"IT' 
 
 ff^' 
 
 }^\ Jl^.. 
 
 ^'J 
 
 'X 
 
 .%\ 
 
 \^aiel 
 
 ^& 
 
 ' S^". 
 
 ^^ 
 
 l4^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 vV>i^ 
 
 M 
 
 >'t^' 

 
 
 L I B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 U N IVLRSITY 
 or 1 LLl NOI5
 
 
 mwmiMS:'7^'^^'^''
 
 
 .€^^- " 
 
 SUGGESTIONS 
 
 WITH REGARD TO 
 
 CERTAIN PROPOSED ALTERATIONS 
 IN OXFORD. 
 
 BY 
 
 ROUNDELL PALMER, Esq., M.P. 
 
 OXFORD: 
 
 JOHN HENRY PARKER; 
 
 AND 377, STRAND, LONDON. 
 
 M.DCCC.LIV.
 
 The Committee of the Tutors' Association have thought 
 it desirable to print the following Communication^ re- 
 ceived hy them in reply to questions which they had 
 circulated.
 
 SUGGESTIONS, &c. 
 
 I._UNIVERSITY. 
 
 J 1. Government, Sfc. 
 
 JL HE best suggestions upon this subject appear to me 
 to be those in the Second Report of the Oxford Tutors' 
 Association. The present Hebdomadal Board is the Present Heb. 
 
 domadal Board. 
 
 direct expression and result of the principle of subju- 
 gating the University to the nineteen Colleges and five 
 Collegiate Halls, which pervades the Laudian Statutes. 
 Through it, the Colleges, as represented by their 
 Heads, have the sole executive power and the sole 
 initiative in legislation. This principle ought, in my 
 opinion, to be reversed ; the Colleges should be sub- 
 ordinated, as in ancient times, to the University ; and 
 an independent system of Academical self-government 
 should be established. The recommendations of the Board suggest- 
 
 ed by the Com- 
 
 Royal Commissioners do not, as I understand them, missioners. 
 proceed either upon the one principle or upon the 
 other. They profess, indeed, to aim at the emancipa- 
 tion of the University from the control of the Colleges ; 
 but they do not seem to keep this object in view with 
 any consistency ; and the principle of Academical in- objections to it. 
 
 B 2
 
 Its executive 
 functions. 
 
 dependence and self-government is discarded and set 
 at nought in the scheme which they propose, at least 
 as completely as in the Laudian Statutes. 
 
 First, with resjDect to the executive administration. 
 They propose to leave this unchanged, in the hands of 
 the present Hebdomadal Board, except in the depart- 
 ment of ' Studies,' which they propose to transfer to 
 the Professorial body. By this division, the intellec- 
 tual government of the University would be separated 
 from its moral government and discipline ; and both 
 would be vested in Oligarchical Bodies, neither col- 
 lectively nor in the persons of any of their individual 
 members responsible to the University. 
 Its legislative. Next, with respoct to the initiative of Legislation. — 
 The Commissioners propose to give this to a numerous 
 deliberative Assembly, composed entirely of College 
 Officers and of University Professors and Public Lec- 
 turers, with an original numerical preponderance of 
 the Professorial element, and a power of increasing 
 that preponderance at any time by increasing the num- 
 ber of Public Lecturers. (The Proctors, who would be 
 only tvi^o out of so many, without any special privilege, 
 may be disregarded.) Under this constitution, all 
 would be ew officio members ; holding their offices 
 (practically) for life, or during their own pleasure ; and 
 appointed either by the Colleges, or by the Crown or 
 some other external authority, or (worst mode of all) 
 by self-election : — for the Commissioners propose to 
 transfer to the Congregation itself the nomination of 
 all Professors hitherto appointed by Convocation, by 
 the Graduates in Divinity, and by the Heads of 
 Houses ; and to vest in Professorial Boards, with the 
 sanction of Congregation, the appointment of all fu- 
 ture Public Lecturers. The absolute control over Uni- 
 
 \ / 
 
 All its mem- 
 bers to be ex 
 officio.
 
 versity Legislation would thus be entrusted to a Board, 
 diflfering only from the present Hebdomadal Board by 
 the addition of a great number of nominees of the 
 Crown or of individuals ; — the College Tutors, (of 
 whom the seniors only would sit in this Board) being 
 themselves nominees of the Heads of their respective 
 Colleges. Of all the elements of this Congregation, it has hardly 
 the Heads of Houses alone can be said to have any tati^e charac"" 
 sort of Representative character ; they do represent *^''* 
 officially their respective Societies, which, as affiliated 
 Corporations of the University, may reasonably be 
 thought entitled to have some direct share in its go- 
 vernment ; and they were elected by the general voice 
 of the members of those Societies to the offices they 
 fill. But the Senior Tutors of Colleges are neither 
 office-holders of the University, nor persons chosen by 
 their own Societies to represent them, for this or any 
 other purpose whatever ; and their place in the Com- 
 missioners' Congregation is a mere solecism, at vari- 
 ance equally with the proper subordination of the Col- 
 leges to the University, and with any bona fide prin- 
 ciple of College representation, — The Professors and 
 Public Lecturers would, indeed, be University officers ; 
 but, not owing their appointments to the University, 
 and sitting en masse, without any selection, they would 
 represent nobody, except themselves and their patrons. 
 
 In the objections, very temperately stated by the Undue pre- 
 Tutors' Association, to the extraordinary preponderance Profelsors; ° 
 of power assigned in this scheme to the Professorial 
 Body, I fully concur. The Professors have hitherto 
 established no title to an ascendancy in the Councils of 
 the University ; they have as yet had no part whatever 
 in its government ; and to transfer to them suddenly 
 the practical control over its whole legislation, would
 
 themselves an 
 untried body. 
 
 Which is to 
 have a power 
 of increasing 
 its numbers. 
 
 be a violent revolution, wholly (as it appears to me) 
 without cause or reason. The Professorial scheme of 
 the Commissioners is itself an untried theory, dependent 
 very much for its success upon other measures, which 
 may require a considerable time to mature them, and 
 bring them to the test. Let it be tried ; and, if it 
 answers, it may then be right to consider, whether 
 those who administer it ought to be admitted to a 
 larger share of power in the Government of the Uni- 
 versity, or not ; but, until then, it is better, instead of 
 staking everything upon a mere theory, to adopt a 
 system of government which will be safe and efhcient, 
 in any event, and which will connect, in a natural way, 
 the future with the past. 
 
