[26]CHAPTER II.THE TUTORIAL SYSTEM.

[26]CHAPTER II.THE TUTORIAL SYSTEM.Theword Tutor is used at Cambridge to describe an officer of a College who stands to his pupils in loco parentis; now-a-days he may, but does not necessarily, give direct instruction to them. The object of this chapter is to describe the development of the office in Trinity College.Trinity College was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. It is, however, essential in dealing with its early history to bear in mind that it was founded in a pre-existing17University having well-established rules and customs. Nearly all the original members of Trinity had been educated at Cambridge, they were familiar with its traditions, and even the buildings they occupied were associated with the college life of earlier times. It was intended that the Society should promote the reformed religion and the new learning, but there is no reason to suppose that in establishing it, it was wished or proposed to alter the existing practice about the tuition, guidance, and care of the younger students.In the system in force in the University shortly[27]before the foundation of Trinity, the students corresponding to our scholars and sizars lived in endowed colleges (of which eight were founded before 1353 and seven between 1440 and 1520), most of those corresponding to our pensioners in unendowed private hostels (of which in the sixteenth century there were twenty-seven and in earlier times possibly a few more), and most of those belonging to religious orders in monasteries or monastic hostels. A student on admission to the University was apprenticed to some master of arts or doctor who directed the lad’s studies until he took a master’s degree. This graduate was known as the student’s “master”: in the case of a member of a college we may assume that the master was chosen from among the senior members of the House, though it is doubtful if this was necessarily so in the case of the hostels. The head of a college or hostel was responsible for the conduct and control of the lad in non-scholastic matters, but in colleges in later times this work was assigned to a dean. Thus for practical purposes a tutorial system already existed in the medieval system of apprenticeship and control.The royal scheme for Trinity College comprised a master, fifteen senior fellows, twenty-five middle fellows, twenty junior fellows (of whom, in 1546, thirteen were undergraduates), and forty grammarian school-boys. In addition to these, there were[28]servant-students (known as sizars or subsizars), each being attached as gyp to a particular fellow, and receiving education, board, and lodging in lieu of money wages. There is nothing to show whether or not the presence of pensioners was contemplated.We have a list, apparently complete, of all the intended officers; tutors do not appear among them, though a schoolmaster and usher were provided for the grammarians. Hence it would seem that the relation between an apprenticed undergraduate and his master was regarded as personal, and that the latter was selected and paid by his pupil or pupil’s guardian, and not by or through the College—I conjecture that this was the usual medieval practice. The deans are mentioned as officers of the College, and the discipline of the younger members was part of their business, though no doubt a lad’s master or tutor assisted in enforcing it. The formal charter of foundation was given by Henry in December 1546, but the grammarians are not mentioned therein.During the next six years, 1546–1552, three important developments took place. First, the grammar-school side of the College was abandoned, and all boys then in the school were entered as scholars of the House; next, and perhaps consequent on the abolition of the school, a distinction between fellows and scholars was drawn; and finally, following the[29]growing custom of other colleges, the admission of pensioners was definitely recognized as desirable, thus introducing a class of students below the standing of scholars. Before coming to the subject of tutors it will be well to add a word or two about the pensioners and scholars of these early days.With the upset of the medieval scheme of education the number of pensioners and fellow-commoners seeking admission to the University greatly decreased, and the reception of a limited number of them in the colleges fairly met the needs of the University. The private hostels were then no longer wanted and being unendowed disappeared. Thus when again, as soon happened, the number of would-be pensioners increased, it was necessary (unless new non-collegiate arrangements were made for their reception in the University) to admit them in larger numbers to the colleges.At Trinity a limit was, in theory, placed on the number of pensioners admissible, but not on that of fellow-commoners. A pensioner at Trinity, and I suppose also at other colleges, had to be qualified by learning and morals for admission, and I conceive further that his entry was conditional on his finding a fellow who would receive him. A pensioner or fellow-commoner had no rights, and resided only on such terms and as long as the College or the fellow receiving him willed. I believe that students of this class did not[30]often stay here for more than three or four years unless in due course they became scholars.A most important question for the new College was how the supply of scholars and fellows should be provided. In King’s Hall vacancies were filled by royal nomination, and boys came into residence as scholars-elect. We do not know what was proposed in 1546, but I think that, as far as entry to the grammar-school was concerned, nomination by the senior fellows was the most likely method to have been contemplated. The abandonment of the school and the enrolment of all its members as scholars of the House must however have raised the question in an acute form, and it was settled in or before 1552 by the establishment of an annual examination for the election of scholars. Probably from the first it was intended that the new fellows should be formally elected and admitted.The charter of 1546 contains a reference to statutes to be given later by the king. There was considerable delay in preparing these, and the liberty of action thus left to the Society seems to have been used unwisely, for the commissioners of 1549 reported that its state was “much out of order, governed at large and pleasure for want of statutes ... the fellows for the most part too bad.”In November 1552 the College received the long-expected[31]statutes by which it was to be governed: with their appearance we leave the field of conjecture and come to facts. The foundation as here described included a master, fifty fellows of the standing of master or doctor, and sixty bachelor and undergraduate scholars: provision was also made for student-servants or sizars. Vacancies in the roll of scholars were to be filled by an annual election held at Michaelmas on the result of a two days’ examination. Bachelors of arts and those insane or suffering from contagious disease (a curious conjunction) were ineligible: also there could not, at any one time, be more than three scholars from any one county. The regulation that a bachelor was not eligible for election to a scholarship suggests that a candidate might be in residence as an undergraduate, though it does not exclude the candidature of those who were not already members of the House, but the custom (if it ever existed) of electing non-residents had died out before 1560. The admission of pensioners, not exceeding fifty-four in number, was definitely recognized in 1552: of these the master might take as his pupils four, and each fellow one. The pensioner which every fellow might thus receive was in addition to such scholars as had been assigned to him as pupils, but though scholars had tutors, the fellow responsible for a pensioner is not explicitly described as his tutor.[32]It seems that an important part of the duty of a tutor was to see that all payments due to the college from his pupils were made punctually. Scholars, unlike pensioners, had definite rights.The following are some of the regulations:Nemo ex discipulis sine tutore in collegio sit, qui fuerit, expellatur. Pupilli tutoribus pareant, honorem paternum et reverentiam exhibeant, quorum cura consumitur in illis informandis et ad pietatem scientiamque instruendis. Tutores fideliter et diligenter quae docenda sunt suos doceant, quae agenda instruant et admoneant. Omnia pupillorum expensa tutores collegio praestent, et singulis mensibus aes debitum pro se et suis quaestoribus solvant. Quod ni fecerint, tantisper commeatu priventur dum pecunia dissolvatur. Pupillus neque a tutore rejiciatur, neque tutorem suum ubi velit mutet nisi legitima de causa a praeside et senatu probanda; qui fecerit collegioexcludatur....In discipulis eligendis praecipua ratio ingenii et inopiae sit, in quibus ut quisque valet maxime ita ceteris proferatur. Eo adjungatur doctrinae studium et mediocris jam profectus, et reliqui temporis spes illum fore ad communem reipublicae posthac idoneum. Horum studium sit ut vitae innocentiam cum doctrinae veritate conjungant, et in veritate rerum inquirendi et honestate persequendalaborent....Sic sint grammaticis et studiis humanitatis instituti ut inquisitiones aulae sustinere et domesticas exercitationes susciperepossint....Pensionarii et studiorum socii in collegium recipiantur ... provideatur ut neque praesidi plures quam quatuor neque singulis sociis plures uno pensionario sint.Grave offences were punishable by expulsion, rustication, etc., and those who committed only[33]“minor offences” were liable to penalties of extreme severity. Thus we read:Quicunque in aliqua parte officii sui negligentior fuerit, et aliquem e magistratibus bene admonentem non audiverit, aut insolentem se ostenderit, si ephoebus sit verberibus sin ex ephoebis excesserit decennali victu careat et uterque praeterea poenitentiam declamatione tostetur.The text is corrupt, but the meaning is clear. A marginal note suggests the obvious correction that decemdiali should be read for decennali. The deans superintended, even if they did not inflict, corporal punishment when it was ordered.Another code of statutes was drawn up in 1554, but was never sealed, and thus did not become effective. I need not quote the text which, on tutorial matters, does not differ materially from that of 1560. The draft contains a clause to the effect that the master of the College was not to take more than four pensioners as his pupils, a fellow who was a master of arts or of some superior degree was not to take more than two, and no one else was to take a pensioner as a pupil. The word “two” however has been crossed out and “one” substituted. From this it would seem that the question of how many pensioners it was desirable to admit was already a matter of debate.In 1560 new statutes were granted to the College, and its constitution as then settled remained[34]practically unaltered till 1861. In this code the foundation is described as including a master, sixty fellows, four chaplains, sixty-two scholars, and thirteen sizars or gyps, namely, three for the master and one for each of the ten senior fellows. Henceforth scholars were elected annually in the spring, from undergraduates already in residence. By a gracious provision, whose disappearance in 1861 I regret, it was ordered that forty of the scholarships should be specifically associated with the name of Henry VIII, twenty with that of queen Mary, and two with that of Thomas Allen as pre-eminent benefactors. Pensioners and subsizars were also admissible to the Society on conditions. If fellow-commoners dined at the high table, as seems likely, they may have been reckoned extra numerum. Every student under the degree of master of arts was required to have a tutor, thus regularizing the position of fellow-commoners, pensioners, sizars, and subsizars as members of the College, and bringing them under the same rule as scholars.The regulations in point are as follows:Est ea quidem ineuntis aetatis imbecillitas ut provectiorum consilio et prudentia necessario moderanda sit, et propterea statuimus et volumus ut nemo ex baccalaureis, discipulis, pensionariis, sisatoribus, et subsisatoribus tutore careat: qui autem caruerit, nisi intra quindecim dies unum sibi paraverit, e collegio ejiciatur. Pupilli tutoribus pareant,[35]honoremque paternum ac reverentiam deferant, quorum studium, labor, et diligentia in illis ad pietatem et scientiam informandis ponitur. Tutores sedulo quae docenda sunt doceant, quaeque etiam agenda instruant admoneantque. Omnia pupillorum expensa tutores collegio praestent, et intra decem dies cujusque mensis finiti aes debitum pro se ac suis omnibus senescallo solvant. Quod ni fecerint, tantisper commeatu priventur dum pecunia a se collegio debita dissolvatur. Cautumque esto ne pupillus quispiam vel stipendium suum a thesaurariis recipiat vel rationem pro se cum eisdem aliquando ineat, sed utrumque per tutorem semper sub poena commeatus menstrui a dicto tutore collegio solvendi fierivolumus....Pensionarios ut studiorum socios in collegium recipiendos statuimus; sitque in illis recipiendis ratio morum ac doctrinae diligenter habita; magistris artium aut superioris gradus unum, baccalaureis autem nullum omnino concedimus. Nemo illorum admittatur nisi a decano seniore et primario lectore examinatus.In time, serious discrepancies between the statutes and the practice of the College grew up. Some, but not all, of these were removed in 1844, when the statutes were revised. The sentence above quoted “magistris artium aut superioris gradus unum, baccalaureis autem nullum omnino concedimus” was then struck out.In 1861 new statutes were given to the College: these contain no mention of pensioners, but merely prescribe that no bachelor or undergraduate shall be without a tutor. The present statutes of 1882 similarly direct that no member of the College in statu pupillari shall be without a tutor.[36]Except by accident, we have no record before 1635 of the names of the tutors of the various students, but it is probable that at first the master regularly entered some undergraduates as his own pupils: certainly Whitgift did so, and so too did some of his successors. It seems most likely also that by 1560 it was already usual for the master to assign a student to that fellow who was to act as his tutor, though of course regard must always have been paid to the wishes of a parent or guardian in this matter. This remained the ordinary custom for perhaps two hundred years.Some information on tutorial affairs in the sixteenth century may be gathered from an account-book kept by Whitgift, covering parts of the years 1570 to 1576, and containing statements of the charges he made as tutor: the names of thirty-nine men are given. In the history of Trinity College which I wrote for my pupils some years ago, I published a few of these bills. I give here a few details illustrative of the many matters with which a tutor was then concerned.The payment made to him as tutor varied in different cases, but 6s.8d.a quarter for a sizar, 10s.for a pensioner, and 13s.4d.for a fellow-commoner were usual sums. In a few cases there are records of an admission-fee to the College or a fee for entering into commons: the normal payment[37]for this was 15s.for a pensioner, and 20s.for a fellow-commoner—there is no mention of any such charge in the case of a sizar. The cost of the silly ceremony by which the senior undergraduates initiated a freshman, known as his salting, was charged in the bills, and varied from 8d.for a sizar and 1s.4d.for a pensioner to 4s.for a fellow-commoner. The charge for matriculation appears to have been 4d.for a sizar, 1s.for a pensioner, and 2s.for a fellow-commoner.Of course the cost of the purchase of books comes in most of the accounts. Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles, and Demosthenes constantly appear among Greek writers, Homer and Xenophon only once; Cicero, Caesar, Sallust, and Lucian occur often among the Latin authors, Livy only once. Euripides and Horace are noticeable by their absence. I have not observed any mathematical books. Works by Seton and Erasmus are frequently mentioned. Among English books we have a prayer-book charged at 1s., a service-book at 1s.8d., a bible at 9s., and a testament at 2s.The charge for a bible in Latin was 7s.and for a new testament in Greek 2s.A Greek grammar cost 1s., 1s.2d., or 1s.4d.; a Hebrew grammar 1s.which seems cheap. Paper was charged 4d.by the quire and 2s.6d.by the half-ream: the cost of a bundle of pens and an inkhorn was usually 4d.or 6d.[38]Clothes appear to have been expensive, but naturally the cost varied widely according to the status of the student. Apparently at that time the wardrobes of men were fairly extensive: the prices of the various articles are set out in full. I hesitate to distinguish academic gowns from other robes, but the charge of 4s.to John Waring, a pensioner, for his gown and square cap, as also the charge of 2s.6d.for making a gown and hood for Phillip Harrison, another pensioner, must, I think, be taken to refer to academic costumes. The cost of a surplice to Richard Therald, a sizar, was 4s., but to Henry Gates, a fellow-commoner, was as much as 11s.7d.As to amusements, the richer students seem to have kept or hired horses at considerable cost. Horse-hire to London varied from 4s.to 8s.; to Lincoln from 3s.6d.to 4s.8d.Bows and arrows constantly appear in the bills—the price of a bow ranging from 1s.4d.to 3s.Tennis was another popular amusement of the day. The court stood on the site of the north end of the present library, and the keeper of the court was regarded as a college servant; there are no charges in connection with the bats, balls, or use of the court.It may be interesting to notice that coals were used regularly as well as wood: they were sold at 1s.3d.a sack. Candles were charged at either[39]3d.or 4d.a pound. Among miscellaneous things 6d.was charged for an hour-glass; 4d.for a mouse-trap; 10d.for a scabbard for a rapier; and 10s.for a lute. A set of singing lessons cost 3s.and a set of dancing lessons 6s.Sickness appears to have been common. In general we have no record of the duration of illnesses, and the charges for doctors and chemists varied widely. The charge for plucking out one tooth seems to have been 1s.4d., but for two teeth the dentist reduced his charge to 1s.a tooth.We get another aspect of student and tutorial affairs in the next century (in 1659) contained in a long letter from which I gave extracts in the history of the College to which I have already referred. Robert Creighton, pronounced Crickt-on, of Somersetshire, a Westminster boy and a scholar of the House, was then a candidate for a fellowship. At the time there were in residence a good many zealots, introduced into the Society under presbyterian or Cromwellian auspices, and one of these, a year senior to Creighton, was also a candidate for a fellowship. Just before the election some of the scholars were playing tennis in the college court when the ball by chance struck one of them in the eye. On this Creighton called out “Oh God, Oh God, the scholar’s eye is stroke out,” whereon his competitor accused him to the authorities as a profane person who took[40]God’s name in vain; and as confirmation added that he never came to the private prayer meetings of the students. By good luck the master was Wilkins, afterwards bishop of Chester, who owed his appointment more to the fact that he had married Cromwell’s sister than to his devotion to the doctrines of the Independents. It is clear that he disapproved of the complaint, but he considered it prudent to summon a meeting of the seniority to hear the case and examine witnesses. Creighton’s tutor, Duport (who gave us our large silver salt-cellar), spoke up for his pupil, and thereon the master said that the charge looked like malice, and it did not matter much if Creighton did neglect to go to the private prayer meetings of undergraduates since he never failed to go to chapel and to his tutor’s lectures. He then proposed, if we may trust our authority, that the seniority should at once reject the informer and his friends, and elect to the vacant fellowships the accused and his friends, and so it was done. Such were elections then!It is satisfactory to add that public opinion in the College was against those who trumped up this ridiculous charge, and on the day after the election the following notice was found on the screens. “He that informed against Ds Creighton deserves to have his breech kickt on.” An amusing glimpse of life under the Commonwealth. Note that the tutor[41]gave lectures to his pupils, and from the tutorial point of view observe the esteem gained by regular attendance thereat.No obligation to take pupils seems ever to have been imposed on fellows, though a pupil once taken could not be transferred. This, and the fact that scholars were elected only from students already in residence, made it undesirable to retain any rule to the effect that a fellow should not have more than one pensioner as a pupil. Hence in time those who liked tutorial work and did it well were allowed to have more than one pensioner pupil, and gradually the bulk of the entries came to be made under a comparatively few tutors.The average annual entry of students at Trinity during the years 1551 to 1600 was fifty-one, during the years 1601 to 1650 was fifty, and during the years 1651 to 1700 was thirty-nine. During the years 1701 to 1750, it sank to twenty-seven: this diminution being partly due to the Bentley scandals. During the years 1751 to 1800 the average annual entry was thirty-seven, during the years 1801 to 1850 was one hundred and sixteen, during the years 1851 to 1900 was one hundred and seventy-four, and during the years 1901 to 1913 was one hundred and ninety-nine.Let us see how the men were divided among the tutors. From April to December 1635, twenty-eight[42]students were admitted who were distributed among seventeen tutors, of whom eleven had only one pupil and none had more than four pupils. Taking every tenth year thenceforward, we find that in 1645, there were (excluding ten fellows intruded by order of parliament) fifty-seven entries; of these fifty-one were divided among ten tutors. In 1655, there were fifty-three normal entries divided among twelve tutors; in 1665, forty-three entries divided among six tutors; in 1675, forty-nine entries divided among twelve tutors; in 1685, thirty-four entries divided among five tutors; and in 1695, twenty-eight entries divided among four tutors. In 1705, there were twenty-nine entries, of these twenty-eight students were divided among three tutors. In 1715, there were fourteen entries divided among six tutors; in 1725, thirty-four entries divided among twelve tutors; in 1735, twenty-eight entries divided among six tutors; and in 1745, twenty-one entries divided among eight tutors.In 1755 there were only two fellows acting as tutors, namely S. Whisson and J. Backhouse. Thenceforth there were definite tutorial “sides,” each under one tutor or joint tutors, a tutor being appointed to a side when a vacancy occurred; and every admission to the College being made on a designated side. In effect the work of a tutor was now regarded as being of a character which should occupy[43]a man’s whole energies, and it was generally held that a tutor, while he held office, had not, and ought not to have, leisure during term-time for independent work. From 1755 to 1822 there were two sides. In 1822 a third side was created. In 1872 one of the sides (being the lineal successor of Backhouse’s side) was divided into two. These four sides are to-day designated in the college office by the lettersA,B,C,D; sideAbeing that created in 1822, sidesBandDbeing the two made out of the successor of Backhouse’s side, and sideCbeing the lineal successor of Whisson’s side. [In the pre-war days of 1914 sideAwas under Dr Barnes, sideBunder Mr Laurence, sideCunder Mr Whetham, and sideDunder Dr Fletcher.]Proceeding by decades in the same way as before, the entries on each of the two sides (denoted byCandBD) which existed from 1755 to 1822 were in 1755, nineteen and ten; in 1765, four and six; in 1775, twenty-one and twenty-four; in 1785, eighteen and twenty-nine; in 1795, twenty-nine and seventeen; in 1805, forty-two and twenty-six; and in 1815, fifty-one and thirty-six. From 1822 to 1872 there were three sides (denoted byC,BD,A): the normal entries on these were in 1825, forty-two, fifty-five, forty-one; in 1835, forty, forty-five, fifty-three; in 1845, fifty, sixty-eight, forty-nine; in 1855, fifty-three, forty-eight, fifty; and in 1865, fifty-eight,[44]nineteen, sixty. Since 1872 there have been four sides (denoted byC,B,D,A) which were made approximately equal: the normal entries on these were in 1875, forty-one, forty, forty-four, forty; in 1885, forty-nine, forty-four, forty-five, forty-eight; in 1895, forty-eight, thirty-eight, fifty, fifty-one; and in 1905, fifty, fifty-three, fifty, fifty-seven.Until 1755 the number of pupils in residence in any one term assigned to an individual tutor was not large, and a tutor interested in any particular aspect of a subject likely to be studied was generally available: hence it was usually possible for a tutor to give personally the teaching and guidance required by his pupils. There were then no lecture-rooms in College, so probably all instruction was given in the tutor’s rooms and was informal in character. With the establishment in 1755 of sides, this system of teaching required modification, and in the course of the latter half of the eighteenth century it became the custom for a tutor to supplement his teaching by the services of another fellow or other fellows. These officers, known as Assistant-Tutors, were appointed and paid by individual tutors; they lectured regularly, took an important part in the life of the Society, and occupied a recognized position.A marked development of the system of formal lectures is indicated by the erection in 1835 of a[45]block of four large and four medium-sized lecture-rooms. No other important changes were made for another thirty years, and until 1868 instruction remained normally organized by sides; indeed it was only by arrangement that lectures on one side were open to men on the other sides, though in fairness it must be added that an arrangement for throwing them open was made as a matter of course whenever it seemed desirable. The retention to so late a date of appointments by sides was due to the fact that the finances of the four sides were then kept as separate accounts.This scheme, clumsy and illogical though it was, might have worked fairly well as long as the great majority of honour men read nothing but mathematics, classics, and perhaps theology, but it was condemned by the fact that the authorities allowed it to be superseded in practice by an elaborate system of private tuition paid for by the individual students. With the introduction of new subjects (like law, history, and various branches of science) and the development of the corresponding triposes, it became necessary to recast the scheme of teaching if adequate college instruction on such subjects was to be provided. The earliest appointment of a college lecturer (as contrasted with an assistant-tutor nominally attached to a particular side) was made in 1868, his lectures being open to all[46]students of the Society, and his stipend not charged on the funds of a particular side. This was soon followed by the placing of all educational appointments and finance in the hands of the College without regard to sides; and shortly afterwards the lecture-room accommodation was considerably extended.About this time a further step was taken by throwing most of the advanced lectures open to members of other colleges. Thus in a few years instruction by tutorial sides was replaced by college lectures and class-work, and then this, to a large extent, by teaching organized on a university basis, supplemented by individual and catechetical instruction in college: with this, the custom of using private tuition has largely disappeared. Ultimately the title of assistant-tutor was dropped; the last appointment under that title was made in 1885, but from about 1870 we may say that practically the duties of an assistant-tutor were those of a lecturer. Thenceforth tutors also took their share of lecturing on subjects connected with their own lines of study, and did not confine their instruction to their own pupils, though for a year or two lectures on elementary mathematics and classics to freshmen on each particular side survived as a historic curiosity. These changes led to the existing scheme under which tutorial and tuition duties are separated, and thus the giving of direct instruction to[47]his pupils is not now necessarily part of the duties of a tutor.The sequence of tutors on each side has been published, and I am sorely tempted to add various anecdotes on the way in which some of these officers fulfilled their duties, but such additions lie outside the object of this essay.Of course during this long period there have been bad as well as good tutors, but I think everyone will admit that on the whole the system has worked well. Its special characteristic is a personal relation between the tutor and the pupil, materially strengthened by constant intercourse and by the fact that practically all the correspondence with the parents of the pupil passes through the hands of the tutor: experience shows that the tutorial influence has not been weakened by the fact that in most cases direct instruction is now given by other lecturers.17The history of the University prior to 1546 covers some three centuries and a half, that is, about as long a period as has elapsed since 1546.

Theword Tutor is used at Cambridge to describe an officer of a College who stands to his pupils in loco parentis; now-a-days he may, but does not necessarily, give direct instruction to them. The object of this chapter is to describe the development of the office in Trinity College.

Trinity College was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. It is, however, essential in dealing with its early history to bear in mind that it was founded in a pre-existing17University having well-established rules and customs. Nearly all the original members of Trinity had been educated at Cambridge, they were familiar with its traditions, and even the buildings they occupied were associated with the college life of earlier times. It was intended that the Society should promote the reformed religion and the new learning, but there is no reason to suppose that in establishing it, it was wished or proposed to alter the existing practice about the tuition, guidance, and care of the younger students.

In the system in force in the University shortly[27]before the foundation of Trinity, the students corresponding to our scholars and sizars lived in endowed colleges (of which eight were founded before 1353 and seven between 1440 and 1520), most of those corresponding to our pensioners in unendowed private hostels (of which in the sixteenth century there were twenty-seven and in earlier times possibly a few more), and most of those belonging to religious orders in monasteries or monastic hostels. A student on admission to the University was apprenticed to some master of arts or doctor who directed the lad’s studies until he took a master’s degree. This graduate was known as the student’s “master”: in the case of a member of a college we may assume that the master was chosen from among the senior members of the House, though it is doubtful if this was necessarily so in the case of the hostels. The head of a college or hostel was responsible for the conduct and control of the lad in non-scholastic matters, but in colleges in later times this work was assigned to a dean. Thus for practical purposes a tutorial system already existed in the medieval system of apprenticeship and control.

The royal scheme for Trinity College comprised a master, fifteen senior fellows, twenty-five middle fellows, twenty junior fellows (of whom, in 1546, thirteen were undergraduates), and forty grammarian school-boys. In addition to these, there were[28]servant-students (known as sizars or subsizars), each being attached as gyp to a particular fellow, and receiving education, board, and lodging in lieu of money wages. There is nothing to show whether or not the presence of pensioners was contemplated.

We have a list, apparently complete, of all the intended officers; tutors do not appear among them, though a schoolmaster and usher were provided for the grammarians. Hence it would seem that the relation between an apprenticed undergraduate and his master was regarded as personal, and that the latter was selected and paid by his pupil or pupil’s guardian, and not by or through the College—I conjecture that this was the usual medieval practice. The deans are mentioned as officers of the College, and the discipline of the younger members was part of their business, though no doubt a lad’s master or tutor assisted in enforcing it. The formal charter of foundation was given by Henry in December 1546, but the grammarians are not mentioned therein.

During the next six years, 1546–1552, three important developments took place. First, the grammar-school side of the College was abandoned, and all boys then in the school were entered as scholars of the House; next, and perhaps consequent on the abolition of the school, a distinction between fellows and scholars was drawn; and finally, following the[29]growing custom of other colleges, the admission of pensioners was definitely recognized as desirable, thus introducing a class of students below the standing of scholars. Before coming to the subject of tutors it will be well to add a word or two about the pensioners and scholars of these early days.

With the upset of the medieval scheme of education the number of pensioners and fellow-commoners seeking admission to the University greatly decreased, and the reception of a limited number of them in the colleges fairly met the needs of the University. The private hostels were then no longer wanted and being unendowed disappeared. Thus when again, as soon happened, the number of would-be pensioners increased, it was necessary (unless new non-collegiate arrangements were made for their reception in the University) to admit them in larger numbers to the colleges.At Trinity a limit was, in theory, placed on the number of pensioners admissible, but not on that of fellow-commoners. A pensioner at Trinity, and I suppose also at other colleges, had to be qualified by learning and morals for admission, and I conceive further that his entry was conditional on his finding a fellow who would receive him. A pensioner or fellow-commoner had no rights, and resided only on such terms and as long as the College or the fellow receiving him willed. I believe that students of this class did not[30]often stay here for more than three or four years unless in due course they became scholars.

