Five Years in an English University

Charles Astor Bristed (1820–1874) was an American scholar and author, and the first American writer to defend American English spelling. Having graduated from Trinity College in 1845 he published this account of his experiences at the university in 1852 to provide accurate, first-hand information for Americans about study in an English university, with the intention of starting a debate over the inclusion of aspects of English higher education in the American system. Volume 1 contains his recollections of his time in Cambridge as an undergraduate, with detailed descriptions of daily life, examinations, lectures and activities outside academia. Written for those with no experience of the university, this volume provides a valuable insight into the daily life of a student at Cambridge in the middle of the nineteenth century while also providing explanations for the aspects of the institution which to the outsider might seem strange.