership of Dr. Whewell was inaugurated by a restora- tion of the front, though unfortunately the semicircular oriel was not rebuilt. Towards this work Mr. Beresford-Hope contributed 1000 an act of munificence commemorated by an inscrip- tion on the oriel. At that time Dr. Whewell was not so popular as his great talents and high character ought to have made him. A brusque and somewhat haughty manner was mistaken for pride ; and the conjunction of his name with Mr. Hope's in the inscription gave rise to much indignant and unfavourable comment. A wag composed a parody on The House that Jack built, which began thus : ' This is the House that Hope built. This is the Master, rude and rough, Who lives in the House that Hope built. These are the Seniors, greedy and gruff, Who toady the Master, rude and rough, Who lives in the house that Hope built.' The only other important alteration to the court is the construction of the Combination Room, in 1771, under Essex, to effect which a 131 CAMBRIDGE hideous Italian front replaced the picturesque oriel shown by Loggan. The New Court or, as it was intended to be called, the King's Court, because George iv. con- tributed towards the cost of it 1000 was begun in 1823. The architect was Mr. Wilkins. The ceremony of laying the first stone was the occa- sion of a feast, which feast was the occasion of a serious difference of opinion between the Master and Seniors on the one hand, and the undergraduate members of the College on the other. It was decided that the latter might come to dinner if they chose, but might not stay to hear the speeches afterwards. Indignant at what they regarded as a slight on their good breeding, they preferred to stay away alto- gether ; and, much to the surprise of the Fellows, the lower part of the hall remained empty. The next day the following poetical epistle from an undergraduate of Trinity to a friend at Oxford made its appearance. The motto was intended to indicate the preference shown to the masters of arts, who wore black gowns, over the under- graduates, who wore blue ones : ' Out spake the Rover to his gallant crew, Up with the black flag, and down with the blue.' 132 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE ' There was a feast, a mighty feast, For Science and the Gown ; The College buildings were increased, The Speaker was come down ; And men of war, and men of prayer, And men of every sort were there, Peer and Professor, Monk and Mayor, And Simeonite and sinner ; Sweating and swearing, fretting and frying ; Bowing and bustling, crowding and crying ; And very fond of speechifying, And very fond of dinner. ' Then looking big, and looking blue, Out-spake unto his gallant crew The gracious king of Trinity : ' " 'Tis contrary to rule and right That we, the Seniors, should invite, To see us drink and hear us speak, The beardless bunglers in bad Greek, The learners of Latinity. We will not make the striplings sick With claret and with rhetoric ; The stream of eloquence and liquor Shall only flow for Vice and Vicar, The Court and Caput sweetly blent, And members of the Parliament, And Doctors of Divinity. 'Tis proper for young men to pay, And keep the peace, and keep away ; They '11 find the dinner quite a treat, And hear the band, and eat the meat ; But to stay drinking strange vagary For men in statu pupillari. " 133 ' All undergraduates are vermin The conclave did that day determine. For fear of noise and squeeze, The Master should remove at once The emptiness of dish and dunce, Thick beer and thirsty bachelor, Plum-pudding and pert pensioner, Young scholar and old cheese. That all unseen and all unheard, The ancient ones might be absurd ; That all might join in port and pranks, In reasoning and returning thanks ; That Medallists might praise the haunches, And Wranglers fight about the branches ; And sober Tutors drain the bottle, And pedants quote from Aristotle ! A child might see how this would end. Hot were our passions, O my friend, And very hot the weather. We all resolved, in either court, To cut the business very short, And cut it altogether. Was it a most atrocious sin To hurry to the " Eagle Inn," And there to fret, and there to fume, In a great passion and small room ? Perhaps it was. I only know, I sat me down at five or so, And dined upon a charming plan, Clean cloth, stewed eels, and Mary Anne. I am egregiously witty, And Mary Anne is rather pretty ; And so we grew immensely merry, And drank the Doctor's health in sherry.' 134 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE Before leaving Trinity College, it will be inter- esting to mention where some of the great men who have made the College famous resided. Sir Isaac Newton occupied, from 1679 to 1696, the rooms on the first floor to the north of the Great Gateway. The space between the chapel and the entrance to the College is laid out as a garden, which, in those days, and until a few years ago, was rendered private by a high wall. This was attached to the rooms in question. In Newton's time, as Loggan's print shows, it was laid out in trim flower-beds, with three trees close to the staircase leading to it. In the next century the rooms were assigned to Dr. Richard Walker, whose close friendship for, and subser- vience to, Bentley, has gained him a niche in the Dunciad. When the great critic appears, ' His hat, which never vail'd to human pride, Walker with rev'rence took, and laid aside ' : and at the end of his speech he cries : ' " Walker ! our hat " ; nor more he deigned to say ; But, stern as Ajax' spectre, strode away.' It is recorded that during Walker's time every relic of Newton's studies and experiments was 1 respectfully preserved to the minutest par- 135 CAMBRIDGE ticular,' and pointed out to visitors 'with the most circumstantial precision.' The noble statue of him, by Roubiliac, which occupies the place of honour at the west end of the ante-chapel, was given in 1755 by Dr. Robert Smith, Master. The beauty of it as a work of art has been amply recognised by the best judges. Chantrey called it 'the noblest of our English statues,' and Wordsworth has recorded how he used to lie awake at night and think of it, when the moonlight shone upon ' The ante-chapel, where the statue stood Of Newton, with his prism and silent face ; The marble index of a mind for ever Voyaging through strange seas of thought alone.' In the rooms under these William Makepeace Thackeray resided. It was probably in remem- brance of them that he placed Henry Esmond in 'comfortable rooms in the great court close by the gate, and near to the famous Mr. New- ton's lodgings.' The rooms next the chapel, on the ground-floor of the same staircase, belonged to Macaulay. His biographer, Mr. Trevelyan, after recording this fact, proceeds as follows : * From the door of these rooms there runs a nagged pathway which affords an acceptable relief from the 136 THE AVENUE, TRINITY COLLEGE. rugged pebbles that surround it. Here, as a Bachelor of Arts, he would walk, book in hand, morning after morning, throughout the Long Vacation, reading with the same eagerness and the same rapidity, whether the volume was the most abstruse of treatises, the loftiest of poems, or the flimsiest of novels. That was the spot where in his failing years he specially loved to renew the feelings of the past ; and some there are who can never revisit it without the fancy that there, if anywhere, his dear shade must linger.' Lord Byron's rooms are said to have been on the north side of Nevile's Court, those on the first floor on the west side of the central stair- case. His own account of the wild life that he led in them, with the 'large assortment of jockeys, gamblers, boxers, authors, parsons, and poets,' that he gathered together, are probably parts of that love of exaggeration of his own defects which was one of his strangest charac- teristics. The tame bear, 'his new friend, the finest in the world,' who was ' to sit for a fellow- ship,' was not, however, kept in College, as is often reported, but in a more appropriate locality a stable in the Ram Yard. Another legend places Byron's rooms at the west end of the first floor on the south side of the same court ; and s 137 CAMBRIDGE it was to these that Countess Guiccioli, then Madame de Boissy, the lady who had been the object of his last and most enduring attachment, had been directed, when, some thirty years after her lover's death, she made a pilgrimage to Cambridge for the purpose of seeing the place where he had lived as a young man. She had given ho notice of her visit, and the gentleman to whom she brought a letter of introduction was not at home when she arrived. On the stairs she met one of the Senior Fellows, of whom she inquired if she could see Byron's rooms, of which he was himself the occupier. He, thinking she was an ordinary sightseer, with a taste for romantic poetry, good-naturedly acquiesced. She examined the rooms carefully for some moments, and took her leave. At dinner afterwards, the gentleman whom she had meant to visit, having found her letter and card, mentioned his disappointment at having missed her. ' Ah ! ' said the other, ' so that was Countess Guiccioli ! I thought the lady took an uncom- mon interest in the rooms I showed her ! ' Byron did not make a good impression in College. Those who remembered him never spoke kindly of him, and stories are still current of his bad 138 HISTORY OF TRINITY COLLEGE taste and his morbid sensitiveness. Once, on going out of Hall, he forgot himself so far as to mimic the gestures of the Master as he walked behind him towards the Combination Room. He was fond of boxing, and affected the society of Jackson, the celebrated pugilist, with whom he often walked and drove in public. When his tutor, Mr. Tavel, remonstrated with him on being seen in company so much beneath his rank, he replied, ' Really, sir, I cannot understand you. With the single exception of yourself, I can assure you that Mr. Jackson's manners are infinitely superior to those of the Fellows of the College whom I meet at the high table.' The late Master of Magdalene, Mr. George Neville Grenville, when a freshman, was one day at his rooms to take wine after the early dinner in Hall. When the party separated to attend a concert in the Senate House, Byron and Neville walked together. The pavement was narrow, and Neville fell behind Byron out of politeness. Instead of thanking him for his courtesy, Byron exclaimed, ' Ah ! I see what it is ; you want to spy out my deformity.' The two Tennysons, Alfred and Charles, never had rooms in College. The former lodged at 139 CAMBRIDGE first in the Rose Crescent ; afterwards the brothers had rooms together in a house opposite the Bull Hotel. Arthur Hallam 'kept' in the New Court, on the central staircase of the south side, in the set of rooms on the first floor to the right as the staircase is faced. The stanzas in In Memoriam, where the poet says, ' Up that long walk of limes I past, to see the rooms in which he dwelt,' have become the parent of a tradition that Hallam's rooms were on the west side of the court. The plain sense of the words, how- ever, is, that he entered the New Court by the avenue, and so came to the well-known stair- case. ' Another name was on the door : I linger'd ; all within was noise Of songs, and clapping hands, and boys That crashed the glass and beat the floor ; ' Where once we held debate, a band Of youthful friends, on mind and art And labour, and the changing mart, And all the framework of the land.' 140 VI KING'S COLLEGE THE history of Trinity College, growing as it did out of the small medieval foundations of Michael House and King's Hall, led us away from the distant times in which they were first estab- lished almost to our own days. The stately chapel of King's College, however the last thoroughly medieval structure erected in Cam- bridge which, notwithstanding the changes and chances of the long period that elapsed between its foundation and completion, bears indelibly the stamp of the age in which it was planned, will carry us back to the period in University history from which we diverged. The fourteenth century had witnessed the establishment, within less than thirty years, of no less than five colleges : Clare Hall, Pembroke Hall, Gonville Hall, Trinity Hall, and Corpus 141 CAMBRIDGE Christi College, all founded between 1326 and 1352. After this there is a break of nearly a century, during which nothing was done either by royal or private munificence. The accession of Henry the Sixth was the signal for a fresh departure. Not only did he found his own mag- nificent college, but his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, established a second in its immediate neighbourhood in 1448. As Fuller quaintly puts it : ' Indeed, as Miltiades' trophy in Athens would not suffer Themistocles to sleep, so this Queen, beholding her husband's bounty in building King's College, was restless in herself with holy emulation until she had produced something of the like nature. A strife wherein wives, without breach of duty, may contend with their hus- bands which should exceed in pious perfor- mances.' She proposed to call it the College of St. Margaret and St. Bernard, but after her husband's deposition the name was changed. Andrew Docket, the first master, who had been appointed to that office by Queen Margaret, hastened with pardonable subservience to in- gratiate himself with her successor, and so cleverly did he manage that Elizabeth Wood- ville consented to be named as co-foundress, 142 KING'S COLLEGE and the college became ' the Queens' College of St. Margaret and St. Bernard,' now familiarly known simply as Queens' College. This founda- tion was succeeded by that of St. Catharine's College, founded in 1475 by Robert Wodelarke, third Provost of King's College. It was on the 12th of February 1441, when Henry of Windsor was only nineteen years old, that he signed the charter of his first founda- tion for a Rector and twelve scholars only, which he proposed to call ' The Royal College of St. Nicholas,' in commemoration of the saint on whose day he had been born. This college would have been no larger than those previously founded, and moreover, from the nature of the ground, was incapable of future extension. It is difficult to understand how the Commissioners employed by the King one of whom was Dr. John Langton, then Master of Pembroke Hall and Vice-Chancellor of the University came to select a site so cramped and so inconvenient. It had Milne Street, then one of the principal thoroughfares of the town, on the west; the University Library and Schools on the east ; and a public lane on the north. On the south side only, which was also the narrowest, had it any 143 outlet at all, and even there the ground avail- able for that indispensable appendage to a medieval college, a garden, was extremely nar- row. We ought, perhaps, to be grateful for the selection of ground which the scholars presently discovered to be too small for their accommoda- tion; for they lost no time in petitioning the King to provide them with ampler habitations, and it was partly in consequence of that prayer of theirs that he acquired the larger site, and planned the noble college whereof Stow remarks 'that if the rest of the house had proceeded according to the chappell (as his full intent and meaning was) the like colledge could scarce have been found againe in any Christian land.' There were, however, other motives deter- mining the King's action in this matter. It must be remembered that shortly before the foundation of the college at Cambridge, on October 11, 1440, he had signed the charter of foundation of Eton College. Previous to this, in July of the same year, he had visited Win- chester, and studied carefully, from personal observation, the working of William of Wyke- ham's system of education. It does not appear, however, that he all at once conceived the idea 144 KING'S COLLEGE of connecting his school and college together; in fact, there is evidence that he at first in- tended that the two should be independent. Subsequently, however, either from personal conviction or from the influence of those about him, he determined that his Eton scholars should participate in the Cambridge foundation. In the charter granted to King's College, July 10, 1443, he says : 'It is our fixed and unalterable purpose, being moved thereto, as we trust, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that our poor scholars of our Royal foundation of St. Mary of Eton, after they have been sufficiently taught the first rudiments of gram- mar, shall be transferred thence to our aforesaid College of Cambridge, which we will shall be hence- forth denominated Our College Royal of St. Mary and St. Nicholas, there to be more thoroughly in- structed in a liberal course of study, in other branches of knowledge, and other professions.' Furthermore, in order to 'weld the two colleges together in an everlasting bond of brotherhood,' he ordains that the name of Rector shall be abolished, and the Eton title of Provost be adopted for the Head; and that for all time the college shall be known by the title of T 145 CAMBRIDGE 'Provost and Scholars,' and have all the rights and privileges before granted to it. The acquisition of the new site was begun at once. A fresh commission was issued for the purpose, and as each parcel of ground was obtained, it was conveyed to the college. The task was beset with difficulties that would have daunted a mind less firmly resolved on carrying out the end in view than the King's ; difficulties, indeed, that would have been insuperable except by royal influence, backed by a royal purse. The ground on which King's College now stands was then densely populated. It occupied nearly the whole of the parish of St. John Baptist, whose church is believed to have stood near the west end of the chapel. Milne Street crossed the site from north to south, in a direction that may be easily identified from the two ends of the street that still remain, under the names of Trinity Hall Lane and Queens' Lane. The space between Milne Street and Trumpington Street, then called High Street, was occupied by the houses and gardens of different pro- prietors, and was traversed by a narrow thoroughfare called Piron Lane, leading from High Street to St. John's Church. At the 146 KING'S COLLEGE corner of Milne Street and this lane, occupying the ground on which about half the ante-chapel now stands, was the small college called God's House, founded in 1439 by William Byngham, for the study of grammar, which, as he ob- serves in his petition to Henry vi. for leave to found it, 'is the rote and grounde of all other sciences.' On the west side of Milne Street, between it and the river, were the hostels of St. Austin, St. Nicholas, and St. Edmund, be- sides many dwelling-houses. This district was traversed by several lanes, affording to the townspeople ready access to the river, and to a wharf on its bank called Salthithe. No de- tailed account has been preserved of the negotia- tions necessary for the acquisition of this ground, between six and seven acres in extent, and in the very heart of Cambridge. From some of the conveyances, however, we get curious and significant glimpses of the hard terms enforced by the vendors, who naturally were not loth to seize so golden an opportunity for enriching themselves ; and of the heart-burnings that the sequestration of so much property for college purposes gave rise to. The greatest offence appears to have been given by the closing of 147 CAMBRIDGE the lanes leading down to the river, which, as we explained in the first chapter, was of primary importance to medieval Cambridge as a highway. In five years' time, however, the difficulties were all got over; the town yielded up, though not with the best grace, the portion of Milne Street required, and all the other thoroughfares ; the hostels were sup- pressed, or transferred to other sites; the church of St. John was pulled down, and the parish united to that of St. Edward, whose church bears evidence, by the spacious aisles attached to its choir, of the extension rendered neces- sary at that time by the addition of the mem- bers of Clare Hall and Trinity Hall to the number of its parishioners. By a charter con- firmed by the Parliament of 1449, the splendid site was conveyed to the Provost and Scholars, together with the ground beyond this river, now the college gardens ; ample revenues were granted to them; and the Founder bade them take possession of the new site, erect buildings upon it, and flourish there 'as well or even better than they and their predecessors had done on the site originally assigned to them.' The buildings of the extended college were 148 KING'S COLLEGE commenced by the laying of the first stone of the chapel, on St. James' Day (July 25th), 1446. The buildings of Eton had been begun just five years before, July 3, 1441. Neither of these colleges was completed according to the inten- tions of the Founder, and we should be left to conjecture what those intentions were had he not fortunately committed to writing his de- tailed scheme for both in a document called 1 The Will of King Henry the Sixth.' The term ' Will ' does not signify a testament, but an ex- pression of his deliberate purpose with regard to the arrangement of the buildings, the pay- ment of the principal workmen, and the assign- ment of funds to defray the expense. This document, signed in March 1448, is on several grounds one of the most remarkable works in the English language. The design which it describes is a marvellous union of beauty and convenience, and the measurements of the different parts are set down so clearly and so exactly that a ground-plan can without much difficulty be constructed from them; minute details of workmen and their wages are care- fully entered into ; ample funds are provided out of the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster 149 CAMBRIDGE and vested in the hands of trustees ; future contingencies are guarded against by every precaution that legal ingenuity could invent ; and, lastly, in a strain of earnest eloquence, that becomes almost tragic when we consider the fate that befell the writer and his works within a few years, he exhorts those to whom these trusts are committed to discharge them in all points faithfully. We will describe briefly the design for King's, premising that that for Eton bears a general resemblance to it, sufficiently close to prove that both were derived from a common original Wykeham's College at Winchester. The de- sign for Eton being executed more immediately under the King's own supervision, was con- stantly altered, and, had it ever been completed, would probably have resulted in something very different from what we find described in the Will. That for King's, on the contrary, so far as it was carried out, is exactly what we find described therein, except in some minute par- ticulars, which may be neglected in a general description. The chapel, 288 feet long by 40 feet broad, was to form the north side of the quad- rangle, of which the east and west sides were 150 KING'S COLLEGE to 'close vnto bothe endes of the chirche' that is, were to abut against the chapel, which would, therefore, have been an integral part of the quadrangle, instead of standing apart, as it now does, like a model on a board. This quad- rangle would have measured 238 feet from east to west, by 230 feet from north to south. The gate of entrance would have been in the same position as at present, in the middle of the east side; that side and the south side would have been occupied by chambers ; the west side by a lecture-room, with a library over it, and by the buttery and hall. The Provost's lodge would have been at the intersection of the west and south sides. The Provost's offices and the college kitchen were behind the hall. At the west end of the chapel separated from it in all probability by an interval such as exists at New College, Oxford, and as was directed in the Will for Eton, 'for to sette in certain trees and floures behoueful and con- uenient for the service of the chirche' there was to be a burial-ground, measuring 175 feet from north to south, by 200 feet from east to west. It was to be surrounded by a cloister, and in the middle of the west side there was 151 CAMBRIDGE to be a belfry, 120 feet high to the corbel-table, with four angle-turrets, crowned with pinnacles. Access to the grounds beyond the river was provided by a bridge, in the centre of the western side of the site; and all the circuit of the college was to be defended by a high wall, with towers at intervals. The approach to the bridge was also to be guarded by a tower ; there was to be a second gateway in the wall next the street, crowned with turrets; a tower was to give access to the hall ; and there were to be staircase-towers in the inside of the court. Thus the four turrets of the chapel, which have often been criticised for their exact uniformity, would only have been a portion of a forest of spires, small and great, rising above the roofs; and they were all so arranged that, when viewed from a distance, they would not have interfered with one another, but each would have had its own proper and befitting position, At the conclusion of the Will the King names fourteen persons, into whose charge he commits the various trusts before rehearsed. They were the Bishops of Winchester and St. Asaph, the Earls of Devon, Salisbury, Northumberland, and Shrewsbury, the Lord 152 SOUTH PORCH OF KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL. KING'S COLLEGE Clifford, the Lord Wells, and the Provosts of Eton and King's, with others of less note. Of these the first named, William Waynflete, whom Henry had promoted from the Master- ship of Winchester to be first Head Master, then Provost, of Eton, was the one whom he evidently regarded as a personal friend, whom he could trust implicitly to carry out his wishes. He thus commits the supreme direction of the whole scheme to him : ' Furthermore, for the final perfourmying of my seid wil to be put effectuelly in execucion, I, con- siderying the grete discrecion of the seide worshep- ful fader in god William nowe Bisshop of Wyn- chestre, his high trought and feruent zele which at alle tymes lie hath hadde and hath vnto my weel, And whiclie I haue founde and proued in hym, and for the grete and hool confidence whiche I haue vnto hym for thoo causes wol that lie not oonly as Surueour, but also as executor and director of my seid wil, be priuee vnto alle and euery execu- cion of the perfourmyng of my same wil, and that his consente in any wise be hadde therto.' Finally, he appeals to his trustees generally by the most solemn of all considerations : ' And that this my seid wil in euery poynt before reherced may the more effectually be executed .1. U 153 CAMBRIDGE not oonly pray and desire but also exorte in Crist require and charge alle and euery of my