716 THE NATURE AND CAUSES 01

effects which naturally result from an arbitrary and extra-neous jurisdiction of this kind.

Whatever forces a certain number of students to any col-lege or university, independent of the merit or reputation ofthe teachers, tends more or less to diminish the necessity ofthat merit or reputation.

The privileges of graduates in arts, in law, physic, and di-vinity, when they can be obtained only by residing a certainnumber of years in certain universities, necessarily force acertain number of students to such universities, independentof the merit or reputation of the teachers. The privileges ofgraduates are a sort of statutes of apprenticeship, which havecontributed to the improvement of education, just as the otherstatutes of apprenticeship have to that of arts and manufac-tures.

The charitable foundations of scholarships, exhibitions,bursaries, See. necessarily attach a certain number of studentsto certain colleges, independent altogether of the merit ofthose particular colleges. Were the students upon such cha-ritable foundations left free to choose what college they likedbest, such liberty might perhaps contribute to excite someemulation among different colleges. A regulation, on thecontrary, which prohibited even the independent membersof every particular college from leaving it, and going to anyother, w'ithout leave first asked and obtained of that whichthey meant to abandon, would tend very much to extinguishthat emulation.

If in each college the tutor or teacher, who was to instructeach student in all arts and sciences, should not be volunta-rily chosen by the student, but appointed by the head of thecollege; and if, in case of neglect, inability, or bad usage,the student should not be allowed to change him for another,without leave first asked and obtained; such a regulationwould not only tend very much to extinguish all emulationamong the different tutors of the same college, but to dimi-nish very much in all of them the necessity of diligence andof attention to their respective pupils. Such teachers, thoughvery well paid by their students, might be as much disposedto neglect them, as those who are not paid by them at all, orwho have no other recompense but their salary.

If the teacher happens to be a man of sense, it must be anunpleasant thing to him to be conscious, while he is lecturinghis students, that he is either speaking or reading nonsense,