A most important question for the new College was how the supply of scholars and fellows should be provided. In King’s Hall vacancies were filled by royal nomination, and boys came into residence as scholars-elect. We do not know what was proposed in 1546, but I think that, as far as entry to the grammar-school was concerned, nomination by the senior fellows was the most likely method to have been contemplated. The abandonment of the school and the enrolment of all its members as scholars of the House must however have raised the question in an acute form, and it was settled in or before 1552 by the establishment of an annual examination for the election of scholars. Probably from the first it was intended that the new fellows should be formally elected and admitted.

The charter of 1546 contains a reference to statutes to be given later by the king. There was considerable delay in preparing these, and the liberty of action thus left to the Society seems to have been used unwisely, for the commissioners of 1549 reported that its state was “much out of order, governed at large and pleasure for want of statutes ... the fellows for the most part too bad.”

In November 1552 the College received the long-expected[31]statutes by which it was to be governed: with their appearance we leave the field of conjecture and come to facts. The foundation as here described included a master, fifty fellows of the standing of master or doctor, and sixty bachelor and undergraduate scholars: provision was also made for student-servants or sizars. Vacancies in the roll of scholars were to be filled by an annual election held at Michaelmas on the result of a two days’ examination. Bachelors of arts and those insane or suffering from contagious disease (a curious conjunction) were ineligible: also there could not, at any one time, be more than three scholars from any one county. The regulation that a bachelor was not eligible for election to a scholarship suggests that a candidate might be in residence as an undergraduate, though it does not exclude the candidature of those who were not already members of the House, but the custom (if it ever existed) of electing non-residents had died out before 1560. The admission of pensioners, not exceeding fifty-four in number, was definitely recognized in 1552: of these the master might take as his pupils four, and each fellow one. The pensioner which every fellow might thus receive was in addition to such scholars as had been assigned to him as pupils, but though scholars had tutors, the fellow responsible for a pensioner is not explicitly described as his tutor.[32]It seems that an important part of the duty of a tutor was to see that all payments due to the college from his pupils were made punctually. Scholars, unlike pensioners, had definite rights.

The following are some of the regulations:

Nemo ex discipulis sine tutore in collegio sit, qui fuerit, expellatur. Pupilli tutoribus pareant, honorem paternum et reverentiam exhibeant, quorum cura consumitur in illis informandis et ad pietatem scientiamque instruendis. Tutores fideliter et diligenter quae docenda sunt suos doceant, quae agenda instruant et admoneant. Omnia pupillorum expensa tutores collegio praestent, et singulis mensibus aes debitum pro se et suis quaestoribus solvant. Quod ni fecerint, tantisper commeatu priventur dum pecunia dissolvatur. Pupillus neque a tutore rejiciatur, neque tutorem suum ubi velit mutet nisi legitima de causa a praeside et senatu probanda; qui fecerit collegioexcludatur....In discipulis eligendis praecipua ratio ingenii et inopiae sit, in quibus ut quisque valet maxime ita ceteris proferatur. Eo adjungatur doctrinae studium et mediocris jam profectus, et reliqui temporis spes illum fore ad communem reipublicae posthac idoneum. Horum studium sit ut vitae innocentiam cum doctrinae veritate conjungant, et in veritate rerum inquirendi et honestate persequendalaborent....Sic sint grammaticis et studiis humanitatis instituti ut inquisitiones aulae sustinere et domesticas exercitationes susciperepossint....Pensionarii et studiorum socii in collegium recipiantur ... provideatur ut neque praesidi plures quam quatuor neque singulis sociis plures uno pensionario sint.

Nemo ex discipulis sine tutore in collegio sit, qui fuerit, expellatur. Pupilli tutoribus pareant, honorem paternum et reverentiam exhibeant, quorum cura consumitur in illis informandis et ad pietatem scientiamque instruendis. Tutores fideliter et diligenter quae docenda sunt suos doceant, quae agenda instruant et admoneant. Omnia pupillorum expensa tutores collegio praestent, et singulis mensibus aes debitum pro se et suis quaestoribus solvant. Quod ni fecerint, tantisper commeatu priventur dum pecunia dissolvatur. Pupillus neque a tutore rejiciatur, neque tutorem suum ubi velit mutet nisi legitima de causa a praeside et senatu probanda; qui fecerit collegioexcludatur....In discipulis eligendis praecipua ratio ingenii et inopiae sit, in quibus ut quisque valet maxime ita ceteris proferatur. Eo adjungatur doctrinae studium et mediocris jam profectus, et reliqui temporis spes illum fore ad communem reipublicae posthac idoneum. Horum studium sit ut vitae innocentiam cum doctrinae veritate conjungant, et in veritate rerum inquirendi et honestate persequendalaborent....Sic sint grammaticis et studiis humanitatis instituti ut inquisitiones aulae sustinere et domesticas exercitationes susciperepossint....Pensionarii et studiorum socii in collegium recipiantur ... provideatur ut neque praesidi plures quam quatuor neque singulis sociis plures uno pensionario sint.

Grave offences were punishable by expulsion, rustication, etc., and those who committed only[33]“minor offences” were liable to penalties of extreme severity. Thus we read:

Quicunque in aliqua parte officii sui negligentior fuerit, et aliquem e magistratibus bene admonentem non audiverit, aut insolentem se ostenderit, si ephoebus sit verberibus sin ex ephoebis excesserit decennali victu careat et uterque praeterea poenitentiam declamatione tostetur.

Quicunque in aliqua parte officii sui negligentior fuerit, et aliquem e magistratibus bene admonentem non audiverit, aut insolentem se ostenderit, si ephoebus sit verberibus sin ex ephoebis excesserit decennali victu careat et uterque praeterea poenitentiam declamatione tostetur.

The text is corrupt, but the meaning is clear. A marginal note suggests the obvious correction that decemdiali should be read for decennali. The deans superintended, even if they did not inflict, corporal punishment when it was ordered.

Another code of statutes was drawn up in 1554, but was never sealed, and thus did not become effective. I need not quote the text which, on tutorial matters, does not differ materially from that of 1560. The draft contains a clause to the effect that the master of the College was not to take more than four pensioners as his pupils, a fellow who was a master of arts or of some superior degree was not to take more than two, and no one else was to take a pensioner as a pupil. The word “two” however has been crossed out and “one” substituted. From this it would seem that the question of how many pensioners it was desirable to admit was already a matter of debate.

In 1560 new statutes were granted to the College, and its constitution as then settled remained[34]practically unaltered till 1861. In this code the foundation is described as including a master, sixty fellows, four chaplains, sixty-two scholars, and thirteen sizars or gyps, namely, three for the master and one for each of the ten senior fellows. Henceforth scholars were elected annually in the spring, from undergraduates already in residence. By a gracious provision, whose disappearance in 1861 I regret, it was ordered that forty of the scholarships should be specifically associated with the name of Henry VIII, twenty with that of queen Mary, and two with that of Thomas Allen as pre-eminent benefactors. Pensioners and subsizars were also admissible to the Society on conditions. If fellow-commoners dined at the high table, as seems likely, they may have been reckoned extra numerum. Every student under the degree of master of arts was required to have a tutor, thus regularizing the position of fellow-commoners, pensioners, sizars, and subsizars as members of the College, and bringing them under the same rule as scholars.

The regulations in point are as follows:

Est ea quidem ineuntis aetatis imbecillitas ut provectiorum consilio et prudentia necessario moderanda sit, et propterea statuimus et volumus ut nemo ex baccalaureis, discipulis, pensionariis, sisatoribus, et subsisatoribus tutore careat: qui autem caruerit, nisi intra quindecim dies unum sibi paraverit, e collegio ejiciatur. Pupilli tutoribus pareant,[35]honoremque paternum ac reverentiam deferant, quorum studium, labor, et diligentia in illis ad pietatem et scientiam informandis ponitur. Tutores sedulo quae docenda sunt doceant, quaeque etiam agenda instruant admoneantque. Omnia pupillorum expensa tutores collegio praestent, et intra decem dies cujusque mensis finiti aes debitum pro se ac suis omnibus senescallo solvant. Quod ni fecerint, tantisper commeatu priventur dum pecunia a se collegio debita dissolvatur. Cautumque esto ne pupillus quispiam vel stipendium suum a thesaurariis recipiat vel rationem pro se cum eisdem aliquando ineat, sed utrumque per tutorem semper sub poena commeatus menstrui a dicto tutore collegio solvendi fierivolumus....Pensionarios ut studiorum socios in collegium recipiendos statuimus; sitque in illis recipiendis ratio morum ac doctrinae diligenter habita; magistris artium aut superioris gradus unum, baccalaureis autem nullum omnino concedimus. Nemo illorum admittatur nisi a decano seniore et primario lectore examinatus.

Est ea quidem ineuntis aetatis imbecillitas ut provectiorum consilio et prudentia necessario moderanda sit, et propterea statuimus et volumus ut nemo ex baccalaureis, discipulis, pensionariis, sisatoribus, et subsisatoribus tutore careat: qui autem caruerit, nisi intra quindecim dies unum sibi paraverit, e collegio ejiciatur. Pupilli tutoribus pareant,[35]honoremque paternum ac reverentiam deferant, quorum studium, labor, et diligentia in illis ad pietatem et scientiam informandis ponitur. Tutores sedulo quae docenda sunt doceant, quaeque etiam agenda instruant admoneantque. Omnia pupillorum expensa tutores collegio praestent, et intra decem dies cujusque mensis finiti aes debitum pro se ac suis omnibus senescallo solvant. Quod ni fecerint, tantisper commeatu priventur dum pecunia a se collegio debita dissolvatur. Cautumque esto ne pupillus quispiam vel stipendium suum a thesaurariis recipiat vel rationem pro se cum eisdem aliquando ineat, sed utrumque per tutorem semper sub poena commeatus menstrui a dicto tutore collegio solvendi fierivolumus....Pensionarios ut studiorum socios in collegium recipiendos statuimus; sitque in illis recipiendis ratio morum ac doctrinae diligenter habita; magistris artium aut superioris gradus unum, baccalaureis autem nullum omnino concedimus. Nemo illorum admittatur nisi a decano seniore et primario lectore examinatus.

In time, serious discrepancies between the statutes and the practice of the College grew up. Some, but not all, of these were removed in 1844, when the statutes were revised. The sentence above quoted “magistris artium aut superioris gradus unum, baccalaureis autem nullum omnino concedimus” was then struck out.

In 1861 new statutes were given to the College: these contain no mention of pensioners, but merely prescribe that no bachelor or undergraduate shall be without a tutor. The present statutes of 1882 similarly direct that no member of the College in statu pupillari shall be without a tutor.

[36]Except by accident, we have no record before 1635 of the names of the tutors of the various students, but it is probable that at first the master regularly entered some undergraduates as his own pupils: certainly Whitgift did so, and so too did some of his successors. It seems most likely also that by 1560 it was already usual for the master to assign a student to that fellow who was to act as his tutor, though of course regard must always have been paid to the wishes of a parent or guardian in this matter. This remained the ordinary custom for perhaps two hundred years.

Some information on tutorial affairs in the sixteenth century may be gathered from an account-book kept by Whitgift, covering parts of the years 1570 to 1576, and containing statements of the charges he made as tutor: the names of thirty-nine men are given. In the history of Trinity College which I wrote for my pupils some years ago, I published a few of these bills. I give here a few details illustrative of the many matters with which a tutor was then concerned.

The payment made to him as tutor varied in different cases, but 6s.8d.a quarter for a sizar, 10s.for a pensioner, and 13s.4d.for a fellow-commoner were usual sums. In a few cases there are records of an admission-fee to the College or a fee for entering into commons: the normal payment[37]for this was 15s.for a pensioner, and 20s.for a fellow-commoner—there is no mention of any such charge in the case of a sizar. The cost of the silly ceremony by which the senior undergraduates initiated a freshman, known as his salting, was charged in the bills, and varied from 8d.for a sizar and 1s.4d.for a pensioner to 4s.for a fellow-commoner. The charge for matriculation appears to have been 4d.for a sizar, 1s.for a pensioner, and 2s.for a fellow-commoner.

Of course the cost of the purchase of books comes in most of the accounts. Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles, and Demosthenes constantly appear among Greek writers, Homer and Xenophon only once; Cicero, Caesar, Sallust, and Lucian occur often among the Latin authors, Livy only once. Euripides and Horace are noticeable by their absence. I have not observed any mathematical books. Works by Seton and Erasmus are frequently mentioned. Among English books we have a prayer-book charged at 1s., a service-book at 1s.8d., a bible at 9s., and a testament at 2s.The charge for a bible in Latin was 7s.and for a new testament in Greek 2s.A Greek grammar cost 1s., 1s.2d., or 1s.4d.; a Hebrew grammar 1s.which seems cheap. Paper was charged 4d.by the quire and 2s.6d.by the half-ream: the cost of a bundle of pens and an inkhorn was usually 4d.or 6d.

[38]Clothes appear to have been expensive, but naturally the cost varied widely according to the status of the student. Apparently at that time the wardrobes of men were fairly extensive: the prices of the various articles are set out in full. I hesitate to distinguish academic gowns from other robes, but the charge of 4s.to John Waring, a pensioner, for his gown and square cap, as also the charge of 2s.6d.for making a gown and hood for Phillip Harrison, another pensioner, must, I think, be taken to refer to academic costumes. The cost of a surplice to Richard Therald, a sizar, was 4s., but to Henry Gates, a fellow-commoner, was as much as 11s.7d.

As to amusements, the richer students seem to have kept or hired horses at considerable cost. Horse-hire to London varied from 4s.to 8s.; to Lincoln from 3s.6d.to 4s.8d.Bows and arrows constantly appear in the bills—the price of a bow ranging from 1s.4d.to 3s.Tennis was another popular amusement of the day. The court stood on the site of the north end of the present library, and the keeper of the court was regarded as a college servant; there are no charges in connection with the bats, balls, or use of the court.

