At this time there were various intervals in the examination by the moderators, and the examinations by the extraneous examiners took place in these intervals. Those candidates who at any time were not being examined occupied themselves with amusements, provided they were not too boisterous and obvious: probably dice and cards played a large part in them. Gunning in an amusing account of his examination in 1788 talks of playing with a teetotum[51] on the Wednesday (when specified works by Locke and Paley formed the subjects of examination), and says this game “was carried on with great spirit ... by considerable numbers during the whole of the examination.”
About this period, 1790, the custom of printing the problem papers was introduced, but until 1828 the other papers continued to be dictated. Since then all the papers have been printed.
I insert here the following letter[52] from William [276] ]Gooch, of Caius, in which he described his examination in the senate-house in 1791. It must be remembered that it is the letter of an undergraduate addressed to his father and mother, and was not intended either for preservation or publication: a fact which certainly does not detract from its value.
Monday ¼ aft. 12.
We have been examin’d this Morning in pure Mathematics & I’ve hitherto kept just about even with Peacock which is much more than I expected. We are going at 1 o’clock to be examin’d till 3 in Philosophy.
From 1 till 7 I did more than Peacock; But who did most at Moderator’s Rooms this Evening from 7 till 9, I don’t know yet;—but I did above three times as much as the Senr Wrangler last year, yet I’m afraid not so much as Peacock.
Between One & three o’Clock I wrote up 9 sheets of Scribbling Paper so you may suppose I was pretty fully employ’d.
Tuesday Night.
I’ve been shamefully us’d by Lax to-day;—Tho’ his anxiety for Peacock must (of course) be very great, I never suspected that his Partially (sic) wd get the better of his Justice. I had entertain’d too high an opinion of him to suppose it.—he gave Peacock a long private Examination & then came to me (I hop’d) on the same subject, but ’twas only to Bully me as much as he could,—whatever I said (tho’ right) he tried to convert into Nonsense by seeming to misunderstand me. However I don’t entirely dispair of being first, tho’ you see Lax seems determin’d that I shall not.—I had no Idea (before I went into the Senate-House) of being able to contend at all with Peacock.
[277]
]Wednesday evening.Peacock & I are still in perfect Equilibrio & the Examiners themselves can give no guess yet who is likely to be first;—a New Examiner (Wood of St. John’s, who is reckon’d the first Mathematician in the University, for Waring doesn’t reside) was call’d solely to examine Peacock & me only.—but by this new Plan nothing is yet determin’d.—So Wood is to examine us again to-morrow morning.
Thursday evening.
Peacock is declar’d first & I second,—Smith of this Coll. is either 8th or 9th & Lucas is either 10th or 11th.—Poor Quiz Carver is one of the οἱ πολλοί;—I’m perfectly satisfied that the Senior Wranglership is Peacock’s due, but certainly not so very undisputably as Lax pleases to represent it—I understand that he asserts ’twas 5 to 4 in Peacock’s favor. Now Peacock & I have explain’d to each other how we went on, & can prove indisputably that it wasn’t 20 to 19 in his favor;—I cannot therefore be displeas’d for being plac’d second, tho’ I’m provov’d (sic) with Lax for his false report (so much beneath the Character of a Gentleman.)—
N.B. it is my very particular Request that you dont mention Lax’s behaviour to me to any one.
Such was the form ultimately taken by the senate-house examination, a form which it retained substantially without alteration for nearly half-a-century. It soon became the sole test by which candidates were judged. The University was not obliged to grant a degree to anyone who performed the statutable exercises, and it was open to the senate to refuse to pass a supplicat for a bachelor’s degree in arts unless the candidate had [278] ]presented himself for the senate-house examination. In 1790 James Blackburn, of Trinity, a questionist of exceptional abilities, was informed that in spite of his good disputations he would not be allowed a degree unless he also satisfied the examiners in the tripos. He accordingly solved one “very hard problem,” though in consequence of a dispute with the authorities he refused to attempt any more[53].
Henceforth the examination was compulsory on all candidates pursuing the normal course for the B.A. degree. In 1791 the University laid down rules[54] for its conduct, so far as it concerned poll-men, decreeing that those who passed were to be classified in four divisions or classes, the names in each class to be arranged alphabetically, but not to be printed on the official tripos lists. The classes in the final lists must be distinguished from the eight preliminary classes issued before the commencement of the examination. The men in the first six preliminary classes were expected to take honours; those in the seventh and eighth preliminary classes were primâ facie poll-men.
In 1799 the moderators announced[55] that for the future they would require every candidate to show [279] ]a competent knowledge of the first book of Euclid’s Elements, arithmetic, vulgar and decimal fractions, simple and quadratic equations, and selected books by Locke and Paley. Paley’s works seem to be held in esteem by modern divines, and his Evidences, though not his Philosophy, still remains (1917) one of the subjects of the Previous Examination, but his contemporaries thought less highly of his writings, or at any rate of his philosophy. Thus Best is quoted by Wordsworth[56] as saying of Paley’s Philosophy, “The tutors of Cambridge no doubt neutralize by their judicious remarks, when they read it to their pupils, all that is pernicious in its principles”: so also Richard Watson, bishop of Llandaff, in his anecdotal autobiography[57], says, in describing the senate-house examination in which Paley was senior wrangler, that Paley was afterwards known to the world by many excellent productions, “though there are some ... principles in his philosophy which I by no means approve.”
In 1800 the moderators extended to all men in the first four preliminary classes the privilege of being allowed to attempt the problem papers: hitherto this privilege had been confined to candidates placed in the first two classes. Until 1828 the problem papers were set in the evenings, and [280] ]in the rooms of the moderator, but many of the so-called problems were really pieces of bookwork or easy riders. No problems were ever set to the men in the seventh and eighth preliminary classes, which contained the poll-men.
The University Calendars date from 1796, and from 1802 to 1882 inclusive contain the printed tripos papers of the previous January. The papers from 1801 to 1820 and from 1838 to 1849 inclusive were also published in separate volumes, which are to be found in most public libraries. None of the bookwork papers of this time are now extant, but it is believed that they contained few, if any, riders. In looking at these papers to form an opinion of the knowledge current at the time it is necessary to bear in mind that the text-books then in circulation were far from satisfactory.
The Calendar of 1802 contains a diffuse account of the examination. It commences as follows: