Cambridge Calendar. This brought the course for Mathematical Honors clearly before the public; and it very soon showed its effect in an increase of the number of candidates. It spread the influence of the Examination over the whole country, and the direct and immediate effect of this was salutary, as that of Examinations generally has been. The remote effects require a fuller analysis. The code of regulations sanctioned in 1837 completed the series of changes which converted the course of academical exercises for a degree in Honors at Cambridge into a competitive Examination in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. By a stretch of the powers of the University, the series of Disputations in the Arts' Faculty, which had for years become so mere a form as not even to furnish satisfactory grounds for dividing the candidates into previous classes for examination, was now utterly swept away, and the whole system laid down by the Statutes of Elizabeth, was replaced by a continuous Examination, lasting for six days, in which all candidates had the same questions proposed on paper. Cambridge was proud of the institution she had perfected, and she might well be so. She had invented a method of estimating merit, which was extremely definite, and which as long as it was confined to the Mathematical Sciences was singularly correct. The credit of the Tripos rests on the order it lays down being confirmed by the judgment of the principal Tutors. A Tutor who has marked the way in which different men take in matter and make it their own, must be able to rate their powers more nicely than an Examiner can, who only sees what they produce on paper in a limited time; and if the teachers go steadily against the Examiners, and say "you have put the wrong man first," the public at least the University public-will be inclined to side with their opinion. But as a matter of fact, the verdict of the Examiners usually accorded very remarkably with the views of the Tutors.

The Mathematical Tripós had certainly accomplished one immense good; it had, in its own sphere, exterminated " jobbery" and the influence of personal interest. This may not seem much to us, living in a time when so much publicity is given to all transactions that people must "assume a virtue if they have it not," but in the days when the Tripos grew into existence things went almost everywhere by favor, and it took a long time to persuade those of the former generation that it was not at Cambridge as elsewhere.

The system of numerical marks helped to foster the integrity of the Examinations. The number furnished by the different Examiners in subjects of the same kind were added up, and the resulting figures determined the order. It was not like voting that one or more individuals should get a prize, or be placed in a first class. We may conceive that in this case, particularly if discussions were allowed, a person might be unconsciously swayed by some unacknowledged influences, or he might bend to a stronger and more self-asserting colleague, but no one could falsify figures as he was marking separate questions, without being really a dishonest man.

While the Tripos was becoming more and more an exclusively Mathematical Examination, and at the same time was being regarded very generally as an avenue to Fellowships, those who followed other branches of learning began to complain. There had always been at Cambridge a small but distinguished body of classical scholars. The Chancellor's Medals, the University Scholarships, and the Fellowship Examinations at Trinity College, had supplied prizes for the ablest men, but there was little or no encouragement for any short of the ablest.

Still the Mathematical Tripos represented the old Cambridge course, it alone gave the degree, and it was made necessary that in order to compete for Classical Honors a person should have attained at least the position of a Junior Optime. This provision added a new function to the Mathematical Tripos, it was no longer purely an Examination for those who were competing for distinction in Mathematics, for a certain number it became a pass Examination.

The Mathematical Tripos for some years after 1838, appeared an unqualified success; it called out a great amount of energy both in teaching and in learning, and in the eyes of the younger people it came to be regarded rot as the means of education, but as being itself the end to which all education was directed; thus it became an idol just as idol worship has come about in other cases. People found at last that from having been a servant of University education, this Examination had become the lord and arbiter of all: instead of the Examination giving a sanction to a mode of teaching, the Examination called into existence that kind of teaching which was most suited to insure success for the competitor-Latham's Action of Examinations.

COLLEGE TUTORS-PRIVATE TUTORS OR COACHES.*

In the early days of the Universities, the tutorial system was unknown. It was not (says Professor Henry Malden in his essay on the Origin of Universities) till the time when Leicester was Chancellor [at Oxford, in 1564] that the University undertook to regulate who might be tutors; and it was not till the Chancellorship of Laud [in 1630], that it was made necessary to enter under a tutor resident in the same College or Hall with the pupil. Laud therefore may be regarded as the author of the system of College tuition. The duty of these College Tutors was to superintend the moral and religious discipline of their pupils, rather than to instruct them in their studies. But when stricter attention was paid to the performance of Exercises for degrees, and above all when the Examinations were enforced, there grew up a class of private Tutors; the offspring in the main of the system of competitive Examination. Their use, as Dr. Whewell shows, has a tendency to become abused when the same persons may exchange the office of private tutor for that of examiner, within a very brief period.

