8. In 1593 Nevile was appointed master, and took in hand the needed reconstruction of the [167] ]buildings. It had from the first been recognized that the site offered opportunities for the erection of buildings worthy of the reputation of the College, and he realized how much the effect would depend on making the court large, and above all on keeping the chamber frontage only two storeys high with attics above. The Great Court as it stands to-day is his creation; the only obvious defect in it is the ugly block built in the south-west corner in 1770 to replace Nevile’s set of combination rooms which had an elevation agreeing generally with that of the master’s lodge, but enriched by a large projecting trefoil oriel. The hall, kitchens, combination rooms, and lodge form another group of buildings to which we must pay attention to-morrow: the first two of these are in the form left by Nevile. The blazoned glass in the hall and our collection of pictures in these rooms, especially the portraits of Henry VIII, Mary, and Elizabeth, all of whom have played an important part in our history, will well repay your study. Nevile also built, at his own cost, part of the court situated on the west side of the hall. This too we shall see to-morrow on our way to the library: in his day, the court was closed on the river side by a low wall, in the middle of which stood the stone gateway now used as the entrance to the College from Trinity Lane, and beyond this wall were the tennis courts and paddocks.

[168]
]9. The prince of Wales, afterwards Charles I, came to the College to inspect these alterations, and he was followed later by James I. These visits are commemorated by the statues of James, his wife, and Charles placed on the west side of the Great Gate. The king was so pleased with his entertainment that he repeated his visit on three subsequent occasions. Of Nevile, one of his contemporaries wrote, “He never had his like for a splendid courteous and bounteous gentleman,” and the College still gratefully honours his memory. He was trusted and esteemed by Elizabeth, and when dying she selected him to carry to Scotland the fateful letter in which she nominated James I to succeed her. If you go into the dining room of the lodge you will see Nevile’s portrait, hung in the place of honour over the mantelpiece, representing him as holding this letter in one hand.

10. You must not think that under Nevile’s rule the energies of the College were wholly directed to material ends. In a memorandum of 1607 on the use of college emoluments for students, he was able to say that of the higher church officials of the day, eleven deans, seven bishops, and the two archbishops, were drawn from Trinity. In academic distinctions, in legal appointments, and in statesmanship its records were equally satisfactory: so the College was worthily maintaining its tradition [169] ]of service in church and state. Under his immediate successors the College entered on a period of steady prosperity. In the next generation, however, the shadows of the civil disturbances of the seventeenth century began to fall; theological disputes increased, scholarship in other subjects received but scanty attention, and a general slackness in intellectual pursuits was visible, though it is fair to say that among the students of the time were three or four who later deservedly acquired reputation as poets. Among the latter I particularize George Herbert, Abraham Cowley, and Andrew Marvell; Dryden entered a few years later.

11. On the outbreak of civil war the town was occupied by the parliamentary forces, troops were quartered in the College, and a good deal of damage done to the fabric. In 1644 a large number of the fellows were expelled, their places being filled by zealots of but slight education. It may be put to the credit of a few who were left, notably Duport and Ray, that in this time of stress they devoted themselves to maintaining the standard of scholarship. On the restoration such of the expelled fellows as were still alive and unmarried resumed office. They decided that there should be no retaliations, and that all those nominated to fellowships under the commonwealth should be allowed to remain, provided only they did not preach in [170] ]the chapel unless they were members of the Church of England: that was a noble reply to the wrongs suffered.

12. The College took pride in resuming at once its position in the world of letters and science, and the following years are famous for the work of Pearson and Barrow, two great divines of the time, and above all of Isaac Newton. The influence of the last-named philosopher on the studies and intellectual life of Cambridge was far reaching. His discoveries in pure mathematics, mechanics, physics, and dynamical astronomy were of the utmost importance, and made Cambridge the centre of mathematical work in England. I will show you to-morrow the rooms he occupied and in which he wrote his famous Principia. The staircase on which these rooms are situated has had other distinguished occupants: the rooms on the ground floor on the right-hand side on entering it were occupied by Thackeray, and subsequently by the late astronomer-royal; those on the opposite side by Macaulay; the rooms on the first floor next the gate which once had been occupied by Isaac Newton, were used later by Lightfoot, the theologian, and Jebb, the Greek scholar; and those on the opposite side by Sir James Frazer, who has done so much to investigate the beliefs of primitive man. This is an interesting group of men, but in fact [171] ]there are few rooms in College which have not been inhabited at some time by those who have made their names famous.