seid feffees myn Executours and Surueour or Surueours in the vertue of the aspercion of Christes blessed blode and of his peyneful passion that they hauyng god and myne entent oonly before their eyen, not let- tyng for drede or fauour of any persoune lyuing of what estat degree or condicion that he be truly feithfully and diligently execute my same wil, and euery part thereof, as they wol answere before the blessed and dredeful visage of our Lord Jhesu in his most fereful and last dome, when euery man shal most streitly be examined and demed after his demeritees. ' And furthermore, for the more sure accomplisshe- ment of this my said wil I in the most entier and feruent wise pray my said heirs and successours, and euery of theym, that they shewe them self wel-willyng feithful and tender lovers of my desire in this behalf; And in the bowelles of Christ our alder iuste and streit Juge, exorte theym to re- member the terrible comminations and full fearful imprecations of holy scripture agayns the brokers of the lawe of god, and the letters of goode and holy werkes, the which imprecations Holy Scripture reherseth in the booke of Deuteronomy, saying, "// thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, all these curses shall come upon thee and over- take thee : cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field : cursed shalt thou be when 154 KING'S COLLEGE thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand ^lnto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly, because of the ^vickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me."' As is generally the case with medieval build- ings, the designer of this elaborate piece of collegiate architecture is unknown. In the case of Eton, even tradition is silent; in the case of King's, it names Nicholas Close, one of the original Fellows, who received a grant of arms from the King for the pains he had taken in promoting the royal buildings, and who was certainly overseer of the works at their com- mencement. There is, however, no proof that he furnished the design. One point alone seems certain, namely, that both colleges were undoubtedly planned by the same person ; and, considering how anxiously the King himself watched over the progress of Eton, changing the design repeatedly, and noting in his own hand the altered dimensions that he wished to introduce, it is surely not unnatural to suppose that he may himself have planned the whole scheme, for the realisation of which he dis- 155 played an anxiety more keen than he is likely to have felt for any plan devised by the in- genuity of others. In the arrangement of de- tails, however, he was doubtless assisted. At Eton we find that his friend, the Marquis of Suffolk, not only supervised the expenditure, but was consulted from time to time on points referred to him by the clerk of the works, among others on the design of the hall. Wayn- flete again, who, from the terms in which he is spoken of in the Will, unquestionably enjoyed his entire confidence, may well have had some- thing to do with originating the whole scheme. He was a practical architect, as we see from his own foundation, Magdalene College, Oxford; and his connection with Winchester may account for the general resemblance already noticed be- tween the design of Henry the Sixth and that of Wykeham. There is good reason for believing that the first stone of the chapel was laid by King Henry in person, after which it proceeded slowly and haltingly, for the disasters that befell prevented the regular payment of the money assigned for the works even from the first, down to his deposition. The beautiful 156 white magnesian limestone which marks the limit of the work done in his reign, is another proof of the close connection that he wished to maintain between King's and Eton. It was obtained from a quarry at Hudleston, near Sherburne, in Yorkshire, which he had acquired from the owner, Henry Vavasour, for the joint use of the two foundations. The stone was quarried at their joint expense, and then divided between them. There is evidence, that for the last two years or more before King Henry's deposition the works must have been almost, if not quite, stopped ; and in 1460 money was actually sent from Cambridge to him at North- ampton, just a week before the disastrous battle at which he was taken prisoner. The inmates of the college must have been profoundly dis- couraged; their anxiety is shown, more elo- quently than by mere words, by the numerous payments to servants sent to London, to New- market, to Royston, to Barkway, to obtain in- telligence (pro novis audiendis). Anything was better than the state of wretched uncertainty they were in. At last, when the news of his death came, it was said that the workmen, who were sawing a block of limestone, threw down 157 CAMBRIDGE their tools, believing that the works were at an end, and left it half sawn in two. The story may have been invented afterwards to account for the presence of the stone, which lay upon the college green until 1724, when it was used as the foundation-stone of the Fellows' Build- ing ; but it was certainly believed at that time, for it is alluded to in the inscription then en- graved upon it. After this catastrophe, though the works did not cease entirely, as is com- monly supposed, they made but little progress until near the end of the reign of Edward the Fourth, who was then moved to give one thousand marks, probably through the inter- cession of the Provost, Walter Field, who had been one of his chaplains. The sum obtained, however, was too small to accomplish much; nor could the 700 which Richard the Third contributed have effected much more. After his death the building ceased entirely for twenty-four years, a break in the work with which the first period of the construction of the chapel ends. 158 VII KING'S COLLEGE (continued) A FEW months before the end of his life, King Henry VII. determined to complete the building with Which the name of his uncle was so inti- mately associated. It had been accepted, as we have seen, even by Edward iv. and Richard ill. as a royal possession which the kings of Eng- land were bound to finish. If they had been interested in it, much more ought he to be so, of whom Henry of Lancaster had foretold that he would be his successor, a tradition which Shakespeare has thus commemorated : ' King Henry. My Lord of Somerset, what youth is that Of whom you seem to have so tender care ? Somerset. My liege, it is young Henry, Earl of Rich- mond. King Henry. Come hither, England's hope. [Lays his hand on his head.] If secret powers Suggest but truth to my divining thoughts, 159 CAMBRIDGE This pretty lad will prove our country's bliss. His looks are full of peaceful majesty, His head by nature framed to wear a crown, His hand to wield a sceptre, and himself Likely in time to bless a regal throne. Make much of him, my lords, for this is he Must help you more than you are hurt by me.' Henry Tudor 'loved to accumulate treasure,' says his biographer; but to do honour to his departed uncle, whose crown he had inherited, he was prepared to lay aside his accustomed penuriousness. Policy, as well as superstition, probably influenced him in this. Popular feel- ing throughout England had come to believe that ' Henry's holy shade ' was working miracles. Pilgrims had crowded to the grave at Chertsey, where his corpse had first been laid before its removal to Windsor ; and his image on the rood-screen at York had become an object of passionate adoration. A formal recognition of his saintly merits by a regular canonisation had once been seriously meditated. It was to be accompanied by a removal in state of his remains from Windsor to Westminster, there to be deposited in the new chapel. The Pope had agreed to perform his part in the ceremony ; but at the last moment it was abandoned, as 160 KING'S COLLEGE Holinshed would have us believe, on account of the great cost it would have entailed : ' so the king left off his suite in that behalfe, thinking better to save his monie than to purchase a holidaie of St. Henri with so great a price.' But when he found himself stricken with a mortal disease, which no sacrifice of his ill-gotten wealth could cure, he began to think whether another and a better use could not be made of it. That such was the temper of his mind is evident from his Will, in which an extravagance of devotion and almsgiving takes precedence of all other provisions. After brief directions for his sepulchre and his tomb, he directs that 'forth- with and immediately after our decesse ' ten thousand masses shall be said at Westminster and in London ' for the remission of oure synnes, and the weale of our Soule'; two thousand pounds are to be distributed in alms 'betwix the houre of oure decesse, and th' ende of the daie of our Sepulture ' ; all debts are to be paid, and all wrongs redressed ; the revenue of certain lands, to the value of one hundred marks, is to be expended in yearly and weekly obits, with tapers, torches, and lights, burning ' continuelly and perpetuelly, while the world shall endure, X 161 CAMBRIDGE about our Towmbe ' ; hospitals are to be founded, ' for as much as we inwardly consideir, that the seven workes of Charitie and Mercy bee most profitable, due, and necessarie, for the salvacion of man's soule ' ; largess is to be given to cathedral chapters and religious houses ; the works at Westminster and elsewhere are to be com- pleted; images of the King are to be set up on the shrines of the Confessor and of St. Thomas of Canterbury ; and lastly, King Henry VI. is to be royally honoured and commemorated, 'for the singular trust that we haue to the praires of our said Uncle.' Eton had been completed already by the pious care of Waynflete; it re- mained for him to complete the sister college at Cambridge, ' that thereby shuld not be onely a notable acte and a meritorious werke perfited, which else were like to grow to desolacion and never to have ben done and accomplisshed, but also diuine seruice there hereafter be mayn- tened and supported to thonour and laude of Almighty God, thencrese of cunnyng and doctrine of his laws in edifyng and encrese of our faithe.' Moreover, King Henry the Seventh had had ample opportunities of seeing with his own eyes the sad condition of the chapel, for in 162 KING'S COLLEGE the course of his reign he had visited Cambridge five times. The last occasion was on the eve of St. George's Day, April 22, 1506, on his way to the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. He was received with all the quaint solemnities usual at that period, the University and the religious orders attending him to Queens' College, where he stayed. Having rested awhile, he ' did on his Gowne and Mantell of the Gartier,' and, accompanied by the Knights of the Order, proceeded to King's College Chapel, which had been decorated for the occasion with paper scutcheons of the knights' companions arms. There he kept the eve of the festival, and the festival itself, with the usual ceremonies. This chapel must have been the old chapel, which stood between the present one and the Old Court ; but, as he proceeded to it from Queens' College, he must have passed so close to the un- finished chapel, that he could not fail to be struck by its incompleteness. At that time the east end alone had been roofed in, while the whole ante-chapel was probably a grass-grown enclosure, with walls not more than eight feet high. The Will was signed 31 March 1509 ; but work 163 CAMBRIDGE had been resumed in May 1508, with a staff of at least 140 workmen of different trades, paid for by the King ; and a week before the Will was signed he had conveyed to the college 5000, with directions to his executors to supply such further sums ' as shall suffice for the perfite finisshing and perfourminge of the same werkes.' In consequence they contributed a second sum of 5000 in 1512. The first of these two sums was probably expended in finishing the walls ; the second in constructing a great vault, a glorious specimen of the fan-vaulting then in fashion, and in raising the battlements and pinnacles. The stonework was probably finished by July 1515. Much, however, still remained to be done; and the college humbly solicited Henry vin. to glaze the windows the scheme for which, there is reason to believe, had been already sanctioned by his father and to furnish stalls and pavement. Ten years elapsed before he found time (or money) to undertake so im- portant a task, and it was not until 1526 that contracts for the windows were signed. These documents prove that these splendid pictures in glass were all executed by Englishmen except four, the patterns for which were to be given by 164 KING'S COLLEGE the Englishmen to Flemings resident in England. They had been begun by Barnard Flower, the King's glazier, about 1515, but he dying before he had finished more than four windows, and possibly the armorial bearings in the tracery, the rest were intrusted to Galyon Hoone, Richard Bownde, Thomas Reve, James Nichol- son (Englishmen); Francis Williamson, and Symon Symondes (Flemings) ; all described simply as 'glasyers,' resident in London or Southwark. The designs were to be approved by three persons selected by the College: Dr. Robert Hacomblen, the Provost, William Hol- gylle, Master of the Savoy, and Thomas Larke, Archdeacon of Norwich. It was covenanted that the entire work should be finished by May 1531. The west window was included in one of the contracts; but there is not the slightest fragment of evidence that it was ever executed. It is often alluded to in the accounts, and repairs to it are often necessary. They are, however, always executed in white glass. Again, it is almost impossible to suppose that so large a surface of coloured glass, had it ever been painted, could have perished completely. Some fragments of it would have remained, either in 165 CAMBRIDGE the tracery or in some other part of the chapel. It has been suggested sometimes that in the four windows next to it, on the north and south sides, which are now in a sad state of ruin and confusion, we have the displaced glass of the west window. This hypothesis is wholly inad- missible. Those windows form part of the regular series; and their present condition is due, in some degree, to defective painting originally, but far more to the fact that they have been mended by ignorant persons, who have put the component pieces together in- accurately. As these windows are the most important specimens of English glass-painting that have been preserved, a brief notice of the arrange- ment and treatment of the subjects depicted in them must now be given. No precise distribu- tion of the subjects is mentioned in the con- tracts. It is merely agreed that the windows are to be filled 'with good, clene, sure, and perfyte glass and Oryent Colours and Imagery of the Story of the olde lawe and the newe lawe after the fourme, maner, goodeness, curyousytie, and clenelynes in euery poynt of the glasse wyndowes of the kynges newe Chapell at West- 166 KING'S COLLEGE mynster ; And also accordyiigly and after such maner as oon Barnard Flower glasyer late deceessed by indenture stode bounde to doo.' They were, therefore, to be, in some degree, a reproduction of the windows in Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster ; and, also, a continuation of the series commenced fifteen years before by Barnard Flower, and interrupted by his death. Unfortunately, the contract made with Flower is lost, and the windows at West- minster have been destroyed, so that we are without information as to the two series that were to be followed. Of the twenty-six windows, twenty-five are filled with ancient glass, of which the east window, as usual, contains the Crucifixion. In the remainder ' the story of the olde and newe lawe ' is depicted in the following manner. Each window contains five lights, divided by a tran- som. The central light contains four figures, called ' Messengers ' two above and two below the transom who carry scrolls or tablets, or some device on which a text may be inscribed descriptive of the pictures in the lights to the right and left of them. There are four pictures to each window. Those in the lower tier exhibit, 167 CAMBRIDGE with one or two exceptions, scenes taken out of the New Testament. They proceed in regular sequence, commencing at the north-west corner with the 'Birth of the Virgin.' This and the window next to it are occupied with her legen- dary history ; the third window contains the 1 Annunciation' and the ' Nativity'; the fourth the ' Circumcision ' and the ' Adoration of the Magi ' ; the fifth the ' Purification ' and the ' Flight into Egypt'; the sixth the 'Idols of Egypt falling down before the Infant Jesus ' and the ' Massacre of the Innocents ' ; the seventh and following windows the principal events in the life of Christ before the Crucifixion. On the south side at the east end we find the 'Entombment,' the 'Resurrection,' and the other events recorded in the Gospels, ending with the ' Ascension ' and the ' Descent of the Holy Spirit ' in the sixth window. These are succeeded by the principal scenes in the lives of St. John, St. Peter, and St. Paul, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. In the last two windows the series resumes the legendary history of the Virgin, and ends with her As- sumption and Coronation. The upper series consists of pictures out of the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, or legendary history, selected 168 INTERIOR OK KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL. on account of their supposed parallelism with those of the former series ; but occasionally this system is interrupted, and the upper lights con- tinue the story exhibited in the lower, as in the history of the Virgin, and the scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. A bare enumeration of the subjects, however, can give but a poor idea of these glorious paint- ings. What first arrests the attention is the singularly happy blending of colours, produced by a most ingenious juxtaposition of pure tints. The half-tones, so dear to the present genera- tion, were fortunately unknown in the days when they were set up. Thus, though there is a profusion of brilliant scarlet, and light blue, and golden yellow, there is no gaudiness. Again, all the glass admits light, without let or hin- drance, the shading being laid on with sparing hand, so that the greatest amount of brilliancy is insured. This is further enhanced by a very copious use of white, or slightly yellow, glass. It must not, however, be supposed that a grand effect of colour is all that has been aimed at. The pictures bear a close study as works of art. The figures are rather larger than life, and boldly drawn, so as to be well seen from a great Y 169 CAMBRIDGE distance; but the faces are full of expression and individuality, and each scene is beautiful as a composition. They would well bear reduction within the narrow limits of an easel picture. As examples of special excellence may be cited the 'Manna in the Wilderness,' where the woman, seated with her starving child in her lap, offers a wonderful picture of despair ; the ' Entry into Jerusalem ' ; the ' Maries at the Tomb of Christ ' ; the ' Descent into Hell ' ; and the ' Resurrection.' Again, what richness of imagination is shown in the forms of angels and demons ! How beauti- ful are the rosy plumes of the angel that wit- nesses the Baptism of Christ; how weird and fantastic is the demon that mocks at the suffer- ings of Job, or the doomed spirit that glares at the Saviour, who has broken into his domain, and is standing on the gates of Hell ! Careful examination shows that these paint- ings bear evidence of execution by various hands, as might indeed be expected from the number of persons who were parties to the contracts. Moreover, they are of unequal merit, not merely in execution, but in design. It is evident, therefore, that, subject to the observance of a certain sequence, the treatment 170 KING'S COLLEGE of a particular scene was left to the ' glaziers ' who executed it. This at once destroys the tradition that the designs were furnished by Albert Diirer or Hans Holbein. There is no doubt that a German or Flemish influence is discernible in some of the subjects ; but that is no more than might be expected, when we con- sider the number of sets of pictures illustrating the Life and Passion of Christ that had appeared in Germany and Flanders during the half- century preceding their execution. These, of which one of the best known is the ' Mirror of Human Salvation' (Speculum humance Sal- vationis), usually contained illustrations of the life of Christ, accompanied by scenes out of the Old Testament, and not unfrequently preceded, as here, by the legendary life of the Virgin. Again, a resemblance has been observed between some of them and the treatment of the same subject by Raphael, and he has been named as the designer. Italian influence, however, had already been felt in Flanders, and may not im- probably have affected England also ; for, con- sidering the frequent intercourse between Eng- land and Rome, it would have been strange if the great and sudden impulse given to religious 171 CAMBRIDGE art by the painter whom the Pope had selected for the decoration of the Vatican, had been without its effects on English art also. The value of these designs, and of those of a smaller and far inferior series at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, as indications of English art, has been frequently recognised. Horace Wai- pole held that ' the artists who executed them (the windows at King's College) would figure as considerable painters in any reign'; and Vandyke 'often affirmed to Charles I. that many of the figures in the Fairford windows were so ex- quisitely done that they could be exceeded by no pencil.' Again, in answer to the frequent observations that they cannot be of English work because artists so distinguished would certainly have produced other works of equal merit, it may be urged that the art of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance was devoted almost exclusively to the decoration of churches, and was expended upon two most perishable materials glass and plaster; and that at the Reformation first, and during the Civil War afterwards, it was one of the chief objects of the Puritans to sweep the whole of that art away. Relics of it are occasionally found that 172 KING'S COLLEGE testify to the extent and the excellence of it. When the frescoes executed at Eton in Ed- ward iv.'s reign were discovered in 1847, Mr. Street 'had no hesitation in saying that these paintings are the finest which have yet been discovered in England; more artistic, and as full of religious feeling as any, and most in- teresting as having most probably been executed by Florentine artists, who, for aught we know, may have been the pupils of the Beato Angelico, or his friends ; as they were the contemporaries of Francia, of Perugino, and of Ghirlandaio.' It now turns out, however, that they were the work of a man with the plainest of plain Eng- lish names William Baker. Again, as regards glass, the whole series of windows at West- minster, from which those at King's were copied, has perished ; the windows of Great St. Mary's, in Cambridge, by Nicholson, and those of St. Mary Overey, in Southwark, by Galyon Hoone, both glaziers employed here, have equally disappeared. There is hardly any cathedral, or indeed any large church, which has not the same story of devastation to tell. That these windows themselves should have been saved is a marvel ; and how it came to pass is not now exactly 173 known. The story that they were taken out and hidden, or as one version of it says, buried, may be dismissed as an idle fabrication. More likely the Puritan sentiments of the then Pro- vost, Dr. Whichcote, were regarded with such favour by the Earl of Manchester during his occupation of Cambridge, that he interfered to save the chapel and the college from molesta- tion. For there is ample evidence in the account- books to prove that the Society was not in any way interfered with ; and though soldiers were quartered in the college, they do not appear to have committed any damage other than the most trivial. The detriment that the glass has suffered is due to ignorant glaziers by whom it was repaired on many occasions during the last century ; and so frequent and so thorough have been those repairs, that it is a wonder, not that the damage is so great, but that anything has been preserved. The series, left unfinished, as we have shown, was worthily completed in 1879. In that year the west window was filled with a noble representation of the 'Last Judgment,' executed by Messrs. Clayton and Bell, and given by Francis Edmund Stacey, formerly Fellow. The windows having been completed, the 174 KING'S COLLEGE woodwork was undertaken. The organ-screen, or, as it was called down to the middle of the seventeenth century, the 'rood-loft,' and the stalls, but without the canopies, were set up between 1531 and 1535, as is proved by the oc- currence of the initials of Anne Boleyn, entwined with those of the king, in many places upon them. The chapel was probably first used for service in 1536, just ninety years after the first stone had been laid. Many changes had been introduced into the fabric during that long period ; the simple massiveness of the Founder's work, which he desired should ' precede in large fourme, clene and substantial, laying a parte superfluite of to grete curious werkes of entaille and besy mold- ing,' is in strong contrast with the obtrusive heraldry that marks the portion constructed by Henry vu. and his executors. There, and in the glass above, his right to the crown, and the victory by which he won it, are again and again commemorated, with a frequency of repetition that seems to betray the consciousness of usurp- ation. The dragon of Cadwallader, ' the dragon of the great Pendragonship,' and the greyhound of Cecilia Neville, wife of Richard, Duke of 175 CAMBRIDGE York, support the arms of England in each 'severy' of the ante-chapel; the rose and the portcullis (his ' altera securitas,' as he termed it, intimating that as the portcullis was the second defence of a fortress when the gate was broken down, so he had a second claim to the crown through his mother, daughter of John de Beau- fort, whose castle in Anjou was typified by this emblem of it) cling to the vaulting-shafts ; the antelopes of the Founder are associated indeed with his own magnificence, but only upon the external buttresses ; while the red rose of Lan- caster, the hawthorn bush, and the crown (allud- ing to the legend of the recovery of it on Bos- worth Field), are profusely displayed in the tracery of the windows. In his son's work again the influence of those foreign workmen who were so largely introduced into England in