 Besides this, it would surely be a grave mistake, 
 both in principle and in practice, to give the Professo- 
 rial element in the Congregation, (even if it ought to 
 be originally predominant), the power of increasing its 
 own preponderance indefinitely, from time to time, by 
 the introduction of new Public Lecturers. Yet this is 
 the proposition ; — while the numbers of those who 
 represent the other element are to be, from the begin- 
 ning, fixed and stationary. The abuses to which such 
 a power might lead are very obvious ; and the jealousy 
 with which it would be justly regarded, if no disposition 
 actually to abuse it were shewn, would necessarily 
 operate as an inconvenient obstacle to any increase of 
 the number of Public Lecturers, though such increase 
 might be really very desirable for the Educational in- 
 terests of the University. 
 
 I also think, that the Commissioners have failed 
 altogether to meet the objection, which lies against an 
 English-speaking Academical Parliament, comprising 
 more than a hundred members, on the ground, not so much
 
 (a8 tbey put it) that it would "degenerate into a debating Dangers m a 
 Society," as that it would be too dangerous and con- Stel^and of 
 venient an instrument for the formation of factions, ^^^^ ^ ®'^®' 
 the discussion of controversies, the agitation of need- 
 less changes, and the displays of personal ambition. 
 The argument, (which the Commissioners suggest, but 
 scarcely insist upon,) from " the character and station of 
 its members," is nothing: the Professors and Public 
 Lecturers, if they prove to be the eminent men the 
 Commissioners expect, will, very many of them, ac- 
 cording to all human experience, be ambitious men ; 
 many of them will be young; many, having already 
 received the notice and patronage of the Crown, will 
 be looking to still higher patronage, or to the more 
 splendid prizes of the world, and will not by any means 
 terminate their views for life in Oxford. The ideal 
 Professor of the Commissioners, wholly devoted to 
 learned and x\cademical pursuits, and always the best 
 man to be found for the place, is much more likely to 
 constitute the exception than the rule. And if, (as I 
 think,) it is probable, that a Professoriate, appointed 
 mainly by the Crown, would be found more accessible 
 than most of the other constituents of Academical 
 Society to popular and non-Academical influences, (a 
 circumstance which, in some respects, would have its 
 advantages), those influences would also stimulate, in a 
 very undesirable degree, the natural tendencies of per- 
 sonal ambition, in an assembly affording frequent 
 opportunities for the exhibition of intellectual and 
 oratorical powers. No real check to these evils could 
 be afforded by the only safeguard which the Com- 
 missioners suggest ; viz. that the Congregation should 
 not meet regularly for legislation, but should be spe- 
 cially convened by requisitions for the purpose, when-
 
 Tutors' Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 ever a fixed number of its members might have agreed 
 upon some definite proposition to be submitted to it. 
 The fixed number of requisitionists must necessarily be 
 small; otherwise the check would be far too ob- 
 structive ; and the conditions thus made necessary for 
 convening Congregation would be easily fulfilled, as 
 long as there was any ambition or activity to desire it. 
 Plan of the The plan of the Tutors' Association has the merits, 
 
 of reducing the initiative Board of Legislation to a 
 small and manageable number ; of vesting in it all the 
 powers of the present Hebdomadal Board, and so dis- 
 pensing altogether with that body; of representing in 
 it, (1) the Colleges, by a fixed number of delegates 
 chosen for that purpose by the whole body of their 
 Heads ; (2) the Professors and University Teachers, by 
 a like fixed number of Delegates chosen by their whole 
 body; and (3) the rest of the resident members of 
 Convocation, by a like fixed number of delegates 
 chosen by their whole body ; of creating an equal 
 balance of power between these three elements ; of 
 providing for the responsibility of the several Dele- 
 gates, by making them go periodically out of office ; 
 and of securing the introduction of new blood from 
 time to time, by making those who go out of office 
 reeligible only after a year's interval. On the whole, 
 this seems to me to be a safe and well considered plan 
 of self-government, likely to work eflficiently, and to 
 restore and secure the independence of the University. 
 I should be glad to see it adopted. 
 
 "§ 2. Course of Studies mid Ec^aminations. 
 Upon this subject, which I think is ably treated in 
 the Commissioners' Report, I am not disposed to dissent 
 from their recommendations.
 
 § 3. Honours. 
 I am in favour of attaching honours to all the Should be 
 Schools, at all the Examinations. There is no doubt, Examinations.^ 
 that the multiplication of honours must tend to di- 
 minish their specific value, as mere distinctions ; but I 
 am not sure that this very circumstance may not tend 
 to make them more useful as instruments of education. 
 When a particular Honour is a very marked object of 
 ambition, there is danger that knowledge will be sought 
 upon a narrow and superficial system, for the sake of 
 that Honour, and that the studies will be regulated by 
 the expected course of Examination, instead of being 
 merely tested by it. This danger will probably be less, 
 in proportion as the distribution of Honours ceases to 
 be rare and exceptional, and is applied as a general 
 stimulus to proficiency in all the branches and stages 
 of Academical study. 
 
 § 4. University Ewtension. 
 This, in my opinion, ought to be the main object 
 of University Reform. The highest education of the 
 kingdom ought to be made as extensively and gene- 
 rally available, and at as low a cost, to all classes of the 
 Queen's subjects who are disposed to profit by it, as 
 can be accomplished consistently with the maintenance 
 of those characteristics which constitute its excellence. 
 At present, it is confined within very narrow numerical Causes which 
 limits, by the combined operation of, (1) The College St "an Um- 
 monopoly ; (2) the predominance of particular studies; J^o^f ^ ^'^'^'^' 
 (3) the defective state of discipline ; (4) the high scale 
 of expenses ; and (5) the fastidious and aristocratic tone 
 of habits and manners. To these causes, some might 
 be disposed to add, the connection of the University 
 with the Church of England ; but this is a connection
 
 10 
 
 upon which its main public uses and characteristic 
 excellencies in a great measure depend ; especially the 
 supremacy within its walls of religious truth over se- 
 cular knowledge; which, according to all experience, 
 could not be maintained under a system practically 
 uniting all religious sects. The five causes which I 
 have enumerated are very closely connected with each 
 other ; and the four last, relating to studies, discipline, 
 expense, and manners, are in my opinion mainly de- 
 pendent upon the first, viz. the College monopoly, 
 which I think is the fundamental cause. By the 
 College monopoly, (a term, which I use in no invidious 
 sense,) I mean the statutable restraint of matriculation 
 in the University to students belonging to one of the 
 nineteen Colleges or five Collegiate Halls, and required 
 to reside within the Collegiate buildings during the 
 greater part of their undergraduate career. 
 
