Examinations were formerly held half-yearly, in the presence of the Governor-General. The Professors read their report on the number of terms kept by each student, and their individual proficiency; the students of each class being severally numbered 1, 2, 3, etc., according to the report. The Governor-General then addressed the students, particularly noticing those who had distinguished themselves in the various classes; after which the medals and prizes were distributed. Among the eminent men who passed at these examinations were the late Lord Metcalfe, Sir Richard Jenkins, G.C.B., Director of the East India Company, and W.B. Bayley, Esq., also a Director. At that time all the Writers for the Bengal, Madras, and Bombay Presidencies passed at this College; but this system was afterwards given up, and only the Bengal Writers enter the Calcutta College.[111] On the establishment of the Haileybury College, in England, about the year 1805, for the education of Writers, the Calcutta College became nothing more than a school for the study of the Oriental languages, for the Bengal Writers, on their arrival in Calcutta. The Marquis Wellesley had proposed to the Court of Directors that there should be a Provost; in fact, that it should be placed on the footing of a college in England, with Professors for all languages. The Court of Directors and the Board of Control appear to have thought, and with good judgment, as to general education, that a college in England would be preferable. As far as the Oriental languages are concerned, the young student may learn the rudiments in England; and, in a few cases, bright examples have occurred in the persons of some Writers, who, in a very few months after their arrival, have passed in three languages. These exceptions are the cases of young men of considerable talent. It is said by the natives, that it requires seven years, to master the Arabic language, and twelve to acquire a perfect knowledge of the Sanscrit. Admitting that a profound acquaintance with the Sanscrit, or Arabic, may not be requisite, though the latter is so intimately connected with the Persian, and the former with the Hindoo languages of Hindee and Bengalee, still, great advantages result in those cases where students desire to possess a perfect knowledge of the minor languages.