Mr. Clark could not have produced this exhaustive history of
university and collegiate fabrics if he had not gained a profound
insight into the student life of Cambridge from the earliest times.
How did they live, these young scholars in the early days? Through
what whimsical vagaries have the fashions changed? As the centuries
have rolled on, have the youth of England become better or wiser than
their sires? Neither better nor wiser seems to be the answer. The
outer man is not as he was; the real moral and intellectual stamina
of Englishmen has at least suffered no deterioration. Our habits are
different; our dress, our language, the look of our homes, are all
other than they were. Our wants have multiplied immensely; the amount
of physical discomfort and downright suffering which our ancestors
were called upon to endure doubtless sent up the death-rate to a
figure which to us would be appalling. We start from a standing-point
in moral, social, and intellectual convictions so far in advance of
that of our forefathers that they could not conceive of such a
_terminus ad quern_ as serves us as a terminus a quo._ In
other words, we _begin_ at a point in the line which they never
conceived could be reached. Yet the more closely we look into the
past the more do we see how history in all essentials is for ever
repeating herself--impossible though it may be to put the clock back
for ourselves.
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