Robert Forsyth Scott

“ At the present time the College property is managed like any other landed estate, and after the necessary expenses of management and maintenance have been met, and certain fixed sums paid to the scholars and exhibitioners, and to the University, the remainder is by the statutes divided up into shares called dividends, each Fellow getting one dividend, the Master and the members of the College Council receiving certain additions calculated in dividends; there is a general restriction that the dividend shall not exceed £250 a year. ”

“ Sir Gilbert Scott's idea was that the new Chapel should be of the same period of architecture as the old, but it is absolutely different in design; in the lover of things old there must always be a feeling of regret for what has gone. The mural tablets in the old Chapel were removed to the new Ante-Chapel, the slabs in the floor were left. It is worth noting that Eleazar Knox, a Fellow of the College, and one of the sons of John Knox, the famous Scotch Reformer, was buried in the Chapel in 1591. ”

“ Thus a wider field is open to the College to draw on, not only in the British Islands, but in all its colonies and dependencies. On the other hand, it is no less true that her sons are to be found more widely scattered. A hundred and fifty years ago one could say of a selected group of men that the majority would become clergymen or schoolmasters, a few would become barristers, others would return to their country estates, one or two might enter the army ”

“ Fisher went to the Tower, and on 22nd June 1535, to the scaffold; Metcalfe was compelled to resign in 1537.
Fisher had by deed of gift presented his library to the College, but retained its use for his lifetime—the greatest loan of books on record, as has been said. This magnificent collection was now lost, a loss more lamentable than that of the foundress' estates. Endowments might be replaced, but "the notablest library of bookes in all England" was gone for ever. It is to the credit of the Fellows of the College that, no doubt at some risk to themselves, they stood by Fisher. ”

“ The Hospital had the opportunity of becoming the earliest College in Cambridge. Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, obtained in 1280 a licence from King Edward I. to introduce a certain number of scholars of the University into the Hospital, to be governed according to the rules of the scholars of Merton. The regular canons and the scholars were to form one body and one College. The Bishop gave additional endowments to provide for the scholars, but the scheme was a failure. Thomas Baker, the historian of the College, suggests that "the scholars were overwise and the brethren over good." ”

“ As time went on the amount of the corn-money was more than sufficient to pay for the commons, and a further modest allowance out of the surplus was made to all who participated in the College revenues, whether as Master, Fellow, scholar, or sizar, under the name of præter.
In process of time another source of revenue arose. Leases of College estates were usually granted for a term of forty years, and there was a general custom that the tenant might surrender his lease at the end of fourteen years and receive a new one for forty years. ”

“ Traditions linger in parishes round Cambridge that the University "gentlemen" used certain fields or commons for the purpose of riding races; the Cottenham steeplechases are presumably a survival of this practice. Shooting and coursing, with a little hunting, came into vogue at the end of the eighteenth century.
The rise and organisation of athletic sports as an essential element of College life would require a bulky history in itself. The first to take definite form was rowing. The historic boat club of the college is the Lady Margaret Boat Club ”

“ It must be remembered that each member of the corporate body, Master, Fellow, or Scholar, on admission, each officer on his appointment, bound himself by oaths of great solemnity to observe these statutes and to seek no dispensation from their provisions. To a more logical race the difficulties must have proved intolerable—the practical Englishman found his own solution. ”

“ The emoluments of members of the Society in early times were very modest, and as prices rose became quite inadequate; the amounts being named in the College statutes were incapable of alteration, and indirect means were taken to provide relief. In Bishop Fisher's time it was considered that an endowment of £6 a year sufficed to found a fellowship, and £3 a year to found a scholarship. The statutable stipend of the Master was only £12 a year, though he had some other allowances, the total amount of which was equally trivial. ”

“ The original, and perhaps the chief, purpose of the College in the eyes of those who founded it was practically that it should form a training ground for the clergy. The statutes of King Henry VIII. distinctly lay down that theology is the goal to which philosophy and all other studies lead, and that none were to be elected Fellows who did not propose to study theology. The statutes of Elizabeth provided a certain elasticity by prescribing that those Fellows who did not enter priests' orders within six years should vacate their fellowships ”

“ At some Colleges the device of "pre-elections" seems to have been resorted to; a promising man being elected to the next fellowship which should be vacant. Thus, when the vacancy became known, the College could, with a clear conscience, say that it had been already filled up; there is, however, no trace of this practice at St. John's.
On Gwyn's death in 1633 there was a disputed election to the mastership, which [Pg 56] Charles I. settled by nominating William Beale. Beale was originally a Trinity man, but had been for about a year Master of Jesus. ”

“ The two Commonwealth Masters, John Arrowsmith (1644-1653) and Anthony Tuckney (1653-1661) , were able men of Puritan austerity, the rule of the latter being the more strict; judging from the after careers of its members, the College was certainly capably directed. A well-authenticated College tradition relates that when, at an election, the President called upon the Master to have regard to the "godly," Tuckney replied that no one showed greater regard for the truly godly than himself, but that he was determined to choose none but scholars ”

“ These privileges were not always popular, and we occasionally find the clerical Fellows [Pg 89] complaining that while the duties of teaching and catechising were laid on them, a man who had held one of the law or medical fellowships sometimes took orders late in life and then claimed presentation to a College benefice in virtue of his seniority as a Fellow, having in the meantime escaped the drudgery to which the Fellow in orders had been subject. ”

