Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE, a university, borough, and markettown, having separate jurisdiction, and forming a union
and hundred of itself, in
the county of Cambridge,
on the river Cam, 51 miles
(N. by E.) from London;
containing 24,453 inhabitants. This ancient town was
the Grantan-brycge, Grantabricge, or Grante-brige, of the
Saxon Chronicle, signifying
"the Bridge over the Granta," the ancient name of the
river Cam: by the substitution of cognate letters, the
Saxon compound was altered after the Norman Conquest to Cantebrige, since contracted into Cambridge.
The earliest authenticated fact in its history is its conflagration, in 871, by the Danes, who established on its
desolated site one of their principal stations, which they
occasionally occupied until the year 901. When the
Danish army quartered here had submitted to Edward
the Elder, that monarch restored the town; but, in 1010,
the Danes again laid it waste. During the period that
the Isle of Ely was held against William the Conqueror,
by the Anglo-Saxon prelates and nobles, William built
a castle at Cambridge, on the site, as it is supposed, of
the Danish fortress, including also the sites of twentyseven other houses, which, according to Domesday book,
were then destroyed. In 1088, the town and country
were ravaged by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, who had espoused the cause of Robert, Duke of
Normandy. Upon the agreement made during the absence of Richard I. in Palestine, between Prince John
and Chancellor Longchamp, the castle was among those
which the chancellor was allowed to retain. The town
was taken and despoiled by the barons, in 1215. King
John was at Cambridge about a month before his death:
soon after his departure, the castle was taken by the
barons, and on his decease a council was held here between them and Louis, the Dauphin. In 1265, the inhabitants of the Isle of Ely being in rebellion against
Henry III., the king took up his abode in the town, and
began to fortify it; but being suddenly called away by
the tidings of the Earl of Gloucester's success, he left
Cambridge without a garrison, in consequence of which
it was plundered by the rebels in the isle, the townsmen
having fled at their approach. On the death of Edward VI.,
the Duke of Northumberland, at that time chancellor of
the university, aiming to place Lady Jane Grey on the
throne, came hither with an army to seize the Lady
Mary, who, being at Sir John Huddleston's house at
Sawston, and receiving intelligence of his design, escaped
into Suffolk. The duke advanced towards Bury, but
finding himself almost deserted by his forces, he returned with a small party to Cambridge, and proclaimed
Queen Mary in the market-place: he was nevertheless
arrested for high treason the same night in King's College. In 1643, Cromwell, who, before he acquired any
celebrity as a public character, was for some time an inhabitant of the Isle of Ely, and twice returned for the
borough of Cambridge, took possession of it for the
parliament, and placed in it a garrison of 1000 men: in
August, 1645, the king appeared with his army before
Cambridge, but it continued in the possession of the parliamentarians until the close of the war. The town has
suffered several times from accidental calamities: in
1174, the church of the Holy Trinity was destroyed by
fire, and most of the other churches injured; in 1294,
another conflagration destroyed St. Mary's church, and
many of the adjoining houses. In 1630, the plague
raged so violently that the summer assizes were held
that year at Royston, the university commencement
was postponed till October, and there was no Stourbridge fair.

Seal and Arms.
Situated in a fenny agricultural district, Cambridge
owes its chief picturesque attractions to the number and
variety, and in several instances the magnitude and
beauty, of the buildings connected with the university;
and to the walks and gardens attached to them. It is
upwards of a mile in length, is one mile in its greatest
breadth, and lies chiefly on the south-eastern side of the
river: notwithstanding recent alterations, the streets in
general are narrow and irregularly formed; but on the
whole its aspect has been much improved by many elegant additions to the several colleges and university
buildings. The town was paved under an act passed in
1787, and has lately been drained at a great expense:
the streets, and many of the public buildings, are well
lighted with gas; an act having been obtained, in 1834,
to incorporate a company for affording a better supply.
Water is procured from a conduit in the market-place,
erected in the year 1614, by the eccentric and benevolent
Thomas Hobson, carrier, and supplied by a small aqueduct communicating with a spring about three miles
distant. Dramatic exhibitions are not permitted, within
nine miles of the town, at any other period than that of
Stourbridge fair, when, for three weeks, the Norwich
company of comedians perform in a commodious theatre
at Barnwell. Several public concerts are held in termtime, usually at the town-hall, when the best performers
are engaged; and at the Public Commencements, which
generally take place every fourth year, grand musical
festivals are given. A choral society on an extensive
scale has been formed; and there are several book
societies, the largest of which has been established many
years.
Cambridge has become a considerable thoroughfare,
since the draining of the fens, and the formation of
excellent roads towards the east and north-east coasts,
over tracts previously impassable: the Eastern Counties
railway, also, runs by the town, and has a principal station here; and in 1845 an act was passed for making a
branch, 17½ miles long, from the town to Huntingdon.
There is no manufacture; but a good trade in corn,
coal, timber, iron, &c., is carried on with the port of
Lynn, by means of the Cam, which is navigable up to
Cambridge. A great quantity of oil, pressed at the
numerous mills in the Isle of Ely, from flax, hemp, and
cole seed, is brought up the river; and butter is conveyed hither weekly from Norfolk and the Isle of Ely,
and sent to London. The markets, which are under
the control of the university, though the tolls belong to
the corporation, are held every day in the week, Saturday's being the largest, and are excellently supplied
with provisions: the market-place consists of two spacious oblong squares. There are two fairs: one of
them, for horses, cattle, timber, and pottery, beginning
on the 22nd of June, and commonly called Midsummer
or Pot fair, is proclaimed by the heads of the university,
and the mayor and corporation, successively. The
other, called Stourbridge fair, anciently one of the largest
and most celebrated in the kingdom, is proclaimed on
the 18th September by the vice-chancellor, doctors, and
proctors of the university, and by the mayor and aldermen, and continues upwards of three weeks: the staple
commodities exposed for sale are leather, timber, cheese,
hops, wool, and cattle; the 25th is appropriated to the
sale of horses. Both the fairs have been for some years
declining.
The town is a Borough by prescription: it was first
incorporated by Henry I., in the early part of his reign;
and 24 other charters, none of which, however, with the
exception of that of the 5th of Richard II., caused any
material change in the municipal government, were
granted previously to the charter of the 7th of Charles I.,
under which the officers of the corporation consisted
of a mayor, four bailiffs, twelve aldermen, twenty-four
common-councilmen, and two treasurers. Other officers
not named in the charter were, a high steward, recorder,
deputy-recorder, four councillors, two coroners, a townclerk, and deputy town-clerk. The government is now,
under the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76,
vested in a mayor, ten aldermen, and thirty councillors;
the borough is divided into the five wards of East Barnwell, West Barnwell, Market, Trinity, and St. Andrew;
and the number of magistrates is twenty-five. The
town has returned members to parliament since the
23rd of Edward I.: the right of election was formerly
in the freemen not receiving alms, but, by the act of the
2nd of William IV., cap. 45, the non-resident freemen
were disfranchised, and the privilege was extended to
the £10 householders of the borough, the limits of which
comprise 3195 acres; the returning officer is the mayor.
The privilege of sending two representatives was conferred upon the university by charter in the first of
James I.: the right of election is vested in the members
of the senate; the vice-chancellor is returning officer.
The recorder holds a court of session quarterly; also a
court of pleas, taking cognizance of actions, real and
personal, arising within the town; and a court leet is
held annually, for the appointment of constables, &c.
There are petty-sessions daily. The steward of the university holds a court leet twice a year, for inquiring into
matters connected with weights and measures, and for
licensing victuallers in the town, and the adjoining
village of Chesterton. The Bishop and the Archdeacon
of Ely hold their courts and have their registries here;
and both the spring and the summer assizes, and the
quarter-sessions for the county, are held at Cambridge.
The county debt-court of Cambridge, established in
1847, has jurisdiction over the three registration-districts
of Cambridge, Caxton and Arrington, and Chesterton.
The shire-hall is in the market-place, containing two
courts, and resting upon arches faced with stone, beneath
which are shops. The county courts, on the road to
Ely, and opposite to the gaol, with which they have a
subterraneous communication, form a handsome structure of freestone from the Whitby quarries, erected in
the Palladian style of architecture, at an expense of
£11,000. The principal front, which projects from the
main building, is 102 feet in length, and is divided into
seven compartments, by a series of arches, five of which
in the central portion form an open arcade, leading to
the judges' apartments and to the grand-jury room and
other offices, and are separated by single columns of the
Tuscan order. The other two compartments, at the
extremes, are inclosed with spacious Venetian windows,
and ornamented with duplicated columns, together supporting an enriched entablature and cornice, surmounted
by a balustraded parapet divided into corresponding
compartments by pedestals, of which those in the central
portion support emblematical statues, and those of the
extremes are crowned with urns. At each extremity of
the front are handsome rusticated doorways, leading to
the main building, which is 136 feet in length and of
higher elevation than the front, and affording an entrance into those parts of the courts which are open to
the public; the court-rooms are each 51 feet in length,
and 32 feet wide, and are commodiously fitted up with
oak. The town-hall, rebuilt in 1782, is obscurely situated behind the shire-hall. A new and commodious
town gaol, on the radiating principle, has been erected
in the parish of St. Andrew-the-Less, on the north-east
of the road to Colchester.
The origin of the University is enveloped in great
obscurity; it is, however, probable that Cambridge first
became a seat of learning in the seventh century, when,
as Bede in his Ecclesiastical History informs us, Sigebert,
King of the East Angles,
with the assistance of Bishop
Felix, constituted within his
dominions a school in imitation of some that he had
seen in France. It is certain,
that at a very early period
the town was the resort of
numerous students, who at
first resided in private apartments, and afterwards in
inns, where they lived in
community under a principal,
at their own charge. Several of these houses were at
length deserted, and fell into decay; others were purchased in succession by patrons of literature, and, obtaining incorporation with right of mortmain, received
permanent rich endowments. It is believed that a
regular system of academical education was first introduced in 1109, when, the abbot of Crowland having
sent some monks, well versed in philosophy and other
sciences, to his manor of Cottenham, they proceeded
to the neighbouring town of Cambridge, whither a great
number of scholars repaired to their lectures, which
were arranged after the manner of the university of
Orleans. The first charter known to have been granted
to the university is that in the 15th of Henry III., conferring the privilege of appointing certain officers, called
taxors, to regulate the rent of lodgings for students,
which had been raised exorbitantly by the townsmen:
this was about 50 years before the foundation of Peterhouse, the first endowed college. In 1249, the discord
between the scholars and the townsmen had arrived at
such a pitch, as to require the interference of the civil
power; and in 1261, dissensions arose in the university
between the northern and the southern men, which
were attended with consequences so serious that a great
number of scholars, in order to pursue their studies
without interruption, withdrew to Northampton, where
a university was established, and continued four years.
In 1270, Prince Edward came to Cambridge, and ordered an agreement to be drawn up, by virtue of which
certain persons were appointed by the town and the
university, to preserve the peace between the students
and the inhabitants. In 1333, Edward III. granted
some important privileges to the university, making its
authority paramount to that of the borough, and ordaining that the mayor, bailiffs, and aldermen, should swear
to maintain its rights and privileges. These eminent
favours caused the townsmen to be more than ever jealous
of its authority; and their discontents broke out into
open violence in the succeeding reign, when, taking advantage of the temporary success of the rebels of Kent and
Essex, in 1381, the principal townsmen, at the head of
a tumultuous assemblage, seized and destroyed the university charters, plundered Benedict College, and compelled the chancellor and other members of the university to renounce their chartered privileges, and
promise submission to the authority of the burgesses.
These lawless proceedings were put an end to by the
arrival of the Bishop of Norwich with an armed force;
and the king soon after punished the burgesses, by
depriving them of their charter, and bestowing all the
privileges which they had enjoyed upon the university,
together with a grant that no action should be brought
against any scholar, or scholar's servant, by a townsman, in any other than the chancellor's court. In
1430, Pope Martin V. decided, from the testimony of
ancient evidence, that the members of the university
were exclusively possessed of all ecclesiastical and spiritual jurisdiction over their own scholars. Richard II.
restored to the burgesses their charter, with such an
abridgment of their privileges as rendered them more
subordinate to the university than they had previously
been. On the first symptoms of an approaching war
between King Charles and the parliament, the university stood forward to demonstrate its loyalty, by tendering the college plate to be melted for his majesty's
use. In 1643, the Earl of Manchester, at that time
chancellor of the university, came to Cambridge, and,
after a general visitation of the colleges, expelled all the
members that were known to be zealously attached to
the king and to the Church discipline. In March, 1647,
Sir Thomas Fairfax visited the university, and was
received with all the honours of royalty at Trinity
College; on the 11th of June he kept a public fast at
the place.

