But whatever we make of poor Cam, Bridge is clearly Saxon (BRILA), and Grantabrige and Cambridge, both Dover; Circencester, Ciceter; Catwarabyrig, Canterbury. See Lambarde's Perambulations of Kent, p, 174. In like manner, Cantabrigia, as we find it in Bede and Gildas, Grantabrigia, as in the Saxon Chronicle, and Grentabrigia, as in Doomsday Book, might shorten itself into Cambridge;-for C and G very commonly interchange, and we still abbreviate, in pronunciation, names which we lengthen in writing: thus, Woster, Worcester; Toster, Towcester; Ciceter, Cirencester. This turn for abbreviating was expedited in manuscripts, thus: Catuaria was Canterbury; Islād, Island; Grātabreg', Cantebreg, Cā bridge, for the hyphen supplied the place of n as well as m, and Cabrigia, Cantabrigia, might, perhaps, bring out Cambridge. But as I am not aware that others have hit upon this device, I do not insist upon it, but present the other side of the argument, in Camden's words: Quæ nempe Cantabrigia, a Cambridge antiqui Camboriti vel pars vel proles fuit, adeo et situ et nomine est confinis. Nec facile crediderim Cam a Grant deflexum, utpote duriuscula videatur hæc deflexio in qua præter unam omnes literæ absorbentur. Existimarim potius vulgus antiqui nominis Camboriti vel Cami fluvii vocabulum retinuisse, licet scriptores Saxonico nomine Granbridge sæpius usi fuerint. Britan. p. 431, ed. 1600. To carry this matter a little further than Camden: in bridge, uniting with the river, the analogy is exactly the same (both in British and Saxon) as in many other towns; for as Caeresk (British) was Exeter exancerrep (Saxon) Caermedweg (British), a town on the Medway, or Medwaystown (I do not mean Maidstone); so was Caer Grant, a castled town on the Grant: and Cambridge is exactly the same as Tonbridge, the bridge town, or the bridge in the town; and so Beaulbridge, from the small brook called Beaul. And as I here allude to Kent, I am reminded, out of Lambarde, the famous river Medway has taken its name insensibly from crossing the county, and dividing the two bishoprics of Canterbury; for otherwise, he observes, the river itself is properly called Egle, or Eyle, of which both the town of Ailesford, and the castle of Alington (or rather Eylington), do take their name. So Grant, as we have seen, was the British as well as the Saxon name, afterward; and it might insensibly take the name of the Cam, or the Winding River, for the river was much more winding hereabout, before its course was altered. in that word, follow the analogy of our language. As to Granta, that was unquestionably the name of the ancient It should not, however, be passed over, that in the 5th Iter of Antonine's Itinerary, we meet, as already observed, with Camborico. This word is more generally translated Cambridge: Camden thought it was Cambridge, as did also Burton. Burton's manuscript Commentary on Antonine's Itinerary is of the greatest authority. In speaking of Camborito, as Cambridge, Camden had his eye on this commentary: the editions of Semlerus, Aldus, and Sureta, that is, the best editions, read it Camborico. Langolius has it Camboricum: but Burton's manuscript has it Camborico. Camden, and the rest, were evidently mistaken in the letter, t and c being scarcely distinguishable in ancient manuscripts: and Camborico is certainly more to the purpose of those who derive Cambridge from it. Cam, in the old British, as still in the Welsh, signified a winding river, and Rith, a ford; which the very nature of the place seems to shew, as Burton observes, for it was in the xaμwn тy woтaμs, in the very winding and compass of the river, as Ptolemy speaks of the Euphrates: "so that it was called Grant-cester by the Saxons." Let it, however, be observed, that the etymological meaning of Granta, as deduced by Camden and Burton, from the Saxon word Gron, a marshy ground, does not correspond to Cam, which, as before hinted, signifies winding. Add to this, after all, it is not clear that the ancient Camborico, in Antonine's Itinerary, is Cambridge. Dr. Fulke, a Cambridge antiquary of some note, makes Camborico, or Camboricum, Comberton, three miles from Cambridge; which, however, on the face of it, cannot be true, for the Roman road did not pass near Comberton. Others, as Dr. Stukely, still maintaining, that Cambridge and Grantchester are different places, call Camborico Grantchester. Burton does not affirm his positive