 In the times before the Reformation, all education 
 was clerical, and all learned men were clerks ; but the 
 demand for clerical education was then great, the class 
 Wo**' *^^ ^^^' ^^° required it numerous, and the system under which 
 it was given in the University (after, as well as before, 
 the foundation of colleges) was free. The Reformation 
 destroyed the greater part of the old demand for this 
 education, and the revival of classical learning greatly 
 modified its character. For the education, so modified, 
 a new but still a limited demand sprung up, among the 
 youth of the lay aristocracy; and, from this period, 
 till a considerable time after the date of the Laudian 
 Statutes, the remains of the clerical class of students, 
 and the aristocratic youth, constituted the only possible 
 materials in the country for Academical instruction. 
 For them, the Colleges furnished amply sufficient ac- 
 commodation ; the former class were naturally drawn 
 
 Causes which 
 soon after the 
 Reformation 
 tended to re- 
 strict Educa-
 
 11 
 
 into the Colleges bj their endowments and charities ; 
 the latter, by their comforts and splendour. Under 
 these circumstances, the numerous private Halls of 
 ancient times necessarily gave way; and, among the 
 disorders and distresses of those days, the College en- 
 dowments probably saved the University itself from 
 extinction. But Archbishop Laud committed the most Error of Abp. 
 serious possible error, when he imposed upon the Uni- deavouring to 
 versity, as the permanent law of its future existence, P^g^PiJ^f^*^^ 
 the posture which it had thus accidentally assumed 
 during a period of religious and political transition. 
 By so doing, he took away its elasticity and expansive 
 power ; and, in the event of a demand for Academical 
 education arising from classes neither clerical nor 
 aristocratic, under any subsequent development of so- 
 ciety, he made it physically impossible to supply that 
 demand. He said, in effect, that the University should 
 never educate more than about 1500 students (I take 
 the present maximum of accommodation from the 
 Commissioners' Report) at any future time ; and, as the 
 clerical and aristocratic classes were then in full pos- 
 session of the Colleges, and were likely always to re- 
 quire an amount of accommodation approaching this 
 limit, this was virtually a restriction of the University 
 by Statute to those classes. The natural effect of this 
 association, (coupled with the great extent of lay pa- 
 tronage in the Church of England, the richness of her 
 preferments, and perhaps some political causes,) was, 
 that, from the Revolution downwards, the clerical stu- 
 dents in the University, and through them the clergy 
 of the national Church, became gradually more and 
 more aristocratic ; a fastidious tone of habits and man- 
 ners, and a corresponding style and scale of personal 
 expense, established itself among the Undergraduates,
 
 12 
 
 Hence the aiid the College bills rose in proportion : discipline and 
 character and intellectual energy declined; and the course of study 
 OxforrEduca- ^djusted itsolf to the contracted character of this 
 tion. system. The same general character is still preserved 
 
 in the Colleges, (though with considerable moral im- 
 provement during the present century ;) the difference 
 between the good Colleges and the bad being now 
 chiefly this, that in the former the aristocratic spirit is 
 tempered with a superior discipline, with a higher reli- 
 gious and intellectual tone, and sometimes with better 
 sumptuary regulations ; in the latter there is more li- 
 cense, less intellectual activity, and (generally) less re- 
 finement. For plain middle-class students, brought np 
 among the associations of commerce, compelled to prac- 
 tise a strict economy, and destined, after leaving the Uni- 
 versity, to return to commercial pursuits, the expenses 
 even of the best regulated Colleges would be far too high, 
 and the moral and social atmosphere (as a general rule) 
 not merely uncongenial, but positively unhealthy, and de- 
 trimental to their future prospects. Sir Charles Lyell's 
 observations upon this point, quoted at page 46 of the 
 Commissioners' Report, are extremely just and perti- 
 nent. As long as the College monopoly is maintained, 
 I am satisfied it would be vain to look for any very 
 material change in these respects from the Colleges. 
 The pressure of Upper-class students into a College 
 will always increase, under the present system, as its 
 reputation for discipline and good management in- 
 Which can only creases ; the power of social traditions and esprit de 
 admitting stu- corps will uecessarily continue to be felt, in the man- 
 ners of old societies which keep up a constant succes- 
 sion of similar elements ; and the study and practice 
 of a rigid domestic economy cannot easily be recovered 
 by corporations which have long lost the art, and 
 
 dents uncon- 
 nected with 
 Colleges.
 
 13 
 
 whose individual governors have no strong personal 
 interest in its revival. It is, therefore, essential, in my 
 judgment, that University extension should be sought 
 for by a return to the ancient system of admitting stu- 
 dents unconnected with Colleges. The plans for ex- 
 tending the Colleges, by dispensing with residence 
 within the walls, or by founding Affiliated Halls, seem 
 to me half-measures, calculated only to accomplish ob- 
 jects of a much too limited nature. The former method 
 is chiefly adapted to meet the case of students of the 
 same class as those now frequenting the Colleges, who 
 cannot find entrance into a good College for want of 
 room ;— the latter proceeds upon an eleemosynary prin- 
 ciple ; and, whatever its success might be, it could only 
 enlarge to a certain amount the present numerical limit 
 of the capacity of the University, instead of enabling 
 the University to adjust its supply of accommodation 
 from time to time, both in quantity and in quality, to 
 any possible increase of demand. The last observation 
 applies equally to the scheme of one or more Indepen- 
 dent Halls, to be founded either by individual donation 
 or subscription, or by an advance of money from the 
 University itself. Apart, therefore, altogether from 
 the questions of pecuniary ways and means which they 
 involve, these suggestions seem to me inadequate to 
 the occasion. 
 
 If, then. Students unconnected with the Colleges, or 
 with Affiliated or Independent Halls, are to be ad- 
 mitted, the great question is, how is it to be done? 
 Two conditions seem essential to the object in view ; 
 cheapness, and discipline ; and, to ensure any really 
 considerable success, I should be disposed to say, mtich 
 greater cheapness, and considerably better discipline, than 
 in the best of the ejcisting Colleges, ought to be attained.
 