It was usual in Dr. Johnson's time for College tutors to lecture both in the hall and in their own rooms, as well as to set weekly themes for composition. When he was at Pembroke, Oxford, in 1728, Undergraduates generally depended entirely upon the Tutor to guide all their reading. His first tutor Jordan was like a father to his pupils, but he was intellectually incompetent for his important position. For this reason Johnson recommended his old school-fellow Taylor to go to Christ Church on account of the excellent lectures of Bateman, then tutor there. Just when Johnson quitted Pembroke through penury in 1781, Jordan was succeeded by Adams (afterward Master), a man of considerable ability. Thus we see how cautiously we must form a general opinion of the efficiency of a College from its character at any particular moment. Gibbon's experience in the matter of Tutors at Magdalen was similar to that of the other at Pembroke. Before the century with which we have to do (18th), there had grown up a natural practice of flocking to certain favorite Tutors, or pupil-mongers,' as they were called. Indeed, when a student found, like John Evelyn Fellow-com'uner in Balliol' in 1637, that the Tutor to whom his father had sent him was too much occupied with college animosities, it was high time for him to 'associate' himself with a young man of the Foundation, afterwards a Fellow of the House, by whose learned and friendly conversation I received great advantage.'

6

Several persons are mentioned as regular 'pupil-mongers.' James Tunstal, in Baker's time; in 1715, Dr. Chr. Anstey, the elder: at St. John's. Another famous diarist, Ralph Thoresby of Leeds, came up to Cambridge in 1714 (July 8th) to see for a Tutor for his son. He visited Dr. Bentley, Master of Trinity; then at Clare-hall, to visit and consult the famous pupil-monger Mr. Laughton [Dr. Ri. Laughton, one of the first teachers of the Newtonian philosophy. Dr. John Laughton of Trinity was University Librarian), to whom I was recommended by the Bishop of Ely; and after at Queens' College with the ingenious Mr. Langwith (a native of York) recommended by Mr. Baker of St. John's, and preferred rather than any of his own College. The Lord direct me in this matter of so great concern to the temporal and eternal interest of my son Ralph. Whether Clare Hall or Queens' College, I can not determine,' &c.

On the 27th of February, 1721-2, upon a petition of forty-two Tutors, it was agreed that each Pensioner should pay a fee of 308. a quarter, and others in proportion. Other regulations were made as to 'caution money' for security in case of debts. The insufficiency of tuition fees had long been notorious. In 1713, it was even mentioned in a paper (No. 94) of the Guardian.

As carly as 1759, the employment of private tutors as examiners, was found to be a cause of unfairness. It was said, for instance, that when the Johnians had the disposal of the honors, the second wrangler was always looked upon as the first.' Bishop Watson himself was acting as a private tutor in 1756, when only a junior soph. This was a practice of questionable expediency; but about the other there could be no question; and on June 21, 1777, a Grace was passed threatening with deprivation any tutor who should be examiner to his own pupils. The practice, nevertheless, gained ground.

Accordingly, on June 23, 1781, a Grace was passed forbidding any candidate for the degree of B.A. to read with any private tutor in the course of the two years preceding his final examination. This (says Dr. Whewell) was for a time effectual. He suggests that a certificate of the fact should be demanded.

The writer of Considerations on the Oaths required by the University of Cambridge...1788. [Bodl. Gough, Camb. 65.] p. 15, states that the unsuitableness of lectures to men of different capacities had rendered private tutors absolutely necessary to every one who wished to make any tolerable figure in the Senate:' this expression occurs again in the Pamphlet where we should now say 'Senatehouse'] at the 'additional expense of at least £20 a year.' The period of twa years was gradually reduced in 1807 and 1815, till in 1824, it dwindled down to six months. Dr. Whewell, in 1845, conceived it to be still possible and desirable to enforce it. Professor Pryme says, that it was repealed after he ceased to be Fellow. He says also that in 1799, owing to that regulation, the system of private tuition had not become common, and the lectures of the tutors during term-time were by many of the students (himself included) deemed sufficient.

