82 Desultory Remarks on Academic and 



quirements in that limited period — the student should have a 

 private tutor. If, however, an undergraduate have not the 

 advantage of a private tutor, by simply attending the college 

 lectures during the time of his statu pnpillari, there is scarcely 

 a branch of physical science to which mathematics is applied, 

 but will form the subject of lectures, or incidentally become a 

 part of the course : he may begin with common arithmetic and 

 end with the most refined and subtle analysis applied to the 

 intricate laws of matter; by attending even the common rou- 

 tine of education pursued there, quite open to all, the student 

 will be taken through nearly the whole round of the physi- 

 cal sciences under the guidance of competent directors, quite 

 willing to assist and expedite his progress; consequently, if 

 he have the capacity, as well as the wish, to follow up the track 

 marked out in the lecture-room, he will, at the end of his un- 

 dergraduateship, be intimately acquainted with all the mathe- 

 matical sciences. It is not my business to speak of the com- 

 plete course of classical and other education which the colleges 

 supply, and to which they require and enforce due attention. 



Some cavillers, who have never been at the University, and 

 who very likely would not have much distinguished themselves 

 if they had, sneer at the course of education pursued at Cam- 

 bridge as mere trifling. There is also another class of critics ; 

 men who have been at the University, wasted their time and 

 prostituted their talents in defiance of all that persuasion and 

 punishment could do to prevent them ; these too very fre- 

 quently join in the groundless censure : however, those who 

 have done their duty to themselves and to the University, 

 whether they have been fortunate or not, know well that such 

 censure is entirely without any foundation. On the other 

 hand, they will at once agree in the assertion that the system 

 pursued at Cambridge is quite unique, it may be termed indi- 

 genous ; it has grown up there : if all the tutors, &c. were to 

 leave the University, no other set of men could take it and go 

 on with the system now followed there ; this is a point, perhaps, 

 worth consideration. All who have regularly gone through 

 their statu jmpillari and have acted up to college rules, are 

 perfectly aware that the mass of matter passed over in the three 

 years is immense, all of which the student ought to know well 

 in order to pass a good final examination. Such, however, is 

 the preparation made, and so ready are some of the aspiring 

 candidates at that examination, that they sometimes actually 

 write off answers to all the twenty or twenty-four questions 

 within the limited two hours and call for more. 



The intense application requisite to enable a man to gain 

 high honours can only be known to those who have gone 



