182 Life atul Letters of Francis Galton 



Apparently shortly before taking his degree Galton drew up a 

 petition concerning the badness of dinner "at Hall." The fate it met 

 with — if ever presented — I do not find recorded'. 



Tu the Master and Seniors of Trinity College. 



We being tlie whole of the undergraduate pensioners of Trinity College who are 

 now in residence, beg to call your attention to the very uncomfortable character of 

 the dinners at Hall. It had been intended last year that a memorial to this effect 

 should have been sent. But it was understood that the Steward of the College 

 expressed his wish that such a measure should not bo resorted to, as he was then 

 preparing a report in his official capacity, one which we hoped could not fail of meeting 

 with attention as the evil arose not from the smallness of the sum we pay for our 

 dinner, but from the mismanagement of it. On this account the memorial of last 

 year was not proceeded with, but the Steward's report having failed in producing any 

 improvement we take these means of calling your serious .attention to the subject as 

 strongly as is consistent with the respect we owe you. We complain of the dirtiness 

 of the waiters, the bad state of the cutlery, and the pewter dishes, which with the 

 character of the meat give the tables an appearance far from gentlemanly and very 

 inferior to that of most of the Cambridge smaller colleges and all of the Oxford ones. 

 And this appearance has created a very general feeling among visitors to the prejudice 

 of Trinity, which for the honour of our College we would gladly see removed. We 

 make no petition for unnecessary luxurj' at Hall, but only desire that our meal there 

 should not be inferior to wliat is usual in society at the present day and to which 

 therefore as gentlemen we feel ourselves entitled, and more especially so when it is 

 acknowledged that the sum we now pay for it could by management fully satisfy our 

 requirement. 



Possibly a hunt in the Trinity minute books might provide the 

 reply of the Master and Seniors to this petition. Such a body has 

 generally a ready answer, as when at the beginning of the century 

 the undergraduates of another large Cambridge College petitioned for 

 dinner at 1 o'clock instead of 12, stating, for one reason, that it would 

 give an hour longer for the morning's work, and the Master and 

 Seniors replied that they thoroughly approved of their reason and 

 that to meet their views in future chapel would be at 6 a.m. instead of 7 ! 



' Bristed writes : " The tables of the Undergraduates, arranged according to their 

 respective years, are supplied with abundance of plain joints and vegetables, and beer 

 and ale ad libitum, besides which, soup, pastry, and cheese can be ' sized for,' that is, 

 brought in portions to individuals at an extra charge; so that on the whole a very 

 comfortable meal might be effected but for the crowd and confusion, in which respect 

 the hall dinner much resembles our steamboat mejils. The attendance also is very deficient 

 and of the roughest sort." Five Years in an English University (1840—5), 3rd ed. 

 p. 35. 



