I have attempted in the following pages to give an account of the University of Cambridge during the first sixty years of the nineteenth century, when it underwent reform both from within and without; and though there are objections to the episodic treatment I have adopted, it seemed better suited to the subject than the more orthodox chronological method, which would either have necessitated wearisome repetition or imposed an intolerable strain on the memory of the reader. Nevertheless, I may be thought to have taxed the memory and, what is worse, the patience of the reader by describing in such detail the many changes made in the curriculum and educational system of the University ; but, as many of these changes had consequences reaching to the Cambridge of our own day, they could hardly be dismissed in a cursory fashion.

I have been permitted to use the papers of the Prince Consort in the Royal archives at Windsor, and beg leave to record my humble thanks to His Majesty the King for this privilege. The Prince was Chancellor of the University during a very critical period of its history; and his correspondence with Vice-Chancellors and Heads of Houses reveals his interest in the affairs of Cambridge and the wisdom of the advice he gave. I also wish to express my gratitude to Mr Geoffrey Lloyd, M.P., the Secretary for Mines, who, when he was Parliamentary Undersecretary for Home Affairs, most kindly placed at my disposal the Letter Books of the Statutory Commissioners and other Home Office papers, and by this assistance very much lightened my task.