the capital of the English county of the same name, stands on the river Cam, which is navigable to the Ouse, and communicates with the sea through the port of Lynn. It is situated on an extensive and not very fertile plain, and is considered a very salubrious situation. Neither the streets nor private buildings have any thing remarkable, but the general appearance of the town has been much improved by the recent additions and embellishments which the colleges have received. The town is governed by a mayor, thirteen aldermen, and twenty-four common-council men. The chief object of attention is its university, which is a corporation of itself, and returns in that capacity two members to the House of Commons, who are chosen by such students as have taken the degree of master of arts, and from whom no landed qualification is required on taking their seat in that assembly. The public library, the senate-house, the printing press, the observatory, and some other establishments, belong to this corporation; and it also possesses power to adopt rules and make regulations for the government of the whole body, as well as to choose the several professors.

Each college is also a separate corporate body, holding the buildings and libraries, and possessing large funds in money, in land, in houses, and in advowsons, by which the expenses of the several establishments are defrayed, and stipends allowed to the holders of fellowships. The constitutions of these colleges are various, as well as the amount of their property, and the mode in which the scholars, fellows, and masters are appointed and remunerated. Our limits do not admit our describing the wealth, inducements to study, or the mode of examination practised in the several colleges; but we may enumerate the names of each of them, and the number of scholarships, fellowships, and advowsons. 1st, St Peter's was founded in 1257, contains a master, tutors, and bursars, like the others, to be noticed in succession, with fourteen fellowships, forty-eight scholarships, and eleven advowsons. 2d, Clare Hall was founded in 1325; it has ten senior and seven junior fellowships, thirty-eight scholarships, and fifteen advowsons. 3d, Pembroke Hall has sixteen fellowships, several scholarships under ten pounds, and seven above thirty pounds a year, and ten advowsons. 4th, Gonville and Caius, founded in 1348, has twenty-nine fellowships, seventy-six scholarships, and sixteen advowsons. 5th, Trinity Hall, founded in 1350, has twelve fellowships, fourteen scholarships, and seven advowsons. 6th, Benet College, which has twelve fellowships, fifty-two scholarships, and eleven advowsons. 7th, King's College, founded in 1441, consists of seventy fellows and scholars supplied in regular succession from Eton College; it possesses twenty-six advowsons. 8th, Queen's College, founded in 1448, has twenty fellowships, several small scholarships, and ten advowsons. 9th, Catherine Hall, founded in 1475, has fourteen fellowships, thirty scholarships, and three advowsons. 10th, Jesus College, founded in 1496, enjoys sixteen fellowships, forty-six scholarships, and fifteen advowsons. 11th, Christ College, founded in 1505; the fellowships are fifteen in number, and the scholarships fifty-two; the advowsons are eight. 12th, St John's College, founded in 1511; the fellowships are fifty-one, the scholarships a hundred and fourteen, and the advowsons forty-three. 13th, Magdalen College, founded in 1519, which enjoys seventeen fellowships, forty-one scholarships, and five advowsons. 14th, Trinity College, founded in 1546; it has sixty fellowships, sixty-nine scholarships, and fifty-eight advowsons. 15th, Emanuel College, founded in 1584, has thirteen fellowships, thirty-six scholarships, and fourteen advowsons. 16th, Sidney Sussex College: this has twelve fellowships, forty-eight scholarships, and six advowsons. 17th, Downing College, founded in 1800, has sixteen fellowships, six scholarships, and two advowsons. These seventeen foundations have each their separate chapel, library, and hall, with apartments for the members of the college. They have also college tutors to superintend the morals and tuition of the students, and to maintain the due discipline. There are in all of them private tutors, of which benefit the more aspiring pupils commonly avail themselves. In each house there are prizes distributed corresponding to the rank which the students attain at the examinations.

As the increase of the value of land has augmented the funds of these colleges, though some of the result of their economy has been applied to the purchase of advowsons, other parts have been liberally made use of to enlarge the accommodation for the pupils, or to beautify and adorn the edifices. This has recently been the case in several of the corporations, to the great improvement of the town. There has been a gradual increase in the number of students, who in a few years have risen from 1500 to upwards of 3000; many of whom are now under the necessity of procuring lodging in the town, though they attend at meals and at daily worship in the colleges to which they belong. It is impossible to reduce into a narrow compass the list of interesting objects in this university; but Trinity College, King's with its wonderful chapel, the senate house, and the new part of St John's, are all objects exciting great admiration. The number of eminent men produced from this university may be deemed the most convincing proof of the value of the system of education that Cambridge is pursued. The inhabitants of Cambridge amounted in 1811 to 11,108, in 1821 to 14,142, and in 1831 to 20,917, including the university. (See Universities.)

post town of the United States, Middlesex county, situated on the north side of Charles River, three miles west-north-west of Boston. This town possesses a university, in many respects the first institution of the kind in America. In 1820 the population amounted to 3205.