116 | 
fix firft books every young man of future 
eminence makes himfelf completely maf- 
‘ter—the principles of algebra, plane tri- 
gonometry, and conic fechons. In the 
fecond year he enters .upon the branches, 
and the parts purfued vary in different 
‘colleges ; but. mechanics, hydroftatics, 
and optics, with fluxions, a little of New- 
‘toh’s -Princtpia, the method of  incre- 
ment, differential method, and other mif- 
‘cellanea of this kind occupy his time well 
during this period. The third year ts 
dedicated to aftronomy, the Principia of 
Newton, fpherical trigonometry, the higher 
parts of fluxions,ialgebra, and. geometry, 
land in this year commence the exercifes in 
the fchools. His laft term, .orsthe firft 
term of the fourth year, requires all the 
energies of his mind; he is. now more 
deeply engaged in the arduous conflict at 
the ichools with ail his rivals, aad prepar- 
ing himlelffor theifenate* houfeexamination. 
The* courfe of moral philofophy is no 
Jefs judicious. In the firft year leétures 
are given on Locke and logic. In the‘ fe- 
cond and third years, Paley; Hartley, 
Burlamaqui, Rutherford, Clarke on the 
Attributes, Butler’s Analogy, Law’s The- 
ory of Religion, and fimilar works are 
the fubjeéts of letures, in various orders 
in the different colleges. / Under this head 
may be ranked al the Jectures on {eriptu- 
ral knowledge, derived from Beaufobreand 
other authors, treating on the manners, 
cuftoms, lows, religious ritesy geography, 
‘and chronology -of the nations mentioned 
an the Old and New Teftementi®: But of 
thefele&ures, it may ‘in’ general’ be ‘obt 
ferved, that the atiention paid'to them ih 
vevéry college is not the fame ; for-while 
an fome a due ftrefs is laid upon'them, and 
the tutors employ great talents and indwt- 
try in forming the minds. oftheir pupils, 
| another colleges vhefe lectures are ftrange- 
ly negleéted,’and the courfe is either very 
amesgre, or-very irregular.” ) 
Under the third head ef academical ftu: 
dies come the belles-léttres or claffics, 
which in fome colleges are much negleét- 
ed, 1m others cultivated: with great dili- 
gence and juccefs. In. the vbelt. colleges, 
each ‘term has fome part of the beft claf- 
fics appropriated to the Jeéture-room. An 
oration of Demofthenes,- Lyfias, Hocrates, 
a Greek piay, Longinus, Cicero, Quin: 
tilian, tele&t portions of Heredoms, Thu- 
cydides, Horace, Virgil, Theocritus, &c: 
&c. afford exercifes for the pupils, and 
‘ample room for the tutor to difplay his 
tafte on the beft writings of antiquity, and 
to compare them with parallel works 
‘in the modern languages. ‘Compofitions, 
2 
Stuities of Cambridge. 
[March 1, 
Latin and Enelith, are weekly delivered 
by the pupils, either in writing, or viva 
woce in their chapels and halls. 
In this manner, a young man, admitted 
under a good tutor, in a goad college, 
may employ his time, not only profitably 
to himfel!, but, we may add, from the va- 
riety of his ftudies, in the moft amufing 
manner, during the period in general allor- 
ted to his academical life. Emulation of 
an honourable kind is excited by prizes and 
rewards in moft of the colleges, and this 
emulation is not of the dangerous nature 
too often perceptible in inferior feminaries, 
as the firft man in each year feels his in- 
feriority to thofe a few years older than 
himlelf, and the pre-eminence over his 
own year in his own college may receive a 
mof violent check in’ the collifion with 
the rival heads of his own age in fifteen 
other colleges. | 
In the January term following the com- 
pletion-of his feven firft terms, the young 
man, decorated with the title of Soph, en- 
ters a particular quarter of the mathemati- 
cal {chools, and is doomed to rife in ‘turn, 
either to obje& to, or to anfwer the objec- 
tions of his antagonift or opponent. They: 
only who have felt the fenfations on their’ 
fir appearance on thefe occafions, when 
above them ftands.a moderator, and a 
body of mafters of art, numerous or fmall 
according to the reputation of the difpu- 
tants on the floor, they who have juft dif- 
tinguified themfelves in the fenate-houle, 
others of their own age eager ‘tomark the 
character of each of their cotemporaries, 
the younger clafs,no lefs curious in the fate 
of the di{putation, and aflociated with one or 
other of the difputants either by friendfhip 
or college-acquaintance—théy alone/ who: 
have got into thele boxes can pofhbly feet 
or deferibe the fenfations of ‘a your®! maly 
in ‘this, which maybe Called’ his! public 
entrée among men of talents.’ On the'faté’ 
of this day depends his public eftination, 
at leat for a times > The circle judge on 
him from the -difplay of his powers ; fle! 
moderator/fxes.a mark on him of honour 
of difgrace, and according to’thefe marks’ 
each perfon is claffled during the three firft 
days of his examinationin the fenate-hovle. 
The exercifes in the fchools are per- 
formed in the following manner. ¢ Firit,’ 
the moderator fends to a ‘young’ map, -in 
general the beft of his own college,'a mel 
faze to bring him three queftions-on which 
he is to difpute at the end of a fortnight y 
and, having received four copies of them,” 
he'‘fends a copy to each of three meii in 
the fame year, feleéted at: his opfion from’ 
the other colleges, ‘The queftions are in’ 
Latina 
%) 
