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diff --git a/27320-8.txt b/27320-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95a0b45 --- /dev/null +++ b/27320-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3000 @@ +Project Gutenberg's St. John's College, Cambridge, by Robert Forsyth Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. John's College, Cambridge + +Author: Robert Forsyth Scott + +Illustrator: Edmund H. New + +Release Date: November 24, 2008 [EBook #27320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE *** + + + + +Produced by Brownfox and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + The College + + [Illustration] + + Monographs + + + + + Edited and Illustrated by + EDMUND H. NEW + + + TRINITY COLLEGE, + CAMBRIDGE + + W. W. ROUSE BALL. + + + ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, + CAMBRIDGE + + R. F. SCOTT. + + + KING'S COLLEGE, + CAMBRIDGE + + C. R. FAY. + + + MAGDALEN COLLEGE, + OXFORD + + THE PRESIDENT. + + + NEW COLLEGE, + OXFORD + + A. O. PRICKARD. + + + MERTON COLLEGE, + OXFORD + + REV. H. J. WHITE. + +[Illustration: Gateway St. John's Coll.] + +[Illustration] + + + + + ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE + + CAMBRIDGE + + BY + + ROBERT FORSYTH SCOTT + + FELLOW AND SENIOR BURSAR + OF THE COLLEGE + + ILLUSTRATED BY + + EDMUND H. NEW + + + + + 1907: LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO. + + NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. + +[Illustration] + +_All Rights Reserved_ + + + + + CONTENTS + + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. THE COURTS AND BUILDINGS 1 + + II. SOME INTERIORS 13 + + III. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN (CIRCA 1135-1511) 35 + + IV. THE FIRST CENTURY (1511-1612) 40 + + V. THE SECOND CENTURY (1612-1716) 52 + + VI. THE THIRD CENTURY (1716-1815) 66 + + VII. THE CURRENT CENTURY 74 + +VIII. SOCIAL LIFE 86 + +INDEX 109 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +_The Entrance Gateway_ _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + +_Plan of College Buildings_ x + +_Bag of Flowers; detail of Carving over Entrance Gateway_ 3 + +_The Second and Third Courts from the Screens_ 6 + +_The Gatehouse from the Churchyard of All Saints_ 12 + +_Monument of Hugh Ashton in the Chapel_ 19 + +_The Hall from the Second Court_ 24 + +_Interior of the Library_ 34 + +_The Old Bridge_ 41 + +_The Hall and Chapel Tower from the Second Court_ 53 + +_The College Arms_ (_in the Third Court_) 58 + +_The Chapel Tower from the River_ 67 + +_The College Chapel from the Round Church_ 75 + +_The New Court from Trinity College Bridge_ 87 + +_The "Bridge of Sighs"_ 98 + +[Illustration: Plan of St John's College] + + + + + St. John's College + + CHAPTER I + + THE COURTS AND BUILDINGS + + +St. John's College was founded in 1511, in pursuance of the intentions +of the Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII. + +Approaching the College from the street we enter by the Great Gate. The +gateway with its four towers is the best example of the characteristic +Cambridge gate, and dates from the foundation of the College. It is +built of red brick (the eastern counties marble), dressed with stone. +The street front of the College to the right and left remains in its +original state, except that after the old chapel and infirmary of the +Hospital of St. John (to which allusion will be made hereafter) were +pulled down, the north end was completed by a block of lecture rooms in +1869. + +The front of the gate is richly decorated with heraldic devices, full of +historical meaning and associations. The arms are those of the +foundress; the shield, France (ancient) and England quarterly, was the +royal shield of the period; the bordure, gobonny argent and azure (the +argent in the upper dexter compartment), was the "difference" of the +Beauforts, and is only slightly indicated. The supporters, two +antelopes, come from Henry VI. There is no crest above the shield, and +heraldic rules are against its use by a lady, but on her seal the Lady +Margaret used the Beaufort arms as above ensigned, with a coronet of +roses and fleur-de-lis, out of which issues an eagle, displayed or; and +this device of coat and crest is used by the College. The arms on the +gate are surrounded by badges, the Portcullis of the Beauforts, the +Tudor, or Union, rose, each surmounted by a crown. Besides these we have +daisies (marguerites), the badge of the Lady Margaret, and some flowers, +which are not so easily identified. Certain vestments and embroideries, +which belonged to the Lady Margaret, of which a list has been preserved, +are described as "garnishede with sophanyes and my ladyes poisy," or, +"with rede roses and syphanyes." The sophanye was an old English name +for the Christmas rose, and there seems little doubt that these flowers +on the gate are meant for Christmas roses. The carving on the right, +under the portcullis, where these emblems seem to be growing out of +something resembling a masonic apron, is very curious. + +Above the gate are two sets of rooms. The upper set has been used from +the beginning as the Treasury or Muniment Room of the College; the set +immediately above the arch is now an ordinary set of rooms. In this set +resided, during his college career, Lord Thomas Howard, a son of the +fourth Duke of Norfolk, afterwards himself first Earl of Suffolk and +Baron Howard de Walden. He fought against the Armada in 1588, and +commanded the expedition to the Azores in 1591; the fame of Sir Richard +Grenville of the _Revenge_ has somewhat eclipsed that of his leader in +the latter case; the reader may recall Tennyson's _Ballad of the Fleet_. + +[Illustration: BAG OF FLOWERS OVER ENTRANCE GATEWAY] + +To the left of the gate it will be observed that five windows on the +first floor are of larger size than the rest; this was the original +position of the Library; the books were removed in 1616 to a room over +the Kitchen, and later to the present Library. According to tradition +Henry Kirke White, the poet, occupied, and died in, the rooms on the +ground-floor next the tower; he lies buried in the old churchyard of All +Saints', across the street. + +Entering the gate the Hall and Kitchen face us, and preserve much of +their original appearance. But right and left the changes have been +great. The old Chapel was swept away in 1869--its foundations are marked +out by cement; at this time the Hall was lengthened, and a second oriel +window added. The range of buildings on the south was raised and faced +with stone about 1775, when the craze for Italianising buildings was +fashionable; it was then intended to treat the rest of the Court in like +manner, but fortunately the scheme was not carried out. + +If we walk along the south side of the Court we may notice on the +underside of the lintel of G staircase the words, "Stag, Nov. 15, 1777." +It seems that on that date a stag, pursued by the hunt, took refuge in +the College, and on this staircase; the members of the College had just +finished dinner when the stag and his pursuers entered. On the next +staircase, F, there is a passage leading to the lane with the Kitchen +Offices, this passage is sometimes known as "The Staincoat"; the +passage leading from the Screens into the Kitchen is still sometimes +called "The Staincoat," or "The Stankard." These curious names really +mean the same thing. It appears that in times past a pole was kept, +probably for carrying casks of beer, but on which the undergraduates +seem also to have hoisted those of their number, or even servants, who +had offended against the rules and customs of the College; this pole was +called the Stang, and the place or passage in which it was kept the +Stangate Hole, with the above variations or corruptions. + +Reserving the Chapel for the present we pass through the Screens, the +entrance to the Hall being on the right, to the Kitchen on the left. We +enter the Second Court. This beautiful and stately Court was built +between 1599 and 1600 (the date 1599 may be seen on the top of one of +the water-pipes on the north side), the cost being in great part +provided by Mary, Countess of Shrewsbury, a daughter of Sir William +Cavendish by the celebrated Bess of Hardwick, and wife of Gilbert, +seventh Earl of Shrewsbury. The original drawings for the Court, and the +contract for its construction, almost unique documents of their kind, +are preserved in the Library. The whole of the first floor on the north +side was at first used as a gallery for the Master's Lodge; it is now +used as a Combination Room. Over the arch of the gate on the western +side of the Court is a statue of the Countess, with her shield (showing +the arms of Talbot and Cavendish impaled); these were presented to the +College by her nephew, William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle. + +[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE SCREENS] + +A pleasing view of the Court is got by standing in the south-west corner +and looking towards the Chapel Tower, with an afternoon sun the +colouring and grouping of the buildings is very effective. + +Passing through the arch we enter the Third Court; this was built at +various times during the seventeenth century. On the north we have the +Library, the cost of which was chiefly provided by John Williams, a +Fellow of the College, successively Dean of Westminster, Bishop of +Lincoln, and Archbishop of York; he was also Lord Keeper of the Great +Seal to James I. As originally built the Library occupied the upper +floor only, the ground-floor being fitted up as rooms for the +accommodation of the Fellows and scholars, on a special foundation of +Bishop Williams, but this lower part is now all absorbed into the +Library. The southern and western sides of the Court were built between +1669 and 1674, some part of the cost being provided from College funds, +the rest by donations from members of the College. On the last or +southern pier of the arcade, on the west side of the Court, there are +the two inscriptions: "Flood, Oct. 27, 1762," "Flood, Feb. 10, 1795," +recording what must have been highly inconvenient events at the time. + +The central arch on the western side of the Court has some prominence, +and was probably intended from the first as the approach to a bridge. +Towards the end of the seventeenth century Sir Christopher Wren was +consulted on the subject, and a letter from him to the then Master, Dr. +Gower, has been preserved. Sir Christopher's proposal was a curious one: +he suggested that the course of the river Cam should be diverted and +carried in a straight line from the point where it bends near the +Library of Trinity College. A new channel was to be dug, and a bridge +built over this; the water was then to be sent down the new channel, and +the old one filled up. He pointed out that this would give "a parterre +to the river, a better access to the walks, and a more beautiful +disposal of the whole ground." This scheme was, however, not carried +out, but a stone bridge was built outside the range of the buildings on +the site of an old wooden bridge, which then gave access to the grounds. +This is the bridge which still exists; it was built, apparently from +Wren's designs, under the superintendence of his pupil, Nicholas +Hawksmoor. More than a century now passed before further building +operations were undertaken. In 1825 the College employed Mr. Thomas +Rickman and his partner, Mr. H. Hutchinson, to prepare designs for a new +Court, with from 100 to 120 sets of rooms. This work was started in +1827, and completed in 1831. The covered bridge connecting the old and +new parts of the College was designed by Mr. Hutchinson; it is popularly +known as the "Bridge of Sighs." The style of this Court is Perpendicular +Gothic. The site was unsuited for building operations, consisting mostly +of washed and peaty soil; it had been known for generations as "the +fishponds close." The modern concrete foundations were then unknown, +and the plan adopted was to remove the peaty soil and to lay timber on +the underlying gravel. On this an enormous mass of brickwork, forming +vaulted cellars, was placed; this rises above the river level, and the +rooms are perfectly dry. The total cost of the building was £78,000, +most of which was provided by borrowing. The repayment, extending over a +number of years, involved considerable self-denial on the Fellows of the +College, their incomes being materially reduced for many years. Crossing +the covered bridge and passing down the cloisters of the New Court, we +enter the grounds by the centre gate; these extend right and left, being +bounded on the east by the Cam, and separated from the grounds of +Trinity by a ditch. + +From the old, or Wren's, bridge over the Cam two parallel walks extend +along the front of the Court; according to tradition the broader and +higher was reserved for members of the College, the lower for College +servants. At one time an avenue of trees extended from the bridge to the +back gate, but the ravages of time have removed all but a few trees. + +At the western end of the walk we have on the left the (private) +Fellows' garden, known as "The Wilderness," an old-world pleasance, left +as nearly as may be in a state of nature. Towards the end of the +eighteenth century the College employed the celebrated Mr. Lancelot +("capability") Brown to lay out the grounds and Wilderness. The +plantation in the latter was arranged so as to form a cathedral, with +nave, aisles, and transept, but here also old age and storms have +brought down many of the trees. On the right, opposite to the +Wilderness, there is an orchard, the subject of much legend. One popular +story is that this orchard formed the subject of a bequest to "St. +John's College," and that the testator, being an Oxford man, was held by +the Courts to have intended to benefit the College in his own +University. As a matter of prosaic fact, the orchard originally belonged +to Merton College, Oxford, being part of the original gift of their +founder, Walter de Merton, and it was acquired by St. John's College by +exchange in the early years of the nineteenth century. + +The long walk terminates in a massive gate with stone pillars, +surmounted by eagles. Outside and across the road is the Eagle Close, +used as the College cricket and football field. + +The visitor in returning should cross the old bridge, thus getting a +view of the Bridge of Sighs, and re-enter the College by the archway on +the left. + +[Illustration: The Gatehouse: St John's College] + + + + + CHAPTER II + + SOME INTERIORS + + +The visitor has been conducted through the College without pausing to +enter any of the buildings. We now retrace our steps to describe these +parts of the College open to inspection. It must be understood that +during a great part of the year the inspection of these interiors is +subject to the needs of a large resident Society, and as a rule it is +best to inquire at the gate for information as to the hours when these +parts of the College are open. + + +_The Chapel._ + +The present Chapel was built between the years 1863 and 1869, from the +designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott; it was consecrated by the Bishop of +Ely, 12th May 1869. As we approach it we see on the right the outline of +the old Chapel, which had served the College and the Hospital which +preceded it for something like six hundred years. This former Chapel was +a building quite uniform and simple in appearance, filling the whole of +the north side of the Court. Originally built to serve the needs of the +Hospital of St. John, it was considerably altered when the College was +founded. Side Chantries were then, or shortly