The Cathedral Towns and Intervening Places of England, Ireland and Scotland: / A Description of Cities, Cathedrals, Lakes, Mountains, Ruins, and Watering-places.

by Thomas W. Silloway; Lee L. Powers

The corner-stone was laid with great ceremony, May 18, 1807, and it was opened in May, 1821, or more than 225 years from the date of the opening of the next one preceding it. The date of the founding of the first one, St. Peter's, being 1257, a period of 564 years intervened between the establishment of that first and this last one; and in all, from then till now, 626 years have passed, or more than a third of all the time since the birth of Christ.

However pleasant it would be to pass in review a few of the thoughts that come as it were demanding attention, we must pass all. Replete with interest are these two great centres of learning, Cambridge and Oxford, England's Yale and Harvard. How the destinies of men and nations, the civilized world over, have been not only influenced, but made and controlled by their influence! What hallowed grounds are these classic walks amid these trees, by the River Cam! How interesting are these venerable weather-worn walls, these courts, these half-destroyed stairs of stone, rasped away, and deep into, by feet of men distinguished and great in all the departments of intellectual life!

It was our intention to have spoken extendedly of the government of these institutions, and of many things pertaining to them, but we must refer the reader to the more appropriate sources of information for that. We would have spoken also of those grand old dining-halls, of which every college has one. Some of them are many centuries old, with quaint rich finish of old English oak, high open-timber roofs, fine windows, and grand old portraits adorning their walls. These halls are museums of interest inexpressible. Here are the very benches on which the boys sat, the greatest men of earth in embryo. The libraries, with their mementoes, their curious and rare old articles and books and paintings! How well we know that not one of our readers, who has not seen these things, can even approximately comprehend what we write. The old and new chapels! What repositories of greatness, and what charms inhere!

We would have spoken of great things outside the University, for there are many that are indeed great, and they crowd themselves up now, if for nothing more, for an honorable mention. The Fitzwilliam Museum has grand picture-galleries, and works of art and antiquity incredible; the building itself is a marvel of good architecture. Old St. Benedict's Church, one of the most perfect examples of Saxon architecture in England, is a thousand years old, with an extremely ancient burial-ground surrounding it. Old and grand St. Edward's was erected in 1350,—533 years ago. Here Latimer preached. How venerable and calm, interesting to admiration, is its little cemetery, 500 years old. The Church of St. Mary the Great, begun in 1478, completed in 1519, was towerless till 1608; and in the 130th year later arose the grand and imposing tower we now behold. That classical structure, the University Library, has 230,000 printed books and 3,000 manuscripts, of every language and tongue,—all this in addition to the 17 other libraries of the respective colleges! The great Geological Museum is excelled by none in the world; St. Michael's Church, built in 1324, is elegant now and in grand repair; as one has expressed it, "the old structure is to-day the most seemly and creditable in the town." The ancient Round Church consecrated in 1101, and afterwards restored, in a sense is itself a worshipper, as well as a place of worship for humanity.

We must speak of that curious fragment of architecture of the twelfth century, the School of Pythagoras. How quaint, how more than ancient! And we can only speak of—and, as it were, by the act slight that other antiquity—Barnwell Priory, founded in 1112, by old Payne Peverd, for Augustine canons. Once a place of magnificence, it declined, with none to care for it. At length a single department remained, and now that has come to the ignominious use of a common private stable. The Anatomical Museum, and the fine Botanical Gardens of thirty-eight acres, deserve mention. They shall have that much; they deserve volumes in their praise.

In closing a list of these objects of interest we name only one more, the Hobson Conduit. This is one of the things of general interest, for the students of the University for 200 years have looked upon it time-and-time-again. It is an octagonal structure, monumental in design, crowned with a cyma-recta dome, and having niches in each of the principal sides. Below these is a moulded octagonal section, resting on a square plain base. It was built in 1610, and stands at the city end of an artificial water-course leading from a place called the Nine Wells, three miles distant, and supplies the city with water. From the Hobson Conduit pipes distribute it over the place. Hobson's name is closely connected with Cambridge. He was born here in 1544, and is said to have been the first person in the kingdom who adopted the system of letting out horses for hire, and history says he did a flourishing business with the University students. He made it an unalterable rule that every horse should have an equal portion of rest as well as labor, and would never let one go out except in its turn; hence the celebrated saying often heard nowadays, when more than two hundred years old, repeated in America, "Hobson's choice,—this or none." He died Jan. 1, 1631, and though he had attained the patriarchal age of eighty-six, his death is attributed to his being obliged to discontinue his journey to London, while the plague was raging in Cambridge, and to this fact Milton alludes in the two humorous epitaphs he wrote on him.

There is one matter of interest yet remaining to be spoken of, and that relates to the government of the University. As before named, there are in all seventeen colleges. Each is an independent body, but is subject to the code of laws of the University, and in their administration all bear their share. The principal officer of the University is the Chancellor. His power is, strange to say, only nominal, and is, at that, delegated to a Vice-Chancellor elected annually from one of the heads of colleges. He is considered for the year the governor of this literary commonwealth. On all official occasions he is preceded by three Esquire Bedells, each bearing a large silver mace. There are next, elected annually, two Proctors, to attend to the discipline of the students of all the colleges, and assist in the general management of the University. Next is the Public Orator, who acts as the mouthpiece on all public occasions. We next have what are called Syndices, who are members of committees chosen to transact all special University business. There are many other minor officers, but those are the more important. The members of the University are, like our own, divided into two great orders, graduates and undergraduates, or those who have taken their degrees, and those who are yet students, and not graduated.

Each college also has its head, or, as we term it, President. At this University they are termed Masters, or sometimes, though less generally, Heads. Then, each has more or less members who are called Fellows. These are such as are maintained by the college revenues. Next are Pensioners; these are the ordinary students, who simply pay their own expenses, receiving no pecuniary advantage from the college. What are termed Scholars are students who, having displayed superior attainments, are elected by examination to have rooms rent free, payments of money, and other advantages, as a good and honorable residence and welcome at their Alma Mater. Finally are the Sizars. These are students of limited means, who have their commons free, and receive other emoluments. It may be well to mention that each college has its own peculiar undergraduate's gown, and that most of the degrees and faculties are distinguished by different costumes. The total number of members of the University is about 8,000. The University sends to the House of Commons two members, who are chosen by the collective body of the senate.

The revenues of the separate colleges are large, and derived from endowments and fees; but those of the University are small and rarely exceed £5,500 a year. The students are divided into four classes: Noblemen, who pay £50 caution money; Fellow-Commoners, who pay £25, and who receive their name from their privilege of dining,—having their commons at the table of their fellows; Pensioners, who pay £15, and form the great body of the students not on the foundation; and Sizars, who pay £10 and are students whose poverty prevents their taking advantage of many of the privileges of the University, though they are not shut out from any of its educational facilities. Sizars were once obliged to perform the most menial offices, but for many years this custom has been abolished. The matriculation fees for these classes of students are respectively as follows, £16, £11, £5. 10s., and £5. 5s.

There are various degrees of payment for tuition, according to the degree and condition of the members, and slightly varying in the several colleges. The annual, unavoidable average expenses of an undergraduate or student are about £70, or $350. There are in the University 430 fellowships tenable for life, but in most cases conditioned upon taking holy orders within a given period, and their value varies from £100 to £300 per annum. Since the days of Newton, Cambridge has been the chosen seat of mathematical science, but the tendency to make it a stronghold of learning in all the various branches has been increasing of late years.