The other means whereby some selection may be made is by admission into colleges, preferments to degrees, advancement to livings. In regard to these the commonwealth may receive all the greater harm that they come nearer the public service, so that plain dealing is the more praiseworthy, in order to prevent mischief. As concerns colleges I do not consider that the scholarships in them are intended only for poor students, for whose needs that small help could never suffice, (though some advantage may be given to them in consideration of special promise which has no other chance of being recognised) but rather that they are simply preferments for learning and advancements for virtue, alike to the wealthy as a reward of well-doing, and to the poorer students as a necessary support. Therefore, as in admission I would give freedom to choose from both sorts, so I would restrict the choice to those who give genuine promise of usefulness. For if elections are swayed by favour, shown on grounds not of merit but of private friendship, though perhaps with some colour of regard for learning, those who are responsible for the injustice will repent when it is too late, finding themselves served in their own coin; for those who get in by such means, owing their own advancement to private influence, will act in the same way towards others, without regard to the common welfare. When favour is shown on any other ground than that of merit, founders are discouraged, public provision is misused, and learning gives place to idling. But if elections were made on grounds of fitness alone, the unfit would be diverted in time into some other channel, the best would be chosen, the intentions of founders would be fulfilled, some perjury for the non-performance of statutes would be avoided, new patrons would be procured, religion advanced, and good students encouraged. Preferment to Degrees.