172 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
to persons able to supply the needs it created. Political economy 
did not require any particular view from its students, but taught 
how all strivings might best be carried out, and showed that all 
efforts to improve society if they were to be lasting must be calcu- 
lated to make higher objects necessities and not mere luxuries. 
THE CONDITIOI^ OF OUR NATIONAL UNIYEESITIES, 
WITH SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR REFORM. 
ABSTRACT OF TAPER BY MR. J. D. LEWIS, M.P. 
(Read January 18th, 1872.) 
An in(iuiry would very soon arise in all the constituencies as to 
whether the bulk of the people were admitted to their fair share 
in the princely endowments of Oxford and Cambridge — he would 
not say in accordance with the altered spirit of their day — but in 
accordance with the actual intentions of the founders of the colleges. 
There were seats of learning at Oxford and Cambridge, it was said, 
before the Christian era, and some antiquaries of the former Uni- 
versity claimed King Alfred as their mythical founder. The first 
authentic information dated from about the beginning of the 
thirteenth century, and in the reign of Henry III. they were told 
there were 30,000 students at Oxford. Considering the then state 
of the population this was doubtless an exaggeration, but the 
attendance of students at the time was very large, and drawn from 
the great bulk of the people. It was about this time that colleges 
were first founded, and these colleges were peculiar to England, 
nothing of the kind existing abroad, or even in Scotland. The most 
cursory glance at the statutes of most of these colleges would shew 
that they were intended for an entirely different class to that which 
now enjoyed their emoluments. The founders of All Souls and 
Magdalene Colleges, Oxford, expressly directed that the Fellows 
should be chosen from the poor. New College, Merton, Exeter, 
and Corpus were all designed as what was called poor men's 
colleges. In the statutes of Queen's College, one of the richest in 
the University, it was stated pauperis vero tales nominari volo et 
assumi. At King's College, Cambridge, in the statutes were the 
words pauperis et indi gentes studentes. The plain rule had never 
been observed. Nor were these the only portions of the founders' 