University Arms.
Queen Elizabeth visited Cambridge, Aug. 5th, 1564,
and stayed five days, during which she resided at the
provost's lodge, King's College, and was entertained
with plays, orations, and academical exercises. On the
7th of March, 1615, James I., with his son Henry,
Prince of Wales, was here, and was lodged at Trinity
College, which has ever since, on the occasion of royal
visits, been the residence of the sovereign: King James
honoured the university with another visit in 1625; and
Charles I. and his queen were here in 1632, when they
were entertained with dramatic exhibitions. It was
also visited by Charles II., Oct. 14th, 1671, and Sept.
27th, 1681; by William III., Oct. 4th, 1689; by Queen
Anne and the Prince of Denmark, April 16th, 1705; by
George I., Oct. 6th, 1717; and by George II., in April,
1728; on all which occasions the royal guests were entertained by the university in the hall of Trinity College;
and it was customary for the corporation to present
them with 50 broad pieces of gold. Her present Majesty
honoured the town with a visit, accompanied by his
Royal Highness, Prince Albert, Oct. 25th, 1843; and in
1847 the Prince was elected chancellor.
The University is a society of students in all the liberal arts and sciences, incorporated, in the 13th of Elizabeth, by the name of the "Chancellor, Masters, and
Scholars of the University of Cambridge." It is formed
by the union of seventeen colleges, or societies, devoted
to the pursuit of learning and knowledge, and for the
better service of the Church and State; and each college
is a body corporate, and bound by its own statutes,
though controlled, as in Oxford, by the paramount laws
of the university. The present statutes were given by
Queen Elizabeth, and, with former privileges, were
sanctioned by parliament. Each of the seventeen departments, or colleges, in this literary republic, furnishes members both for the executive and the Legislative branch of its government; the place of assembly
is the senate-house. All persons who are masters of
arts, or doctors in one of the three faculties, viz.,
divinity, civil law, and physic, having their names upon
the college boards, holding any university office, or
being resident in the town, have votes in the assembly.
The senate is divided into two classes or houses; and
according to this arrangement they are denominated
regents or non-regents, with a view to some particular
offices allotted by the statutes to the junior division.
Masters of arts of less than five years' standing, and
doctors of less than two, compose the regent or upper
house, or, as it is sometimes styled, the "White-hood
house," from its members wearing hoods lined with
white silk; and all the rest constitute the non-regent or
lower house, otherwise called the "Black-hood house,"
its members wearing black silk hoods. But doctors of
more than two years' standing, and the public orator of
the university, may vote in either house according to
their pleasure. Besides the two houses, there is a council named the Caput, chosen on October 12th, by which
every university grace must be approved before it can
be introduced to the senate; and this council consists
of a vice-chancellor, a doctor in each of the three faculties, and two masters of arts, the last representing the
regent and non-regent houses. No degree is ever obtained without a grace for that purpose: after the grace
has passed, the vice-chancellor is at liberty to confer the
degree. The university confers no degree whatever,
unless the candidate has previously subscribed a declaration that he is bona fide a member of the Church of
England, as by law established; for all degrees, except
those of B.A., M.B., and B.C.L., it is necessary that persons should subscribe to the 36th canon of the Church
of England, inserted in the registrar's book.
The executive branch of the university government
is committed to a chancellor, high steward, vice-chancellor, and other officers. The Chancellor is the head of
the whole university, and presides over all cases relative
to that body; his office is biennial, or tenable for such a
length of time beyond two years as the tacit consent of
the university chooses to allow. The High Steward is
elected by the senate, and has special power to try scholars impeached of felony within the limits of the university (the jurisdiction of which extends a mile each way,
from any part of the suburbs), and to hold a court leet
according to the established charter and custom; he
has power, by letters-patent, to appoint a deputy. The
Vice-chancellor is elected on Nov. 4th, by the senate: his
office, in the absence of the chancellor, embraces the
government of the university, according to the statutes;
he acts as a magistrate both for the university and the
county, and must, by an order made in 1587, be the
head of some college. A Commissary is appointed by
letters-patent under the signature and seal of the chancellor; he holds a court of record for all privileged persons, and scholars under the degree of M.A. The Public Orator is elected by the senate, and is the oracle of
that body on all public occasions; he writes, reads, and
records the letters to and from the senate, and presents
to all honorary degrees with an appropriate speech:
this is esteemed one of the most honourable offices in the
gift of the university. An Assessor is specially appointed,
by a grace of the senate, to assist the vice-chancellor in
his court, in causis forensibus et domesticis. Two Proctors,
who are peace-officers, are elected annually on Oct. 10th,
by the regents only, from the different colleges in rotation, according to a fixed cycle. A Librarian, Librarykeeper, and Assistant Library-keepers, are chosen by the
senate, for the due management of the university library.
The Registrar, elected also by the senate, is obliged,
either by himself or deputy, to attend all congregations,
to give requisite directions for the form of such graces
as are to be propounded, and to receive them when
passed in both houses. Two Taxors are elected on Oct.
10th, by the regents only: they must be masters of arts,
and are regents by virtue of their office; they are appointed to regulate the markets, and to lay the abuses
thereof before the commissary. Scrutators are chosen
at the same time by the non-regents only; they are exofficio non-regents, and attend all congregations, read
the graces in the lower house, gather the votes, and pronounce the assent and dissent. Two Moderators, nominated by the proctors, and appointed by a grace of the
senate, officiate in the absence of the proctors. Two
Pro-proctors are appointed, to assist the proctors in that
part of their duty which relates to the preservation of
the public morals: this office was instituted by a grace
of the senate, April 29th, 1818, and bachelors in divinity, as well as masters of arts, are eligible. Classical
Examiners are nominated by the several colleges, according to the cycle of proctors, and the election takes place
at the first congregation after Oct. 4th. There are three
Esquire Bedells, whose duty it is to attend the vice-chancellor. The University Printer, and the School-keeper, are
elected by the body at large: the Yeoman Bedell is appointed by letters-patent under the signature and seal
of the chancellor; and the University Marshal, by letterspatent of the vice-chancellor. The Syndics are members
of the senate chosen to transact all special affairs relating
to the university.
The professors have stipends allowed from various
sources; some from the university chest, and others
from her Majesty's government, or from estates left for
the purpose. Lady Margaret's Professorship of Divinity
was instituted in 1502, by Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of Henry VII., the election to be every
two years. The Regius Professorship of Divinity was
founded by Henry VIII., in 1540; the candidates may
be either bachelors or doctors in divinity. The Regius
Professorship of Civil Law was also established by Henry
VIII. in 1540; the professor is appointed by the Queen,
and continues in office during Her Majesty's pleasure.
The Regius Professorship of Physic, instituted at the same
time, may be held for life; the appointment is by the
Queen. The Regius Professorship of Hebrew was likewise
founded at the same time: a candidate must not be
under the standing of M.A. or B.D.; but doctors of all
faculties are excluded. A Professorship of Arabic was
established by Sir Thomas Adams, Bart., in 1632. The
Lord Almoner's Reader and Professorship of Arabic is in
the gift of the lord almoner, and the stipend is paid out
of the almonry bounty. The Lucasian Professorship of
Mathematics was instituted in 1663, by Henry Lucas,
M.P. for the university; a candidate must be M.A. at
least, and well skilled in mathematical science. The
Professorship of Casuistry was founded in 1683, by John
Knightbridge, D.D., fellow of St. Peter's: a candidate
must be a bachelor or doctor in divinity, and not less
than 40 years of age. The Professorship of Music was
established by the university, in 1684; that of Chemistry
by the university, in 1702; of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, in 1704, by Dr. Plume, Archdeacon
of Rochester; and of Anatomy, by the university, in
1707. The Professorship of Modern History was established by George I., in 1724: the professor is appointed
by the Queen, and holds the office during Her Majesty's
pleasure; he must be either a master of arts, or bachelor
in civil law, of a superior degree. The Professorship of
Botany was founded by the university, in 1724, and has
since been made a patent office. That of Geology was
instituted by Dr. Woodward, in 1727; only unmarried
men are eligible. The Professorship of Astronomy and
Geometry was founded by Thomas Lowndes, Esq., in
1749. The Norrisian Professorship of Divinity was founded
by John Norris, Esq., of Whitton, in the county of
Norfolk, in 1768: the professor cannot continue in office
longer than five years, but may be re-elected; he may
be a member of either university, may be lay or clerical,
but cannot be elected under his 30th, nor re-elected after
his 60th year. The Professorship of Natural and Experimental Philosophy was established in 1783, by the Rev.
Richard Jackson, M.A.; a member of Trinity College is
to be preferred, and next, a candidate from the counties
of Stafford, Warwick, Derby, or Chester. The Downing
Professorship of the Laws of England, and the Downing
Professorship of Medicine, were founded in pursuance of
the will of Sir George Downing, Bart., K.B., in 1800.
The Professorship of Mineralogy was instituted by the
university, in 1808, and afterwards endowed by Her Majesty's government. That of Political Economy was conferred by a grace of the senate in May, 1828, on George
Pryme, Esq., M.A., late fellow of Trinity College, and is
to be a permanent professorship.
Lady Margaret's Preachership was founded in 1503;
doctors, inceptors, and bachelors of divinity, are alone
eligible, one of Christ's College being preferred. The
Barnaby Lectureships, four in number, viz., in mathematics, philosophy, rhetoric, and logic, are so called from
the election taking place on St. Barnabas' day, June 11th:
the mathematical lecture was founded at a very early
period, by the university; and the other three were endowed in 1524, by Sir Robert Rede, lord chief justice of
the court of common pleas in the reign of Henry VIII.
The Sadlerian Lectureships in Algebra, seventeen in number, were founded by Lady Sadler, and the lectures commenced in 1710: the lecturers were required to be
bachelors of arts at least; the lectureships are tenable
only for ten years, and no one can be elected unless previously examined and approved by the mathematical
professor. The Rev. John Hulse, who was educated at
St. John's College, and died in 1789, bequeathed his estates in Cheshire to the university, for the advancement
and reward of religious learning; the purposes to which
he appropriated the income being, first, the maintenance
of two scholars at St. John's College; secondly, to recompense the exertions of the Hulsean prizemen; thirdly,
to found and support the office of Christian advocate;
and fourthly, that of the Hulsean Lecturer, or Christian
Preacher. The Christian Advocate must be a learned and
ingenious person, of the degree of master of arts, or of
bachelor or doctor of divinity, of thirty years of age, and
resident in the university; he has to compose yearly,
while in office, some answer in English to objections
brought against the Christian religion, or the religion of
nature, by notorious infidels. The office of the Hulsean
Lecturer, or Christian Preacher, is annual; but the same
individual may, under certain circumstances, be reelected for any number of successive years not exceeding
six: the preacher is afterwards ineligible to the office of
Christian Advocate: his duty is, to preach and print
twenty sermons in each year, the object of them being
to show the evidences of revealed religion, or to explain
some of the most obscure parts of the Holy Scriptures.
William Worts, M.A., of Caius College, formerly one of
the esquire bedells of the university, gave two pensions,
of £100 per annum each, to two junior bachelors of arts,
who are required to visit foreign countries, to take different routes, and to write, during their travels, two
Latin letters each, descriptive of customs, curiosities,
&c.: the annuity is continued for three years, the period
they are required to be absent.
The prizes for the encouragement of literature, the
competition for which is open to the university at large,
amount annually to nearly £1200 in value, three-fourths
of which are given for the classics and English composition, and the remainder for mathematics. The amount
of the annual prizes in the different colleges is upwards
of £300, two-thirds of which are for the encouragement
of classical literature. Two gold medals, value £15. 15.
each, are presented annually by the chancellor to two
commencing bachelors of arts, who, having obtained
senior optimes at least, show the greatest proficiency in
classical learning: these prizes were established in 1751,
by the Duke of Newcastle, then chancellor. The members of parliament for the university give four annual
prizes, of £15. 15. each, to two bachelors of arts and
two under-graduates, who compose the best dissertations in Latin prose: these were founded by the Hon.
Edward Finch and the Hon. Thomas Townsend. Sir Edward Browne, Knt., M.D., directed three gold medals,
value £5. 5. each, to be given yearly to three undergraduates on the commencement day; the first to him
who writes the best Greek ode in imitation of Sappho;
the second for the best Latin ode in imitation of Horace;
the third for the best Greek and Latin epigrams, the
former after the manner of the Anthologia, the latter on
the model of Martial. The Rev. Charles Burney, D.D.,
and the Rev. John Cleaver Bankes, M.A., only surviving
trustees of a fund raised by the friends of the late Professor Porson, and appropriated to his use during his
lifetime, transferred to the university by deed, bearing
date Nov. 27th, 1816, the sum of £400 Navy five per
cents. upon trust, that the interest should be annually
employed in the purchase of one or more Greek books,
to be given to such resident under-graduate as should
make the best translation of a proposed passage selected
from the works of Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Massinger,
or Beaumont and Fletcher, into Greek verse. The Rev.
Robert Smith, D.D., late master of Trinity College, left
two annual prizes, of £25 each, to two commencing
bachelors of arts, the best proficients in mathematics
and natural philosophy. John Norris, Esq., founder of
the divinity professorship, bequeathed a premium of
£12 per annum, of which £7. 4. are to be expended on
a gold medal, and the remainder in books, to the author
of the best prose essay on a sacred subject, to be proposed by the Norrisian professor. The Rev. John Hulse,
mentioned above, directed that, out of the rents and
profits of the estates which he bequeathed to the university, an annual premium of £40 should be given to any
member under the degree of M.A., who should compose
the best dissertation on any argument proving the excellence of the Christian religion. The Rev. Thomas Seaton,
fellow of Clare Hall, bequeathed an estate, producing a
clear income of £40, to be given yearly to a master of
arts for the best English poem on a sacred subject.
The university scholarships are as follows. John,
Lord Craven, founded two classical scholarships, tenable
for fourteen years, of £25 per annum each: by a decree
of the court of chancery, in 1819, the income of the
scholars has been augmented to £50, and three additional scholarships founded, which are tenable for seven
years only. William Battie, M.D., left an estate producing £18 per annum, to endow a scholarship similar
to the preceding. Sir William Browne left a rent charge
of £21 for a scholarship tenable for seven years. The
Rev. Jonathan Davies, D.D., provost of Eton College, bequeathed, in July, 1804, the sum of £1000 three per
cents., to found a scholarship similar to Lord Craven's
for the greatest proficient in classical learning. The
Rev. William Bell, D.D., late fellow of Magdalen College, in 1810, transferred £15,200 three per cents. to
establish eight new scholarships, for sons or orphans
of clergymen. By a grace of the senate, Dec. 9th,
1813, it was directed that the sum of £1000, given
by the subscribers to Mr. Pitt's statue, for the purpose of founding the Pitt scholarship, and afterwards
augmented by a donation of £500 from the Pitt
Club, should be placed in the public funds until the
syndics were able to vest it in land, the clear annual
income to be paid to the scholar. The Rev. Robert Tyrwhitt, M.A., fellow of Jesus' College, who died in 1817,
bequeathed £4000 Navy five per cents. for the encouragement of Hebrew learning; and in the following year the
senate decreed the foundation of three Hebrew scholarships, which number, in 1826, was increased to six, a
scholar of the first class receiving an annual stipend of
£30, and one of the second class a stipend of £20, for
three years. The number of scholarships and exhibitions in the university is upwards of 700.
The annual Income of the university chest is about
£16,000, including about £3000 of floating capital: it
arises from stock in the funds, lands, houses, fees for
degrees, government annuity (for the surrender of the
privilege of printing almanacs), profits of the printingoffice, &c. The expenditure is about £12,000, disbursed
to the various officers, the professors, the library, and
schools, the university press, and in taxes, donations,
to charities, &c. The whole is managed by the vicechancellor for the year, and the accounts are examined
by three auditors appointed annually by the senate.
There are two Courts of Law, namely, the consistory
court of the chancellor, and the consistory court of the
commissary. In the former the chancellor, or vicechancellor, assisted by some of the heads of colleges,
and one doctor or more of the civil law, administers justice in all personal pleas and actions arising within the
limits of the university, wherein a member of the university is a party, which, excepting only such as concern
mayhem and felony, are to be here solely heard and
decided. The proceedings are according to the course of
the civil law, and from the judgment of the court an
appeal lies to the senate. In the commissary's court,
the commissary, by authority under the seal of the
chancellor, sits both in the university, and at Midsummer and Stourbridge fairs, to proceed in all cases, except those of mayhem and felony, wherein one of the
parties is a member of the university; excepting that
within the university all causes to which one of the proctors or taxors, or a master of arts, or any one of superior
degree, is a party, are reserved to the sole jurisdiction
of the chancellor or vice-chancellor. The manner of
proceeding is the same as in the chancellor's court, to
which an appeal lies, and thence to the senate.
The Terms, three in number, are fixed: October, or
Michaelmas, term begins on Oct. 10th, and ends on
Dec. 16th; Lent, or January, term begins on Jan. 13th,
and ends on the Friday before Palm-Sunday; and
Easter, or Midsummer, term begins on the eleventh day
after Easter-day, and ends on the Friday after Commencement day, which last is always the first Tuesday
in July. The terms required by the statutes to be kept
for the several Degrees are as follows. A bachelor of
arts must have resided the greater part of twelve several
terms, the first and last excepted; a master of arts
must be a bachelor of three years' standing, and a
bachelor in divinity must be M.A. of seven years' standing. A person whose name has remained upon the
boards for ten years, is allowed, by the ninth statute of
Queen Elizabeth, to take the degree of B.D. without
having taken any other. A doctor in divinity must be
a bachelor in divinity of five years', or a master of arts
of twelve years', standing. A bachelor in civil law
must be of six years' standing complete, and must have
resided the greater part of nine several terms: a bachelor of arts of four years' standing may be admitted to
this degree. A doctor in civil law must be of five years'
standing from the degree of B.C.L., or a master of arts
of seven years' standing. A bachelor in physic must
have resided the greater part of nine several terms, and
may be admitted any time in his sixth year. A doctor
in physic is bound by the same regulations as a doctor
in civil law. A licentiate in physic is required to be
M.A. or M.B. of two years' standing. A bachelor in
music must enter his name at some college, and compose
and perform a solemn piece of music as an exercise
before the university: a doctor in music is generally a
bachelor in music, and his exercise is the same.
The ordinary Course of Study preparatory to the
degree of bachelor of arts may be considered under the
three heads of Natural Philosophy, Theology and Moral
Philosophy, and the Belles Lettres. On these subjects,
besides the public lectures delivered by the several professors, the students attend the lectures of the tutors of
their respective colleges. In addition to a constant attendance on lectures, the under-graduates are examined
in their colleges yearly or half-yearly, on those branches
of learning which have engaged their studies; and according to the manner in which they acquit themselves
their names are arranged in classes, those who obtain
the honour of a place in the first class receiving prizes
of books, differing in value, according to merit. By
this course the students are prepared for those public
examinations and exercises which the university requires
of all candidates for degrees. The first of these takes
place in the second Lent term after the commencement
of academical residence, at the general public examination held annually in the senate-house, in the last week
of that term, and continues for four days; two classes,
each arranged alphabetically, are formed out of those
examined, the first consisting of those who have passed
their examination with credit, and the second of those
to whom the examiners have only not refused their
certificate of approval. Those who are not approved
by the examiners are required to attend the examination of the following year, and so on; and no degree
of B.A., M.B., or B.C.L., is granted unless a certificate
be presented to the Caput that the candidate for such
degree has passed, to the satisfaction of the examiners,
some one of these examinations. The student having
passed this preparatory step, has next to perform the
exercises required by the statutes for the degree which
he has in view. The number of members of the university at the present time is 6487, of whom 3451 are of the
senate.
Among the principal public buildings are, the
senate-house, the schools, and the library; the first
forming the north, and the others the west, side of
a grand quadrangle, which has Great St. Mary's
church on the east, and King's College chapel on the
south. The Senate House is an elegant building of
Portland stone, erected from a design by Sir James
Burrough, at the expense of the university, aided by an
extensive subscription; its foundation was laid in 1722,
but it was not entirely completed until 1766. The exterior is of the Corinthian order, and the interior of the
Doric. Near the centre of one side of the room is a
marble statue of George I., by Rysbrach, executed at the
expense of Viscount Townshend; and opposite to it is
that of George II., by Wilton, executed in 1766, at the
cost of the Duke of Newcastle: at the east end, on one
side of the entrance, is a statue of the Duke of Somerset,
by Rysbrach; and on the other one of William Pitt, by
Nollekens, erected by a subscription at Cambridge,
amounting to upwards of £7000. The Public Schools,
in which disputations are held and exercises performed,
were commenced on their present site in 1443, at the
expense of the university, aided by liberal benefactions.
They form three sides of a small court, the philosophy
school being on the west, the divinity school on the
north, and the schools for civil law and physic on the
south; on the east is a lecture-room for the professors,
fitted up in 1795. Connected with the north end of
the philosophy school, is an apartment containing the
valuable mineralogical collection presented by Dr. Woodward, in 1727. The magnificent Library occupies the
whole quadrangle of apartments over the schools, and
consists of four large and commodious rooms, containing upwards of 100,000 volumes: at the commencement, it occupied only the apartment on the east side,
but it was afterwards extended to the north side.
Its most important acquisition was in the early part of
the last century, when George I., having purchased of
the executors of Dr. Moore, Bishop of Ely, that prelate's
collection of books, amounting to upwards of 30,000
volumes, for £6000, gave them to the university, at the
same time contributing the sum of £2000 towards fitting
up rooms for their reception. The upper part of a mutilated colossal statue, from the temple of Ceres, at
Eleusis, the gift of Messrs. Clarke and Cripps, of Jesus'
College, by whom it was brought to England, is placed
in the vestibule. The rents of the university's estate at
Ovington, in the county of Norfolk, are appropriated to
the purchase of books, that estate having been bought
with money given in 1666, by Tobias Rustat, to be so
employed. William Worts, M.A., bequeathed the annual
surplus of the produce of his estate at Landbeach, in
Cambridgeshire, to be applied to the use of the library;
and a quarterly contribution of one shilling and sixpence
from each member of the university, excepting sizars,
is also made towards its support. The superintendence
of the university press is committed by the senate to
syndics, who meet to transact business in the parlour of
the printing-office, and cannot act unless five are present, the vice-chancellor being one.
Richard, Viscount Fitzwilliam, of Trinity Hall, who
died in 1816, bequeathed to the university his splendid
collection of books, paintings, drawings, engravings, &c.,
together with £100,000 South Sea annuities, for the
erection of a Museum to contain them; and the collection
has since been augmented by many valuable donations.
The building was commenced in 1838, from the designs
of Mr. G. Basevi, and forms nearly a square of 160
feet; the principal or east front is a rich composition,
with 14 columns of the Corinthian order, surmounted by
a pediment. The ground floor contains three rooms for
libraries, extending along the west front, and communicating with two others, one to the south for medals,
and that to the north for terra-cottas, &c.; the upper
hall is 70 feet by 46, and will contain casts from the
antique, &c. There are also three picture galleries,
the floors of which, and also those of the libraries, are
of Dutch oak. The Botanic Garden occupies between
three and four acres on the south-east side of the town,
conveniently disposed and well watered; it was purchased, with a large old building that originally belonged
to the Augustine friars, for £1600 by the late Richard
Walker, vice-master of Trinity College. The building
having been sold, a new one has been erected for the use
of the lecturers in chemistry and botany. The garden
is under the government of the vice-chancellor, the provost of King's College, the masters of Trinity and St.
John's Colleges, and the professor of physic.
The Anatomical School, situated near Catherine Hall,
contains a large collection of rare and valuable preparations, including the museum of the late professor,
Sir B. Harwood, and a set of models beautifully
wrought in wax, imported from Naples; it is a small
building conveniently fitted up, with a theatre for the
lectures on anatomy and medicine, which are delivered
in Lent term. Measures for the establishment of an
Observatory were adopted in 1820, when a sum of
£6000 was subscribed by the members of the university,
to which £5000 were added out of the public chest by a
grace of the senate. The building was commenced in
the year 1822, and completed at an expense exceeding
£18,115: it stands on an eminence, about a mile from
the College walks, on the road to Madingley, and is in
the Grecian style; the centre, surmounted by a dome,
is appropriated to astronomical purposes, and the wings
for the residence of the observers. The superintendence
is vested in the Plumian professor, under whose direction
are placed two assistants, who must be graduates of
the university, and are chosen for three years, being
capable of re-election at the expiration of that term. The
Philosophical Society was instituted Nov. 15th, 1819, for
the purpose of promoting scientific inquiries, and of facilitating the communication of facts connected with the
advancement of philosophy and natural history; it consists of fellows and honorary members, the former being
elected from such persons only as are graduates of the
university, and no graduate or member of the university
can be admitted an honorary member. Attached to the
society is a reading-room, supplied with the principal
literary and scientific journals, and the daily newspapers.
St. Peter's College
St. Peter's College, commonly
called Peter-house, was founded in
1257, by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop
of Ely. There are sixteen fellowships on the foundation, to which
no person can be elected who is not
M.A., or of sufficient standing to
take that degree; and not more than
two fellows can be chosen from
any one county, except those of Cambridge and Middlesex, each of which may have four: one-fourth of
the foundation fellows are required to be in priest's
orders. By Queen Elizabeth's licence the five senior
clerical fellows may hold, with their fellowships, any
living not rated higher than £20 in the king's books,
and within twenty miles of the university. There are
ten bye-fellows distinct from the former, and not entitled to any office or vote in the affairs of the college,
but eligible to foundation fellowships. There are fiftynine scholarships, of different value, which are paid
according to residence; also an exhibition from the
Company of Clothworkers, and one from the Ironmonger's Company. The Bishop of Ely is visiter, and appoints to the mastership one of two candidates nominated
by the society. The number of members on the boards
is 228. The college buildings, which stand on the west
side of Trumpington-street, consist of three courts, two
of which are separated by a cloister and gallery: the
largest of these is 144 feet long, 84 broad, and cased
with stone; the least, next the street, is divided by the
chapel, and has on the north side a lofty modern building faced with stone, the upper part of which commands
an extensive prospect of the country towards the south;
the third was completed in 1826, by means of a donation from a late fellow, the Rev. Francis Gisborne, from
whom it is called the Gisborne Court. The chapel, a
handsome structure, erected by subscription in 1632, is
chiefly remarkable for its fine east window of painted
glass, representing the Crucifixion. Among the eminent
persons who have been members of this society, or educated at the college, may be enumerated Cardinal Beaufort; Archbishop Whitgift; Andrew Perne, Dean of
Ely; Bishops Wren, Cosin, Walton (editor of the Polyglot Bible), and Law; Moryson, the traveller; Crashawe, the poet; Dr. Sherlock, Dean of St. Paul's; Sir
Samuel Garth; Jeremiah Markland; the poet Gray;
and Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough.

