28 th 
fpiring deity, which every youth of quick’ 
fenfibility and ingenious difpofition creates 
to himfelf by reflecting, that he is placed 
under thofe venerable walls, where a 
Hooker and a Hammond, a Bacon and a 
Newton, once purfued the fame courfe of - 
{cience, and from whence they foared to 
the moft elevated heights of literary fame. 
‘This is that incitement which Tully, ac- 
cording to his own teflimony, experienced 
at Athens, when he contemplated the por- 
ticos where Socrates fat, and the laurel 
grove where Plato difputed.’* To a 
mind thus fituated and thus imprefled, 
every encouragement is aiforded by the 
nature of the miftitution under which it is 
placed ; its powers are concentrated about 
ats beloved obje&, the attainment of 
which is its higheit ambition. : 
It is to be lamented, however, that, 
though fuch helps are afforded to ,in- 
duftry, the checks that are oppofed to 
idlenefs are feeble and ineifeétual. To 
him who is difpofed to learn, every affift- 
ance is given, and the higheft literary ho- 
nours of the univerfity are held out; but 
he who has a propenfity to fquander away 
his time, has alfo many temptations to 
indulge that propenfity, and to increafe it 
—an examination may be pafled, and a 
degree obtained, by a very flight ac- 
quaintance with the fubje&t, and by a ve- 
xy fmall portion of ability. It is: to be 
regretted too, that an inftitution from 
which the eftablifhment of the country is 
furnifhed with fo many of its minifters, 
Should require fo little attention to the 
fludy of theology, which occupies only 
part of the firft or fecond term, and is but 
occafionally touched upon afterwards. 
In defence of this practice it has been 
urged, that, though religion is of more 
importance in itfelf than all other purfuits, 
yet, as thefe purfuits are fubfervient to 
that as an end, they enable him who has 
engaged in them to underftand Chriftian- 
ity better, and to enforce its precepts with 
more fuccefs. All this is true: but would 
not the end be better an{wered if it were 
conftantly kept im view, and if thofe 
principles were habitually applied to it, 
which after a long negle& mutt be forced, 
as it were, upon their object ? 
The grand examination of ftudents is 
that which precedes the degree of Bache- 
* Idler, No. '33: 
+ Previous to taking orders, the candidate 
muit attend at leaft twenty-five of the Nor- 
rifian Profefior’s le€tures on divinity. The 
ether two divinity-profeflors give no lec- 
EQreSs 
Account of Cambridge. 
[Peboaj 
lor of Arts. This takes’ place in the fe- 
nate-houfe, on the firft monday im Lent 
term (ufually in February, ) and the three 
following days. The candidates from all 
the colleges, having gone through. their 
refpective courfes of ftudy, their examina- 
tions in college, and their exercifes in the 
{chools, are here examined in public, with 
the utmott impartiality, in all the fubjects 
which have engaged their attention during 
the three preceding years, and the firit 
term of the fourth. The greateft firels, 
however, is laid upon mathematics and 
natural philofophy ; and the greateit pro- 
ficients m thefe are placed higheft in the 
lift of honours. When the examination 
is completed, the candidates are arranged 
in claffes according to their refpective me- 
rits. The firft clafs are called wranglers, 
and the fenior wrangler has the honour of 
being confidered as the firtt man of his 
ftanding in the Univerfity: the ftruggle 
for this diftinGtion is very arduous. The 
two next claffes are termed /enior optimes 
and junior optimes. Thefe are the three 
orders of honour: the refit of the candi- 
dates, though not honourable, are per- 
mitted to have their degrees,* unlefs 
their ignorance is too glaring to be 
tolerated; they are ftyled a: meAdo, or 
multitude, and generally confit of thofe 
who are too idle to ftudy, or too dull to 
learn. The wranglers have the belt chance 
for fellowships in their refpective colleges; 
and the fenior wrangler has ufually the 
firft that is vacant. In other cafes alfo, 
the fellows are chofen by merit, which is 
afcertained by a very ftri&t examination in 
the college, which embraces the whole 
circle of. {cience and literature. 
Notwithitanding the general excellence 
of the fenate-houfe examinations, they 
ought, perhaps, rather to be confidered 
as trials of memory than of talent; fince, 
in order to fhine on thefe ocesfions, the 
chief requifite is for the ftudent to get up, 
as it is called, the various authors which 
are read in the Univerfity, onthe fubjects 
of the examination ; and thofe whofe pow- 
ers of maftication are too feeble, or whofe 
fwallows are too narrow, to enable them to 
feed them/elves with faufficient celerity, take 
care to get well crammed, either by the 
profeffors, or by others who have tra- 
* It ought, in juftice, to be remarked, 
that, on the 18th of January, 1799, it was 
agreed, in the fenate-houfe, that, in future, 
no degree fhould pafs unlefs the candidate 
fhould have a competent knowledge of the 
firft book of Euclid, arithmetic, vulgar and 
decimal fraétions, and Locke and Paley. 
ve lled 
