VIII UNIVERSITIES: ACTUAL AND IDEAL 203 



has had his wages for his work, and that he may 

 go and earn the rest. 



When I think of the host of pleasant, moneyed, 

 well-bred young gentlemen, who do a little learn- 

 ing and much boating by Cam and Isis, the vision 

 is a pleasant one; and, as a patriot, I rejoice that 

 the youth of the upper and richer classes of the 

 nation receive a wholesome and a manly training, 

 however small may be the -modicum of knowledge 

 they gather, in the intervals of this, their serious 

 business. I admit, to the full, the social and po- 

 litical value of that training. But, when I pro- 

 ceed to consider that these young men may be said 

 to represent the great bulk of what the Colleges 

 have to show for their enormous wealth, plus, at 

 least, a hundred and fifty pounds a year apiece 

 which each undergraduate costs his parents or 

 guardians, I feel inclined to ask, whether the rate- 

 in-aid of the education of the wealthy and pro- 

 fessional classes, thus levied on the resources of 

 the community, is not, after all, a little heavy? 

 And, still further, I am tempted to inquire what 

 has become of the indigent scholars, the sons of 

 the masses of the people whose daily labour just 

 suffices to meet their daily wants, for whose bene- 

 fit these rich foundations were largely, if not 

 mainly, instituted? It seems as if Pharaoh's 

 dream had been ri^^orouslv carried out, and that 

 even the fat scholar has eaten the lean one. And 

 when I turn from this picture to the no less real 



