INTENTIONS OF ITS FOUNDERS. 27 



stitutions. They are sure to prove clogs on the wheel. 1828. 

 Let the work begin in good earnest, and with no needless 

 machinery. If it is done well you will soon see what is 

 wanted, and the constitution will be formed by meeting 

 the needs as they arise.' The founders of University 

 College, as of other public institutions, had not grasped 

 the idea of this natural growth, and the effect of their 

 arrangements was to put a clog upon the wheels, which 

 shook the whole vehicle, and well-nigh overturned it at 

 first going off. 



As I cannot enter into the history of this institution 

 farther than is necessary to explain my husband's connec- 

 tion with it, no names except those which belong to that 

 part of the history will be brought forward. 



The design of the London University, as set forth in 

 pamphlets, speeches, and the general understanding of 

 the time, and repeated many years later in an official 

 document, 1 was to provide a liberal education in Classics, 

 Mathematics, Physical Science, and Medicine, without 

 regard to religious distinction either in teacher or pupil. 



The teaching was to be given in lectures attended 

 daily by students, and the only condition of entry, beside 

 the fee, was good conduct and compliance with the rules 

 laid down for the maintenance of order in the college. 



In conformity with this avowed principle of religious 

 neutrality we find, among the Professors first chosen, Professors. 

 three Clergymen of the Church of England, one Inde- 

 pendent minister, a Jewish gentleman, who in his place 

 of Hebrew professor taught the reading of the Old Tes- 



1 No reference whatever is made to religion in the Deed of Settle- 

 ment, Regulations, or By-Laws. In these it is stated that the object 

 of the University is to afford an education in Mathematical and Phy- 

 sical Science, Classics and Medicine. The absolute determination to 

 leave the subject of religion entirely untouched appears negatively 

 from these documents, but positively from all the addresses given in 

 the institution, in newspaper articles, and in the general understanding 

 of all the parties connected with it, a great number of whom, being 

 rich Dissenters, watched the proceedings with a jealous eye. 



