[483] The first man to maintain that girls had a right to as good an education as boys, was a Cantab (Eton and King’s College) a master at the new Merchant-Taylors’ school, and afterwards headmaster of Colet’s school. Lancelot Andrewes was one of his pupils. This famous Cantab and famous schoolmaster—Richard Mulcaster—also advised that teachers should be trained to teach. In the xviii c. Defoe’s appreciation of the woman with ‘knowledge’—“well-bred and well-taught”—led to his suggestion that there should be a college for her higher education.

[484] For the subjects of this tripos, see iii. pp. 187-189.

[485] For the 20 years from 1886 to 1906:—

Mathematics 345 candidates, 31 wranglers
First and 2nd classes 56 per cent.

Classics 296 candidates, 54 first classes

First and 2nd classes 61 per cent.

Moral Sciences 83 candidates,
21 first classes (this excludes the triumphs of
the first 12 years)

First and 2nd classes 76 per cent.

Natural Sciences 246 candidates,
64 first classes

First and 2nd classes70 per cent.

History 290 candidates, 49 first classes

First and 2nd classes64 per cent.

Medieval and Modern Languages
(tripos created in 1886) 246candidates,
73 first classes

First and 2nd classes74 per cent.

Hence in these 6 triposes the highest percentage of Firsts has been obtained in the Moral Sciences, Languages, and Natural Sciences, Classics coming fourth; while in the percentage of First and Second classes the order is again: Moral Sciences, Languages, Natural Sciences, followed by History, Classics, and Mathematics.

In the first 10 years 250 students took a tripos, of whom one in five (51) was placed in the first class.

Among the men the percentage of First Classes for the years 1900-1905 is: mathematics 39 per cent, classics 28 per cent. For the subjects chosen by men cf. iv. p. 238 n.

[486] There are, roughly, 3000 men and 300 women at the university. Since 1881, 94 women and 168 men have taken this tripos—the proportion should have been 940 men.

[487] The founders of Girton have been steadfast in demanding the degree. In 1887, 842 members of the senate signed a petition in favour of it. Miss Clough had signed a similar petition earlier. The objections to opening the degrees to women have been adequately met in the pamphlet “Women in the Universities of England and Scotland,” Cambridge, Macmillan and Bowes, 1896.

[488] The entries for 1863, when girls were first informally examined, were 639, the next year they rose to 844.