27 



CAMBRIDGE LIFE. 



By J. LANGFIELD WARD, M.A. March 2nd, 1886. 



The object of the paper was to show what is the ordinary Ufe 

 of the graduates and undergraduates, what are their privileges 

 and what their duties, and what laws and customs are peculiar 

 to the community ; to set forth the relations between the different 

 members of the University and different members of the same 

 College ; to describe the officials, their work and emoluments, 

 the amusements and occupations of the temporary residents of the 

 University town ; and to state such facts and curiosities as may 

 occur to the writer as being likely to give interest to the audience. 

 Books containing this kind of information are " Verdant Green," 

 "Tom Brown at Oxford," " Julian Home," and "The Cambridge 

 Freshman : " but of all the books that can be named, none gives 

 such a complete picture, and contains so much in so httle as 

 " Sketches from Cambridge by a Don." Some good skits were 

 written by the Et. Hon. G. 0. Trevelyan, such as "Horace at 

 Athens" and " Pepys' Diary at Cambridge." Quotations from 

 the latter were read. Another readable book is " On the Cam," 

 by Everett, an American. 



First, to treat of our Government : notice the distinct pur- 

 poses of the University and the Colleges : the former has to deal 

 with the teaching and examining for degrees, while each College 

 has the care of its own students and their preparation for degrees. 

 The University teaching power rests in the Professors, the Col- 

 lege teachers are denominated Lecturers. At the head of the 

 University is the Chancellor. At the present time the office is 

 held by an illustrious son of Cambridge, one who has taken 

 nearly the very best degree that ever was taken, the Duke of 

 Devonshire. He was second wrangler and eighth in the Classical 

 Tripos of 1829, and has been Chancellor for 25 years. The High 

 Steward has to hold courts to try cases of felony among members. 

 The Vice Chancellor is one of the Heads of the 17 Colleges, and 

 is elected for one year : it is by him that the degree is conferred, 

 he acting as the substitute of the Chancellor. The Public Orator 

 is a species of Secretary for the Senate, and has to be eloquent 

 in Latin when a degree is conferred upon any man of exceptional 

 merit. Two Esquire Bedells are ornamental appendages : they 

 precede the Vice Chancellor, and from carrying maces as badges 

 of their office, they are irreverently called " silver pokers." The 

 Proctors are a useful and important pan- : they are officials with 

 whom some members of the community are constantly coming 

 in awkward contact : it is their task to see to the behaviour of the 

 young people, and "to maintain public morals." As the shades 



