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There may be College Examinations, as well as University Examinations; and these may be ordered in such a way as to maintain and enforce a methodical and progressive course of study, such as, I have said, ought to be pursued in Colleges. Such Examinations ought so to succeed each other, and so to have their subjects assigned, that they may lead the student through the series of studies which belong to a Liberal Education; and in the first place, as we have said, through a series of well selected classical and mathematical studies. In such a course, the Examinations of the first year ought to correspond with the Lectures of the first year; the Examinations of the second year with the Lectures of the second year; and so on. And there ought, in this case also, to be a correspondence between the knowledge imparted by the Lecturers and that required by the Examiners. If this be so, the prospect of the Examination will fasten the attention of the students upon the Lectures, and exercise an influence even upon those who might otherwise have been careless hearers. But in order that this influence may be properly supported and confirmed by the University Examinations, which, so far at least as they lead to Degrees, will be permanent in their operation, there must be a correspondence between the University Examinations and the College Examinations. The latter, in their successive stages, must form parts of a connected scheme of knowledge, which the University Examinations require in its totality, when the student finally becomes a candidate for Degrees and Honours.

152 But this correspondence between the teaching of Lecturers and the views of Examiners, which is so desirable and so important, it is not always easy to secure. Even in the Permanent Studies, the Greek and Latin languages and the prescribed course of Elementary Mathematics, there is room for discrepance.

Examiners may differ amongst each other, and consequently may differ with Teachers, as to the degree of literalness in a translation which is consistent with its being English, or as to the degree of freedom which is consistent with its being faithful; besides the differences of opinion which may often exist as to what the meaning is. And there may be, though less frequently, doubts whether the proof of a proposition or the solution of a problem in Geometry or Mechanics be satisfactory. Still in a general way, the practice of translating Greek and Latin, of proving propositions in Euclid and Mechanics, of solving equations or finding maxima, kept up in the Lecture-room, will form a good preparation for the like performances in the Examination-hall. In these cases, the mode of dealing with the subject is determinate, and cannot be much varied. But when we come to knowledge of a more speculative and excursive kind, there is more room for discrepance between what is taught by one person and what is demanded by another. The views of the grammar, antiquities, history, and philosophy of Greece and Rome, entertained by different scholars, have been and are very different; and especially, their views are different as to what points it is most important for the student to dwell upon. The same is the case in all the higher parts of Mathematics. In every branch, one mathematician pursues a geometrical, another, an analytical track; one aims at the solution of special problems, another at the establishment of general formulæ; and so on. It may easily happen that the

Teacher takes one side and the Examiner another in such alternatives; or that in some similar way, the Lessons which have been given to the student have failed to prepare him to follow the course of the Examination, or to satisfy the requirements of the Examiner. When this happens, the students who have followed the prescribed Lessons are disappointed and discou

raged, because they are frustrated of their expected reward, success in the Examination. The teaching which tends to such disappointment loses its hold upon the student; the machinery of the Educational System no longer works well, and ceases to produce its effect.

153 It is the more important to establish a close correspondence between the Examinations and the Lectures of our Educational system, inasmuch as, however ingenious and profound may be the Lectures delivered to the students, the attention given to them, in a system in which Examinations are the door to distinction, will be very feeble and scanty, if they do not in a great degree prepare students for the Examinations. If indeed we have not, in our system, Examinations which lead to honours and rewards, we may have our students led to give their attention to the teaching of Tutors and Professors, by their love of knowledge, their deference for their teachers, their admiration of the eloquence and wisdom of the lecturer, or the like motives. But these motives lose much of their force, when they come in competition with the love of distinction. When emulation is introduced into our system, we must reckon upon it as an overwhelming force, in comparison with which the love of knowledge and the admiration of excellence on its own account are but weak and ineffective influences. If we employ this principle of emulation, we must so direct it that it shall lead men to study what we wish them to learn. We must make our Examinations require that knowledge which we wish to have imparted in our Lectures. If we do not do this, we shall have the zeal and energy, at least of the most active-minded and ambitious of our students, directed to our Examinations, and to the modes of succeeding in them; whatever merits the Lectures of our Tutors and Professors may possess. Hence, if we do not establish an organic connexion of the Examinations with the College Teaching and Pro

fessorial Lectures, there is a strong tendency to a system of mere Examinations; which is, as I have already said, a very imperfect system of Education, and one which leads to very serious evils.

154 Among the evils to which an Educational System of mere Examinations leads, is, that it tends to place all the effective teaching in the hands of Private Tutors, as I have already remarked. This cannot take place without greatly impairing the character of the instruction given. For public Lecturers and Professors will naturally endeavour to present the subjects, of which they treat, in a manner in which philosophical connexion and intellectual interest are strongly brought into view. And, moreover, in College Lectures, the student is especially required to overcome, either by his own mental efforts, or with the aid of his Teacher, the real difficulties of the subjects, so as to acquire a clear view and full possession of its principles. But Private Tuition, directed, as we are now supposing, to the mere object of preparing students for the Examinations, will aim only at providing them with answers to such questions as are likely to be asked by the Examiners. In such Tuition, it will not be deemed a matter of any consequence that the Student has a permanent and thorough hold on fundamental principles, or that he really sees his way through the difficulties which belong to them. Even if he be provided by the Private Tutor with the answers to such difficulties, he will, probably, possess these answers only as matters lodged in his memory, and not as the result of mental effort and insight. He receives them as answers which are to satisfy his Examiners, not as those which satisfy himself. Hence, such teaching produces a condition of intellectual dependence, highly unfavourable to the mental vigour and activity, and the real culture, which are the main objects of a Liberal Education.

155 A system in which the instructions of Private

Tutors supersede College Lectures, labours under still other evils when viewed with reference to other aspects of English College life. For the Tutors by whom College Lectures are delivered are, as we have seen, understood to be not only Tutors, but Guardians of their pupils. They are recognized, by the laws and customs of our Colleges, as standing in the place of a parent, and having it for their business to watch over the social and moral habits, as well as the intellectual

progress, of the student. And their opportunities, both of judging of the conduct of their pupils, and of influencing them for good, are much assisted by the daily intercourse which takes place when the Tutor directs the studies of the pupil. The influence of this kind which operates in such cases has always been looked upon as one of the most precious portions of English University Education. But when the teaching passes into the hands of Private Tutors, this influence of the Public Tutor is much impaired, by the diminished habit of confidence of the pupil, and, perhaps, by the diminished occasions of his intercourse with the Tutor. And this loss is not usually compensated in any degree by the Private Tutor's agency. He has no public character by which he is responsible for any moral care of his pupil, and he acknowledges no such responsibility. All that he undertakes, or is expected to do, is to prepare his pupil for the Examinations. His business is not with his pupil's morals, but with his classical or mathematical attainments. The establishment of such a system of mere Private Tuition would be a grievous declension from the system of College Education hitherto aimed at in the English Universities.

156 These evils, thus resulting from a system of mere Examinations, will be much increased if the system be one of mere paper Examinations; the answers being given in writing, and afterwards inspected by the