Private Tuition caused by Defects of College Tuition.

That some addition to College Tuition is needed, is evident from the fact that a class of Teachers has sprung up in recent times, avowedly with the purpose of supplying its defects. We mean the Private Tutors.

Private Tutors.

"Private Tutors" are not recognised by name in the Statutes either of the University or of the Colleges; yet, in some respects, they seem more nearly to correspond to the original "Tutores," and in other respects more nearly occupy the position to which Bachelors and Masters of Arts are entitled by the formula used in conferring Degrees, than any other persons in the place. They are selected by the Students. They often become their advisers and friends. The care, or at least the time, bestowed upon each Student by the Private Tutor is greater than that which is ordinarily bestowed by the College Tutor. The amount paid for Private Tuition by many individuals far exceeds that which is paid for College Tuition. In some departments of knowledge the Students derive their chief instruction from this

source.

The number of Undergraduates reading with such Tutors is very large. Of late years many candidates for an ordinary Degree, and most candidates for high Honours, have had recourse to assistance from Private Tutors.

The Dean of Ely† calculates that the sum annually spent for Private Tuition at Cambridge amounts to 50,000l. At Oxford the practice of resorting to Private Tutors is less general, and continues, for the most part, only through the latter portion of the Undergraduate career. Still the annual sums thus expended must be very large,-large enough to endow many Professorships.

* Evidence of Mr. Morgan, p. 196; Mr. Rawlinson, p. 216. Compare that of Mr. B. Price, p. 62; Mr. W. H. Cox, p. 98.

+ Obs. on Camb. Stat., p. 153.

On this subject many distinguished Private Tutors have supplied us with Evidence. Perhaps that of Mr. Lowe will suffice for a statement both of the good and evil of such Tuition:

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"Of the system of Private Tuition the advantages are "manifest. The power of selection has great efficacy in attaching the Pupil to the Tutor; and I can speak from "experience that the tendency is strong to overrate the "abilities and industry of a Private Tutor,-a leaning "which I have never observed in the case of Public Tuition. "The unfettered intercourse, the power of stating a diffi

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culty without incurring ridicule, the greater equality of "age and position,-all tend to give the system efficiency; "and whether desirable or no, I am convinced that it will "be the working system of the University. The Dean of "Christchurch issued an order that no man of his College "should read with a Tutor of another College. I do not "think the order an unreasonable one, and I doubt not that "Christchurch contained plenty of competent persons; but "I know that all the time one half of my Pupils came from "Christchurch. The system of Private Tuition is a neces"sary and unavoidable concomitant to any Examination. "No sooner were Examinations established for the masters "and mates of merchant ships, than there arose a class of 66 men whose business was to cram the candidates.

"The system of Private Tuition has, however, many de"fects. The persons into whose hands it principally falls "are young men of unformed character, knowing little of "the world, or probably of anything except the course of

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study by which they have gained distinction. They have, "nevertheless, very great influence over their Pupils, and

* Evidence, p. 12. Compare that of Prof. Browne, p. 6; Mr. Mansel, p. 21; Mr. Jowett, p. 37; Mr. Melville, p. 56; Mr. B. Price, p. 62; Mr. W. H. Cox, p. 98; Prof. Donkin, p. 108; Mr. Scott, p. 114; Mr. Congreve, p. 154; Dr. Twiss, p. 157; Sir E. Head, p. 161; Mr. Lake, p. 168; Mr. Litton, p. 178; Mr. B. Price, p. 195; Mr. Henney, p. 210; Mr. A. H. Clough, p. 215; Mr. Foulkes, p. 226.

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"are, from their youth, their sincerity, and their earnest"ness, the most dangerous missionaries of whatever opinions they take up. They are the persons who are really forming the minds of the Undergraduates before they have "formed their own. The University knows nothing of them, "except their names in the Class List; in their Colleges they have no status, and it is quite optional with them "whether they enter into the society there or no. Every'thing is entrusted to them, and no caution whatever is "taken for the execution of the trust. As regards the "Private Tutors themselves, I cannot but think it bad for "them that the moment they have taken their Degree they "should be considered as at once elevated to the highest "intellectual eminence, and spend their whole time in "teaching that which they have but just and barely learnt. "The tendency to narrow the mind and generate habits of "self-conceit is obvious. It also stands seriously in the

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way of their acquiring much useful knowledge; though I "think this in some degree compensated by the ardent de"sire to learn, which the habit of teaching is almost sure to "produce. Young men are often at this time pressed by College debts, or otherwise in narrow circumstances, and "the temptation is irresistible to labour to any extent so as "to avoid these embarrassments. I have myself taken ten "successive Pupils in ten successive hours, Term after "Term,—a task neither fitting for the Tutor nor just to the "Pupil."

The subject is treated at considerable length in Mr. Rawlinson's Evidence,* in which detailed remedies are suggested for such evils as are confessedly inherent in this mode of Instruction. The general result at which most of the writers we have quoted arrive is, that as the system of Private Tuition has been created by a real want, so it cannot be set aside except by the improvement of the College Tuition, by the organisation of an order of authorised University In

* Evidence, p. 216.

structors, and by taking measures to secure the appointment of the most eminent men as Examiners. Even now the demand for Private Tuition in a College varies with the goodness of the Instruction given by the Tutors. And if the multiplicity of labours now required from College Tutors is diminished, they will be able to do much that is at present expected from Private Tutors; while the ablest young men, who now support themselves by Private Tuition, will find more congenial employment in University Lectureships. Lastly, the appointment of Examiners, really eminent in their respective departments, will drive what is called "cramming" out of the field. In these ways the chief evils. complained of will be abated.

Legal Statement by Mr. Dampier.*

A statement of the law which might be applicable to several questions relating to College Statutes having been thought desirable, for it would thence appear whether the observations in the Report were founded on correct views of law, while they would be more easily read if they were kept apart from legal topics and authorities, Mr. Dampier has, by request, written the following observations:

The Founders of our earlier Colleges, where the foundations may be traced, appear to have received the consent of the Sovereign and the Pope; whereupon incorporation followed. Afterwards formal words of incorporation, giving the capacity of taking and holding, of suing and being sued, etc., were used. But in every case Colleges, by presumption of law, derive their corporate existence from the Sovereign. From the Sovereign also they receive the power of taking and holding land in mortmain, a tenure generally adverse to the interest of the Commonwealth, but which, in this case and within limits, is permitted on account of expected compensating advantages.

The Founder of a College might appoint its Visitor, whose office, speaking generally, consists in the interpretation of the College Statutes, when required, and in visiting the College and inquiring into and insisting on its due adherence to those Statutes. This visitation may be made either at stated intervals, or when, by an usual provision of College Statutes, a defined part of the Society call for it. The Diocesan was frequently appointed Visitor, because he could add ecclesiastical to visitatorial authority.

If the Founder omitted to appoint a Visitor, the right of visitation descended to his heirs. If eventually no heir was *See Report, pp. 148, 152, 161, and p. 1 after the Report.

+ Stat. 18 Edw. III. c. 3; 7 & 8 Wm. 1II. c. 37; 9 Geo. II. c. 36, § 4.