THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. By D.
A. Winstanley. (Cambridge University Press. 17s. 6d.)
In this volume Mr. Winstanley happily combines two enthusiasms, his enthusiasm for his own university and his enthusiasm for eighteenth-century politics. He is, it will be remembered, the author of those two fine studies, Personal and Party Government (1760-1766) and Lord Chatham and the Whig Opposition. A good deal has been written about eighteenth-century Cambridge, but, as Mr. Winstanley points out, there is a considerable gap in the narrative about the middle of the century, between the death of Bentley, in 1742, and the arrival of Gunning (who wrote his Reminiscences of the University) in 1784. A great part of this middle period, namely, from 1748 to 1768, is covered by the Duke of New- castle's term of office as Chancellor, and it is these twenty years of Cambridge history that have engaged the attention of Mr. Winstanley, for whom the curious figure of Newcastle, "that very typical eighteenth-century politician," has some fascination. Mr. Winstanley's defence of such pieces of research is very much to the point : "It is now the fashion to deride those who spend their time and energy upon the ephemeral controversies which rage in an university, and possibly they might often be more profitably employed ; but, while the moralist and scholar condemn, the student of human nature has cause to be grateful. It is neither uninteresting
not uninstructive to see men imitating on a small scale the war- fare of the great world and striving to attain their petty ambitions with as much fury and as little scruple as if con- tending for empires. . . ." The student of human nature will certainly not regret taking up this present volume, for- midable as it seems. The author opens with a fairly long introduction describing the life of the university in the period under review ; then follow three chapters on "The University and Politicians," "The Chancellor and the University," and "The Chancellor and the Colleges."
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