Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/806

730 En this fine room the university examinations are held and degrees are bestowed. The scenes witnessed here when the mathematical honour list is issued, and on the degree day following, are a very interesting episode of university life. The senior wrangler of the year receives a mighty ovation. Very near the Senate-house is the University Library ; the Georges were great benefactors to both. It is one of the few libraries entitled to copies of all new books. The number of books and MSS. is about half a million. The most remarkable MS. is that known to scholars as D, the Codex Bezoe, the uncial MS. or vellum of the four Gospels and the Acts, presented by Theodore Beza. The front of the library is an Italian balustraded arcade ; the basement story of the quadrangle is called &quot; the Schools,&quot; a much more limited expression than the same Oxford term. In the &quot;school&quot; were once carried on the lectures and disputations from which &quot; wranglers &quot; and &quot; sophs&quot; derived their names. One part of the schools is devoted to the Woodwardian or Geological Museum, enriched by the collec tions of the late Professor Sedgwick. He taught geology to undergraduates in visiting the neighbourhood with them. Close to this is the Mineralogical Museum, enriched with diamonds presented by the late Lord Alford. The fine new buildings of the Union Society are noticeable. Various Cambridge churches are very interesting. The Round Church or Sepulchre Church is one of four similar churches in England (the Temple Church being one), modelled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. It was restored in 1841 by the Camden Society. Great St Mary s, like St Mary s, Oxford, is the church of the university. St Benedict (or Benet) Church is very interesting. Its restoration in 1869 fully displayed the magnificent Roman esque arch of great antiquity, and traces of Early English and Pre-Norman remains. St Mary s the Less, next to Peterhouse, is a very ancient church. The old church of All Saints, opposite St John s, has been removed, and is rebuilt in Jesus Lane. There are a large number of modern churches. There is a wide market-place and several open spaces, such as Christ s Piece and Parker s Piece. The railway station, where different companies find a common home, is spacious and handsome. The so-called school of Pythagoras (the origin of the term is obscure) was doubtless the abode of a Thegn or Saxon gentleman. The mound of the Castle, a natural hill scarped and cut down, must have been of great importance in overlooking the fen country. It was probably within the lines of the Roman station, and a castle was built here by the Conqueror ; many houses, according to Domesday Book, being removed to make way for it. Edward I. lodged here, but the castle was soon in ruins. The massive gateway was removed to make way for the county courts. The county gaol, at the rear of the county court, was arranged according to plans of John Howard the philanthropist.

Each college in Cambridge ha,s its separate interest,- - something remarkable in chapel, hall, or library, in garden or gallery. We shall rapidly indicate some distinctive features Trinity in each. The largest of the colleges is Trinity, the largest College. collegiate foundation in Europe. It is on both sides the street, for a new court, the Master s Court, was built at the expense of Dr Whewell, and his cipher, W.W., is on the capacious tower. The King s Gateway is the entrance to this famous college. The great canopied statue is that of Henry VIII., in whose time this vast portal was built by the scholars of Trinity. We pass into the great court with its velvet sward and the lofty stone conduit, known as Nevill s Fountain. On one side is the Master s Lodge, with a fine collection of portraits, and a set of state rooms. On the same side is the lofty Gothic hall, with a high-peaked Flemish roof. In term time when the great hall, with its painted glass and armorial bearings, is crowded with students, the sight is remarkable enough. On entering the chapel the ante-chapel should be carefully noted, with the statue of Newton in a sitting posture, the statue of Barrow, a statue of Macaulay, and soon there will be one of Whewell. A second great gateway, with the niched statue of Edward III., leads into the second court. On the south is a third gateway with four towers on the angles, called, from a statue of Queen Elizabeth in her robes, the Queen s Gateway. The library was begun by Barrow and designed by Wren. It is the most classic building in the university in Wren s favourite style of the old Italian. It overlooks the river, and below the library is a colonnade opening on the bridge and the Lime Walk. In the value of its contents this library ranks next to the university library ; it pos sesses the mathematical MSS. of Newton and the poetical MSS. of Milton. It numbers nearly 100,000 volumes. The woodwork is by Gibbons ; the series of marble busts by Roubillac. Recent additions have been made of the busts of Professor Sedgwick, Mr Tennyson, and Mr Ellis. At the end of the room is Thorwaldsen s statue of Lord Byron, which was refused admission into Westminster Abbey.

The next largest college is St John s, which is famous St Julm for its series of splendid improvements. The college consists of four courts ; the plain brick edifices are carried to the brink of the river, but on the other side of the river is the magnificent New Court designed by Rickman, the finest modern structure of all the Cambridge quadrangles. The massive antique gateway of the first court has the armorial bearings of the foundress of this college and Christ s College, the Lady Margaret, countess of Richmond and mother of Henry VII. The chapel and hall are in the front court. The second court is still larger, and is one of the very few untouched by modern restoration. The third court has a cloister on the west ; and the antique library, unaltered for generations, takes up the whole upper part of the north side. The Master s Lodge, finished in 1865 by Sir G. G. Scott, extends westward. A light Gothic bridge over the Cam conducts into the New Court, a stately quadrangle, with a vaulted cloister along the south side. The magnificent chapel, erected mainly by the society, and enriched with many gifts, at great expense, was opened in 1869. It was erected by Sir G. G. Scott, and has some resemblance to the Sainte Chapelle at Paris. The roof and painted glass are especially remarkable. Chantrey s monument to Henry Kirke- White, erected at the expense of an American gentleman, is to be transferred to this chapel.

St Peter s College, or Peterhouse, is the oldest of the St ?et&amp;lt; colleges. It was founded in 1257 by Hugh de Balsham, who was one of the first to separate between the monkish and scholastic element in education. The university long gave special honour and celebration to De Balsham. St Peter s is remarkable for eminent men, and for lay fellow ships at a time when they were hardly known elsewhere. The gardens are good, and there is a small deer park.

King s College owns that magnificent chapel which widely dominates over all the buildings in the town and university. The college was originally commenced and endowed by Henry VI., in connection with Eton. Henry VII. deserves the title of a second founder. The chapel is one vast long- drawn nave. It is the latest and most sumptuous example of the Perpendicular order of Gothic architecture. The fretted roof, unsustained by a single pillar, is vaulted into twelve divisions. The centre of each is a pendant keystone, terminating alternately in roses and portcullises, each key stone weighing more than a ton. Over the stone roof is the timber roof. An organ separates between chapel and ante-chapel. The painted glass is the most remarkable that has been bequeathed to us by the age of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., and belongs to a time when the art of 