A CHAPTER OF ENGLISH HISTORY.

[ PROPOSE to write a Chapter of English History from 1794 to the present time, illustrated from the Equation and Problem Papers of this College.

If it be true as is asserted by Philosophers, and as there seems no reason to doubt, that the effects of all our minutest actions are infinite both in time and space, that each movement we make, each word we utter, produces an ever-widening, ever-extending sphere of influence which comprehends within its expanding range the remotest star, the furthest recesses of unexplored space, that this influence once excited can never be annihilated, never absorbed, but must exist, for good or for evil to all time: surely we must expect that the great actions, the great events of the last sixty years have not failed to leave behind some foot-prints on the sands of time as they passed into the ocean of infinity, and where are we so likely to find these traces as in the immediate neighbourhood of the exciting cause. I propose to shew this in the case of the Equation and Problem Papers.

There was nothing in the early history of these papers to indicate their future greatness. Simple and rustic in their nature they speak to us of the manners of a time when Quadratic Equations and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were alike unknown. The first three specimens relate to a flock of sheep, a flock of geese and turkeys, whose driver to distinguish his own and to remember their number, resorts to the barbarous expedient of plucking feathers from their tails, and a comparison of income by two countrymen by means of the squares, products, and fourth powers of their daily wages.

In 1801, however, we are introduced to a new and brighter scene. Jovial and jocund were the days of old. Feasting and merriment still held their benign sway within

the walls of our ancient metropolis. Still as of yore did the Lord Mayor with his attendant Aldermen proceed on swan-hopping excursions up the silvery (?) Thames: still was turtle devoured and wine quaffed on these festive occasions: still did the loving cup circulate freely among the assembled guests. One of such scenes is presented to our view in the second Problem of this year. We see the City barge, the Maria Wood, proceeding on her way with her gallant array of ladies and gentlemen, her trained expert band of bargemen, her store of turtles and of wine. Every countenance is joyous, every heart light, (the river did not smell then) all gave themselves up to the festivities of the day-save one. Who is that in the corner absorbed in contemplation, seemingly immersed in abstruse calculations? Who is it but the great Senior Wrangler, fellow of St. John's, Chaplain most probably to the Lord Mayor or one of the Sheriffs. He notices indeed the drawing of each cork-it is but to register its number. He scrutinizes the turtles he is only counting them. He gazes at the bargemen-he is counting them. He looks round on the assembly-he is counting them. The result is before us. All doubtless who were present on that festive day have long passed away, but a faithful chronicler was there, and this problem still remains as an imperishable record to all future time of that swan-hopping excursion; and now that the Maria Wood is devoted to the hammer, and these excursions have been discontinued, generations yet to come will gaze with silent regret at the faithful picture here pourtrayed of days that are no more, and will sigh to think that of all the old customs discarded in this age of economy and reform, this at least should not have been spared, and many a Johnian freshman as he pores in the silence of the night over these mysterious problems, will pause awhile from his absorbing and exciting study to meditate over these scenes of yore, and perchance to drop a tear over the memories of days that have passed never

to return.

But the time of which we are now writing were troublous times. Nor was the time of that French Revolution which awoke Europe from her sleep of centuries, which raised up new dynasties and overthrew ancient monarchies, about which poets have sung, orators declaimed, historians written, and mathematicians invented problems. It is now but just beginning. England is not yet involved in the dreadful struggle. We hear as it were at first only the sullen

rumblings of the distant thunder, and catch a few faint flickerings of the far-off lightning, but ere long we are overtaken by the approaching storm, and battles and sieges, marches and countermarches, appear year after year in our Problem Papers. Thus in 1798 the militia is called out, in 1803 a company of merchants fit out a privateer, which in 1808 appears in chace of a trader. In 1804 and 1811 the evolutions of soldiers; in 1809 the cannon balls used in an engagement; in 1814 the scarcity and mortality in a besieged garrison; in 1815, the review of an army, form respectively the subjects of problems. But in 1816, 'grimvisaged war has smoothed his wrinkled front,' Peace descending from on high, and covering Europe with her fostering wings, calms the tempest with her benign influence, and starts a sailing packet from Dover to Calais; and from this time forth war disappears from the scene, till in 1831 another French Revolution calls for the pen of the chronicler, and till in 1841 and 1846 occur two faint allusions to the Indian war, and the expedition to the Sutlej, faint as befits their remoteness.

