CAMBRIDGE. To the stranger who for the first time visits Cambridge—and of course with expectations highly raised there is something exceedingly disappointing in its appearance. It lies in the midst of a country almost perfectly flat. However you may approach it you must come close upon it before you are aware that you are near it; and then only a spire or two, and the turrets of King's College Chapel rise above the surrounding trees to indicate its proximity. Nor does its aspect much improve when you enter it. The town is quite devoid of dignity or beauty. Not only has it no street that can rival the famous High-street of Oxford, but it has only one that is respectable. Even the classic Cam is found to be but a lazy stream of muddy green water. Yet, were Cambridge infi. nitely worse than it is, what Englishman could walk through it without feeling his spirit stirred within him when he recollected, as he must recollect, that it was the intellectual birth-place of Milton, Bacon, Newton, and many another "Giant of mighty bone and bold emprise," whose peaceful victories are among the most glorious achievements of his country? And though the first view of Cambridge be disappointing, a further and closer acquaintance with it will supply enough, both of beauty and of grandeur, to yield a rich harvest to the memory in many an after day. Our survey of this great seat of learning must necessarily be both general and cursory, but we hope to be able, at least, to direct attention to some of its most noteworthy features; and while endeavouring to guide the visitor, we trust to be able to interest in some degree the reader who can only visit it in imagination. Before we set about our perambulation of the town and University, it may be well to glance hastily at their history. For a long time the alumni of Oxford and Cambridge felt themselves bound in honour, and in duty, to contend for the pre-eminence and seniority of their respective nursing mothers. Often has the matter been eagerly debated; and more than once with some pomp of circumstance. When Elizabeth visited Cambridge in 1564, among other pleasures in learning' wherewith the Heads of Houses entertained her Majesty, was a Latin speech by the University Orator, in which he expatiated on the superior dignity and antiquity of his university; assuring her that it was of far more ancient date than either Oxford or Paris, "and out of the which as out of a most clear fountain they sprang." As soon as the report of this speech reached the banks of Isis, Oxford was aroused, and a champion at once stood forth. His challenge was readily accepted, and the war of words raged fierce and long. The Cambridge Orator had claimed but an indefinite antiquity— "the time of Gurguntius"-for his university, but when it was said that Oxford was founded A.D. 870, Cambridge triumphantly declared that she had existed for 400 years before the Christian era-and some bolder advocates insisted on carrying her origin still further back. The Oxonians, so far from being silenced, issued a reply which they fondly imagined would 'extinguish' their opponents, but the men of Cambridge held firmly to their pedigree. Nearly a century later the controversy was renewed where we should hardly expect to hear of it. In the Long Parliament, which we are accustomed to consider as a very business-like or at any rate very anti-archæological body, the question was warmly discussed. In a subsidy bill the Committee which drew the bill placed the name of Cambridge before that of Oxford. On its being presented to the House, a motion was made that the name of Oxford should stand first. Sir Simonds D'Ewes was the Cambridge advocate, and so pleased was he with his defence of the superior antiquity of his Alma Mater, that he published his speech; which may still be seen among the pamphlets of the Commonwealth period, in the British Museum. He protested he would prove that "Cambridge was a renowned city at least five hundred years before there was a house at Oxford standing, and whilst brute beasts fed, or corn was sown, on that place where the same city is now seated; and that Cambridge was a nursery of learning before Oxford was known to have a grammar-school in it; or he will yield up his bucklers." He set about his work manfully beginning with "the ancient catalogue of the cities of Britain," wherein he found that "Cambridge is the ninth in number, while London is but the eleventh!" And who, he asks triumphantly, "who would have thought that ever Oxford should have contended for precedence with Cambridge, when even London gave it about 1200 years since ?" The matter has long ceased to be debated, and Cambridge is content that Oxford should have the precedency-by Act of Parliament, which, as Selden observes, "is the best argument for it." The tradition to which the Orator referred in addressing Elizabeth, and that which the Cambridge writers believed to be so convincing, was rather an extraordinary one. It told that Cantaber, a Spanish prince, being driven from his country by domestic tumult, fled to Britain, where he was hospitably received by the king, Gurguntius, who not only sheltered him but gave him his daughter Guenolena in marriage. Cantaber built for himself and his bride a city on the banks of the river Cante, and called it after his own name, Cantabrigia. Being a lover of learning he imported from Athens, where he had received his own education, a colony of philosophers, and established them in his new city; and this was the foundation of the great town and University of Cambridge. The date of the foundation was variously stated at from 3676 to 4338 A.M. The safest reckoning perhaps was that of the University Orator,-" Gurguntii temporibus." One of the embellishments of the fable made Anaxi mander and Anaxagoras teachers in the University, | Grantebridge. The history of the town apart from the and another stated that its eminence was so great that University is not very important. It was ravaged by Julius Cæsar carried some of the scholars with him to the Danes in 871; and eight years later "the three Rome when he returned thither from England. Danish kings, Gothrum, Oskytel, and Anwind, went