[32]: This instrument bound its subscribers to zealous endeavour, far from any "detestable indifference and neutrality," for the "extirpation of Popery, Prelacy, ... Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, Chapters, Archdeacons, and all that Hierarchy." Every adult in the kingdom had to sign this very thoroughgoing test, on pain of imprisonment.
[33]: These same rooms (on the south-westernmost staircase) were probably those occupied by Lord Byron.
[34]: The entrance was from the New Court, which communicates with Nevile's Court by an arcade in the southern cloister of the latter.
[35]: All the Colleges have thus suffered severely; King's being hit hardest of all. Trinity was less seriously affected, owing to the fact that much of its land lies in the North of England.
[36]: Cambridge Described, p. 444.
[37]: A "Grace-cup" is a large silver tankard which at College feasts is solemnly passed down the High Table, each guest in turn standing up to drink it. Three, indeed, must always be so standing, the drinker, the last man, and the next man; whence the cup has sometimes three handles. At each potation the three concerned formally bow to each other.
[38]: For the first year of his residence the student is called a Freshman, in the next he is a "Junior Soph," and in the third a "Senior Soph." The origin of the word "Soph" is doubtful. It is presumably short for Sophist; but all Americans will recognise it as the origin of their "Sophomore." And American University nomenclature is largely derived from Cambridge. The word, however, has of late gone out of general use, and practically survives scarcely anywhere but in Trinity.
[39]: At the battle of Minden, 1759.
[40]: Besides the University Examinations needed to obtain a Degree, every College keeps its students up to the mark by extra examinations of its own, held usually twice a year. There are also competitive examinations for the College Scholarships, and (at Trinity) for the Fellowships. About seventy per cent. of Trinity students are "Honour men"; reading, not for the ordinary (or "Poll") Degree, but for one or other of the various Triposes. And of these "Honour" candidates of Trinity, over thirty per cent. attain a First Class; which is thus gained by nearly twenty-five per cent. of Trinity students, the highest College average in the University.
[41]: The water is from an ancient conduit made originally to supply the Franciscan Convent, and comes from a spring some two miles to the west. Till recently this was the only supply for Trinity, and (by a charitable tap outside the Great Gate) for many neighbours also. Now it is supplemented by an artesian well behind the chapel, bored to a depth of 120 feet into the Greensand.