THIS ESSAY OBTAINED THE LE BAS PRIZE IN THE

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE IN THE YEAR 1867.

A LARGE number of Members of the Civil Service of India who were students at the East India College at Haileybury, at various intervals during the thirty years that the Rev. C. W. LE BAS, M.A. formerly Fellow of Trinity College, was connected with that Institution, desirous of testifying their regard for Mr LE BAS, and of perpetuating the memory of his services, raised a Fund which they offered to the University of Cambridge for founding an annual Prize, to be called in honour of Mr LE BAS, The Le Bas Prize, for the best English Essay on a subject of General Literature, such subject to be occasionally chosen with reference to the history, institutions, and probable destinies and prospects of the Anglo-Indian Empire.

The Prize is subject to the following Regulations, confirmed by Grace of the Senate, Nov. 22, 1848.

1. That the LE BAS PRIZE shall consist of the annual interest of the above-mentioned Fund, the Essay being published at the expense of the successful Candidate.

2. That the Candidates for the Prize shall be, at the time when the subject is given out, Bachelors of

Arts under the standing of M.A.; or Students in Civil Law or Medicine of not less than four or more than seven years' standing, not being graduates in either faculty, but having kept the Exercises necessary for the degree of Bachelor of Law or Medicine.

The subject for the Essay proposed by the ViceChancellor for the year 1866 was

"Cambridge in the Seventeenth Century; the influence

of its studies upon the character and writings of the most distinguished graduates during that period."

INTRODUCTION

CONTENTS.

PAGES

I-4

CHAPTER I.

CAMBRIDGE PRIOR TO THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Traditional antiquity of Cambridge.-Early studies.-Lodging-

house system: its effects; extortion of the townsmen; esta-

blishment of Hostels.-Numbers of the Students.--Reli-

gious Orders existing in Cambridge; overbearing conduct of

the Monks; proselytism.-Tournaments." North" and

"South."—"Town" and "Gown."-Migration to North-

ampton.-Period of Foundations.-Cambridge Studies be-

fore the revival of learning; the Schoolmen; origin of the

revival.-Erasmus; his letters; his testimony; his Greek

lectures.-Jealousy excited by the study of Greek; Oxford

and Cambridge both claim the priority in the introduction of

the study; Ascham and his supporters; controversy respect-

ing the pronunciation of Greek.-Statutes of Elizabeth.—

Statutes of Edward VI.-Lectures.-Indications of a pro-

gressive spirit of enquiry.-Closer relations between the

University and the Crown.-The Puritans; their boldness

in the University

5-24

L

CHAPTER II.

CAMBRIDGE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

Two hundred and thirty-five years ago; College routine and

methods of instruction; age of admission.-Characteristics

of Undergraduate life; testimony of Sir Simonds D'Ewes;

evidence of Cosin and Sterne.-State of religious parties

throughout England from 1600 to 1625; Lord Keeper Wil-

liams; Synod of Dort; policy of James; the "Directions"
"to

the Clergy; Archbishop Laud; facts confirmatory of D'Ewes'

evidence.-Causes of demoralization; Court influence; dra-

matic performances; "Ignoramus;" "Return from Parnas-

sus;" general standard of dramatic literature; Heywood;

Shirley; Charles Lamb's estimate of the period; Milton's

criticism; D'Ewes' opinion.-Studies of the period; innova-

tions on the Statutes of Elizabeth; College arrangements;

slight attention paid to the study of Mathematics; Seth

Ward's account; Bacon's estimate; Logic; Milton's opinion.

-Ramus's Logic. - Theology. - Functions of the Tutor;

Francis Gardiner; Chappell; Ferrar's evidence; Whichcot;

Henry More.-Ethics.-Disputations at the schools; interest

they excited; Hacket's description.-Classical studies; D'Ewes'

account; Downes; Barrow; Thomas May; Versification;

Meric Casaubon; Milton; George Herbert; Dr Pope

CHAPTER III.

INFLUENCE OF CAMBRIDGE STUDIES AS DISCERNIBLE

IN THE CHARACTER AND WRITINGS OF DISTIN-

GUISHED GRADUATES DURING THE FIRST HALF

OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.-PART I.

INFLUENCE ON MANNER.

Mannerisms of the period; fondness for quotation; Jeremy Taylor;

his pulpit oratory; Hughes's criticism; South's criticism;

Latin structure of sentences; Sir Thomas Browne; rhetorical

form of writing; Cowley; purity of his prose; artificial cha-

racter of his verse; Eikon Basiliké; Earl of Essex's Apology;

disputatious mode of expression in the writers of this period;

Richard Mountague; his "Diatribe.".

PAGES

25-60

61-75