198 ENGLAND. 



ficent buildings, which in splendor and architecture rival the most 

 superb royal edifices, the rich endowments, the liberal ease and tran- 

 quillity enjoyed by those who inhabit them, surpass all the ideas 

 which foreigners, who visit them, conceive of literary societies. So 

 respectable are they in their foundations, that each university sends 

 two members to the British parliament, and their chancellors and 

 officers have a civil jurisdiction over their students, the better to se- 

 cure their independency. Their colleges, in their revenues and build- 

 ings, exceed those of many other universities. 



In Oxford there are twenty colleges and five halls : the former are 

 very liberally endowed, but in the latter the students chiefly main- 

 tain themselves. This university is of great antiquity : it is supposed 

 to have been a considerable place even in the time of the Romans ; 

 and Camden says, that " wise antiquity did, even in the British age, 

 consecrate this place to the Muses." It is said to have been styled 

 an university before the time of king Alfred ; and the best historians 

 admit, that this most excellent prince was only a restorer of learning 

 here. Alfred built three colleges at Oxford ; one for divinity, another 

 for philosophy, and a third for grammar. The present colleges are, 

 however, of a more recent date, none being older than the 13th cen- 

 tury. The number of officers, fellows, and students, maintained at 

 present by this university, is about iOOO ; and the number of such 

 scholars as live at their own charge, usually about 2000. 



The university of Cambridge consists of twelve colleges, and four 

 halls ; but though they are distinguished by different names, the 

 privileges of the colleges and halls are in every respect the same. 

 The number of fellows at this university is four hundred, that of 

 scholars 666, with 236 officers and servants of various kinds. All 

 these are maintained on the foundation. They are not, however, all 

 the students here : there are others called pensioners ; the greater 

 and the less. The greater pensioners are sons of the nobility, and of 

 gentlemen of large fortunes, and are called fellow-commoners, be- 

 cause, though they are scholars, they dine with the fellows. The 

 lesser pensioners dine with the scholars who are on the foundation, 

 but live at their own expence. There are also a considerable num- 

 ber of poor scholars, called sizars, who wait upon the fellows and 

 scholars, and pensioners of both ranks, by whom they are in a great 

 degree maintained ; but the number of pensioners and sizars cannot 

 be ascertained with any accuracy, as it is in a state of perpetual fluc- 

 tuation. 



The senate-house at Cambridge is a most elegant edifice, executed 

 entirely in the Corinthian order, and is said to have cost 16,000/. 

 Trinity-college library is also a very magnificent structure; and in 

 Corpus Christi college librai'y is a valuable collection of ancient ma- 

 nuscripts, which were preserved at the dissolution of the monasteries, 

 and given to this college by archbishop Parker. 



Language. ...The English language is principally a compound of 

 the Saxon and the French ; the Saxon, however, predominates ; and 

 the words that are borrowed from the French, being radically Latin, 

 are common to other nations, particularly the Spaniards and the Ita- 

 lians. A great number of words, especially scientific and technical 

 terms, have been introduced from the Latin and Greek. A more 

 minute account of this language would be superfluous to an English 

 reader ; but, relatively, it enjoys all the properties, without many of 

 the defects, of other European languages. It is more energetic, 



