In  1872,  Miss  Buss,  giving  up  her
private  property  in  her  school,  now  con-


sisting of  two  hundred  girls,  with  public-
spirited  generosity,  made  it  a  Public
School  by  placing  it  in  trust.  A  lower
school  was  also  established  in  Camden  Town
under  the  same  management.  Meanwhile
ladies'  associations  were  formed  in  vari-
ous large  towns,  and  a  very  important
movement  began.  Lecturers  chosen  by
Cambridge  were  sent  to  give  courses  of
systematic  instruction.  The  Girls'  Public
"Day  School  Company  was  founded  in
1873,  and  the  following  year  the  Frobel
Society.  A  joint  board  was  formed  to
examine  schools  of  the  rank  of  Boys'
Public  Schools.
Girton  had  rather  insisted  on  the  im-
portance of  conforming  its  course  and
examinations  to  those  instituted  for  men  ;
but  many  women  desired  university  culture
— without  being  prepared  to  go  through
the  regular  studies,  which  were  familiar
to  boys,  but  difficult  for  those  who  had
taken  other  lines.  To  meet  their  wishes,
Merton  Hall  was  opened,  1871,  by  Miss
Clough  (sister  of  the  poet),  who  was  full
of  devotion  to  the  cause,  and  spared
neither  her  own  labour  nor  her  money.
It  slowly  increased,  until,  some  years  later,
it  was  removed  to  Newnham.
Only  one  other  important  college  for
women  had  been  founded  since  the  begin-
ning of  this  movement.  A  college,  after-
wards called  Alexandra  College,  Dublin,
had  been  established  in  1866  by  the
energy  of  Mrs.  Jellicoe,  supported  as  she
was  by  Archbishop  Trench  and  the  Pro-
vost and  Fellows  of  Trinity  College  ;  but
every  year  new  endowed  or  proprietary
schools  for  girls  were  opened,  and  in  1874
the  Head  Mistresses'  Association  held
their  first  meeting  at  Miss  Buss's  house..
