1873 BUENEY PRIZE 11 



time in the history of the college that one of its 

 members has got the Burney ; so that, as Ferrers 

 writes to me, ' when the same year produces a Senior 

 Wrangler and a Burney Prizeman, the college may 

 be said to be looking up.' I was invited to breakfast 

 with the Professor of Divinity (who is the principal 

 adjudicator), and I found him very pleasant indeed. 

 Afterwards I went to the Vice- Chancellor, from whom 

 I got the well-remembered 4 pages ' (but now with 

 Prize I. written across them) ; and lastly, to the third 

 adjudicator, the master of Christ's. They all said 

 more in praise of the essay than I would care to 

 repeat, but, to tell you the simple truth, I was perfectly 

 astonished. For example, ' In the history of the 

 Burney Prize there have only been two equals and 

 110 superiors.' 



The Vice-Chancellor told me that there was another 

 essay well deserving of a prize which was written 

 by a man of whom I dare say you will remember I 

 said I was most afraid, viz., Mr. Cunningham. 1 I knew 

 him very well when we were undergraduates, and 

 three years ago he obtained the Trinity Scholarship 

 in Philosophy, open to all competitors, and ended 

 up eighteen months ago by graduating as Senior of 

 the Moral Science Tripos. It is a great satisfaction 

 to me that the man who was universally admitted to 

 be the best of the Cambridge metaphysicians should 

 have written, and that, notwithstanding, the decision 

 should have been given unanimously in my favour. 



1 The Rev. W. Cunningham, Fellow and Lecturer of Trinity Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, and Hon. Fellow of Caius. 



