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29 



length to Mr. Beatson, late Classical Lecturer at Pembroke, and 

 the work in a man's own rooms. Notice was here taken of the 

 private instruction obtained at Cambridge, and mention made of 

 Eouth, the great mathematical " coach," and Hamblin Smith, 

 the equally distinguished "Poll Coach." This description of a 

 Poll Coach was extracted from " Sketches from Cambridge." He 

 has to deal with human beings who are less restless and more 

 doggedly indifferent than boys, with a trust and i-everence which 

 is really touching they implicitly abandon all charge of then- own 

 thoughts, and surrender their minds to him as passive vessels to 

 be pumped into. They only hope that he will pump in as little 

 as possible, in order that they may discharge it the more readily. 

 To do such a duty thoroughly well demands two qualifications : a 

 perfect temper and a qualified omniscience : a man's knowledge, 

 that is, must extend over the whole field of University require- 

 ments, but need never penetrate below the surface. lu his room 

 you find mechanical propositions written in the fewest possible 

 words, lists of the early heretics and their tenets, a short account 

 of the Pieformation, a statement of the four causes which render 

 the division of labour desirable, and the three causes of the 

 economical disadvantages of slavery, pet translations of classical 

 fragments of "tips," with marks against noted pitfalls, a short 

 history of the German tribes, besides various other information. 

 The morning time of the student being accounted for, tlie disposal 

 of the afternoon is now to be described, and the different forms 

 of recreation, boating, athletics, cricket, and pedestriauism to be 

 alluded to. The evenings are devoted by the non-reading set 

 to conviviaHty, by the reading men to additional work : on the 

 Saturday evening even these last unbend, and the most studious 

 revel in strawberry jam and whist. Each college has a debating 

 society, which enables its men to get rid of their effervescence, 

 but it is seldom that anything is discussed seriously : the great 

 debating society is the Union, and there the speakers and mem- 

 bers mean business : many men of distinction have won their 

 first reputation as orators by their essays in eloquence at this 

 Society; and have learnt self-reliance, and by addressing a 

 merciless audience have had much of the conceit of youth driven 

 out of them at an opportune time. On the Sundays no work is 

 done : this is the great day for the breakfast parties. In the after- 

 noon the University sermon is preached : and allusion was made 

 to the distinguished men who appeared in the University pulpit 

 fi-om 1867 to 1871, and especial note was made of four sermons 

 preached by the present Bisliop of Manchester, about whom the 

 reader had written a paragraph in his diary. 



An obsei-vation wa§ made about the dinner in hall ; the 

 an-angement requires the dons to occupy an elevated table at the 

 end of the room, and the men to be seated lower down : at the 