Arms.
Clare Hall
Clare Hall was founded in 1326,
by Dr. Richard Badew, afterwards
chancellor of the university, by the
name of University Hall; but having
been burned to the ground about
the year 1342, it was rebuilt and
munificently endowed, through the
interest of Badew, by Elizabeth de
Burgh, one of the sisters and coheiresses of Gilbert, Earl of Clare, and from her received
its present name. The society consists of a master, ten
senior or foundation fellows, nine junior, and three
bye-appropriation, fellows; the senior and junior fellowships are open to all counties. The master is elected
by the senior and junior fellows, and must be either a
bachelor or a doctor in divinity; and the seniors must
all be divines, except two, who, with the consent of the
master and a majority of the fellows, may practise law
and physic. Of the nine junior fellowships, two may be
held by laymen; the other seven require priest's orders
after a certain standing. The three bye-appropriation
fellows hold no college office, have no vote in college
business, and are ever after ineligible to any other fellowship; they must take priest's orders within seven
years after they are bachelors of arts. There are thirtyfour scholarships, eight of which have been lately increased, four of the value of £50 per annum each, and
the other four £20 each, besides a weekly allowance in
the buttery of three shillings and three pence during residence. Four exhibitions of £20 per annum each were
founded by Archdeacon Johnson, with preference to persons educated at Oakham and Uppingham schools. The
visiters are, the chancellor, and two persons appointed
by a grace of the senate. The number of members on
the boards is 199. This Hall, one of the most uniform buildings of the university, is very pleasantly
situated on the eastern bank of the Cam, over which
it has an elegant stone bridge, leading to a shady walk,
opening into a beautiful lawn surrounded by lofty elms.
It was rebuilt in 1638, of Ketton stone, and consists
of one grand court, 150 feet long, and 111 broad;
the front towards the fields is very handsome, being
adorned with two rows of pilasters, the lower in the
Tuscan, the upper in the Ionic, order. The chapel, the
rebuilding of which, from an elegant design by Sir
James Burrough, was completed in 1769, at an expense
of £7000, is remarkable for the neatness of its stuccowork. Among the Society's eminent members, &c., have
been Thomas Philipot, the herald and antiquary; Archbishops Heath and Tillotson; Bishops Hugh Latimer,
Gunning, Moore, and Henchman; George Ruggle, author
of Ignoramus; Dr. Burnet, author of the Theory of the
Earth; John Parkhurst, the lexicographer; Cudworth,
author of the Intellectual System; William Whiston;
Martin Folkes; Dr. Langhorne; Whitehead, the poetlaureate; Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter; Thomas Holles,
Duke of Newcastle; and the late distinguished Marquess
Cornwallis.