afterwards, added. In +early times a good deal of the life of the College centred in the +Chapel, in addition to its uses for worship. It was regarded as a place +in which the Society was formally gathered together. In it the statutes, +or rules for the government of the Society, were read at stated times, +so that all might become aware of the rule under which they lived. The +names of those who had not discharged their College bills were publicly +read out by the Master. The elections of the Master and of the Fellows +and Scholars were held within it; of this practice the sole part that +remains is the election of a Master, which by the present statutes must +be held in the Chapel. The scholastic exercises of Acts and Opponencies, +in which certain doctrines were maintained and opposed, took place +there. The seal of the College was kept in the vestry, and the sealing +of documents took place in the Ante-Chapel. Though documents are now +sealed elsewhere, the stock of wafers for the College seal is kept by +the Chapel Clerk. + +The erection of a new Chapel for the College was contemplated for about +200 years before it was carried out. Dr. Gunning, who was Master from +1661 to 1670, afterwards successively Bishop of Chichester and of Ely, +left by his will the sum of £300 "to St. John's College, towards the +beginning for the building for themselves a new Chapel." Gunning died in +1684, and in 1687 the College paid to Robert Grumbold the sum of £3 for +"a new ground plott modell of the old and new designed Chappell." +Nothing, however, came of the proposal at that time, though the idea +seems always to have been before the Society. + +Preaching on Commemoration Day (May 6), 1861, Dr. William Selwyn, Lady +Margaret Professor of Divinity, and a former Fellow, pointing out that +the College was celebrating "its seventh jubilee," just 350 years having +passed since the charter was granted, pleaded earnestly for the erection +of a larger Chapel. The matter was taken up, and in January 1862 Sir +(then Mr.) George Gilbert Scott was requested "to advise us as to the +best plans, in his opinion, for a new Chapel." The scheme grew, and in +addition to the Chapel it was determined by the end of that year to have +also a new Master's Lodge, and to enlarge the Dining Hall. It was then +intended that the scheme should not involve a greater charge on the +corporate funds of the College than £40,000. As a matter of fact, before +the whole was carried out and paid for, the cost had risen to £97,641; +of this £17,172 was provided for by donations from members of the +College, the rest was met, partly out of capital, partly by a charge on +the College revenues, which ran for many years. + +The Chapel was built on a site to the north of the old Chapel, and +through this site ran a lane from St. John's Street to the river. An Act +of Parliament had to be obtained before this lane could be closed, and +the consent of the borough was only given on condition that St. John's +Street should be widened by pulling down a row of houses on its western +side, and throwing their site into the street. + +The foundation-stone of the new Chapel was laid on 6th May 1864 by Mr. +Henry Hoare, a member of the College, and of the well-known banking +firm. As originally designed the Chapel was to have had a slender +_flčche_ instead of a tower. This had been criticised, and Mr. Scott, +the architect, designed the present tower; the additional cost being +estimated at £5000. This Mr. Hoare offered to provide in yearly +instalments of £1000, but had only paid two instalments when he died +from injuries received in a railway accident. The finial on the last +pinnacle of the tower was fixed on 13th December 1867 by Mr. (now Sir +Francis) Powell, M.P. for the borough of Cambridge, and a former Fellow +of the College; Mr. Powell was accompanied on that occasion by Professor +John Couch Adams and the Rev. G. F. Reyner, the Senior Bursar of the +College. + +The new Chapel was, as we have said, opened in 1869, and the old Chapel +then cleared away. The woodwork of the stalls had been transferred to +the new Chapel, but most of the internal fittings were scattered. The +ancient rood-screen stands in the church of Whissendine, in +Rutlandshire, and the old organ-case in Bilton Church, near Rugby, and +other parts of the fabric were dispersed; it was perhaps inevitable. Sir +Gilbert Scott's idea was that the new Chapel should be of the same +period of architecture as the old, but it is absolutely different in +design; in the lover of things old there must always be a feeling of +regret for what has gone. The mural tablets in the old Chapel were +removed to the new Ante-Chapel, the slabs in the floor were left. It is +worth noting that Eleazar Knox, a Fellow of the College, and one of the +sons of John Knox, the famous Scotch Reformer, was buried in the Chapel +in 1591. His elder brother, Nathanael Knox, was also a Fellow. To the +north of the old Chapel, and bordering on the lane which has been +mentioned, stood the Infirmary of the Hospital which preceded the +College. This was originally a single long room, of which the eastern +end formed an oratory. In this the poor and sick, for whose benefit the +Hospital was founded, were received, and Mass said for them, and in +their sight, as they lay in their beds. This Infirmary, after the +foundation of the College, was devoted to secular uses. For some time +it was used as a stable and storehouse for the Master. Then later it was +fitted up with floors and turned into chambers. It was approached by a +tortuous passage at the eastern end of the Chapel, and was popularly +known as the Labyrinth. When the Infirmary was taken down a very +beautiful double piscina was found covered up on the walls; this is +preserved in the new Chapel. + +The new Chapel is built of Ancaster stone, and is in the style of +architecture known as Early Decorated, which prevailed about 1280, the +probable date of the Chapel of the Hospital. Sir Gilbert Scott very +skilfully made the most of the site, and by the device of the transeptal +Ante-Chapel made full use of the space at his disposal. + +At the springs of the outer arch of the great door are heads of King +Henry VIII. and of Queen Victoria, indicating the date of the foundation +of the College and of the erection of the Chapel. On the north side of +the porch is a statue of the Lady Margaret, and on the south one of John +Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. + +The statues on the buttresses are those of famous members of the +College, or of its benefactors. Those facing the Court are William +Cecil, Lord Burghley; Lucius Carey, Viscount Falkland; John Williams, +Lord Keeper to James I.; Thomas Wentworth, Lord Strafford; William +Gilbert, author of _De Magnete_, in which the theory of the magnetism +of the earth was first developed, and physician to Queen Elizabeth; +Roger Ascham, and the Countess of Shrewsbury. + +[Illustration: MONUMENT OF HUGH ASHTON] + +We enter the Ante-Chapel. This has a stone-vaulted roof; over the +central bay the tower is placed. On the south wall are placed the arches +from Bishop Fisher's Chantry in the old Chapel. The monument with the +recumbent figure is that of Hugh Ashton, comptroller of the household +to the Lady Margaret, a prebendary and Archdeacon of York. He was buried +in the old Chapel, and this tomb originally stood in a chantry attached +thereto. He founded four fellowships and four scholarships in the +College, the Fellows being bound to sing Mass for the repose of his +soul. The carving on the tomb and on the finials of the railing around +it include a rebus on his name, an ash-tree growing out of a barrel +(ash-tun). On the north wall is a bust of Dr. Isaac Todhunter, the +well-known mathematical writer; on the western wall a tablet by +Chantrey, to the memory of Kirke White, the poet, who died in College. +He was buried in the chancel of the old Church of All Saints, which +stood opposite to the College; when the church was pulled down the +tablet was transferred to the College Chapel. The statue is that of +James Wood, sometime Master of the College, part of whose bequests went +towards building the Chapel. On the east wall is an old brass to the +memory of Nicholas Metcalfe, third Master of the College, the words +"_vestras ... preces vehementer expetit_" have been partly obliterated, +probably during the Commonwealth. The roof of the Choir is of high +pitch, of quadripartite vaulting in oak, and is decorated with a +continuous line of full-length figures. In the central bay at the east +end is our Lord in Majesty, the other bays contain figures illustrating +the Christian centuries. Owing to the deep colour of the glass in the +windows, it is only on a very sunny day that the figures can be clearly +discerned. The windows in the Choir have been given by various donors, +the subjects being scenes from Scripture at which St. John was present; +his figure robed in ruby and green will be seen in each. The five +windows in the apse, the gift of the Earl of Powis, High Steward of the +University, depict scenes from the Passion, Crucifixion, and +Resurrection of Christ. In the apse is preserved the double piscina +which was found covered up in the walls of the Infirmary, and removed by +Sir G. G. Scott, with such repairs as were absolutely necessary. It is +probably one of the oldest specimens of carved stonework in Cambridge. + +The steps leading up to the Altar are paved with Purbeck, Sicilian, and +black Derbyshire marbles. The spaces between the steps are decorated +with a series of scriptural subjects in inlaid work in black and white +marble, with distinctive inscriptions. The Altar is of oak, with a +single slab of Belgian marble for its top. On the sides of the Altar are +deeply carved panels; that in the centre represents the Lamb with the +Banner, the other panels contain the emblems of the four Evangelists. + +The organ stands in a special chamber on the north side; the carved +front was not put in place till 1890. It was designed by Mr. J. Oldrid +Scott, a son of Sir Gilbert Scott. In 1635 the famous Robert Dallam of +Westminster built a "paire of new orgaines" for the College. The organ +has been repeatedly enlarged, altered, and improved; it may be that some +of Dallam's work still remains, though this is uncertain. The present +organ is one of the best in Cambridge; its tone throughout is uniformly +beautiful. + +The brass reading-desk was given to the old Chapel by the Rev. Thomas +Whytehead, a Fellow of the College; the pedestal is copied from the +wooden lectern in Ramsay Church, Huntingdonshire; the finials, which are +there wanting, having been restored, and the wooden desk replaced by an +eagle. + +As we return to the Ante-Chapel we may note the great west window, +representing the Last Judgment; this was given by the Bachelors and +Undergraduates of the College. There are also windows in the Ante-Chapel +to the memory of Dr. Ralph Tatham, Master of the College, and to the +Rev. J. J. Blunt, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity. + +The oil-painting which hangs on the south wall of the Ante-Chapel near +the door--a Descent from the Cross--is by Anthony Raphael Mengs. It was +given to the College in 1841 by the Right Hon. Robert Henry Clive, M.P. +for Shropshire. + + +_The Hall._ + +We enter the Hall from the Screens, between the First and Second Courts. +The southern end is part of the original building of the College. It was +at first about seventy feet long, with one oriel only, the old +Combination Room being beyond it. When the new Chapel was built the Hall +was lengthened, and the second oriel window added. The oak panelling is +of the old "linen" pattern, and dates from the sixteenth century; that +lining the north wall, beyond the High Table, is very elaborately +carved, being the finest example of such work in Cambridge. Within +living memory all this oak work was painted green. The fine timbered +roof has a lantern turret, beneath which, until 1865, stood an open +charcoal brazier. From allusions in early documents it would appear that +members of the Society gathered round the brazier for conversation after +meals. In addition to its use as a dining-room, the Hall also served as +a lecture-room, and for the production of stage plays. On these latter +occasions it seems to have been specially decorated, for Roger Ascham, +writing 1st October 1550, from Antwerp, to his brother Fellow, Edward +Raven, tried to picture to him the magnificence of the city by saying +that it surpassed all others which he had visited, as much as the Hall +at St. John's, when decorated for a play at Christmas, surpassed its +appearance at ordinary times. + +[Illustration: The Hall, St. John's College] + +Many of the College examinations are held in the Hall, and in the days +of the brazier, examinees were warned by their Tutors not to sit too +near the brazier; the comfort from the heat being dearly purchased by +the drowsiness caused by the fumes of the charcoal. + +Many interesting portraits hang on the walls. That of the foundress in +the centre of the north wall is painted on wooden panel, and is very +old. She is flanked by Lord Keeper Williams, and by Sir Ralph Hare, +K.C.B., both benefactors to the College. Other noteworthy portraits are +those of Sir Noah Thomas, physician to King George III., by Romney; +William Wordsworth, poet-laureate, by Pickersgill; Professor John E. B. +Mayor, by Herkomer; Professor B. H. Kennedy, long headmaster of +Shrewsbury School, by Ouless; Professor E. H. Palmer, Lord Almoner's +Reader of Arabic in the University, and a famous oriental scholar, by +the Hon. John Collier; and Professor G. D. Liveing, by Sir George Reid. + +The shields in the windows are those of distinguished members of the +College, or benefactors. The further oriel window has busts of Sir John +F. W. Herschel and Professor John Couch Adams. + + +_The Combination Room._ + +We enter by the staircase at the north end of the Hall. This was +originally about 187 feet long, extending the whole length of the Second +Court, and was used as a gallery in connection with the old Master's +Lodge. The ceiling dates from 1600, and the panelling from 1603. In 1624 +about 42 feet were sacrificed to obtain a staircase and vestibule for +the Library; the ceiling can be traced right through. In the eighteenth +century partitions were put up, dividing up the gallery into rooms. +When the new Master's Lodge was built these partitions were removed, and +the whole now forms two Combination Rooms. + +In the oriel window on the south side is an old stained-glass portrait +of Henrietta Maria, Queen of King Charles I. The tradition runs that the +marriage articles between Prince Charles and Henrietta Maria were signed +in this room; King James I. was at that time holding his Court in +Trinity College. + +A number of interesting portraits hang on the walls: George Augustus +Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand, afterwards of Lichfield, by George +Richmond, R.A.; a chalk drawing (also by Richmond) of William Tyrrell, +Bishop of Newcastle, New South Wales; of Sir John Herschel and Professor +J. C. Adams; of William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, the opponents +of the slave-trade. There is also a very beautiful sketch of the head of +William Wordsworth; this study was made by Pickersgill to save the poet +the tedium of long sittings for the portrait in the Hall. It was +presented to the College by Miss Arundale, a descendant of the painter. +The smaller Combination Room contains many engraved portraits of +distinguished members of the College. + +The institution of the Combination Room seems gradually to