that century becomes apparent. The delicate arab- esques in low relief, and the classic mouldings of the screen, with the curious absence of all religious symbols in the profuse decoration that covers every part of it, are Italian rather than English. Unfortunately all record of its con- struction has been lost ; and it is only from internal evidence that we can guess at the 176 KING'S COLLEGE history of what it is no exaggeration to say is the most beautiful piece of woodwork out of Italy. For some now unknown and much-to- be-regretted cause, the canopies of the stalls were not completed at the same time. It is supposed that the walls were hung with tapestry until Thomas Weaver gave the somewhat clumsy series of shields of arms, with the pilasters that separate them, in 1633. The present canopies were made in 1678, and the panel-work beyond them in 1679, by a Cambridge wood-carver, Cornelius Austin. The canopies are poor imita- tions of the older work, but the panels are excel- lent specimens of that period, and the artist who executed them deserves to be rescued from oblivion. The present reredos was put up by 'the ingenious Mr. Essex,' at the end of the last century (1770-75). It is an attempt to imitate Gothic work, meritorious in intention rather than successful. This is, however, the only serious deformity in the chapel. It seems as though the respect in which the Founder was held protected his works, and those erected in his name by his successors. No brush of paint has marred the beauty of the screen ; and even Puritan fanati- 7, CAMBRIDGE cism spared the windows. The chapel is still, within and without, the noblest structure ever raised for collegiate worship. Well might Wordsworth exclaim : 4 Tax not the royal saint with vain expense, With ill-matched aims the Architect who planned, Albeit labouring for a scanty band Of white-robed Scholars only this immense And glorious work of fine intelligence ! Give all thou canst ; high Heaven rejects the lore Of nicely-calculated less or more ; So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense These lofty pillars, spread that branching roof, Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells, Where light and shade repose, where music dwells Lingering and wandering on as loth to die ; Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality.' No part of the Founder's design except the chapel was executed; none, indeed, was begun except a portion of the eastern range of chambers. When Gibbs was employed in 1724, he designed a noble quadrangle in the classical style then in fashion, of which, however, the west side alone was built ; and when the college was again enabled to resume the completion of the buildings in the present century, they unfortunately were induced to employ Wilkins. That self-sufficient and ignorant architect, 178 KING'S COLLEGE though he affected to build in a style which he dignified by the name of Gothic, discarded the Founder's plan, obliterated the toothings which then remained at the south-east corner of the chapel, and built towards the street a screen of open work, with a gate of entrance in the centre, consisting of a crowd of tall and meaningless pinnacles clustered round a central mass. It used to be appropriately nicknamed 1 The decanter and wine-glasses.' Yet, so strange are the fluctuations in popular opinion, that when a short time since it was proposed to pull it down, and erect an appropriate building on its site, a great cry arose in its favour. It was all at once forgotten that by its erection the last hope had been lost of seeing the chapel as the Founder meant it should be seen, and that in itself it was mongrel and absurd. The epithets ' gracious,' 'beautiful,' and many another laudatory term, were applied to it. The pro- posal was whirled away in a tempest of indig- nation, and the screen remains for the present, though let us hope not for ever, to inform one more generation at least how devoid of real architectural taste was the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Opposite to the chapel 179 CAMBRIDGE Wilkins erected a hall, with a pretentious roof of plaster-work, an oriel in the middle, and the meaningless peculiarity of two lanterns, though, in justice to him, it should be mentioned that this last and crowning absurdity was forced upon him by the architects Nash and Wyatt, whom the College consulted, and compelled Wilkins to follow. Into the original use of these contrivances they did not care to inquire. Moreover, though any building at King's College must to a certain extent commemorate the Founder, Wilkins covered his work with em- blems that commemorate only the Tudors, roses and portcullises ! Lastly, he actually persuaded the College to allow him to 'gothicize' Gibbs' beautiful work, for which remarkable achieve- ment his design is extant, but lack of funds fortunately prevented such a disaster. No account of King's College would be com- plete without some narrative of the famous entertainment of Queen Elizabeth there, from Saturday, August 5th, to Thursday, August 10th, 1564. The preparations for her visit had been long and costly, for even in the previous year the account for the expenses of the chapel is mainly filled with the items of expenditure for 180 KING'S COLLEGE putting up the wooden theatre on which a play was to be represented before her. She herself resided in the Provost's Lodge, which then stood between the east end of the chapel and the street; some of her ladies were lodged in the Fellows' chambers, and her maids of honour at Gains College. Temporary kitchens were set up against the wall that divided the College from St. Austin's hostel, which stood nearly where the present Hall does. The south vestry of the chapel became her Council Chamber, the lower hall of the ' Provost's Place,' as the lodge was termed, her Guard Chamber, and the room above it the Presence Chamber. The great officers of state were distributed among the other colleges. The whole University was pre- sent to attend her, but it is difficult to under- stand where they could have been themselves accommodated, so vast were the numbers of her retinue. There are several accounts of her visit, which enter minutely into the tedious ceremonies in which she apparently found pleasure. The following description of what occurred is ex- tracted from Baker's History of St. Johns College : 181 CAMBRIDGE 'The queen made her entrance on the 5th of August, by Queens' College, where a large gate was hung cross the street from that college to the opposite house (now the printing-house), guarded by the queen's servants ; the two lanes near King's College were likewise barred up and guarded to keep out the crowd. All the passage from Queens' College to the west end of King's College chapel was lined with scholars ; the doctors stood nearest the chapel, the Vice-Chancellor, with the senior doctor and orator, upon the lowest step. Within the chapel (the inner part whereof was hung with tapestry and arras of the queen's) were the provost with his fellows in their copes, making a lane where she was to pass towards the choir. 'Her majesty entered the town on horseback in a gown of black velvet pinked, a caul upon her head set with pearls and precious stones, with a hat spangled with gold and a bush of feathers, attended by Garter King-at-Arms with the other great officers of the crown, with other lords and ladies very numerous, the Chancellor riding near her, describing the order and degree and quality of the scholars ; and as she passed the scholars loudly proclaimed Vivat Regina, to which she often replied Gratias ago. 'As soon as she came to the west end of the chapel, every one alighted from their horses except the queen, and there the Chancellor delivered up the staves, and the public orator, Mr. Master, 182 KING'S COLLEGE kneeling down, made an oration, wherein, whilst he enlarged upon her majesty's praises, she often shook her head and bit her lips, and sometimes broke out in these expressions, non est veritas and utinam ; but when he praised virginity, she commended the orator and bid him continue there. In conclusion, she gave him a just encomium, particularly admir- ing his memory, as he well deserved that could go on half an hour without pause or hesitating, whilst the queen's horse was curvetting under her, and she herself making remarks upon the different periods of his speech. Then she alighted and advanced towards the chapel under a rich canopy supported by four of the principal doctors, when, after Te Deuin begun by the provost and sung with the organ, and after evening song solemnly had, etc., she departed to her lodging, as she went thanking God that had sent her to this University, where she was so received as she thought she could not be better. 'The next day being Sunday, Dr. Perne in his cope preached a Latin sermon before her majesty in King's chapel upon this text, Omnis anima subdita sit, etc. About the midst of his sermon she sent the lord Huusden to will him to put on his cap, which he did unto the end; and after the sermon was over, ere he could get out of the pulpit, she signified to him by the Lord Chamberlain, that it ivas the first that ever she heard in Latin, and she thought she never should hear a better. 183 CAMBRIDGE 'In the evening she heard prayers again in the chapel ; and this day had been well spent, had not the conclusion been very different from the rest of the day. For the same day late and in the same place one of Plautus' comedies (his Aulularia) was acted before her by torches upon a stage erected in the chapel to that purpose, which she stayed out, though it held in acting till twelve o'clock at night. 'It would be very tedious to give a narrative of the proceedings of the following days, and of the several acts and disputations held before her majesty. It was philosophy and divinity that she attended to most, and was best pleased with these performances. Mr. Bing, the respondent in philo- sophy, acquitted himself well ; and it was then ob- served that as Mr. Cartwright, one of his opponents, expressed more heat, so Mr. Preston showed better manners, whom the queen took particular notice of and dubbed him her scholar. But no man acquitted himself so well as Mr. Hutton, the respondent in divinity, to the satisfaction and admiration of all his auditors ; and it was to that day that he owed his future preferments. The queen favoured him in her looks, her words, and actions; and though Dr. Perne, one of his opponents, disputed upon him very warmly and very learnedly, yet he, that had given such content whilst he preached upon Chnnis anima, etc., lost himself in the opinion of the queen for having touched too freely upon the power of excommunicating princes, though it were only by 184 KING'S COLLEGE way of argument : so nice a thing it is to approach majesty upon any pretence or at any distance, especially where majesty is at its full height, as it then was ! ' For, however it may have been since, it was then in this manner her majesty was received in our congregations or assemblies. At her entrance all men were upon the knee, nor did any one pre- sume to rise till leave was given ; and after they were up, no one presumed to sit till leave was given the second time by an express allowance. The greatest peer, the Duke of Norfolk, and the greatest favourite, Robert Dudley, addressed her majesty upon the knee, as they then did, when they desired her to dismiss the University with an oration.' The accounts printed by Nichols, in his Pro- gresses of Queen Elizabeth, contain a few details that are worth quoting, in addition to Baker's more succinct version of what took place. When the public orator praised virginity, she, who prided herself on being the Semper Eadem, ex- claimed, 'God's blessing of thyne heart; there continue.' Again, at the conclusion of the dis- putations in Great Saint Mary's Church, she made a Latin oration, in which she distinctly promised to emulate the example of those princes, her ancestors, the monuments of whose piety she had been beholding : 2A 185 CAMBRIDGE ' My age, she said, ' is not yet so far advanced ; nor again is it so long since I began to reign, but that before I pay my last debt to nature (if cruel Atropos do not too soon cut the thread of my life), I may erect some passing good work. And from this design, so long as I have any life left, I shall never depart. And if it should happen that I must die before I can complete this thing; yet will I leave some famous monument behind me, whereby both my memory shall be renowned ; and I, by my example, may excite others to the like worthy actions ; and also make you all more ready to pursue your studies.' When she spoke, pleased with the reception she had had, which she candidly admitted was ' altogether against her expectation,' she no doubt sincerely intended to found a new college, or further to endow an existing one. The Uni- versity, however, heard no more of the royal benefactions. The stage, for the dramatic entertainment, was built right across the ante-chapel, at the west end, occupying ' the breadth of the church from the one side to the other, that the chappels might serve for houses,' that is, for dressing- rooms for the performers. In depth it was equal to the breadth of two chapels. The 180 KING'S COLLEGE Queen sat on the south side, where ' was hanged a cloth of state.' The ladies and gentlewomen of the court stood on the rood-loft, or, as we call it, the organ-screen ; and the ' choyce officers of the Court' on the steps under the same. The guard stood on the ground by the stage side, each man, holding 'in his hand a torch-staff, for the lights of the play.' The performers were ' certain selected persons, chosen out of all colleges of the town, at the discretion of Mr. Roger Kelke, D.D.' 187 VIII ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE: CHRIST'S COLLEGE THE position of the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist has been already described. Into the history of that foundation it would be beside our present purpose to enter. It will be sufficient to mention here that towards the end of the fifteenth century it began to fall into decay, both moral and material. The accusa- tions that were brought against so many re- ligious houses at that time were preferred against the brethren. Mr. Thomas Baker, the historian of St. John's College, tells us that ' they were certainly very dissolute in their lives and prodigal in their expenses, not in charity and hospitality which they were obliged to by their rule and order, but in excess and riot, and in gratifying their own sinful lusts.' A disorderly house, such as this, must have been 188 ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE of evil example in the University, and its sup- pression was only a question of time. About 1502, Dr. John Fisher, Master of Michael House, who, from the proximity of his own college to the hospital, was in a position to know, per- haps only too well, the state of affairs there, was made chaplain and confessor to the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby, mother of King Henry the Seventh. From the vantage-ground of that exalted position he set himself to compass the conversion of the hospital into a college under the patronage of the Countess. He had probably no difficulty in interesting his mistress in the scheme. She had visited Cambridge in 1505, and again in 1506, on which occasions, no doubt, she had opportunities of learning by personal inspection the wants of the University. In May of the former year she had refounded the ancient educational establishment called God's House by the title of Christ's College, and endowed it, besides other possessions, with the Abbey of St. Mary of the Meadows (de prafa's), at Creyke, in Norfolk. She had, therefore, herself set an example of utilising, in the direction of edu- cation, religious foundations for whose special 189 CAMBRIDGE objects the necessity was no longer recognised. Holding apart, as she did, by a wise abstention, from interference in affairs of state, she found a congenial occupation in the patronage of science and literature. Wynkyn de Worde, one of the most distinguished of our early printers, styled himself ' Printer unto the moost excellent pryncesse my lady the kynge's moder.' She had instituted readerships in divinity in both Uni- versities which still perpetuate her name, and here in Cambridge she had founded a preacher- ship as well. Though, as has been well pointed out, * her outward existence belonged to the medieval past,' and she lived almost the life of a nun of the most ascetic order, the acuteness of her intelligence led her to perceive that a new light had dawned upon the horizon; that changes were not far distant in which any merely conventual foundations would perish, and any collegiate institutions would as cer- tainly survive. In the previous century she would have founded a religious house, and perhaps have died as its Abbess; in her own time she became the foundress of educational establishments of which we have possibly not yet seen the complete development. 190 z a o 2 THE LADY MARGARET Her character was delineated by her devoted friend and counsellor, Bishop Fisher, in the com- memorative sermon preached by him after her death, in language which is as interesting as a specimen of the best English of the time, as for the picture it gives of the illustrious lady whom he knew and loved so well : 'She was bounteous and lyberal to every person of her knowledge or acquaintance. Avarice and covetyse she most hated, and sorowed it full moche in all persons, but especially in ony that belong'd unto her. She was also of syngular easyness to be spoken unto, and full curtayse answere she would make to all that came unto her. Of mervayllous gentyleness she was unto all folks, but specially unto her owne, whom she trusted and loved ryghte tenderly. Unkynde she wolde not be unto no creature, ne forgetfull of ony kyndness or servyce done to her before, which is no lytel part of veray nobleness. She was not vengeable, ne cruell, but redy anone to forgete and to forgyve injuryes done unto her, at the leest desyre or mocyon made unto her for the same. Mercyfull also and pyteous she was unto such as was grevyed and' wrongfully troubled, and to them that were in poverty or sekeness or any other mysery. To God and to the Chirche full obedient and tractable, serchynge His honour and plesure full besyly. A wareness of her 191 CAMBRIDGE self she had alway to eschewe every thyng, that myght dishonest ony noble woman, or distayne her honour in ony condycyon. Fryvelous thyngs, that were lytell to be regarded, she wold let pass by, but the other that were of weyght and substance, wherein she might proufyte, she wolde not let for any payne or labour, to take upon hande. ' All Englonde for her dethe had cause of wepyuge. The poor creatures that were wonte to receyve her almes, to whom she was always pyteous and mercy- full; the studentes of both the Unyversytees, to whom she was as a moder; all the learned men of Englonde, to whom she was a veray patroness ; all the vertuous and devoute persones, to whom she was as a lovynge syster ; all the good relygyous men and women, whome she so often was wonte to vysyte and comforte; all good preests and clercks, to whome she was a true def endresse ; all the noble- men and women, to whome she was a myrroure and exampler of honoure ; all the comyn people of this realme, for whome she was in theyr causes a comyn medyatryce, and toke right grete displeasure for them ; and generally the hole realm hathe cause to complayne and to morne her dethe.' She died 29th of June 1509, in the midst of the rejoicings over her grandson's marriage and coronation. She was buried in Westminster Abbey, and Erasmus wrote her epitaph. Anxious as she had been to see her second college well 192 ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE established before her death, that gratification was not vouchsafed to her. The legal for- malities necessary for the suppression of the Hospital were so tedious that it was not ' utterly extinguished,' as Baker calls it, till January 20, 1510; when it fell, as the same historian ob- serves, ' a lasting monument to all future ages, and to all charitable and religious foundations, not to neglect the rules or abuse the institu- tions of their founders, lest they fall under the same fate.' The executors of the Lady Mar- garet, now that she was no longer present to lend her own powerful aid to the undertaking, had other and more serious difficulties to en- counter, which need not be related here. How- ever, they adhered firmly to their purpose, and were successful. The college was begun in or about 1511, and the first court was carried on, without interruption, until it was completed. The college was formally opened by Bishop Fisher, July 29, 1516. The position of the court then erected was determined by one of the buildings of the Hospital, which was altered into a chapel for the new foundation, and formed the greater part of the north side. The west side contained the hall, buttery, and 2 B 193 kitchen; the south side a range of chambers; and the east side the library, with chambers beneath it. The Master's Lodge was placed in the angle between the north and west ranges, but a portion of it was prolonged into the north range, where a picturesque oriel window enabled the Master to command the court. Unfortunately it has now become impossible to realise the original aspect of this quadrangle, as preserved for us by Loggan. The south side was cased with stone in a pseudo-Italian style by Essex in 1772; and between 1862 and 1869, under the direction of Sir G. G. Scott, the hall was lengthened, the old chapel pulled down, and a new chapel, magnificent it is true, but singu- larly inappropriate both in style and design, was erected beyond the ancient limits of the quadrangle. The beautiful gate of entrance, shown in our illustration, has happily survived these changes. It is of red brick with stone quoins. The lavish decoration of the space be- tween the arch and the windows commemorates the foundress and her son. The central shield, bearing the arms of England and France quarterly, is supported by the antelopes of Beaufort. Beneath it is a rose. To the right 194 >fe F 1 GATE OF ENTRANCE, ST. JOHN'S COLI.ECE. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE is a portcullis, to the left a rose, both crowned. Daisies, the particular emblem of the Lady Margaret, are scattered over the whole com- position. They appear in the crown above the portcullis ; they cluster beneath the string- course ; and mixed with other flowers they form a groundwork to the heraldic devices. The statue of St. John in the central niche was carved in 1662, to replace an older statue re- moved during the Civil War. There is evidence that formerly the arms Avere emblazoned in gold and colours, and that the horns of the antelopes were gilt. The second court, a spacious quadrangle, con- siderably larger than the first, was commenced in 1598. The architect was Ralph Symons, whose work at Trinity has been already re- corded, and the builder Gilbert Wigge of Cam- bridge. It w r as finished in 1602 'in a manner,' says Baker, ' ruinous to the undertakers and not over advantageous to the College.' It appears that Wigge got into pecuniary diffi- culties, and was imprisoned for debt during the progress of the work, the college having to release him from durance vile ; and further, that no inconsiderable part of the cost fell 195 CAMBRIDGE upon the Master and Fellows. Mary Cavendish, Countess of Shrewsbury, had originally under- taken to defray the entire cost, but she found herself unable to pay more than 2760, instead of 3400, the amount of the contract. For some private reasons she wished that her share in the work should remain unknown. Such attempts, however, whether in literature or benefactions, are rarely successful, and her case was no excep- tion to the general rule. After remarking that 'she is justly entitled to the foundation of the whole, what she did being wholly owing to her favour, and what she left undone being owing to her misfortunes,' the historian adds : ' It is certain the secret was out before the build- ing was up, and that both she and the lord her husband were known to be at the bottom of the design, though from a clause in the contract it seems to have been at first a secret, where the undertakers oblige themselves to leave room over the gate for such arms as the College should afterwards set up there, which are now the arms of Talbot and Cavendish.' In Baker's time the building was thought to be 'slight and crazy,' and that it would 'never live up to the age of the first court.' These 196 ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE anticipations have happily been falsified by the event. The second court has, in fact, suffered less than the first, and is still a beautiful speci- men of the architecture of the period when it was erected. Secrecy seems to have been the rule in this college where buildings were concerned ; for it was attempted with regard to the third court in much the same way, and with the same amount of success, as for the second. In 1617 a new library was required. Leave was ob- tained from the Countess of Shrewsbury to build one 'adjoining her ladyship's court,' and the college set about collecting funds, but money came in slowly. Before the foundation had been laid, however, 'an unknown person' came for- ward and offered 1200 to that use, if it were sufficient, 'but would neither advance higher, nor yet was willing to admit a partner.' As may be imagined, a donation clogged with such a condition as this caused considerable trouble ; but at last the ' unknown person ' gave way, and agreed to give about 250 more, with which the beautiful Library forming the north side of the third court was erected. The foundations of the west end are laid in the river, above which the 197 CAMBRIDGE lofty oriel rises. It is a singularly picturesque structure of red brick with stone dressings. The date, 1624, inscribed upon it in large figures of white stone, marks the completion of that portion of the building only, for it was not ready for the books until the spring of 1628. In the course of the tedious negotiations en- tailed by the strange conditions of the gift, the anonymous benefactor 'owned and declared himself to be the founder.' He turned out to be Dr. John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. The remaining two sides of this third court were not begun for rather more than half a century afterwards. The foundations were laid in 1669, and the whole completed in four years; the expense being defrayed by numerous benefactors, this time not anonymous. By the time that those ranges of chambers were built the Gothic style had given way to the classical. Some attempt, however, was made to assimilate the new build- ing to the old, and no want of harmony is per- ceptible. Our woodcut shows the gate in the centre of the west side, a picturesque structure in three floors, recalling in its general outline the gates of Clare Hall. 198 GATEWAY IN THE THIRD COURT OK ST. JOHN'S. ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE The need for still further accommodation at the beginning of the present century prompted the erection of yet a fourth court ; the Society recognising their obligation to retain their undergraduate members, as far as possible, within the precincts of the college. The shape of the ground eastward of the Cam seemed to preclude all chance of building in close proxi- mity to the other courts ; and a site was selected on the left bank of the river opposite to the library. On this Mr. Rickman raised a lofty and pretentious structure, capable of accom- modating a great number of persons. There, however, its merits end. It should be men- tioned in justification of the architect that the ground, which in the seventeenth century was occupied by a number of fish-ponds, as Loggan shows, offered such an insecure foundation that a large sum of money had to be spent upon concrete. Hence much that should have been executed in stone was worked in wood or plaster, and the portions out of sight are of plain white brick. The general design, how- ever, shows that a thorough knowledge of the history and theory of architecture is not suffi- cient to make a practical architect. This court 199 CAMBRIDGE is joined to the older college by a very pic- turesque bridge in a Gothic style, usually spoken of as 'The Bridge of Sighs,' from a superficial resemblance to the so-called structure at Venice, by which its general outlines may have been suggested. Beyond the new court are the ex- tensive gardens, on the western side of which is the delightful 'Wilderness,' where a natural profusion of wild flowers, overshadowed by lofty trees, contrasts agreeably with a carefully kept bowling-green. This is the spot com- memorated by Wordsworth in The Prelude, but his favourite tree is now no more. ' All winter long, whenever free to choose, Did I by night frequent the College grove And tributary walks ; the last, and oft The only one, who had been lingering there Through hours of silence, till the porter's bell, A punctual follower on the stroke of nine, Rang, with its blunt, unceremonious voice, Inexorable summons. Lofty elms, Inviting shades of opportune recess, Bestowed composure on a neighbourhood Unpeacef ul in itself. A single tree, With sinuous trunk, boughs exquisitely wreathed, Grew there ; an ash, which Winter for himself Decked out with pride, and with outlandish grace : Up from the ground, and almost to the top, The trunk and every master-branch were green 200 ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE With clustering ivy, and the lightsome twigs The outer spray profusely tipped with seeds That hung in yellow tassels, while the air Stirred them, not voiceless. Often have I stood, Foot-bound, up-looking at this lovely tree Beneath a frosty moon. The hemisphere Of magic fiction verse of mine perchance May never tread ; but scarcely Spenser's self Could have more tranquil visions in his youth, Or could more bright appearances create Of human forms with superhuman powers, Than I beheld, loitering on calm clear nights, Alone, beneath this fairy-work of Earth.' Wordsworth resided in this college from 1787 to 1791. His rooms were in the first or entrance- court, as he tells us in the same poem : ' The Evangelist Saint John my patron was : Three Gothic courts are his ; and in the first Was my abiding-place, a nook obscure. Right underneath, the college kitchens made A humming sound, less tuneable than bees, But hardly less industrious, with shrill notes Of sharp command and scolding intermixed.' Like Byron, Wordsworth misunderstood the University. He came up with enthusiastic ideas, formed in lonely hours among the hills and dales of Westmoreland; and when he found that those among whom he was thrown were not all that he had expected them to be, he 2c 201 CAMBRIDGE laid the fault on the institutions, and not on the persons whose lives offended him. Hence he became careless of academic honours; and is said to have passed the week before his de- gree in reading Clarissa Harlowe; an action that would have been most prudent had he been ready for examination, but unprepared as he was, could be due only to indifference or to ostentation. Having spoken of the great college which the Lady Margaret was prevented by death from seeing in its completeness, let us say a few words about her first foundation Christ's College. It occupies the site of the Grammar College, called God's House, which was first placed near Clare Hall, as we have related in our account of King's College. The site being required by King Henry the Sixth, he allowed, and probably assisted, William Bingham the founder, to acquire a new site in what was then called Preachers' Street, after the Domini- can Friars. It was intended that the Society should consist of a master, called Proctor, and twenty-four scholars. The revenues, however, were insufficient ; and when the Lady Margaret's attention was drawn to it, the number of 202 CHRIST'S COLLEGE scholars was only four. She was influenced in her action, if we may believe tradition, by her confessor, Bishop Fisher, who, on the same authority, had been a member of it when he first entered the University. Partly from her own resources, and partly through her influence with her son, she endowed it with sufficient revenues ; changed the name to Christ's College, 'from her singular devotion to the name of Jesus Christ ' ; gave to it a body of statutes, and lived to see the quadrangle completed. Part of the Master's Lodge she reserved to her own use, and may perhaps have even resided in it ; for Fuller says that she once came to the College ' to behold it when partly built, and looking out of a window, saw the Dean call a faulty scholar to correction, to whom she said, "Lente, lente, Gently, gently!" as accounting it better to. mitigate his punishment than procure his pardon.' The old quadrangular arrange- ment may be traced in this college more easily than elsewhere behind the classical facing im- posed upon the old walls in the last century. The chapel is on the north side; the east side contains the Master's lodge, and the hall; and the south and west sides are occupied by 203 CAMBRIDGE chambers. In the centre of the latter is a noble gateway, flanked by towers, and decorated with the arms and emblems of the foundress. The position of the lodge, between the hall and the chapel, illustrates well the ancient arrange- ments for the convenience of the Head ; and an external turret-stair, like that at Peterhouse, may still be seen on the side next the garden. The beautiful building eastward of the older quadrangle was completed about 1642. It is, of course, in the classical style of that period, and tradition records that the architect was Inigo Jones. Whether this be true or not, the artist who designed it was unquestionably of first-rate ability, and he has produced one of the most admirable specimens of architecture in the Uni- versity. The garden behind it, perhaps the most delightful of all the collegiate gardens of Cambridge, contains the aged mulberry-tree, its trunk protected by an embankment of earth, and its decrepit branches supported on wooden props, which an unvarying tradition asserts to have been planted by Milton. He resided here for seven years, from February, 1625, to July, 1632. His rooms were on the left side of the court as it is entered from the street, the first- 204 THE GARDEN OF CHRIST'S COLLEGE. CHRIST'S COLLEGE floor rooms on the first staircase on that side. They consist at present of a small study with two windows looking into the court, and a very small bedroom adjoining. They do not seem to have been altered since his time. His bio- graphers, as is well known, have all recorded that his first tutor, Mr. Chappell, caused him to be flogged ; and much has been written both to support and discredit the story. The public correction of undergraduates had not then been given up; for so late as 1649, Henry Stubbe, afterwards a writer of repute, was flogged in the Hall of Christ Church, Oxford, for * insolent and pragmatical conduct.' If true, it is at least remarkable that none of Milton's numerous enemies in after-years should have reproached him with it; and the language he uses in 1642 shows that he had come to think as lightly of it as men do nowadays of 'swishings' at school, and that his superiors also had not been slow to forget the conduct that led to it. ' I acknowledge publicly,' he says, ' with all grate- ful mind, that more than ordinary respect which I found, above any of my equals, at the hands of those courteous and learned men, the Fellows of that College wherein I spent some years ; who, at my 205 CAMBRIDGE parting, after I had taken two degrees, as the manner is, signified many ways how much better it would content them that I would stay ; as by many letters full of kindness and loving respect, both before that time and long after, I was assured of their singular good affection towards me.' 200 IX COLLEGE OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE: COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES THE College of St. Mary Magdalene originated in two messuages granted by Henry vi. in 1428 to the Benedictine House of Croyland for the convenience of those monks who wished to study at Cambridge. Out of these messuages, or on their site, a house was gradually con- structed for the general use of the Benedictine Order, 'different monasteries building different portions ; thus Ely built one chamber, Walden a second, Ramsey a third,' says Dr. Caius ; and so late as 1777 Cole saw the arms of Ely in the spandrels of the door at the north-west corner of the court. Gloucester College at Oxford, now Worcester College, was constructed in a precisely similar manner for the same Order. The chapel probably belongs to this period of the history of the house. It was at first called 207 CAMBRIDGE simply ' The Monks' Hostel ' ; but, before 1483, it had acquired the name of Buckingham College, from Henry Stafford, second Duke, who was beheaded by Richard in. in that year. The reason for its connection with him has not been recorded ; but it is evident that he had placed it under the patronage of his family, for his son, Edward Stafford, built the hall in 1519. Buck- ingham College naturally ceased when the superior house, Croyland Abbey, surrendered to Henry vin. in 1539 ; but the continuity was never sensibly broken, and within two years and a half it was ref ounded under its present name by Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden, to whom the King had granted it. He died suddenly in 1544, having probably made no change in the build- ings, which evidently did not then form a complete quadrangle ; for we find the Duke of Norfolk, who had married the daughter and sole heiress of the founder, undertaking, in 1564, to pay '40Z. by year till they had builded the quadrant of their College.' The College was probably completed, partly by his liberality, partly by that of Sir Christopher Wray, a sub- sequent benefactor, before the end of the six- teenth century. 208 MAGDALENE COLLEGE The main interest of Magdalene College at present is the possession of the library formed by Mr. Samuel Pepys, which is contained in a separate building beyond the quadrangle to the east. This was not built on purpose to contain it, as is generally supposed, but was approaching completion at the time when Pepys determined to bequeath his library either to Trinity College or to Magdalene College. The name of the architect, and the precise date of the structure an extremely beautiful one, as our woodcut shows are unfortunately alike unknown. Re- garding the disposition of his library, Pepys committed to writing, as part of his will, what he modestly terms his ' present thoughts and inclinations ' in the matter, among which, after stating that he prefers a private college to the Public Library of the University, and Magdalene College to Trinity College, ' for the sake of my own and nephew's education therein,' he ex- presses a wish 'that a fair roome be provided on purpose for it, and wholely and solely appro- priated thereto ; and if in Magdalen, that it be in the new building there, and any part thereof, at my nephew's selection.' There accordingly it is now deposited, and the name ' Bibliotheca 2n 209 CAMBRIDGE Pepysiana ' has been inscribed on the front of the building, according to his desire, together with his motto, 'Mens cujusque is est quisque,' and the date 1724, when the death of his nephew, Mr. Jackson, put the College in possession of the bequest. Pepys had begun his life at Cambridge as an undergraduate in 1650. He had been entered at Trinity, but, before his residence commenced there, had removed to Magdalene. He does not appear to have ever taken a degree, and, perhaps, did not stay long at the University. Through- out his busy life, however, he preserved a warm affection for Cambridge, and for his own college in particular, which he frequently visited, as his amusing diary records. The last time that he came there, during the period of the diary, was in May 1668, of which visit he has left the follow- ing characteristic description : ' Here lighting [at Cambridge], I took my boy and two brothers, and walked to Magdalene College : and there into the butterys, as a stranger, and there drank my bellyfull of their beer, which pleased me, as the best I ever drank : and hear by the butler's man, who was son to Goody Mulliner over against the College, that we used to buy stewed prunes of, 210 concerning the College and persons in it; and find very few, only Mr. Hollins and Pechell, I think, that were of my time. Thence, giving the fellow some- thing, away walked to Chesterton, to see our old walk, and there into the Church, the bells ringing, and saw the place I used to sit in, and so to the ferry, and ferried over to the other side, and walked with great pleasure, the river being mighty high by Barnewell Abbey : and so by Jesus College to the town, and so to our quarters, and to supper.' The collection is a very interesting one, not only from the intrinsic value of the books, pamphlets, maps, various illustrations of naval matters at that day, and a vast mass of fugitive contemporary literature, such as broadsides, placards, street ballads, and the like, indispens- able to the historian or antiquary engaged in the investigation of the troublous times in which Pepys lived ; but also from the fact that most of the volumes are in the bindings of his time, and are still in the very bookcases of mahogany, glazed, in which they were placed by him in 1666. Pepys records the arrival of his bookcases, on August 24th in that year, with much enthu- siasm : ' Up, and despatched several businesses at home in the morning, and then comes Simpson to set up my 211 CAMBRIDGE other new presses for my books ; and so he and I fell to the furnishing of my new closett, and taking out the things out of nay old ; and I kept him with me all day, and he dined with me, and so all the after- noone, till it was quite darke, hanging things, that is, my maps, and pictures, and draughts, and set- ting up my books, and as much as we could do, to my most extraordinary satisfaction ; so that I think it will be as noble a closett as any man hath, and light enough, though, indeed, it would be better to have had a little more light.' Many subsequent entries record the almost childish pleasure he derived from this new arrangement, and the solace he found, in the midst of many distracting cares, from cata- loguing and ticketing his books. The diary does not say anything about the way in which he got them together. He does not exult, as most bibliomaniacs do, over the acquisition of each new treasure. He only speaks generally, in the document quoted above, of 'the infinite pains, and time, and cost employed in my collecting, methodising, and reducing the same to the state it now is.' The mention of the Pepysian Library suggests a few remarks on other similar repositories for books in the colleges and university. At first 212 COLLEGE LIBRARIES the stock of books, or rather manuscripts, in a college was so scanty, that a chest or two in the muniment-room or chapel was probably suffi- cient for their accommodation. As soon, how- ever, as the college system had definitely taken root, we find the acquisition of books recorded, and a library taking its place in every quad- rangle. The erection of that of Peterhouse, in 1431, has been already mentioned. It occupied, originally, nearly the whole of the western side of the principal court, and must have been an excellent specimen of a medieval library. These libraries were usually long, narrow, and rather low rooms, lighted by numerous windows in the side-walls, which were placed tolerably near together, and at no great height above the floor. There was also a single and larger window at one or both ends. This arrangement was dic- tated by the necessity for affording ample light to the readers ; for the more valuable books, or perhaps all those of which there was only a single copy, were not allowed to be taken out by any one, and for greater security were attached by iron chains to a bar fixed in front of the shelves. It was therefore necessary, especially in college libraries, where readers might be 213 CAMBRIDGE expected to be numerous, to provide facilities for consulting a large number of books at the same time. On this account medieval libraries are usually far larger than would be expected from the number of books contained in each of them. The bookcases projected from the wall between each pair of windows, and usually con- sisted of only one shelf, raised three or four feet above the ground. Between each pair of book- cases there was a bench to accommodate the reader, directly in front of the window. The books stood with their leaves turned outwards instead of their backs as at the present day, and the titles were written in ink across the closed leaves. The chains were usually attached to the left-hand cover, so that they did not get in the reader's way, and they were sufficiently long to enable him to take down the volume he wanted to consult, and place it on his knees, or on a desk immediately under the shelf on which the volumes stood. Where there was more than one shelf the chains belonging to the upper shelf were, of course, longer than those belonging to the lower one. It was part of the duty of a librarian, in those days, to see that the chains did not get tangled. 214 TRINITY HALL LIBRARY. COLLEGE LIBRARIES One of these ancient libraries exists almost unaltered at Merton College, Oxford. The seats are still there, and the single shelf, though altered to suit modern requirements, can easily be made out. Another, equally curious, is to be seen at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. It is not so ancient, dating only from the early part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, but it has been even less altered, and is one of the most quaintly picturesque rooms in the University. The book- cases offer the peculiarity of a desk at the top, placed just so high that a student had his choice of placing his book upon it and standing to read it, or of sitting in the more usual way. The earliest bookcases were plain even to rudeness, being made of strong thick planks roughly nailed together; but gradually ornamentation was admitted, and some of the bookcases set up in the seventeenth century are richly carved and decorated. After the invention of printing, the number of books had of course increased, and the practice of chaining, though not aban- doned, was no longer universal. From the earliest times certain volumes had been reserved for the use of the Fellows, and were distributed annually among them. The statutes in some 215 CAMBRIDGE colleges prescribe minutely the assignment of these books. They were to be brought back once a year, and their condition examined, after which they were redistributed, but the same book was not to be assigned a second time to the same person, and so forth. By this system the libraries became gradually divided into what was called an outer and an inner library. The former contained the books that might be taken out, the latter the more valuable ones that could only be consulted in the building itself. These remained chained down to the end of the last century in many instances. The increase in the number of volumes, however, had caused an alteration in the shape and arrangement of the bookcases. It was impossible any longer to afford the space required by the old system. First the seat between the windows was removed, and replaced by a low bookcase. Then the space under the window was utilised, and so the libraries became subdivided into classes, and the books were sorted according to their subject. The seat for the reader was attached to the lowest shelf, on which he sat with his back to the books a far less comfortable arrangement for him than the old one had been. When 216 COLLEGE LIBRARIES chaining went completely out of fashion, the seat was taken away, and replaced by a low plinth. The end of the seat, however, survived in many cases as a piece of rich carving, shaped like a wing, of which there is an excellent example in the old library of Pembroke College, fitted up in 1690, possibly from the design of Sir Christopher Wren, who had designed the new chapel, after which the old chapel was utilised for the purpose of a library. In Trinity College we have a splendid and undoubted specimen of Wren's taste and skill in designing woodwork. Chaining was, of course, no longer used for libraries newly built at that time, and he de- signed his bookcases without reference to it. They are placed at right angles to the walls, but the sills of the windows are so high that other cases, parallel to the walls, join those at right angles to them, so that the library is divided into a series of compartments of noble proportions, each fitted with a table and desk (also designed by him) for convenience of study. The cases are of Norway oak, classical in style, to suit the building ; and they are ornamented with cherubs' heads, and wreaths of flowers, leaves, and fruit, in lime-wood, by the celebrated Grinling Gibbons. 2E 217 CAMBRIDGE We figure two of the heads, and one of the most characteristic of the wreaths of fruit and foliage. The University was slow in acquiring public buildings of its own, and the Common Library, as a building, did not come into existence before the middle of the fifteenth century, though Dr. Richard Holme's bequest of books, some of which yet remain, dates from 1424. The portion set apart for books was then the first floor of the south side of the quadrangle. Two lists of books one made about 1435, and the other dated 1473 have fortunately been preserved. On the latter, a former librarian, Mr. Bradshaw, after indicating various points of interest, made the following remarks : ' A still more interesting point in the list of 1473 is that it shows us the books arranged in classes, with stalls on the north side looking into the quadrangle, and desks on the south side looking out towards the then rising chapel of King's College ; and we are able to form some judgment of the relative importance of the different studies of the place from noticing the classes allotted to each subject. Our historians are very fond of telling us that the libraries of the later middle ages were choked with the writings of the schoolmen, that the Bible and the earlier fathers of 218 CARVINGS IN TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY. the Church had been supplanted by Petrus Lom- bardus and his commentators. A glance at the arrangement of the University library in 1473 will show how false this assumption is, and a cursory examination of the history of most of our libraries will show that the great bulk of scholastic writers were added to our collections by the benefactors of the seventeenth century, when facts show that these subjects were very deeply studied, though it is not always convenient for those writers to remember it who seek to depreciate as contemptible everything that was studied before the Reformation. The last four classes on each side of the room were devoted to Theology, represented by the Bible text and the leading commentators, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, the Glossa Ordinaria,, Cardinal Hugo, Nicholas de Lyra, and others. One class only, next to the pre- ceding, was set apart for Theologia disputata, the Master of the Sentences and his expositors. The next three on the same side were devoted to Canon Law; and the remaining class on the same side to Civil Law. On the north side, after the four classes allotted to Theology, Moral Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, and Medicine had each one stall, and the remaining one was given to Logic and Grammar, including, besides, such books as Ovid's Metamor- phoses, Lucaii, and Claudian.' It would be beyond our purpose and our limits to attempt a history of the University Library 219 CAMBRIDGE an enterprise which would require a volume rather than an essay. We have been led to mention it merely on account of its connection with the life and studies of the place, 011 which we shall shortly have occasion to speak at greater length. Unfortunately, at Cambridge we have no such voluminous annals as the Bodleian has, and few volumes which go back to a remote antiquity. The hatred of the old literature prevalent in the reign of Edward the Sixth caused the destruction of the library of that day as rubbish or worse, and in the last century books were stolen out of the building wholesale. The statement sounds incredible, but is nevertheless literally true, that between 1715 and 1750 the pillage was so unlimited that the only wonder is that any valuable books have been left. The neglect of libraries during the first half of the eighteenth century was almost universal. A learned German, Zachary Conrad von Uffenbach, who visited Cambridge in 1710, gives a deplorable though amusing picture of the state of things he witnessed. At Caius College, for instance, the librarian was not to be found, and all the books that were to be seen were in a miserable attic, haunted by pigeons, 220 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY and so dusty that the visitor was forced to take off his ruffles before he could examine them. The University Library was not quite so neglected as that; nor were the librarians so needy as one of those at the Bodleian, who had to be ' persuaded ' by the donation of a guinea before he would show certain manuscripts ! Our traveller, however, found the printed books ' very ill arranged, in utter confusion, and could not see the manuscripts on account of the absence of the librarian, Dr. Laughton, which vexed me not a little,' he says, ' as Dr. Ferrari (his guide) highly extolled his great learning and courtesy, rara avis in his terris.' On a future visit he not only succeeded in seeing the coveted volumes, but, as one that interested him ' was torn at the end, the beadle or library-keeper, who was present, gave me a leaf, which I took with me as a curiosity.' Soon after Uffenbach's visit the Cambridge Library received the great accession of books from which its present im- portance may be said to date the library of Dr. John Moore, Bishop of Ely, containing thirty thousand volumes, which was purchased in 1715 by King George the First for 6000, and given to the University at the suggestion, it is said, of 221 Lord Townshend. The University had pre- sented a loyal address to his Majesty, which had given him so much pleasure that he selected this substantial method of testifying his appro- bation and goodwill. Oxford had taken a dif- ferent view of the political situation, and when the library was sent to Cambridge the following epigram appeared : ' King George, observing with judicious eyes The state of both his Universities, To Oxford sent a troop of horse ; and why ? That learned body wanted loyalty. To Cambridge books he sent, as well discerning How much that loyal body wanted learning.' Cambridge was not slow in publishing an answer, written by Sir Thomas Browne, the founder of the prize for epigrams : ' The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse, For Tories know no argument but force ; With equal skill, to -Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs admit no force but argument.' Additional space was required for so large an addition ; and it was therefore determined, in 1722, to build a new Senate House, so as to set free for books the old meeting-place of the University, then called the Regent House, now 222 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY the Catalogue Room of the Library. The present Senate House having been completed (in 1730), it was thought desirable to alter the Library, so as to provide still further accommodation, and to make it correspond in style with the Senate House. To effect this, the picturesque facade, built by Bishop Rotherham about 1475, was ruthlessly dragged down (1754), and replaced by the present east room, with the whole classical facade. The central gateway alone was saved from destruction by the then possessor of Mad- ingley Hall, where it is still used as the entrance to the stables. 