 14 
 
 It is also necessary that there should be adequate means 
 of instruction. 
 
 The Commissioners have proposed one scheme, and 
 the Tutors' Association another ; both of which agree 
 in allowing non-Collegiate students to reside in Oxford 
 in private houses, licensed by authority, of which the 
 number may be multiplied according to the demand. 
 But in other respects the difference between the two 
 plans is vital ; and a mere statement of that difference 
 is, I think, enough to shew at a glance their compara- 
 tive merits. 
 Plan for this The Commissiouers do not propose to give any Aca- 
 
 posed by'the demical character to the house in which a Student is to 
 be permitted to reside ; it may, according to their plan, 
 be the house of any common lodging-house-keeper or 
 Objections to tradesman. They place him under no personal guardi- 
 anship, no domestic government ; they surround him 
 with no religious observances ; they leave his morals 
 uncared for, except by the Proctors, (excusing them- 
 selves upon this point with a few rather superficial re- 
 marks, to the effect that it is impossible for all young 
 men always to be kept moral, even in Colleges ; and 
 disregarding the strong warnings of some of their own 
 best witnesses, who have served the office of Proctor ;) 
 — they leave his studies without superintendence, and 
 his necessary expenses unregulated ; and they offer him 
 no protection against needless expenditure. 
 Plan of Private The Tutors' Association, on the contrary, recom- 
 Houses under ttieud, that overy housc, licensed for the residence of 
 Ar^*^*^"^ °^ students, should be invested with an Academical cha- 
 racter, as long as it is used for that purpose. They 
 propose to revive in such houses the name, and what- 
 ever was best in the principles and management, of the 
 ancient Private Halls ; requiring the keeper of every 
 
 Commissioners. 
 
 it,
 
 15 
 
 such Hall to be a Master of Arts, approved and li- 
 censed, on satisfactory testimonials of his fitness, by the 
 Executive Board of the University ; assigning to him 
 the office of a resident Principal over the inmates, with 
 duties analogous to those of the Head and also Tutor 
 of a College ; and making him responsible for the mo- 
 ral, religious, and economical government, and for the 
 proper superintendence of the studies, of all his stu- 
 dents. — Under the plan of the Commissioners, every 
 moral and economical evil now most complained of by 
 parents and the public, would flourish with ranker 
 luxuriance ; and the students in lodgings, as a class, 
 would be exposed to greater risks than those in the 
 worst-conducted Colleges, because risks less capable of 
 being guarded against beforehand, and less remediable its advantages; 
 by discovery and correction, w-hen actually incurred. — 
 Under the plan of the Tutors' Association, the free 
 competition of different Halls would naturally, and by 
 the mere operation of the ordinary principles of supply 
 and demand, result in the attainment of high degrees 
 both of economy and of discipline ; because economy in discipline 
 and discipline are what the public want, and would be ^" ^ 
 the surest roads to reputation and success ; — and in 
 every such Hall a creditable standard of discipline would 
 be likely to be maintained, better probably than in the 
 Colleges, on account of the facilities afforded by small 
 numbers, and the flexibility of a new organization. 
 Middle-class students might find in this system all that 
 they want to make the University really accessible to 
 them ; the means of escape from unsuitable associa- 
 tions and habits ; domestic society, as simple and free 
 from pretension as in their own homes ; necessaries 
 and ordinary comforts, including furniture, &;c., sup- 
 plied at low fixed rates ; and all ordinary temptation
 
 16 
 
 and opportunity to indulge in entertainments and other 
 costly superfluities cut off. And, as long as the Uni- 
 versity contains men of the same stamp with some 
 Masters of Arts now residing within its walls, whom it 
 would be easy to name, (I do not doubt there are many 
 Probability of such, and I beliove there always will be,) the same 
 
 its beingworked i i i p . i rv i 
 
 successfully by system would also furnish effectual means for the edu- 
 lows!^^ '^ cation gratuitously, or at the lowest possible cost, of 
 meritorious students belonging to a still poorer class, 
 by fellows of colleges not unmindful of the eleemosy- 
 nary benefits which their own Founders intended for 
 the poor. — Of course, if this plan is adopted, it will be 
 an essential part of its machinery, that all Fellows of 
 Colleges (if duly licensed) may be allowed to open and 
 reside in private Halls, without vacating their Fellow- 
 ships ; — and perhaps not the least of its benefits will 
 be, that it will open a new field of useful employment, 
 in the service of the University, to many Fellows of 
 Colleges, who might otherwise become sinecurists for 
 want of some definite academical work to do. 
 
 The instruction of the students residing in these Pri- 
 vate Halls should be, as I have already said, super- 
 intended generally by their Principals ; who might 
 also, as suggested by the Tutors' Association, be at li- 
 berty to make arrangements with each other for the 
 combined instruction of the students of several Halls, 
 upon such a division of subjects and labour, as might 
 be found best adapted to the attainments of the several 
 Principals, and most conducive to a due economy of 
 time. The Hall-Students would also attend the lec- 
 tures of the University Professors and Public Lecturers, 
 domofimh-uc- ^^ Contemplated by the Royal Commissioners. In my 
 Hon. Qy^Yi mind, however, (and I may mention, that the 
 
 same plan of extending the University by means of 
 
 Means of In 
 struction for 
 such Halls. 
 
 Importance 
 witla a view to 
 this of in- 
 creased Free-
 
 17 
 
 Private Halls, which is now recommended by the Tu- 
 tors' Association, has long appeared to me desirable, 
 and had been advocated by me both publicly and in 
 private before the Royal Commission was issued,) the 
 principle of freedom of instruction within the Uni- 
 versity has always been associated with the principle of 
 the free admission of non-Collegiate students. The Free pemis- 
 Commissioners correctly observe, that every Master of should beTe- 
 Arts, by the formula of admission to his degree, re- Ma7ters*of Arts, 
 ceives authority to teach publicly in the University ; 
 and it is only necessary to turn to Anthony Wood, 
 (Annals, vol. 2. p. 710 et sqq.) to see that, in ancient 
 times, the private ' Schools' (i. e. places where instruc- 
 tion was given to classes of students by private Masters 
 of Arts or Graduates in the higher faculties) were al- 
 most as numerous in the University as the Private 
 Halls ; and that the two were correlative, in a practi- 
 cal sense, to each other. I think this ought to be so 
 again ; and without this resource, I should not feel very 
 confident of the success, in an intellectual point of 
 view, of the non-Collegiate system. I know not what 
 danger could arise from leaving it open to every Master 
 of Arts to give lectures in the University on any recog- 
 nised subject of secular study which he might think 
 fit, and to organize classes of such students as might 
 choose to attend him, either gratuitously, or upon any 
 terms of remuneration, as might be arranged between 
 himself and them. No serious abuse of this power, by 
 the inculcation of any pernicious doctrines, (if it were 
 to take place,) could remain secret ; and of course the 
 University authorities might and would silence any 
 lecturer in case of abuse. If, however, it were 
 thought that this power should not be universal, it 
 might at all events be granted, by license of the 
 