have grown up +in colleges as a place where the Fellows might meet together, partly +about business, partly for the sake of society. In early times, as the +Fellows shared their chambers with their pupils, there could have been +no privacy. The room seems to have been called the Parlour for some +time; the name Combination Room is now universal at Cambridge, and may +have arisen from the fact that the cost of running the room was met by +the Fellows combining together for the purpose. At the present time the +Combination Room is used for College meetings, as a room where the +Fellows meet for a short time after dinner and for dessert on those +nights when there is a dinner in Hall to which guests are invited. + + +_The Library._ + +The Library is only open to visitors by leave of the Librarian, or to +those accompanied by a Fellow of the College. The usual access is by +staircase E in the Second Court, but leaving the Combination Room by the +west door we find ourselves in front of the Library door. The visitor +may note that the moulded ceiling of the Combination Room extends +overhead. This portion, as we have already seen, originally forming part +of the long gallery. + +The door of the Library is surmounted by the arms of John Williams, +impaled with those of the see of Lincoln. The original position of the +Library, as has been already stated, was in the First Court, next the +street, and to the south of the entrance gate. In 1616 the books were +moved out of this Library to a room over the Kitchen, and in the +succeeding year the Master and Fellows wrote to the Countess of +Shrewsbury to intimate their intention of building a Library, and +hinting at the possibility of her aid in the scheme. The answer of the +Countess, if there was one, has not been preserved. In the year 1623, +Valentine Carey, Bishop of Exeter, and a former Fellow, wrote announcing +that an unnamed person had promised £1200 towards a Library. After some +little time Lord Keeper Williams disclosed himself as the donor, and +some further advances were promised. The Library was commenced in 1623, +and the books finally placed in it in 1628. The style of the building is +Jacobean Gothic, and its interior, with the whitewashed walls and dark +oak roof and bookcases, is singularly striking. John Evelyn visited it +while at Cambridge in 1654, and describes it as "the fairest of that +University"; after 250 years the description still holds good. + +The upper part of the Library has been little altered since it was +built. The intermediate (or lower) cases were heightened to the extent +of one shelf for folios when Thomas Baker left his books to the College; +but two, one on either hand next the door, retain their original +dimensions, with the sloping tops to be used as reading-desks. + +At the end of each of the taller cases, in small compartments with +doors, are class catalogues written about 1685. These catalogues have +been pasted over original catalogues written about 1640; small portions +of the earlier catalogues are yet to be seen in some of the cases. Of +the treasures in manuscript and print only a slight account can be given +here. One of the most interesting to members of the College is the +following note by John Couch Adams:-- + + "1841 July 3. Formed a design, in the beginning of this week, + of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, + the irregularities in the motion of Uranus, wh. are yet + unaccounted for; in order to find whether they may be + attributed to the action of an undiscovered planet beyond it; + and if possible thence to determine the elements of its orbit, + &c. approximately, wh. wd. probably lead to its discovery." + +The original memorandum is bound up in a volume containing the +mathematical calculations by which Adams carried out his design and +discovered the planet Neptune. + +Lord Keeper Williams, who was instrumental in building the Library, +presented to it many books; amongst others, the Bible known as +Cromwell's Bible. Thomas Cromwell employed Miles Coverdale to revise +existing translations, and this Bible was printed partly in Paris and +partly in London, "and finished in Aprill, A.D. 1539." Two copies were +printed on vellum--one for King Henry VIII., the other for Thomas, Lord +Cromwell, his Vicar-General. This College copy is believed to be that +presented to Cromwell, and is now unique, the other copy having +disappeared from the Royal Library; the volume is beautifully +illustrated, and has been described as "the finest book in vellum that +exists." + +One of the show-cases in the centre contains the service-book which King +Charles I. held in his hand at his coronation, and the book used by Laud +on the same occasion, with a note in Laud's handwriting: "The daye was +verye faire, and ye ceremony was performed wthout any Interruption, +and in verye good order." The same case contains the mortuary roll of +Amphelissa, Prioress of Lillechurch in Kent, who died in 1299. The nuns +of the priory announce her death, commemorate her virtues, and ask the +benefit of the prayers of the faithful for her soul. The roll consists +of nineteen sheets of parchment stitched together; its length is 39 ft. +3 in., and its average width is about 7 in. There are in all 372 entries +of the ecclesiastical houses visited by the roll-bearer for the purpose +of gaining prayers for the soul of Amphelissa. The roll-bearer visited +nearly all parts of England: there are entries by houses at Bodmin and +Launceston in Cornwall; at Dunfermline and St. Andrews in Scotland; each +house granting the benefit of its prayers, and concluding in each case +with the formula, "_Oravimus pro vestris: orate pro nostris._" As a +collection of contemporary handwritings, such a document has great +value; and it is interesting to note that in 600 years the roll has had +only two owners, the Priory of Lillechurch and the College, which +succeeded to its possession. + +In this case there is also an IOU of King Charles II.: "I do acknowledge +to have received the summe of one hundred pounds, by the direction of +Mr. B., Brusselles the first of April 1660. CHARLES R." The "Mr. B." was +John Barwick, a Fellow of the College, afterwards Dean of St. Paul's. +The date seems to indicate that the money was advanced to enable Charles +to return to England for the Restoration. + +In the other show-case there is a very curious Irish Psalter of the +eighth century, with crude drawings. Its value is much increased by the +fact that the Latin text is interlined throughout with glosses in the +Irish dialect. + +Of printed books one of the choicest is a very fine Caxton, "The Boke of +Tulle of old age; Tullius his book of Friendship." The volume contains +the autograph of Thomas Fairfax, the Parliamentary General, who entered +the College in 1626. It was presented to the College by Dr. Newcome, +Master from 1735 to 1765. To Dr. Newcome the College owes a very fine +collection of early printed classics; among these is a copy of Ovid, +printed by Jacobus Rubaeus at Venice in 1474; this was formerly in the +possession of Lorenzo de Medicis. + +Dr. Newcome and Thomas Baker share between them the distinction of +having added many of the chief glories of the Library. Matthew Prior, +the poet, a Fellow of the College, presented his own works and many +interesting French and Italian works on history. There is also a +presentation copy from Wordsworth of his poems. + + +_The Kitchen._ + +The Kitchen (opposite to the Hall) may sometimes be visited when the +daily routine permits. The whole has been recently modernised, and a +picturesque open fire with rotating spits done away with. To gain more +air-space it was necessary to incorporate in the Kitchen some rooms in +the floor above. One of these was the set occupied during his College +life by the poet Wordsworth, and the fact is commemorated by a +stained-glass window. + +[Illustration: The Library: St. John's Coll:] + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN + + CIRCA 1135-1511 + + +St. John's College, as we know it, was founded in 1511, and opened in +1516. But at the time of its foundation it took over the buildings and +property, and many of the duties, of an earlier and then a venerable +foundation, that of the Hospital of St. John the Evangelist in +Cambridge. The origin of the old house is obscure, and its earlier +history lost, but it seems to have been founded about 1135 by Henry +Frost, a burgess of Cambridge. It consisted of a small community of +Augustinian canons; its site was described about 140 years later as "a +very poor and waste place of the commonalty of Cambridge." + +Whatever its early history and endowments may have been, it formed a +nucleus for further gifts; and its chartulary, still in the possession +of St. John's College, shows a continuous series of benefactions to the +old house. + +Founded before the University existed, the brethren were occupied with +their religious duties, and with the care of the poor and sick who +sought their help. An Infirmary, part of which was adapted for worship, +was built. In the thirteenth century a chapel was added, afterwards +adapted as the College Chapel, and used as such down to 1869. + +Of the domestic buildings practically nothing is known. When some years +ago trenches were dug to lay the electric cables for the lighting of the +Hall, some traces of a pavement of red tiles were found near the +entrance gate of the College. + +The Hospital had the opportunity of becoming the earliest College in +Cambridge. Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, obtained in 1280 a licence +from King Edward I. to introduce a certain number of scholars of the +University into the Hospital, to be governed according to the rules of +the scholars of Merton. The regular canons and the scholars were to form +one body and one College. The Bishop gave additional endowments to +provide for the scholars, but the scheme was a failure. Thomas Baker, +the historian of the College, suggests that "the scholars were overwise +and the brethren over good." All we do know is that both were eager to +part company. The Bishop accordingly removed the scholars in 1284 to his +College of Peterhouse, now known as the oldest College in Cambridge. His +endowments were transferred with the scholars, and perhaps something +besides, for shortly afterwards the brethren complained of their losses. +It was then decreed that Peterhouse should pay twenty shillings +annually to the Hospital, an acknowledgment of seniority still made by +Peterhouse to St. John's College. + +For another two hundred years the Hospital went on, not however +forgetting its temporary dignity, and occasionally describing itself, in +leases of its property, as the College of St. John. + +Towards the end of the fifteenth, or beginning of the sixteenth century, +the old house seems to have fallen into bad ways. The brethren were +accused of having squandered its belongings, of having granted +improvident leases, of having even sold the holy vessels of their +Chapel. + +At this juncture the Lady Margaret came to the rescue. She had already +founded Christ's College in Cambridge, and intended to still further +endow the wealthy Abbey of Westminster. Her religious adviser, John +Fisher, sometime Master of Michael-House and President of Queens' +College in Cambridge, then Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of the +University, persuaded her to bestow further gifts on Cambridge, +suggesting the Hospital of St. John as the basis for the new College. +The then Bishop of Ely, James Stanley, was her stepson, and in 1507 an +agreement was entered into with him for the suppression of the Hospital +and the foundation of the College, the Lady Margaret undertaking to +obtain the requisite Bull from the Pope, and the licence of the King. +Before this could be carried out King Henry VII. died, 21st April 1509, +and the Lady Margaret on the 29th June following. + +By her will she had set aside lands to the annual value of £400 for the +new College; but innumerable difficulties sprang up. King Henry VIII. +was not sympathetic; the Bishop of Ely raised difficulties; the Lady +Margaret's own household claimed part of her goods. Fisher has left a +quaintly worded and touching memorandum of the difficulties he +experienced, but he never despaired. He ultimately got the licence of +the King, the requisite Papal Bull, and the consent of the Bishop of +Ely. From a letter to Fisher, still preserved in the College, it appears +that the "Brethren, late of St. John's House, departed from Cambridge +toward Ely the 12th day of March (1510-11) at four of the clokke at +afternone, by water." + +All facts which have been preserved show Fisher to have been the real +moving spirit--to have been the founder in effect, if not in name, and +the College from the first has always linked his name with that of the +foundress. Of the foundress' estates only one small farm, at Fordham, in +Cambridgeshire, came to the College, and that because it was charged +with the payment of her debts. What did come was part of what would now +be called her personal estate--moneys she had out on loan, and what +could be realised from the sale of her plate and jewels, the furniture +and hangings of her various mansions. Rough priced-lists of these, +probably handed over by Fisher, are preserved in College. + +One personal relic, a manuscript Book of Hours, which belonged to her, +was in 1902 presented to the Library by Dr. Alexander Peckover, +Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + THE FIRST CENTURY + + 1511-1612 + + +The Hospital being closed, the way was cleared for the new College. The +Charter, signed by the Executors of the Lady Margaret, is dated 9th +April 1511; in this Robert Shorton is named as Master. He held office +until on 29th July 1516 the College was opened, when Alan Percy, of the +Northumberland House, succeeded. He again was succeeded in 1518 by +Nicholas Metcalfe, a member of the Metcalfe family of Nappa Hall, in +Wensleydale. Metcalfe had been Archdeacon of Rochester, and was no doubt +well known to Fisher as Bishop of that Diocese. + +The building of the College commenced under Shorton, but was not +finished until about 1520. + +It must be remembered that the College was founded before the +Reformation, and that these three Masters were priests of the Church of +Rome. + +[Illustration: THE OLD BRIDGE] + +Metcalfe was more of an administrator than a student, and his energies +were chiefly devoted to the material side of the College interests. +Fresh endowments were obtained in place of those which had been lost. +King Henry VIII. was persuaded to hand over to the College the estates +of three decayed religious houses--the Maison Dieu at Ospringe, the +Nunnery of Lillechurch in Higham, both in Kent, and the Nunnery of +Broomhall in Berkshire. As these houses, as well as the Hospital, had +allowed their affairs to fall into disorder, it is probable that the +identification of their lands, and the reduction of these to effective +possession, was a matter of some difficulty. Metcalfe was much absent +from College; the accounts of his private expenditure on these journeys +have survived, and letters to him from the College during his absences +show that his skill and wisdom were much relied on. + +Fisher also gave largely to the College, and through his example and +influence others were induced to endow fellowships and scholarships. He +gave three successive codes of statutes for the government of the +College in 1516, 1524, and 1530. These present no novel features, being +for the most part based on existing statutes of Colleges at Oxford or +Cambridge. They are long, and, as the fashion then was, lay down many +rules with regard to minor matters. A few of the leading provisions may +be given. One scholar was to be Chapel clerk, to assist the sacrist at +Mass; another was to ring the great bell at 4 A.M., as was done before +the College was founded, and again at 8 P.M., when the gates were +closed; another was to be clock-keeper. These three scholars were to be +exempt from all other domestic duties, except that of reading the Bible +in time of plague. Seven scholars were told off to serve as waiters in +Hall, to bring in and remove the food and dishes; an eighth was to read +the Bible in Hall while the Society were at dinner. When in honour of +God, or the Saints, a fire was made up in Hall, the Fellows, scholars, +and servants might stay to amuse themselves with singing and repeating +poetry and tales. The Master, Fellows, and scholars were to wear +clerical dress; red, white, green, or parti-coloured boots were +forbidden. + +One-fourth part of the Fellows were always to be engaged in preaching to +the people in English; Bachelors of Divinity, preaching at Paul's Cross, +were to be allowed ten days of absence for each sermon. No arms were to +be borne, though archery was allowed as a recreation. No Fellow or +scholar was allowed to keep hounds, ferrets, hawks, or singing-birds in +College. The weekly allowance for commons was 1s. for the Master and +each Fellow, 7d. for each scholar. The President or Bursar was to +receive a stipend of 40s. a year, a Dean 26s. 8d. No one under the +standing of a Doctor of Divinity was to have a separate room; Fellows +and scholars were to sleep singly, or not more than two in a bed. Each +room was to have two beds--the higher for the Fellow, the lower or +truckle-bed for the scholar; the truckle-bed being tucked under the +other during the day. + +The College made an excellent start, and was soon full of earnest and +successful students. It is sufficient to mention the names of Sir John +Cheke, the famous Greek scholar; of Roger Ascham, the tutor of Queen +Elizabeth; and, in another sphere, William Cecil, first Lord Burghley, +to give an idea of the influence the College was spreading through her +sons. + +In all this Metcalfe had his share. He is the "Good Master of a College" +in Fuller's _Holy State_, where we read: "Grant that Metcalfe with +Themistocles could not fiddle, yet he could make a little city a great +one." And Ascham in _The Scholemaster_ writes of him: "His goodnes stood +not still in one or two, but flowed aboundantlie over all that Colledge, +and brake out also to norishe good wittes in every part of that +universitie; whereby at his departing thence, he left soch a companie of +fellowes and scholers in S. Johnes Colledge as can scarce be found now +in som whole universitie: which either for divinitie on the one side or +other, or for civill service to their Prince and contrie, have bene, and +are yet to this day, notable ornaments to this whole Realme. Yea S. +Johnes did then so florish, as Trinitie College, that princely house +now, at the first erection was but _Colonia deducta_ out of S. Johnes, +not onelie for their Master, fellowes and scholers, but also, which is +more, for their whole both order of learning, and discipline of maners; +and yet to this day it never tooke Master but such as was bred up before +in S. Johnes; doing the dewtie of a good _colonia_ to her _metropolis_, +as the auncient cities in Greice, and some yet in Italie at this time +are accustomed to do." + +But troubles were in store both for Fisher and Metcalfe. The +Reformation, the divorce of Henry VIII. from Queen Catherine, the Act of +Succession, and the sovereign's views on the royal supremacy, were the +stumbling-blocks. Fisher went to the Tower, and on 22nd June 1535, to +the scaffold; Metcalfe was compelled to resign in 1537. + +Fisher had by deed of gift presented his library to the College, but +retained its use for his lifetime--the greatest loan of books on record, +as has been said. This magnificent collection was now lost, a loss more +lamentable than that of the foundress' estates. Endowments might be +replaced, but "the notablest library of bookes in all England" was gone +for ever. It is to the credit of the Fellows of the College that, no +doubt at some risk to themselves, they stood by Fisher. They visited him +in his prison, and in a nobly worded letter stated that as they owed +everything to his bounty, so they offered themselves and all they were +masters of to his service. + +In 1545 King Henry VIII. gave new statutes to the College, adapted to +the reformed religion; but all mention of Fisher and his endowments is +cut out; the College even had to pay 3d. for removing his armorial +bearings from the Chapel. + +During the reign of King Edward VI. the outspoken and eloquent Thomas +Leaver was Master; on the accession of Queen Mary he, with many of the +Fellows, had to fly to Switzerland. In Ascham's words: "mo perfite +scholers were dispersed from thence in one moneth, than many years can +reare up againe." + +The reign of Queen Mary did not extend over much more than five years, +but while it lasted a resolute and unflinching effort was made to +re-establish the Roman Catholic faith. + +The accession of Queen Elizabeth resulted in an equally rapid and +fundamental revolution of opinion on the most vital points which can +interest mankind. A few selected extracts from the College Account Books +for this period bring before us, with almost dramatic effect, the +changes which occurred. (Queen Mary succeeded in 1553, Queen Elizabeth +on 17th November 1558.) + +"1555, To the joyner for setting up the rood, 2_d._; A new graell +printed in parchment 40_s._;--1556, In Spanish money given to the +goldsmyth by Mr Willan to make a pixe to the highe Aultar, 24_s._ +11_d._; A redde purple velvet cope, with the border of imagrie, having +the assumption of our Ladie behinde and three little angels about her +and the greater being full of floure de luces, 46_s._ 8_d._;--1557, To +William Allom for two antiphoners, one masse book and hymnal and +processioners, £6 13_s._ 4_d._" + +"1558, To John Waller and his man for a dayes working pulling down the +hye Altar and carrying it away 20_d._; For pulling down the aulter in Mr +Ashton's Chapel 6_d._; 1563, Received for certain old Albes and other +popishe Trashe, sold out of the Revystry the last yere, 26_s._ 10_d._; +Paid to Mr Baxter for ten Geneva psalters and six service psalters, +bought at Christmas last, 22_s._" + +This last entry gives us the key to the troubles at St. John's; the +Marian exiles had returned with strong Calvinistic leanings. The unrest +was, of course, not confined to St. John's, but was general throughout +the University. But for the greater part of the reign of Elizabeth there +was a strong leaning toward Puritanism in the College. There was a rapid +succession of Masters, most of whom were thrust on the College by Court +influence; and about this time the Fellows of St. John's acquired the +reputation of being "cunning practitioners" in the art of getting rid of +unpopular Masters. + +Queen Elizabeth visited Cambridge in August 1564, and was received with +all honour. She rode into the Hall of St. John's on her palfrey and +listened to a speech from Mr. Humphrey Bohun, one of the Fellows, in +which for the last time the restitution of the Lady Margaret's estates +was hinted at, without result. + +Richard Longworth, a man of Presbyterian sympathies, was at this time +Master. In 1565 he, with the Fellows and scholars, appeared in Chapel +without the surplice. Lord Burghley, as Chancellor of the University, +wrote a sharply worded letter to Longworth, expressing his grief that +such a thing should happen in "my dear College of St. John's"; adding, +"truly no mishap in all my service did ever plunge me more grievously." + +Fortunately affairs were in strong and capable hands. With the authority +and in the name of Queen Elizabeth, Whitgift, at this time Master of +Trinity, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cecil provided new +statutes for the University in 1570, and for St. John's in 1580. By +these much more power was put in the hands of the Master, and government +rendered easier to a resolute man. + +Matters improved, if not at once, at least gradually, and the Anglican +rule became firmly established. But during the mastership of William +Whitaker (1586-1595) we still hear of troubles with "Papists." Whitaker +was a learned scholar and an acute theologian, but he does not seem to +have been a ruler of men or a judge of character. He got involved in an +unfortunate dispute with Everard Digby, one of the Fellows, a man of +considerable literary reputation, but of a turbulent disposition. +Whitaker, who clearly wanted to get rid of Digby, seized upon the +pretext that his bill for a month's commons, amounting to 8s. 7¼d., was +left unpaid, and deprived Digby of his fellowship. An appeal was lodged +with Whitgift and Cecil, who ordered Whitaker to reinstate Digby. +Whitaker replied that Digby was a Papist, was wont to blow a horn in the +Courts and to holloa after it, and that he had threatened to put the +President in the stocks! He seems to have succeeded in getting rid of +Digby for good. + +On the death of Whitaker in 1595, Richard Clayton became Master. If not +a brilliant scholar, he commanded respect, and the tenor of many letters +which have come down from that time shows that the Fellows in residence +were on good terms with each other, and with those of the Society who +had gone out into the world. The College was prosperous, and the +building of the Second Court was the visible sign of returned +efficiency. Clayton lived on into the reign of King James I., dying 2nd +May 1612; besides being Master of St. John's, he was also Dean of +Peterborough and a Prebendary of Lincoln. + +During this period the College enjoyed a considerable reputation as a +training ground for medical men. Thomas Linacre, physician to Henry +VIII., founded in 1534 a medical lectureship in the College, endowing it +with some property in London. The stipend of the lecturer was to be £12 +a year, no mean sum in these days--being, in fact, the same as the +statutable stipend of the Master. In the Elizabethan statutes special +and detailed provisions are made for the continuance of the lectureship. +These lay down that the lecturer must be versed in the works of +Aristotle, and that he should lecture on the works of Galen, which +Linacre had translated. The effect of the foundation was to attract a +number of medical students to the College, many of whom seem to have +obtained fellowships, for we find the Fellows petitioning Queen +Elizabeth, while her code of statutes was under consideration, that +Divines should be preferred to Physicians in the election of Senior +Fellows; otherwise, they submitted, an undue proportion of Physicians +would get on the seniority and rule the College. Further, they asked +that the medical Fellows, as some return for their privileges, should +attend on poor students free of charge. That the College school of +medicine was a noted one is confirmed by the fact that three successive +Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians were Fellows of St. +John's: Richard Smith (1585-1589), William Baronsdale (1589-1600), and +William Gilbert (1600-1601). Smith and Gilbert were physicians to Queen +Elizabeth; Baronsdale and Gilbert had been Senior Bursars of the +College. Of these Gilbert is the most celebrated; his treatise, _De +Magnete_, is a scientific classic. Galileo spoke of Gilbert as "great to +a degree which might be envied." Francis Bacon mentions the book with +applause, and Hallam describes Gilbert as "at once the father of +experimental philosophy in this island, and by a singular felicity and +acuteness of genius, the founder of theories which have been revived +after the lapse of ages, and are almost universally received into the +creed of science." Gilbert, who always signs his name Gilberd or Gylberd +in the College books, was Senior Bursar of the College in 1569, and +President in the succeeding year. + +Amongst others who have held the Linacre lectureship, and attained to +scientific distinction, was Henry Briggs, who was appointed lecturer in +1592. He afterwards became Gresham Professor of Geometry and Savilian +Professor at Oxford. He took up Napier's discovery of logarithms; the +idea of tables of logarithms having 10 for their base, and the +calculation of the first table of the kind, is due to him. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + THE SECOND CENTURY + + 1612-1716 + + +The second century of the College history opened quietly. Owen Gwyn was +elected Master by the choice of the Fellows; John Williams, then a +Fellow, afterwards Lord Keeper, Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Lincoln, +and Archbishop of York, exerting himself on Gwyn's behalf. It appears +that Williams in after years repented of the choice, and Thomas Baker, +the historian of the College, speaks slightingly of Gwyn. Still, under +his rule the College flourished, and Williams himself marked the period +by providing the greater part of the funds for the new Library. + +King James I. and Prince Charles (afterwards Charles I.) frequently +visited the University; James holding his Court at Trinity, but being +entertained at St. John's. On one of these occasions, comparing the +great Court of Trinity with the two then existing Courts of St. John's, +he is said to have remarked that there was no greater difference between +the two Societies than between a shilling and two sixpences. + +[Illustration: _HALL, AND CHAPEL TOWER_] + +With the advent of the Stuart kings the practice arose of sending +mandatory letters to Colleges, directing the election of named persons +to fellowships. In theory it may have been correct enough; the statutes +as enacted by Queen Elizabeth reserved to herself and her successors the +power of rescinding or altering them. To direct that the statutory +provisions as to elections should be dispensed with in favour of an +individual was thus within the sovereign's power, however inconvenient +it might prove in practice. One of the special grievances at St. John's +was that King James directed the College to elect a Scotchman, George +Seaton, M.A., to a fellowship, though there was none then actually +vacant. The College obeyed, informing his Majesty that they had made +their statutes wink to fulfil his bidding, and maintained an extra +Fellow for a time. The practice was, however, followed by others; and +Gwyn seems to have been deluged with letters from persons in high +places, begging for his favour at elections. At some Colleges the device +of "pre-elections" seems to have been resorted to; a promising man being +elected to the next fellowship which should be vacant. Thus, when the +vacancy became known, the College could, with a clear conscience, say +that it had been already filled up; there is, however, no trace of this +practice at St. John's. + +On Gwyn's death in 1633 there was a disputed election to the mastership, +which Charles I. settled by nominating William Beale. Beale was +originally a Trinity man, but had been for about a year Master of Jesus. +He was a supporter of Laud; he embellished the Chapel, and introduced a +more ornate ritual; under his influence St. John's seems to have been +the only College at Cambridge which fully complied with Laud's +instructions. Thus when the Puritans got the upper hand, Beale and his +College were the subject of their displeasure. + +In 1642 King Charles applied to the University for supplies. The +contribution of St. John's was £150 in money and 2065 ounces "grocers +weight" of silver plate. The list of the