223 GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE : QUEENS' COLLEGE: EMMANUEL COLLEGE WE must now go back in chronological order, and mention one of the most beautiful and celebrated colleges in the University that, namely, which owes its present designation to the great English physician of the sixteenth century, Dr. Caius. Since his time it has been specially devoted to the study of medicine. It was founded originally on a different site, and by a different person. In 1348 Edward in. granted his licence to Edmund Gonevill (as the name is there spelt), rector of Terrington, in Norfolk, to found a college of twenty scholars, who were to be instructed ' in dialectic and other sciences,' on a site that he selected in a street called Lurteburghlane. This site, of no great 224 CAIUS COLLEGE extent, stood behind the churchyard of St. Botolph, at the north-east corner of what is now Corpus Christi College. The founder proposed to call his college ' The Hall of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin ' ; but so long a title being found inconvenient, it soon became popularly known as Gonville Hall. Three years after the foundation Gonville died, and bequeathed his college to the care of William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, who was himself engaged at the same time in establishing his own college of Trinity Hall, which he had founded in 1350, for scholars in Canon and Civil Law. One of his first acts was to remove his friend's college to a site nearer to his own, where extension would be less difficult. This removal took place in 1353. The old site became the orchard of Corpus Christi College, and Gonville's scholars, partly ~.*y altering two large houses belonging respec- tively to John de Cambridge and John Gold- corne which occupied no inconsiderable portion of their new site partly by building (through the contributions of various benefactors), estab- lished themselves in what is now the inner court of Gonville and Caius College. The Italian taste of the last century has hidden away the 2F 225 CAMBRIDGE picturesque medieval structures that were still to be seen in 1688 ; and a casual visitor will find it hard to believe that the old college is there, hidden away under the modern facing. Such, however, is the case, and a few years since, when a new window was being put into the Combina- tion Room, one of the quaint two-light windows of the fourteenth century was exposed to view, in a tolerably perfect condition. Gonville's scholars remained content with this narrow site, and apparently made no attempt at enlarging it for two centuries. On September 4, 1557, it was refounded as Gonville and Caius College, by Dr. John Keys, better known under the Latinised form Caius ; since which time, to use Fuller's language, ' as in the conjunction of two Roman Consuls, Bibulus and Caius Julius Caesar, the former was eclipsed by the lustre of the latter; so this his namesake Caius hath in some sort obscured his partner, carrying away the name of the College in common discourse.' The second founder had passed his under- graduate days in the older college, where he had obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1533 ; after which he became Principal of Phys- wick Hostel, a small educational establishment 226 CAIUS COLLEGE affiliated to Gonville Hall ; and apparently con- tinued to reside in Cambridge until 1539. This makes his History of the University, notwith- standing many errors, so valuable a record for the beginning of the sixteenth century. There is good reason for believing that at first he turned his attention to divinity ; but his foreign travels, and his studies in Italian Universities, diverted him to medicine, to which he devoted himself steadily for the rest of his life. On leaving Cambridge he took up his abode in the University of Padua, where he gave lectures on the Greek language, and obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1541. During a portion of his residence in that University he occupied the same house as the celebrated Andre Ve'sale better known by his Latin name Vesalius the first of those great anatomists who braved popular prejudice, and insisted on the import- ance of the dissection of the human body as the basis of all medical and surgical knowledge. On leaving Padua he travelled through Italy, visiting the most famous cities, and especially searching their libraries for manuscripts of the ancient authors on medicine. In 1544, he re- turned to England, and practised as a physician 227 CAMBRIDGE at Cambridge, Shrewsbury, and London, where he was appointed physician to Edward vi., and afterwards to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. He became President of the College of Physicians in 1555, an office which he retained for five years. Previous to his election he had been in the habit of delivering lectures on anatomy for the benefit of the surgeons of London the fruit, doubtless, of his Italian studies and personal intercourse with Vesalius. He must, therefore, have been a very prominent person in the medical world a circumstance that will suffi- ciently account for the use that Shakespeare has made of his name when he wished to intro- duce a physician into the Merry Wives of Wind- sor, without any necessity for supposing that direct reference to him was intended by the poet. The comedy, moreover, may be dated 1601, twenty-eight years after the death of Caius ; who, besides, was not a Frenchman as there represented, but the son of English parents, and born and bred at Norwich. His return to his college as co-founder and generous benefactor for it was part of his scheme to found and endow fellowships and scholarships was naturally succeeded by his 228 CAIUS COLLEGE elevation to the Mastership (January 24, 1559) a dignity which he accepted with reluctance, and the emoluments of which he systematically declined. These he generously expended on new buildings, of which he laid the first stone on the west side of the court that was afterwards called Caius Court, 5th of May 1565, at four o'clock in the morning. His object in founding his college afresh was the promotion of sound learning. The inscription on the foundation-stone summed up these intentions in four significant words : ' Johannes Caius posuit sapientice,' with a solemn prayer that all who dwelt therein might be virtuous, learned, and patriotic. It may at first sight appear strange that he should have allowed six years to elapse between his acceptance of the Mastership and the commencement of the build- ings. Probably the intervening period was spent in acquiring the site, and in storing up materials. This forethought will account for the short time occupied in the actual construction, for the last stone is stated by himself in his Annals, of which the manuscript is preserved in the college, to have been laid on the first day of September, just four months after the work had been begun. The eastern side of the quadrangle was taken in 229 CAMBRIDGE hand soon afterwards, and probably finished with equal rapidity, but its progress is not so minutely recorded. The design of the buildings erected by Dr. Caius is stated, according to college tradition, to have been brought by him from Padua. The agreeable notion, however, that while he was living abroad he was thinking of his college and planning its extension, is unsupported by any evidence whatever. He was at Padua, as we have seen, in 1541, eighteen years before he was made master of the college, and twenty-four years before he began to build. How could he have ' so forecast the years ' as to imagine his future elevation to wealth and position ? Again, the design is not Italian, either in conception or in style. The buildings of the University at Padua, which he might have thought of imitat- ing, and with which he must, of course, have been familiar, for they were built by Sansovino or Palladio about 1493, are totally different from those he afterwards erected. They are built round a court, in a heavy, classical style, with a profusion of shafts, cornices, and battle- ments ; whereas the design of Dr. Caius, as our illustration of the Gate of Virtue shows, is 230 CATK OK V1RTUK. CAIUS COI.I.KdK. thoroughly Gothic in general plan and outline, with only a subtle touch of the Renaissance here and there in a moulding or a detail. It is just possible that the inscription on the foundation- stone, and the words of the prayer uttered by Dr. Caius at the ceremony, may have been sug- gested by the inscription on the entrance to the University at Padua, in which the same thoughts are expressed : ' Sic ingredere ut te ipso quotidie doctior, sic egredere ut indies patrice Christiance- que reipublicce utilior evadas.' The words are difficult to translate literally, but the general sense is, ' So enter that thou mayest become daily more learned than thou hast been; so leave that day by day thou mayest become more useful to thy country and to Christendom.' The arrangement of the Caius Court two parallel ranges of buildings connected on the south by nothing more substantial than a wall of moderate height with a gate in the centre was certainly dictated by sanitary considera- tions, and therefore was probably his own, for in his thirtieth statute he directs that the south side is never to be enclosed, 'for fear the air should become foul.' The symbolism which governed the names he gave to the gates is 231 CAMBRIDGE English of the days of Elizabeth rather than Italian. The college was to be entered from the outer street through a low postern called the Gate of Humility. In this spirit the student was to pass along a stately avenue of trees till he reached the lofty and beautiful Gate of Virtue. This is sometimes called the Gate of Wisdom, because the inscription on the founda- tion-stone given above has been inscribed in later times on the western facade. In the spandrils of the arch, through which the Caius Court would be entered, are figures of angels, bearing the one a wreath and a palm, the other a cornucopia and a purse : emblems of the gifts that Virtue has in store for those who follow her. Lastly, the gate by which the college would be left on the south side was called the ' Gate of Honour,' because it led to the schools in which University honours were conferred. This last, the design of which is directly attributed to Dr. Caius in the Annals as con- tinued by his successor in the Mastership, though not built until after his death, is much more classical in feeling than any other building in the college. It consists of a square mass, en- riched with fluted columns bearing pediments, 232 above which rises a hexagonal superstructure, originally ornamented with numerous shafts, pinnacles, and dials. Unfortunately, it was built of very perishable stone, and the delicate carv- ings are fast crumbling away. Among the de- corations were the heraldic cognisances of the Doctor, the quaint symbolism of which must be stated in the words of the original grant, which confers upon 'John Caius, gentleman, and his posterite, theis Armes and creste with tliappertenances as here aftre follo\vith; that is to say, gold semyed with flowre gentle, in the myddle of the cheyfe sengrene resting vppon the lieades of ij serpentes in pale, their tayles knytt together, all in propre color, rest- inge vppon a square marble stone vert, betwene tlieire brestes a boke sable, gamyslied gewles, buckles gold, and to his crest vpon thelme a dove argent, bekyd, and membred gewles, holding in his beke by the stalke flowre gentle in propre colour, stalked verte, set on a wreth golde and gewles, man- telled gewles, lyiied argent, buttoned golde. Of this elaborate device the grant vouchsafes the following explanation. It should be pre- mised that ' sengrene ' is house-leek, and ' flower gentle ' amaranth. 'Betokening by the boke Lerniiig, by the two 2G 233 CAMBRIDGE Serpentes resting vpon the square Marble Stone, Wisdome with grace founded and stayed vpon vertues stable stone ; by sengrene and flower gentle Immortalite that neuer shall fade; as though thus I shulde say, Ex prudentia, et literis, virtutis petra firmatis, immortalitas', that is to say, By wisdome and lerning, graffed in grace and vertue men come to Immortality.' Dr. Caius died July 29, 1573. He was buried in the chapel, under an elaborate altar-tomb, about which he had himself given directions some three weeks before his death. The two sentences inscribed on it by his friends, ' Vivit post funera Virtus' and 'Fui Cams,' are simple and beautiful. In 1719 his grave was opened, and the following striking description was written by an eye-witness : 'This brings to my mind what I saw about A.D. 1719, in Caius College Chapel. I remember that when they were then repairing and beautifying that Chapel, ye workmen had broke a hole either by accident or design into Dr. Caius' grave, wch was a hollow place lin'd with brick on ye north side of ye Chapel at a little distance from his monument wch is a mural one. The lid of ye coffin was off when I look'd in with a candle fixed in a long cleft stick wch ye workmen f urnish'd me with and with wch I cou'd survey ye sepulchre very easily. The sides of ye coffin 234 II Mpi in fe^. i5&.^M^P ^v J-sS: -^ NORTH SIDE OF THE GATE OP' HONOUR, CAIUS COLLEGE CAIUS COLLEGE were remaining, tho' in a disjoynted and rotten condition. The body seem'd to have been a very lusty one, and ye coffin was pretty full of it; the fflesh was of a yellowish black colour, and yielded to ye least touch of ye stick and fell to pieces. The eyes were sunk deep into their sockets. A long grey beard much like that wch we see in y e picture of him, only this was grown very rough by long time ; I think it was then about 145 years from ye time of his death. I touch'd his beard with ye stick and turn'd it a little on one side ; it accordingly lay on one side, having lost all manner of elasticity: I therefore brought it back to its right place again. The sight occasioii'd in me serious reflections, and I went away with such a regard as I thought due to ye memory of so considerable a maim as Dr. Caius had been.' We have seen how earnest Dr. Caius had been in imparting medical knowledge to others, and how firmly he held to the importance of a know- ledge of anatomy as a principle of medical study. He was a travelled man, too, an accomplish- ment rare in that age, and his intercourse with foreign men of science might have imparted to him ideas less narrow than those which had hitherto governed the colleges of Cambridge. Yet his statutes are in no way an improvement upon those of his predecessors. He makes no attempt to found a scientific college on broad 235 CAMBRIDGE principles, the main lines of which would have been suitable to all time. It is true that he obtained a royal licence to allow dissection of the human body ; but his statute headed ' Ana- tomia ' is principally occupied with directions about burying the body after dissection in St. Michael's Churchyard with due reverence. Of the thirteen Fellowships, only two are to be held by medical men ; but in this particular he may have felt himself fettered by his prede- cessor, Bishop Bateman, for he regarded three only of the Fellows as peculiarly his own. His own third Fellow, however, is to be a theologian. The study of medicine is inculcated in only one statute, and in it no better system is suggested than disputations in the college chapel ; a course which, unless very careful precautions are taken, and preliminary examinations are held, may easily degenerate into a barren recurrence of question and answer, such as Moliere has so mercilessly ridiculed in his Malade Imaginaire. The rest of the hundred and seven chapters into which this curious code is divided are occupied with minute directions for regulating the daily life of the students, the care of the buildings, and the management of the estates matters 236 .:!!. QUEENS' COLLEGE which might well have been left to the good sense of the officers of the college. For instance, it is gravely prescribed that no member of the college is to enter a tavern more than twice a year ; no one is to presume to set foot on the leaden roof of the Gate of Virtue, except to repair it ; the other gates are to be opened and shut at stated hours; the rents of the estates are never to be diminished or increased, and so forth. But we must not linger any longer over this interesting subject, for we have something to say about Queens' College. The history of the foundation has been already recounted. The buildings of the principal quad- rangle were at once put in hand, and completed by the end of 1448 or the beginning of 1449. They are built of red brick, in a simple style that recalls the earlier portions of Eton College. The quadrangle is entered through a massive gateway in two stories, flanked by octagonal towers ; and there are square towers at each external angle. The east and south sides are occupied by rooms, the north side by the chapel and library, and the west side by the hall, kitchen, and other offices. This portion of the college retains its ancient aspect more thoroughly 237 CAMBRIDGE than any other in the University. Beyond the principal court is a smaller one, extending to the river. A picturesque building in red brick, probably coeval with the rest, extends along the river bank, with a cloister on the side next the court. Cloisters also extend along the north and south sides, with the intention, no doubt, of providing a passage dry-shod from the rest of the college to the western building. Over the north cloister is the wooden gallery of the Pre- sident's Lodge a singularly beautiful specimen of that usual appendage to a sixteenth-century house, and quite unaltered. There are three picturesque oriels on either side, not placed opposite to each other, as a modern architect would infallibly have constructed them, but alternately, so that the whole space within is equally well lighted. In former days the oriels rose above the roof, with diminishing stages of lead- work, crowned by iron vanes of excellent design. These ornaments, alas ! have been swept away; and it was only by accident that the gallery itself escaped destruction, for in the last century ' the ingenious Mr. Essex ' was em- ployed to construct what was then called a ' new and elegant ' building along the west front. 238 88 QUEENS' COLLEGE He began at the south angle, and having erected a monstrously ugly range of chambers along Silver Street, proceeded to do likewise along the river-side. He pulled down some thirty feet of the old work, and would have destroyed the whole had funds been forthcoming. But fortu- nately they ran short, and the Lodge was saved. It was in this college that the celebrated Erasmus resided during part, at least, of the time that he spent in Cambridge. ' Queens' Col- ledge,' says Fuller, ' accounteth it no small credit thereunto that Erasmus (who no doubt might have pickt and chose what House he pleased) preferred this for the place of his study for some years in Cambridge. Either invited thither with the fame of the learning and love of his friend Bishop Fisher, then Master thereof, or allured with the situation of this Colledge so near the River (as Rotterdam his native place to the Sea), with pleasant walks thereabouts.' His memory is perpetuated by a walk on the west side of the Cam called Eramus' Walk; and his study, high up in the tower at the south-west angle of the court, is still pointed out. The following curious passage, written, it is true, nearly a century and a half afterwards, but by a 239 CAMBRIDGE Fellow of the College who could hardly have been misinformed, pleasantly describes the tra- ditional belief : ' The staires which rise up to his studie at Queens' College in Cambr. doe bring into two of the fairest chambers in the ancient building; in one of them, which lookes into the hall and chief court, the Vice-President kept in my time; in that ad joy n- ing, it was my fortune to be, when fellow. The chambers over are good lodgeing roomes; and to one of them is a square turret adjoyning, in the upper part of which is the study of Erasmus ; and over it leads. To that belongs the best prospect about the colledge, viz. upon the river, into the corne-fields, and countrey adjoyning. So y* it might very well consist with the civility of the House to that great man (who was no fellow, and I think stayed not long there) to let him have that study. His sleeping-rome might be either the Vice-Presi- dent's, or, to be neer to him, the next. The room for his servitor that above it, and through it he might goe to that studie, which for the height and neat- nesse and prospect, might easily take his phancy.' There are some amusing allusions in his letters to his discomforts, which appear to have been much the same as those commonly experienced by foreigners in a strange country. The climate, the drink, the encouragement he met with in 240 THE LODGE OK OU KENS' COLLEGE. QUEENS' COLLEGE his lectures, are all subjects for grumbling. ' I cannot go out of doors for the plague,' he says, writing to a friend in 1510; 'I am beset with thieves, and the wine is no better than vinegar.' Again, in August 1511, we read, 'I shall stay some days at least in this college. I have not as yet submitted myself to an audience, for I am anxious to take care of my health first. I do not like the ale of this place at all, nor are the wines particularly palatable. If you could manage to send me a cask of Greek wine, the very best that can be bought, you would be doing your friend a great kindness, but mind that it be not too sweet.' The wine evidently came, and was of the proper quality, for in October following he writes, ' I am sending you back your cask, which I have kept by me longer than I otherwise should have done, that I might enjoy the perfume at least of Greek wine. My expenses here are monstrous, and not a farthing to be gained. I have been here not quite five months, and yet have spent sixty nobles ; while certain members of my class have presented me with just a single one, which they had much difficulty in persuading me to accept.' Notwith- standing all these drawbacks, however, which 2n 241 CAMBRIDGE are very likely exaggerated for his friend's amusement, he stayed at Cambridge for up- wards of seven years, giving lectures in Greek and Theology. In the next place we must say a few words about Emmanuel College, of which we have figured a small portion. It was mentioned in a previous article that the site chosen for it was that of the Convent of the Black Friars, or Friars Preachers. They were dispossessed by King Henry vm. ; but for some reason, now unknown, their buildings escaped the destruc- tion that fell on those of the Carmelites and Franciscans; and when Sir Walter Mildmay obtained possession of them forty years after- wards, his architect, Ralph Symons, was able to adapt some of them to collegiate purposes with hardly any alteration. This College, and Sidney Sussex College, founded in 1594 by the will of the Lady Francis Sidney, Countess of Sussex, on the site of the Franciscan house, are the first Protestant foundations. Sir Walter was himself a staunch Puritan, and Queen Elizabeth is re- ported to have said to him, ' Sir Walter, I hear that you have erected a Puritan foundation.' 