It may be interesting to notice that coals were used regularly as well as wood: they were sold at 1s.3d.a sack. Candles were charged at either[39]3d.or 4d.a pound. Among miscellaneous things 6d.was charged for an hour-glass; 4d.for a mouse-trap; 10d.for a scabbard for a rapier; and 10s.for a lute. A set of singing lessons cost 3s.and a set of dancing lessons 6s.

Sickness appears to have been common. In general we have no record of the duration of illnesses, and the charges for doctors and chemists varied widely. The charge for plucking out one tooth seems to have been 1s.4d., but for two teeth the dentist reduced his charge to 1s.a tooth.

We get another aspect of student and tutorial affairs in the next century (in 1659) contained in a long letter from which I gave extracts in the history of the College to which I have already referred. Robert Creighton, pronounced Crickt-on, of Somersetshire, a Westminster boy and a scholar of the House, was then a candidate for a fellowship. At the time there were in residence a good many zealots, introduced into the Society under presbyterian or Cromwellian auspices, and one of these, a year senior to Creighton, was also a candidate for a fellowship. Just before the election some of the scholars were playing tennis in the college court when the ball by chance struck one of them in the eye. On this Creighton called out “Oh God, Oh God, the scholar’s eye is stroke out,” whereon his competitor accused him to the authorities as a profane person who took[40]God’s name in vain; and as confirmation added that he never came to the private prayer meetings of the students. By good luck the master was Wilkins, afterwards bishop of Chester, who owed his appointment more to the fact that he had married Cromwell’s sister than to his devotion to the doctrines of the Independents. It is clear that he disapproved of the complaint, but he considered it prudent to summon a meeting of the seniority to hear the case and examine witnesses. Creighton’s tutor, Duport (who gave us our large silver salt-cellar), spoke up for his pupil, and thereon the master said that the charge looked like malice, and it did not matter much if Creighton did neglect to go to the private prayer meetings of undergraduates since he never failed to go to chapel and to his tutor’s lectures. He then proposed, if we may trust our authority, that the seniority should at once reject the informer and his friends, and elect to the vacant fellowships the accused and his friends, and so it was done. Such were elections then!

It is satisfactory to add that public opinion in the College was against those who trumped up this ridiculous charge, and on the day after the election the following notice was found on the screens. “He that informed against Ds Creighton deserves to have his breech kickt on.” An amusing glimpse of life under the Commonwealth. Note that the tutor[41]gave lectures to his pupils, and from the tutorial point of view observe the esteem gained by regular attendance thereat.

No obligation to take pupils seems ever to have been imposed on fellows, though a pupil once taken could not be transferred. This, and the fact that scholars were elected only from students already in residence, made it undesirable to retain any rule to the effect that a fellow should not have more than one pensioner as a pupil. Hence in time those who liked tutorial work and did it well were allowed to have more than one pensioner pupil, and gradually the bulk of the entries came to be made under a comparatively few tutors.

The average annual entry of students at Trinity during the years 1551 to 1600 was fifty-one, during the years 1601 to 1650 was fifty, and during the years 1651 to 1700 was thirty-nine. During the years 1701 to 1750, it sank to twenty-seven: this diminution being partly due to the Bentley scandals. During the years 1751 to 1800 the average annual entry was thirty-seven, during the years 1801 to 1850 was one hundred and sixteen, during the years 1851 to 1900 was one hundred and seventy-four, and during the years 1901 to 1913 was one hundred and ninety-nine.

Let us see how the men were divided among the tutors. From April to December 1635, twenty-eight[42]students were admitted who were distributed among seventeen tutors, of whom eleven had only one pupil and none had more than four pupils. Taking every tenth year thenceforward, we find that in 1645, there were (excluding ten fellows intruded by order of parliament) fifty-seven entries; of these fifty-one were divided among ten tutors. In 1655, there were fifty-three normal entries divided among twelve tutors; in 1665, forty-three entries divided among six tutors; in 1675, forty-nine entries divided among twelve tutors; in 1685, thirty-four entries divided among five tutors; and in 1695, twenty-eight entries divided among four tutors. In 1705, there were twenty-nine entries, of these twenty-eight students were divided among three tutors. In 1715, there were fourteen entries divided among six tutors; in 1725, thirty-four entries divided among twelve tutors; in 1735, twenty-eight entries divided among six tutors; and in 1745, twenty-one entries divided among eight tutors.

In 1755 there were only two fellows acting as tutors, namely S. Whisson and J. Backhouse. Thenceforth there were definite tutorial “sides,” each under one tutor or joint tutors, a tutor being appointed to a side when a vacancy occurred; and every admission to the College being made on a designated side. In effect the work of a tutor was now regarded as being of a character which should occupy[43]a man’s whole energies, and it was generally held that a tutor, while he held office, had not, and ought not to have, leisure during term-time for independent work. From 1755 to 1822 there were two sides. In 1822 a third side was created. In 1872 one of the sides (being the lineal successor of Backhouse’s side) was divided into two. These four sides are to-day designated in the college office by the lettersA,B,C,D; sideAbeing that created in 1822, sidesBandDbeing the two made out of the successor of Backhouse’s side, and sideCbeing the lineal successor of Whisson’s side. [In the pre-war days of 1914 sideAwas under Dr Barnes, sideBunder Mr Laurence, sideCunder Mr Whetham, and sideDunder Dr Fletcher.]

Proceeding by decades in the same way as before, the entries on each of the two sides (denoted byCandBD) which existed from 1755 to 1822 were in 1755, nineteen and ten; in 1765, four and six; in 1775, twenty-one and twenty-four; in 1785, eighteen and twenty-nine; in 1795, twenty-nine and seventeen; in 1805, forty-two and twenty-six; and in 1815, fifty-one and thirty-six. From 1822 to 1872 there were three sides (denoted byC,BD,A): the normal entries on these were in 1825, forty-two, fifty-five, forty-one; in 1835, forty, forty-five, fifty-three; in 1845, fifty, sixty-eight, forty-nine; in 1855, fifty-three, forty-eight, fifty; and in 1865, fifty-eight,[44]nineteen, sixty. Since 1872 there have been four sides (denoted byC,B,D,A) which were made approximately equal: the normal entries on these were in 1875, forty-one, forty, forty-four, forty; in 1885, forty-nine, forty-four, forty-five, forty-eight; in 1895, forty-eight, thirty-eight, fifty, fifty-one; and in 1905, fifty, fifty-three, fifty, fifty-seven.

Until 1755 the number of pupils in residence in any one term assigned to an individual tutor was not large, and a tutor interested in any particular aspect of a subject likely to be studied was generally available: hence it was usually possible for a tutor to give personally the teaching and guidance required by his pupils. There were then no lecture-rooms in College, so probably all instruction was given in the tutor’s rooms and was informal in character. With the establishment in 1755 of sides, this system of teaching required modification, and in the course of the latter half of the eighteenth century it became the custom for a tutor to supplement his teaching by the services of another fellow or other fellows. These officers, known as Assistant-Tutors, were appointed and paid by individual tutors; they lectured regularly, took an important part in the life of the Society, and occupied a recognized position.

A marked development of the system of formal lectures is indicated by the erection in 1835 of a[45]block of four large and four medium-sized lecture-rooms. No other important changes were made for another thirty years, and until 1868 instruction remained normally organized by sides; indeed it was only by arrangement that lectures on one side were open to men on the other sides, though in fairness it must be added that an arrangement for throwing them open was made as a matter of course whenever it seemed desirable. The retention to so late a date of appointments by sides was due to the fact that the finances of the four sides were then kept as separate accounts.

This scheme, clumsy and illogical though it was, might have worked fairly well as long as the great majority of honour men read nothing but mathematics, classics, and perhaps theology, but it was condemned by the fact that the authorities allowed it to be superseded in practice by an elaborate system of private tuition paid for by the individual students. With the introduction of new subjects (like law, history, and various branches of science) and the development of the corresponding triposes, it became necessary to recast the scheme of teaching if adequate college instruction on such subjects was to be provided. The earliest appointment of a college lecturer (as contrasted with an assistant-tutor nominally attached to a particular side) was made in 1868, his lectures being open to all[46]students of the Society, and his stipend not charged on the funds of a particular side. This was soon followed by the placing of all educational appointments and finance in the hands of the College without regard to sides; and shortly afterwards the lecture-room accommodation was considerably extended.

About this time a further step was taken by throwing most of the advanced lectures open to members of other colleges. Thus in a few years instruction by tutorial sides was replaced by college lectures and class-work, and then this, to a large extent, by teaching organized on a university basis, supplemented by individual and catechetical instruction in college: with this, the custom of using private tuition has largely disappeared. Ultimately the title of assistant-tutor was dropped; the last appointment under that title was made in 1885, but from about 1870 we may say that practically the duties of an assistant-tutor were those of a lecturer. Thenceforth tutors also took their share of lecturing on subjects connected with their own lines of study, and did not confine their instruction to their own pupils, though for a year or two lectures on elementary mathematics and classics to freshmen on each particular side survived as a historic curiosity. These changes led to the existing scheme under which tutorial and tuition duties are separated, and thus the giving of direct instruction to[47]his pupils is not now necessarily part of the duties of a tutor.

The sequence of tutors on each side has been published, and I am sorely tempted to add various anecdotes on the way in which some of these officers fulfilled their duties, but such additions lie outside the object of this essay.

Of course during this long period there have been bad as well as good tutors, but I think everyone will admit that on the whole the system has worked well. Its special characteristic is a personal relation between the tutor and the pupil, materially strengthened by constant intercourse and by the fact that practically all the correspondence with the parents of the pupil passes through the hands of the tutor: experience shows that the tutorial influence has not been weakened by the fact that in most cases direct instruction is now given by other lecturers.

17The history of the University prior to 1546 covers some three centuries and a half, that is, about as long a period as has elapsed since 1546.

17The history of the University prior to 1546 covers some three centuries and a half, that is, about as long a period as has elapsed since 1546.