belief that it was Cambridge: Cambridge (says he) esse puto, nec affirmo. Burton's manuscript Commentary of Antonine's Itinerary is in the Library of Caius College, Cambridge. But I leave these matters for the learned to decide. For myself, I conclude, with Mr. Lambarde, in his Perambulations of Kent, in a similar case" If I fail in this derivation, the fault is, for the first part, his, who made the chart of this shire, and then the folly is mine, that follows him." After so much said on the name of Cambridge, I cannot forbear no river; and, to speak freely, I incline to the opinion of Leland, though it is against that of our own antiquary. Olim Granta fuit titulis urbs inclyta multis, Vicini a fluvii nomine nomen habens : Sed nova pro veteri non procul inde sita est; Hæc ego perquirens gentis monumenta Britannæ ticing an inscription, mentioned by Mr. Blomefield, as being, in his time, in St. Clement's Church, on a stone, with a double circumscription: it was broken in pieces, part lying in the nave, and part in the south isle: ICI : GIST: IOVN: De: HeLVSINGHAM: CLERK: IADIS MeVRe: De: CAVNBRIDGE, &c. That is, Here lies John of Helysingham, formerly mayor of Cambridge. The inscription is Norman French, the date 1329. CHAP. II. UNIVERSITY AND TOWN.-DISSENSIONS. THUS, then, as a sort of starting-place, we shall place Sigebert at the head of our Academia, in the same manner as Oxford has been accustomed to place Alfred, though, as a modern historian of the latter University correctly observes, "the illustrious monarch, who was formerly supposed to have founded or restored it, had really no share whatever in its establishment a:" We observe in Leland's lines the word Scholis (schools), not Schola (a school, or academia), as the word reads in Bede. A reasoner, therefore, might ask, on the one hand, what authority can we have for supposing, that in Cairgrant, one of the most celebrated towns in Britain, and the residence of the ancient British kings, there was no school till the time of Sigebert? Cairgrant was even called "the land of scholars ;" and, on the other, what for applying the word schola here, to a university, a Studium Generale, by royal charter? In the former case, might we not begin our schola too late? In the latter, should we not begin our university too soon? The word schola, indeed, does occur both in classical and ancient ecclesiastical writers, in a more enlarged sense; but Bede's words, already referred to, seem to fix on Sigebert's schola one more restricted. In matters of great antiquity we must often be content with incomplete information. Our great literary esta Chalmers' Hist. of the University of Oxford. Pref. blishments, such as universities, were not of immediate origin: they were the result of gradual advancement and successive improvements. Operum fastigia cernuntur ; fundamenta latent: and it often is from small beginnings we rise to great establishments. The word university was used in a metaphysical and philosophical sense by ancient writers, long before it was taken in an ecclesiastical or monastic sense; and by ecclesiastical and monastic bodies, before it was introduced into an academical society: a mother cathedral church, with its officers, and dependent churches; as well as a mother abbey, with its dependent religious houses, was called universitas b. Strictly speaking, a university and colleges, as we now use the words, are different bodies, having their distinct laws and members. We might be members of a college, without being members of the university, and vice versa. Alma mater universitas, indeed, receives into her embrace a collection of colleges, as her adopted children, brings them under her regimen, invests them with rights, allows them to share her officers and professors in the various branches of science, and as a public, political body is distinguished by peculiar privileges, its appropriate jurisdiction, and royal charters. This seems to be the modern sense of the word university. As to the word college, that also, as every one knows, is a Latin word, used both by classical and all ancient writers, for a collection of men or women, brought under one regimen, of almost any description, and for almost any purpose. We in • Aristotle Metaph. L. 4. Ολο της. b Hence, in ancient writings, the use of Universitates Vestræ. • Ambubaiarum Collegia, pharmacapola. Hor. Συρήματα των παρθενων. Ignat. Epist. ad Philip. |