to This tradition is sufficiently absurd to carry, as the Cambridge with a great army, and remained there a phrase is, its own refutation along with it:' but there year." At subsequent periods Cambridge several times. is another which "although the external evidence for suffered from the visits of these marauders in 1010 it is not very strong, is of so very unpretending a cha- it was plundered and almost entirely destroyed. For racter, that it may fairly be left to stand on its own awhile it remained in ruins, but it had again arisen probability"—we quote the words of Professor Malden, before the Norman conquest. Soon after his accession a sufficient authority. The tradition itself he thus William visited Cambridge, where he stayed some time; repeats, (Origin of Universities,' p. 93,) "It is said he built a castle here in 1070. In 1088 the town was that Joffred, Abbot of Croyland in 1109, successor of sacked by the barons who espoused the cause of Robert Ingulphus, sent over to his manor of Cotenham nigh Curthose against William Rufus. The only historic Cambridge, Gislebert, his fellow monk and professor notices of the town for many years are of a similar of divinity, and three other monks, who followed him character. In 1174 it was greatly injured by a fire into England (from Orleans). From Cotenham they which destroyed or damaged most of the churches. daily repaired to Cambridge. There they hired a During the civil wars in the reigns of Stephen and public barn, made open profession of their sciences, and, John, Cambridge and its neighbourhood were several in a little time, drew a number of scholars together. In times the scenes of battles and sieges. It was plunless than two years time their number increased from dered in 1214 by William of Salisbury, and Falk de the country, as well as town, that there was never a Brent, the favourite of King John, who, according to house, barn, or church, big enough to hold them all. Fuller, "left nothing worth anything behind them, Upon which they dispersed themselves in different that was not too hot or too heavy for them to carry parts of the town, imitating the University of Orleans.' away." The last occasion on which the castle was Three of the party taught the three branches of the formally attacked was after the battle of Evesham, Trivium,-grammar, logic, and rhetoric; and Gislebert when it was taken and the town plundered by the preached to the people on Sundays and holidays." barons. From this time Cambridge was left unfortified, The authority for this tale-the continuator of Ingul- and remained unmolested. Frequent quarrels occurred phus-is of doubtful valuean d the story must depend between the townsmen and the scholars, and some of on its own merits: it may be observed, however, that them were of a formidable nature, but the town was recent inquirers have discovered some points of resem- not again made a military post till the reign of Charles blance between the earliest known arrangements of I., when, on the breaking out of the civil war, it was Cambridge University and that of Orleans, and there taken possession of by Cromwell, who had, by the way, appears to be reason to believe that some connection twice represented the town in Parliament. During the did subsist between them. It seems pretty certain war it remained in the hands of the Parliament. that there was no university at Cambridge at the Charles once brought an army before it, but he deNorman conquest, as there is not the slightest reference parted without venturing on an attack. Cambridge either to schools or scholars in the Domesday Survey. has been often visited by the reigning sovereign, but The earliest official documents which notice the Univer- the visits were made rather to the University than sity of Cambridge are dated the 15th of Henry III. the town. We may speak of one of them presently. (1231), and in them the University is recognised as an established body. It is Tradition, which gave the University so ancient an origin, also gave the town an early importance and size that are quite as questionable-making it to have once stretched for above three miles along the banks of the Cam, namely from Grantchester to Chesterton, or nearly thrice the length of the present town. certain that Cambridge was the Roman town Camboricum, and it appears probable that military outposts and perhaps villas and other scattered edifices may have extended for some distance from the town. Roman remains have been occasionally found at various places between the villages above mentioned. The Roman town is believed to have stood upon what is now known as Castle End. In Anglo-Saxon times the town was called Grantaceaster, or the city on the Granta, which was the Saxon name of the river now called the Cam, In the Domesday Survey it is called The University, as we have seen, was in existence as a privileged body in 1231. The royal letters in which it is mentioned have reference to the disputes that had already commenced between the townsmen and the scholars. At that time the students were lodged in houses about the town, and, as Fuller tells, "the townsmen began now most unconscionably to raise and rack the rent of their houses wherein the scholars did sojourn. Every low cottage was high valued. Sad the condition when learning is the tenant and ignorance must be the landlord. It came at last to this pass that the scholars, wearied with exactions, were on the point of departing to find a place where they might be better accommodated on more reasonable conditions. Here the king seasonably interposed his power, appointing that two masters of arts and two honest townsmen should be deputed as Chancellors, conscientiously to moderate the rigour of covetousness. And seeing the scholars would hire as cheap, and towns 6 men would let as dear, as they could, the aforesaid | from this occasion. This done, they went into the four persons indifferently chosen out of both corpora-market-place, where with clubs they brake the seals of tions, were to order the price betwixt both, according the University charters, and then burnt them in the to the tenor of the king's letter."* (Hist. of Univ. of place. One Margarett Sterr, a mad old woman, threw Camb. § 36.) Afterwards the plan of lodging in pri- the ashes into the air, with these words: 'Thus let vate houses being found to be attended with many the learning of all scholars be confounded!" The inconveniences, the students were lodged in 'hostels' rioters did other mischief to the University property, under the superintendence and rule of a Principal, but and also to the religious houses in the neighbourhood, at their own charge. Of these hostels there were at and would have done still more but for the arrival of one time about forty, and they continued to flourish the warlike Bishop of Norwich,' Henry Spenser, with till the endowment of colleges, in which they became some forces. They were of course punished; the gradually absorbed. Peter House was the first college. charter of the town was taken away, and the privileges Hugh de Balsam, sub-prior of Ely, in 1257, purchased of the University still further extended at the expense two hostels, intending to endow them; but it was not of the town:-very many of these extraordinary pritill 1284, after his election to the bishopric of Ely, vileges are yet retained by the University. The quarwhich the king had violently opposed, was ratified by rels between 'town and gown' have continued, though the Pope, that he was able to carry out his design. constantly decreasing in violence, down to the present He established his college on the spot it now occupies generation: but this may suffice as a sample of them. in Trumpington-street, and endowed it with maintenance Now they are carefully provided against, and scarcely for a master, fourteen fellows, two bible-clerks, and ever occur; and when they do, only amount to what, eight poor scholars. This college, as we have said, still in the language of the place, is termed 'a row.' exists, but the foundation has been greatly extended by subsequent benefactors. Henry III. and his successors conferred many privileges upon the University. So far, indeed, did these privileges, as enlarged by the charter granted by Richard II., extend, that the townsmen bitterly complained of them, as an improper infringement of their rights; and in 1381, when the popular feeling had become excited by the march of Wat Tyler upon London, they made a strenuous effort to set themselves upon a level with the men of the gown. The burgesses, with the mayor and bailiffs, assembled in the town-hall, and appointed James of Grantchester to be their leader, after having elected him and his brother into their corporation, and made him take an oath to lead them wherever they should desire. Having mustered their followers, "the rabble-rout," says Fuller, who tells the story in his matchless way, "rolled to Bene't College, against which foundation they had a particular quarrel, because endowed with many candle-rents in Cambridge, so that a sixth part of the town is said at this time to belong thereunto. Here they brake open the college gates on the Saturday night; and, as if the readiest way to pay their rent were to destroy their landlords, they violently fell on the masters and fellows therein. From them they took all their charters, evidences, privileges, and plate to the value of fourscore pounds. Hence they advanced to the house of the Chancellor, threatening him and the University with fire and sword, (as indeed they did burn the house of William Wigmore, esquire-bedell, proclaiming that whosoever could catch should kill him,) except they would instantly renounce all their privileges, and bind themselves in a bond of three thousand pounds, to subject themselves hereafter. to the power of the townsmen, and free the townsmen from any actions, real or personal, which might arise These officers were called Taxors; the University still retains two officers of the same name; but their duty now is "to regulate the markets, examine the assize of bread, the lawfulness of weights and measures, and to call all abuses thereof into the Commissary's Court." Old Antony à Wood, in his account of Oxford University, is constantly endeavouring to show, whatever period he is writing of, that then Oxford had a greater number of learned men, and was a more flourishing school than Cambridge; but, in truth, the same causes that depressed or elevated the one, generally affected the other also; and a candid examination of the history of either place will convince the reader that both were, through the whole of the somewhat gloomy period from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, fully as efficient and flourishing seats of learning as, in the state of society, could be expected, and very much superior to the popular notions on the subject. In what is called the revival of learning in England, Cambridge took its full share. A goodly band of scholars earnestly set about the diffusion of the new learning. Erasmus was for some time at Cambridge, as a professor, and by his fame and his character, greatly aided forward the movement. The room in which he taught Greek is still pointed out, as is also that in which he lodged. At the Reformation, Cambridge suffered a good deal in its libraries and public buildings, from the zeal of the Visitors in rooting out what they termed 'superstitious images,' which led them to destroy not only missals and other Romish service-books, but whatever illuminated manuscripts had what they believed, often mistakenly, to be the figures of saints upon them, and to deface many pictures and statues—a work of destruction that was carried much farther by the Puritans. During the following centuries, with some temporary declensions, Cambridge went on growing in fame, and continuing to flourish and produce continually more and more men "who obtained for themselves a name imperishable as the records of our race," and who are, to adopt the words of Professor Sedgwick, to those who now tread the courts where they studied, "in the place of a glorious ancestry, urging them, by their example, to an emulation of their deeds; and we," he continues, in a strain that stirs the heart of a Cantabrigian like the sound of a trumpet, "we are unworthy sons if we turn a deaf ear to that voice which still seems to