ablishments, formed originally for instructing those who
are intended for the clerical profession, classical and mathematical
pursuits are nearly the sole objects proposed to the student's ambition.

Much has been done at one of our universities during the last fifteen
years, to improve the system of study; and I am confident that there
is no one connected with that body, who will not do me the justice to
believe that, whatever suggestions I may venture to offer, are prompted
by the warmest feelings for the honour and the increasing prosperity of
its institutions. The ties which connect me with Cambridge are indeed of
no ordinary kind.

Taking it then for granted that our system of academical education ought
to be adapted to nearly the whole of the aristocracy of the country, I
am inclined to believe that whilst the modifications I should propose
would not be great innovations on the spirit of our institutions, they
would contribute materially to that important object.

It will be readily admitted, that a degree conferred by an university,
ought to be a pledge to the public that he who holds it possesses a
certain quantity of knowledge. The progress of society has rendered
knowledge far more various in its kinds than it used to be; and to meet
this variety in the tastes and inclinations of those who come to us for
instruction, we have, besides the regular lectures to which all must
attend, other sources of information from whence the students may
acquire sound and varied knowledge in the numerous lectures on
chemistry, geology, botany, history, &c. It is at present a matter of
option with the student, which, and how many of these courses he shall
attend, and such it should still remain. All that it would be necessary
to add would be, that previously to taking his degree, each person
should be examined by those Professors, whose lectures he had attended.
The pupils should then be arranged in two classes, according to their
merits, and the names included in these classes should be printed. I
would then propose that no young man, except his name was found amongst
the "List of Honours," should be allowed to take his degree, unless he
had been placed in the first class of some one at least of the courses
given by the professors. But it should still be imperative upon the
student to possess such mathematical knowledge as we usually require. If
he had attained the first rank in several of these examinations, it
is obvious th