Since then, however, the employment of private tutors or 'coaches' at Cambridge has become more common, though it has at times received checks by such events as the establishment of 'composition' or of 'inter-collegiate' lectures. But with candidates for the Mathematical Tripos, the tutor is often as important an agent as themselves; so that William Hopkins, of Peterhouse, could boast in 1849, that 'from January, 18-8, to January, 1849, inclusive, i.e., in twenty-two years, I have had among my pupils 175 Wranglers. Of these, 108 have been in the first ten, 44 in the first three, and 17 have been Senior Wranglers.'

As to the effect upon young tutors themselves, William Wordsworth wrote in 1833 to a young graduate of Cambridge, ‘I have only one observation to make, to which I should attach importance, if I thought it called for in your case, which I do not, I mean the moral duty of avoiding to encumber yourself with private pupils in any number. You are now at an age when the blossoms of the mind are setting to make fruit; and the practice of pupil-mongering is an absolute blight for this process.'

[Mr. Bristed, in giving his five years personal experience and observation of Cambridge examination for prizes, scholarships, and honors, records his deliberate opinion as to the necessity and value of the Private Tutor in 1840-4.]

The present staff of College Lecturers could not, except in some few of the smallest Colleges, supply the demand for instruction; in the large Colleges their number would require to be multiplied by a very large factor. Nor, even were they thus increased, could any public lecturer have the intimate knowledge of his pupils' acquirements, deficiencies, capacities, and wants, that the private tutor has, nor would he be likely to take so strong a personal interest in each individual of them. The etiquette and official distance between the two parties go a great way to prevent this. Moreover any College arrangements would leave the vacations unprovided for, and it is in the vacations that the greater portion of a reading man's work is done. For my own part I am sensible of having derived the greatest advantage from the gentlemen with whom I read at different periods, and am convinced that, without them, I should have gained but very moderate benefit from the public instruction of the College; and I believe every man except those from the public schools would say the same thing.

!

Wranglership-Smith's Prizes.

The institution of senior wrangler goes back to the year 1739. We then find that one John Empson, of Catherine Hall, was proclaimed senior wrangler, a position of singular fame, inasmuch as the names of no other questionists are given, and for the next eight years there is no further record of any mathematical examination. Then the triposes fairly begin. For some time, however, the wranglers, and the senior optimes are grouped together, and men had their choice of two years for going out. In the year 1753, we have the present division of wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes. In the year 1757, we find an instance of a solitary moderator conducting the whole of the examinations. At present the examining body consists of four gentlemen, two moderators, and two examiners, who receive a payment from the University chest.

The phrase 'wrangler' has a reference to the old scholastic disputations, and its meaning, in this sense, is obsolete, although some curious remnants of the old system long survived. It now refers exclusively to the senate-house examination for mathematics held in January, and of which the lists are issued about the end of the month. There are three days of general examination which all must pass who go in for their degree. Ten days after this time begins an examination of five days for candidates in honors, commencing with the differential calculus, and going on to the highest subjects in astronomy and optics. The examination now turns purely and entirely upon mathematics. Formerly the questionists used to keep acts, to deliver Latin disputations, &c., which entered as an element into the result of the examination. Mr. Bristed, an American, who has recently published a work, ‘Five years in an English University,' says, 'all this is now agreeably compromised by the payment of two shillings.' There was also once a curious custom of challenging the bracket above you during the examination. There is a tradition that Professor Farish did this eight times, and so forced his way through his opponents to the senior wranglership.

To University men there is hardly any employment more congenial than to take down the Cambridge University Calendar, and run through the lists of high mathematical honors. By the way, the Oxford authorities have done a grievous wrong to old alumni of the University by the custom of only printing the last ten years in their honor examinations. Oxford thus sacrifices part of her historic past, which Cambridge wisely refuses to do. Many of the senior wranglers are truly distinguished men, and we have no desire to underrate the sublimity of the distinction. But, at the same time, it not unfrequently happens that the senior wrangler only shows the asterisk which denotes that he has got his fellowship, and lower down the list we perceive some name of world-wide fame. The Cambridge Calendar gives foot-notes relative to any candidate's subsequent achievements, if it is only a mastership in a school, a college fellowship, an honorary canonry, and so on, through an ascending scale to the highest distinctions. In 1761, we have the first senior wrangler proclaimed by the foot-notes to have arrived at judicial honors. This was Wilson of Peterhouse, who became a judge of the Common Pleas. Two years later the great Paley is senior wrangler. In 1772, we find the double names (with a bracket, calculated to mislead) of 'Pretyman, (Tomline),' both signifying a well-known bishop of Winchester in his day. Soon we have the excellent Milner, President of Queen's, and afterward Dean of Carlisle. In 1787, we have Littledale, the famous judge, who, with Tenterden as chief, and Bailey and Holroyd as fellow puisnes, made what has been called 'the golden era of the King's Bench.' Copley, afterward Lord Lyndhurst, comes in as second wrangler, in 1794, distanced by Butler, formerly a famous head master of Harrow. In 1799, Lord Chief Justice Tindal shows as a good wrangler and senior medallist, and next year Vice Chancellor Shadwell is a good wrangler and second medallist. The great lawyers are plentiful between 1806

