That's right.
It must be Purim!
In just a few seconds.
William Whewell locked onto the mastermind, and pretty much guessed the chain of events.
Pirim.
He was the old geezer Xu Yun bumped into outside Whewell's office when he'd just arrived at the University of Cambridge with McCarthy and Thomson.
Back then, he and Whewell had a fierce argument, and he even flung McCarthy's axe at Whewell's door.
As for the cause of the feud—well, of course it was about staffing.
Pirim had been employed at the University of Cambridge for over thirty years, but it wasn't until 1848, when Cambridge set up the Moral Sciences honors degree—the one Tennyson was the lead of—that political economy finally gained official status.
But Whewell, because of conflicting views, felt Purim wasn't qualified for the job and that Cambridge should fire him.
That's exactly why there was that fight that day.
Actually...
Even before the matriculation ceremony started, Whewell had been feeling doubt:
