The classical muse has by the local custom of the University been in times past much called upon; as certain thick folios in College libraries testify. These volumes contain the Gratulationes Academiœ offered to Royalty and illustrious Personages, Carmina Parentalia, Epicedia, Threnodia, Comitia Philologica, composed in every species of metre and in every one of the learned languages, for the celebration of interesting events: and we may add that for authors these productions of the muse boast of men since distinguished in the several walks of science and literature.

One of these poetical scribes thus speaks for himself:

So writes Joshua Barnes to the Duke of Marlborough.

“When any member of a College dies within the walls it is customary for some scholars to write verses and pin them (with their own hands, on the morning of the funeral) on the pall, like escocheons.”

It is with a strange unsatisfied feeling, that the native of a mountainous country takes his second or his third constitutional at Cambridge. The first time he goes abroad to see the scenery of the neighbourhood, he is most probably in academical habit; and whilst his shoulders feel the gown's gentle clasp, and its crisp new folds rustle fondly round him, it is little wonder if his thoughts—and perhaps his eyes—do not wander very far off it; and the cap commonly fits close enough to keep him in continual remembrance of the laurels which he hopes will one day encircle his temples. But imagine all this fresh feeling at an end: he takes a walk, with attention alive to all that is new, and a temper ready to admire all that may be beautiful. At last he reaches a slight eminence (a few such there are, and a very slight elevation will afford him an extensive prospect)—and looks round. He sees perhaps nothing which is destitute of beauty; but his eye wanders restlessly over the plain, then from the horizon, up to the sky,—then to the plain again,—and he feels unsatisfied without knowing for why. The truth is, he misses the hills which surrounded the home of his boyhood, and among which he has dwelt perhaps eighteen summers without knowing how much he loved them.

The peculiar distinction of an English University, its subdivision into Colleges, possesses at least one prominent advantage; that by connecting each student closely with a fraction of the vast number around him it offers means for encouraging sociality and good feeling, scarcely to be expected under any other system. Perhaps the most striking instance of the close tie which connects members of the same College is exhibited on the morning on which the results of the Examination for Honors is published. The interest excited by the question “how many wranglers have we?” is not confined to Undergraduates. Fellows and Tutors crowd to the Senate-house and even dignified D.D.s take care to secure the earliest intelligence. And the form in which the question above is put, is no small proof of the close identification of interest between members of the same College.

It would be strange were it otherwise under the Cambridge system. At this period especially young men are social creatures, and throughout the day those who belong to the same College are constantly thrown together. They meet in the same Chapel, attend the same Lectures, and above all take the principal meal of the day together. Nor will it be considered that we have assigned to the last circumstance too high a place in promoting social feeling, when we remember the results expected from the practice among the nations of antiquity.

Francis Willughby, the friend and companion of Ray, and distinguished like him for his attainments in Natural History, was the only son of Sir Francis Willughby, Knight, of Middleton in Warwickshire. He was born in 1635. He received his education at Trinity College, where he took the degree of A.B. in 1656, and that of A.M. in 1659. From his childhood he addicted himself to hard study; and by incessant application acquired great skill in almost every branch of learning. Natural History, however, was the science for which he evinced the greatest partiality, and to which he devoted the largest share of his attention. He was of opinion that the study of animals had been much neglected up to his time, and he was anxious to do what he could for its advancement. In these pursuits he was much aided by the advantages of birth and fortune which he knew how to appreciate and to apply to just and useful purposes. Previously to commencing a system of original observations, he was careful to read what had been already written by authors on his favourite department. It was probably with this view that in 1660 he was resident at Oxford for a short time to gain the benefit of the Public Library. On leaving that place, he travelled, in company with Ray and others, over a considerable part of Europe and several times over his native country, for the purpose of extending his knowledge of Natural History.

The annexed etching is after a portrait in the Combination Room of Jesus College, presented by Jarvis Kenrick, LL. D. in 1808. It is commonly described as a portrait of the renowned William Harvey by Rembrandt. The genuineness of the painter seems to be negatived by the character of the handling and colour: there is a freshness and a softness which does not belong to Rembrandt's works. There is in the Museum at the Hague, a painting precisely similar to this, which is marked in the catalogue as probably the portrait of le grand pensionnaire Cats. The execution however in this picture is not unworthy of Rembrandt's pencil. But the question of the genuineness of the portrait should be decided by comparing it with others which exist.

The instances for comparison are four.

I. The portrait in the Library of the College of Physicians, an authentic one. It is a full length, in a sitting posture, by Corn. Jansen. A line engraving was made after it by J. Hall, for the Frontispiece to an Edition of Harvey's Works in Quarto published by the College of Physicians in 1766. They have also a bust, an engraving from which was done to ornament the certificates given by Dr. Hunter to his pupils.

II. The bust upon his monument in the Church of Hempstead in Essex, which bears strong resemblance to the portrait just mentioned.