Cambridge PapersBall, W. W. Rouse (Walter William Rouse)
History
Cambridge Papers
Ball, W. W. Rouse (Walter William Rouse)
Trinity College (University of Cambridge); University of Cambridge -- History
In 1861 new statutes were given to the College: these contain no
mention of pensioners, but merely prescribe that no bachelor or
undergraduate shall be without a tutor. The present statutes of 1882
similarly direct that no member of the College in statu pupillari
shall be without a tutor.
Except by accident, we have no record before 1635 of the names of the
tutors of the various students, but it is probable that at first the
master regularly entered some undergraduates as his own pupils:
certainly Whitgift did so, and so too did some of his successors. It
seems most likely also that by 1560 it was already usual for the
master to assign a student to that fellow who was to act as his tutor,
though of course regard must always have been paid to the wishes of a
parent or guardian in this matter. This remained the ordinary custom
for perhaps two hundred years.
Some information on tutorial affairs in the sixteenth century may be
gathered from an account-book kept by Whitgift, covering parts of the
years 1570 to 1576, and containing statements of the charges he made
as tutor: the names of thirty-nine men are given. In the history of
Trinity College which I wrote for my pupils some years ago, I
published a few of these bills. I give here a few details illustrative
of the many matters with which a tutor was then concerned.
The payment made to him as tutor varied in different cases, but 6s.
8d. a quarter for a sizar, 10s. for a pensioner, and 13s. 4d. for a
fellow-commoner were usual sums. In a few cases there are records of
an admission-fee to the College or a fee for entering into commons:
the normal payment for this was 15s. for a pensioner, and 20s. for a
fellow-commoner--there is no mention of any such charge in the case of
a sizar. The cost of the silly ceremony by which the senior
undergraduates initiated a freshman, known as his salting, was charged
in the bills, and varied from 8d. for a sizar and 1s. 4d. for a
pensioner to 4s. for a fellow-commoner. The charge for matriculation
appears to have been 4d. for a sizar, 1s. for a pensioner, and 2s. for
a fellow-commoner.
Of course the cost of the purchase of books comes in most of the
accounts. Aristotle, Plato, Sophocles, and Demosthenes constantly
appear among Greek writers, Homer and Xenophon only once; Cicero,
Caesar, Sallust, and Lucian occur often among the Latin authors, Livy
only once. Euripides and Horace are noticeable by their absence. I
have not observed any mathematical books. Works by Seton and Erasmus
are frequently mentioned. Among English books we have a prayer-book
charged at 1s., a service-book at 1s. 8d., a bible at 9s., and a
testament at 2s. The charge for a bible in Latin was 7s. and for a new
testament in Greek 2s. A Greek grammar cost 1s., 1s. 2d., or 1s. 4d.;
a Hebrew grammar 1s. which seems cheap. Paper was charged 4d. by the
quire and 2s. 6d. by the half-ream: the cost of a bundle of pens and
an inkhorn was usually 4d. or 6d.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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