Arms.
Pembroke College
Pembroke College was founded
in 1343, by Mary, Countess of Pembroke, and its endowment greatly
enlarged by Henry VI. There are
fourteen foundation and two bye
fellowships, open to all counties, but
no county to have more than three;
six of the fellows must be in deacon's or priest's orders. There are
twelve scholarships, varying in value from £12 to £50
per annum each; besides several of smaller amount.
The lord high chancellor is visiter; the number of members on the boards is 130. The college, or hall, is situated on the east side of Trumpington-street, nearly
opposite to St. Peter's College, and consists of two
courts of nearly equal dimensions, being each about 95
feet by 55, with the hall between them. On the east side
of the inner court is a small detached building, erected
for the purpose of containing a hollow sphere, eighteen
feet in diameter, turning round with ease, and having the
constellations painted inside, the whole constructed by
Dr. Long, Lowndean professor of astronomy, and at one
time master of the college: the interior is so contrived
as to form an excellent astronomical lecture-room, being
capable of containing conveniently about 30 persons.
Among the college plate is preserved a curious gilt silver
cup, the gift of the foundress in the reign of Edward III. The chapel, built by Dr. Matthew Wren,
Bishop of Ely, from a design by his nephew Sir
Christopher, and consecrated by that bishop in 1655, is
one of the most elegant and best-proportioned in
the university. Of the more eminent members, &c.,
may be reckoned, Archbishops Grindal and Whitgift;
Bishops Lindwood, Fox, Ridley and Andrews; the
martyrs, Rogers and Bradford; the poets, Spenser,
Gray, and Mason; Dr. Long, the astronomer; Stanley,
editor of Æschylus; and the illustrious statesman, William Pitt.

Arms.
Gonville and Caius College
Gonville and Caius College,
originally styled Gonville Hall, was
founded in 1347, by Edmund, son of
Sir Nicholas Gonville, of Terrington,
in the county of Norfolk; in 1558,
the hall was consolidated with the
new foundation by Dr. John Caius,
and under the charter then obtained
the united foundations received the
name they now bear. There are 29 fellowships, of
which 21 are open to all counties, and 17 to laymen;
two of the fellows must be physicians. The college has
26 scholarships, open to all counties; three are of the
value of £56 per annum each, six of £40, six of £36,
six of £30, one of £24, one of £22, and three of £20.
There are also, a scholarship in chemistry, of the value
of £20 per annum; and four studentships in physic, of
the annual value of £113 each, founded by C. Tancred,
Esq., who died in 1754, and who likewise founded four
studentships of nearly the same value, appropriated to
law, to be held by students of Lincoln's Inn, who are
not required to be members of the university. In addition to these, are fourteen exhibitions of different value.
The visiters are, the masters of Corpus Christi College,
the senior doctor in physic, and the master of Trinity
Hall; the number of members on the boards is 317.
The college stands on the west side of Trinity-street,
having Trinity College on the north, Trinity Hall on the
west, and the senate-house on the south; it consists of
three courts. The south court, and three remarkable
gates of Grecian architecture, built by Dr. Caius, are
supposed to have been designed by John of Padua,
architect to Henry VIII., and to be the only works of
his now remaining in the kingdom: of the principal
court, part has been rebuilt, and the rest cased with
stone and elegantly sashed. The chapel, though small,
is admired for its beauty: on the south wall is a monument of Dr. Caius, under a canopy; also a monument
of Stephen Perse, M.D., a great benefactor to the university, who died in 1615; and in the ante-chapel is
the gravestone of Sir James Burrough, Knt., formerly
master, an ingenious architect, who designed the senatehouse and other public buildings in Cambridge, and
died in 1774. The library is small, but contains some
exceedingly valuable books and manuscripts, particularly in the departments of heraldry and genealogy.

Arms.
The college has been a celebrated seminary for professors of medicine and anatomy, ever since the time of
its second founder, the learned physician, Dr. Caius. Of
those who have most eminently conferred honour on the
society in this faculty, may be enumerated, Dr. Francis
Glisson; Sir Charles Scarborough; William Harvey,
the discoverer of the circulation of the blood; and Dr.
William Hyde Wollaston. Among other distinguished
members, or students, have been Dr. Branthwaite, one
of the translators of the Bible; Sir Thomas Gresham;
Sir Peter le Neve, the herald and antiquary; Richard
Parker, author of the [Skeletos] Cantabrigiensis; Dr. Brady,
the historian; Henry Wharton, author of the Anglia
Sacra; Sir Henry Chauncy and Francis Blomefield, the
historians of Hertfordshire and Norfolk; the celebrated
Bishop Taylor; Bishop Skip, one of the compilers of
the Liturgy; Jeremy Collier; the learned Dr. Samuel
Clarke; Thomas Shadwell, the poet; and Lord Chancellor Thurlow.
Trinity Hall
Trinity Hall was founded in 1350,
by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich. There are twelve fellowships,
which are ordinarily held by graduates in civil law; ten of the fellows
are usually laymen, and two in holy
orders. The lord chancellor is visiter;
the number of members on the boards
is 149. The Hall stands behind the
senate-house, near the river, and on the northern side
of Clare Hall: the principal court is very neat, being
faced with stone both within and without; the second
is a convenient and handsome pile of brick and stone.
The chapel is chiefly worthy of notice for its finelypainted altar-piece. The library contains, among other
valuable books, a complete body of the canon, Roman,
and common law. Of remarkable persons who have
been members, or students, may be named Bilney, the
martyr; Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester; Bishops
Barlow, Halifax, and Horsley; Thomas Tusser, the
writer on husbandry; Sir Peter Wyche, the traveller;
Dr. Haddon, master of the requests to Queen Elizabeth; Sir Robert Naunton, secretary of state to James
I.; Philip, the celebrated Earl of Chesterfield; Sir William de Grey, chief justice of the common pleas; and
several other eminent lawyers, who have recently filled
distinguished offices.

Arms.
Corpus Christi College
Corpus Christi College was
founded in 1351, by the brethren of
two guilds in Cambridge, bearing the
names of Gilda Corporis Christi, and
Gilda Beatæ Mariæ Virginis. There
are twelve fellowships, four of which
are appropriated, two for pupils from
the school at Norwich, and two for
natives of the county of Norfolk; the
rest are open, with the restriction only that four of the
candidates shall, if possible, be natives of Norfolk: all
the fellows are required to take orders within three
years after their election. The visiters are, the vicechancellor, and the two senior doctors in divinity; in
extraordinary cases the sovereign is visiter. The present
number of members on the boards is 283.

Arms.
This college, frequently called Bene't College, from its
proximity to the church of St. Benedict, is situated
opposite to Catherine Hall: the extent and magnificence
of its buildings give it a high rank among the recent improvements which have added so much to the splendour
of the university. It consists of two large courts, the
old and the new, the latter having been lately erected
out of the funds which had accumulated for that purpose, from the munificent bequests of Archbishop Herring, and Bishops Mawson and Green, formerly masters
of the college. The new buildings were commenced in
July 1823: the grand west front is 222 feet long, with
a lofty massive tower at each extremity, and a superb
entrance gateway, in the centre, flanked by towers corresponding with the former; the court is 158 feet long,
and 129 broad, having the chapel on the east side, the
library on the south, and the hall on the north. The
chapel, begun in 1579 by the Lord Keeper Bacon, is 66
feet long, and its exterior is richly adorned with sculpture. The library is a fine lofty room, 88 feet long, and
contains the valuable manuscripts bequeathed to the
college by Archbishop Parker, comprising a collection
of papers upon ecclesiastical affairs, made on the dissolution of religious houses by Henry VIII., with other
interesting documents relating to the Reformation, and
the original record of the Thirty-nine Articles. The old
court, situated behind the hall, is a very ancient pile of
building, entirely appropriated to the students. Among
the college plate is a curious drinking-horn, which belonged to the guild of Corpus Christi.
Of the distinguished members may be reckoned Archbishops Parker, Tenison, Herring, and Sterne; Bishops
Allen, Fletcher, Jegon, Greene (Thomas), Bradford,
Mawson, Green (John), Ashburnham, and Yorke; Sir
Nicholas Bacon; Roger Manners, fifth earl of Rutland;
Philip, second earl of Hardwicke; his brother, the
Right Hon. Charles Yorke; Sir John Cust, Bart.,
speaker of the house of commons; Fletcher, the dramatic
poet; Stephen Hales, the natural philosopher; Nathaniel
Salmon, the topographer; and Dr. Stukeley, Robert
Masters (the historian of the college), and Richard
Gough, celebrated antiquaries.
King's College
King's College was founded in
1441, by King Henry VI. The society
consists of a provost and seventy
fellows and scholars; the latter are
supplied by a regular succession
from Eton College, and, at the expiration of three years from the day
of their admission, are elected fellows. The college possesses some
remarkable privileges and exemptions. By charter it
appoints its own coroner, and no writ of arrest can be
executed within its walls; the provost has absolute
authority within the precincts. By special composition
between the society and the university, the members
are exempt from the power of the proctors and the
university officers, within the limits of the college; by
usage they keep no public exercises in the schools, nor
are they in any way examined for the degree of bachelor
of arts. The Bishop of Lincoln is visiter; the present
number of members on the boards is 121.

