294 
neceflary to fay, that fo little is required of 
thefe low men, that all compaffion on the 
defeat of their hopes is totally out of 
place. 
Having thus carried our young men 
through the Senate- houfe, it remains Spy 
for us to make a few obferyations on th 
impartiality which prefides over, and the 
extent of [cience which prevails in, thefe 
examinations. Impartiality is the natural 
confequence of the Seach of Examiners. 
‘There are, as we have already faid, four 
Public 
the Moderaters of the year, the other twa 
the Moderaters of the preceding year. A 
Moderater is appointed by each Proétor, 
but his prune muft be approved of 
by the Senate ; and, as the office is labo- 
rious and honourable, and requiring ta- 
Kents, and not very, profitable, an impro- 
per perfon is not likely, nor, we believe, 
ever was, appointed to this office. The 
four Examiners are then men of talents ; 
they are generally fuch as had been withia 
the firft fix on the lift of honours in their 
re[pettive j years ; and, as they are of dif- 
ferent col lleges, ‘the bias which any one 
might have to his own college is correét- 
ed by a fimilar bias of the others to their 
college, and the bias of the whole wouid 
be corrected by the clearfightednefs of the 
young men on fuchan occafion, as wellas 
the watchfulnefs of the Fathers and Maf- 
tars of Arts. But no where, we are per- 
fuaded, is fo little bias to be found, and 
the rank of cach individual is fixed with 
the utmoft care and impartiality. 
n the extent of {cience, which ts the 
fubjeé& of the examinations, we need only 
obferve, that it begins with the loweft 
quefticn in Euclid’s Arithmetic, and, ac- 
cording to the capacities of the ftudents,. 
is extended through every part of the ma- 
thematics, natural philoiophy, logic, and 
moral philofophy. We fhould have ob- 
ferved allo, that the Wednefday in the ex- 
amination-week is appropriated fokly to 
logic and moral philofopt hy. 
“Phe advantage of thefe examinations is 
apparent in the habit of fiudy which th 
produce at Cambridge, where the vols 
men, inftigated either by honour to an in- 
duftrious ufe of their time, or deterred by 
fname from a total wafte of it, are, for the 
greater part, found bufily employed during 
their firft three years in academical ftudies. 
éinother advantage is feen in the filling 
up of the fellowfhips and public offices of 
the univerfity. A college is afhamed in 
general, to-eleét into a fellowfhip one who 
hasnotappeared in the firit tripos on the lift, 
Cambridge Examinations continued: 
: 7 
fuffer for it. 
xaminers, two of them being the 
at a future opportunity. 
en 4 
[May 1, 
which contains about thirty of the firft men; 
and wherever they deviate from this rule 
the interefis of, the collese are fure to 
We remember a college, 
where, from compaffion or good neigh- 
bourhood, a man totally deficient in ability, 
j 
and uated for ftudy, was eleéted a | 
fellow, The natural confequence was, that 
he had an averfion to the high men, and 
his companions were the worlt in the col - 
lege. He procured one of his own ftamp 
to be eleGted a fellow, and thus ftupidity’ 
was making a great pregrefs. Thefetwo 
naturally joined together their efforts to 
introduce a third’ man without honours, 
‘ig aia or talents; andjifit had not 
been for the ftrenvous refiftance made by 
‘the mafter, and a few fellows addigted to 
ftudy, thé colleze muft foon have funk into 
the extreme of mental debility. So peril- 
ous is it to introduce a ftupid fellow into 
a feminary of learning, and the lift of ho- | 
nours has a natural tendency to prevent - 
fuch a mifapplication of the public funds. 
They who have enjoyed the higheft honours 
will naturally vote for high men ; the fools 
will vote only for the fools. 
Thefe are {ome of the advantages attend- 
ing the Cambridge examinations : whether 
they will be produced in the fame degree 
at Oxford by the new plan, we will difcufs 
ACADEMICUS. 
IE aoe 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR,. 
READ with ee: pleafure a candid. 
J and judicious paperin your Magazine 
for ode defcribing the frate of man- 
ners- and fociety in this town. I could 
not, however, avoid regretting the | brevity 
with which the author touches upon the 
fubje&t of our public charities; a fubjeét 
which reflects at leat as much credit upon 
the inhabitants of Liverpocl, as their libe- 
rality of fentiment, or their patronage of 
the fine arts. Todefcribe with minutenefs 
an infirmary, dilpenfary, or lunatic-atylum, 
which are found in almoit every teh 
town, would certainly be uninterefting 
but one of our charitable 1 inftitutions, he 
School of Induftry for the Blind, is fo pe- 
culiar in the “de efion, and is at the fame 
time, conducted upon fo excellent a fyfem, 
-that I flatter myfelf a fhort account of it > 
cannot fail to.intereft a large proportion 
of your readers. 
About the year 1790, the idea was 
fuggetted of rendering the blind happy in 
themflves, and ufeful to fociety, by in- 
‘thructing 