1 No, Madam,' he replied ; ' far be it from me to 242 countenance anything contrary to your estab- lished laws; but I have set an acorn, which, when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof.' The charter granted to him by the Queen is dated llth of January 1584. Therein his foundation is described as ' a College of Theology, Science, Philosophy, and Literature, for the extension of the pure Gospel of Christ our only Mediator, to the honour and glory of Almighty God ' ; and in the preface to his Statutes he refers to the ' schools of the prophets' mentioned in the Old Testament, to the learning that St. Paul had acquired at the feet of Gamaliel, and to the incessant watchings of the Levites in the Temple, as parallels to the learning that should be stored up, and the watchfulness that should be displayed, in order to extirpate Papistical heresies and diffuse the true Gospel of Christianity. The principles of the founder were encouraged so well by his immediate successors that, in 1629, Archbishop Laud described Emmanuel College as a nursery of Puritanism; and during the Commonwealth no less than eleven of the Heads of Colleges im- posed by those in authority were selected from Emmanuel. Evelyn, who visited Cambridge in 243 CAMBRIDGE 1654, speaks of it as ' that zealous house ' ; and in later days it is referred to as ' the pure house of Emmanuel.' The view of Emmanuel College in Loggan's work shows buildings so different from the present ones, that were it not for the chapel it would be difficult to recognise their identity. In 1688 the entrance to the College was in Em- manuel Street, through a small court, open to the north. From this the principal court was entered, of which the west side, where the gate of entrance now is, was occupied by chambers. It is probable that these were contrived out of part of the conventual buildings. The Hall, as now, was on the north side, and a range of chambers, called the ' Founder's Range,' was on the south side. The building called ' The Brick Building,' at right angles to this of which a small portion is shown in our illustration was begun in 1633, and is an excellent specimen of the style of that period. The chapel, with the cloisters, by which it is joined to the north and south sides of the quadrangle, is due to the energy of Dr. Sancroft, Master from 1662 to 1665, who afterwards, when Archbishop of Can- terbury, became famous as the author of the 244 THE SENATE HOUSE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. EMMANUEL COLLEGE petition of the seven Bishops against the De- claration of King James II. The architect was Sir Christopher Wren. He evidently borrowed the general idea of the composition from Peter- house. The space over the cloister, however, serves at Emmanuel the double purpose of a passage for the Master to the chapel, and of a picture-gallery in connection with the Lodge an original feature, due, in all probability, to the ingenuity of Wren. In his first design he intended to build the chapel and cloister in red brick, with stone dressings, the effect of which would have been far more picturesque than the uniform stonework which was substituted for it. The reasons for the alteration have not been recorded. The ' Founder's Range ' was rebuilt in 1719, and in 1769 the west front was changed to its present appearance, after a design prepared by Sir James Burrough in 1752. He died in 1764, and the execution was intrusted to Essex. A contemporary records that the plan 'was de- parted from in- almost every instance, and in some considerably improv'd.' Under the hospitable guidance of ' rare Richard Farmer,' Master from 1775 to 1797, the Combina- tion Room, called Emmanuel Parlour, acquired 245 CAMBRIDGE a great reputation for geniality and good-fellow- ship. It is said to have been open every even- ing ' to those who loved pipes and tobacco and cheerful conversation.' Dr. Farmer was not merely a Shakesperean critic, he delighted in the stage as a spectator, and during the period of Sturbridge fair went regularly every even- ing to the theatre there with his friends. Those who disapproved of this dramatic enthusiasm nicknamed them ' The Shakespeare Gang/ They were most indulgent critics, and contributed greatly to the success of the performance by uniformly applauding everything and every- body. Our woodcut shows the facade of the Uni- versity Library, of which we have already spoken. 246 XI JESUS COLLEGE ABOUT the middle of the twelfth century a Benedictine sisterhood, consisting of a prioress and eleven nuns, established themselves in the middle of the Greencroft a piece of common ground, which we described in our imaginary survey of Cambridge as extending from the eastern limits of the town along the riverside as far as the village of Barnwell. This site they obtained by the favour of Malcolm iv., King of Scotland, in virtue of his rights as Earl of Huntingdon. Very little is known of the history of the convent. The sisterhood seems to have been regarded with special favour by the ecclesiastical magnates of those days; for we find privileges granted to them, not only by the Bishops of Ely, who were patrons of the House in virtue of their office, but by the 247 CAMBRIDGE Bishop of Norwich, the Bishop of Lincoln, and even the Archbishop of Canterbury. In the thirteenth century, when insurance offices were unknown, the damages done by a fire or storm had to be repaired by voluntary contributions. On such occasions episcopal favour (if it could only be obtained) applied a powerful spur to the charity of the faithful, who, in days when news travelled slowly, might otherwise have never heard of the disaster, still less have con- tributed to repair it. A few facts have come down to us, supported by documentary evidence still existing in the Treasury of Jesus College, which show how valuable ecclesiastical favours must have been to the Nuns of Greencroft. In 1254 the Bishop of Norwich grants a relaxation of twenty-five days' penance to all benefactors to the nunnery, whether for the sustenance of the nuns, or the building of their church. In 1268 the Bishop of Lincoln gives them leave to collect alms for the same purpose. In 1277 the Bishop of Norwich issues a circular letter to the clergy and laity of his diocese, calling upon them to afford any assistance to the nuns, who were in difficulties from the sudden ruin of their bell-tower. In 1313 the Archdeacon of 248 JESUS COLLEGE Ely recommends them as persons deserving of charity, because they have lost their entire pro- perty (bona omnia) by a fire ; and in the follow- ing year the Bishop of Ely confirms certain indulgences granted to them by his brother bishops for the same object. In 1376 the Bishop of Ely interferes again, and grants an indul- gence of forty days i.e. a remission of penance imposed for misdeeds to be valid for that period to all who shall contribute to a fund for making good their losses by another fire. Lastly, in 1390, the Archbishop of Canterbury grants them a similar indulgence, part of their habita- tion having been blown down by a storm. Be- sides these special contributions, their annual revenue derived from houses and lands, chiefly in Cambridge, became extensive, and they were enabled to erect a magnificent church, the relics of which may still be seen in the chapel of Jesus College. In all monasteries the church invariably exceeded the other buildings in size and splendour; but, at the same time, it is reasonable to suppose that the refectory, dor- mitory, cloister, etc., would be erected in a style that would not offer too marked a contrast to that of the church. At the close of the fifteenth 2 I 249 CAMBRIDGE century, John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, obtained leave from Henry VII. to suppress the nunnery, and to replace it by Jesus College, conferring on the new corporation the revenues, as well as the site and buildings, of the sisterhood. If we are to believe the account given in the pre- amble to the Charter, which is dated June 12, 1497, this act was occasioned by the miscon- duct of the nuns. This, however, is at least doubtful. At that time suppression of monas- teries had come within the range of practical politics, as we say nowadays, and when the extinction of a given House had been decided on, it was obviously advisable to silence popular clamour by making the case against it as strong as possible. A second supression of a religious house at Cambridge that, namely, of St. John's Hospital took place twelve years afterwards, and the reasons, as stated in the charter of St. John's College, are so curiously similar to those given in the case of the nuns of St. Rhade- gund, that it will be interesting to compare them. We have translated them, and print them side by side. The House or Priory of The House or Priory of the Nuns of St. Rhade- the Brethren of St. John 250 JESUS COLLEGE gund, its lauds, tene- the Evangelist, its lands, ments, rents, possessions, tenements, rents, posses- buildings, as well as its sions, buildings, as well effects, furniture, jewels, as its effects, furniture, and other ecclesiastical jewels, and other orna- ornaments, piously and ments of the church, con- charitably conferred upon f erred upon the said the said house or priory house or priory in former in former times, have times, have now been so now been so grievously grievously dilapidated, dilapidated, destroyed, destroyed, wasted, alien- wasted, alienated, dimin- a ted, diminished, and ished, and made away made away with, by the with, by the careless- carelessness, prodigality, ness, improvidence, and improvidence, and dis- dissolute conduct of the solute conduct of the prioress and nuns of the prior, masters, and aforesaid House or Priory, brethren of the af ore- occasioned by the neigh- said House or Priory; hood of the University and the brethren them- of Cambridge ; and the selves have been reduced nuns themselves have to such want and poverty been reduced to such that they are unable to want and poverty that perform Divine Service, they are unable in any or their accustomed way to perform Divine duties whether of re- Service, or their accus- ligion, mercy, or hospi- tomed duties, whether tality, according to the of religion, mercy, or original ordinance of hospitality, according to their founders, or even 251 CAMBRIDGE the original ordinance of their founders, or even to maintain themselves, inasmuch as their num- ber has now been re- duced to two, whereof one has entered a re- ligious house elsewhere, and the other is leading a life of sin. to maintain themselves, by reason of their poverty and want of means of support ; inasmuch as for a long while two brethren only have been main- tained in the aforesaid House, and these are in the habit of straying abroad in all directions beyond the precincts of the said religious House, to the grave displeasure of Almighty God, the discredit of their Order, and the scandal of the Church. The identity of the charges brought against these two religious bodies cannot be due to mere accident; and it is almost impossible to believe that the brethren and the nuns should have fallen into precisely the same delinquencies, or that the number left in the House should have been two in each case. It might almost be conjectured that the officials who drew royal charters kept in their bureau a passage ready to meet the case of the suppression of a re- 252 JESUS COLLEGE ligious house, and used it on occasion, with the mere alteration of name and place. A few parchment rolls detailing the receipts and expenses of these unfortunate ladies have been preserved, from which we gain some in- sight into the way in which they spent their money, and the style in which they lived. The first of these is for 1449-50; and certainly lends no support to the episcopal charges of poverty and want of thrift. The receipts may be roughly stated at 80, equivalent at least to 1000 at the present day. They are derived from the rents of farms in the country and houses in Cambridge; receipts for dues payable in the market, and profits from the fair which the House was allowed to hold on the Festival of the Assumption; the sale of corn and stores; tithes; and payments from the Vicar of St. Clement's Church. The expenses indicate a well-managed and hospitable community. There are repairs to their own buildings, and to their farms, with the purchase of stock and agricultural imple- ments. A horse bought at the fair of St. John Baptist, costs 9s. 4d. ; but another, bought of Richard Baker, of Bumstede, only 4s. There 253 CAMBRIDGE are many charges for bleeding and shoeing the horses; the shoes and nails being bought, as usual, in gross, and laid up in the storehouse for use. Labour on the farm and garden occu- pies a considerable space. We meet with the yearly wages of the ploughman and the shep- herd, charges for manure, for pruning trees, fattening pigs, washing and shearing sheep, etc. The wool was brought to the Convent, and there utilised. A couple of women are hired to spin it; and Roger Rede of Hynton is paid 3s. 5d. 'for weaving 77 ells of woollen cloth for the livery of the servants.' Other persons are engaged to shear it and full it. Lastly, William Judde, of St. Ives, receives 9s. 9d. for dyeing it green and blue. ' Our lady's servants,' as the retinue of the Prioress is called, must have made a brave show when they donned their new garments! The roughness which we are too apt to associate with medieval habits seems to have been absent from the Re- fectory, for we read of the purchase of ' board- cloths ' and table-napkins, and of linen bought for the Naprie, probably the linen-closet. The charges for the Guest Hall, that universal ad- junct to a medieval monastery, whether for 254 JESUS COLLEGE men or women, indicate a somewhat profuse hospitality. In addition to the ordinary charges for beef, pork, mutton, and veal, and for a whole cow, which perhaps was bought to be salted, there is a special charge 'for bread, ale, beef, mutton, lamb, veal, pork, hens, chickens, eggs, butter, and fish, fresh-water and sea, bought for eating in the Guest Hall, as set forth in detail in a paper-book examined against this account, 11Z. 7s. 4^cV These items, amounting to almost one-seventh of the entire income of the House, must surely refer to some extraordinary fes- tivity. Two other rolls contain similar items. The last of the series, that for 1481-82, just fifteen years before the suppression, shows a considerable falling-off from the former pro- sperity of the House. The receipts have fallen to 38, 15s. 8^d. ; a condition of things which lends some colour to Bishop Alcock's charges. It is much to be regretted that the series should be so broken. Were it complete much light would be thrown on that supremely interesting question the real condition of the Monasteries at the time of their suppression. Jesus College is approached by a long gravelled path between high walls, popularly called ' The 255 Chimney.' The distance of the church from the street, about seventy yards, was probably dic- tated by a wish for privacy ; but it is not so easy to decide why the nuns placed it on the south side of their buildings, instead of on the north, having regard to the great extent of their site. It is evident that this must have been the arrangement of the nunnery, as it is of the college, for, otherwise, Bishop Alcock would hardly have deviated from the more usual plan, which wisely reserved the warmer south side of the quadrangle for the rooms in which the students were to live. The church was 185 feet long within the walls. It was planned in the form of a cross, with a central tower and transepts. The choir, 65 feet long by 23 feet broad, had chapels on its north and south sides for about half its length, opening into it by two pier-arches in each wall. The transepts are 24 feet broad and 28 feet long. The nave, 86 feet long and 24 feet broad, had originally seven pier-arches, and north and south aisles. It must have been, as Professor Willis said, 'An admirable specimen of the architecture of its period, and two of the best preserved remaining portions, the series of 256 JESUS COLLEGE lancet-windows on the north and south sides of the eastern limb, and the arcade that ornaments the inner surface of the tower-walls, will always attract attention for the beauty of their com- position.' But a large and complex church was obviously unsuited to the requirements of a college, and under the direction of Bishop Alcock, ' the side-aisles, both of the chancel and the nave, were entirely removed, the pier-arches by which they had communicated with the re- maining central portion of the building were walled up, and the place of each arch was occupied by a Perpendicular window of the plainest description. The walls were raised, a flat roof was substituted for the high-pitched roof of the original structure, large Perpendi- cular windows were inserted in the gables of the chancel and south transept, and lastly, two- thirds of the nave were cut off from the church by a wall, and fitted up partly as a Lodge for the Master, partly as chambers for students. 'As for the portion set apart for the chapel of the college, the changes were so skilfully effected, and so completely concealed by plaster within and without, that all trace and even knowledge of the old aisles was lost; but in 2K 257 CAMBRIDGE the course of the preparations for repairs in 1846, the removal of some of the plaster made known the fact that the present two south windows of the chancel were inserted in walls which were themselves merely the filling-up of a pair of pier-arches, and that these arches, together with the piers upon which they rested, and the responds whence they sprang, still existed in the walls. When this key to the secret of the original plan of the church had been supplied, it was resolved to push the in- quiry to the uttermost; all the plaster was stripped off the inner face of the walls; piers and arches were brought to light again in all directions; old foundations were sought for on the outside of the building, and a complete and systematic examination of the plan and struc- ture of the original church was set on foot, which led to very satisfactory results.' 1 It would lead us beyond the purpose of these descriptive notes to enter upon a detailed de- scription of the church. For this we refer our 1 The Architectural History of the University of Cam- bridge. By the late Robert Willis, M.A., F.B.S. : edited by John Willis Clark, M.A., 3 vols. 8vo, 1886. Vol. ii. p. 124. 258 JESUS COLLEGE readers to Professor Willis himself. He has shown that it was erected between 1150 and 1245, so that the style varies from the Norman of the north transept to the Early English of the choir; and that 'during that period the work was carried on at several different times, and with changes of plan, each of which was on a more enlarged scale of dimensions than its predecessor, and showed the increased and increasing wealth of the builders.' Those who visit the chapel should specially note the piscina, a lovely example in the Early English style. It was evidently thought to be something out of the common, even in the thirteenth cen- tury, for it was copied in the parish church of Histon in Cambridgeshire, and at St. John's Hospital. In the interval between Bishop Alcock's time and the restoration of which Professor Willis speaks, the chapel had met with the usual treatment. The chancel alone was used for service ; a wall, pierced with a door in the Ionic style, divided it off from the nave ; it had a flat ceiling, and plain woodwork, the whole of Al- cock's magnificent stalls having been turned out in short, as the taste of fifty years ago ex- 259 CAMBRIDGE pressed itself, it had 'an air of great elegance and beauty.' The work begun in 1846 was a real restoration ; for the destroyed portions were replaced, so far as funds, and the needful arrangements of the college, would allow. It was impossible to open out the nave, or to re- build its aisles ; but the north aisle of the choir was rebuilt on the old foundations, with an organ-chamber beyond ; and the eastern triplet was reconstructed from fragments found in the east wall which Alcock had rebuilt. This triplet is shown in our view of the chapel. In a subsequent alteration of the Master's Lodge, fragments of a west door the existence of which Professor Willis had always suspected were discovered, but this feature could not be pre- served. It indicates that part of the church must have been separated off by screens for public use. Probably this portion was called the Church of St. Rhadegund, and gave origin to the belief that a separate parish church of that name once existed. A cloister was an essential part of all monas- teries. We commonly conceive the monastic life as a private life. It would be nearer the truth to call it a public life. In monasteries 260 3r5>-. -t to -_-:* ?*&ym rr-i ^t^i GATE OK ENTRANCE, JESUS COI.LEC.E. JESUS COLLEGE the inmates dined together in the Refectory, slept together in the dormitory, worshipped together in the church, and lived together in the cloister. There they kept their books, either in small cupboards cut 6ut of the thickness of the wall, or in wooden presses; and retired thither for study after dinner, each sitting in his ' carrell,' as it was called. In the cloister, too, the novices were taught, and certain cere- monies performed on stated days. There also recreation was permitted, and exercise was taken. In colleges a cloister was not required, except for exercise in wet weather; and therefore only appears occasionally, as a separate court subsidiary to the main quadrangle, round which were grouped the buildings primarily required for the collegiate life. Jesus College, however, proves its monastic origin by being the only college in either University in which the principal quadrangle is cloistered. This cloister now rests on open arches, but originally it had in their place windows of three lights, glazed, as shown in Loggan's print. The alteration was made in the middle of the last century, to admit more light and air. Bishop Alcock grouped the usual buildings required for a college round the cloister 261 CAMBRIDGE of the nuns, which he increased by the breadth of the north aisle of the church, which he pulled down. He placed the Hall on the north side, the Library on the west side, and the pantry, larder, kitchen, etc., in the angle between these two buildings. The Master's Lodge is now partly at the south end of the west range, partly in the altered nave of the chapel, partly in the short range which connects the principal quadrangle with the gate of entrance. This beautiful struc- ture, of red brick with stone quoins, is ascribed to Bishop Alcock on internal evidence only. Originally it rose above the buildings to the right and left of it like a tower; but, since additional floors have been added to them, its proportions appear somewhat dwarfed. Pro- fessor Willis' description of its distinctive features is worth quotation : 1 The picturesque red-brick gateway-tower of Jesus College (1497), although destitute of angle-turrets, is yet distinguished from the ground upwards by a slight relief, by stone quoins, and by having its string-courses designedly placed at different levels from those of the chambers on each side of it. The general disposition of the ornamentation of its arch and of the wall above it furnished the model for the more elaborate gate-houses at Christ's College and 262 ' li - 1 '' ' ir'^-jgM;' -~ : VT* ^ ! *^ i SS S 2 o s i ^ o ~ S JESUS COLLEGE St. John's College. The ogee hood-mould rises up- wards, and the stem of its finial terminates under the base of a handsome tabernacle which occupies the centre of the upper stage, with a window on each side of it. Each of the spandrel spaces contains a shield, and a larger shield is to be found in the tri- angular field between the hood-mould and the arch.' This gate gives access to an outer court, like the curi& of a monastery. On the west side it is open, but has ranges of buildings on the three others : on the north side a range built in 1638-41, but ingeniously designed so as to har- monise exceedingly well with the earlier build- ings ; on the south side the range containing the gate of entrance ; and on the east side the kitchen, library, etc., of the principal quad- rangle. Of late years the great increase in the number of students at Jesus College has rendered neces- sary a corresponding increase of accommodation. There are now four courts, in lieu of the two which formerly sufficed for the inmates. A ' New Court ' has been formed beyond the ' Outer Court,' by building a range of chambers nearly parallel to the range completed in 1641. Some modern offices, and a range of chambers 263 CAMBRIDGE built in 1822, form the east side of this court, which, like its neighbour, is open to the west. Subsequently an extensive range of buildings was erected eastward of the chapel, so as to make the latter building a more prominent feature of the college than it had been hereto- fore. When we add that besides these structures two houses for married tutors have been built, and are occupied, we shall have completed our enumeration of the changes by which Jesus College has been made to harmonise with modern ideas. 