PREFACE. Xt men. Mr. Thomas Hughes (admitted Commoner 1841) was warmly interested in the formation of workmen's Co-oper- ative Societies, and during many years contributed by his advice and assistance to the success of the movement. In recognition of his services, a considerable sum of money was raised among members of these societies, and offered for his acceptance. Mr. Hughes declined to receive any personal gift, but, at the request of the subscribers, suggested that the fund should be applied to the support of a Scholar at the University, and indicated his own College as the body with which the endowment should in the first place be connected. This proposal resulted in the establishment of a Hughes Scholar, chosen by the College out of the sons of Co-operative members nominated by the Council of their Union. The first Scholar was elected in 1884. The experiment being found successful, a second Scholarship, of similar character, was founded in 1890, in honour of Mr. Edward Vansittart Neale (admitted Commoner 1837), a lifelong friend of the same movement. The removal of the social barriers, which the old distinctions of class appeared to set up, and which they assisted to main- tain, has brought the members of the same College into closer social relations. They now meet on a footing of equality in Hall and Lecture Room ; the rules of discipline are enforced impar- tially over all. Opportunities of acquaintance are more easy : common tastes and interest more naturally lead to friendships. Another cause which in recent years has done even more to obliterate social divisions, and to strengthen the sense of common membership, has been the growth of athletic com- petition. A century ago the practice of games, such as cricket and hockey, belonged to school life only, and they were given up, along with bird-nesting and hoop-driving 1, on coming to the University. There the exercises most in fashion were riding, horse-racing, tandem driving, boxing, fencing. Proficiency in these gentlemanly accomplishments, however much it might command admiration, was a personal distinction, and only indirectly, if at all, contributed to the 1 Compare Gray's Ode to Eton with that on Cambridge.