and 1810. Sir Frederick Pollock, the Lord Chief Baron, is senior wrangler; Bickersteth, afterward Lord Langdale, who refused the seals, the brother of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, and uncle of the Bishop of Ripon, is also senior wrangler; and so are those distinguished judges Alderson and Maule. In 1812, Rolfe is the last of the wranglers, or golden spoon, as it is sometimes called, but he gets his fellowship at Trinity, and becomes Lord Chancellor. The year but one after, another eminent judge, the late Sir Cresswell Cresswell, was 'wooden spoon,' the last of the junior optimes; the 'silver spoon' is the last of the senior optimes. Other eminent judges high among the wranglers were Alvanley, Ellenborough, Lawrence, Parke, Kindersley, Coltman, W. P. Wood, Cleasby, Blackburn. Among the senior wranglers we naturally meet with men of worldwide scientific attainments, some of them mathematical professors in the University-Herschel, Ellis, Stokes, Cayley, Adams, Airy, Challis. The illustrious Whewell missed the senior's place and came out second. Seven senior wranglers have become bishops, but bishops and great divines abound in wranglers' list, and generally range high up. Canon Melvill, Mr. Birks, Bishop Goodwin, and Bishop Colenso were all second wranglers.

There is another examination at Cambridge which must be mentioned in connection with the senior wranglership: this is the contest for the Smith's prizes, two sums of £25 each, given a century ago, to be competed for annually, by a Master of Trinity. Cæteris paribus, a Trinity man is to have the preference; that is to say, when the men are bracketed equal, the £25 would go to the Trinity man. The case has, however, rarely occurred. The examination for the Smith's prizes is an even severer test of mathematical powers, and in a higher field than the mathematical tripos itself. This important contest takes place on the week after the senate-house examination. The senior wrangler has then to hold his own against any commencing bachelors who may choose to compete with him. As a rule, the senior wrangler keeps his place; he has only been four times beaten for both prizes, four times bracketed, and ten times second. The Smith's prize has been a means of redressing any inequality or accidental injustice, or definitely fixing the best man when the marks in the tripos have been very close. However close the marks may run, they never bracket for the place of senior wrangler; he is left the hero of the academic year. There have been some remarkable instances in which the senior wrangler has been displaced. Some years ago a gentleman went in for the senate-house examination, and did splendid papers, but after three days' work he was thrown out of a pony carriage, and so much injured that he was unable to go on with the examination. Up to this point he had been, we have heard, second wrangler, but he was obliged to take an ordinary degree with an agrotat attached to his name. This involved a great hardship for him, which would have been avoided under the Oxford system. They propped him up in pillows on his bed a little later, and had a Master of Arts in attendance. Under these circumstances he went in for the Smith's prizes, and beat both the senior and the second wrangler. In 1821, Canon Melvill beat the senior wrangler. The contest in 1829 was peculiarly interesting. The senior wrangler was an obscure member of a small college; the second wrangler was a scion of the great house of Cavendish. On the examination for the Smith, Cavendish displaced Philpott and came in first prizeman. The competitors now meet on the floor of the House of Lords, respectively as the Bishop of Worcester and the Duke of Devonshire. They both took a first class in classics, but the Duke was the better man by six places. The Duke succeeded Prince Albert as Chancellor of the University, his University honors in a high degree determining the selection. He modestly described his Cambridge work as giving some attention to studies to which he had been extremely partial.'

The year 1859 was remarkable, as the fourth wrangler took the first Smith's