For the moment, however, here, as in all uni versities which took a leading part in the Reformation, the immediate effect of that move ment was disastrous. It was not until the reign of Elizabeth that Cambridge began to recover from the shock. Then it became the stronghold of advanced Puritanism, as it had earlier been of advanced Protestantism, particularly under the influence of Cartwright, who was finally deprived of his official position in the university on this account. Largely owing to the disturbances arising from this, new statutes were enacted in 1570, which lasted till the middle of the Nine teenth Century. By these the government of the university was practically vested in the heads of the eolleges. who alone elected the vice chancellor and the Caput, or supervising board. This turned Cambridge into a close corporation, a misfortune not bettered by the fact that with it went a tendency to turn the university into a school of divinity. The reign of James I. is memorable as the period when the university was granted the privilege of returning two members to Parliament. which it still enjoys. The later Seventeenth Century saw the rise of the school of Cambridge Platonists, and, chiefly by the influence of Isaac Newton and Isaac Bar row, the beginnings of that tendency toward the cultivation of mathematics and the natural sciences, which is still one of the chief dis tinctions between Cambridge and (txford. Dur ing the Eighteenth Century, until the rise of the Evangelical School, the same mediocrity and .apathy in religious matters prevailed here as elsewhere, but scholarship was improved by the evolution of the tripos into something like its present position. The Nineteenth Century saw sweeping changes, the reorganization of colleges and university, greater freedom in academie matters, the abolition of religious tests, and a more liberal idea of the importance of certain studies as well as of the relations between cer tain lines of work. Between 18-10 and 1850 sev eral colleges secured new charters from the Crown, and in the latter year a commission began a revision of the statutes, which led to the re placing of the Elizabethan statutes by those of the new commission in 185S. These were in turn altered in ISO!, and 1871-72, and in the latter year another commission was appointed, on the strength of whose report (1874), and of a memo rial issuNI by an influential body in the uni versity, the rnive•sities of Oxford and Cam bridge Act was passed in 1877, and approved by the Croon in 1882. This effected a reorganiza tion of the entire university system. Meanwhile, various internal changes had been taking place. To the older triposes of classics and mathematics, were added the law triros in iS5S, divided into law and history in 18.2, the Semitic language tripos in NTS, the Indian language tripos in 1870. the medi:eval and modern language tripos in 1SSG.
The university at present is a self-governing eon...ration, administered by a senate, consisting of all doctors and masters, of whom only those in Cambridge have electoral rights. The Council of the Senate, consisting of the chancellor, the vice-chancellor, four heads of colleges, four uni versity professors, and eight associates from the senate, prepares agenda for the senate, chooses the vice-chancellor, and in general carries on the ordinary administration of the university. The funds are managed by a financial board, the cur riculum is arranged by a general board of stud ies, separate departments being in the hands of subcommittees, or special boards. The chan cellor is an honorary official, as at Oxford. usu ally some dignitary of the realm, as are also the steward and the deputy steward. The vice chancellor is the real head of the university, and is assisted by deputies and by two proctors, who, besides their duties in the senate, have charge of university discipline. There are, moreover, two esquire bedells, the public orator, a com missary, an assessor, and the registrar, who has charge of records. There are at present seven teen colleges besides the two foundations for women, several special semi-collegiate institu tions not a part of the university, and a body of non-collegiate students. The university
proper, as distinguished from the colleges, is possessed of several important institutions. The Fitzwilliam Museum, founded by Viscount Fitz william in 1816', is one of the largest and finest institutions of its kind in England. The uni versity library contains sonic 200,000 volumes, and a considerable collection of MSS. There are also fine geological and anatomical museums, an excellent observatory, and the university prac deafly controls the extensive printing and pub lishing establishment of the Pitt Press, as well as Addenbrooke Hospital. Examinations are held and degrees are conferred in the Senate House, which contains also the public offices of the university, and is the meeting-place of the senate.
The existence of the colleges in connection with the university forms a peculiar, and. save for I txford, a unique educational organization, not easy for an outsider to understand. Briefly, it may be said that the college and the university are separate corporations, in large measure in dependent of each other, but connected very close. ly by the fact that they form interacting parts of an educational system, and that they are composed of, and managed by, the same indi viduals. The is essentially an exam ining and degree-conferring body, which examines the candidate at entrance, during his residence, and at the conclusion of his work, and confers degrees on those men who meet its requirements. It regulates the system of education, with re spect not only to subjects, but also to quality, and quantity of preparation, it general dis cipline, and it offers eertain educational advan tages in its lectures, its libraries, its collections, and similar provisions. The college, on the other hand, receives the entering student, pro vides him with lodgings and meals, service, and the like, prepares him. by its tutors. for the university examinations, affords him society and recreation, and exercises somewhat more than patennil oversight of his, actions. The adminis tration of the colleges is in the bands of a mas ter and fellows, from among whom are chosen the college officials, dean, bursar, and the like, as hell as the teaching or tutorial force of the college. These men, as masters of arts of the university, form a great part of the senate, and so virtually govern it as well as the colleges.
Undergraduate life at Cambridge differs some what from that at. Oxford, and very greatly from that in the ',lilted States. Formerly, all men belonged to colleges, and though since 1869 it has been possible for men to belong to the i ver,ity without being members of a college. the class of non-collegiate students thus created has never been very large, most undergraduates being emmected with a college. Oxford, certain older distinctions among these are still main tained at Cambridge. Four classes of students are recognized : fellow-commoners, youths of rank or fortune, with special privileges: scholars. chosen by examination, and generally receiving some financial aid, as well as certain privileges: pensioners, or ordinary undergraduates: and sizars. poor students, partly or wholly supported by the college. The great majority of men live ill college, though many of those belonging to colleges, and all the non-collegiate students. live in lodgings in the town. There are three terms in the university year, the Michaelmas. or Octo ber term: the Lent, or winter term; and the Easter, or spring term. These nominally include 227 days. but actually average each about eight weeks of required residence, leaving long vaca tions, during which much of the actual work. or 'reading' as it is called, is done. The students are under the direct charge of the tutors, who maintain persona] relations with each man under their charge and supervise his work, directing him in a vvav not known to the educational sys tem in the States with its large classes and entire or partial absence of personal rela tion between student and instructor.