But turning from foreign politics to domestic concerns, our problems throw no less light on these than on the former. Questions of social improvement, of public festivities, of general distress, of domestic disturbance, of political tumult, all in turn engross the general attention and leave their indelible impress on this collection. Thus, to mention a few. In 1810 we are presented with a scene of public rejoicing on the occasion of a late jubilee; we hear, as it were, the loyal acclamations of a happy and contented people on the fiftieth anniversary of the accession of George III. And again in 1812 we are told that the preceding winter had been one of great distress. Nor does the political and moral improvement of the people fail to find its due place. In 1809, it is the enclosure of waste lands; in 1816, sanitary improvements and the institution of savings banks to which our attention is called. But with the return of peace, invention was stimulated, and useful arts received an impulse which entirely changed the face of the problems. The papers of this time bear remarkable testimony to this fact. The first step in this direction was the forming of canals, accordingly we find in 1818 a canal is started; but this was soon effaced by greater advances. In 1816 we saw a sailing packet going on its way from Dover to Calais: but in 1821 it is no longer a sailing packet but a steam boat. And the change in our means of internal communication is equally marked.

In 1811, 1820, 1822, 1829, and 1839 the rivalry and performances of stage coaches are brought under our notice, but in 1842 the Birmingham Railway is seen in full work and henceforth stage coaches are seen no more:-their place is occupied by railroads, as in 1848 and 1849. Other things of a similar nature occur about this time. In 1849, it is a telegraph; in 1826 and 1853, it is gas; in 1828, it is the erection of the Thames Tunnel; in 1831, a balloon ascent, which is brought under our notice. The spirit of speculation so rife some few years back is not forgotten. The griefs of the Spanish Bondholders are celebrated in 1823; and the rise and fall of Bubble Companies are duly chronicled in 1841 and 1846. The commercial panic of 1826 is not forgotten, nor are the Luddite riots of 1813, or those on the Reform Bill in 1831; the passing of the latter measure finds its record in 1832 and also in 1835, as does the Tithes Commutation Act in 1838.

Turn we now to our university and college, these are not neglected. In 1851 we find (if we take the trouble of solving the first Problem) that the sum of £16. is divided every week among our resident fellows. In 1821 the building of the observatory; and in 1827, of our new court afforded scope to the ingenuity of the examiners and a puzzle to the minds of the Freshmen, as did the election of a Chancellor of the University in 1847.

Nor is one of the most noble and elevating of our College pursuits passed over in silence. In 1827 the University Boat Club was first started, and our Mathematicians were not behind the age. All the more usual events of the boatraces are faithfully delineated for us. In 1830 it is the enthusiasm of a bump, in 1831 the interest accompanying a sculling-match, in 1837 the submersion of a ferry-boat by a sudden influx of eager passengers, and in 1856 the excitement of a time-race that are severally recorded. Cricket is only once mentioned in 1837.

And lastly, in more modern times, the last but not the least of our Sadlerian Lecturers has been the first to recognize the value of this collection as a medium of immortality. Only last year, we saw a problem which will perpetuate the memory of his shortness of breath and his elevated and skylike dwelling, will inspire with due veneration the minds of freshmen yet unborn, and impress more vividly on them the old proverb, "Most haste is worst speed."

To conclude. There are other topics of a kindred nature on which I might enlarge, but I forbear, and leave these as fertile fields for future investigators, assuring the patient and attentive student, that they will amply repay the labour and time spent in the pursuit, that they will afford as it were rich mines of precious metal, of which I have only broken the surface. In the meantime, if I have succeeded in shewing that in the most unlikely spots grow flowers unseen by the careless traveller, that even a mathematical problem may furnish a full storehouse to the historical student, providing him with unfailing indications of popular feeling and of general opinions; above all, if I have said aught which may increase the reverence and affectionate ardour with which Freshmen regard these papers, supplying them with new and nobler motives for their earnest and thoughtful study of them, I shall not have written in vain.

And lastly, I will presume to say a word to our present Lecturer on Lady Sadler's Foundation, with all the respect and deference due to his exalted station. Under the fostering care of, at first, the Greek Lecturer,* and in more modern times the Sadlerian Lecturer, these problems have arrived at their present pitch of excellence. Let it be his care, as befits the last of that illustrious line, to use worthily the noble heritage bequeathed to him by his predecessors. Let him either sing in mournful strains, sweetly and sadly as the expiring swan, the disastrous perversion of this princely gift, or rather let him surround with a brighter halo of glory and more brilliant coruscations of splendour the setting of that sun, which may, it is to be hoped, rise again under as fair auspices on the day which shall usher in the new dispensation.

"Q. E. F."

*It was formerly part of the duty of the Greek Lecturer to set these papers.