13. Barrow held the mastership from 1673 to 1677. On his initiative the College erected, on the west side of Nevile’s Court, the magnificent library which is now stored with literary treasures. This is another building to which we must pay attention to-morrow, and with it we may associate the adjoining chambers. From the close of the seventeenth century onwards we can describe life in College, especially among undergraduates, in considerable detail. The usual age of entry had risen to seventeen or eighteen. To the dons the College offered a comfortable home until an opportunity occurred of taking a college living, and it must be admitted that some were beginning to be content to consider it as nothing more. Materials for the history of the time and the following century have been published by Christopher Wordsworth.

14. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, the number of entries fell; this was attributed, and no doubt correctly, to the rise to office in College of those fellows appointed by mandatory letters from James II—he having filled every fellowship that became vacant during his reign. The history of the Society during the early years of the eighteenth century may be dismissed with the briefest notice, [172] ]for college energies were largely occupied by domestic disputes, and the number of residents still further decreased: these misfortunes were mainly due to the scandals inseparably associated with the name of Bentley. Bentley held the mastership from 1700 to 1742: his critical work can hardly be over-praised, but his career here was marked by malversations and many dishonourable transactions. The only scholars of the time I need mention are Cotes and Robert Smith who were mathematicians of repute. The latter of these scholars, when master, did something to restore orderly government and discipline.

15. It was not until near the close of the century that the College recovered from the taint of Bentley’s misrule, and scholarship again flourished within our walls: among the residents of the time was Porson, whose wit and conversation must have been delightful features of the High Table of his day—he lived in K 5, Great Court. Mathematics now afforded the chief avenue to distinction, but some acquaintance with classics and moral philosophy was also obligatory. This period is famous for the number of eminent judges educated in the College: the strict training in formal logic and geometry required for success in the mathematical tripos being especially favourable to legal work. Out of eleven such Trinity judges of the time the names [173] ]of Tindal, Pollock, Maule, Lyndhurst, Wensleydale, and Cranworth are still remembered. Socially, manners were generally coarser than at any time during the previous century or than later; though the revival of religion under the influence of Simeon did something to ameliorate matters.

16. Unlike its predecessor the nineteenth century was one of unbroken progress in college achievements and reputation. Near its commencement two internal changes of some importance were introduced in the imposition of an entrance examination test and of a limit to the number of those admitted. None the less our numbers increased, and in 1823–25, another court (the New Court) was built on the south side of that erected by Nevile. At this time, conspicuous among the resident fellows were Sedgwick the geologist, Peacock the mathematician, Scholefield, Hare, and Thirlwall, Macaulay the historian, and Airy the astronomer: it would be difficult to exaggerate their influence on the intellectual life of the College and University. The undergraduate society a few years later also numbered a group of men of exceptional power, notably Trench afterwards archbishop of Dublin, Thackeray, Fitzgerald, Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), Spedding, Arthur Hallam, Kinglake the historian, the three Tennysons (Alfred, Charles, and Frederick), and Thompson; while a little later came Alford, Lushington, Grote, [174] ]Tom Taylor, Burnand, and Francis Galton. Materials left by these men, and books like J. M. F. Wright’s Alma Mater, C. A. Bristed’s Five years in an English University, Leslie Stephen’s Sketches from Cambridge by a Don, and W. Everett’s On the Cam, give us full information of college life during the middle of the century. In connection with the social life of the early half of the nineteenth century I should note that athletic clubs now began to be formed—the First Trinity Boat Club, constituted in 1825, being the earliest. These societies led to the formulation of definite rules for various forms of sport, and to much more attention being paid to out-door games. The subsequent growth of organized recreations of this kind, increasingly developed in recent years, will strike the future historian as one of the outstanding features of the last century.

17. In 1840 Whewell was appointed master. He was of commanding abilities and exercised extraordinary influence: to him more than to any other single individual is due that development of scientific studies at Cambridge which has been so marked in the recent history of the University. Under him, the prince of Wales, afterwards Edward VII, was entered at the College, and later showed his appreciation of its influence by sending his eldest son, the duke of Clarence, here. Whewell erected at his own cost the two courts on the east side of Trinity Street, the [175] ]rents being used to encourage the study of International Law in the University. During his mastership the old order began to crumble, and new ideals of education, study, and research arose. The Elizabethan statutes were replaced by transitional statutes in 1844 and 1861, and these in turn were replaced by others in 1882, under which the College is now governed.