pieces of plate and of the +donors' names is but melancholy reading; suffice it to say that among +those sent were pieces bearing the names of Thomas Wentworth, Lord +Strafford, and of Thomas Fairfax. The fact that this plate actually +reached the King did not endear the College to the parliamentary party. +Oliver Cromwell surrounded the College, took Dr. Beale a prisoner, and, +to equalise matters, confiscated the communion plate and other +valuables. + +Beale, after some imprisonment and wandering, escaped from England and +became chaplain to Lord Cottington and Sir Edward Hyde (afterwards Lord +Clarendon) in their embassy to Spain; he died at Madrid, and was there +secretly buried. A number of the Fellows were also ejected, and for +some time the College was used as a prison. The Chapel was stripped of +the obnoxious ornaments, and other damage done. A little bundle of +papers labelled "Receipts for Army taxes during the Commonwealth" still +reposes, as a memento of these days, in the Muniment Room. + +St. John's, which dabbled in Presbyterian doctrines during the days of +Elizabeth, now had these imposed upon it by superior authority. The two +Commonwealth Masters, John Arrowsmith (1644-1653) and Anthony Tuckney +(1653-1661), were able men of Puritan austerity, the rule of the latter +being the more strict; judging from the after careers of its members, +the College was certainly capably directed. A well-authenticated College +tradition relates that when, at an election, the President called upon +the Master to have regard to the "godly," Tuckney replied that no one +showed greater regard for the truly godly than himself, but that he was +determined to choose none but scholars; adding, with practical wisdom, +"They may deceive me in their godliness; they cannot in their +scholarship." + +On the Restoration, Dr. Peter Gunning, afterwards Bishop of Ely, was +made Master; and the Earl of Manchester, who, as an officer of the +Parliament, was the means of ejecting many of the Fellows, now directed +that some of them should be restored to their places. An interesting +College custom dates from this period: on the 29th of May in each year +the College butler decorates the Hall and Kitchen with fresh oak boughs; +there is no order to that effect, but--"it has always been done." + +[Illustration: THE COLLEGE ARMS] + +The rest of this century of the College existence, with the exception of +one exciting event, passed quietly enough. Such troubles as there were +in College were but eddies of the storms in the world outside. Of the +"seven Bishops" sent to the Tower by King James II. in 1688, three were +of St. John's: Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely (who had been Master of the +College from 1670 to 1679); John Lake, Bishop of Chichester; and Thomas +White, Bishop of Peterborough. + +The event of College interest was the fate of the nonjuring Fellows. The +Nonjurors were those who, on various grounds, honourable enough, +declined to take the oath of allegiance to King William and Queen Mary. +Under the law they were liable to be deprived of their places and +emoluments. At St. John's twenty Fellows and eight scholars took up the +nonjuring position. In the rest of the University there were but +fourteen in all, and the same number at the University of Oxford. No +explanation seems to be forthcoming as to why there was this +preponderance of opinion at St. John's. It is difficult to believe that +it was enthusiasm for the cause of James II.; for when in 1687 that King +directed the University to admit Father Alban Francis, a Benedictine +monk, to the degree of M.A. without making the subscription or taking +the oaths required for a degree, Thomas Smoult and John Billers, members +of the College (the latter afterwards a Nonjuror), maintained the right +of the University to refuse the degree before the notorious Judge +Jeffreys, after the Vice-Chancellor and Isaac Newton had been silenced. + +Humphrey Gower was at this time Master of the College; he was of Puritan +origin, and entered the College during the Commonwealth. After the +Restoration he joined the Church of England, and though his sympathies +were with the Nonjurors, he took the oaths and retained his mastership +after the flight of King James. He had been for less than six months +Master of Jesus before becoming Master of St. John's. Abraham de la +Pryme, a member of St. John's, has handed down an irreverent jest on his +appointment. "Our master, they say, is a mighty, high, proud man.... He +came from Jesus College to be master here, and he was so sevear that he +was commonly called the divel of Jesus; and when he was made master here +some unlucky scholars broke this jest upon him--that now the divel was +entered into the heard of swine; for us Johnians are abusively called +hoggs." + +In 1693 the Court of King's Bench issued a _mandamus_ calling upon Gower +to remove those Fellows who had not taken the oath. Defence upon the +merits of the case there was none; but Gower or his legal advisers +opposed the mandate with great skill on technical points, and after much +litigation the Court had to admit that its procedure was irregular, and +the matter dropped for some twenty-four years. During this period some +of the Fellows in question died, others ceded their fellowships owing to +the combined action of the general law and the College statutes. Under +the latter Fellows were bound, when of proper standing, to proceed to +the B.D. degree, but the oath of allegiance was required of those who +took the degree, and so fellowships were forfeited. Thomas Baker, the +historian, who was one of the Nonjurors, had taken the B.D. degree +before 1688, so this cause did not operate in his case. But on the +accession of King George I., an abjuration oath was required, and the +meshes of the net being now smaller, the then Master, Dr. Jenkin, had no +other course but to eject Baker and others. The College did all it could +to soften the blow, and allowed Baker to reside in College until his +death in 1740. He worked unweariedly at his manuscript collections and +at the history of the College. The latter was first published in 1869, +under the editorship of Professor John E. B. Mayor; with the editor's +additions it forms a record of a College such as almost no other +foundation can show. Baker's learning and accuracy are undoubted; but it +may be permitted (even to a member of his College) to hint that Baker's +judgments are a little severe, and his views somewhat narrow. + +One notable improvement in the College records dates from this century. +In early days no record was made of the names of those who joined the +College. The statutes of King Henry VIII. enjoined that a register +should be kept of all those admitted to scholarships and fellowships or +College offices. This was begun in 1545, and has been continued to the +present time. The entries of scholars and Fellows are in the autograph +of those admitted, and if they possessed no other interest, have that +of providing numerous examples of contemporary handwriting. But of those +not admitted on the foundation, or of those admitted prior to 1545, +there is no official College record. + +Dr. Owen Gwyn and the seniors of his day passed a rule that "the +register of the College should have a book provided him wherein he +should from time to time write and register the names, parents, county, +school, age, and tutor of every one to be admitted to the College." This +was commenced in January 1629-30, and has been continued, with varying +care and exactness, ever since. It seems probable that the initiative in +this matter was due to Gwyn, as few Masters have so carefully preserved +their official correspondence. + +Just before this general register commenced, three notable men joined +the College: Thomas Wentworth, afterwards Earl of Strafford; Thomas +Fairfax, afterwards Lord Fairfax, the victor at Naseby; and Lucius Cary, +Viscount Falkland, who fell in Newbury fight in September 1643. +Complimentary letters to the first and last of these, with the replies, +have been preserved. Falkland, in his reply, complains that of the +titles given to him by the College "that which I shold most willingly +have acknowledged and mought with most justice clayme you were not +pleased to vouchsafe me, that of a St. John's man." + +Of others who entered we may name: Sir Ingram Hopton, son of Ralph, +first Baron Hopton, who entered as a Fellow Commoner 12th May 1631. Sir +Ingram fell at the battle of Winceby, 11th October 1643. He there +unhorsed Oliver Cromwell in a charge, and knocked him down again as he +rose, but was himself killed. + +Titus Oates, "the infamous," first entered at Caius 29th June 1667, +migrating to St. John's, where he entered 2nd February 1668-69. Thomas +Baker for once abandons his decorous reticence and states of Oates: "He +was a lyar from the beginning, he stole and cheated his taylor of a +gown, which he denied with horrid imprecations, and afterwards at a +communion, being admonisht and advised by his Tutor, confest the fact." + +Matthew Prior, the poet, was both scholar and Fellow of the College, +holding his fellowship until his death. Robert Herrick, though he +graduated at Trinity Hall, was sometime a Fellow Commoner here. Thomas +Forster of Adderstone, general to the "Old Pretender," and commander of +the Jacobite army in 1715, entered the College as a Fellow Commoner 3rd +July 1700. Brook Taylor, well known to mathematicians as the discoverer +of "Taylor's theorem," entered as a Fellow Commoner 3rd April 1701. +While David Mossom of Greenwich, who entered the College as a sizar 5th +June 1705, after being ordained, emigrated to America, and became +rector of St. Peter's Church, New Kent County, Virginia. He was the +officiating clergyman at the marriage of George Washington in St. +Peter's Church. + +We get an amusing glimpse of the importance of the Master of a College +in the following anecdote: "In the year 1712 my old friend, Matthew +Prior, who was then Fellow of St. John's, and who not long before had +been employed by the Queen as her Plenipotentiary at the Court of +France, came to Cambridge; and the next morning paid a visit to the +Master of his own College. The Master (Dr. Jenkin) loved Mr. Prior's +principles, had a great opinion of his abilities, and a respect for his +character in the world; but then he had much greater respect for +himself. He knew his own dignity too well to suffer a Fellow of his +College to sit down in his presence. He kept his seat himself, and let +the Queen's Ambassador stand. Such was the temper, not of a +Vice-Chancellor, but of a simple Master of a College. I remember, by the +way, an extempore epigram of Matt's on the reception he had there met +with. We did not reckon in those days that he had a very happy turn for +an epigram; but the occasion was tempting; and he struck it off as he +was walking from St. John's College to the Rose, where we dined +together. It was addressed to the Master:-- + + "'I _stood_, Sir, patient at your feet, + Before your elbow chair; + But make a bishop's throne your seat, + I'll _kneel_ before you there. + One only thing can keep you down, + For your great soul too mean; + You'd not, to mount a bishop's throne, + Pay _homage_ to the Queen.'" + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + THE THIRD CENTURY + + 1716-1815 + + +The third century of the College history coincides roughly with the +eighteenth century. It was not a period of very high ideals, and +"privilege" was in full force. For the first time in the College +registers men are entered as "Noblemen." These were allowed to proceed +to the M.A. degree direct in two years without passing through the +intermediate stage of B.A. The College was also full of Fellow +Commoners, who sat with the Fellows at the High Table in Hall; until the +close of the century these do not seem to have proceeded to any degree. +The other two classes were the pensioners, who paid their way, and the +sizars. A sizar was definitely attached to a Fellow or Fellow Commoner, +and in return for duties of a somewhat menial character passed through +his College course on reduced terms. Among other duties, a sizar had, +with some of the scholars, to wait at table, a service not abolished +until 6th May 1786. + +[Illustration: THE CHAPEL TOWER FROM THE RIVER.] + +Speaking in general terms, the College seems gradually to have +acquired the reputation of being the Tory College in the Whig +University; it became exceedingly fashionable, and towards the end of +the century had more students in residence than any other College. At +the same time its reputation for efficiency was very high. This was due +to the policy of Dr. William Samuel Powell, Master from 1765 to 1775. He +introduced various administrative changes on the financial side of +College management, and also started annual examinations in the College, +then a novelty in the University. These examinations were not very +severe, and to the somewhat overtaxed undergraduate of the present day +might seem almost trivial. They were not competitive, there was no order +of merit, but no one seems to have been exempt; their object was simply +to test the knowledge of the students. The success of the plan attracted +much attention; it was proposed to institute similar examinations for +the University at large, but Powell opposed this on the ground that +candidates ought to be examined by those who taught them. From this date +it would appear that Fellow Commoners, at St. John's at least, began to +take degrees in the University. + +During Powell's mastership an observatory was established on the top of +the western gateway of the Second Court, and regular astronomical +observations taken. Two sets of observations there made by Fellows of +the College have been published; one set made by William Ludlam in 1767 +and 1768, the other by Thomas Catton between 1796 and 1826, the latter +being published by the Royal Astronomical Society in 1854. + +We find members of the College taking part in all the movements of the +time. In the rebellion of 1745, James Dawson, a captain in the +Manchester Regiment, was taken prisoner at Carlisle, and executed in +July 1746 on Kennington Common; while Robert Ganton, afterwards a +clergyman, was excused one term's residence in the University, during +which, as one of "his majesty's Royal Hunters," he was fighting the +rebels. + +Charles Churchill, satirist, was for a short time a member of the +College in 1748. William Wordsworth, afterwards Poet Laureate, entered +the College as a sizar, and was admitted a foundress' scholar 6th +November 1787. Many adopted military careers; of these we may mention +George, first Marquis Townshend, who joined the College in 1741, +afterwards entered the army, and was present at Fontenoy and Culloden; +he went with Wolfe to Canada, and took over the command when Wolfe fell. +Daniel Hoghton entered in 1787, he also became a soldier, and was one of +Wellington's men in the Peninsular War; he was killed at the battle of +Albuera, being then a major-general. + +Of another type were William Wilberforce (entered 1776) and Thomas +Clarkson (1779), whose names will always be associated in connection +with the abolition of slavery. The saintly Henry Martyn, Senior Wrangler +in 1801 and Fellow of the College, went out as a missionary to India in +1805, and died at Tokat in Persia in 1812. There have been many +missionary sons of the College since his day, but his self-denial +greatly impressed his contemporaries, and Sir James Stephen speaks of +him as "the one heroic name which adorns the annals of the Church of +England from the days of Elizabeth to our own." With Martyn curiously +enough