“ One form of benefaction frequently bestowed by past members was the gift of an advowson; one or two benefactors left estates, the revenues from which were to accumulate, and with the sums so raised advowsons were to be purchased. Presentation to livings went by seniority of standing, and this practice, with the restriction on marriage, gave rise to the belief, still prevalent in many parishes where the College is patron, that the College on a vacancy always chooses for the next incumbent "the oldest bachelor." ”

“ On the north we have the Library, the cost of which was chiefly provided by John Williams, a Fellow of the College, successively Dean of Westminster, Bishop of Lincoln, and Archbishop of York; he was also Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to James I. As originally built the Library occupied the upper floor only, the ground-floor being fitted up as rooms for the accommodation of the Fellows and scholars, on a special foundation of Bishop Williams, but this lower part is now all absorbed into the Library. ”

“ Fortunately affairs were in strong and capable hands. With the authority and in the name of Queen Elizabeth, Whitgift, at this time Master of Trinity, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and Cecil provided new statutes for the University in 1570, and for St. John's in 1580. By these much more power was put in the hands of the Master, and government rendered easier to a resolute man.
Matters improved, if not at once, at least gradually, and the Anglican rule became firmly established. But during the mastership of William Whitaker (1586-1595) we still hear of troubles with "Papists." ”

“ Owen Gwyn and the seniors of his day passed a rule that "the register of the College should have a book provided him wherein he should from time to time write and register the names, parents, county, school, age, and tutor of every one to be admitted to the College." ”

“ In Bishop Fisher's statutes archery was encouraged as a pastime, and we know from Ascham's writings that he indulged [Pg 101] in it. In the sixteenth century the College built a tennis-court for the use of its members. John Hall, who entered the College in 1646, recommended "shittlecock" as fit for students—"it requires a nimble arme with quick and waking eye." We hear of horse matches and cock-fighting, but in terms of disapproval. Football is mentioned in 1574, when the Vice-Chancellor directed that scholars should only play upon their own College ground. ”

“ The effect of the foundation was to attract a number of medical students to the College, many of whom seem to have obtained fellowships, for we find the Fellows petitioning Queen Elizabeth, while her code of statutes was under consideration, that Divines should be preferred to Physicians in the election of Senior Fellows; otherwise, they submitted, an undue proportion of Physicians would get on the seniority and rule the College. Further, they asked that the medical Fellows, as some return for their privileges, should attend on poor students free of charge. ”

“ When the new Chapel was built the Hall was lengthened, and the second oriel window added. The oak panelling is of the old "linen" pattern, and dates from the sixteenth century; that lining the north wall, beyond the High Table, is very elaborately carved, being the finest example of such work in Cambridge. Within living memory all this oak work was painted green. The fine timbered roof has a lantern turret, beneath which, until 1865, stood an open charcoal brazier. ”

“ The actual life within the College walls is not so easy to describe with any certainty. At first, as we have seen, the undergraduates actually lived with Fellows of the College, and overcrowding must have been a constant feature of College life. On 15th December 1565 a return was made to Lord Burghley of all students, "whether tutors or pupils," [Pg 94] residing in the College, with notes as to whether they had come into Chapel in their surplices or not. ”

“ Of the individuals who make up the stream of youthful life which has ebbed and flowed through the College gate there is but little official record. An Admonition Book exists, in which more than a century ago those who were punished for graver offences against discipline signed the record of their sentence and promised amendment. ”

“ Now that they are superseded, the chief feeling is one of surprise that a system of laws, intended to be unchangeable, should have endured so long in presence of the changing character of the wants and habits of mankind. ”

“ The College statutes were twice revised during his mastership; the first code becoming law in 1860, the second was prepared during his lifetime, though it did not become law till a year after his death. These statutes are much less interesting reading than the early statutes, though undoubtedly more useful. While aiming at precision in the matter of rights and duties, they leave great freedom in matters of study, discipline, and administration. All local restrictions on scholarships and fellowships have been abolished. ”

“ At the present time there is no difference in status among members of the College; the foundation scholars, however, having special seats in Chapel and a separate table in Hall if they choose to make use of it.
Until 1882 the condition of celibacy attached to all fellowships in the College; Queen Elizabeth held strong views on the matter, even discouraging the marriage of Masters. The necessity of taking orders was somewhat relaxed in 1860. The system had its advantages—it tended to produce promotion; for the natural inclination of mankind to marry, vacated fellowships ”

“ A [Pg 78] charge was made to the undergraduates for tuition, and the sum so received was shared by the Tutors and their assistants. But the Tutor was not a College officer in the eye of the statutes, nor the money received for tuition treated as part of the College revenues. The system worked, because it was meant to work, and as it was not subject to obsolete rules could be modified and adapted to changing conditions. So long as the chief subjects of study were few in number, practically restricted to classics and mathematics, College provision for teaching was possible and simple. ”

“ The fall in the value of land at present automatically provides that this limit is not exceeded; if the revenues become more than sufficient for the purpose, additional fellowships and scholarships must be established.
The reader will gather that the chief [Pg 93] endowment of the College arises from land. The College estates lie scattered over most of the eastern side of England, from Yorkshire to Kent. There is no large block of property anywhere. The estates in past times, when means of communication were poor, must have been difficult to visit. ”