before that this vacancy will occur, the electors are guilty of a gross neglect of duty in not making it as public as possible. Every parent has some view or other for his children, and cannot be expected, on the short notice of a few weeks, to relinquish his previous plans, and resolve upon a new profession. Besides, as particular branches of knowledge are required of the candidates, the accident of having been taught in a cer tain way gives a much greater chance of success than the finest talents. The electors, for example, may be bound by their oaths to require the composition of Latin verse as an indispensable qualification, and may thus be constrained to admit an ignorant and stupid boy, who has been flogged into this practice, in preference to another in all respects his superior. When certain previous qualifications are necessary, it is manifest injustice to withhold the means of obtaining them. An undue advantage is thus afforded to those who know the private history of a college, and who may be trained for years for an expected vacancy, while others know nothing of it till it occurs. There are many abuses of this sort which cannot be traced to the restrictions of ancient statutes, or to any other source than the selfishness or indifference of the electors. Indeed, it generally happens that, where there are no restrictions at all, the élections proceed upon an avowed system of favouritism.

For these and other evils arising from the change of manners and opinions, with a more minute detail of which we shall not fatigue our readers, we see no redress but in the wis dom of the British Parliament. With out encroaching on the spirit of the college statutes, such regulations

might be made as would, in the course of a few years, appropriate to the Oxford foundations, and through them to learned pursuits and the service of the church, a large portion of talents, the absence of which would not occasion a corresponding incon venience in the naval and military professions, or in the counting houses of a commercial city. Nay, the talents adapted to the different professions of life are so extremely various, that in claiming the first selection for the Oxford foundations from those who are desirous to stand the competition, we are not certain but we may fairly be considered as arguing for an absolute redemption from the "unculti vated waste of human intellect." It appears necessary to state this view of the subject, in anticipation of the objection, that the country may gain when Oxford suffers. It is stated for the benefit of those only who entertain different views from ours with regard to the dignity of learning anđ science; but we trust the generality of our readers will not think that we exaggerate the importance of such pursuits, if we add our own conviction, that the cause of learning requires no exertion and no sacrifice inconsistent with the best interests of our country, or with the welfare of the whole human race.

Some persons may object, that the interference of the legislature is unnecessary, and therefore improper, when no legal obstacle to improve

ment is to be removed; but we contend that there is a "dignus vindice nodus" for the strong arm of power, since the experience of ages has shewn the natural propensities of human nature to be superior to those inducements which the sense of duty, the love of learning, the emulation of colleges and universities, or public

spirit, may afford for the encouragement of learning and genius. In these times, when England expects that every man in every station shall do his duty, the Oxford fellows must not be allowed to slumber in their stalls, or to consider their emoluments, whether derived from private or from public munificence, as intended soleÎy for the ease and comfort of their lives. Many of them are not engaged in the instruction of youth; but they have all important duties to discharge in the preservation and advancement of piety and learning, and in the distribution of the wealth entrusted to their hands; the performance of which duties the public have a right to enforce by such regulations as their founders, if now alive, would have been the first to sanction and approve, but which the weaknesses of men forbid us to expect from their own exertions, or the vigilance of their visitors. We respect their reverence for the memory of their benefactors and for the sacred nature of their oaths, and readily admit the danger of a general or unguarded substitution of the spirit for the letter of statutes originally intended for literal interpretation; but where the conditions have become impossible, or even manifestly absurd, they ought to be considered as no longer in existence; nor will any rational person be forward strictly to interpret against himself the conditions of a compact framed for his own advantage. "Quidam," says the more liberal spirit of the Roman law," in suo testamento heredem scripsit sub tali conditione, si reliquias ejus in mare abjiciat: Quaerebatur, cum heres institutus conditioni non paruisset, an expellendus est ab hereditate? Modestinus respondit: Laudandus est magis, quam ac

cusandus heres, qui reliquias testato ris non in mare secundum ipsius voluntatem abjecit: sed memoria humanae conditionis sepulturae tradidit." The Oxford fellows, however, ought not to be left to this hard struggle between their consci ences and their reason. The legisla ture and the courts of law have al ready interfered, and they ought to continue their superintending care until these foundations are reconciled to the progress of reason, and the probable intentions of those pious men from whom they derive their origin.