 c
 
 18 
 
 Executive Board, to every applicant of good character 
 Advantages of and proper qualifications in other respects. Such a 
 system would possess an elasticity and self-supporting 
 power, which could never be communicated in an equal 
 degree to an official Professoriate, or to a limited offi- 
 cial class of Public Lecturers appointed by and de- 
 pendent upon the Public Professors: and the activity 
 and success of the voluntary Lecturers, (if they did suc- 
 ceed,) would stimulate usefully the exertions of the 
 official staff, and would help at once to check improper 
 appointments, and to increase the cultivation and exhi- 
 bition of that kind of ability which ought to constitute 
 the qualification for Professorships. The principle of 
 such freedom of instruction is already recognised in the 
 liberty now universally allowed at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge, even to Bachelors of Arts, to take private 
 pupils : — and in foreign Universities it has produced 
 excellent fruits, as in the case of Niebuhr, whose Lec- 
 tures on Roman History were originally given in this 
 manner at Bonn. If, as I hope and anticipate, the re- 
 sult of opening Oxford to free students should be to 
 attract large numbers of them, some such self-adjusting 
 machinery for their instruction will be, either absolutely 
 necessary, or at least very highly valuable ; for it can- 
 not be expected that all those, who are eminently 
 qualified for the office of teachers in particular branches 
 of knowledge, will either find a place upon the public 
 Professorial staff, or feel disposed to incumber them- 
 selves with the government and domestic economy of 
 Private Halls ; and, if the non-Collegiate Students are 
 to be kept upon a par with the Collegiate, every effort 
 should be made to provide for them an adequate sub- 
 stitute for the Tutorial System, and no part of the 
 teaching power of the University, available by any
 
 I 
 
 19 
 
 means for their assistance, should be thrown away. It 
 would be unsafe to rely altogether upon the Principals 
 of the Private Halls for an effective system of tuition; 
 and the Lectures of the Professors will always be of 
 too general a nature to supply this want. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of Private Halls, I wish 
 to anticipate one observation which may perhaps be 
 made; viz. that there is nothing in the Commissioners' Great dangers 
 plan to prevent the voluntary establishment of such tending^the ' 
 Halls by Masters of Arts, and their general adoption ^^^ °-g2oners. 
 by the public in preference to ordinary lodgings, if they 
 are likely to answer better. But it would be a great 
 fallacy to imagine, that little or no mischief would be 
 done by a system of license, only because licentiousness 
 might not be made compulsory. Discipline, in a Uni- 
 versity, should always be compulsory and universal, as 
 far as it can be made so. If it is optional, there will 
 always be many dissolute and rich students, (and other 
 students, fond of their own ease and independence, 
 though neither rich nor dissolute,) who will like to be 
 as free from discipline as possible ; and there will be 
 many foolish parents ready enough to indulge their 
 sons in that inclination. And this is an evil sure to 
 spread, if it is admitted at all, through the influence of 
 fashion, and the habits of aristocratic pretension, which 
 are so unfortunately common, both in the University 
 and in the country at large. 
 
 To the questions, whether the sons of merchants, Probability 
 
 , ^ „ . 1 •, i T -i. that the Middle 
 
 bankers, manufacturers, engmeers, architects, solicitors, classes would 
 surgeons, superior tradesmen, &c., destined themselves g^j^^g ^^^^ 
 to follow the like professions, would be disposed t<^ ^diSon if it 
 come to the University, if they could find there free were made ac- 
 
 '' . (, . cessible to 
 
 admission, with facilities for the practice of strict eco- them. 
 nomy, and proper guarantees for a safe domestic disci- 
 
 c 2
 
 20 
 
 pline under social conditions suitable to their habits 
 and means ; — and whether they would be likely to de- 
 rive from a University education benefits sufficient to 
 counterbalance any delay which it might cause to their 
 start in life ; — I have no difficulty in answering, that I 
 think it would be very well worth their while to come, 
 and that they would soon learn to do so, and would 
 eventually come in very large numbers. For this pur- 
 pose I presuppose, that the Academical system of study 
 will be bona fide enlarged, so as to give real opportu- 
 nities and encouragements for the acquisition of all 
 those branches of knowledge, hitherto neglected, which 
 in the country generally are considered necessary parts 
 of a good education. The classes spoken of include a 
 vast, and ever increasing, proportion of the wealth and 
 intellectual activity of England. The members of those 
 classes know very well the practical value of know- 
 ledge ; and it is only just to say, that their ideas upon 
 the subject are generally liberal and comprehensive. They 
 wish, undoubtedly, that their children should be intro- 
 duced early to those elementary studies, which may have 
 Desire of such a useful bearing upon their future business in life; but 
 nerai mental to theso they are anxious to see added as much general 
 andTts*reai mcutal cultivatiou as can be brought within their reach. 
 value with re- Nobodv, who mixcs at all with them, or who knows 
 
 rerence to their •' ' 
 
 position in life, anything of the usual course of study at the places of 
 education which their children now frequent, can be 
 ignorant that this is so. Nor is there, in any of these 
 professions, any fixed rule or practice, that I am aware 
 of, as to the age at which their strictly professional 
 education ought to begin. The children of very humble 
 parents, when trained to such occupations, do and 
 must begin them in mere boyhood ; because it is of 
 vital importance to their parents, that they should be
 
