It was not until the
middle of the nineteenth century that others than Wykehamists were
admitted as scholars.
The fact that a mere boy was elected to a position which provided for
him for life was not calculated to stimulate subsequent intellectual
activity, and Wykehamists themselves have been among the first to say
that the intellectual distinction of the great bishop's beneficiaries
has by no means corresponded to the magnificence of the foundation or
the noble intentions of the Founder. Antony Wood records in the
seventeenth century that there was already an "ugly proverb" as to
New College men--"Golden scholars, silver Bachelors, leaden Masters,
wooden Doctors," "which is attributed," he goes on, "to their rich
fellowships, especially to their ease and good diet, in which I think
they exceed any college else."
The nineteenth century has changed all this; the small and close
college of pre-Commission days has become one of the largest and most
intellectual in the University; but Winchester men in their Oxford
college fully hold their own in every way against the scholars from
the world outside, who are now admitted to share with them the
advantages of Wykeham's foundation.
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