[48]CHAPTER III.THE WESTMINSTER SCHOLARS.Therelations between Trinity College and Westminster School have always been of an intimate character. Under the Elizabethan statutes of the two foundations a limited number of boys from the school were entitled, if duly qualified, to election to scholarships at Trinity, and later an attempt was made to extend the privilege to fellowships. The whole matter is now one of ancient history, but it may be interesting to put on record some of the facts connected with it.The school at Westminster owes its foundation to queen Elizabeth. Of course the abbey is many centuries older, and in a sense so is the school, for a grammar-school (in addition to the choir-school) had been attached to the medieval monastery, though doubtless it existed only at the pleasure of the monks. When Henry VIII created the diocese of Westminster with the former abbey as its cathedral, he also established a school connected with it. The diocese soon disappeared, and later the church and buildings were given by queen Mary to the Benedictines. The arrangement made[49]by Mary was in turn annulled by Elizabeth, who, shortly after her succession founded the collegiate Church of St Peter, divided into two branches, one ecclesiastical and the other scholastic, the whole being placed under the rule of the dean and chapter. Thus Elizabeth is rightly designated as the founder of the present school, though a link with the past has been preserved in the fact that the sequence of headmasters dates by custom from 1540. The buildings were divided between the two sides of the College; for the scholastic side, one part of the monastic dormitory was made into a school-room, the granary was turned into a school dormitory, and the boys were allowed the use of the refectory for meals.The queen interested herself in the school she had established; its connection with particular colleges at the universities was suggested by the precedents of Winchester and Eton, and it was natural that she should desire to associate it closely with the Houses at Cambridge and Oxford which had been founded by her father. There is some reason to think that the details of the arrangement made were due to Bill, the first dean of Westminster, who was at the same time master of Trinity and provost of Eton; a fortunate pluralist!On 29 March 1560, Elizabeth gave new statutes to Trinity College, Cambridge, and in statute 13,[50]dealing with the sixty-two scholars of the College, she directed as follows:Sumantur autem potissimum et eligantur ex eorum numero, si modo idonei et ceteris pares reperiantur qui Schola Regia Westmonasterii educati ...sint....Ex aliis regni partibus ac locis indifferenter ad numerum supplendum qui maxime idonei videbuntur, semper sumantur.In June 1560, she gave statutes to the Collegiate Church at Westminster, and in statute 6, dealing with the forty scholars of the school, she directed that three scholars from the school should be elected annually to the foundation of Christ Church, Oxford, and three to that of Trinity College, Cambridge. It is said that the queen did not ratify these statutes. Be this as it may, in the following year, on 11 June 1561, she sent to Trinity College letters patent referring to the Westminster statutes as indicating her wishes in the matter, and expressing her desire that the Society should select as many scholars from Westminster as was possible. This then was the position in 1561, and it was recognised these letters were binding and conferred rights on duly qualified Westminster scholars.Throughout the three centuries of the existence of these rights, candidates usually preferred the Christ Church studentships, which, being tenable under certain conditions for life, were much more valuable than Trinity scholarships, since the latter[51]ran out in less than seven years. Perhaps too the boys were attracted to Christ Church rather than to Trinity by the fact that there they formed a larger proportion of the whole Society than in Henry’s foundation by the Cam. Further a boy elected to Christ Church entered sooner into the emoluments of his studentship than a boy elected to Trinity—the latter not being admitted to his scholarship until the next annual election of scholars which took place in the following spring, usually some six months after he had commenced residence.There were only forty scholars at Westminster and a provision for the election from them every year of six scholars to the two universities was more than ample. Thus in 1561 one scholar was elected to each university, during each of the six following years, 1562–67, two scholars were elected to each university, in 1568, six scholars were for the first time presented, and each university took three. In 1569 the school again presented three boys for election at Trinity, but the master, Whitgift, refused to elect more than two, alleging that there were not vacancies in the House for more than that number. Thereon the scholar or his friends appealed to Sir William Cecil, the chancellor of the University. Correspondence ensued, but the Society refused to give way on the particular election. On the general question the College[52]addressed a letter18, dated 3 July 1569, to Cecil entreating him to interpose with the queen to lighten the burden imposed on Trinity by the royal statutes, and asserting that the Westminster scholars took up so many places as to act to the detriment of other and more worthy students. The crown assented to this proposal, and it was agreed that thenceforth three scholars should be chosen every third year, and not necessarily more than two in the other years.This arrangement lasted but a short time, for a year or two later, perhaps in 1575, Goodman, dean of Westminster, petitioned19the lord treasurer to confirm or re-enact the original statutes whereby three Westminster scholars were to be elected each year to each of the two universities. The petition was granted, and, I conjecture, was the occasion of the letters patent sent by the queen on 7 February 1576, to Trinity College, Cambridge, and Christ Church, Oxford, wherein she repeated and explained her former injunctions. In these letters she stated that Westminster scholars were not to be allowed to remain at the school after attaining the age of eighteen, and in regard to their coming to one of the universities she directed:Quamvis cupimus plurimos e nostris Discipulis Westmonasterii ad Academias in dicta Collegia quotannis[53]promoveri, tamen ne incertus sit omnino numerus, sex ad minimum, videlicet, tres in Ecclesiam Christi Oxonii et tres in Collegium Trinitatis, singulis annis, si aut tot loca vacua ... aut tot idonei e nostris Discipulis Westmonasterii reperti fuerint, admitti volumus; Plures autem optamus, si ita praefatis Electoribus commodum videbitur.In fact, however, the former custom of electing three scholars every third year and two scholars in each of the other years continued until 1588 after which it became usual, though the custom was not invariable, to elect at least three scholars to each university each year. During the forty-seven years from 1561 to 1607 inclusive, one hundred and thirteen scholars in all were elected from Westminster to Trinity, of whom forty became fellows.In 1603 James I came to the throne. He interested himself in the school and was prepared to intervene in its interests or what he regarded as such. The earliest case of difficulty in the new reign occurred at the election in 1604 when the king directed the master of Trinity, Nevile, to whom in fact he was under some obligations, to take a boy, by name Albert Moreton, as one of the scholars of Trinity20. The boy was ignorant, and Nevile politely but definitely refused to accept him. The matter was not urged further, and though on some occasions later the Trinity electors consented under[54]pressure to alter the order in which candidates were elected, their right to reject on the ground of ignorance was not again disputed. Three years later, the College was faced by a more serious question concerning its connection with Westminster.In 1607, James I addressed letters patent to Trinity College, in which after referring to the letters patent already mentioned, he ordered them to be strictly observed, and intimated that thereafter the scholars of Trinity should be taken chiefly from Westminster school if duly qualified. He then continued that he observed that the scholars who had been elected to Christ Church were notable for their learning and subsequent distinction, and regretted that this was not so in the case of the scholars elected to Trinity, a fact which he attributed to their want of succession to fellowships and to their leaving the University as soon as they had taken the degree of master. Accordingly he ordered that Westminster scholars at Trinity who had taken the bachelor’s degree should, unless deficient in learning or good conduct, be promoted to fellowships in preference to other candidates. He further ordered that any Westminster scholar in the College, who had not been admitted to a fellowship before taking a master’s degree, might remain resident an additional two years during which time he should be eligible to a fellowship, subject to lawful exceptions.[55]The letters are dated 27 June 1607, but it would appear that they were not presented until September of that year.Deep resentment was felt at this order, for Trinity attached great importance to the desirability of electing as fellows the best candidates, though it was admitted that candidates from places where the House had property had statutable claims for special consideration. The College took immediate steps to protect itself, and in support of its position addressed to the chancellor of the University, the earl of Salisbury, a petition accompanied by a reasoned memorandum. These documents are not dated, but I think may be assigned to the Michaelmas term, 1607.The petition is briefly to beg the chancellor to assist the College in obtaining a review of the letters patent with the object of maintaining its ancient privileges and former liberties; the letters patent being said to be contrary to the intentions of its founder, and to its statutes21. The wording is humble and courtly.The memorandum that accompanied the petition is more outspoken. It is long, but it is so interesting that I shall venture to quote from or describe it at[56]length. I conjecture that it was composed by Nevile. It contains fourteen assertions or arguments to the following effect:1.It is inconvenient that so large a College as Trinity should be restrained unto a particular School, and it can be easily shown that other Schools have furnished Trinity with students of much better hope and proof than Westminster hath done or is likely to do, for the whole number of Westminster boys who are eligible to both Universities are but forty, and there are seldom more than eight or nine candidates for the six vacancies at the two Universities.2.To alter or subvert the ancient liberties of one of the chiefest Colleges in Christendom and to divert from the uses intended by his Majesty’s Predecessors a foundation like Trinity in order to satisfy private humour or under the pretence of benefitting an ordinary School is a great indignity to his Majesty’s Sacred Person, Power, and Prerogative.3.The suggestion that boys coming to Trinity do not become Fellows, Doctors, Deans, and Bishops as do boys entering Christ Church is untrue, frivolous, and unfair: it is untrue, because, in fact, of the existing sixty Fellows of the College, more than one-sixth have come from Westminster, and at Trinity the custom is to prefer the worthy: it is frivolous, for the fact of a man having once been at school at Westminster is not the cause of his advancement to the position of a Doctor, Dean, or Bishop: and it is unfair, “for although Christ Church in Oxford be a most magnificent and royal foundation, and hath bred in all ages as learned, wise, and worthy prelates as the kingdom hath, yet Trinity College in Cambridge hath had no less royal founders, and if we fail in our Westminster brood (as otherwise I hope we do not) either the defect hath been[57]in themselves or else (which rather we suppose) it may be imputed to those good means the other College hath, being also a Cathedral Church and having Cannons both richly beneficed and highly dignified which doth enable them to Doctorships, Deaneries, and Bishopricks—a great blessing of God that our poor College wanteth.”4.“Howbeit in that kind of fruitfulness we also are not destitute of God’s gracious blessing; for ... besides Doctors in all faculties to the number at the least of sixty, Deans to the number of eleven, Publick Professors to the number of ten, the two Archbishops, Canterbury and York, the most Reverend Fathers Whitgift and Hutton, and seven other principal Prelates of this kingdom, namely, Fletcher of London, Still of Bath and Wells, Babington of Worcester, Redman of Norwich, Rud of St Davids, Bennet of Hereford, and Gouldesborough of Gloucester, all of them simul et semel Bishops of this kingdom ... are such a demonstrative instance as we think no other College in either University can afford the like—and not one of these chosen out of Westminster School.”5.“It is to be doubted whether there can be the like success if our Elections out of a private School shall be indubitate and certain; we rather think there can be no readier means to make Droanes and Loyterers in Colleges, nor any worse prejudice or more deadly bane unto learning and vertue, then when the rewards, and means thereof are tyed to persons, times, and places, and made regular and certain.”6.The proposal would do a grave injustice to other students who might be men of great abilities.7.The proposal would defeat the express wishes of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, all of whom are to be reckoned as founders as well as benefactors of Trinity College.[58]8 and 9.The proposal would be contrary to the existing statutes of the College, and to the oaths taken by the Master and Fellows on admission.10.Preferences of this character are injurious to the particular School, the College, and the whole University, and a constant source of discord and contention.11.“It is also against the Policy and common-wealth of a kingdom to restrain and abridge places and preferments originally meant, founded, and hitherto with good success employed for the common benefit of that kingdom to a private School: for benefits and privileges are to be amplified and not restrained; publick rewards are not to be applied to private places, purposes, or respects.”12.Interference with the intentions and directions, of previous benefactors is contrary to public policy, and tends to prevent future benefactions.13.This implies that Nevile had accepted the office of master of Trinity College under promises which rendered it inequitable that the college statutes should, during his tenure of the post, be altered against his wishes, but it is stated that this argument, though noted, is not to be pressed.14.This raises some technical points, especially as to whether statutes of a College given under the great seal can be varied by letters patent without explicit reference to the clauses altered or repealed.The memorandum concludes with a request that the College may have liberty to ask the opinion of the Judges on the questions raised, and thus obtain the benefit of the king’s “most equal just and princely laws.”The use of the personal pronoun in one or two cases and the reference in the thirteenth paragraph to Nevile suggest that the document was composed by him. I cannot find out anything about the result[59]of the petition, but I conjecture that nothing came of it. Nevile however was not inclined to let the matter rest, and no doubt the esteem felt for him at court and his personal popularity were of great assistance to the Society in the negotiations that followed.It was a few months later, in May 1608, at the annual election of scholars at Westminster that Nevile took the next step in defence of the college position. The following account of the election is based on a paper preserved at Westminster:The Master of Trinity College (Nevile) refused to take the oath which was required, previously to the election, by the Law of the land as well as by the local Statutes. He also refused to elect to his College the three Scholars ordered by the Letters Patent of the Crown. The oath however was taken by the Dean of Westminster (Neile) and the Dean of Christ Church (King), as well as by their assistants, and by the Master of the School (Ireland). The Dean of Westminster then demanded, in writing, that the election should proceed; when the Master of Trinity College referred to some composition by which he stated he would be governed. To this the Dean of Westminster replied, that he knew of no such composition, and that, if it had existed, it was necessarily set aside by the Letters Patent of Queen Elizabeth and of His Majesty; whereon the Master of Trinity College observed, though with much protestation of his loyalty, that he did not allow the validity of the Letters Patent.The other Electors, however, having agreed to proceed, the nine Scholars who had been examined were called in to hear the Statute read for the election to the two Colleges. The Master of Trinity then said that he had not places[60]enough vacant in his College. [In fact in April he and the Seniority had filled up all scholarships then vacant and pre-elected men to succeed to scholarships as vacancies occurred.] To this it was replied, that the want of vacancies had been occasioned by pre-elections of supernumerary Scholars, that the words of the Statute were disjunctive, and there was a clause commanding such Scholars to be received if they were fit. The Master of Trinity College did not deny the fitness of the candidates, but still refused to elect. In this wrangling the whole morning was wasted.At length they went to dinner. After this, a fear having been expressed, that this “distraction” might become troublesome to their friends, “perhaps to His Majesty,” and “not without some obloquy” to themselves, the Master of Trinity College proposed a private settlement, naming October for it. The suggestion was favourably received by the Electors other than the Dean of Westminster. The latter however affirmed, that with his consent less than three Scholars should never be taken by Trinity College and three by Christ Church if the School produced so many fit Scholars: and as to that part of the Letters Patent, which related to the election of Westminster Scholars at Trinity College to Fellowships, he required that they should be taken in preference to others, if their qualifications were equal; stating at the same time, that the clause declaring them eligible to Fellowships two years after their degree of A.M. had arisen solely from the practice of pre-electing so many Fellows, that for three or four years together no election took place; and the Westminster Scholars at Trinity College were driven out to seek a better fortune elsewhere. The Master of Trinity College allowed that the practice of pre-elections was wrong; and it was at length agreed that if this were discontinued, that part of the King’s Letters concerning the eligibility of Westminster Scholars two years after their[61]degree of A.M. should not be urged against the local statute of Trinity College,De Gradibus Suscipiendis. Thereupon the Master of Trinity College took for his College as Scholars three candidates, to wit, Hacket, Shirley, and Herbert.The three scholars so taken obtained fellowships in due course, Hacket became chaplain to James I, Charles I, and later to Charles II, suffered cruel persecution under the commonwealth, and at the restoration was made bishop of Lichfield: the Bishop’s Hostel was erected at his cost. An incident in Shirley’s career is chronicled below (see p. 223). Herbert was the well-known poet and divine. If the above account is reliable, and there is no reason to doubt its accuracy, the most important question in dispute, namely the preferential right of Westminsters to election to fellowships at Trinity, was left open. Nevile however had no intention to allow the matter to drop, and having made his protest at Westminster, he now secured the good services of his friend and Cambridge contemporary, Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, who undertook to act as mediator in drawing up a “friendly and full” settlement of the question.An agreement, drafted I feel confident by Nevile, was submitted to the archbishop and, after he had made a few alterations, was accepted by the dean and chapter of Westminster. The seniority of Trinity College, on 5 September 1608, passed a[62]minute that the matter “be referred to our Master against the 13thof October,” and the deed is so dated, but its execution must have been delayed since there is a minute of the seniority, 8 December 1608, ordering that the composition with Westminster should be engrossed and sealed at the audit so as to be delivered before 1 February 1609.The deed embodying this agreement was made between the dean and chapter of Westminster and Trinity College, and provided that the College should take yearly three scholars from Westminster School to be scholars of the College, and that there should be no pre-elections of supernumerary fellows to the prejudice of the Westminster scholars if deserving of fellowships. In consideration of these definite obligations the dean and chapter of Westminster agreed that the letters patent of 1607 should never be urged against the College by the dean and chapter or the schoolmaster or ushers or scholars of Westminster, and that the College should have such full power to elect fellows as had been previously enjoyed, excepting only the practice of pre-elections. To the deed is appended a statement that it was made with the privity and approbation of the archbishop of Canterbury, the earl of Salisbury (lord high treasurer of England and chancellor of the University of Cambridge), and of the earl of Northampton (the lord privy seal), all of whom signed[63]it. This conclusion of the affair may be regarded as a personal triumph for Nevile.The arrangement was submitted to the king who in a letter directed to the College approved it, but required that the Westminster scholars each year should be granted seniority over other scholars of Trinity of their year and not be hindered by pre-elections: he did not however withdraw or rescind the previous letters patent. I have never seen the text of this letter but its contents are indisputable, and there are various subsequent references to it. The obligation to allow this seniority to the Westminster scholars was henceforth recognized by the College as binding on it.The advisers of Trinity seem to have been doubtful whether it would be admitted that this second letter implied the rescission of the letters of 1607, and since there was every reason to avoid raising the question whether royal letters or mandates could be set aside or modified by private arrangements, it was wise to let matters run on as long as the agreement of 1608 was carried out by the school authorities. There is however a memorandum, ascribed to January 1610 in the State Papers, showing that “the recent grant by the King for the students of Trinity College, Cambridge, to be chosen from the Westminster scholars is prejudicial to the interests of Trinity,” which seems to imply that further negotiations took[64]place. I have not seen the memorandum and know nothing more about this than here appears.During the sixteen years following this settlement, that is, from 1608 to 1623 inclusive, fifty-eight scholars were elected from Westminster to Trinity, of whom sixteen became fellows.In 1623–24 a fresh dispute occurred. It would appear that while Trinity carried out its undertaking relating to the election of scholars from Westminster, it again began to pre-elect fellows with the object, it was said, of preventing any claim being made on behalf of the Westminster scholars in residence. Whether this was done in self-protection against unjustifiable claims or was a deliberate breach of the agreement of 1608 we do not know. An appeal to the crown on behalf of the school ensued, and on 7 September 1623, the king sent letters patent to the College as follows:Trusty and well beloved we greet you well. Being much interested in the prosperity and well-fare of that our College which is both our immediate Foundation and the fairest in all our kingdoms, and furnished, for the most part with the extracions of our own free-school at Westminster, we cannot but be very sensible of any alteration in the government of the same.Whereas therefore we are given to understand that younger students of that College have of late years been totally disheartened in their studies by a new and unwarrantable device of pre-electing more Fellows than there are places vacant at the time of that Election and the[65]Scholars of our own School (in whose loyalty and affection we are so much interested from their cradles) strangely discouraged and disgraced by being cast in their seniority behind all the Scholars and Fellows in their several Elections though never so exceeding in learning and education, we straightly will and require you that from this time forward ye do forbear all manner of pre-elections whatsoever as the pest and bane of all learning and succession; and that also you bear that regard and respect to the Scholars of that our own Royal School in giving them in all such elections respect and precedency which we are informed they fully deserve before all other of what country soever. Lastly, whereas we are given to understand that heretofore a corrupt custom hath crept into that our College of turning elections into particular nominations of the Master and the several Seniors which smells altogether of partialitie and corruption we do straightly will and require you the said Master of our College of whom we conceive a very good opinion, to see that hereafter all elections as well of Scholars as of Fellows be done according to the local statutes of your College and carried about with that pluralitie of voices therein required.What reply (if any) the College made or could make I do not know, but presumably the answer was not satisfactory as these letters were followed by the appointment of royal commissioners to enquire into the Westminster elections. There is extant a letter from the master of Trinity (Richardson) dated 9 June 1624, to one of the commissioners, asking to be excused from attending the usual election of Westminster scholars, on account of[66]poor health. Probably this was regarded as an impertinence, and he must have been reprimanded since we have a letter dated 26 June signed by the master and six of the senior fellows, deprecating the royal displeasure, offering the most humble submission, promising to obey in anything that his majesty might command, but begging that present compliance might not be drawn into an example against the College. Richardson and James I died in March 1625, and the enquiry seems to have been then dropped.The election in 1636 was interesting. It is said that among the candidates was Cowley who had already written various poems and a comedy showing distinct ability. The story runs that the boy failed badly in grammar, and the Trinity electors, insisting that this was conclusive, rejected him as a Westminster scholar, but offered him an ordinary scholarship at Trinity, which he accepted. Against this are the fact that he had been entered at Trinity as a pensioner in April, a few weeks before the election at Westminster, and the improbability that the electors would have drawn such a distinction between Westminster and other scholars of the House. Still old-time anecdotes are not to be lightly rejected: at any rate Cowley came into residence in due course and was made a scholar in the same term as the four boys taken from Westminster by the electors, these five[67]students being the only scholars elected by the College in 1637.During the seventy-seven years from 1624 to 1700 inclusive, three hundred and fifty-six scholars were elected from Westminster to Trinity, of whom one hundred and twenty-six became fellows. During the fifty years, 1701 to 1750, out of one hundred and eighty-seven Westminster scholars at Trinity sixty-two became fellows; during the fifty years, 1751 to 1800, out of one hundred and eighty, thirty became fellows; and during the fifty-six years, 1801 to 1856, out of one hundred and seventy, four became fellows. Throughout this long period the friendly relations between the College and the school suffered no change.In 1727 there was a curious echo of the controversy of 1607. A strange suggestion had been made, apparently with the tacit approval of the authorities of Westminster, that new statutes should be given to Trinity constituting the dean and chapter of Westminster Visitors of the College, and it was decided by the advocates of the movement to open the campaign by asking the dean of Westminster to call the attention of the master of Trinity (Bentley), to the “Letters Anno Quinto Jacobi Primi.” Bentley replied on 5 March 1727, denied their validity and argued that even if originally valid, they could not be pressed after more[68]than a century during which time “they had never been acted upon”: he added that, if antiquated letters were still binding, there were various matters in which he had powers, whose exercise might prove singularly inconvenient to those who had raised the question. This was really conclusive, but further consideration had shown the inherent weakness or folly of the original idea, and the chapter was wise enough to proceed no further with the matter.Shortly afterwards, probably at the following election at Westminster, Bentley is said to have referred to the dean’s communication, and remarked that the authority of the letters of 1607 would doubtless have seemed stronger, at any rate to the dean’s predecessor (Atterbury), if not to the chapter, could they have been described as “Anno Primo Jacobi Tertii”—an irrelevant remark, but it carried a sting, for Atterbury’s devotion to the cause of the Pretender was deeply resented by the government.From an unknown date until the early years of the nineteenth century, Westminster scholars at Trinity were allowed the privilege of wearing academic gowns of a cut different from those of other undergraduates and further distinguished by having on the sleeves a violet button with a silk loop. The gowns of all pensioners in the University were then[69]black and (except for those worn by Westminsters) cut to a common pattern. The Westminster distinction was discontinued when the present system of different gowns for different Colleges was introduced.During the first half of the nineteenth century the numbers in the school fell seriously, and well-founded complaints were made about the standard of scholarship attained by the scholars elected to the universities. In 1856, as the result of negotiations, initiated by Whewell, the arrangements with Trinity were completely recast, and it was agreed on 5 December 1856 that the school should abandon the right of Westminster boys to election to scholarships at Trinity, and that in filling up open emoluments in Trinity, former Westminster boys should enjoy no preference. In consideration of this release, the Society undertook to establish at its own cost, exhibitions, not more than three to be awarded each year, for boys elected from the school who were otherwise qualified for admission to the College; every such exhibitioner, if so deserving, to be eligible for a college scholarship tenable with the exhibition. This was approved by the queen in council on 25 June 1857. It was further agreed that the Westminster exhibitioners were to be placed on the same footing as exhibitioners elected by open competition before commencing[70]residence. The mode of election is settled by the school statutes, but it would seem that the Trinity electors have no right to demand intellectual attainments beyond those required at the time for admission to the College. The exhibitions are not now confined to scholars of the school.So ends the story of Westminster Scholars at Trinity College, Cambridge. During the two hundred and ninety-six years from 1561 to 1856 inclusive, one thousand and sixty-four scholars had been elected from Westminster to Trinity (or say 3.6 a year), of whom two hundred and seventy-eight (or say one in four) had become fellows. In conclusion I may add that in 1869 in virtue of the powers given by the Public Schools Act, 1868, the dean and chapter of Westminster, the dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and the master of Trinity College, Cambridge, created a new Governing Body in whom the governance of the school has been since vested.18SeeLife of Whitgiftby J. Strype, London, 1718, pp. 13, 14 and Appendix, pp. 7, 8.19Life of Whitgiftby J. Strype, London, 1718, Appendix, p. 9.20State Papers, Domestic, 1604, p. 185.21According to Dean Peacock, royal letters and orders, at variance with college statutes, were binding only if explicitly or tacitly accepted by the Society. That may have been technically correct, but it is very doubtful if Tudor or Stuart sovereigns would have admitted it.