 21 
 
 earning their own maintenance as 8oon as possible. 
 But the children of men prosperous and eminent in 
 their business are under no such necessity; such 
 parents can generally give their sons a good start in 
 their own line of life, with fair opportunities of success, 
 (if they are qualified by disposition and preparatory 
 knowledge to succeed,) whether they begin one or 
 two years earlier or later. It would, doubtless, be an 
 object with them to lose no time unnecessarily ; and 
 probably they might often be sent to the University as 
 early as sixteen or seventeen, and might leave it at 
 nineteen or twenty, if confidence were felt in the efd- 
 ciency and domestic character of the discipline in the 
 Private Halls. But, if the education given is really a 
 valuable one for young men destined to enter these 
 professions, the elite of such young men (a very nume- 
 rous class) will be found able to aftbrd the necessary 
 time for it, whatever that may be. And of the value 
 of an Academical education, even in a strictly profes- 
 sional point of view, when given upon a sufliciently 
 comprehensive system and under favourable moral 
 conditions, I entertain no doubt. Superior mental 
 cultivation tells very much in every profession ; it en- 
 larges the views, improves the judgment, and obtains 
 for its possessor consideration and influence in the 
 ordinary intercourse of mankind. It may not intro- 
 duce a man to business, at the beginning of his career; 
 but, when he has begun to rise, it helps him to advance 
 more rapidly than he otherwise could ; it adorns and 
 dignities his success ; and (what, in these times espe- 
 cially, is very important) it qualifies him for any eleva- 
 tion in the social scale to which that success may lead. 
 — I cannot pretend to define the degree of cheapness 
 which ought to be attainable in order practically to
 
 22 
 
 open the University to these classes ; probably it will 
 admit of considerable variations ; but this may well be 
 left, under the system of Private Halls, to regulate 
 itself. 
 
 § 5. Professio7ial Education. 
 Agreement Upou this subject, I affreo entirely with Her Majesty's 
 
 with the sug- ^ ^ . . ^ n . ^ . ' 1 
 
 gestions of the Commissioners. Professional instruction, properly so 
 mmissioners. ^^j|g^^ caiiuot usefully be givcu in the University, nor 
 is it worth while to sacrifice any part of the general 
 system of the University for the sake of it. But in- 
 struction in those branches of knowledge which are 
 preliminary to the professions, and constitute their 
 scientific or historical bases, (as general Jurisprudence, 
 Civil Law, History, Physical Science, &c.) may be 
 given in the University, with the greatest possible 
 benefit to students intended for those professions ; and 
 will at the same time harmonize well with the general 
 University course. This instruction has hitherto been 
 presupposed, rather than supplied, in the different 
 schools of special professional instruction established in 
 the metropolis and elsewhere ; and, although an en- 
 deavour is now being made to supply it in the Inns of 
 Court to students of law, I think the University would 
 furnish a much more favourable field for its acquire- 
 ment. 
 
 ^ 6. Law. 
 
 See my replies to the separate paper of Questions 
 on Law. 
 
 Reasons which, ^ 7- Tlieology. 
 
 to most young 
 
 men, make Ox- I am inclined to think that the general habits of 
 desirable place society and intellectual business of Oxford would 
 SogS'studyr s-lways exercise a disturbing influence upon the minds 
 than Diocesan Qf ^he greater number of young men during their pre-
 
 23 
 
 paration for Holy Orders ; and that, for the purposes 
 of that preparation, the retirement and special disci- 
 pline of diocesan institutions, like that at Wells, is (in 
 most cases) decidedly preferable ; and would continue 
 to be so, notwithstanding any change at Oxford which 
 
 I can foresee. 
 
 § 8. Professoriate. 
 
 Whenever the Professoriate shall have raised itself, An active Pro- 
 by active and effective services in the work of Educa- not to be 
 tion, to a high position of usefulness in the University, mereiy^in- *"" 
 and credit and influence in the country, it will (even if ^^^^6? and 
 left principally dependent upon fees, and not richly salaries of Pro- 
 endowed) be the certain means of retaining men of 
 learning in the University. But, until it has earned 
 for itself this position, I have no confidence in the suc- 
 cess of any attempt to accomplish that end, merely by 
 increasing the number and salaries of Professors. Expe- 
 rience has shewn, that the residence of a Professor in 
 Oxford will not be secured, even by the most liberal 
 endowment, if he has no real work to do there, and 
 can find it elsewhere ; and I do not think it worth 
 while to pay large sums of money, for the sake of a 
 merely titular connexion between the University and 
 eminent names. 
 
 The proper ofiice of the Professorial method, consi- Proper office of 
 
 Professors* 
 
 dered as an instrument of education, is to present 
 large, general, and systematised views of those sub- 
 jects of knowledge, the detail of which is acquired 
 under the tutorial method, or by private reading ; to 
 analyse, criticise, compare, and combine ; to propound 
 and investigate principles ; to illustrate physical dis- 
 coveries by experiment ; to assist the advanced student 
 in the higher branches of his studies, and to form in 
 him habits of independent research and philosophical
 
 24 
 
 judgment. Some of these offices, on such subjects 
 especially as Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, Juris- 
 prudence, Political Economy, History, Literary Criti- 
 cism, and physical (as distinguished from mathematical) 
 science, are well adapted to be discharged by public 
 lectures to classes: but such lectures will scarcely be 
 useful, on the majority of these subjects, to any but 
 advanced and intelligent students: for this method is 
 neither adapted nor intended (except, perhaps, in the 
 department of Physics) to teach, from the beginning 
 and throughout, any subject whatever; it always pre- 
 supposes much in the hearer, and suggests more than 
 it communicates, and leaves a large outline to be filled 
 up by detailed and patient study. It is also character- 
 istic of this method, that, although the Professor speaks 
 €£P cathedra, his views and statements on controvertible 
 subjects (with which he will frequently be very much 
 occupied) are not really authoritative ; and cannot 
 safely be accepted as such, without confounding the 
 province of mere opinion with that of knowledge. On 
 other subjects, as mathematics, and the science of lan- 
 guage, the method of public lectures to classes does 
 not seem to be available with any advantage. In these 
 departments there is no substantial difference between 
 the tutor and the Professor, or between the methods 
 by which they must work, if they teach at all ; and the 
 only occasion for a Professor (considered as a teacher) 
 appears to be, that, in some cases, the particular stu- 
 dies themselves, and, in others, the higher and more 
 philosophical degrees of attainment in them, are rare 
 and exceptional, so as not to be within the ordinary 
 resources of the working tutorial system of the Uni- 
 versity; and (for the same reason) they are capable 
 of being communicated to single individuals, or to
 
 25 
 
 very small classes, upon the tutorial method, by a 
 University teacher having special qualifications for the 
 purpose, without any excessive demand upon his time. 
 In truth, however, Professorships on these latter sub- 
 jects have been hitherto chiefly sinecures ; and I very 
 much suspect, that, whatever changes may be made, 
 most of them will continue to be so. 
 