Arms.
The Buildings stand on the west side and near the
centre of King's Parade, between it and the river, over
which is a handsome stone bridge, communicating with
the shady walks on the other side. They consist principally of the old court, now uninhabited, and purchased
by the university to be taken down, in order to enlarge
the public schools; and the grand court, lately completed, having Gibbs' building on the west, the magnificent chapel on the north, the library and hall on the
south, and a grand entrance from Trumpington-street
on the east; forming altogether the most superb group
of buildings in Cambridge. The old court, built of
stone, about 120 feet by 90, appears to be coeval with
the foundation. A little to the south of it stands the
chapel, the chief architectural ornament of the town,
and one of the finest specimens of the later style of
English architecture in the kingdom: it was begun by
Henry VI., in 1441; continued by Edward IV., Richard III., and Henry VII.; and completed, with money
bequeathed by the last-named king for that purpose, in
the year 1515. Its extreme length is 316 feet, its
breadth 84 feet, its height to the summit of the battlements 90 feet, to the top of the pinnacles 101, and to
the summit of the corner towers 146 feet. About the
middle of the interior is a wooden screen, supporting
the organ gallery, and separating the ante-chapel from
the choir, erected in 1534, and very curiously carved:
the choir is paved with marble; the present altar-piece
was erected about the year 1780. One of the most
striking features of the edifice is the magnitude and
beauty of its painted windows, twelve in number on each
side, nearly fifty feet high, and, together with the east
window, enriched with various subjects from Scripture
history: this beautiful glass was put up in the early
part of the reign of Henry VIII. On each side are nine
small chapels, seven of which on the south contained,
until lately, the college library, to which the learned Mr.
Bryant bequeathed his valuable collection, in 1804. It
was the intention of the royal founder that the chapel
should form the south side of a large court; and for
this purpose he granted two quarries of stone, in Yorkshire, besides £1000 per annum, payable out of the
duchy of Lancaster, until the college should be completed. But Edward IV. deprived the college of this
money, together with nearly two-thirds of its possessions; in consequence of which, nothing further was
done towards completing the design, until an edifice of
Portland stone, 236 feet long, and intended to form the
west side of the great court, was begun in 1724, and
completed from a design by James Gibbs. The provost's
lodge, adjoining the bridge leading to the college walks,
is very spacious and magnificent.
Amongst the eminent members and students may be
enumerated Archbishop Rotherham; Bishops Fox,
West, Aldrich, Cox, Guest, Wickham, Montagu, Pearson, Fleetwood, Hare, Weston, and Dampier; the martyrs, Fryth, Saunders, Glover, and Fuller; the statesmen, Sir John Cheke, Dr. Thomas Wilson, Sir Francis
Walsingham, Sir Walter Haddon, Sir William Temple,
Sir Albert Moreton, Sir Robert Walpole, Horatio, first
Lord Walpole, and Lord Chancellor Camden; Anthony
Wooton, provost of Eton; Edward Hall, the historian;
William Oughtred, the mathematician; Dr. Cowell, the
civilian; Dr. Castell, author of the Heptaglot Lexicon;
Waller; Dean Stanhope; Christopher Anstey; Jacob
Bryant; and Horace, Earl of Orford.
Queen's College
Queen's College was founded
by Margaret of Anjou, consort of
Henry VI., in 1446, and refounded
by Elizabeth Widville, consort of
Edward IV., in 1465. There are
eighteen foundation fellowships,
which may be increased or diminished in number according to certain
circumstances declared by the statutes. In general only one fellow can come from a
county, and two from a diocese, the diocese of Lincoln
excepted, from which there may be three; there may
also be one fellow beyond the prescribed number from
Middlesex, Essex, Cambridge, and Kent, in which the
college has property sufficient for the maintenance of a
fellow: two fellows may remain laymen, and within
twelve years from M.A., one of the two must proceed to
D.C.L., the other to M.D. The vice-president and the
five senior fellows hold their fellowships with property;
the others quit the society when possessed of a stated
annual income. The five senior divines may hold livings
rated in the king's books at not higher than £20 per
annum, and within twenty miles of Cambridge. Every
other fellow must resign his fellowship at the expiration
of a year after he has become possessed of preferment
rated in the king's books at £10 per annum or upwards,
or of real property producing an income of £100 per
annum, clear of all deductions. There is one byefellowship, which is perfectly open, may be held by a
layman, and is tenable with any property or preferment; but the holder has no vote in the society. The
scholarships have been consolidated into twenty-six, and
augmented by college grants, many of them having previously been inconsiderable: they are payable weekly
according to residence. The president must be elected
by a majority of the whole existing body, must have
graduated B.D. at least, and must possess property to
the amount of £20 per annum. The sovereign is visiter:
the number of members on the boards is 339. The
Buildings are situated to the West of Catherine Hall,
on the banks of the Cam, and consist of three courts of
considerable magnitude. The entrance to the outer or
principal court, which is 96 feet by 84, is through an
elegant tower gateway; the inner court is furnished with
cloisters about 300 yards in circumference, and extends
to the bank of the river: Walnut-tree court has buildings on one side only. The front of the college, next the
Cam, was rebuilt a few years since, in an elegant style.
The grove and gardens are particularly beautiful, and,
lying on both sides of the stream, are connected by a
wooden bridge of one arch, built in 1746, and much
admired for the ingenuity of its construction. Amongst
eminent members, or students, of the college, have been
Archbishop Grindall; Bishops Fisher, Davenant, Sparrow, and Patrick; Sir Thomas Smith, the statesman;
Dr. Thomas Smith, the ecclesiastical historian; Thomas
Brightman, author of a treatise on the Revelation;
John Weever, author of the Funeral Monuments; Thomas
Fuller, author of the Worthies of England, and other
works, historical and ecclesiastical; and Dr. John Wallis,
the mathematician. The celebrated Erasmus, also, was
for some time a student.

Arms.
Catherine Hall
Catherine Hall was established
in 1475, by Robert Woodlark, D.D.,
chancellor of the university, and
provost of King's College. There
are six fellowships on the foundation, which may be increased or diminished in number, in proportion
to the revenue of the college: there
cannot be more than two fellows
from any one county at the same time; and two of them
at least must be in priest's and one in deacon's orders.
There are eight other fellowships, in filling up six of
which, "a preference is to be given to persons born in the
city of York, if duly qualified." The scholarships are
43 in number, varying in value from £2 to £35 per
annum each; thirteen are appropriated, and to several
scholarships chambers rent-free are attached. The number of members on the boards is 223. The Buildings
form three sides of a quadrangle, 180 feet by 120, the
fourth side being open towards Trinity-street, and having
iron palisades, and a piece of ground planted with lofty
elm-trees; the front is towards the west, and has an
elegant portico in the centre. The library, a very handsome room, was fitted up at the expense of Dr. Thomas
Sherlock, Bishop of London, who bequeathed to the
college his large and valuable collection, and also left a
stipend for the librarian. Amongst eminent members
and students have been Archbishops Sandys and Dawes;
Bishops Overall, (who compiled a work called "The
Convocation Book," wrote the sacramental part of the
Church Catechism, and assisted in the translation of the
Bible,) Brownrigg, Leng (author of the Cambridge
Terence), Blackall, Hoadley, and Sherlock; John Bradford, the martyr; John Strype, the ecclesiastical historian and biographer; Ray, the naturalist; and Dr.
John Lightfoot, the orientalist, and author of the Horæ
Hebraicæ.

Arms.
Jesus College
Jesus College was founded by
John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, in
1496, on the site of a Benedictine
nunnery, established about the year
1130, and dedicated to the Virgin
Mary, St. John the Baptist, and the
Virgin St. Rhadegund, the endowment of which was augmented by
Malcolm, fourth king of Scotland,
and the possessions of which, on its dissolution in the
reign of Henry VII., were granted to the bishop. There
are sixteen foundation fellowships: eight of the fellows
are to be natives of the northern, and eight of the
southern counties, and six in priest's orders; and by a
late statute, granted by the Bishop of Ely, and with the
king's licence, the society has been empowered to elect
fellows from any part of England and Wales, without
restriction. On each vacancy the master and fellows
nominate two candidates, of whom the Bishop appoints
one. There is one fellowship to which the bishop
has an exclusive right both to nominate and appoint;
he is also visiter, and appoints the master. The college
has 46 scholarships and exhibitions, varying in value
from £9 to £70 per annum, and of which 27 are appropriated. The number of members on the boards of
the college at the present time is 197.

Arms.
The Buildings, which are situated at the extremity of
the town, consist of a principal court, 141 feet by 120,
which is built on three sides; and a small court surrounded by a cloister: an addition has lately been made
to the eastern side of the college. The grand front
looks towards the south, and is 180 feet long, being
regularly built and sashed. Both the master and fellows
have spacious gardens. The library contains many
scarce and valuable editions of the classics. The chapel,
anciently the conventual church of St. Rhadegund, exhibits, particularly in the chancel and the interior of
the tower, considerable remains of the original structure;
the altar-piece, representing the Presentation in the
Temple, was given in 1796, by Dr. Pearce, master of
the college. In the south transept of what is now the
ante-chapel are the tombs of one of the nuns, named
Berta Rosata, and of Prior John de Pykenham, the latter
of which is supposed to have been removed hither from
the neighbouring convent of Franciscans: in the north
transept is the monument of Tobias Rustat, yeoman of
the robes to King Charles II., a benefactor to the
college, and who was equally remarkable for his great
wealth and his extensive charities.
Amongst eminent members and students may be
reckoned Archbishops Cranmer, Sterne, Herring, and
Hutton; Bishop Bale, the biographer; Dr. John Nalson,
the historian; Roger North, the biographer; John
Flamsteed, the astronomer; Fenton, the poet; Dr.
Jortin; the witty Lawrence Sterne; Tyrwhitt, the
founder of the Hebrew scholarships; Gilbert Wakefield,
the classical editor and critic; and the celebrated traveller,
Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke.
Christ's College
Christ's College was originally
founded in 1456, by Henry VI.,
under the name of God's House;
but in 1505, the Lady Margaret,
Countess of Richmond and Derby,
changed the name, incorporated the
former society with the present
college, and endowed it liberally
for the maintenance of a master and
twelve fellows. This foundation is for divinity, and the
fellows are required to take priest's orders within twelve
months after they have attained the requisite age. The
only appropriation is to the counties of England and
Wales; the restrictions are, that there shall not be two
of the same county, and that there shall be six, and only
six, from nine specified shires in the north of England
collectively. Edward VI. added another fellowship, the
holder of which participates in the emolument of the
original foundation; he may be from any county, and
is not obliged to take holy orders. Sir John Finch
and Sir Thomas Baines founded two more fellowships
unappropriated as to county, but with preference to the
kindred of the founders: the revenues are independent
of the college. These fifteen fellows have an equal claim
to the college patronage, and are allowed by the statutes
to hold preferment with their fellowships, provided it
does not exceed the value of ten marks, after the deductions found in the king's books. Lady Margaret founded
47 scholarships, now augmented to 15s. per week during
residence; there can only be three scholars of one
county. Three were added by Edward VI.: various
other scholarships and exhibitions have been founded
by private benefactors; and four divinity studentships,
the present value of which is £113 per annum each,
were established by C. Tancred, Esq., who also founded
a scholarship, value about £35 per annum, with preference to a native of Newmarket, secondly to the
county of Cambridge. The visiters are the vice-chancellor and the two senior doctors of divinity; or, if the
vice-chancellor be of this college, the provost of King's.
The number of members on the boards is 301.

Arms.
The Buildings stand north of Emmanuel College, and
opposite to St. Andrew's church; and consist of the
principal court, a handsome quadrangle, 130 feet by
120, and a second court, built on two sides, of which
that next the garden and fields is an elegant and uniform
pile of stone, about 150 feet long. The chapel is 84 feet
long, with a floor of marble: in the east window are
portraits of Henry VII., and some others of the family
of the foundress; and within the rails of the altar is
the gravestone of Dr. Ralph Cudworth, author of the
Intellectual System, and master of the college, who died
in the year 1688. The garden has a bowling-green and
a cold bath, and contains a large mulberry-tree, planted
by Milton, when he was a student here.
Besides the great poet just mentioned, the following
eminent persons have been members of the society, or
students at the college: Leland, the antiquary; Archbishop John Sharp; Bishops Latimer, Law, and
Porteus; Hugh Broughton, and Dr. Lightfoot, the
orientalists; the poets, John Cleland, and Francis
Quarles; Dr. Joseph Mede, an eminent divine; Dr.
Thomas Burnet, author of the Theory of the Earth; Dr.
Lawrence Echard, the historian; Dr. Saunderson, the
mathematician; and Archdeacon Paley.
St. John's College
St. John's College was founded
in 1511, by the executors of Margaret, Countess of Richmond and
Derby: the original endowment was
for 50 fellows, but part of the foundation estates having been seized
by Henry VIII., the funds were found
to be sufficient only for 32 fellowships. These, by letters-patent from
George IV., are now open to natives of England and
Wales, without any restriction or appropriation whatsoever; one of them is in the appointment of the Bishop
of Ely. Candidates must have taken the degree of B.A.
at least; and none are superannuated, provided they
have proceeded regularly to their degrees. This being
a divinity college, all the fellows are obliged to be in
priest's orders within six years from the degree of M.A.,
except four, who are allowed by the master and seniors
to practise law and physic; and the others must proceed to the degree of B.D. at the regular time: the
electors are the master and eight senior resident fellows,
in whom is vested the entire management of the college
concerns. There are also 21 appropriated fellowships,
which have all the privileges of the foundation fellowships, and an equal claim to the college patronage; and
besides these, are three fellowships founded by Mr. Platt,
and subsequently increased to nine by the society, which
are open to all candidates; but the fellows are not allowed to hold any college preferment. Of the 114
scholarships, nine, founded by the Duchess of Somerset,
have been augmented by the society to sixteen, which
are appropriated to Manchester, Hertford, and Marlborough schools; and four, founded by Mr. Platt, have
been increased by the college to nine, tenable, like the
above-mentioned fellowships founded by him, by candidates born in any county. There are numerous exhibitions, varying from £70 each downwards. All livings
under £30 in the king's books are tenable with the college preacherships, of which there are thirteen. The
Bishop of Ely is visiter; the number of members on the
boards at the present time is 1318.