Therelations between Trinity College and Westminster School have always been of an intimate character. Under the Elizabethan statutes of the two foundations a limited number of boys from the school were entitled, if duly qualified, to election to scholarships at Trinity, and later an attempt was made to extend the privilege to fellowships. The whole matter is now one of ancient history, but it may be interesting to put on record some of the facts connected with it.

The school at Westminster owes its foundation to queen Elizabeth. Of course the abbey is many centuries older, and in a sense so is the school, for a grammar-school (in addition to the choir-school) had been attached to the medieval monastery, though doubtless it existed only at the pleasure of the monks. When Henry VIII created the diocese of Westminster with the former abbey as its cathedral, he also established a school connected with it. The diocese soon disappeared, and later the church and buildings were given by queen Mary to the Benedictines. The arrangement made[49]by Mary was in turn annulled by Elizabeth, who, shortly after her succession founded the collegiate Church of St Peter, divided into two branches, one ecclesiastical and the other scholastic, the whole being placed under the rule of the dean and chapter. Thus Elizabeth is rightly designated as the founder of the present school, though a link with the past has been preserved in the fact that the sequence of headmasters dates by custom from 1540. The buildings were divided between the two sides of the College; for the scholastic side, one part of the monastic dormitory was made into a school-room, the granary was turned into a school dormitory, and the boys were allowed the use of the refectory for meals.

The queen interested herself in the school she had established; its connection with particular colleges at the universities was suggested by the precedents of Winchester and Eton, and it was natural that she should desire to associate it closely with the Houses at Cambridge and Oxford which had been founded by her father. There is some reason to think that the details of the arrangement made were due to Bill, the first dean of Westminster, who was at the same time master of Trinity and provost of Eton; a fortunate pluralist!

On 29 March 1560, Elizabeth gave new statutes to Trinity College, Cambridge, and in statute 13,[50]dealing with the sixty-two scholars of the College, she directed as follows:

Sumantur autem potissimum et eligantur ex eorum numero, si modo idonei et ceteris pares reperiantur qui Schola Regia Westmonasterii educati ...sint....Ex aliis regni partibus ac locis indifferenter ad numerum supplendum qui maxime idonei videbuntur, semper sumantur.

Sumantur autem potissimum et eligantur ex eorum numero, si modo idonei et ceteris pares reperiantur qui Schola Regia Westmonasterii educati ...sint....Ex aliis regni partibus ac locis indifferenter ad numerum supplendum qui maxime idonei videbuntur, semper sumantur.

In June 1560, she gave statutes to the Collegiate Church at Westminster, and in statute 6, dealing with the forty scholars of the school, she directed that three scholars from the school should be elected annually to the foundation of Christ Church, Oxford, and three to that of Trinity College, Cambridge. It is said that the queen did not ratify these statutes. Be this as it may, in the following year, on 11 June 1561, she sent to Trinity College letters patent referring to the Westminster statutes as indicating her wishes in the matter, and expressing her desire that the Society should select as many scholars from Westminster as was possible. This then was the position in 1561, and it was recognised these letters were binding and conferred rights on duly qualified Westminster scholars.

Throughout the three centuries of the existence of these rights, candidates usually preferred the Christ Church studentships, which, being tenable under certain conditions for life, were much more valuable than Trinity scholarships, since the latter[51]ran out in less than seven years. Perhaps too the boys were attracted to Christ Church rather than to Trinity by the fact that there they formed a larger proportion of the whole Society than in Henry’s foundation by the Cam. Further a boy elected to Christ Church entered sooner into the emoluments of his studentship than a boy elected to Trinity—the latter not being admitted to his scholarship until the next annual election of scholars which took place in the following spring, usually some six months after he had commenced residence.

There were only forty scholars at Westminster and a provision for the election from them every year of six scholars to the two universities was more than ample. Thus in 1561 one scholar was elected to each university, during each of the six following years, 1562–67, two scholars were elected to each university, in 1568, six scholars were for the first time presented, and each university took three. In 1569 the school again presented three boys for election at Trinity, but the master, Whitgift, refused to elect more than two, alleging that there were not vacancies in the House for more than that number. Thereon the scholar or his friends appealed to Sir William Cecil, the chancellor of the University. Correspondence ensued, but the Society refused to give way on the particular election. On the general question the College[52]addressed a letter18, dated 3 July 1569, to Cecil entreating him to interpose with the queen to lighten the burden imposed on Trinity by the royal statutes, and asserting that the Westminster scholars took up so many places as to act to the detriment of other and more worthy students. The crown assented to this proposal, and it was agreed that thenceforth three scholars should be chosen every third year, and not necessarily more than two in the other years.

This arrangement lasted but a short time, for a year or two later, perhaps in 1575, Goodman, dean of Westminster, petitioned19the lord treasurer to confirm or re-enact the original statutes whereby three Westminster scholars were to be elected each year to each of the two universities. The petition was granted, and, I conjecture, was the occasion of the letters patent sent by the queen on 7 February 1576, to Trinity College, Cambridge, and Christ Church, Oxford, wherein she repeated and explained her former injunctions. In these letters she stated that Westminster scholars were not to be allowed to remain at the school after attaining the age of eighteen, and in regard to their coming to one of the universities she directed:

Quamvis cupimus plurimos e nostris Discipulis Westmonasterii ad Academias in dicta Collegia quotannis[53]promoveri, tamen ne incertus sit omnino numerus, sex ad minimum, videlicet, tres in Ecclesiam Christi Oxonii et tres in Collegium Trinitatis, singulis annis, si aut tot loca vacua ... aut tot idonei e nostris Discipulis Westmonasterii reperti fuerint, admitti volumus; Plures autem optamus, si ita praefatis Electoribus commodum videbitur.

Quamvis cupimus plurimos e nostris Discipulis Westmonasterii ad Academias in dicta Collegia quotannis[53]promoveri, tamen ne incertus sit omnino numerus, sex ad minimum, videlicet, tres in Ecclesiam Christi Oxonii et tres in Collegium Trinitatis, singulis annis, si aut tot loca vacua ... aut tot idonei e nostris Discipulis Westmonasterii reperti fuerint, admitti volumus; Plures autem optamus, si ita praefatis Electoribus commodum videbitur.

In fact, however, the former custom of electing three scholars every third year and two scholars in each of the other years continued until 1588 after which it became usual, though the custom was not invariable, to elect at least three scholars to each university each year. During the forty-seven years from 1561 to 1607 inclusive, one hundred and thirteen scholars in all were elected from Westminster to Trinity, of whom forty became fellows.