 Upon the whole, the Professorial system is best and contrast with 
 most successfully employed in the cultivation and direc- g'jfgtej^^^^^^ch 
 tion of the active faculties of the mind, and in helping incomplete 
 
 i o when alone. 
 
 forward the advances of the diligent student after he 
 has elsewhere laid a good and solid foundation. The 
 Tutorial system, on the other hand, is chiefly and 
 most usefully occupied in laying the foundation ; it 
 trains the passive faculties of the mind, it verifies the 
 processes, and works out the detail of knowledge. Nei- 
 ther system is complete without the other: — but the 
 Tutorial system can stand alone; the Professorial can- 
 not, if it seeks to produce any result worthy of being 
 dignified with the name of education. 
 
 Under the College monopoly, the Tutorial method 
 has, not unnaturally, superseded the Professorial alto- 
 gether; and the result has been, a meagre general 
 standard, and a low maximum, of attainment. The 
 foundations have been continually laid ; but not much 
 has been built upon tliem. Improvement in this respect 
 is, certainly, very much to be desired. But, until An effective 
 the University shall be peopled with a large number of.sjstem^oniyto 
 independent students, unconnected with the Collesres, J be created, by 
 
 ^ ' O ' greatly extend- 
 
 am not sanguine of the possibility of creatine an effec- i°& t'l^ Uni- 
 
 T\ f • 1 • r^ f 1 Ti !•! versity as be- 
 
 tive Professorial system m Oxford. I do not think fore proposed. 
 salaries can do it. A demand for Professorial teaching 
 ought to arise naturally, in order to give life to the sys- 
 tem ; it cannot be forced by artificial means ; it must
 
 ^6 
 
 be created by pupils who want Professors, not by Pro- 
 fessors who want pupils. The recent and coming ex- 
 tensions of the course of University study, and divisions 
 of Schools and Examinations, have a tendency, no 
 doubt, to produce this end. But I think the resources 
 of the Colleges would prove in the long run sufficient, 
 (except, perhaps, in the departments of Jurisprudence 
 and Physical Science,) to make the Tutorial system, as 
 hitherto administered by them, applicable to this state 
 of things, — far enough, at all events, to prevent any 
 very great development of the Professoriate, under a 
 demand proceeding only from the Colleges. And this 
 may be still more the case hereafier, if Fellowships in 
 every College are set apart (as the Commissioners pro- 
 pose) for persons distinguished in the new branches 
 of knowledge ; and if the leading Professors are them- 
 selves identified with the Colleges, to the extent Mdiich 
 some other proposals of the Commissioners involve. 
 The success, therefore, of the plan for opening the 
 University to non-Collegiate students, is, in my opinion, 
 a necessary preliminary to the realization of the Com- 
 missioners' views (as far as they are capable of being 
 If this is done, realized) upon the subject of the Professoriate. The 
 
 the Tutorial / ^ ,, . i t t i ■ i 
 
 and Professorial body of non-Collegiate students would, 1 think, gravi- 
 be nmtuaUy^ tate almost as naturally towards the Professorial system, 
 cooperate^^*^ (supposing that system to be ably administered,) as the 
 body of Collegiate students now does towards the Tu- 
 torial ; and the main difficulty, which now arises from 
 the complete organization and even excess of do- 
 mestic tuition, might then probably be found to arise 
 from the opposite quarter. I should hope, however, 
 that the combination in the University of the Collegiate 
 and non-Collegiate elements, together with the impulse 
 given to special studies by the new arrangement of
 
 27 
 
 Schools and Examinations, and a general liberty of 
 teaching, such as I have advocated, Mould result in 
 the due mutual adjustment and co-operation of the 
 Professorial and Tutorial methods, without a too de- 
 cided preponderance of either. Experience will be the 
 best, and I think the only safe guide, as to the plan 
 and arrangements, if any, which will best effectuate this 
 object : and during the progress of the experiment, I 
 should think it unadvisable to make any regulations 
 which can interfere with the efficacy of the Tutorial 
 system. 
 
 In order to prevent the Professorships from degene- Best means to 
 rating into sinecures, the best means appear to me to feTsorsLpr' 
 be, (1) to orive the Professors official stipends of mode- ^^"^ '^^''°™'"s 
 
 ^ \ ' o I sinecures. 
 
 rate amount only, so as to make the increase of their 
 incomes by fees from voluntary pupils an important ob- 
 iect ; and (2) to allow the free competition of inde- 
 pendent teachers in the University. 
 
 § 9- Board for Supervision of Studies. 
 I see no good reason for separating the intellectual it is undesira- 
 from the general government of the University; but the inteifectuai 
 rather the reverse. I think, therefore, that th e. super- ^^J^J^J^^^f^^^j^ 
 vision of studies ouo-ht not to be vested in a separate ofti^eUni. 
 
 *=■ '■ versity. 
 
 Board or Delegacy. If, indeed, the executive govern- 
 ment were vested, either in a body so specially consti- 
 tuted as the present Hebdomadal Board, or in one so 
 numerous as the Congregation recommended by the 
 Commissioners, there might be reasons for taking the 
 superintendence of studies out of such hands. But, in 
 truth, the same reasons tend to shew the unfitness of a 
 Board or Congregation so constituted for governing the 
 University at all. The Professorial Board proposed by 
 the Commissioners, for the supervision of studies and ap-
 
 28 
 
 strong and spe- pointmeiit of Exaniiiiers, is open to the obvious and (I 
 to\ fiilrdTf think) insuperable objection, that it identifies the intel- 
 Professors. lectual government of the University with one alone of 
 two independent and coordinate systems of instruction, 
 the Professorial and the Tutorial ; the latter of which 
 is at least as essential to the University as the former, 
 and has hitherto had incomparably the more important 
 share in its administration. If the representatives of 
 these two systems were sure to be actuated by similar 
 views, the distinction might be unimportant ; but the 
 contrary is the case ; and to adopt this proposal would 
 be to pass from one extreme to its opposite. Both 
 systems would be equally and impartially represented 
 upon an Executive and Initiative Board, constituted 
 according to the plan of the Tutors' Association ; and 
 this seems to me to be the only safe and wise arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 § 10. Patronage of Professorships, Sfc, 
 
