A person might very well conclude, from the observations of the
enemies of our English Universities, that the governors of them had
the power of selecting the youth who are to graduate at them, or that,
of necessity, all men bred at either Oxford or Cambridge ought to be
alike distinguished for superior virtue and forbearance, great
learning, and great talents. They forget, that they must _take them as
they come_, like the boy in the anecdote. "So you are picking them
out, my lad," said a Cantab to a youth, scratching his head in the
street. "No," said the arch-rogue, "I takes 'em as they come." Just so
do the authorities at Oxford and Cambridge. I knew a son of Granta,
and eke, too,