with boots, bridles, and whips, to furnish the gentlemen at once, without going from college to college to borrow.' 46

According to tradition Hobson was the first man in England to let out hackney horses, and the same authority has it that he had a stable of forty good steeds always ready and fit for hire. When a customer came for a horse he had always to take the one nearest the stable door, the carrier's rule being that every horse should be ridden in its turn. From this rule no exception would be made, hence the origin of the proverb of 'Hobson's choice.' When Hobson let out a horse to go as far as London he was careful to impress upon his customers, many of whom were students and frequently unaccustomed to riding, 'that they would come time enough to London if they did not ride too fast.'

'47

For upwards of sixty years Hobson had the traffic between Cambridge and London entirely in his own hands, and in those days of difficult travelling his aid was a blessing to many. There can be but little doubt that Marlowe availed himself of Hobson's assistance to reach Cambridge, where he arrived some time before his seventeenth birthday, that is to say, when he was somewhat older than the customary age of entrance in those days, many students matriculating at sixteen, fifteen, and even earlier. Marlowe's name was entered as 'Marlin' in the Register of Admissions to Corpus Christi

48

College in 1580, last but one (Basingwhite's) for that year, although he did not matriculate until March 1581. There was nothing unusual in Marlowe's name being entered as 'Marlin' without any prefix. The 'obliging informant' who told Dyce that 'Scholars were entered with a "pomp and circumstance" not found in the notice of "Marlin," evidently knew nothing about the facts, as the list of admissions, still extant, shows that it was the custom to thus enter the names of scholars at Benets.49

In 1579 a special regulation had been passed at the University that students were to matriculate within a month of coming to Cambridge, but this rule does not appear to have been rigorously insisted upon, and it is evident from the manuscript records that Marlowe had already been admitted to Corpus Christi College, and was in residence there, some time before his matriculation was recorded in the Cambridge Matriculation Book. It should perhaps be explained that whilst both admission into a college and matriculation in the University registers are necessary, they are two distinct acts. The college books contain the particulars of a student's connection with his college and of his residence there, but a student's position in the University, record of his degrees, and so forth, are preserved in the Cambridge Grace Book kept by the University Registrary.

Corpus Christi College, formerly known as Benets,

EXTRACT FROM THE ADMISSION BOOK OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, FOR THE YEARS 1580-1

PLATE XI.