Arms.
The older Buildings are situated to the north of Trinity College, and occupy the whole space between
Trinity-street and the river, consisting of three courts,
built for the most part of brick. The first, which is the
most ancient court, is about 228 feet by 216, and is
entered from the street by a handsome gateway, with
turrets coeval with the foundation; the second court,
about 270 feet by 240, built by the benefaction of Mary,
Countess of Shrewsbury, is very handsome, and chiefly
consists of fellows' apartments; the third, next the
river, is of smaller dimensions than the others. The
north side of the first court is occupied by the chapel,
that of the second by the master's lodge, and that of the
third by the library; extending altogether, from east to
west, about 480 feet. The chapel is 120 feet long: in
the ante-chapel is the tombstone of Thomas Baker, D.D.,
commonly called "Socius Ejectus," some time fellow of
the college, and who wrote its history; and in the chapel
is a tablet in memory of the learned Dr. Whitaker,
master, who died in 1595. In the master's lodge is a
spacious ancient gallery, nearly 155 feet long, with a
richly ornamented ceiling, now divided into a suite of
rooms, containing numerous portraits of benefactors
and members of the college. The library, built by Archbishop Williams, contains one of the most valuable and
extensive collections of books in the university, among
which are those left by Dr. Baker, and those presented
to the college by Matthew Prior, consisting chiefly of the
works of the French historians. The spacious gardens
and walks lie on the west side of the river, over which
is a stone bridge of three arches, leading from the inner
court: the fellows' garden has a bowling-green. A large
and splendid addition to the college has been lately
completed, from a design by Rickman and Hutchinson,
on the western side of the river, consisting of a spacious
court, united to the three ancient courts by a covered
stone bridge. The inner and the eastern and western
fronts are all varied; the cloister extends from the east
to the west wing, and has a lofty entrance in the centre:
this building affords additional accommodation for one
hundred and seven students, including ten suites of
apartments for fellows of the college.
Amongst eminent members, &c., have been Roger
Ascham; Sir John Cheke; Sir Thomas Wyat; Lord
Treasurer Burleigh; Lord Keeper Williams; Dr. John
Dee; Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford; Lord
Falkland; Dr. William Whitaker; Dr. William Cave;
Archbishop Williams; Bishops Day, Gauden, Gunning,
Jeremy Taylor, Stillingfleet, and Beveridge; Dr. Jenkins, who wrote on the reasonableness of Christianity;
Dr. Powell; Dr. Balguy; Dr. Ogden; Thomas Stackhouse, author of the History of the Bible; Dr. William
Wotton, and Dr. Bentley, the critics; Ben Jonson;
the poets, John Cleland, Ambrose Philips, Prior, Otway,
Broome, Hammond, Mason, and Henry Kirke White;
Martin Lister, the naturalist; Francis Peck, and Thomas
Baker, the antiquaries; the late Dr. Heberden; and
Herschel, the Queen's astronomer.
Magdalen College
Magdalen College was begun
in 1519, by Edward Stafford, Duke
of Buckingham, by the name of
Buckingham House, but was not
completed at the time of his attainder, after which it was granted to
Thomas, Baron Audley, lord high
chancellor, who, in 1542, endowed
it for a master and four fellows.
There are thirteen bye-fellowships; two of them are
appropriated, one of the two being a travelling fellowship, founded by the Rev. Drue Drury, and worth
upwards of £200 per annum, but tenable for only nine
years, and appropriated to the county of Norfolk: the
master has the sole appointment to this fellowship,
and the person must either be in holy orders or
designed for such. The other was founded by Dr.
Millington, for the benefit of Shrewsbury grammar
school. All the fellows, except those of the two lastmentioned fellowships, must take orders within three
years after election, if the master think fit. The mastership is in the appointment of the possessor of the
estate at Audley-End, now Lord Braybrooke. There are
42 scholarships, varying in value from £3 to £70 per
annum each; 12 of which are appropriated. The possessor of Audley-End is visiter; the number of members on the boards is 207. This is the only college
which stands on the north side of the river; it consists
of two courts, the larger being about 110 feet by 78.
On the north side of the second court is a stone building, the body of which comprises the Pepysian library,
given to the college by Samuel Pepys, secretary to the
admiralty in the reigns of Charles II. and James II., and
which contains many valuable curiosities; in the wings
are the apartments of the fellows. Among distinguished
members, &c., may be named Archbishop Grindal; Dr.
Thomas Nevile, who erected the beautiful court in Trinity
College which bears his name; Pepys, the founder of
the library; Dr. Duport, the celebrated Greek professor;
the Lord Keeper Bridgeman; Bishop Walton, editor of
the Polyglot Bible; Bishop Rainbow; Dr. Howell, the
historian; Bishop Cumberland; Dr. Waterland; and
Professor Waring.

Arms.
Trinity College
Trinity College stands on
ground formerly occupied by seven
hostels and two colleges, Michael
House and King's Hall. The former
college was established in 1324, by
Hervey de Stanton, chancellor of the
exchequer to Edward II.; the buildings of the latter, founded by Edward III., in 1337, for a master and
32 scholars, are said to have been of sufficient magnitude
to accommodate Richard II. and his court, when he held
a parliament at Cambridge, in 1381. Both these colleges were suppressed in 1546, and in the same year
the present magnificent one was instituted by Henry
VIII., for a master, 60 fellows, and 69 scholars, whose
endowment was considerably augmented by his daughter,
Queen Mary. The fellows are chosen from the scholars,
ineligible if M.A., or of sufficient standing to take
that degree; they are all required to go into priest's
orders within seven years after they commence masters
of arts, except two appointed by the master, one of
whom is supposed to study law, the other physic. The
scholarships, except four or five, are open to persons of
any county. The government is vested in the master
and eight seniors; and to so many of these as are
absent the resident fellows next in seniority act as
deputies: the mastership is in the gift of the sovereign,
who is visiter. The number of members on the boards
at the present time is 2044.

Arms.
The extensive Buildings of the college are situated
between those of St. John's and Caius Colleges, occupying the space between Trinity-street and the river, and
consisting of three quadrangular courts. The first
court, which is the largest, forms a magnificent assemblage of buildings: on the north side is the chapel; on
the west, the hall and the master's lodge; while the
other two sides comprise apartments for fellows and
students. The south end of the west side has been rebuilt in a handsome style. The second court, called
Nevile's Court, built in 1600, chiefly by the benefaction
of Dr. Thomas Nevile, master of the college and Dean
of Canterbury, is more elegant than the former, though
less spacious. The library, forming the west side, is of
later date, having been built chiefly through the exertions
of Dr. Barrow; and the north and south sides, containing fellows' and students' apartments, have been almost
wholly rebuilt: the library, and the cloisters which extend along the north, west, and south sides, were
designed by Sir Christopher Wren. Beyond Nevile's
Court is a newly erected quadrangle, called King's
Court in honour of George IV.; the building of which
was commenced in 1823, and completed in 1825, at an
expense of upwards of £40,000, partly defrayed by a
subscription, headed by a donation of £2000 from that
monarch. It is from designs by William Wilkins, Esq.,
M.A.; and the principal front, with a tower gateway,
faces the College walks, in a line with the library. The
Chapel, upwards of 200 feet long, and in the later style
of English architecture, was begun by Queen Mary, and
finished by Queen Elizabeth: on each side of the choir
are rows of very elegant stalls for the masters and
scholars, with carved work by Gibbons; and the thrones
for the master and the vice-master are remarkably grand.
Among the monuments in the ante-chapel, the most
interesting are, a statue of Bacon, by Weekes; a statue
of Sir Isaac Newton, by Roubilliac, presented to the
society by Dr. Robert Smith, master of the college; a
tablet in memory of the eminent mathematician, Roger
Cotes, Plumian professor, who died in 1716; another in
memory of Isaac Hawkins Browne, celebrated for his
poem on the Immortality of the Soul, and other works,
who died in 1762; and a bust and tablet, by Chantrey,
in memory of Professor Porson. The Hall, built in the
later English style, is about 100 feet long, and 50 high.
The Master's Lodge, which contains some magnificent
apartments, has, since the reign of Elizabeth, been the
residence of the sovereign, when the university has been
honoured with a royal visit; and the judges always
reside in it during the assizes. The Library, a splendid
room, 200 feet long, and proportionately lofty, was built
by subscription, amounting to nearly £20,000. The
collection of books is large and valuable, and among
the busts are those of Bacon, Newton, Ray, Willoughby,
Roger Cotes, and Edward Wortley Montagu: there is a
statue of Byron, by Thorwaldsen; also a statue of
Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset, for sixty years
chancellor of the university, executed by Rysbrach in
1754; and at the upper end is a curious statue of
Æsculapius, found at Samæ, about fourteen miles from
Rome. Of the portraits, the most interesting is an
original half-length of Shakspeare, by Mark Garrard,
The room is paved with marble; and at the south end,
opposite to the entrance, is a window of painted glass,
from a design by Cipriani, representing the presentation
of Sir Isaac Newton to George II.; for the execution of
which, £500 were bequeathed by Dr. Robert Smith.
Amongst eminent members and students of the college have been, Archbishops Whitgift and Fowler;
Bishops Powell, Wilkins, Hacket, Pearson, Pearce,
Hinchcliffe, and Watson; Robert Devereux, Earl of
Essex; Sir Francis Bacon; Sir Edward Coke; Fulke
Greville; Lord Brooke; Charles, Earl of Halifax; Sir
Isaac Newton; William Outram; Dr. Barrow; Dr
Bentley: Ray, the naturalist; Roger Cotes; Dr. William Whitaker; the poets, Dr. Donne, Cowley, and
Dryden; Nathaniel Lee, the dramatist; George Herbert, Richard Duke, Lord Lansdowne, Sir Robert Cotton, Sir Henry Spelman, Dr. Gale, John le Neve, Francis
Willoughby, Philemon Holland, Andrew Marvell, Robert
Nelson, Dr. Samuel Knight, Conyers Middleton, Professor Porson, and Byron.
Emmanuel College
Emmanuel College was founded
in 1584, by Sir Walter Mildmay,
chancellor of the exchequer and
privy councillor in the reign of
Elizabeth: it occupies the site of a
Dominican friary, established before
the year 1275, and enriched by
Alice, widow of Robert Vere, second Earl of Oxford, which, after
the Dissolution, was purchased by Sir Walter, prior to
the institution of the college. The number of foundation fellowships is twelve; besides one the holder of
which receives a dividend arising from a distinct estate,
though he is in most respects on an equality with the
foundation fellows. These thirteen fellowships are open
to Englishmen of all counties, but there cannot be more
than one from the same county: all the fellows must
proceed to the degrees of M.A. and B.D., as soon as
they are of sufficient standing; and the four seniors
must take priest's orders. In addition to the above,
there are two fellows on the foundation by Sir Wolstan
Dixie, Knt., who must proceed in their degrees, equally
with those on the original foundation, but have no vote
in the society, nor any claim to the offices or dividends
of the college. There are likewise four scholarships of
the same foundation, and subject to the same restrictions. The foundation scholarships are open to Englishmen of all counties, but there can only be three from the
same county: the scholars receive upwards of £12 per
annum, in addition to the weekly payment of 7s. 6d.
during residence. Besides these, there are many scholarships and exhibitions, founded by various benefactors,
to be given to the candidates most distinguished for
learning and exemplary conduct. The visiters are, in
some cases, the vice-chancellor and the two senior doctors in divinity; in others, the master of Christ's College
and the two senior doctors. The number of members
on the boards at the present time is 261.

