Besides these, there are three other exhibitions estimated at the rate of £60 per annum, but of shorter duration, depending upon circumstances: these are assigned at either of the annual College examinations.

In addition to the scholarships and exhibitions, there are prizes of books awarded to the most distinguished students in Divinity, Classics, Mathematics and general Physics, after the college examinations.

Four prizes are annually given by the College for the best Latin, and the best English Declamation, the best Latin Theme, and the best reader of the Lessons in Chapel. A purse of £10 is yearly given to the best proficient in Mathematics at the time of his admission to the degree of B.A., provided that his name appears in the first Tripos.

The Ecclesiastical patronage of the College consists of the right of presentation to seven Church-livings.

The gross annual revenue of the College, on an average, was reported to the Commission in 1851 as £5392. 16s. 10d.

DOWNING COLLEGE.

FOUNDED 1800, A.D.

THE founder of this College was Sir George Downing, Bart., of Gamlingay Park, in the county of Cambridge, who by his will dated 20th December, 1717, devised his estates in the counties of Cambridge, Bedford and Suffolk, first to Sir Jacob Gerrard Downing, and afterwards to other relations in succession, and in failure thereof, to build and found a College in the University of Cambridge, upon a plan to be approved by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the masters of St John's College and Clare Hall.

Sir George Downing died in 1749, and Sir Jacob in 1764; and, as the other devisees died without issue before the death of Sir Jacob, the foundation ought to have been carried into execution in 1764. The estates remained in the possession of Lady Downing, and afterwards of her devisees without any real title, and when the University sued in Chancery for the esta blishment of the College, the suit was resisted by the persons then in possession; but in 1769 a decree was obtained in favour of the foundation.

The execution of the trusts devolved upon the heirs-at-law, who after a long series of opposition and litigation, and overcoming various obstacles, preferred a petition to the Crown for a Charter, and at length the Privy Council decided to recommend the foundation to his Majesty. On the 22nd September, 1800, the great seal was affixed to the Charter by Lord Loughborough. By this Charter the College is incorporated with all the privileges belonging to any College in the University, and endowed with the estates devised by the founder, with power to hold landed property, in addition, to the value of £1500 per annum. The Charter directs Statutes to be framed for the government of the College, which was done in the year 1805.

The Charter authorises the purchase of a piece of land called Doll's Close, upon which “there shall be erected and established one perpetual College for students in law, physic, and other useful arts and learning, which College shall be called by the name of Downing College, in the University of

Cambridge, and shall consist of one Master, two Professors (that is to say), a Professor of the Laws of England, and a Professor of Medicine, and sixteen Fellows, two of whom shall be in holy orders, and the rest shall be laymen; and of such a number of scholars as shall hereafter be agreed on and settled by the Statutes of the said College."

The Charter and Statutes direct that the master of the College shall be appointed by the two archbishops and the masters of St John's College and Clare Hall. They also prescribe that the yearly stipend of the master shall be £600, with a lodge for his residence rent free, and an allowance of 58. per diem for commons during residence.

The Charter directs that the two professors shall be elected by the two archbishops, the masters of St John's College and Clare Hall, with the master of the College. The Professor of the Laws of England at the time of his election must be a Master of Arts, or Bachelor or Doctor of the Civil Law of Oxford or Cambridge, of ten years' standing from his matriculation, and a barrister-at-law. The Professor of Medicine must be a Master of Arts licensed to practise physic for two years, or a Bachelor or Doctor of Medicine of Cambridge or Oxford, or a member of a Scotch University of seven years' standing, and twenty-five years of age, and who shall have attended the medical lectures in one of the Scotch Universities for four years. The professors are required to read a course of twenty-four lectures at the least in their respective faculties, on the usual terms on which public lectures are given in the University.

The professorships are tenable with a wife, and are not required to be vacated by the possession of property. It is decreed that the stipends of the professors shall be each of £200 per annum, with a lodge for residence, and an allowance of 38. 6d. per diem for commons during the period they may reside in College.

On the completion of the buildings of the College, the Charter and Statutes direct that there shall be sixteen fellows, of whom two shall be clerical, and fourteen lay fellows. All graduates of Cambridge or Oxford are eligible; the lay fellows must be under twenty-four years of age, and the clerical fellows

between the ages of twenty-three and thirty years at the time of election. The lay fellows must declare for law or medicine, and may hold their fellowships for twelve years; the clerical fellows vacate their fellowships by marriage, otherwise they are tenable for life. All fellowships, whether lay or clerical, shall be vacated by the possession of permanent annual income of any description, to the amount of four times the annual value of the stipend for the time being. The Charter and Statutes prescribe that the stipend of a fellow shall be £100 a year with rooms rent free, and an allowance of 2s. per diem for commons during residence.

The Statutes decree that there shall be six scholars. The persons eligible to scholarships shall be such persons admitted of some College or Hall in this University, or the University of Oxford, as have not commenced their actual residence in any College or Hall more than one year and a half before the day of election. Each candidate, before he is admitted to be examined, shall produce a certificate in writing to this effect, as well as a testimonial of his good moral character, from the master or tutor of his College, and shall make a declaration in writing that he is a member of the Church of England. No preference whatever shall be given to the candidates, but the election shall be decided between the candidates so qualified as aforesaid, entirely by the examination.

The scholarships are to be tenable, under certain restrictions, for four years. The scholar is to receive a yearly stipend of £50, with rooms rent free, and an allowance of 1s. 6d. per diem for commons during residence in College. The Statutes make the following rule for securing the election of the best qualified candidates to scholarships and fellowships :

"And whereas the wisest and most just provisions for securing the advantage of an impartial examination and election, may be defeated by a practice of solicitation of votes on the one hand, and engagement on the other; to prevent abuses of that kind from ever arising within this College, it is ordained as a fundamental law,-That any candidate for a fellowship or scholarship, who shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or through another person, ask or solicit the vote or favour of any

elector in any examination or election, shall be ipso facto ineligible to any fellowship or scholarship at that election; and any elector who shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or through another person, promise or engage his vote or favour at any examination or election for any fellowship or scholarship, shall ipso facto be disqualified for voting at such election."

The Charter declares and directs that pupils of the respective ranks of fellow-commoners, pensioners and sizars, shall be admitted into the College in the same manner as they are admitted into other Colleges in the University; and that they shall be instructed in law, physic, and such other useful learning as is generally taught in other Colleges, and that they shall be subject to the same academical discipline. The Statutes add that a certificate of the birth and baptism of every pupil, and a testimonial of his good character, from the place or places in which he has been educated, shall be produced at the time of his admission as a member of the College.

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The undergraduates at present are all fellow-commoners. The grounds of Downing College, about thirty acres, include St Thomas's Leys, in the parishes of St Benedict, St Botolph, and St Mary the Less, which were enclosed under an act of parliament passed in the forty-first year of King George III.

Since the year 1807, not less than £60,000 has been expended, under the sanction of the Court of Chancery, on the erection of the College buildings; the whole of this sum, with interest, was charged on the College estates, and was not entirely paid off till the year 1843.

In 1821 the College buildings, comprising nearly two sides of a large court, were completed, when, with the sanction of the Court of Chancery, the College was opened for the admission of students.

In 1800 the master, professors and three fellows only, were appointed to administer the affairs of the College; the six scholars and the remaining thirteen fellows are not to be appointed till the buildings of the College have been completed.

On the 9th Jan. 1852, the amount of the building fund was £14,686. 2s. 5d., three per cent. consols: £213. 17s. 4d. cash,

BB