is associated in College annals another name, that of Henry John +Temple, third Viscount Palmerston, sometime Prime Minister of England; +for Martyn and Temple appear as officers of the College company of +volunteers in the year 1803. + +Thomas Denman, afterwards Lord Chief Justice, entered the College in +1796; he resided in the Second Court, staircase G, at the top. When he +brought up his son, the Hon. George Denman, to Trinity he pointed the +rooms out to him, and the latter pointed them out to the present writer, +"in order that the oral tradition might be preserved." + +Alexander John Scott, who, as private secretary and interpreter to Lord +Nelson, was present on the _Victory_ at Trafalgar, entered the College +in 1786, and became a scholar of the College 3rd November 1789. Fletcher +Norton, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1770 to 1780, and first +Lord Grantley, entered the College in 1734. With him, in a way, was +connected John Horne (afterwards Horne Tooke), who entered in 1754; for +Horne, for purposes of his own, libelled Fletcher Norton when Speaker. +Horne Tooke's stormy career belongs rather to political than College +history; but it is worth noting that when he presented himself at +Cambridge for the M.A. degree, and the granting of this was opposed in +the senate on the ground that he had traduced the clergy in his +writings, the members of St. John's, headed by Dr. Richard Beadon, then +Public Orator, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, carried the grace +for the degree. Horne and Beadon entered the College in the same year. + +We have already mentioned Charles Churchill. Another Johnian poet of +this period was William Mason, who entered the College in 1742. Mason +afterwards became a Fellow of Pembroke, where he was the intimate friend +of Thomas Gray. As the biographer of Gray he is perhaps better +remembered than for his own poetry, though during his lifetime he +enjoyed considerable fame. + +A somewhat unusual career was that of William Smith, who entered the +College from Eton in 1747, but left without taking a degree. He is +reported to have snapped an unloaded pistol at one of the Proctors, and +rather than submit to the punishment which the College authorities +thought proper to inflict, left the University. He became an actor, and +was very popular in his day, being known as "Gentleman Smith." He was +associated with David Garrick, and Smith's admirers held that he fell +little short of his master in the art. + +The reputation of the College as a medical school was maintained by Dr. +William Heberden, who entered in 1724. Heberden attended Samuel Johnson +in his last illness, and Johnson described him as "_ultimus Romanorum_, +the last of our learned physicians." A description which may be +amplified by saying that Heberden was in a way the first of the modern +physicians. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + THE CURRENT CENTURY + + +The time has probably not yet come when a satisfactory account of +College and University development during the nineteenth century can be +written. The changes have been fundamental, involving perhaps a change +of ideal as well as of method. In early days the College was filled with +men saturated with the spirit of the Renaissance; casting aside the +studies of the Middle Ages, they returned to the literature of Greece +and Rome. The ideals of the present day are not less high, but more +complex and less easy to state briefly; the aim is perhaps rather to add +to knowledge than to acquire it for its own sake alone. + +[Illustration: The College Chapel] + +For the first half of the century College life was still regulated by +the statutes of Elizabeth. These were characterised by over-cautious and +minute legislation. Now that they are superseded, the chief feeling is +one of surprise that a system of laws, intended to be unchangeable, +should have endured so long in presence of the changing character of the +wants and habits of mankind. + +It must be remembered that each member of the corporate body, Master, +Fellow, or Scholar, on admission, each officer on his appointment, bound +himself by oaths of great solemnity to observe these statutes and to +seek no dispensation from their provisions. To a more logical race the +difficulties must have proved intolerable--the practical Englishman +found his own solution. + +The forms were observed _juramenti gratia_, but much practical work was +supplemental to the statutes. This could be illustrated in more than one +way--the most interesting is the development of the educational side and +the tutorial system. + +The statutes prescribed the appointment of certain lecturers--even the +subjects of their lectures. Space need not be occupied in showing that +such provisions soon became obsolete. The working solution was found in +the tutorial system. In early days it was contemplated and prescribed +that each Fellow should have the care of two or three students, living +with them, teaching them daily; the exact date when this system passed +away has not been traced with any certainty, but gradually the number of +Fellows taking individual charge of the undergraduates diminished until +it became reduced to two or three. Those in charge became known as +Tutors, and with each Tutor was associated one or two others called +Assistant Tutors or Lecturers. A charge was made to the undergraduates +for tuition, and the sum so received was shared by the Tutors and their +assistants. But the Tutor was not a College officer in the eye of the +statutes, nor the money received for tuition treated as part of the +College revenues. The system worked, because it was meant to work, and +as it was not subject to obsolete rules could be modified and adapted to +changing conditions. So long as the chief subjects of study were few in +number, practically restricted to classics and mathematics, College +provision for teaching was possible and simple. The multiplication of +studies, the needs of the studies generally known as the Natural +Sciences, with their expensive laboratories and equipment, are entailing +further changes, and the tendency, more especially in the newer +subjects, is to centralise teaching under the control of University +professors and teachers. The subject is one of great interest, but +cannot be further touched upon here. To return to the history of St. +John's. + +Dr. James Wood became Master in 1815. He was a man of humble origin, a +native of Holcombe, in the parish of Bury, Lancashire. According to a +well-authenticated tradition he "kept," as an undergraduate, in a garret +in staircase O in the Second Court, and studied in the evening by the +light of the rush candle which lit the staircase, with his feet in +straw, not being able to afford fire or light. He became a successful +and popular College Tutor, and his mathematical writings were long the +standard text-books in the University. At the time of his death in 1839 +he held, with his mastership, the Deanery of Ely and the Rectory of +Freshwater in the Isle of Wight. He made the College his residuary +legatee, but during his life had handed over large sums for College +purposes, and the total of his gifts cannot have been less than £60,000. + +In Wood's time we find the first movement in favour of change taken by +the College itself. St. John's then suffered under a specially awkward +restriction arising from the joint effect of the general statutes and +the trusts of private foundations. By the statutes not more than two +Fellows could come from any one county in England, or more than one from +each diocese in Wales. + +There were thirty-two foundation Fellows, and twenty-one founded by +private benefactors, the latter having all the privileges and advantages +of the former. Each of these private foundations had its own special +restriction; the holders were to be perhaps of founder's name or kin, or +to come from certain specified counties, parishes, or schools. The +effect of these special restrictions was that many fellowships had to be +filled by men possessing the special qualification without, perhaps, any +great intellectual distinction. But once a county was "full" no Fellow +could be elected who had been born in that county; and even if a vacancy +occurred a promising man might be again cut out by some special +restriction. Dr. Wood and the Fellows addressed themselves to this point +and obtained in 1820 the Royal consent to a statute throwing open the +foundress' fellowships without restriction as to county; the private +foundations were left untouched, but the College was empowered to +transfer a Fellow on the foundress' foundation to one of the special +foundations, if qualified. + +Dr. Wood was succeeded as Master by Dr. Ralph Tatham, whose father and +grandfather (of the same names) had been members of the College. He was +Public Orator of the University from 1809 to 1836, an office for which +he was well qualified by a singular dignity of person and courtesy of +manner. "He brought forth butter," said the wags, "in a lordly dish." In +the year 1837 the Earl of Radnor and others raised the question of +University reform, and tried to induce the House of Lords to pass a bill +for the appointment of a University Commission. In the end the matter +was shelved, the friends of the University undertaking that the +Colleges, with the approval of their Visitors, should prepare new +statutes for the assent of the Crown. The change in St. John's was +opposed by some ultra-conservative Fellows, who urged that as they were +bound by oath to observe and uphold the statutes, and to seek no +dispensation from them, they were precluded from asking for any change. +The Bishop of Ely, however, gently put this objection on one side, and +the statutes then prepared were approved by Queen Victoria in 1849. The +more ardent reformers have described this code as merely legalising the +customs and "abuses" which had grown up around the Elizabethan statutes +without introducing any effective change. + +On the death of Dr. Tatham (19th January 1857), Dr. William Henry +Bateson was elected Master; he had been Senior Bursar of the College +from 1846, and Public Orator of the University from 1848. Dr. Bateson +was a man of scholarly tastes, but he was above all a practical man of +affairs and of broad views. He served on more than one University +Commission appointed to examine into and report upon the University and +Colleges. The College statutes were twice revised during his mastership; +the first code becoming law in 1860, the second was prepared during his +lifetime, though it did not become law till a year after his death. +These statutes are much less interesting reading than the early +statutes, though undoubtedly more useful. While aiming at precision in +the matter of rights and duties, they leave great freedom in matters of +study, discipline, and administration. All local restrictions on +scholarships and fellowships have been abolished. The government of the +College is entrusted to a Council of twelve, elected by the Fellows, +and presided over by the Master; a simple method has been provided of +altering them if necessary. Independently of the changes thus introduced +the College, on its own initiative, was providing for the newer studies. +In 1853 a chemical laboratory was built, and a lecturer in chemistry +appointed, and other lecturers appointed from time to time as the scope +of University teaching was widened. St. John's at an early date began to +elect men to scholarships and fellowships for Natural Science. In all +this we may trace the influence of Dr. Bateson, one of whose guiding +principles was to widen and increase the teaching power of the College, +and to reward intellectual distinction of any kind. Dr. Bateson died +27th March 1881, and was succeeded by Dr. Charles Taylor, the present +Master. + +Of men who have added lustre to the College roll of worthies we may +mention Sir John F. W. Herschel, the astronomer, who was Senior Wrangler +in 1813, and died in 1871, laden with all the honours which scientific +and learned bodies could bestow upon him; he lies buried in Westminster +Abbey close to the tomb of Newton. John Couch Adams, Senior Wrangler in +1843, in July 1841, while yet an undergraduate, resolved to investigate +the irregularities in the motion of the planet Uranus, with the view of +determining whether they might be attributed to an undiscovered planet. +The memorandum he made of his resolve is, as has been stated, now in +the College Library. It is a matter of history how Adams carried out his +purpose, and how through a series of unlucky accidents he did not get +the sole credit for his discovery of the planet Neptune. Adams became a +Fellow of the College in 1843, but had to vacate his fellowship in 1852 +as he was not in orders. The College tried to induce a Mr. Blakeney, who +then held one of the very few fellowships tenable by a layman, to resign +his fellowship and make way for Adams; offering to pay him for the rest +of his life an income equal to that of his fellowship. Mr. Blakeney, +however, refused, and a fellowship was found for Mr. Adams at Pembroke +College, which he held till his death. + +It is perhaps a delicate matter to allude to those still living, but two +may perhaps be mentioned. The Hon. Charles A. Parsons by his development +of the steam turbine has revolutionised certain departments of +engineering. Dairoku Kikuchi, the first Japanese student to come to +Cambridge, after graduating in 1877, in the same year as Mr. Parsons, +returned to Japan, and has held many offices, including that of Minister +of Education, in his native country. + +We may say that the changes introduced in the nineteenth century have +restored to the College its national character, admitting to the full +privileges of a University career certain classes of students who had +been gradually excluded. During the reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., +Mary, and Elizabeth, there was always a part of the nation, Protestant +or Roman Catholic, which found the entry barred to it. The establishment +of the Anglican rule in the reign of Elizabeth led to the exclusion of +Roman Catholics, and for three hundred years the doors of the University +were closed to them. + +The Civil Wars, the Commonwealth, and the Restoration produced religious +difficulties of another kind; the wholesale ejections in 1644 and 1660 +testify to the troubles men had to face for conscience' sake. After the +Restoration the Puritan, the Protestant Dissenter, was excluded with the +Romanist. + +In the eighteenth century a certain variety was introduced by the entry +of students from the West Indies, sons of planters; one or two +individuals came from the American colonies. The constant wars drew off +men to military careers, and the religious movements towards the close +of the century attracted men, after leaving College, to Unitarianism or +Wesleyanism. The celebrated Rowland Hill was a member of the College; +Francis Okeley, after leaving, became a Moravian or a Mystic. Such +dissenters as entered the College, and they were very few, were obliged +to leave without graduating. + +The removal of all religious tests has thus restored to the ancient +Universities a national character they had not possessed since the early +days of Henry VIII., when all could come, as all were practically of the +same faith. + +Thus a wider field is open to the College to draw on, not only in the +British Islands, but in all its colonies and dependencies. On the other +hand, it is no less true that her sons are to be found more widely +scattered. A hundred and fifty years ago one could say of a selected +group of men that the majority would become clergymen or schoolmasters, +a few would become barristers, others would return to their country +estates, one or two might enter the army; with that we should have +exhausted the probabilities. Now there is probably not a career open to +educated men in which members of the College are not to be found; the +State in every department, civil, ecclesiastical, or military, enlists +her sons in its service. The rise of scientific industries has opened +new careers to trained men. We talk of the spacious days of Elizabeth; +if space itself has not increased it is at least more permeated with men +who owe their early training to the foundation of the Lady Margaret. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + SOCIAL LIFE + + +Hitherto we have confined ourselves to an outline of the College history +on what may be called its official side. In what follows we deal briefly +with some features of the life of the place. + +[Illustration: THE NEW COURT] + +The original, and perhaps the chief, purpose of the College in the eyes +of those who founded it was practically that it should form a training +ground for the clergy. The statutes of King Henry VIII. distinctly lay +down that theology is the goal to which philosophy and all other studies +lead, and that none were to be elected Fellows who did not propose to +study theology. The statutes of Elizabeth provided a certain elasticity +by prescribing that those Fellows who did not enter priests' orders +within six years should vacate their fellowships; but that two Fellows +might be allowed, by the Master and a majority of the Senior Fellows, to +devote themselves to the study of medicine. King Charles I. in 1635 +allowed a like privilege to be granted from thenceforth to two Fellows +who were to study law. These privileges were not always popular, and we +occasionally find the clerical Fellows complaining that while the +duties of teaching and catechising were laid on them, a man who had held +one of the law or medical fellowships sometimes took orders late in life +and then claimed presentation to a College benefice in virtue of his +seniority as a Fellow, having in the meantime escaped the drudgery to +which the Fellow in orders had been subject. + +The emoluments of members of the Society in early times were very +modest, and as prices rose became quite inadequate; the amounts being +named in the College statutes were incapable of alteration, and indirect +means were taken to provide relief. In Bishop Fisher's time it was +considered that an endowment of £6 a year sufficed to found a +fellowship, and £3 a year to found a scholarship. The statutable stipend +of the Master was only £12 a year, though he had some other allowances, +the total amount of which was equally trivial. James Pilkington, Master +from 1559 to 1561, when he became Bishop of Durham, wrote to Lord +Burghley on the subject of his successor, stating that whoever became +Master must have some benefice besides to enable him to live. Richard +Longworth, Master from 1564 to 1569, made a similar complaint, putting +the weekly expenses of his office at £3. We accordingly find that many +of the Masters held country benefices, prebends, or deaneries with their +College office. Lord Keeper Williams, who gave to the College the +advowsons of Soulderne in Oxfordshire, Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, +and the sinecure rectories of St. Florence and Aberdaron in Wales, made +it part of the conditions of his gift that the Master should always be +entitled to take one of these livings if a vacancy occurred. Many of the +Fellows also held benefices or curacies near Cambridge. In the +eighteenth century the business of holding ecclesiastical preferment in +plurality became almost a fine art; thus Sir Isaac Pennington, who was +President of the College and Regius Professor of Physic, left to the +College by his will a fund to provide the sum of £200 a year for the +Master "if he be rector of Freshwater and not otherwise," a direct and +curious incentive to holding in plurality. A Fellow was entitled to his +commons, and, in addition, to allowances of 13s. 4d. under each of the +three heads of "corn," "livery," and "stipend," or, as we may say, food, +clothes, and pocket-money. The College officers received but small +salaries, the most highly paid being the President and Senior Bursar, +who each received £2. + +An effort was made by the Statutes of the Realm to improve the condition +of members of colleges. It seems to have been assumed that the rent of a +college farm, like its statutes, could not be altered; but by an Act of +Parliament passed in the eighteenth year of Elizabeth, known as Sir +Thomas Smith's Act, it was enacted that from thenceforth one-third of +the rents were to be paid in wheat and malt; the price of wheat for the +purposes of the Act being assumed to be 6s. 8d. a quarter, and of malt +5s. a quarter. Thus if before the Act the rent of a farm was £6 a year, +after it became law the tenant had to pay £4 in money, three-quarters of +wheat, and four quarters of malt, these two latter items coming to £1 +each. But the tenant now paid a rent varying according to the prices of +the day--namely, the money rent plus the cash value of the wheat and +malt according to the best prices of these commodities in Cambridge on +the market-day preceding quarter-day. Thus as the prices of wheat and +malt rose the College benefited. By the Act this variable one-third, or +"corn-money," went to increase the allowance for commons. As time went +on the amount of the corn-money was more than sufficient to pay for the +commons, and a further modest allowance out of the surplus was made to +all who participated in the College revenues, whether as Master, Fellow, +scholar, or sizar, under the name of _pręter_. + +In process of time another source of revenue arose. Leases of College +estates were usually granted for a term of forty years, and there was a +general custom that the tenant might surrender his lease at the end of +fourteen years and receive a new one for forty years. As prices rose +tenants were willing to pay a consideration for the renewal known as a +"fine"--this was calculated on the full letting value of the estate at +the time of the renewal, the rent reserved remaining at its traditional +amount. At first this fine-money was regarded as a species of surplus, +and grants were made from it to Fellows or scholars who were ill or in +special need of temporary assistance. The cost of entertaining royalties +or other distinguished visitors, and part of the cost of new buildings, +were defrayed from this source. In the year 1629 the practice arose of +dividing this fine-money up among the Master and Fellows in certain +shares, and the money so paid became known as the "dividend." At the +present time the College property is managed like any other landed +estate, and after the necessary expenses of management and maintenance +have been met, and certain fixed sums paid to the scholars and +exhibitioners, and to the University, the remainder is by the statutes +divided up into shares called dividends, each Fellow getting one +dividend, the Master and the members of the College Council receiving +certain additions calculated in dividends; there is a general +restriction that the dividend shall not exceed £250 a year. The fall in +the value of land at present automatically provides that this limit is +not exceeded; if the revenues become more than sufficient for the +purpose, additional fellowships and scholarships must be established. + +The reader will gather that the chief endowment of the College arises +from land. The College estates lie scattered over most of the eastern +side of England, from Yorkshire to Kent. There is no large block of +property anywhere. The estates in past times, when means of +communication were poor, must have been difficult to visit. In the +leases of the more distant farms it was usual to stipulate that the +tenant should provide "horse meat and man's meat" for the Master and +Bursar and their servants while on a tour of inspection. That some care +was bestowed on the management is clear from the regular entries, in the +books of accounts, of the expenses of those "riding on College +business." Probably the estates were visited when leases came to be +renewed, and an effort made to discover the actual letting value of the +property. Land agents seem to have been first employed to make formal +valuations towards the end of the eighteenth century, and about the same +time plans of the estates were obtained, some of these, made before the +enclosures, showing the land scattered in many minute pieces, are very +curious and interesting. + +The actual life within the College walls is not so easy to describe with +any certainty. At first, as we have seen, the undergraduates actually +lived with Fellows of the College, and overcrowding must have been a +constant feature of College life. On 15th December 1565 a return was +made to Lord Burghley of all students, "whether tutors or pupils," +residing in the College, with notes as to whether they had come into +Chapel in their surplices or not. The return concludes with this +summary: "The whole number is 287, whereof there came into the Chappell +with surplesses upon the last Saturdaie and Sondaie 147; and abrode in +the country 33. And of thother 107 whiche cumme not in as yet, there be +many cumme to the Colledge of late and be not yet provided of +surplesses." At this time we have to remember that the buildings of the +College consisted only of the First Court, the Infirmary or Labyrinth, +and a small block of buildings in a corner of the ground now occupied by +the Second Court, swept away when that was built. The arrangement seems +to have been as follows. The ground-floor rooms were occupied by junior +Fellows, each with a few pupils. The rooms on the first floor, known in +the College books as the "middle chambers," were in greater request; +with these went the rooms on the second floor, with sometimes _excelses_ +or garrets over them--these could accommodate a senior Fellow with +several pupils. In the older parts of the College the rooms occupied the +whole depth of the building, and so were lighted from both sides; in the +corners, when light could be obtained, cubicles or studies were +partitioned off. From a sanitary point of view, life under such +conditions must have left much to be desired, and the burial registers +of All Saints' parish (in which the older part of the College is +situated) leave the impression of frequent and almost epidemic illness +in the College during the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth +century. + +The undergraduates in early times were much younger than the men of the +present day. The statutes prescribed that the oath should not be +required from scholars who were under sixteen years of age; the frequent +occurrence of _non juratus_ in the admission entry of a scholar shows +that many came to the College before that age. Probably the average age +was about sixteen; the idea being that after the seven years' residence +required for the M.A. degree they would be of the proper age to present +themselves for ordination. Those under eighteen years of age might be +publicly whipped in the Hall for breaches of discipline. + +Students from distant parts of England probably resided continuously in +College from the time they entered it until they took their degrees. The +statutes of King Henry VIII. contemplate a period of some relaxation at +Christmas; providing that each Fellow in turn should be "Lord" at +Christmas, and prepare dialogues and plays to be acted by members of the +College between Epiphany and Lent. The brazier in the Hall seems to have +been kept burning in the evening about Christmas time; of this practice +a curious relic survived until comparatively lately, it being the custom +to leave a few gas-jets burning in the Hall until midnight from St. +John's Day (December 27) until Twelfth Night. + +There were three classes of students. The Fellow Commoners, sons of +noblemen or wealthy land-owners, who sat at the High Table, or, as it +was phrased, were in Fellows' commons. Some came in considerable state. +In 1624 the Earl of Arundel and Surrey sent his two sons, Lord +Maltravers and Mr. William Howard, to the College. The Earl's chaplain, +or secretary, in making arrangements for their coming, wrote to request +that they should have one chamber in the College, with a "pallett for +the gromes of their chamber"; the rest of "his lordships company, being +two gentlemen, a grome of his stable and a footman, may be lodged in the +towne near the College." At this period the Second Court had been built, +and the accommodation for residence thus somewhat greater than in +Elizabethan times. The Fellow Commoner wore a gown ornamented with gold +lace, and a cap with a gold tassel. The last Fellow Commoner at St. +John's to wear this dress was the present Admiral Sir Wilmot Hawksworth +Fawkes. + +The next class in order of status were the Pensioners--men who paid +their expenses without assistance from the College, sons of middle-class +parents. In times of which we have any definite record this was the most +numerous class in College. Lastly, we have the sizars. A sizar was +definitely attached to a Fellow or Fellow Commoner; he was not exactly a +servant, but made himself generally useful. For example, those members +of the College who absented themselves from the University sermon were +in the eighteenth century fined sixpence, and the sizars were expected +to mark the absentees. The sizar at Cambridge had, however, always a +better status than the servitor at Oxford, and in the days when +scholarships were strictly limited as to locality, a sizarship was +something of the nature of what at the present day we should describe as +an entrance scholarship or exhibition, the assistance given consisting +in a reduction of expenses rather than in actual direct emolument. At +the present time there is no difference in status among members of the +College; the foundation scholars, however, having special seats in +Chapel and a separate table in Hall if they choose to make use of it. + +Until 1882 the condition of celibacy attached to all fellowships in the +College; Queen Elizabeth held strong views on the matter, even +discouraging the marriage of Masters. The necessity of taking orders was +somewhat relaxed in 1860. The system had its advantages--it tended to +produce promotion; for the natural inclination of mankind to marry, +vacated fellowships; the disadvantage was that men with a real taste for +study or teaching had no certain career before them. The question of +allowing Fellows to marry was raised in the eighteenth century, but met +with little support and much opposition. Even in the middle of the +nineteenth century a University Commission inclined to the view that +celibacy was inseparable from the collegiate system. + +[Illustration: THE "BRIDGE OF SIGHS"] + +The clerical restriction had the effect of chiefly confining selection +to College offices to those who were in orders. These in due course +went off to benefices in the gift of the College, these acting as a +species of pension. One form of benefaction frequently bestowed by past +members was the gift of an advowson; one or two benefactors left +estates, the revenues from which were to accumulate, and with the sums +so raised advowsons were to be purchased. Presentation to livings went +by seniority of standing, and this practice, with the restriction on +marriage, gave rise to the belief, still prevalent in many parishes +where the College is patron, that the College on a vacancy always +chooses for