Receptions of eminent scholars from a distance, and
all those ceremonials which were so dear to gentle and simple in the
middle ages, required space, and were the more effective the grander
the buildings in which they were displayed, Yet how little the
Cantabs of the thirteenth century could have dreamt of what was
coming! What a day of small things it was! Six hundred years ago the
giant was in his cradle.
Meanwhile, another need than that of mere schools and lecture-halls
had begun to be felt. The scholars who came for what they could get
from the teachers--the regents and the doctors--flocked from various
quarters; they were young, they were not all fired with the student's
love of learning; they were sometimes noisy, sometimes frolicsome,
sometimes vicious. As now is the case at Edinburgh and Heidelberg, so
it was then at Cambridge, the bonds of discipline were very slight;
the scholars had to take their chance; they lodged where they could,
they lived anyhow, each according to his means; they were homeless.
It was inevitable that all sorts of grave evils should arise.
The lads--they were mere boys--got into mischief, they got into debt
with the Jews; for there were Jews at Cambridge, not a few; they were
preyed upon by sharpers, were fleeced on the right hand and on the
left; many of them learned more harm than good.
Pages:
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264