Arms.
The college is very pleasantly situated in St. Andrew's
street, near the south-eastern entrance into the town;
the greater part of it is modern, and elegantly built of
stone. It has one principal court, 128 feet by 107, to
which a range of buildings for the accommodation of
students was added a few years since, forming, with the
library and the north side of the hall, a second court.
The chapel, which is 84 feet long, and has a marble
floor, was designed and commenced by Archbishop Sancroft, in 1668, and completed in 1677; the principal
contribution being £1040, by Sir Robert Gayer, K.B. The
old chapel is fitted up for the library, to which Sancroft
gave his own collection of books. The hall is furnished
with great elegance; at the upper end is a fine painting
of Sir Wolstan Dixie, founder of the fellowships.
Among eminent members have been, Archbishop
Sancroft; Bishops Hall, Bedell, Kidder, Hurd, Percy, and
Bennet; Matthew Poole, author of the Synopsis Criticorum; Joshua Barnes; Dr. Wallis, the mathematician;
Sir Robert Twiston, the antiquary; John Morton, the
historian of Northamptonshire; Sir Francis Pemberton;
Sir William Temple; Anthony Blackwall, author of The
Sacred Classics Defended and Illustrated; Dr. Farmer, to
whose memory there is a tablet in the cloister, near the
chapel; and Dr. Parr.
Sidney-Sussex College
Sidney-Sussex College was
instituted in 1598, pursuant to the
will of Frances Sidney, Countess of
Sussex, who died in 1589. It has
nine foundation fellowships, open to
natives of any part of her Majesty's
dominions; besides which there are
two established by Mr. Peter Blundell,
and appropriated to his scholarships
in the college, and one the nomination to which is
vested in the Company of Fishmongers, London. No
fellow derives any benefit from his fellowship unless he
be M.A. complete; and this being a divinity college, all
the fellows must take orders within three years from
the time of their election, and the degree of B.D. at the
regular period. There are twenty foundation scholarships, value 7s. per week during residence; and two
founded by Mr. Blundell, appropriated to Twerton
school. Sir John Shelley Sidney, Bart., is visiter, as
the representative of the foundress; but, by the statutes,
the vice-chancellor and the two senior doctors in divinity
are visiters in some cases, and the vice-chancellor, with
the masters of Christ's and Emmanuel Colleges, in others.
The number of members on the boards is 118. The buildings are situated on the east side of Sidney-street, and
consist of two courts built of brick, and completed in
1598. The chapel and the library were rebuilt in 1780;
and the hall and the master's lodge have lately been
cased with stone, and greatly improved. The grounds
are spacious, and the fellows' garden has a large bowling-green. Amongst eminent members or students may
be recorded Oliver Cromwell; Archbishop Bramhall;
Bishops Seth Ward, Montagu, and Garnet; Thomas
Fuller, the historian; Lord Chief Baron Atkins; Sir
Roger L'Estrange; Gataker, the critic; Dr. Comber,
Dean of Durham; Thomas Woolston, who wrote against
miracles; and William Wollaston, author of The Religion of Nature Delineated. In the master's lodge is a
portrait in crayons, of Cromwell, by Cooper; and in
the library, a bust by Bernini, from a cast taken after
the usurper's death.

Arms.
Downing College
Downing College was founded
by Sir George Downing, Bart., of
Gamlingay Park, Cambridgeshire,
who, by will dated in 1717, devised
his estates in the counties of Cambridge, Bedford, and Suffolk, first
to Sir Jacob Garrard Downing, and
afterwards to other relatives, in succession, and, in failure thereof, to
found a college in the university, upon a plan to be
approved by the two archbishops and the masters of St.
John's College and Clare Hall. Sir Jacob died in 1764,
the other devisees having died previously without issue;
but the estates being held by Lady Downing, and afterwards by her devisees, though without any real title, the
university was obliged to sue in Chancery for the establishment of the college, in favour of which a decree was
obtained in 1769, and, after much litigation, a charter in
Sept. 1800. A piece of land comprising nearly thirty acres,
situated between Emmanuel and Pembroke Colleges,
having been purchased for the site, the first stone was
laid on May 18th, 1807, since which time the building
has proceeded at intervals, at an expense of more than
£60,000. The object of the foundation is stated in the
charter to be the study of law, physic, and other useful
arts and learning; and the society will consist of a
master, professors of law and medicine, sixteen fellows
(of whom two only are to be clerical), and six scholars.
At present, however, only the master, the professors
and three fellows are appointed, to take possession of
the estates, administer the revenues, and superintend the
erection of the college; the appointment of the remaining fellows is reserved until the completion of the buildings. The scholars will also be elected after that period,
but not more than two in each year. There are two
chaplains nominated by the master, who is directed to
be chosen, by the archbishops of Canterbury and York,
and the masters of St. John's College and Clare Hall,
from amongst those who are, or have been, professors or
fellows. The visiter is the sovereign, by the Lord Chancellor; the number of members on the boards is 53.
The whole buildings, when finished, will form a quadrangle, larger than the principal court of Trinity College,
in the Grecian style, and faced with Ketton stone; the
master's lodge is of the Ionic, and the entrance to the
college will be of the Doric, order: the designs are by
Mr. Wilkins. Mr. John Bowtell, of Cambridge, bequeathed to the college a collection of books, manuscripts, and antiquities.

