So today I was sitting in the English faculty library, pecking away at an essay I'm writing for my supervisor. It's a soggy day, and I spent the morning rowing in the rain. I'm feeling a bit stressed about how many things I'm not getting done this week as we prep for a race on Friday.
As part of my argument, I thought it might be useful to look at Paley's Evidences of Christianity, a book that used to be required reading for exam regurgitation at Cambridge, and which Tennyson and his friends thought to be a prime example of pedantic theology that totally missed the point. Happily, they have a copy here in this library, so no need to go outside...
Most of the books in this building are fairly modern, but this one was published in 1884, and the editor's preface says it was organized to be a study book for the Cambridge exam. It also has an inscription inked on the first page:
J.C. Collins
The Knoll
Harrow
31.3.89
Then in pencil, in different handwriting, underneath:
J.C.C.
Jesus College
Cambridge
I love that this is the physical object that some Victorian student used as part of getting his degree. And one thing I love about universities in general is that they are forever youthful. Newton and Byron and many many other giants have been part of this place, but we are their equals because they were once students just like us, and we have the advantage of being the current generation of students, which is the primary concern of any university.
So even on a less-than-pefect day here, there's nothing else I would rather be doing than this.
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