264 XII SOCIAL LIFE AT CAMBRIDGE : ' 'TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE ' IN our previous articles we have given a series of historical notices concerning the most im- portant colleges. These have related chiefly to the buildings, though from time to time we have had occasion to mention the social life and studies of the place. We now propose to say something more about this department of University History ; for just as the records of a nation are incomplete when they treat only of public affairs, so any account of Cambridge would be imperfect if the writer did not try to describe some at least of the changes that have taken place, from time to time, in the habits, the tastes, and the pursuits of the academic body. The Universities must always reflect the tastes and opinions of the country, and therefore we find that these changes have been more rapid and more thorough 2 L 265 CAMBRIDGE during the last half-century than during any previous period. On this account we shall not attempt to go back to any very distant date in our researches, though occasionally it will be necessary to mention the habits of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by way of illustra- tion. It will be sufficient for our purpose to sketch that Cambridge which came to an end with the introduction of railroads, gas, and other innovations peculiar to this century ; and, in order roughly to indicate the period from which we start, we have ventured to borrow a title from the author of Waverley. To begin with, it must be borne in mind that the town of Cambridge was very different then from what it is now ; indeed, with the exception of the destruction of the great religious houses, it had not been much altered during the four centuries since the period at which we attempted to sketch its aspect in our first chapter. The country round about it was quite unenclosed, and to the south and south-east a man on horse- back might gallop for miles, uninterrupted by a single fence. The ground where the now populous ' New Town ' stands was then a swamp, where sportsmen were sure of snipe, and the 266 PEITHETAIROS AND BASII.EIA. From "Tlie liinls c>t Aristophanes SOCIAL LIFE road that now leads to the railway station was an elevated causeway, with this marshy ground to the right of it. The velvety turf of Gog- magog Hills had not then been ploughed up, and a bustard was still occasionally to be seen there. The streets could hardly have been worse paved than they are at present, but some of them were much narrower. A row of ancient houses stood where the lawn in front of King's College now is, at a distance varying from ten to twenty feet in advance of the present iron fence. Trumpington Street, in this part of its course, was nowhere more than twenty-five feet wide, and as the upper storeys of the houses pro- jected beyond those beneath them, it used to be maintained, graphically rather than delicately, that a man could spit across it. The only light used at night in the streets was oil. Only one post came in and one went out in the twenty- four hours. There were no public conveyances. If a gentleman did not keep his own carriage, he must walk. Ladies went out at night in sedan chairs. At the end of the previous cen- tury there had been only one umbrella, according to Professor Pryme; and this was kept at a shop in Bene't Street, and let out by the hour. 267 Passenger traffic was by coaches, which were numerous and well appointed, but slow; goods traffic by waggons, or by barges on the Cam, which was still, as in the Middle Ages, an im- portant highway, along which all the fuel- coals, sedge, and turf as well as a considerable quantity of provisions, was brought to the town. A long frost, therefore, meant death by cold, aggravated by hunger; and instances are on record of the burning of every article of furniture that could be dispensed with. The shops were exceedingly primitive. Most of them were open, like stalls, and closed at night with a single wide shutter that let down, and was used to display the goods on during the day. The principal purchases of stores of all kinds were made at the two great annual fairs, Midsummer Fair and Sturbridge Fair. The latter was by far the more important of the two, and until the intro- duction of railways must have been the chief event of the year, not only in Cambridge, but on the whole eastern side of England. The temporary buildings required for it were com- menced, by custom, on the 24th of August in each year, and the fair itself was solemnly proclaimed by the University on the 17th of 268 PEITHETAIROS AND PROMETHEUS. From " The Birds " of Aristophanes. SOCIAL LIFE September. The Vice-Chancellor, attended by the Bedells, Registrary, Proctors, and other officers, proceeded to the Senate House at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, where the Senior Proctor provided mulled wine, sherry, and cakes. These delicacies disposed of, the company proceeded in carriages to the fair, where the formal proclama- tion was read by the Registrary in three different places. The company then alighted at one of the permanent structures, called ' The Tiled Booth,' where they elbowed their way through a crowd of the ordinary customers of the house to an upstairs room, called 'The University Dining Room.' There they partook of oysters, ale, and porter. Thus fortified they walked in one of the streets of the Fair, called ' Garlick Fair Row,' until it was time to return to ' The Tiled Booth' for dinner. The University was very unpopular at the Fair, and it seems to have been usual to hustle the magnates, arid to make their progress to their dinner as difficult as possible. Mr. Gunning, Esquire Bedell from 1789 to 1854, describes this curious entertain- ment, which was not abolished until 1842, while the proclamation by the University survived until the Award Act of 1856 : 269 CAMBRIDGE ' The scene which presented itself on entering the dining-room I can describe most accurately, for the dishes and their arrangement never varied. Before the Vice-Chancellor was placed a large dish of her- rings ; then followed in order a neck of pork roasted, an enormous plum-pudding, a leg of pork boiled, a pease-pudding, a goose, a huge apple-pie and a round of beef in the centre. On the other half of the table the same dishes were placed in similar order, the herrings before the Senior Proctor, who sat at the bottom. From thirty to forty persons dined there ; and although the wine was execrable, a number of toasts were given, and mirth and good humour prevailed to such an extent as is seldom to be met with at more modern and more refined en- tertainments. At about half-past six the dinner- party broke up, and, with scarcely an exception, adjourned to the theatre.' In the palmy days of the Fair the space occu- pied by it was about half a mile square, divided into streets, which were distinguished by separate names, such as ' Booksellers' Row,' ' Cooks' Row,' ' Cheapside,' ' The Duddery,' ' Garlick Fair Row,' etc. In each of these some special trade was represented, as in Leipsic Fair at the present day. The amount of business done was enor- mous. In ' The Duddery,' where woollen stuffs were sold, 100,000 worth of goods is reported to 270 THE COCK. From "The liitds' cf Ai-iskfliaiKs. SOCIAL LIFE have been sold in less than a week, besides the quantity ordered by London traders, while else- where wool to the value of 50,000 or 60,000 was disposed of, and hops to an equal amount. The Horse Fair, held on September 14th, was always the most crowded day ; but the numbers that assembled during the whole three weeks that the Fair lasted were very great. Notwith- standing the vast concourse of people, the Fair is described to have been like ' a well-governed city,' where order was carefully and successfully preserved. There was a Court of Justice, of the kind called ' Pie Powder Court ' elsewhere, where the Mayor of Cambridge, or his deputy, sat daily. On Sundays Divine service was held in the principal open space, and a sermon preached from a pulpit placed in the open air, by the minister of Barnwell parish, or by some one appointed by him. In addition to serious busi- ness there was, of course, plenty of amusement. It was a time of licensed frolic, into which all classes entered with equal zest and gaiety. The dramatic entertainments were managed by the company of the Norwich Theatre, one of the best provincial houses, and were well attended ; while the wives of county magnates, of University 271 CAMBRIDGE dignitaries, and even of Heads of Houses, danced at the ball which was given on some particular evening in one of the booths. In the case of Midsummer Fair, when the days were longer, ladies used to get up tea-parties with the view of walking in the Fair afterwards. The popularity of the theatre at the Fair was evidently very great in the last century, especi- ally with members of the University. When Mr. Gunning was a candidate for the office of Esquire Bedell, in September 1789, he mentions that after a morning spent in canvassing, he never failed to go to the theatre in the evening, feeling sure that if an elector had arrived at Cambridge in the course of the day, he should meet him there. In 1808, when Professor Sedgwick was reading with pupils at Ditton, a village on the Cam, not far below Barnwell, his chief amuse- ments seem to have been the theatre; and his letters tell us that he constantly met his friends there. In later times, when a permanent build- ing had replaced the temporary structure at the Fair, it maintained its popularity until rail- ways enabled everybody to get to London. Most of the celebrated actors of the present century have acted on that miniature stage ; 272 SOCIAL LIFE and the last three weeks of the Long Vacation were looked forward to with eagerness by the play-loving portion of the community. So late as 1834, Mrs. Frere, wife of the Master of Downing, bespoke the performance, and one of her party has recorded in his diary that the pieces selected were well acted. Thirty years ago, when I was an undergraduate, the theatre used to open as usual, but the audience was, to say the least of it, thin. Some of us went regularly, but the pieces performed usually belonged to what is so oddly called the legiti- mate drama, and I am afraid that we received Ingomar, Pizarro, Hamlet, and The Stranger, with derisive merriment. In early times undergraduates lived three and four together in a room ; and even Fellows could not always have a room to themselves. The arrangements for this system differed in different colleges, and it would be beside our present purpose to go into the matter minutely. A certain amount of privacy was ensured by the contrivance of small studies (muscea}, separated off by a lath-and-plaster partition from the rest of the room. The beds were in the undivided portion, and the inmates retired into these 2M 273 CAMBRIDGE closets for work. As colleges increased their buildings, the system was gradually given up, but it was still in fashion at St. John's so late as 1711, as is seen by the following letter, which puts the advantages and disadvantages of it very forcibly. The writer is the father of Ambrose Bonwicke, who had entered there as pensioner in the autumn of the previous year. Ambrose had written to say that he had arranged for his brother Philip to share his room with him, and wished for leave to intro- duce a friend also : 'I thank you and your tutor for the promise of the chamber for Phil, and think there may be some conveniencies in admitting a third, but there may also be some inconveniencies which I shall lay before you. By the grace of God this lad may continue very good, and your society may contribute towards it ; but should it be otherwise, you will not know how to get clear of him again. Besides if he be not exactly of your principles, tho' he be otherwise very good, 'twill be very inconvenient ; aud you cannot at all times converse so freely with your brother, as 'twill be necessary you should. I had hopes that your brother might share with you in Mr. Roper's favour, and fear this third chum may be an obstacle to that. Another thing is, if Phil. should have the small-pox, there will be no room 274 SOCIAL LIFE for you to set up a bed for that time ; and you know I do not care you should lye with any other but your brother. If this lad has never had that distemper, he may unhappily bring the infection into your chamber. Besides, I should not like him for a chum for you, if his dialect be ungenteel, for fear that infection should reach you, as well as your brother. Yet after all, I have a great concern for so hopeful a lad as you describe him, and wish you might enjoy each other's society in the day- time, tho' you sleep not together ; neither am I against that, if you can make me easy as to the foregoing particulars.' By the end of the century, however, the present plan of living in lodgings in the town had been accepted, though not without many misgivings and attempts to stop it, or to limit it; attempts which have been renewed in our own time. Let us hope that the system, which is not a good one, may one day be superseded. In the days when rooms were shared, the furniture was exceedingly simple. There was ' a standing bedstead ' for the Fellow, supposing one of the occupants to be a Master of Arts ; a 'trundle-bed' for the undergraduate, which during the daytime was pushed under the ' standing-bed ' of his superior ; a ' leaden laver 275 CAMBRIDGE with a troughe or spoute to wasshe with ' ; a table, with forms or stools, not chairs ; and a few shelves for their books and clothes. In many cases the walls were bare, the floors were of mud, and the roofs open to the rafters. Subsequently they were made more comfort- able, and during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries wainscot was generally introduced, and occasionally hangings of ' green say.' These luxurious additions to primitive simplicity were not, however, universal, and probably marked the presence of a wealthy or luxurious occupant. The poet Gray is said to have been 'the first, and for a long while the only person in the University who made his rooms look pretty. He took care that his windows should be always full of mignonette or some other sweetly-scented plant, and he was famous for a pair of huge Japanese vases, in blue and white china.' Up to ten or fifteen years ago simplicity was the rule and not the exception ; and even the fathers of the present generation would never have dreamt of decking out their apartments with the china and other knick-knacks which ' culture ' now demands. Dress, independently of cap and gown, was 276 SOCIAL LIFE formerly watched by the authorities with jealous care, and deviations from established custom summarily checked. At the beginning of the century, ' shorts of any colour, and white stockings, were the only regular academical dress,' gaiters being forbidden. In 1812 an order was made by the Seniors of Trinity and St. John's that students who appeared in hall or chapel in pantaloons or trousers should be con- sidered as absent. So late as 1815, Dr. Mansel at Trinity threatened to put an undergraduate 'out of commons' that is, to deprive him of the means of obtaining food from the college for appearing in hall in trousers instead of breeches and gaiters. Shoes were worn on the feet ; boots being especially forbidden. The change to trousers took place between 1820 and 1830. The older members of the University resisted the innovation, and Dr. Proctor, Master of St. Catharine's, who did not die till 1844, wore knee-breeches, when in full dress, to the last ; and Dr. Chapman, Master of Caius, who died in 1852, always rode in breeches and top-boots. When the writer was an undergraduate, the Dean at Trinity constantly reproved those who wore their gowns over a light-coloured coat ; 277 CAMBRIDGE and occasionally such unruly persons were sent out of hall to change the offending garment for one of a sober grey or black. Professor Pryme gives the following interesting account of the customs of his undergraduate time (1799-1803) in these matters : ' It was usual for the undergraduates, or at least the more particular ones, to dress daily for the dinner in hall in white waistcoats and white silk stockings, and there were persons who washed them for us, as things too special for a common laundress. There were two or three undergraduates who wore powder. The rest of us wore our hair curled. It was thought very rustic and unfashion- able not to have it so. Wigs were still worn by the Dons and Heads, with two or three exceptions. Cory, the Master of Emmanuel, was, I have heard, the first to leave his off, complaining of headache. Dr. Barnes, of Peterhouse, preserved his to the last. In Mr. Daniel Sykes's time, which was twenty years before mine, the Senior Fellows of Trinity wore wigs, and he was, as he told me long afterwards, concerned in a practical joke concerning them. There was a barber's shop just within the gate of Trinity, near Bishop's Hostel, where the Fellows were powdered and the wigs dressed. It existed even in my time. Sykes and some others bribed the barber one Saturday night, when he had the Sunday wigs to dress, to give them up ; and getting 278 SOCIAL LIFE out upon the library parapet placed them on the heads of the four statues which face the hall. The next day the Seniors missing their best wigs were in a state of great excitement, and obliged to go to dinner in their old ones. Coming out of Hall into Neville's Court, and looking up, they saw them on the statues. The perpetrators were never found out.' So late as the summer of 1832, Professor Pryme himself appeared at a dinner-party in his own house in nankeen breeches, tied at the knees with bunches of coloured ribbons, a blue coat with brass buttons, and a buff waistcoat. College barbers have not been long extinct. The last was Robert Bendall of Peterhouse, who died in 1879. He used to come round the college in the morning, wake the men for chapel, and shave them the lazy ones in bed. Dr. Woodham of Jesus, who did not take his Master of Arts degree till 1842, has been heard to say that he has seen a hairdresser curl the Fellows' hair in the Combination Room before they went to the Bachelors' Ball. In the old statutes of Trinity the barber was on the foundation, like the cook. Most colleges had a barber's shop. At King's, each Fellow paid for his own shaving, but that of the Provost 279 CAMBRIDGE was defrayed by the college. Until the popu- larity of the Volunteer movement cast a mili- tary air over civilian manners, the cultivation of beards and moustaches was not allowed by the authorities. Dr. Whewell set his face steadily against the practice ; and so late as 1857 a scholar of Trinity, who was afterwards elected to a fellowship, having returned at the begin- ning of the October term with these two orna- ments on his countenance, was requested by the Dean to remove them. He was a good- looking fellow, and deeply deplored the loss of so important an addition to his personal attrac- tions. His regrets found vent in song, and he published a new Rape of the Lock, with which the Dean was so much amused, that he requested a copy, and a version in Latin elegiacs. A few of the lines are worth quo- tation : Farewell ! too little and too lately worn ! Let the rude breezes bear ye where they list : For this defied I the chill dews of morn ? In rain or sunshine ne'er a chapel missed ? ' Dean ! is thy seat so lofty that its snows Have sunk into thy heart and settled there ? Can my beard mar the heaven of thy repose ? So great a man, and such a little hair ! ' 280 SOCIAL LIFE The hours at which meals have been taken at different periods have been curiously altered. To begin with dinner. In 1550, dinner in hall was at ten o'clock and supper at five. This was in accordance with the general practice of the country, where, as Holinshed says, 'The nobilitie, gentrie, and students do ordinarilie go to dinner at eleven before noon, and to supper at five, or between five and six, at afternoone. The merchants dine and sup seldome before twelve at noon and six at night, especiallie in London.' In the seventeenth century the hours had moved on to eleven and six, except during Sturbridge Fair, when supper was served at nine ; and in the next century we find Oxford students dining at twelve, to the great distress of a Conservative of that day, who notes in his diary, 'When laudable old customs alter 'tis a sign learning dwindles.' However, at Cambridge the hour of twelve was maintained till near the end of the century in all the colleges, and the students afterwards attended regularly at the disputations in the schools, which began at two. About 1785 the hour had been changed to one o'clock, and in some colleges to two o'clock in vacation. Next the hour became three o'clock, 2N 281 CAMBRIDGE upon which alteration Dr. Watson, then Regius Professor of Divinity, writing in 1818, thus laments himself: * An evil custom has, within these few years, been introduced into the University, which will in its consequences destroy our superiority over Oxford, and leave our scholastic exercises in as miserable a state as theirs have long been. It is the custom of dining late. When I was admitted [November, 1754], and for many years after, every college dined at twelve o'clock, and the students after dinner flocked to the philosophical disputations which began at two. If the schools either of philosophy or divinity should ever be generally destitute of an audience, there will be an end of all scholastic exertions. I remember having seen the divinity schools (when the best act by Coulthurst aud Milner, Arcades atribo was keeping that I ever presided at, and which might justly be called a real academic entertainment), filled with auditors from the top to the bottom ; but as soon as the clock struck three, a number of Masters of Arts belonging to colleges which dined at three slunk away from this intellectual feast ; and they were followed, as might have been expected, by many undergraduates. I say, 'as might have been ex- pected,' for in all seminaries of education relaxa- tion of discipline begins with the seniors of the society.' 282 SOCIAL LIFE It is always amusing to get the same event described from two different points of view, and therefore we will digress for a moment to quote Gunning's description of this act, at which he was present : ' The first opponent was Mr. Coulthurst, of Sidney (afterwards Vicar of Halifax); he and the Respon- dent had been repeatedly Moderators and Exam- iners, and in the discharge of the duties of those offices had displayed considerable talent and attain- ments. In other respects no two men could be more dissimilar. Milner was a man of immense size, with stentorian voice ; Coulthurst was remarkably small, with an extremely low but distinct voice. Milner began his answer before the other had propounded his argument, and Coulthurst continued his argu- ment after it had been answered. In point of fact, they both spoke at the same time, and neither paid the least attention to what the other said. The Professor two or three times made an ineffectual attempt to enforce the acknowledged laws of dis- putation, but they took no notice of his remarks, although uttered in his usual solemn and dignified manner. He consequently resumed his seat in de- spair, uttering only the two words, ' Arcades ambo,' and they were allowed to finish the disputation in their own way.' On another occasion Dr. Watson drew public 283 CAMBRIDGE attention, in a very amusing manner, to the real reason of gentlemen leaving the schools in such haste ; namely, in order to reach their college hall in time to save the fine a bottle of wine that was then the invariable penalty for appearing five minutes after the bell had ceased ringing. The Vice-Chancellor's weekly dinner-parties were at that time given on Sundays, at half-past one, and his whole com- pany went with him to St. Mary's, where the sermon then began at three. Early in the present century the dinner-hour advanced to four o'clock, at which it remained until a few years ago. When dinner was early there was supper in the hall first at six or seven, and afterwards at a quarter before nine. The meal, however, was not a favourite one, as undergraduates preferred to sup in their own rooms, as more sociable. They used to form themselves into parties, and each man ordered the dish he fancied to be carried to the room in which the entertainment was to take place. The host supplied bread, butter, cheese, and beer, with a ' beaker ' or large teapot full of punch, which was kept on the hob. Wine was not allowed. 284 SOCIAL LIFE As these parties used to take place at about eight o'clock, they could not have been very different from a plain dinner at the present day. The dinner at three or four o'clock was a great inducement, especially among the Fellows, and in winter, to cultivate the habits of deep drinking that were, unfortunately, so common at the beginning of the century. At the meal itself little or no wine was taken, but at its close the company retired to the Combination Room, where they not unfrequently sat till supper-time, after which meal those who were sober enough had beakers ' in their own rooms ; and so to bed, as Mr. Pepys would have said. The twelve days of Christmas were, of course, kept in a specially exuberant fashion; songs, toasts, and sentiments, were given in Combi- nation Rooms, and I have heard Professor Sedgwick relate how fortunate the Fellows of Trinity once thought themselves in securing the society of an Irish captain during that season, whose comic humour and vocal powers were of no ordinary kind. The practice of giving toasts was always observed on feast-days in Combination Rooms, and extended to private 285 CAMBRIDGE wine-parties, with the same observances that Sheridan has introduced into the supper scene in The School for Scandal. ' The host,' says Pro- fessor Pryme in his Reminiscences, 'named a Vice-President, and toasts were given. First, a lady by each of the party, then a gentleman, and then a sentiment. I remember one of those latter "The single married, and the married happy." Some of them were puns, and some not very decorous. Every one was required to fill a bumper to the toasts of the President, the Vice-President, and his own.' How formal this system must have been, and how destructive of all rational conversation! At the parties of some of the 'fastest' men, it was not unusual to break the feet off the glasses in order that bumpers might be drunk to all the toasts ; and so long as a single bottle of wine remained in the host's cellar his friends continued to drink, no matter how late the hour might be. Early in the present century, however, a resolute effort was made by a few popular men to stop all attempts to force the unwilling to drink, to be temperate themselves, to separate at chapel time, and not to return afterwards. These rules were soon accepted generally, and up- 286 SOCIAL LIFE roarious wine-parties ceased. When the writer was an undergraduate it was the custom to give one in each term, to which a man asked his entire acquaintance, quite without reference to the capacity of his rooms to contain them. Those who came early got seats those who did not remained standing and after a decent interval went away. Sometimes if the host ' kept ' in lodgings he engaged a band of music. Itinerant musicians used to walk the streets, and when they saw that a wine-party was going on anywhere, sent upstairs to offer their services. The whole affair was very harmless, but very dull. The custom has died a natural death of late years, since a later hour for the hall-dinner has been accepted in most colleges. A journey was not a thing to be lightly undertaken sixty years since, and therefore a great many of the Fellows, especially those whose homes were in distant parts of England, resided in Cambridge all the year round. For the same reason visits from strangers were rare events. General society, too, could scarcely be said to exist at Cambridge during the first quarter of the century. Hence the same persons were in the habit of meeting, day after day; 287 CAMBRIDGE and, as a natural consequence, treated each other with a rough-and-ready familiarity. Plain- ness of speech, to an extent that would nowa- days shock ears polite, characterised ordinary conversation ; and humorous stories were 'Elizabethan' in their phraseology. Personal- ities, such as would not now be tolerated any- where, were freely indulged in ; and ' satires or lampoons on particular people,' like Sir Benjamin Backbite's 'little productions,' circu- lated in the same manner, ' by giving copies in confidence to the friends of the parties.' One of the principal authors in this style was Lort Mansel. Many of his epigrams, though he was Master of Trinity, and Bishop of Bristol, need the decent obscurity of a learned language ; but one or two may be quoted. The following was on the marriage of the Master of Corpus Christi College (then called Bene't College), a very thin man, with an equally thin lady : 1 Saint Paul has declared, that persons though twain In marriage united one flesh shall remain ; But had he been by when, like Pharaoh's kine pairing, Dr. Douglas of Benet espoused Miss Mainwaring, The Apostle, methinks, would have altered his tone, And cried, These two splinters shall make but one bone ! ' 288 SOCIAL LIFE The following satirised the conduct of Hinch- liffe, Master of Trinity and Bishop of Peter- borough, who put a wretchedly bad singer into the college choir because he had a vote for Peterborough : ' A singing-man and yet not sing ! How justify your patron's bounty ? Forgive me ; you mistake the thing : My voice is in another county! ' Mansel, after he became Master of Trinity, was a grand personage, full of his own im- portance, and disdainful to those whom he regarded as his inferiors. It is to him that Byron refers in his Thoughts suggested by a College Examination : ' High in the midst, surrounded by his peers, Magnus his ample front sublime uprears ; Placed on his chair of state, he seems a god, While Sophs and Freshmen tremble at his nod.' The following story affords a good illustration of his character. Sir Busick Harwood, Professor of Anatomy, between whom and Mansel there had been a feud of long standing, gave a break- fast in the garden of his house, near Emmanuel College. Being anxious to show every con- 2o 289 CAMBRIDGE sideration to the great man, he placed a young nobleman, who was at the time an undergrad- uate of Trinity, at the same table, unconscious or oblivious of the fact, that it was sacrilege to bring a human being so low in the social scale of the University 'between the wind and his nobility.' Before breakfast was half over, Mansel got up suddenly, ordered his carriage, and took his leave. Next morning Lady Harwood en- treated her husband to go to Trinity Lodge and inquire whether he was ill, or whether they had unconsciously offended him in any way. Sir Busick, most unwillingly, acceded to her urgent solicitations. He found Mansel in his study, looking, like Mr. Nupkins, ' gloomily grand, and savagely vexed.' ' I have come, my Lord, on the part of myself and Lady Harwood, to inquire ' began the Professor. Before he could finish his sentence Mansel thundered out, 'Sir Busick, I am a peer of the realm, God knows how unworthy ' 'God knows, and so do I,' said the other, and vanished. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Tutor and Pupil stood in a close and even affectionate relation to each other. We have seen that occasionally they occupied the same 290 SOCIAL LIFE chamber; and it must further be remembered that the number of students proceeding to degrees was infinitely smaller than at present, so that a tutor could not only educate all his pupils, but understand their characters by per- sonal intercourse. Sir Symonds d'Ewes, who was admitted at St. John's in 1618, speaks frequently in his diary of Mr. Richard Holds- worth, whom he styles ' my loving tutor,' and records his gratitude for his kindness in taking walks with him and treating him as an equal. By degrees those relations were done away with. Various reasons, such, for instance, as the following, have been assigned for the change. Older men ceased to share rooms with undergraduates; increase in numbers made in- tercourse ceremonious and insincere; politi- cal differences brought about suspicion and estrangement. Whatever may have been the cause, the broad fact remains that little by little a spirit of donnishness crept into the University, and soon reigned supreme there. For a century or more the older and the younger men saw very little of each other. A fellow- commoner now and then sought the society of the Fellows whom he met at the high table; 291 but more frequently he regretted his isolation from the men of his own age and standing, and made his escape as soon as dinner was over. This change of feeling was another instance of the way in which the Universities reflect the tone of the country. In the last century a man addressed his father as ' Sir,' and, so far as we can judge from contemporary literature, re- garded him with fear, and not unfrequently with dislike. In the first half of the present century the new literary tastes and new poli- tical opinions that became prevalent among young men, notwithstanding the almost pro- verbial Toryism of young Englishmen, made the breach wider still. A college tutor, popu- larly supposed to stand towards his pupils in the relation of a father, came to know so little about them, that the following anecdote is not incredible. One of the tutors of a large college desired his servant to go and invite a pupil, whom he had not seen for some time, to take wine with him after hall. 'Mr. So-and-so, sir? He died three terms ago.' 'You ought to tell me when my pupils die,' replied the Don. We do not vouch for the literal accuracy of this incident, but it illustrates the estrangement 292 SOCIAL LIFE that existed between those who ought to have been teachers and those who should have been taught. It is almost needless to add that un- ruliness and excess became the rule, rather than the exception ; and sixty years since the morality and the behaviour of the young men at the University was not of the best. The famous or perhaps we should rather say infamous letter of Mr. R. M. Beverley to the Duke of Gloucester (then Chancellor of the University), published in 1833, had, no doubt, a germ of truth beneath the gross exaggerations and wilful misrepresentations with which it is filled. The pamphlet is now almost forgotten, or remem- bered only for the manly and crushing reply that it elicited from Professor Sedgwick a denunciation that Junius himself might not have disdained to sign. At the time of its publication, however, it made a great noise, and the numerous replies to it that were published are a proof that it was not all invention. If a malevolent scribbler were to write such an article in such a style nowadays, not a soul would think it worth his while to answer a word. Many causes have contributed to bring about 293 CAMBRIDGE a better state of things since ; and nothing could be healthier than the feeling that now exists between authorities and undergraduates. As an instance of the resentment that was sometimes excited before this excellent consummation was effected, we will refer to the amusing squabble about attendance at chapel at Trinity in 1838. At the beginning of the Lent Term in that year, the Master and Seniors had agreed ' that all Undergraduates, Scholars, and Foundation Sizars, do attend chapel eight times at least in every week, that is, twice on Sunday and once on every other day,' on pain of sundry penalties; and finally, after three formal admonitions from Dean, Tutor, and Master, 'the offender shall, ipso facto, be removed from the College, either entirely or for one or more Terms.' This novel severity was met by a singular expedient. A number of men enrolled themselves as ' The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Under- graduates ' ; one or more of their number made a point of attending every chapel and noted the attendance of the Fellows. The result was published in a weekly paper, which was cir- culated in Cambridge, and even in London, where it found its way into the Clubs and some 294 SOCIAL LIFE of the newspapers. The remarks that these impudent youngsters appended to their weekly records are very entertaining. On February 24th, the second week of the existence of the institution, we read : 'The Society, though gratified to find that their labours have had the effect of producing more regu- larity on the whole, among the Fellows, will not relax in their endeavours to promote the cause of Religion. Eight Chapels are all that they require to be kept, and should any Fellow, through illness, be unable to attend, on sending a note to the Secretary of the Society, he will be excused.' On March 3rd it is announced that : ' A prize for general regularity and good behaviour when in Chapel has been instituted by the Society, who are as anxious to reward merit as they are to punish immorality. But, whilst they thus wish to instil into the minds of the Fellows those Religious feelings which, owing to a bad education, they may possibly be without, the Society most distinctly declare that they shall not be guided merely by an outward show of religion. It is not, therefore, enough to go merely eight times a week to Chapel, and when there to utter the responses so loud as to attract attention, or otherwise disturb the prayers of Undergraduates. Such conduct will at all times be severely punished. But there will be a general 295 CAMBRIDGE examination of the Fellows at the end of each term, when they will be classed according to their merits.' On March 10th the following note appeared : 'The Society regret much that during the last week great laxity has prevailed among the Fellows in general with regard to their attendance in Chapel. This is the more to be lamented, as they had been for the two previous weeks so much more regular than usual. This irregularity cannot proceed from ill health, for they have been constantly to Hall, although they are not compelled to go there more than FIVE times each week. The Society, however, still hope that in the ensuing week they will be able to make a more favourable report both of their attendance in Chapel as also of their good conduct when there. As was before stated, any Fellow who shall, owing to any wine-party, or other sufficient reason, be prevented from attending, will be excused on sending a note previously to the Secretary of the Society, and his absence will be counted as presence.' Then they drew up an average of the attend- ance of each Fellow for a month, in a tabular form, with the average for each of the four weeks exactly calculated. Of the seventeen Fellows one has zero appended to his name, another *75, and even the three tutors do not exceed 6|, 6, and 4. No wonder we find the foot- 296 SOCIAL LIFE note, ' Why then do they not set us a better example ? ' This observation went to the root of the whole matter. The Fellows did not so much as attempt to understand the Under- graduates. It would not be difficult to find individual instances of friendship and sympathy ; but as a general rule the two bodies were opposing forces who regarded each other with suspicion and dislike. 'The place would be agreeable enough to live in, were it not for the Town and the Undergraduates,' said a learned Professor. But to return to Trinity. At the end of the sixth week the Masters and Seniors altered their regulations, and announced that they would be content with six chapels in each week instead of eight. The undergraduates on their side announced that the ' Chapel Lists ' would be discontinued ; and as a last shot at the now retreating enemy, they published a Class List, in the form used at a college exami- nation, in which the Fellows were divided into four classes, according to their number of at- tendances. Two names appear in italics below the last class, as not worthy to be classed at all. The first class contained only three names: those of the Senior and Junior Dean, and of 2P 297 CAMBRIDGE Mr. Perry, afterwards Bishop of Melbourne. The former, being obliged in virtue of their office to attend twice daily, were held to be dis- qualified for the prize with which it was in- tended to reward the most regular attendant at chapel. Mr. Perry, therefore, who had attended sixty-six times during the period of examina- tion, received a copy of the Bible, handsomely bound, and the following note was appended to the last publication of the Society : ' The Prize Medal for regular attendance at chapel, and good conduct when there, has been awarded to Mr. PERRY, who has passed an examination highly creditable to "himself and family." He was only 18 marks below the highest number which he could possibly have gained. It is, therefore, to be hoped Mr. P. will be more regular and do still better next term. 'N.B. With respect to the two Gentlemen who are not classed, the Secretary need hardly say that he does not envy them their feelings on the present occasion.' Our sketches of University life and manners would be incomplete without some reference to the Heads of Colleges. In an earlier chapter we described the position of the Head before the Reformation when he was in reality, and 298 SOCIAL LIFE not merely in name, the supreme director of the body corporate over which he presided. After the Reformation, when permission to marry had been conceded, and the simple Master's chamber of earlier days had been enlarged into a com- fortable, not to say luxurious, Lodge, the Master of necessity lived apart from the Fellows of his college. The government of the University was, to a great extent, in the hands of the Heads, who, in the case of numerous offices, had the right of nominating two candidates for election, of whom the Senate chose one; and, more- over, as assessors to the Vice-Chancellor, they acquired by custom a far wider power than had been conceded to them by statute. Nothing could be imagined better in theory than that the persons who represented individual colleges should form the united government of the Uni- versity; and so long as the Heads associated with the Fellows in daily intercourse the scheme probably worked well. But after they began to live apart, they had fewer opportunities of appreciating the ideas and feelings of even their own colleges ; and as these became larger it became impossible for the Head to perform the multifarious duties that had been imposed upon 299 CAMBRIDGE him in simpler times. Consequently the Heads were constrained, by the necessities of their un- fortunate position, to separate themselves from the rest of the University, and to associate only with one another. This preface is necessary for the right under- standing of the condition of Society which we purpose briefly to illustrate. What we are about to say refers, it must be remembered, to a state of things which died a natural death with the Elizabethan statutes. Moreover, the persons to whom our reminiscences allude have all passed away, and these sayings and doings have become the common property of the public. Sixty years since society at Cambridge was divided broadly into two classes those who were Heads of Houses and those who were not. The former were the aristocracy ; and no Grand Duke of a minute territory, no cathedral digni- tary, no Head Master of a great school no, not even Dr. Keate himself in his most aristocratic days was ever hedged about with a more awful dignity, or exacted a more implicit obedience. ' You ought to remember, sir, the immeasur- able distance between an undergraduate and the Master of his college,' said Dr. Mansel, on a 300 THE SENATE HOUSE CONFERRING DECREES. SOCIAL LIFE certain occasion, to an unlucky youngster who ventured to address him. For this speech there might have been some justification; but there was none for the spirit of arrogance and self- assertion that was the peculiar characteristic of those seventeen oligarchs towards even the oldest and ablest of the academic body. From the hour that an individual became Master of his college, he was raised (in his own estimation) into a higher region, whence he looked down with contemptuous pity on the less-favoured many, even though some of them might have been his oldest and most intimate friends. Damon and Pythias might have taken their daily walks together along v>he Trumpington Road for many years ; but should Damon be elected Master, he would next day give Pythias two fingers, and address him formally as Mr. Pythias in conversation or in writing. When a Head of a College gave a dinner-party sixty years since, he invited Heads only. That excep- tions to this rule were so rare that they may be neglected in a general statement of the charac- teristics of the Order. If such an invitation was issued, it was a royal command, and not even the death of an intimate friend was admitted as 301 an excuse. This exclusiveness survived to com- paratively modern times to such an extent that even after a more general intercourse was per- mitted, and Heads had begun to visit Professors, the only son of the host was not allowed to dine at his own father's table because, forsooth, the Master of his college was expected there as a guest! At the beginning of the present cen- tury, Dr. Mansel had condescended to unbend somewhat, and to give less solemn entertain- ments. That august person had six unmarried daughters, and possibly some thoughts of their settlement in life may have influenced him. Professor Pryme relates that evening parties at Trinity Lodge were not uncommon at which music was given, and sometimes 'a dance was improvised, for which the Master would himself turn an organ.' That, however, was in 1809 ; but twenty years later a far greater exclusive- ness had become the rule. So complete was the social severance between the Heads and the rest of the University that considerable curiosity was felt by each half of the academic world as to the sayings and doings of the other. ' What do you talk about in your society ! ' said the wife of a Head to the wife of a Professor in 1819, ' is 302 SOCIAL LIFE it amusing ? ' Just about that time, however, a bold innovation was made, which stirred the University to its depths. Mr. Serjeant Frere had just been made Master of Downing, and, being an enlightened person who had passed most of his life in London, saw no reason why the good folks of Cambridge should not amuse themselves according to the fashions of the metropolis. So Mrs, Frere, who sang divinely, gave musical parties in the Lodge itself, and tableaux vivants also, which were much admired ; and at last (I vow my hand shakes so with horror at the very thought of it that I can hardly make my pen write down the awful profanation) she got up The Rivals and The Critic in the College Hall! One of her first evening parties took place after a solemn sym- posium given to an assemblage of Heads. They had not been made aware of what was about to happen, and it was remarked afterwards by the wife of one of them, 'Some people came in in the evening of course we went away.' University society is subject to very frequent changes, as the older members leave and the younger take their places. In the second quarter of the present century it was more than usually 303 CAMBRIDGE brilliant. The long dinners in College Hall had been given up, except on rare occasions of high festival, and the Fellows delighted to go into general society of an evening. There were musical parties, under the auspices of Professor Smyth and Mrs. Frere, dramatic entertainments, sparingly and somewhat grudgingly permitted, and numerous dinner-parties, enlivened by con- versation which ranged from the deepest to the lightest themes. Men of the highest literary and scientific distinction such men as Dr. Whewell, Dr. Peacock, Mr. Thirlwall, Dr. Turton, Mr. Hare, Mr. Worsley, and Professor Sedgwick drew each other out, capped each other's stories, or took opposite sides in argument. At times, especially if Dr. Whewell were present, con- versation became a monologue. It was said by Sydney Smith that 'Science was his forte and conscience his foible.' He delighted in taking up a subject, and delivering his opinions upon it, while the rest of the company listened respect- fully. Some might be disappointed of an oppor- tunity for placing their own witticism, or for urging their own views ; but the speaker handled his theme in so masterly a style, that his hearers accepted his despotic ways without a murmur. 304 SOCIAL LIFE Once, and once only, says tradition, an attempt was made to dethrone him. A party of the Fellows of his own College got up carefully the subject of Chinese music, and adroitly turned the conversation towards it in the Combination Room. . Mr. Whewell joined in for a while, and then became silent, while they went on, delighted at the thought that for once the con- versation was in their own hands. The triumph, however, was short-lived, for Whewell presently thundered out, ' Ah ! I see you have been getting up an article I wrote some years ago in an Encyclopaedia; but I have altered my views since then.' Miss Caroline Fox tells us in her charming diary that when Whewell met them in Cornwall in 1859 her father ' got from him a formal contradiction of the choice story about Chinese music, which was a pity, but he says he never wrote on the subject, only on Greek music.' The imaginary incident, however, is very characteristic of Whewell's astonishing familiarity with all sorts of out-of-the-way sub- jects; and, it may be added, of his habit of laying down the law in an imperious fashion which made him extremely unpopular with those who did not understand him. Professor 2Q 305 CAMBRIDGE Sedgwick did not engross the conversation as Whewell did. His own geniality inspired those with whom he came into contact, and any party at which he was present was sure to go off well. He had a really marvellous aptitude for story- telling. The adventures of Elizabeth Woodcock, for instance, who was buried in the snow near Cambridge in February 1799, for eight days, grew, in his narrative of them, into a wonder- fully dramatic story, humorous and pathetic by turns; and his recollections of his earlier days were as picturesque as they were amusing. One of these, relating to Mr. William Pugh, shall be given in his own words : ' Mr. Pugh, before he had been Fellow of Trinity for long (he was elected about 1790) was deeply affected by the horrors of the French Revolution. He was a mail of great reading and studious habits ; and, among other things, was engaged upon the catalogue of the printed books in the University Library. There, instead of reading only the title- pages, he read the works themselves through, and thus, while he got on slowly with the catalogue, he laid up a vast store of knowledge, especially in the pamphlets published at that time ; so much so, that when Dr. Parr dined in Trinity College some thirty years afterwards, Pugh, though he had been mad in 306 THE WOODEN SPOON. SOCIAL LIFE the interval, and for twenty years had never opened a book, was yet able, from his excellent memory, to quote pages and pages from the pamphlets of that time. Pugh and Dr. Parr were of opposite politics ; Pugh was a strong Conservative, Parr an equally strong Whig ; so that when the former was seen to take the chair as Vice-Master, with Parr on his right hand, every one expected an unpleasant scene. But, luckily, the conversation turned upon the literature of the early years of the French Revolution, with which Parr was equally well acquainted. So for hours and hours they capped each other with stories and quotations ; till at last Pugh referred to a pamphlet, " which," said he, "I wonder had so little influence, and so little popularity: for I was very much struck with one passage in particular ; and if you would like to hear it, Dr. Parr, I think I can repeat it to you." He then proceeded to repeat with- out hesitation about a page and a half, after which he rose to go, and turning to Dr. Parr, said, " I thank you, Doctor, for the very pleasant evening we have had together ; and as for that pamphlet, I think you know more of the author than I do." So saying, he left the room. When he was gone, Parr said, " I was the author of that pamphlet, but it fell dead. I have never read it since, and I give you my honour that I could not have repeated a line of it myself." ' Well, about his madness. For a long while he was very strange ; he dreaded the society of every- body ; he never left his rooms for any purpose 307 CAMBRIDGE whatever; he would not let his bed-maker enter them, but, at a stated hour every day, used to open the door a little, take in his breakfast, and slam it to again. One morning, very early, he was seen by the porter to walk across the court in a mistrustful manner, looking behind him, and to the right and left, with the utmost circumspection, and so go into the Bowling Green, which in those days was not closed with a grating as it is now. On his shoulders he carried a large white bundle. This he was seen to carry to the terrace overlooking the river, and there pitch it over into the Cam. Search was made for it, and it was fished up. It was found to contain all his dirty linen, remains of his food, etc., which had become too foul to be endured longer. This was not thought sufficient proof of insanity to warrant his being sent out of residence. Soon after, how- ever, the town was thrown into consternation by the frequent breaking of the lamps. Night after night several were found broken, no one knew by whom. The Mayor offered a reward, but still the culprit remained undetected. At last the College porter observed that Pugh was in the habit of going out after the gates were closed. So a servant was set to watch, and, the next time Pugh went out, followed him at a distance. He went down Jesus Lane, and, when he came to the Common, turned to the left along Jesus' Ditch. There he presently went down to the water's edge, and, from among flags and weeds, brought up a long stick. This he seized, and 308 SOCIAL LIFE hurried back to the street. No sooner had he got there than the frenzy seemed to seize him. He gnashed his teeth, and rushed along like a madman. Presently he caught sight of a lamp, made for it, and exclaiming with a loud oath "You are Robespierre !" dashed it to pieces with his stick. So he went on with the others, crying out "Danton !" "St. Just!" and other names, till he had broken six or eight. Then he returned to the ditch, hid his stick, and made his way back to College. After this he was requested to leave, and put under the care of a keeper. He recovered, however, and returned to College, and, though he had still a somewhat wild look, behaved with perfect propriety. His judgment was considered extremely good, and in the Fellow- ship Examination his opinion was preferred to that of most other examiners. His memory was such that he could trust to it when others had to refer to the author, as in the case of the Greek tragedians.' With this anecdote our reminiscences of the Social Life of Cambridge sixty years since must come to an end. When those of the present decade are written the annalist who takes the subject in hand will have a very different pic- ture to draw. He will find the number of under- graduates more than doubled, and engaged in a multiplicity of studies and interests, which offer 309 a lively contrast to the sameness of the course along which their ancestors were compelled to plod. He will have to notice, too, the realisa- tion of the dreams of that Princess whose educa- tional views were set forth by the Poet Laureate ; and though there are as yet no 'sweet girl graduates' tripping to the Senate House on Degree Day, there are signs which indicate that even that alteration may be nearer than some suppose. In the opinion of many excellent well- wishers to Cambridge the death-knell of her fame as a place of education would be sounded if this were to be brought about, or if in sundry other ways that we need not further particu- larise she were to accept changes that begin to be demanded, with no uncertain sound, from without. We do not share these apprehensions ; we believe firmly that ' The old order changeth, giving place to new, And God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.' Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press A 000164243 8