Arms.
The town is divided into four distinct wards, named
respectively Bridge ward, Market ward, High ward, and
Preacher's ward; and contains the fourteen parishes of
All Saints, in which are 1231 inhabitants; St. Andrew
the Great, 1983; St. Andrew the Less, 9486; St. Benedict, 1022; St. Botolph, 723; St. Clement, 1039; St.
Edward, 619; St. Giles, 2087; St. Mary the Great,
1013; St. Mary the Less, 704; St. Michael, 432; St.
Peter, 627; St. Sepulchre, 638; and the Holy Trinity,
2189. The university, by custom and composition, is
exempt from episcopal and archidiaconal jurisdiction.
The living of All Saints' is a discharged vicarage, valued
in the king's books at £5. 6. 3.; net income, £120;
patrons and impropriators, the Master and Fellows of
Jesus College. The church contains a fine bas-relief, by
Chantrey, to the memory of Kirke White. The living of
St. Andrew's the Great is a discharged vicarage; net
income £120; patrons and impropriators, the Dean
and Chapter of Ely: the tithes were commuted for land
in 1807. The church was repaired, and a great part of
it rebuilt, in 1643, chiefly by aid of a benefaction by
Christopher Rose, and has lately been rebuilt and
enlarged; in the north transept is a cenotaph in
memory of the celebrated navigator, Captain Cook, and
his three sons. The living of St. Andrew's the Less, or
Barnwell, is a donative; net income, £48; patron, the
Rev. C. Perry: the tithes were commuted for land in
1807. The old church stands eastward from the town,
and is supposed to have been built from the ruins of the
priory at Barnwell. The village of Barnwell has suffered
from repeated fires, the last and most destructive of
which was on the 30th of Nov. 1731, when the greater
part of the houses were consumed. A chapel of ease
was erected a few years since; and an additional church,
dedicated to Christ, a handsome edifice in the later
English style, and now used as the parish church, was
consecrated on the 27th of July, 1839: it contains 1400
sittings, of which 700 are free. At New Town, also in
the parish, a church was erected in 1841, at an expense
of £5180, in the same style of architecture as the
former, and containing 900 sittings, half of which are
free, the Incorporated Society having granted £450 in
aid of the expense. The living of St. Benedict's is a
perpetual curacy, valued at £4. 7. 11.; net income,
£151; patrons and impropriators, the Master and
Fellows of Corpus Christi College. In the church was
interred Thomas Hobson, the well-known Cambridge
carrier. The living of St. Botolph's is a discharged rectory, valued at £2. 14. 4½.; net income, £87; patrons, the
President and Fellows of Queen's College. The living
of St. Clement's is a perpetual curacy, valued at £4. 5. 7½.;
net income, £102; patrons, the Master and Fellows of
Jesus College. The church stands a little south of the
great bridge. The living of St. Edward's is a perpetual
curacy, valued at 3s. 4d.; net income, £66; patrons and
impropriators, the Master and Fellows of Trinity Hall.
The church is to the west of Trinity-street. The living
of St. Giles' is a vicarage not in charge, to which the
perpetual curacy of St. Peter's is united; net income,
£170; patron and appropriator, the Bishop of Ely:
the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1802. St. Giles' church stands at the north
end of the town; St. Peter's, opposite to it, has been
disused for many years.
The living of St. Mary's the Great is a rectory not in
charge; net income, under £100; patrons, the Master
and Fellows of Trinity College: the tithes were commuted for land in 1807. The church, commonly called
the University church, is situated nearly in the centre
of the town, on the east side of Trinity-street, and
opposite to the public schools and library; it is in the
later English style, and consists of a nave, the dimensions of which are about 120 feet by 68, two aisles, and
a chancel with a lofty tower surmounted by pinnacles,
and containing twelve bells. The rebuilding of the
church, by contribution, was begun in 1478, and finished
in 1519, except the tower, which was not completed
until 1608. In it was interred the celebrated reformer,
Martin Bucer, whose body was taken up in the reign
of Mary and burned, with that of Paul Phagius, in the
market-place. Academical exercises were anciently
performed, and public orations delivered, here; and, in
1564, Queen Elizabeth was present at the disputations
held in it: the university sermons are still preached
here. William Worts, Esq., who died in 1709, left the
sum of £1500, to accumulate for the purpose of building the galleries, and £20 per annum for keeping them
in repair. The living of St. Mary's the Less is a perpetual curacy; net income, £95; patrons and impropriators, the Master and Fellows of St. Peter's College,
whose tithes were commuted for land in 1807. The
church was built in 1327, on the site of a former edifice,
dedicated to St. Peter, which gave name to the adjoining college. The living of St. Michael's is a perpetual
curacy; net income, £95; patrons and impropriators,
the Master and Fellows of Trinity College. The church
stands on the east side of Trinity-street, opposite to
Caius College: in the spacious chancel are held the
bishop's visitations and confirmations. In 1556, it was
placed under an interdict, as being the burial-place of
Paul Phagius, then esteemed an arch-heretic, and was
re-consecrated by the Bishop of Chester, acting as the
deputy of Cardinal Pole.
The living of St. Sepulchre's is a vicarage valued at
£6. 11. 0½., and in the patronage of the parishioners;
net income, £123. St. Sepulchre's, or the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre, is on the east side of Bridge-street, and
is remarkable for the peculiarity of construction of the
more ancient part of it, which is believed to be the
oldest remaining specimen of the circular churches
erected by the Knights Templars on the model of that
of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and to have been
built in the reign of Henry I. The building is 41 feet
in diameter, and has a peristyle of eight rude massive
pillars supporting circular arches with chevron mouldings; it contains a tablet in memory of Dr. Ogden, the
eminent divine, who died in 1778. This church having
been restored, was re-opened in August, 1845. The
living of Holy Trinity parish is a perpetual curacy, valued
at £7. 6. 8.; net income, £96; patron and appropriator,
the Bishop of Ely. The church, situated at the south
end of Bridge-street, was some years since enlarged by
the addition of 540 sittings. The new cemetery of
Cambridge, which comprises three acres of ground, is a
little to the north of the town, on the Histon road: the
entrance lodge and gates are of brick, with Caen stone
dressings; and in a direct line with the entrance, and
in the centre of the area, is the chapel, standing east
and west, and raised somewhat above the general level
on a low terrace: the walls are of rubble, but all the
quoins, copings, and windows, of Caen stone. There
are meeting-houses for Baptists, Friends, Independents,
and Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists.
The Free Grammar School, situated near Corpus Christi
College, was established in pursuance of the will of
Stephen Perse, M.D., senior fellow of Caius College,
who in 1615 bequeathed property, producing £180 per
annum, for its erection and endowment. The General
hospital or infirmary, commonly called Addenbrooke's
hospital, situated at the entrance into the town from
London, was founded by John Addenbrooke, M.D.,
fellow of Catherine Hall, who, in 1719, bequeathed
about £4000 to erect and maintain a small physical
hospital: the building was begun about 1753, and
opened for the reception of patients in 1766, when, the
funds being found insufficient for its support, an act of
parliament was obtained to make it a general hospital.
Mr. John Bowtell, of Cambridge, by will dated in 1813,
bequeathed to the institution £7000 three per cent.
consolidated Bank annuities, between £3000 and £4000
of which were appropriated to the addition of two extensive wings. The annual income, from rents, stock,
and contributions, is upwards of £3000. There are
almshouses in the town for upwards of fifty poor persons, founded and endowed by different individuals.
John Crane, apothecary, who died in 1654, bequeathed
money to purchase an estate, now producing upwards of
£300 per annum, to be settled on the university of Cambridge, and the towns of Wisbech, Cambridge, Lynn,
and Ipswich; the rents to be received in rotation, and to
be applied by the university, in its turn, towards the
relief of sick scholars. The gift to the town was to accumulate until it amounted to £200, which sum was to
be disposed of in loans of £20 each, bearing no interest
for twenty years, to ten young men, to set them up in
trade. After the sum of £200 had been set apart, the
donor ordered that the rents of the estates should be
applied to the relief of persons confined for debt, and of
poor men and women of good character. Cambridge
is also one of the twenty-five cities and towns to which
Sir Thomas White gave, in rotation, the sum of £104, of
which £100 were to be lent, in sums of £25 each, to
four young freemen for ten years, without interest, preference being given to clothiers. Thomas Hobson, by
will dated in 1628, left houses, and £100, to purchase
land for building and maintaining a house of correction,
and workhouse for setting the poor to work; which
bequest has been increased by several others.
The Religious Houses at Cambridge were numerous.
The most ancient was that of Augustine canons, founded
near the castle in 1092, by Picot, the sheriff, and augmented, and removed to Barnwell, by Payne Peverel,
standard-bearer to Robert, Duke of Normandy; its
revenue, at the Dissolution, was valued at £351. 15. 4.
Some remains of the buildings have been converted into
farm-offices. The Benedictine nunnery of St. Rhadegund
appears to have been established about the year 1130,
and was originally dedicated to Mary, but was re-dedicated to Rhadegund by Malcolm IV., King of Scotland,
who augmented its revenue, and about the year 1160
rebuilt the conventual church, the remaining portion of
which forms the chapel of Jesus College. For the purpose of founding that college, the nunnery was granted
to Bishop Alcock by Henry VII., having escheated to
the crown in consequence of its being deserted by the
nuns. The monastery of the Grey friars or Franciscans,
the site of which is occupied by Sidney-Sussex College,
was instituted about 1224, and was very flourishing.
The Bethlemite friars settled in Cambridge in 1257, in a
house in Trumpington-street, of which they had procured
a grant: the friars De sacco, or De pœnitentiâ Jesu
Christi, whose order was suppressed in 1307, settled in
the same street in 1258; and the brethren of St. Mary,
in the parish of All Saints, near the castle, about 1274.
The priory of the Black friars, the site of which is occupied by Emmanuel College, was founded before 1275.
The Augustine friars are supposed to have settled here
about 1290; and their convent, which was in the parish
of St. Edward, was established by Sir Geoffrey Pitchford,
Knt. The White friars, or Carmelites, the site of whose
convent is occupied by the garden of the provost of
King's College, settled first at Chesterton, and afterwards (about 1249) at the adjoining hamlet of Newenham, from which they removed, in 1316, to a spot of
ground just within the walls, given them by Edward II.
A small priory of Gilbertines was founded by Bishop
Fitzwalter, in 1291: the society occupied the old
chapel of St. Edmund, opposite to Peter-House.
The Castle, built in the reign of William the Conqueror, on the site of a Roman station afterwards occupied by a Danish fortress, was, in early times, an
occasional residence of the English sovereigns: after
it had ceased to be so occupied, the buildings, which
were extensive, went to decay; though, during the civil
war, it was made a garrison for the parliament. The
county was in possession of it, subject to a fee-farm
rent, so early as 1660; and the quarter-sessions were
regularly held here from that time until after the building of the shire-hall. The remains of the ancient
building, consisting of a gate-house, which was long
used as a prison, until the erection, about forty years
ago, of a county gaol within the limits of the castle, were
levelled with the ground, to afford space and supply
materials for the new county courts. Some of the earthworks that surrounded it are undoubtedly Roman. A
somewhat curious piece of architectural antiquity exists
in the mansion-house of Merton Hall, in the parish of
St. Giles, which has long borne the name of Pythagoras'
School, though for what reason is unknown: the most
remarkable part of the building is a large hall, measuring 61 feet by 22, and which had formerly an undercroft,
with circular arches and plain pillars, apparently constructed in the early part of the twelfth century.
Amongst Eminent Natives of Cambridge have been,
Sir John Cheke, tutor, and afterwards secretary of state,
to Edward VI.; Dr. Thirlebye, first and only bishop of
Westminster, and afterwards, successively, bishop of
Norwich and of Ely; the eloquent Jeremy Taylor; Dr.
Goldisborowe, Bishop of Gloucester; Dr. Townson,
Bishop of Salisbury; Dr. Love, Dean of Ely; Thomas
Bennett, who suffered martyrdom at Exeter, in 1530;
and Richard Cumberland, the dramatist. Prince Adolphus Frederick, fifth and youngest surviving son of
King George III., was created Duke of Cambridge,
November 27th, 1801.
Cambridge
CAMBRIDGE, a hamlet, in the parish of Slimbridge, union of Dursley, Upper division of the
hundred of Berkeley, W. division of the county of
Gloucester, 4 miles (N. by W.) from Dursley. This
place, which derives its name from a bridge over the
river Cam, is situated on the great road from Bristol to
Gloucester. There is an endowed place of worship for
Independents.
Cambridgeshire
CAMBRIDGESHIRE, an inland county, bounded
on the north-west by the county of Lincoln, on the
north-east by Norfolk, on the east by Suffolk, on the
south by the counties of Essex and Hertford, and on the
west by those of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Northampton. It extends from 52° 2' to 52° 45' (N. Lat.) and
from 28' (E. Lon.) to 18' (W. Lon.), and contains 858
square miles, or 549,120 statute acres. The county
contains 33,095 inhabited houses, 1227 uninhabited,
and 236 in the course of erection; and the population
within its limits amounts to 164,459, of which number
81,611 are males, and 82,848 females.
At the time of the Roman invasion, Cambridgeshire
formed part of the kingdom of the Iceni, being, according to Whitaker, inhabited by a tribe of that people,
called the Cenomanni. In the first division of Britain by
the Romans it was included in Britannia Superior; in
the second, in Britannia Prima; and in the last, in Flavia
Cœsariensis. During the heptarchy it was part of the
kingdom of the East Angles; and on the subsequent
division of England into three great districts, it was
comprised in that styled Denelege, or the Danish jurisdiction. The county consists of the archdeaconry of
Ely and a small part of that of Sudbury, in the diocese
of Ely, and province of Canterbury, comprising the
deaneries of Barton, Bourne or Knapwell, Cambridge,
Camps, Chesterton, Ely, Shengay, and Wisbech; the
number of parishes is 162. For civil purposes it is
divided into the hundreds of Armingford, Chesterton,
Cheveley, Chilford, Ely, Flendish, Longstow, Northstow,
Papworth, Radfield, Staine, Staploe, Thriplow, Wetherley, Whittlesford, Wisbech, North Witchford, and
South Witchford. It contains the city of Ely; the
university, borough, and market-town of Cambridge;
the market-towns of Linton, March, Thorney, and Wisbech; and part of those of Newmarket and Royston.
Three knights are returned to parliament for the shire,
and two representatives each for the university and
borough. It is within the Norfolk circuit; and the
assizes are held at Cambridge, where stands the county
gaol and house of correction.
The surface exhibits little variety. The parts adjoining the counties of Suffolk, Essex, and Hertford,
have gently rising hills, with downs, and open cornfields, and a considerable portion of wood in the part
contiguous to Suffolk, from Wood-Ditton to CastleCamps; but in other parts there is a scarcity of timber.
Gogmagog hills, commencing about four miles southeast of Cambridge, though of no great elevation, yet,
being the highest in the county, command extensive
prospects. The northern part of the county, including
what is called the Isle of Ely, is for the most part fen
land, and quite level, intersected by numerous canals
and ditches, and containing many windmills, like those
of Holland, and steam-engines, for conveying the water
from the land into channels for carrying it off to the
sea; the inclosures are chiefly formed by ditches, and
there are few trees except pollard willows. The great
expanse of fen land in the district comprises nearly half
of that extensive agricultural tract called the Bedford
Level, the remainder of which is situated in the
counties of Norfolk, Lincoln, Northampton, and Huntingdon. From the various remains that have been discovered in constructing the channels, it is conjectured,
that at some remote period the county was all firm land,
reduced to a marshy state by frequent inundations of
the sea, and by the obstruction of the old natural outlet,
at Wisbech, of the rivers Ouse, Nene, and Granta. To
prevent subsequent inundations, commissions were
issued, from time to time, to enforce the repair of banks
and sewers. The most important work of this kind
executed before the reign of James I., was the channel
made by Bishop Morton, which carried off the overflowings of the Nene, and furnished water-carriage from
Wisbech to Peterborough. From the reign of Henry VI.
to that of James I. various commissions were granted
for a general drainage; but no great progress was
made. In 1630, Sir Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutchman, agreed to undertake the work; but the landowners
rejected his offer, and petitioned Francis, Earl of Bedford, who had a large property in the fens, to undertake
it, to which that nobleman acceded; and a deed of
agreement, the foundation of the laws by which the
Bedford-Level Corporation is still governed, having been
made and ratified at a session of sewers held at Lynn, in
1631, the earl associated with himself others, to whom
he assigned shares. So rapid was the progress of the
work that, in about three years, the Great Level was
adjudged to be drained according to the Lynn law, and
95,000 acres were allotted to the parties as a compensation for the trouble and expense they had incurred.
However, at a session of sewers held at Huntingdon, in
1639, the whole proceedings were annulled, the drainage
was adjudged to be defective, and it was determined
that the earl and his associates were not entitled to the
land that had been allotted to them. The king (Charles I.)
now purposed to undertake the whole concern; but the
national troubles which soon afterwards ensued having
frustrated the design, the works progressively fell into
decay, and continued so till the year 1649, when an
ordinance was passed by the Convention parliament,
declaring all the proceedings at Huntingdon null and
void; and the entire management of draining the level,
on the general plan of the Lynn law, was entrusted to
the care of William, Earl of Bedford, son and heir of
Earl Francis. This ordinance was confirmed by an act
passed in 1662, by which also taxes were imposed on
the 95,000 acres, for maintaining the works of the level,
and this taxation was further adjusted by an act of
1667: 12,000 acres were allotted to the crown, including
2000 granted by Charles I. to Jerome, Earl of Portland;
and the remaining 83,000 were vested in the corporation
of the Bedford Level, which, under this act, consists of a
governor, six bailiffs, twenty conservators, and a commonalty including all persons possessing 100 acres in
the fens. The Great Level, comprising a tract of about
400,000 acres, has been from an early period divided
into three districts, viz., the North Level, the Middle
Level, and the South Level; the greater part of the Middle
Level, and a considerable portion of the South Level, are
in Cambridgeshire, containing the whole of the Isle of
Ely, and a few parishes to the south-east of it, and consisting of nearly 200,000 acres.
The Substrata of the county are, chalk, which extends
through the hilly part, from Royston to Newmarket;
clunch, a calcareous substance found in large masses,
but neither so white nor so soft as chalk, chiefly abounding in the parishes of Burwell and Isleham, and much
used for lime and fire-stones; gault, a stiff blue clay,
prevailing in the eastern and western parts of the
county; sand, which, crossing Bedfordshire, begins in
this county in the parish of Gamlingay; silt, a seasand finely pulverized by the agitation of the waters,
and found in the marsh land of several parishes in the
northern extremity of the county; peat earth, extending
through the whole of the fen district; and gravel. The
soil is chiefly arable, and produces an abundant supply
of corn, particularly in the fen district: vast quantities
of barley are constantly sent to Lynn, in Norfolk, and
thence shipped to every part of the kingdom; and it is
estimated that about one-fourth of the fen-lands actually
in cultivation is sown with cole-seed, the plant being
mostly eaten off by sheep. Hemp and flax are raised
to a considerable extent in the parishes of Upwell, Welney, Outwell, Elm, and Wisbech, especially in the two
first. The parishes of Chatteris, Mepal, Sutton, Swavesey, Over, Willingham, Cottenham, Rampton, Landbeach, Waterbeach, Stretham, Ely, Littleport, Soham,
and Fordham, constitute the principal dairy-district, a
great quantity of the butter produced in which is sent to
London, and there sold under the name of Cambridge
butter. In the parishes of Cottenham and Willingham
is made the cheese so much esteemed for its flavour,
called Cottenham cheese; and the parish of Soham is
also celebrated for good cheese.
The principal Rivers are the Ouse, which is navigable
in its entire course through the county; the Cam or
Granta, formed by two small streams that unite between
Grantchester and Harston, and navigable from its junction with the old line of the Ouse near Thetford, up to
Cambridge; and the Nen or Nene, also navigable: the
Lark falls into the Old Ouse at a place called Prickwillow, near the eastern border of the county, and is
navigable to Bury St. Edmund's. The Canals intersecting the Isle of Ely were made for the purpose of drainage, but many of them are likewise navigable. Vermuyden's canal, commencing at Ramsey, enters the Isle near
Ramsey mere, and extends to Welche's dam; it there
joins the Old Bedford river, and, proceeding in the
course of that river, leaves the county a little to the
west of Welney. The New Bedford river is the main
channel for barges passing from the upper to the lower
parts of the Ouse. The Old Bedford river, which runs
parallel with the last from Earith to Denver sluice, is
now seldom navigated, excepting the lower part of it;
having been almost choked up since the construction of
the New Bedford line. A canal from Outwell to Wisbech was made about the end of the last century. There
is also a canal from Peterborough to the Old Nene, a
little below Benwich, and thence to March; besides
short cuts from the Ouse to Soham, Reach, and Burwell.
The county is well furnished with railway communication, which has been wholly effected by the Eastern
Counties Company. Their main line enters the county,
from Essex, at its southern boundary, and proceeds
northward, by Cambridge, to Ely, a few miles from
which it quits for Norfolk. Near Cambridge a line
branches off in a north-west direction to Huntingdonshire; and from Ely there are branches, northward
towards Lynn in Norfolk, north-westward to March and
Peterborough, on the borders of Cambridge and Northampton, and south-westward to Huntingdonshire.
Few Roman antiquities have been discovered, except
on the site of the station at Cambridge, the only one of
importance within the limits of the county. The principal ancient roads that crossed the county were, the
Ikeneld-street, the Ermin-street, and the great Roman
way from Colchester to Chester; the first and last may
be distinctly traced in different parts of their course.
Before the Reformation the county comprised 32 religious
houses, including two preceptories of the Knights Templars, two commanderies of the Knights Hospitallers,
and three alien priories; of which there are various
remains. Of ancient castles but little is left, except
the earthworks. The most considerable encampment
is that called Handlebury, on the highest part of Gogmagog hills, supposed to be of British origin. The
most remarkable earthworks are the trenches that
extended from the woods on the east side of the county
to the fens: the most entire is the Devil's Ditch, which
runs seven miles, from Wood-Ditton to Reach, in the
parish of Burwell, nearly in a straight line; and parallel
with it, extends another trench, called Fleam Dyke, at
the distance of seven miles, stretching from the woodlands at Balsham to the fens at Fen-Ditton, but a large
part of which has been levelled. The Isle of Ely gives
the title of Marquess to the reigning sovereign.