An American in Victorian Cambridge
Charles Astor Bristed's "Five Years in an English University"

Charles Astor Bristed was the favourite grandson of John Jacob Astor II. After gaining a degree at Yale, Bristed entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1840, graduating in 1845. This book offers an account of his student life in the Cambridge of the 1840s.

Charles Astor Bristed (1820-1874) was the favourite grandson of John Jacob Astor II (the first American multi-millionaire, and the Astor of the Waldorf-Astoria). After gaining a degree at Yale, Bristed entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1840, graduating in 1845. "Five Years in an English University" is a richly detailed account of student life in the Cambridge of the 1840s. The rationale for the book, which is as appealing today as it was then, is that this is pre-eminently a book about an American student at an English university. The book belongs to a fascinating C19th trans-Atlantic publishing genre: travel accounts designed to describe British culture to Americans and vice-versa.In this new edition, some substantial additions have been made: the Foreword and Introduction both help to contextualise the work, and point to its significance as an important historical source and as a fascinating memoir of life in Victorian Cambridge; annotation helps to identify the individuals who appear in Bristed's text; and an index allows full use to be made of the text for the first time.

Illustrations, vii
Photograph of Charles Astor Bristed, viii
Foreword by Patrick Leary, ix
Introduction by Christopher Stray, xiii
Bibliography, xxxi
Original dedication, xxxv
Original preface, xxxvii
1 First Impressions of Cambridge [1840], 1
2 Some Preliminaries, Rather Egotistical but Very Necessary [1835-9], 6
3 Introduction to College Life, 11
4 The Cantab Language, 23
5 An American Student's First Impressions at Cambridge and on Cambridge, 29
6 Freshman Temptations and Experiences, 39
7 The Boat Race [1841], 44
8 A Trinity Supper Party [1840], 50
9 The May Examination [1841], 62
10 The First Long Vacation [1841], 77
11 The Second Year [1841-2], 84
12 Third Year [1842-3], 106. 13 Private Tuition, 134
14 Long Vacation Amusements [1843], 145
15 A Second Edition of Third Year [1843-4], 151
16 The Scholarship Examination [1844], 174
17 The Reading Party [1844], 184
18 Sawdust Pudding with Ballad Sauce [1844], 189
19 On the Razor's Edge [1844-5], 206
20 How I Came To Take a Degree [1845], 220
21 The Polloi and the Civil Law Classes, 229
22 The Classical Tripos [1845], 232
23 A visit to Eton. English Public Schools, 240
24 Being Extinguished [1845], 256
25 Reading for a Trinity Fellowship [1845], 260
26 The study of Theology at Cambridge, 268
27 Recent Changes at Cambridge, 271
28 The Cambridge System of Education in its Intellectual Results, 278
29 Physical and Social Habits of Cambridge Men. Their Amusements, &
c., 290
30 On the State of Morals and Religion in Cambridge, 301
31 The Puseyite Disputes in Cambridge, and the Cambridge Camden Society, 315
32 Inferiority of our Colleges and Universities in Scholarship, 328
33 Supposed Counterbalancing Advantages of American Colleges, 337
34 The Advantages of Classical Studies, Particularly in Reference to the Youth of our Country, 353
35 What Can and Ought We To Do for our Colleges?, 374
Charles Astor Bristed 1820-1874: An annotated bibliography, 390
Index, 413.