 Elections both I think Examiucrs should be appointed by the Exe- 
 aJd thTcrown" cutive Board. As to the appointment of Professors, 
 are desuabie. experience shews that good appointments are more 
 frequently made by Convocation and by the Crown, 
 than in any other manner. Both modes of appoint- 
 ment are liable to abuse, and will be, from time to 
 time, abused ; but I should not, on that account, wish 
 to see either of them wholly abolished. I have no ob- 
 jection to the increase of Professorships in the patron- 
 age of the Crown, as long as those Professors are not 
 invested with any preponderating authority in the go- 
 vernment or legislation of the University. The poM^er 
 of voting at elections to Professorships, by Convoca- 
 tion, might, I thinkj be beneficially limited to the re- 
 sident members of Convocation only ; the test of resi-
 
 29 
 
 dence being made the same, as it will be for the pur- 
 pose of elections to the Executive Board, if the plan 
 of the Tutors' Association is adopted. 
 
 COLLEGES. 
 
 The oath which I took upon my admission to a Difficulty feit 
 Fellowship at Magdalen in 1834, is such as to create Tng any wish 
 a scruple in my mind, as to the extent to which I Honof conTo^e 
 should be morally at liberty to advocate any alteration statutes, where 
 
 •' •' •'an Oath has 
 
 in the Statutes of that College, supposing I considered been taken 
 
 1 . I'll -XT • 1 1 11 against seeking 
 
 alteration desirable. JNor is that scruple removed by or promoting 
 
 ■ 1 .. . I I'ji/^ •• » any such altera- 
 
 the suggestion so strongly made in the Commissioners tion. 
 Report, that the disuse of particular injunctions, and 
 the disappointment of particular purposes, of the 
 Founders, has in fact made the bona fide observ- 
 ance of these oaths altogether impossible, and has 
 virtually dispensed with their obligation, even in 
 those points, as to which there has been (as yet) 
 no departure from the Statutes. This argument is, I 
 think, founded upon an exaggerated view of the facts ; 
 at all events, I am not so satisfied of its correctness as 
 to be able myself to act upon it. As, therefore, the 
 tenor of the oath I have referred to disables me from 
 considering, except in a one-sided way, the question of 
 the propriety of any alterations at Magdalen, and as 
 the case of Magdalen cannot be separated in principle 
 from that of other Colleges, I thhik it best to offer no 
 opinions upon the greater part of the large and im- 
 portant range of subjects comprehended in the series 
 of questions relating to the Colleges. On three points, 
 however, of much moment, I feel myself opposed to 
 the recommendations of the Royal Commissioners, 
 upon grounds which I believe to be independent of
 
 30 
 
 any bias or moral constraint derived from the oath I 
 
 General ob- have taken; viz. (1) the proposed suppression of Fel- 
 
 (0 Tortile lowships in order to endow Professors; (2) the pro-- 
 
 Jlersbn^of"^ posed genera] change of clerical into lay Fellowships ; 
 
 Fellowships. ajjf| ^g) ^jjg proposed permission for Fellows of Colleges 
 
 to marry without vacating their Fellowships, in the 
 
 event of their being appointed to public lectureships 
 
 in the University. 
 
 The first of these three recommendations I should 
 strenuously resist, as a needless and wanton mutilation 
 of noble Institutions. I doubt whether the emolu- 
 ments, which it is proposed thus to obtain for Profes- 
 sors, do not considerably exceed the rate needed for 
 their efficiency ; but, however that may be, 1 think it 
 much best, as a general rule, (admitting, of course, of 
 exception in particular Colleges, where Professorships 
 have been provided for by the Founders,) that the Col- 
 leges and the University Professors should continue to 
 For founding be independent of each other. If it is thought right, 
 
 ProfcssorshiDs 
 
 a Tax is pre- that the Colleges, as Academical Corporations, should 
 contribute towards the expense of maintaining a proper 
 staff of efficient University officers, (to which, in prin- 
 ciple, I can see no objection,) it may be proper to raise 
 the necessary sum for that purpose by a tax upon their 
 Corporate revenues. But the confiscation of integral 
 parts of the Foundations themselves seems to me nei- 
 ther justified by this principle, nor at all required by 
 the practical object in view. 
 (2)To a change The ofFect of the second of these recommendations 
 Lay FeTiow- ° would be, to remove the most substantial guarantee 
 ships. now existing for the permanent and bona fide mainte- 
 
 nance of the connexion between the University and 
 the Church of England. Formulfe of subscriptions to 
 Articles and Canons (even if incumbered with no diffi-
 
 31 
 
 culties of their own) would be very insecure defences, 
 but for the position which the clergy of the Church of 
 England occupy in the practical administration of the 
 University system ; and this position will be virtually 
 destroyed, if all the Fellowships, hitherto appropriated 
 to the clergy, are henceforth permitted to be held by 
 laymen. 
 
 The third recommendation, if adopted, would create (3) Pemnission 
 
 ... I 1 • 1 • 1 1 • • 1 . to Fellows to 
 
 an irresistible inducement to jobbing in the appoint- many. 
 ments to public lectureships ; especially if an indefinite 
 increase of such lectureships (as contemplated by the 
 Commissioners) were permitted. As often as any 
 friend of some influential Professor, who was a Collefj-e 
 Fellow, wanted to marry, there would be a canvass to 
 get him appointed to a public Lectureship ; and such 
 Lectureships would not unfrequently be created, for 
 the mere purpose of enabling men to escape from the 
 obligation of Celibacy and yet retain their Fellowships. 
 It is obvious, that under such a mixture of married and 
 un marriageable Fellows, in ever varying proportions, it 
 would be impossible long to maintain the principle, 
 that celibacy should be an ordinary condition of the 
 tenure of Fellowships. Yet upon the maintenance of 
 this principle, according to the admission of the Com- 
 missioners themselves, and the almost unanimous opin- 
 ion of all persons competent to judge, the whole Col- 
 legiate system, and the greater part of the Academical 
 uses of Fellowships, mainly depend.
 
 p
 
 •.^J 
 
 
 
 ^■ 
 
 ^f" \ 
 
 ^ ;%K^-