In 1603 James I came to the throne. He interested himself in the school and was prepared to intervene in its interests or what he regarded as such. The earliest case of difficulty in the new reign occurred at the election in 1604 when the king directed the master of Trinity, Nevile, to whom in fact he was under some obligations, to take a boy, by name Albert Moreton, as one of the scholars of Trinity20. The boy was ignorant, and Nevile politely but definitely refused to accept him. The matter was not urged further, and though on some occasions later the Trinity electors consented under[54]pressure to alter the order in which candidates were elected, their right to reject on the ground of ignorance was not again disputed. Three years later, the College was faced by a more serious question concerning its connection with Westminster.

In 1607, James I addressed letters patent to Trinity College, in which after referring to the letters patent already mentioned, he ordered them to be strictly observed, and intimated that thereafter the scholars of Trinity should be taken chiefly from Westminster school if duly qualified. He then continued that he observed that the scholars who had been elected to Christ Church were notable for their learning and subsequent distinction, and regretted that this was not so in the case of the scholars elected to Trinity, a fact which he attributed to their want of succession to fellowships and to their leaving the University as soon as they had taken the degree of master. Accordingly he ordered that Westminster scholars at Trinity who had taken the bachelor’s degree should, unless deficient in learning or good conduct, be promoted to fellowships in preference to other candidates. He further ordered that any Westminster scholar in the College, who had not been admitted to a fellowship before taking a master’s degree, might remain resident an additional two years during which time he should be eligible to a fellowship, subject to lawful exceptions.[55]The letters are dated 27 June 1607, but it would appear that they were not presented until September of that year.

Deep resentment was felt at this order, for Trinity attached great importance to the desirability of electing as fellows the best candidates, though it was admitted that candidates from places where the House had property had statutable claims for special consideration. The College took immediate steps to protect itself, and in support of its position addressed to the chancellor of the University, the earl of Salisbury, a petition accompanied by a reasoned memorandum. These documents are not dated, but I think may be assigned to the Michaelmas term, 1607.

The petition is briefly to beg the chancellor to assist the College in obtaining a review of the letters patent with the object of maintaining its ancient privileges and former liberties; the letters patent being said to be contrary to the intentions of its founder, and to its statutes21. The wording is humble and courtly.

The memorandum that accompanied the petition is more outspoken. It is long, but it is so interesting that I shall venture to quote from or describe it at[56]length. I conjecture that it was composed by Nevile. It contains fourteen assertions or arguments to the following effect:

1.It is inconvenient that so large a College as Trinity should be restrained unto a particular School, and it can be easily shown that other Schools have furnished Trinity with students of much better hope and proof than Westminster hath done or is likely to do, for the whole number of Westminster boys who are eligible to both Universities are but forty, and there are seldom more than eight or nine candidates for the six vacancies at the two Universities.2.To alter or subvert the ancient liberties of one of the chiefest Colleges in Christendom and to divert from the uses intended by his Majesty’s Predecessors a foundation like Trinity in order to satisfy private humour or under the pretence of benefitting an ordinary School is a great indignity to his Majesty’s Sacred Person, Power, and Prerogative.3.The suggestion that boys coming to Trinity do not become Fellows, Doctors, Deans, and Bishops as do boys entering Christ Church is untrue, frivolous, and unfair: it is untrue, because, in fact, of the existing sixty Fellows of the College, more than one-sixth have come from Westminster, and at Trinity the custom is to prefer the worthy: it is frivolous, for the fact of a man having once been at school at Westminster is not the cause of his advancement to the position of a Doctor, Dean, or Bishop: and it is unfair, “for although Christ Church in Oxford be a most magnificent and royal foundation, and hath bred in all ages as learned, wise, and worthy prelates as the kingdom hath, yet Trinity College in Cambridge hath had no less royal founders, and if we fail in our Westminster brood (as otherwise I hope we do not) either the defect hath been[57]in themselves or else (which rather we suppose) it may be imputed to those good means the other College hath, being also a Cathedral Church and having Cannons both richly beneficed and highly dignified which doth enable them to Doctorships, Deaneries, and Bishopricks—a great blessing of God that our poor College wanteth.”4.“Howbeit in that kind of fruitfulness we also are not destitute of God’s gracious blessing; for ... besides Doctors in all faculties to the number at the least of sixty, Deans to the number of eleven, Publick Professors to the number of ten, the two Archbishops, Canterbury and York, the most Reverend Fathers Whitgift and Hutton, and seven other principal Prelates of this kingdom, namely, Fletcher of London, Still of Bath and Wells, Babington of Worcester, Redman of Norwich, Rud of St Davids, Bennet of Hereford, and Gouldesborough of Gloucester, all of them simul et semel Bishops of this kingdom ... are such a demonstrative instance as we think no other College in either University can afford the like—and not one of these chosen out of Westminster School.”5.“It is to be doubted whether there can be the like success if our Elections out of a private School shall be indubitate and certain; we rather think there can be no readier means to make Droanes and Loyterers in Colleges, nor any worse prejudice or more deadly bane unto learning and vertue, then when the rewards, and means thereof are tyed to persons, times, and places, and made regular and certain.”6.The proposal would do a grave injustice to other students who might be men of great abilities.7.The proposal would defeat the express wishes of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, all of whom are to be reckoned as founders as well as benefactors of Trinity College.[58]8 and 9.The proposal would be contrary to the existing statutes of the College, and to the oaths taken by the Master and Fellows on admission.10.Preferences of this character are injurious to the particular School, the College, and the whole University, and a constant source of discord and contention.11.“It is also against the Policy and common-wealth of a kingdom to restrain and abridge places and preferments originally meant, founded, and hitherto with good success employed for the common benefit of that kingdom to a private School: for benefits and privileges are to be amplified and not restrained; publick rewards are not to be applied to private places, purposes, or respects.”12.Interference with the intentions and directions, of previous benefactors is contrary to public policy, and tends to prevent future benefactions.13.This implies that Nevile had accepted the office of master of Trinity College under promises which rendered it inequitable that the college statutes should, during his tenure of the post, be altered against his wishes, but it is stated that this argument, though noted, is not to be pressed.14.This raises some technical points, especially as to whether statutes of a College given under the great seal can be varied by letters patent without explicit reference to the clauses altered or repealed.The memorandum concludes with a request that the College may have liberty to ask the opinion of the Judges on the questions raised, and thus obtain the benefit of the king’s “most equal just and princely laws.”

1.It is inconvenient that so large a College as Trinity should be restrained unto a particular School, and it can be easily shown that other Schools have furnished Trinity with students of much better hope and proof than Westminster hath done or is likely to do, for the whole number of Westminster boys who are eligible to both Universities are but forty, and there are seldom more than eight or nine candidates for the six vacancies at the two Universities.

2.To alter or subvert the ancient liberties of one of the chiefest Colleges in Christendom and to divert from the uses intended by his Majesty’s Predecessors a foundation like Trinity in order to satisfy private humour or under the pretence of benefitting an ordinary School is a great indignity to his Majesty’s Sacred Person, Power, and Prerogative.

3.The suggestion that boys coming to Trinity do not become Fellows, Doctors, Deans, and Bishops as do boys entering Christ Church is untrue, frivolous, and unfair: it is untrue, because, in fact, of the existing sixty Fellows of the College, more than one-sixth have come from Westminster, and at Trinity the custom is to prefer the worthy: it is frivolous, for the fact of a man having once been at school at Westminster is not the cause of his advancement to the position of a Doctor, Dean, or Bishop: and it is unfair, “for although Christ Church in Oxford be a most magnificent and royal foundation, and hath bred in all ages as learned, wise, and worthy prelates as the kingdom hath, yet Trinity College in Cambridge hath had no less royal founders, and if we fail in our Westminster brood (as otherwise I hope we do not) either the defect hath been[57]in themselves or else (which rather we suppose) it may be imputed to those good means the other College hath, being also a Cathedral Church and having Cannons both richly beneficed and highly dignified which doth enable them to Doctorships, Deaneries, and Bishopricks—a great blessing of God that our poor College wanteth.”

4.“Howbeit in that kind of fruitfulness we also are not destitute of God’s gracious blessing; for ... besides Doctors in all faculties to the number at the least of sixty, Deans to the number of eleven, Publick Professors to the number of ten, the two Archbishops, Canterbury and York, the most Reverend Fathers Whitgift and Hutton, and seven other principal Prelates of this kingdom, namely, Fletcher of London, Still of Bath and Wells, Babington of Worcester, Redman of Norwich, Rud of St Davids, Bennet of Hereford, and Gouldesborough of Gloucester, all of them simul et semel Bishops of this kingdom ... are such a demonstrative instance as we think no other College in either University can afford the like—and not one of these chosen out of Westminster School.”

5.“It is to be doubted whether there can be the like success if our Elections out of a private School shall be indubitate and certain; we rather think there can be no readier means to make Droanes and Loyterers in Colleges, nor any worse prejudice or more deadly bane unto learning and vertue, then when the rewards, and means thereof are tyed to persons, times, and places, and made regular and certain.”

6.The proposal would do a grave injustice to other students who might be men of great abilities.

7.The proposal would defeat the express wishes of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, all of whom are to be reckoned as founders as well as benefactors of Trinity College.

[58]8 and 9.The proposal would be contrary to the existing statutes of the College, and to the oaths taken by the Master and Fellows on admission.

10.Preferences of this character are injurious to the particular School, the College, and the whole University, and a constant source of discord and contention.

11.“It is also against the Policy and common-wealth of a kingdom to restrain and abridge places and preferments originally meant, founded, and hitherto with good success employed for the common benefit of that kingdom to a private School: for benefits and privileges are to be amplified and not restrained; publick rewards are not to be applied to private places, purposes, or respects.”

12.Interference with the intentions and directions, of previous benefactors is contrary to public policy, and tends to prevent future benefactions.

13.This implies that Nevile had accepted the office of master of Trinity College under promises which rendered it inequitable that the college statutes should, during his tenure of the post, be altered against his wishes, but it is stated that this argument, though noted, is not to be pressed.

14.This raises some technical points, especially as to whether statutes of a College given under the great seal can be varied by letters patent without explicit reference to the clauses altered or repealed.

The memorandum concludes with a request that the College may have liberty to ask the opinion of the Judges on the questions raised, and thus obtain the benefit of the king’s “most equal just and princely laws.”

The use of the personal pronoun in one or two cases and the reference in the thirteenth paragraph to Nevile suggest that the document was composed by him. I cannot find out anything about the result[59]of the petition, but I conjecture that nothing came of it. Nevile however was not inclined to let the matter rest, and no doubt the esteem felt for him at court and his personal popularity were of great assistance to the Society in the negotiations that followed.

It was a few months later, in May 1608, at the annual election of scholars at Westminster that Nevile took the next step in defence of the college position. The following account of the election is based on a paper preserved at Westminster:

The Master of Trinity College (Nevile) refused to take the oath which was required, previously to the election, by the Law of the land as well as by the local Statutes. He also refused to elect to his College the three Scholars ordered by the Letters Patent of the Crown. The oath however was taken by the Dean of Westminster (Neile) and the Dean of Christ Church (King), as well as by their assistants, and by the Master of the School (Ireland). The Dean of Westminster then demanded, in writing, that the election should proceed; when the Master of Trinity College referred to some composition by which he stated he would be governed. To this the Dean of Westminster replied, that he knew of no such composition, and that, if it had existed, it was necessarily set aside by the Letters Patent of Queen Elizabeth and of His Majesty; whereon the Master of Trinity College observed, though with much protestation of his loyalty, that he did not allow the validity of the Letters Patent.The other Electors, however, having agreed to proceed, the nine Scholars who had been examined were called in to hear the Statute read for the election to the two Colleges. The Master of Trinity then said that he had not places[60]enough vacant in his College. [In fact in April he and the Seniority had filled up all scholarships then vacant and pre-elected men to succeed to scholarships as vacancies occurred.] To this it was replied, that the want of vacancies had been occasioned by pre-elections of supernumerary Scholars, that the words of the Statute were disjunctive, and there was a clause commanding such Scholars to be received if they were fit. The Master of Trinity College did not deny the fitness of the candidates, but still refused to elect. In this wrangling the whole morning was wasted.At length they went to dinner. After this, a fear having been expressed, that this “distraction” might become troublesome to their friends, “perhaps to His Majesty,” and “not without some obloquy” to themselves, the Master of Trinity College proposed a private settlement, naming October for it. The suggestion was favourably received by the Electors other than the Dean of Westminster. The latter however affirmed, that with his consent less than three Scholars should never be taken by Trinity College and three by Christ Church if the School produced so many fit Scholars: and as to that part of the Letters Patent, which related to the election of Westminster Scholars at Trinity College to Fellowships, he required that they should be taken in preference to others, if their qualifications were equal; stating at the same time, that the clause declaring them eligible to Fellowships two years after their degree of A.M. had arisen solely from the practice of pre-electing so many Fellows, that for three or four years together no election took place; and the Westminster Scholars at Trinity College were driven out to seek a better fortune elsewhere. The Master of Trinity College allowed that the practice of pre-elections was wrong; and it was at length agreed that if this were discontinued, that part of the King’s Letters concerning the eligibility of Westminster Scholars two years after their[61]degree of A.M. should not be urged against the local statute of Trinity College,De Gradibus Suscipiendis. Thereupon the Master of Trinity College took for his College as Scholars three candidates, to wit, Hacket, Shirley, and Herbert.

The Master of Trinity College (Nevile) refused to take the oath which was required, previously to the election, by the Law of the land as well as by the local Statutes. He also refused to elect to his College the three Scholars ordered by the Letters Patent of the Crown. The oath however was taken by the Dean of Westminster (Neile) and the Dean of Christ Church (King), as well as by their assistants, and by the Master of the School (Ireland). The Dean of Westminster then demanded, in writing, that the election should proceed; when the Master of Trinity College referred to some composition by which he stated he would be governed. To this the Dean of Westminster replied, that he knew of no such composition, and that, if it had existed, it was necessarily set aside by the Letters Patent of Queen Elizabeth and of His Majesty; whereon the Master of Trinity College observed, though with much protestation of his loyalty, that he did not allow the validity of the Letters Patent.