When a young man enters any col lege, whether as a dependent or independent member, he is immediately placed under one or more of the college tutors, whose private lectures in the classics, logic, and mathematics, and sometimes in other branches, he is obliged to attend generally about two hours a day. The college tu. tors, in some instances, teach different branches to the same classes of young men ; but the best arrange. ment seems to be that which allots one department to each tutor, in which he is to instruct different clas ses. These tutors are selected by the head of the college from the dependent members above a certain standing. The choice is, for obvious reasons, in general made with great judgement; so that the persons who fill these offices are almost always the best fitted for them that their respec tive colleges can supply. Their number in each college is in proportion to the number of under-graduates; and in the larger colleges, where more are wanted, the field of selec tion widens with the demand. As it is an office of great labour and responsibility, and contributes more to the reputation than emolument of

those by whom it is discharged, it soon becomes vacant, if by any accident it falls into improper hands; and it almost always happens, that those who understand their duty best, and perform it with most credit to themselves and advantage to their pupils, retain the office longest. If "an old college tutor, eminent as a man of letters, is rarely to be met with," it is not because the church drains the colleges" of such persons; for their promotion usually depends upon the fall of college livings, in which they take their rotation with the other foundation members; and even independent on promotion in the church, the office of college tutor is of such a nature that few persons care to retain it for any long period of time. Nor is this circumstance, upon the whole, to be regretted; for whatever may be occasionally lost in point of experience by its circulation, is more than compensated in point of vigour and activity. The great object of every student, who derives any benefit from the Oxsystem of education, is distinction in the examinations for the academical degrees. All the dependent members, and those intended for holy orders, are obliged to be examined, and a large proportion of the independent members are examined from choice, or through the influence of their friends. The principal business of the college tutors accordingly consists in lectures in the subjects of these public exercises, or rather, as the word lecture is a little ambiguous, in daily examining and instructing their pupils in such books and branches of knowledge as may afterwards insure their proficiency in the business of the schools. Beside this part of his duty, the tutor superintends the exertions of his pupils in

the practice of English and Latin composition, which forms a branch of education in every college. It is in some colleges usual to have the best of these exercises read weekly, and in others at the end of each term, before the whole college, by the authors, as a mark of honour, and stimulus to future exertion. Those who have a turn for verse are expected to give some specimen of their abilities in that department. Abridgements, too, of some books which have been read during the term are required to be shewn at the college examinations, which take place previous to each vacation. In some colleges, when independent members appear to have little or no knowledge of Greek and Latin, as it is not likely, a degree being out of the question, that this deficiency will ever be effectually repaired, the favourite pursuits of the place are sometimes, with a commendable liberality, relinquished for the more useful study of Blackstone's Commentaries; and an attempt is made to fill up the intervals of fox-hunting and less manly pleasures with the reflections which the pages of English and Roman history may suggest even to the least thoughtful minds.

The first public or university business which engages the student's attention, is an examination at two years standing in the classics, in logic, and the elements of Euclid. This responsio, as it is termed in the statute, is well calculated to prepare for the principal examination, which takes place a year afterwards; and to' keep this great object of ambition in the constant view of the tutors and their pupils. Eight candidates are examined in a day by the three masters of the schools, in presence of a numerous audience of young men,

and must produce a certificate of their success before they can be admitted to the next examination. Those who fail may make a second attempt the next term. They cannot be examined in less than one Greek and one Latin book, and some compendium of logic, and few are content with so scanty an exhibition of their attainments.

A year after this at soonest, and not later than two years, the principal examination takes place. Four examiners, appointed by the university, and sworn to the faithful discharge of their duty, publicly examine six candidates in a day. There are two periods in the year appointed for holding these examinations; and when all who present themselves at each period have been examined, the examiners proceed to distribute into three classes those with whose attainments they are satisfied. The first branch of examination is the rudiments of religion; which is managed by construing a passage in the Greek Testament, and answering such questions connected with it, as may shew the candidate's knowledge of Revelation. Questions follow in sacred history, in the thirty-nine articles, and the evidences of our faith. The next subject is logic, in which Aldrich's short treatise is generally employed; though certain excerpts from Aristotle's Organon are occasionally offered for the approbation of the patrons of this ancient discipline. The next point, and perhaps the most laborious of all, is rhetoric and moral philosophy, as far as they are to be derived from the ancient writers. The works of Cicero and Quinctilian on these subjects are of ten presented, but no distinction is to be obtained without an intimate knowledge of the celebrated treatises

of Aristotle. The accurate study of these last, which is required in this examination, where all the definitions and terms must be given in the original Greek, and the divi sions and distinctions, and the whole argument shewn to be distinctly ap prehended and remembered, is an exercise of the mind from which the student cannot fail to derive the most important benefit. The treatise on politics is occasionally added. The construction of at least three classi cal authors follows; and those who aim at distinction must present a considerable number of the highest class in both languages. The mathemati cal examination, at least of those who have advanced any length in such stu dies, is chiefly carried on on paper by the solution of problems, while other parts of the business proceed. In this manner also the candidate's knowledge of Latin composition is tried.

It is not intended that these examinations should exclude persons even of moderate attainments from aca demical degrees, but rather operate as an excitement to emulation, and afford an opportunity for honourable distinction. Some are indeed altogether rejected every year; but the large proportion pass unnoticed in the third and unpublished class. There are two honourable classes published both in literature and in the mathematical sciences, (or rather there may be said to be three in each, as the second has been divided into two;) and the same candidate may obtain the first place in both. The individuals of each class are arranged in alphabetical order, as any attempt to appreciate the exact merit of each of them would be altogether imprac ticable. The proportion which the numbers in these classes bear to those