lation entirely and permanently effective, it would have been proper that the Moderators, before assigning to any candidate an honour, should require a certificate that he had not offended against the Grace. Such a certificate might be given by a Prælector of each College, "to the best of his belief," and signed by the Head of the College; and such would, as I conceive, have been a mode of carrying into effect the above Law, conformable to the practice of the University in analogous cases.

272 The practice of reading with Private Tutors continued to prevail, and the objections to it also continued to be entertained, though not perhaps to the same extent. I conceive that, in the period of which I now speak, the objections were, the tendency to destroy independent study and intellectual vigour; for the prohibition is no longer directed against Tutors examining their own pupils. The time at the end of the student's career during which reading with a Private Tutor was prohibited, was gradually diminished. By a Grace, 1807, April 9, it was reduced to a year and a half: by another Grace, 1815, July 3, to one year.

273 The last Grace upon this subject is, I believe, the following:

1824. Maii 19.

"Cum gratia à vobis Jan. 25, 1781 concessa sit, 'Ut si quis in posterum scholaris, &c.' (as above) et gratia à vobis 9 Apr. 1807 concessa sit, 'Ut spatium biennii in gratiâ Jan. 25, 1781 concessâ definitum ad spatium unius anni et semissis reducatur:'

"Placeat vobis ut gratiæ duæ prædictæ abrogentur: atque ut si quis in posterum scholaris intra sex menses ex Calendarii computo ad respondendum quæstioni admittendus, inter studia quæ ad Gradum Baccalaureatûs in Artibus spectant prosequenda, cujuslibet usus fuerit auxilio, intra Academiam, directè vel indirectè, sive Privati Tutoris seu alio quocunque sub nomine hujusmodi, omnem sibi aditum ad senioritatem Baccalaureis reservatam præclusum intelligat."

274 This Grace is, as I conceive, still in force. Perhaps the omission of the Grace of 1815, in the notice of those rescinded, shows how little these Graces had really been habitually referred to in University proceedings: and as I have said, the course which was pointed out by the analogy of our practice, as the proper mode of carrying the Law into effect, was not taken. But the Law, as it now stands unrepealed, is, as seems to me, a very judicious Law. It tends to prevent the dependance upon Private Tutors, and the absence of independent thought, from continuing tỏ the end of the student's career; and provides an interval, during which he is expected to digest and assimilate the materials which he has acquired during his previous course of study. I should conceive Moderators and Examiners to be following the course which the Law of the University prescribes, if they were to require from every candidate for honours, a certificate that "in pursuing the studies which belong to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, he has not, within the University, used the assistance of any one, directly or indirectly, either as Private Tutor or in any like capacity." By whom this certificate should be given, whether by the candidate himself, or by the officers of his College, is a matter to be determined by the Governors of the University.

275 The Grace of 1824 is, in one respect, more sweeping than the previous ones, inasmuch as it omits the condition "stipendio aut mercede conducti,” which they had contained. Perhaps it was conceived that with this clause, the law might be too easily evaded; for the gratuitous Private Tuition of the last six months might easily come to be considered a customary appendage to the previous stipendiary Tuition of one or two years.

The Grace appears at first sight too sweeping to be practically acted upon; as the words "cujuslibet usus

fuerit auxilio," appear to prohibit the assistance of Public as well as of Private Tutors; but I conceive that not only does the general scheme of the constitution of the University and of its Colleges exclude this application, but that the words which follow, "sive Privati Tutoris seu alio quodcumque sub nomine hujusmodi," sufficiently indicate the class of assistance which is prohibited by this Grace.

276 This Grace is, as I have said, still in force. Yet its existence is, I believe, not generally known in the University; and it has certainly been, of late years, habitually disregarded. The same is the case, as we have already seen, with the Grace of directing that the Polloi should be arranged in four alphabetical classes. Perhaps we may be allowed to say, that these facts suggest the propriety of some course being adopted in the administration of the University, by which the Laws passed for its direction shall be kept permanently before the notice of its members.

277 If the prohibition of Private Tutors within the University during the student's last six months were carried into effect; if the University Examinations were rendered public, as to the performances of the candidates, and were made to include a considerable portion of viva voce examination; I believe that we might look for a material improvement in the general condition of the University, and in the effect of our Education. The College Examinations could then be more nearly assimilated to the University Examinations. This result, which all members of the Univerversity, probably, will think a desirable one, would be much facilitated by the authorized adoption of Standard Works or Standard Syllabuses, both of the lower, and of the higher subjects; and by enforcing the often expressed desire of the University, that a knowledge of the lower subjects shall be a necessary condition of obtaining honours in the higher ones. The subjects of

the examinations being known, the order of study maintained, and the standard of excellence evident to all, the College Lectures would retain their superior importance as the best preparations for examinations conducted in a great measure vivá voce; and Private Tuition would retain its value as a means of progress for those who were too slow to keep pace with the rest without such help; or whose aims were too high to be reached by common aids only. Co-operating in the University System under such conditions, and in cordial good understanding with the College Teachers, the class of Private Tutors may be expected to contain, as it has long done, a large portion of the intellectual wealth, scholarship and beneficial influences of the University.

SECT. 4. Of Establishing the Progressive Sciences in the University System.

278 It will be observed by the reader that I have proposed that the access to University Honours among us should consist of two steps; in the first of which a person is declared a Junior Optime; while in the second, he is admitted as a candidate for the Higher Classes of the Mathematical Tripos; and that the student should, instead of this course, or along with it, be also allowed to be a candidate for the Honours of the Classical Tripos. I have now further to observe that there would be no difficulty in the way of the University, by its legislature, putting other subjects on the same footing on which classical teaching was put by the Grace which established the Classical Tripos. We might have a Tripos, or appointed form of Classes of Honour, for any other subjects, for Botany, or Natural History in general, Geology or Ethnography; to which sciences, as I have already said, it would be desirable to give an authorized value in the University, as roads to distinction; or, which would perhaps be

best, we might have a General Tripos, including the Inductive Sciences, or those which it was thought right by the University to group together for such a purpose.

279 Such a Tripos, if established, would be a means, and as seems to me, one of the best we could take, of removing the alleged neglect of the Inductive Sciences in the University, without any great disturbance of our existing system. The Sciences, thus encouraged by the University would, of course, be those of which there are Professors in the University, not connected with examinations for degrees; namely, Anatomy, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mineralogy. These Professors should be the Examiners, or should form a prominent part of the Examining Board. This arrangement would tend, it may be supposed, to remedy the neglect of the Lectures of some of those Professors which is often complained of. It would tend also to encourage the study of science in the University. Many persons might prefer the study of Botany, or Chemistry, or Mineralogy, or Geology, either to the pursuit of the higher parts of mathematics, or to the continued cultivation of classical learning; especially when those subjects offered a road to University Honours, as well as these. And such a Scientific Tripos would fall in with some of the existing regulations of the University, respecting the duties of the Professors in the University. For some of the Professors of the above sciences are already authorized and required to examine candidates for the degree of M. B., sometime in the fifth year of their residence. If this examination were extended to all who chose to offer themselves, and made to lead to an arrangement of the successful candidates in Classes of Honours, the Professors being formed into a Board of joint Examination, it would probably, in time, draw to it many candidates besides Medical students. For this pur[PT. I.]

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