The other Electors, however, having agreed to proceed, the nine Scholars who had been examined were called in to hear the Statute read for the election to the two Colleges. The Master of Trinity then said that he had not places[60]enough vacant in his College. [In fact in April he and the Seniority had filled up all scholarships then vacant and pre-elected men to succeed to scholarships as vacancies occurred.] To this it was replied, that the want of vacancies had been occasioned by pre-elections of supernumerary Scholars, that the words of the Statute were disjunctive, and there was a clause commanding such Scholars to be received if they were fit. The Master of Trinity College did not deny the fitness of the candidates, but still refused to elect. In this wrangling the whole morning was wasted.

At length they went to dinner. After this, a fear having been expressed, that this “distraction” might become troublesome to their friends, “perhaps to His Majesty,” and “not without some obloquy” to themselves, the Master of Trinity College proposed a private settlement, naming October for it. The suggestion was favourably received by the Electors other than the Dean of Westminster. The latter however affirmed, that with his consent less than three Scholars should never be taken by Trinity College and three by Christ Church if the School produced so many fit Scholars: and as to that part of the Letters Patent, which related to the election of Westminster Scholars at Trinity College to Fellowships, he required that they should be taken in preference to others, if their qualifications were equal; stating at the same time, that the clause declaring them eligible to Fellowships two years after their degree of A.M. had arisen solely from the practice of pre-electing so many Fellows, that for three or four years together no election took place; and the Westminster Scholars at Trinity College were driven out to seek a better fortune elsewhere. The Master of Trinity College allowed that the practice of pre-elections was wrong; and it was at length agreed that if this were discontinued, that part of the King’s Letters concerning the eligibility of Westminster Scholars two years after their[61]degree of A.M. should not be urged against the local statute of Trinity College,De Gradibus Suscipiendis. Thereupon the Master of Trinity College took for his College as Scholars three candidates, to wit, Hacket, Shirley, and Herbert.

The three scholars so taken obtained fellowships in due course, Hacket became chaplain to James I, Charles I, and later to Charles II, suffered cruel persecution under the commonwealth, and at the restoration was made bishop of Lichfield: the Bishop’s Hostel was erected at his cost. An incident in Shirley’s career is chronicled below (see p. 223). Herbert was the well-known poet and divine. If the above account is reliable, and there is no reason to doubt its accuracy, the most important question in dispute, namely the preferential right of Westminsters to election to fellowships at Trinity, was left open. Nevile however had no intention to allow the matter to drop, and having made his protest at Westminster, he now secured the good services of his friend and Cambridge contemporary, Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, who undertook to act as mediator in drawing up a “friendly and full” settlement of the question.

An agreement, drafted I feel confident by Nevile, was submitted to the archbishop and, after he had made a few alterations, was accepted by the dean and chapter of Westminster. The seniority of Trinity College, on 5 September 1608, passed a[62]minute that the matter “be referred to our Master against the 13thof October,” and the deed is so dated, but its execution must have been delayed since there is a minute of the seniority, 8 December 1608, ordering that the composition with Westminster should be engrossed and sealed at the audit so as to be delivered before 1 February 1609.

The deed embodying this agreement was made between the dean and chapter of Westminster and Trinity College, and provided that the College should take yearly three scholars from Westminster School to be scholars of the College, and that there should be no pre-elections of supernumerary fellows to the prejudice of the Westminster scholars if deserving of fellowships. In consideration of these definite obligations the dean and chapter of Westminster agreed that the letters patent of 1607 should never be urged against the College by the dean and chapter or the schoolmaster or ushers or scholars of Westminster, and that the College should have such full power to elect fellows as had been previously enjoyed, excepting only the practice of pre-elections. To the deed is appended a statement that it was made with the privity and approbation of the archbishop of Canterbury, the earl of Salisbury (lord high treasurer of England and chancellor of the University of Cambridge), and of the earl of Northampton (the lord privy seal), all of whom signed[63]it. This conclusion of the affair may be regarded as a personal triumph for Nevile.

The arrangement was submitted to the king who in a letter directed to the College approved it, but required that the Westminster scholars each year should be granted seniority over other scholars of Trinity of their year and not be hindered by pre-elections: he did not however withdraw or rescind the previous letters patent. I have never seen the text of this letter but its contents are indisputable, and there are various subsequent references to it. The obligation to allow this seniority to the Westminster scholars was henceforth recognized by the College as binding on it.

The advisers of Trinity seem to have been doubtful whether it would be admitted that this second letter implied the rescission of the letters of 1607, and since there was every reason to avoid raising the question whether royal letters or mandates could be set aside or modified by private arrangements, it was wise to let matters run on as long as the agreement of 1608 was carried out by the school authorities. There is however a memorandum, ascribed to January 1610 in the State Papers, showing that “the recent grant by the King for the students of Trinity College, Cambridge, to be chosen from the Westminster scholars is prejudicial to the interests of Trinity,” which seems to imply that further negotiations took[64]place. I have not seen the memorandum and know nothing more about this than here appears.

During the sixteen years following this settlement, that is, from 1608 to 1623 inclusive, fifty-eight scholars were elected from Westminster to Trinity, of whom sixteen became fellows.

In 1623–24 a fresh dispute occurred. It would appear that while Trinity carried out its undertaking relating to the election of scholars from Westminster, it again began to pre-elect fellows with the object, it was said, of preventing any claim being made on behalf of the Westminster scholars in residence. Whether this was done in self-protection against unjustifiable claims or was a deliberate breach of the agreement of 1608 we do not know. An appeal to the crown on behalf of the school ensued, and on 7 September 1623, the king sent letters patent to the College as follows:

Trusty and well beloved we greet you well. Being much interested in the prosperity and well-fare of that our College which is both our immediate Foundation and the fairest in all our kingdoms, and furnished, for the most part with the extracions of our own free-school at Westminster, we cannot but be very sensible of any alteration in the government of the same.Whereas therefore we are given to understand that younger students of that College have of late years been totally disheartened in their studies by a new and unwarrantable device of pre-electing more Fellows than there are places vacant at the time of that Election and the[65]Scholars of our own School (in whose loyalty and affection we are so much interested from their cradles) strangely discouraged and disgraced by being cast in their seniority behind all the Scholars and Fellows in their several Elections though never so exceeding in learning and education, we straightly will and require you that from this time forward ye do forbear all manner of pre-elections whatsoever as the pest and bane of all learning and succession; and that also you bear that regard and respect to the Scholars of that our own Royal School in giving them in all such elections respect and precedency which we are informed they fully deserve before all other of what country soever. Lastly, whereas we are given to understand that heretofore a corrupt custom hath crept into that our College of turning elections into particular nominations of the Master and the several Seniors which smells altogether of partialitie and corruption we do straightly will and require you the said Master of our College of whom we conceive a very good opinion, to see that hereafter all elections as well of Scholars as of Fellows be done according to the local statutes of your College and carried about with that pluralitie of voices therein required.

Trusty and well beloved we greet you well. Being much interested in the prosperity and well-fare of that our College which is both our immediate Foundation and the fairest in all our kingdoms, and furnished, for the most part with the extracions of our own free-school at Westminster, we cannot but be very sensible of any alteration in the government of the same.

Whereas therefore we are given to understand that younger students of that College have of late years been totally disheartened in their studies by a new and unwarrantable device of pre-electing more Fellows than there are places vacant at the time of that Election and the[65]Scholars of our own School (in whose loyalty and affection we are so much interested from their cradles) strangely discouraged and disgraced by being cast in their seniority behind all the Scholars and Fellows in their several Elections though never so exceeding in learning and education, we straightly will and require you that from this time forward ye do forbear all manner of pre-elections whatsoever as the pest and bane of all learning and succession; and that also you bear that regard and respect to the Scholars of that our own Royal School in giving them in all such elections respect and precedency which we are informed they fully deserve before all other of what country soever. Lastly, whereas we are given to understand that heretofore a corrupt custom hath crept into that our College of turning elections into particular nominations of the Master and the several Seniors which smells altogether of partialitie and corruption we do straightly will and require you the said Master of our College of whom we conceive a very good opinion, to see that hereafter all elections as well of Scholars as of Fellows be done according to the local statutes of your College and carried about with that pluralitie of voices therein required.

What reply (if any) the College made or could make I do not know, but presumably the answer was not satisfactory as these letters were followed by the appointment of royal commissioners to enquire into the Westminster elections. There is extant a letter from the master of Trinity (Richardson) dated 9 June 1624, to one of the commissioners, asking to be excused from attending the usual election of Westminster scholars, on account of[66]poor health. Probably this was regarded as an impertinence, and he must have been reprimanded since we have a letter dated 26 June signed by the master and six of the senior fellows, deprecating the royal displeasure, offering the most humble submission, promising to obey in anything that his majesty might command, but begging that present compliance might not be drawn into an example against the College. Richardson and James I died in March 1625, and the enquiry seems to have been then dropped.

The election in 1636 was interesting. It is said that among the candidates was Cowley who had already written various poems and a comedy showing distinct ability. The story runs that the boy failed badly in grammar, and the Trinity electors, insisting that this was conclusive, rejected him as a Westminster scholar, but offered him an ordinary scholarship at Trinity, which he accepted. Against this are the fact that he had been entered at Trinity as a pensioner in April, a few weeks before the election at Westminster, and the improbability that the electors would have drawn such a distinction between Westminster and other scholars of the House. Still old-time anecdotes are not to be lightly rejected: at any rate Cowley came into residence in due course and was made a scholar in the same term as the four boys taken from Westminster by the electors, these five[67]students being the only scholars elected by the College in 1637.

During the seventy-seven years from 1624 to 1700 inclusive, three hundred and fifty-six scholars were elected from Westminster to Trinity, of whom one hundred and twenty-six became fellows. During the fifty years, 1701 to 1750, out of one hundred and eighty-seven Westminster scholars at Trinity sixty-two became fellows; during the fifty years, 1751 to 1800, out of one hundred and eighty, thirty became fellows; and during the fifty-six years, 1801 to 1856, out of one hundred and seventy, four became fellows. Throughout this long period the friendly relations between the College and the school suffered no change.

In 1727 there was a curious echo of the controversy of 1607. A strange suggestion had been made, apparently with the tacit approval of the authorities of Westminster, that new statutes should be given to Trinity constituting the dean and chapter of Westminster Visitors of the College, and it was decided by the advocates of the movement to open the campaign by asking the dean of Westminster to call the attention of the master of Trinity (Bentley), to the “Letters Anno Quinto Jacobi Primi.” Bentley replied on 5 March 1727, denied their validity and argued that even if originally valid, they could not be pressed after more[68]than a century during which time “they had never been acted upon”: he added that, if antiquated letters were still binding, there were various matters in which he had powers, whose exercise might prove singularly inconvenient to those who had raised the question. This was really conclusive, but further consideration had shown the inherent weakness or folly of the original idea, and the chapter was wise enough to proceed no further with the matter.

Shortly afterwards, probably at the following election at Westminster, Bentley is said to have referred to the dean’s communication, and remarked that the authority of the letters of 1607 would doubtless have seemed stronger, at any rate to the dean’s predecessor (Atterbury), if not to the chapter, could they have been described as “Anno Primo Jacobi Tertii”—an irrelevant remark, but it carried a sting, for Atterbury’s devotion to the cause of the Pretender was deeply resented by the government.

From an unknown date until the early years of the nineteenth century, Westminster scholars at Trinity were allowed the privilege of wearing academic gowns of a cut different from those of other undergraduates and further distinguished by having on the sleeves a violet button with a silk loop. The gowns of all pensioners in the University were then[69]black and (except for those worn by Westminsters) cut to a common pattern. The Westminster distinction was discontinued when the present system of different gowns for different Colleges was introduced.

During the first half of the nineteenth century the numbers in the school fell seriously, and well-founded complaints were made about the standard of scholarship attained by the scholars elected to the universities. In 1856, as the result of negotiations, initiated by Whewell, the arrangements with Trinity were completely recast, and it was agreed on 5 December 1856 that the school should abandon the right of Westminster boys to election to scholarships at Trinity, and that in filling up open emoluments in Trinity, former Westminster boys should enjoy no preference. In consideration of this release, the Society undertook to establish at its own cost, exhibitions, not more than three to be awarded each year, for boys elected from the school who were otherwise qualified for admission to the College; every such exhibitioner, if so deserving, to be eligible for a college scholarship tenable with the exhibition. This was approved by the queen in council on 25 June 1857. It was further agreed that the Westminster exhibitioners were to be placed on the same footing as exhibitioners elected by open competition before commencing[70]residence. The mode of election is settled by the school statutes, but it would seem that the Trinity electors have no right to demand intellectual attainments beyond those required at the time for admission to the College. The exhibitions are not now confined to scholars of the school.

So ends the story of Westminster Scholars at Trinity College, Cambridge. During the two hundred and ninety-six years from 1561 to 1856 inclusive, one thousand and sixty-four scholars had been elected from Westminster to Trinity (or say 3.6 a year), of whom two hundred and seventy-eight (or say one in four) had become fellows. In conclusion I may add that in 1869 in virtue of the powers given by the Public Schools Act, 1868, the dean and chapter of Westminster, the dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and the master of Trinity College, Cambridge, created a new Governing Body in whom the governance of the school has been since vested.

18SeeLife of Whitgiftby J. Strype, London, 1718, pp. 13, 14 and Appendix, pp. 7, 8.19Life of Whitgiftby J. Strype, London, 1718, Appendix, p. 9.20State Papers, Domestic, 1604, p. 185.21According to Dean Peacock, royal letters and orders, at variance with college statutes, were binding only if explicitly or tacitly accepted by the Society. That may have been technically correct, but it is very doubtful if Tudor or Stuart sovereigns would have admitted it.

18SeeLife of Whitgiftby J. Strype, London, 1718, pp. 13, 14 and Appendix, pp. 7, 8.

19Life of Whitgiftby J. Strype, London, 1718, Appendix, p. 9.

20State Papers, Domestic, 1604, p. 185.

21According to Dean Peacock, royal letters and orders, at variance with college statutes, were binding only if explicitly or tacitly accepted by the Society. That may have been technically correct, but it is very doubtful if Tudor or Stuart sovereigns would have admitted it.

Back to IndexNext