the next incumbent "the oldest bachelor." It seems probable, +without any minute statistical inquiry, that most of the Fellows left +the College before the age of forty. A few remained on for life. + +It is difficult now to reconstruct a picture of the High Table, made up +as it was for many years of a group of middle-aged or elderly men, with +a considerable admixture of youthful Fellow Commoners. During the +eighteenth century the proportion of Fellow Commoners was probably from +one-fourth to one-third of those dining together, and constraint on both +sides must have been almost inevitable. The terms "don" and +"donnishness" seem to have acquired their uncomplimentary meaning about +this period. The precise significance of "don" is not easy to express +concisely; the most felicitous is perhaps that of the Oxford _Shotover +Papers_, where we read that don means, in Spain, a gentleman; in +England, a Fellow. The abolition of the Fellow Commoner was perhaps +chiefly due to the rise of the democratic spirit and a general dislike +of privilege, but there are other grounds for welcoming it. + +Of the individuals who make up the stream of youthful life which has +ebbed and flowed through the College gate there is but little official +record. An Admonition Book exists, in which more than a century ago +those who were punished for graver offences against discipline signed +the record of their sentence and promised amendment. One youth admits +over a trembling signature that he was "admonished by the Master, before +the Seniors, for keeping strangers in my chamber till twelve o' the +clock, and disturbing the Master by knocking at his gate in an +irreverent manner at that hour for the keys of the gate." When the +College gate was closed it may be explained that the keys were placed in +the Master's keeping. We are, however, left in ignorance of what passed +in that chamber until the midnight hour. Yet no doubt the student in +past days had his amusements as well as his successor of the present +day--rougher perhaps, but not less agreeable to him. + +In Bishop Fisher's statutes archery was encouraged as a pastime, and we +know from Ascham's writings that he indulged in it. In the sixteenth +century the College built a tennis-court for the use of its members. +John Hall, who entered the College in 1646, recommended "shittlecock" as +fit for students--"it requires a nimble arme with quick and waking eye." +We hear of horse matches and cock-fighting, but in terms of disapproval. +Football is mentioned in 1574, when the Vice-Chancellor directed that +scholars should only play upon their own College ground. In 1595 "the +hurtful and unscholarly exercise of football" was forbidden, except +within each College and between members of the same College. Certain +general orders for the discipline of the undergraduates, which gave rise +to much controversy about 1750, forbade cricket between the hours of +nine and twelve in the morning. In 1763 the Vice-Chancellor required +that no scholar, of whatever rank, should be present at bull-baiting. We +read in the eighteenth century of "schemes" or water-parties on the +river, but these appear to have been more of the nature of picnics than +exercises of skill. Riding was probably very common, the student +arriving on his nag, perhaps selling it and using the proceeds as a +start in his new life. The phrase "Hobson's choice" took its rise from +the rule in the livery stables of Hobson the carrier that a man who +hired a hack had to take the one that stood nearest to the stable door. +In later days stage-coaches supplied a more regular means of +conveyance. Students leaving Cambridge for the North betook themselves +to Huntingdon, and were housed at the George Inn there till places could +be found for them in the coaches. The landlord of the George sending +over to Cambridge to let it be known that one batch were gone and that +another might come over. + +Traditions linger in parishes round Cambridge that the University +"gentlemen" used certain fields or commons for the purpose of riding +races; the Cottenham steeplechases are presumably a survival of this +practice. Shooting and coursing, with a little hunting, came into vogue +at the end of the eighteenth century. + +The rise and organisation of athletic sports as an essential element of +College life would require a bulky history in itself. The first to take +definite form was rowing. The historic boat club of the college is the +Lady Margaret Boat Club; this was founded in the October term of 1825. +The actual founder of the club seems to have been the Hon. Richard John +Le Poer Trench, a son of the second Earl of Clancarty. Trench afterwards +became a captain in the 52nd Regiment, and died 12th August 1841. The +club was the first to start an eight-oared boat on the Cam, though some +Trinity men had a four-oar on the river a short time before the Lady +Margaret was started. Among the first members of the club were William +Snow and Charles Merivale, afterwards Dean of Ely. Trench acted as +stroke of the original first boat crew in the Lent Term of 1826. There +were at first no regular races, but impromptu trials of speed with other +crews frequently took place. In 1827 the University Boat Club was +started, and regular bumping races begun. The first challenge to Oxford +was determined on at a meeting of the University Boat Club held 20th +February 1829, when it was resolved: "That Mr. Snow, of St. John's, be +requested to write immediately to Mr. Staniforth, Christ Church, Oxford, +proposing to make up a University Match." The match was made up, and the +race rowed at Henley on 10th June 1829, and from this the annual +boat-race between Oxford and Cambridge takes its rise. Snow acted as +stroke of the Cambridge boat, George Augustus Selwyn, successively +Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield, rowed "seven," and Charles Merivale +"four." Snow (afterwards Strahan) became a banker, and died at Florence +4th July 1886. In after years when, from 1861 to 1869 inclusive, Oxford +had uniformly beaten Cambridge, the Lady Margaret supplied the late John +H. D. Goldie to break the spell and restore hope and confidence to +Cambridge crews. Thus the College club has taken an important part in +the establishment and maintenance of Cambridge rowing. Two verses of the +College boat song run as follows:-- + + "Mater regum Margareta + Piscatori dixit laeta + 'Audi quod propositum; + Est remigium decorum + Suavis strepitus remorum + Ergo sit Collegium.' + + * * * * * + + Sic Collegium fundatum + Et Johannis nomen datum + Margareta domina, + Ergo remiges gaudendum + Triumphandum et canendum + In saeclorum secula." + +So that, if we can trust the historic insight of the author (Mr. T. R. +Glover), the intentions of the foundress have been duly carried out. + +The uniform of the club was at first much what it is now, a white jersey +with pink stripes; with this was worn a jacket of scarlet flannel, +popularly known as a "blazer"--a name which has passed into the English +language as descriptive of the coloured jackets of all clubs. It is said +that some one, whose feeling for analogy was stronger than for decorum, +described the surplice as "the blazer of the Church of England." +Organised cricket clubs, athletic clubs, and football clubs grew up, and +in process of time clubs for the pursuit of every kind of athletic +exercise have been started. Originally each club in College had a +subscription, paid by its members, towards the expenses of the special +game. About twenty years ago all the clubs in St. John's were united +into one club--"The Amalgamation." The subscription to this entitles a +member to join in any of the recognised games. The funds are +administered by a committee consisting of the representatives of those +interested in the different games, and grants made from the general fund +towards the expenses of each game. The presence of a few senior members +of the College on the committee provides the continuity so difficult to +maintain with the short-lived generations of undergraduate life. The +College provides the ground for the cricket, football, and lawn-tennis +clubs, while through the generosity of members of the College of all +standings a handsome boat-house has recently been built on the river. +The College also possesses flourishing musical and debating societies, +and from time to time clubs arise for literary and social purposes, +dying out and being refounded with great persistence. + +In another sphere of work the College has taken a leading part. St. +John's was the first College in Cambridge to start a mission in +London--the Lady Margaret Mission in Walworth. Preaching in the College +Chapel on 28th January 1883, the Rev. William Allen Whitworth, a Fellow +of the College, then Vicar of St. John's, Hammersmith, afterwards +Incumbent of All Saints', Margaret Street, suggested that the College +should support a mission in some neglected district of London. The +matter took form a little later in the year, and since then the College +Mission has been a College institution. Members of the College visiting +the mission district, and visitors from Walworth coming for an annual +outing, including a cricket match, in August. + +Another flourishing institution is the College magazine, _The Eagle_. +Founded in the year 1858, it has maintained its existence for nearly +fifty years, being now the oldest of College magazines. It has numbered +among its contributors many who have subsequently found a wider field +and audience: some of the earliest efforts of Samuel Butler, author of +_Erewhon_, are to be found in its pages. + + * * * * * + +I now bring my sketch of the College history to a close. I have +endeavoured, within the prescribed limits, to give an outline of the +corporate life of an ancient and famous foundation. In writing it two +classes of readers have been borne in mind: the visitor who, within a +short compass, may wish to learn something more than can be picked up by +an inspection of the buildings; members of the College who feel a lively +interest in the habits and pursuits of those who have preceded them. I +have, perhaps, thought more of the latter than of the former class. + +Members of the College have always been distinguished for a certain +independence of thought and adherence to principle, not always guided +by motives of mere worldly prudence; they have always been noted for +that strong corporate feeling which finds expression in the words of +Viscount Falkland's letter, before alluded to: "I still carry about with +me an indelible character of affection and duty to that Society, and an +extraordinary longing for some occasion of expressing that affection and +that duty." + +To one who has spent much of his life in the service of the institution +to which he owes so much, the words of the Psalmist (a Scot naturally +quotes the version endeared to him by early association) seem to put the +matter concisely-- + + "For in her rubbish and her stones + thy servants pleasure take; + Yea, they the very dust thereof + do favour for her sake." + + + + +INDEX + + +Adams, J. C., 16, 25, 26, 29, 82 + +Admonition Book, 100 + +Armorial Bearings, 2 + +Arrowsmith, J., 57 + +Ascham, R., 19, 23, 44 + +Ashton, H., 19 + + +Baker, T., 28, 32, 61 + +Balsham, Hugo de, 36 + +Baronsdale, W., 50 + +Barwick, J., 31 + +Bateson, W. H., 81 + +Beale, W., 56 + +"Blazer," 104 + +Blunt, J. J., 22 + +Boat Club, 102 + +Bohun, H., 47 + +"Bridge of Sighs," 8, 10 + +Briggs, H., 51 + +Brown, "Capability," 10 + +Bull-baiting, 101 + +Burghley, Lord, 18, 48 + + +Carey, V., 28 + +Catton, T., 70 + +Caxton, 31 + +Celibacy, 97 + +Chapel, New, 13-17 + +Chapel, Old, 4, 13 + +Charles I., 26, 30, 52, 56, 86 + +Charles II., 31 + +Cheke, Sir J., 44 + +Churchill, C., 70, 72 + +Clarkson, T., 26 + +Clayton, R., 49 + +Clive, R. H., 22 + +College Leases, 91 + +Combination Room, 5, 23, 25, 27 + +Commons, 43, 90 + +Corn Rents, 91 + +Cricket, 101 + +Cromwell, O., 56, 63 + +Cromwell, T., 29, 30 + + +Dallam, R., 22 + +Dawson, J., 70 + +Denman, T., 71 + +Digby, E., 48 + +Dividend, 92 + + +_Eagle, The_, 106 + +Eagle Close, 10 + +Edward VI., 45 + +Elizabeth, Queen, 46, 47 + +Estates, 93 + +Examinations, 24, 69 + + +Fairfax, T., 31, 56, 62 + +Falkland, Viscount, 18, 62, 107 + +Fawkes, Sir W. H., 96 + +Fellow Commoners, 66, 96, 97, 99 + +Fisher, John, 37 + +Floods, 7 + +Football, 101 + +Forster, T., 63 + +Frost, H., 35 + + +Ganton, R., 70 + +Gilbert, W., 18, 50, 51 + +Glover, T. R., 104 + +Goldie, J. H. D., 103 + +Gower, H., 7, 59, 60 + +Gunning, P., 57 + +Gwyn, O., 52, 62 + + +Hall, The, 23 + +Hare, Sir R., 25 + +Hawksmoor, N., 8 + +Heberden, W., 73 + +Henrietta Maria, Queen, 26 + +Henry VII., 38 + +Henry VIII., 18, 38, 41, 45, 86 + +Herrick, R., 63 + +Herschel, Sir J. F. W., 25, 26, 82 + +High Altar, 46 + +Hill, R., 84 + +Hoare, H., 16 + +Hoghton, General, 70 + +Hopton, Sir I., 63 + +Horne Tooke, 72 + +Hospital of St. John, 14, 35 + +Howard, Lord Thomas, 3 + +Hutchinson, H., 8 + + +Infirmary, 17 + + +James I., 26, 49, 52 + +James II., 58 + +Jenkin, R., 61, 64 + + +Kennedy, B. H., 25 + +Kikuchi, D., 83 + +Kirke White, H., 4, 20 + +Kitchen, 32 + +Knox, E., 17 + +Knox, John, 17 + +Knox, N., 17 + + +Labyrinth, 17, 18, 94 + +Lady Margaret, 1, 2, 37 + +Laud, 30 + +Leases, 92 + +Library, 25, 27, 28 + +Lillechurch, 30, 41 + +Linacre, T., 49 + +Liveing, G. D., 25 + +Longworth, R., 47, 89 + +Ludlam, W., 70 + + +Martyn, H., 71 + +Mary, Queen, 46 + +Mason, W., 72 + +Master's Lodge, 15, 25 + +Mayor, J. E. B., 25, 61 + +Mengs, R. A., 22 + +Merivale, C., 102, 103 + +Metcalfe, N., 20, 40, 42 + +Mission, Walworth, 105 + +Mortuary Roll, 30 + +Mossom, D., 63 + + +Newcome, J., 31 + +Nonjurors, 59 + +Norton, F., 72 + + +Oates, Titus, 63 + +Okeley, F., 84 + +Organ, 22 + +Ospringe, 41 + + +Palmer, E. H., 25 + +Palmerston, Viscount, 71 + +Parsons, Hon. C. A., 83 + +Paul's Cross, 43 + +Peckover, Dr. A., 39 + +Pennington, Sir I., 90 + +Percy, A., 40 + +Peterhouse, 36, 37 + +Pilkington, J., 89 + +Powell, Sir F. S., 16 + +Powell, W. S., 69 + +Powis, Earl, 21 + +_Pręter_, 91 + +Prior, M., 32, 63 + + +Reform, University, 80 + +Registers, 61, 62 + +Reyner, G. F., 16 + +Rickman, T., 8 + +Rowing, 102 + + +St. John's Street, 16 + +Scott, A. J., 71, 72 + +Scott, Sir G. G., 15, 17 + +Scott, J. O., 22 + +Seaton, G., 55 + +Selwyn, G. A., 26, 103 + +Selwyn, W., 15 + +Seven Bishops, 58 + +Shittlecock, 101 + +Shorton, R., 40 + +Shrewsbury, Countess of, 5, 19, 28 + +Sizar, 97 + +Smith, R., 50 + +Smith, W., 73 + +Snow, W., 102, 103 + +Stag Staircase, 4 + +Stage Plays, 23, 95 + +Staincoat, 5 + +Stankard, 5 + +Statues, 18 + +Statutes, 42, 43, 61, 74, 79, 81 + +Strafford, Lord, 18, 56, 62 + + +Tatham, R., 22, 80 + +Taylor, B., 63 + +Taylor, C., 82 + +Thomas, Sir N., 25 + +Townshend, Marquis, 70 + +Trench, R. J. Le P., 102 + +Trinity College, 44 + +Tuckney, A., 57 + +Tutorial System, 77 + +Tyrrell, W., 26 + + +Victoria, Queen, 18 + + +Washington, Geo., 64 + +Whitaker, W., 48 + +Whitgift, J., 48 + +Whitworth, W. A., 105 + +Whytehead, T., 22 + +Wilberforce, W., 26 + +Wilderness, The, 9, 10 + +Williams, John, 7, 18, 25, 27, 28, 29, 52 + +Wood, J., 20, 78 + +Wordsworth, W., 25, 26, 32 + +Wren, Sir C., 7 + +Wren's Bridge, 8, 9 + + + THE END + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBERS' NOTES + +General: Spelling of words in quotations has been preserved. + +General: Corrections to punctuation have not been individually +documented. + +Page 51: logarithims corrected to logarithms (second occurrence) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. John's College, Cambridge, by +Robert Forsyth Scott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. 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