speak to us." We little fear for that. Cambridge has not degenerated. The roll of fame will tell that she has, in our time, sent forth many a son whose deeds proclaim that he has not let that voice pass unheeded; and of those younger ones who are as yet but fledging their wings and bracing their spirits among these old academic groves, the note of promise is not altogether silent. The University may be considered as a commonwealth, resting upon the union of the several colleges and halls; though it is an error to regard it, as is often done, as a mere aggregate of colleges. It is, in fact, a sort of federal union. The University is a body incorporated, under the name of "the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Cambridge," by an Act of Parliament passed in the thirteenth year of the reign of Elizabeth; which Act confirmed it in all the privileges that had been conferred upon it by preceding charters. The statutes by which it is governed are those laid down in the charter of Elizabeth; and all new laws made for its regulation are required to be framed in conformity with them. The principal officer of the University is the Chancellor, who presides over all cases relative to the body, and has "sole authority within the precincts, except in matters of mayhem and felony." He engages "to preserve and defend its rights and privileges, to convoke assemblies, and to do justice among the members under his jurisdiction." He is, in effect, a little sovereign within the University limits, at least in law; but much of his authority has fallen into abeyance, and the remainder is performed by the Vice-Chancellor, who is the resident head of the University. The Vice-Chancellor must be the head of some college, and is, during his holding the office, a magistrate for the University and county. The other officers of the executive are such as are required for the management of the University, but it is needless to name them here. There are seventeen colleges and halls in Cambridge. The halls in no way differ from the colleges, except in name-in Oxford there is a distinction. They are corporate lay bodies, which have been at different periods founded and endowed by separate benefactors, for the advancement of learning, the study of science, and the service of the church; by providing the higher branches of education for youth, and furnishing places of retreat for men who should devote themselves to meditation and study in connection with the established religion. Each of the colleges is ruled by its own statutes; subject, however, always to the general laws of the University. Each college furnishes members both for the legislative and executive branch of University government. But this is not the place to go further into the management of either the University or the colleges. It is sufficient that we have indicated their constitution. And now let us look at the place itself. We have said that there is little of either beauty or dignity in the town; but it must be understood that it is only the town we mean. We expect to be able to point out enough of both about the University and colleges. All of them we cannot visit; a very few must be chosen, and we will endeavour to select the most interesting. The University buildings of course claim the precedence in our notice, though they will hardly maintain the first place on their own account. Of these, the Senate-House is, perhaps, the most important, though not the most beautiful. It is one of the spurious classic buildings of the last century, but is rather an imposing structure, and will be looked at with interest as the place wherein all the University ceremonials are performed. The grand room is very large and handsome, and has a singular appearance from the peculiar arrangement of the seats, on which the different orders sit according to their several ranks. It will be in this room that the approaching installation will take place; and then its appearance will, no doubt, be uncommonly splendid. The Senate-House stands near the centre of the town, and forms the north side of a spacious square; the west side of it being formed by the University library and schools; the east by St. Mary's Church; and the south by King's College. The old Library is not a very remarkable building, but the contents are full of interest to the scholar. The collection of books and manuscripts is very large and constantly increasing, and embraces many of great splendour and rarity. The pictures which are to be hung in the Fitzwilliam Museum, are at present suspended in one of the rooms. Some of them are very fine, and will grace the noble gallery that is building for them. Among them is a splendid specimen of Titian Portraits of Philip the Second of Spain, and the Princess Eboli.' A 'Portrait of a Dutch officer' is a fine and characteristic example of the pencil of Rembrandt. Annibale Caracci's 'St. Roch and the Angel' is also a good picture; but there is a much better by Ludovico Caracci, of Christ and the Angels appearing to Mary.' One of the richest and most graceful works in the collection is 'The Adoration of the Shepherds,' by Giorgione. Genuine Giorgiones are rare, but this has all the appearance of being genuine. At any rate it is a beautiful picture, and has more religious feeling and solemnity of tone about it than any other representation of a sacred subject in the room. The 'Mercury and Herse,' of Paolo Veronese, is a superior picture. There are also some capital paintings of animals, by Snyders, displaying all the vigorous action combined with marvellous truthfulness of structure and surface, that render his paintings of animals in motion as unrivalled as are those in repose of our own Landseer. There are several other pictures above the ordinary rank, but we must not stay to mention them: where they now hang they are seen to great disadvantage. Besides the pictures, there are some models and curiosities in the room; and in the hall, and on the staircase, are some fragments of antique sculpture. A few years ago, the library becoming too small to contain the rapidly-growing collection of books, a new one was commenced, from the designs of Mr. Cockerell, R.A. |